fj :- *:r.-.- s s V SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE LIBRARY. ANNEX* Section, JVo. mono. \ \ ' f . 3—1639 J -4 VALUABLE MEDICAL, BOOKS, PUBLISHED BY GRIGG & ELLIOT, JYo. 9 Worth Fourth Street, PHILADELPHIA. THE DISPENSATORY OF THE UNITED STATES: con- sisting of— ^ 1st, A TREATISE ON MATERIA MEDICA, or the Natural, Commercial, Chemical, and Medical History of the Substances employed in Medicine. 2d, A TREATISE ON PHARMACY: comprising an account of the preparations directed by the American and British Pharmacopoeias, and designed especially to illustrate the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. By George B. Wood, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy in the Philadelphia College of Phar- macy ; and Franklin Bache, M. D., Professor of Chemistry in the College of Pharmacy and in the Franklin Institute. The above is one of the most valuable Works of the kind ever issued from the Ame- rican Press. One among the most distinguished of the Medical faculty, in noticing the great value of this work to the student and practitioner, says, " We therefore hailed with no incon- siderable pleasure the appearance of the Dispensatory of the United States, convinced from our knowledge of its authors that it would prove a most valuable addition to our Medical literature. We have not been disappointed in these expectations, and feel fully persuaded that it will take the first rank among works of this character." Dr. Eberle, of Cincinnati, Ohio, remarks in the new edition just published of his in- valuable work on Therapeutics, &c, that " he has availed himself freely of the various and accurate information embodied in the Dispensatory of the United States, by Drs. Wood and Bache, undoubtedly the most accurate, comprehensive, and in all respects, excellent publication of the kind extant in the English language." The editors of the Journal of Pharmacy observe, as regards the merits of the work, " We recommend it most cordially to the Medical fraternity, to the practical phar- maceutist, and especially to the diligent perusal of the student of medicine or phar- macy." We cannot refrain from expressing our firm conviction, that, as a whole, this Dispen- satory is the best work in the English language,' on the subjects of which it treats ; and we know of no work so well calculated in the eyes of our neighbours of Europe to raise the character of American science. COOPER'S FIRST LINES OF THE PRACTICE OF SUR- GERY : designed as an introduction for students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners. By Samuel Cooper, M. D. With Notes, by Alexander H. Stevens, M. D., and additional Notes, and an Appendix, by Dr. S. M'Clellan. Third American, from the last London edition, revised and corrected. With several new plates and wood cuts, in 2 vols. 8vo. . This work is highly esteemed by all the distinguished of the Medical Profession; and, in many of our Medical Schools, is used as a Text Book. EBERLE'S PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.—A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in 2 vols. 8vo. By John Eberle, M. p., Profes- sor of Materia Medica and Obstetrics in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 2d edition, improved. , „ . ., .. . .... This is one of the most valuable works on the Practice of Medicine, that has ever issued from the American or English press. The distinguished editor of the North American Medical and Surgical Journal, speak- ■ MEDICAL- WORKS. ing of this work, says,—" The work of Dr. Eberle is confessedly one of very great merit. It does much credit to his industry and learning, while it places in a very fa- vourable point of view his abilities as a practitioner. The talents, industry, and variety of research necessary for the production of a system of Practical Medicine, are possess- ed by few, and when we say, as we do with great candour, that the Treatise before us will bear a very favourable comparison with any modern work of the same class, while it is far superior, as well in regard to the soundness of its pathological views, generally speaking, as to the excellence of its therapeutic precepts, to the more popular of the English systems, we confer upon it and its author no mean praise." The April No. of Johnson's London Medico-Chirurgical Review, speaking of this work observes, " That this is a very respectable compilation; in fine, superior to Tho- mas's Practice of Physic in this country." Although designed chiefly for professional men, it will be found a valuable practical manual for private or domestic reference. If heads of families were to purchase and consult this work instead of the empirical and in many respects misleading compounds so common, they would have the satisfaction of being assured, that nothing but sound and well tested practical directions would be offered them,—at the same time they would acquire correct notions concerning the character and systems of diseases.— Every person of good understanding may comprehend the practical rules laid down in this work. To render this invaluable work particularly useful, as a work of reference for family use, a glossary is added of the technical terms used in the work. A TREATISE ON THE MATERIA MEDICA AND TI-IERA- PEUTICS, in 2 vols. Third edition, improved and greatly enlarge 1. By John Eberlei M. D., Professor of Materia Medica and Obstetrics in the Jefferson Medical College; Member of the American Philosophical Society; Corresponding Member of the Medi- co-Chirurgical Society, &c. This work is among the most popular of this distinguished author's works, and ere long will be found in the library of every practical Physician. This fourth edition is much improved. RUSH ON THE MIND, new fine edition, 1 vol. 8vo. This work is valuable and highly interesting for intelligent readers of every profes- sion : it is replete with curious and acute remarks, both medical and metaphysical, and deserves particular praise for the terseness of its diction. RUSH ON THE HUMAN VOICE. Embracing its Physio- logical History, together with a System of Principles, by which criticism in the art of Elocution may be rendered intelligible, and instruction definite and comprehensive. To which is added, a brief Analysis of Song and Recitative ; second edition, with additions. By James Rush, M. D. VELPEAU'S ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON THE ART ^MT™Y!F,Ew'°rLther.PrintipleS °f ToxicoloSy and Embryology, in 1 volume, of PhysSansT&c *' ** ^^ D* MeigS> M' D-' Meml»r °f the CoUe*« noSLdirl!nffUiS-ede «*""• •• "We have a work • the sevpT, TT™ 'Vf l° * °M °f ^ *"* beSt' lt is a raodeI for such ufTsir^hdtv nn l T? he'nS.fn\yc0nnectedt and reIated and eJ .^ ural S£yaXStenty' *C thu T? by thC natma,ist- A «* of "omencla" be without ^nctseness reigns throughout. It is a book that no physician should i^^^^^o^j^i^^ PHYSIOLOGY, AND Gross, M. D. M AJND JOINTS. In 1 volume, 8vo. By S. D. B.,le and H. HollarJ. B^s/i G™£ M.V *' Fr°m "" F'mch °f A' L MEDICAL WORKS. This volume has been highly approved by many of the principal medical men, and has been recommended by several anatomical teachers. " We recommend this little volume to the anatomical student; it contains an excellent account of the primitive tis- sues, and will greatly facilitate a knowledge of what has been too much neglected in this country, general anatomy."—Medical Gazette. Armstrong's Medical Works. Armstrong on Typhus Fever. Armstrong on Consumption, Puerperal Fe- ver, &c. Arnott's Physics, 2 vols. 8vo. Abercrombie on the Brain, 8vo. Abercrombie on the Stomach, 8vo. American Medical Journal, 10 vols. Broussais' Phlegmasia^, 2 vols. Boisseau on Fevers. Burns's Anatomy of the Head and Neck. Bell on Baths. Bell on Wounds. Bichat on Pathology.—This posthumous work of Bichat on Pathological Anato- my, is one of much value and interest to the student of pathology. Buchan's Domestic Medicine, improved. Bell on the Arteries, coloured plates. Bell's Anatomy, new edition. Bancroft on Fever. Blackall on Dropsies, new edition. Bateman's Synopsis of Cutaneous Diseases, 8vo. Bell on Teeth, 8vo. Belliol on Herpetic Affections.. Bertin on the Diseases of the Heart. Beaumont on the Gastric Juice. Begine's Therapeutics. Bougery's Merior's Surgery. Dr. Baudelocque on Puerperal Peritonitis. Bostock's Physiology, 3 vols. Broussais's Pathology. Do. Physiology. Cooper's Lectures, by Tyrrell. Cook's Morgagni, 2 vols. Collcs's Surgical Anatomy. Cooper's Surgical Dictionary, 2 vols. 8vo. Coster's Manual of Surgical operations. Cooper's Lectures on Surgery. Calhoun's Prout on the Urinary Organs. Cazenave on Diseases of the Skin. Cooper on Dislocations. Cloquet's Anatomy. Comstock's Mineralogy. Daniel on Fevers. Desault's Surgical Works. Duffin on the Spine, 12mo. De La Beche's Geological Manual. Domestic Medicine. Drake on Medical Education. Dunglinson's Medical Dictionary, 2 vols.— " The best medical lexicon in the Eng- lish language that has yet appeared. We do not know any volume which contains so much information in a small com- pass."—London ^Medical and Surgical Journal. Doane's Blanden's Anatomy, with plates, quarto. Ducamp on Retention of Urine, &c. Denuian's Midwifery. Desmelles and Guthrie on Venereal Dis- ease. Dr. Dewees's Medical Works. Elliot's Botany of South Carolina, 2 vols. Eberle's Notes. Faraday's Chemical Manipulation. Fox on the Teeth, 4to. Good's Study of Medicine, 5 vols. 8vo. Good's Book of Nature, 8vo. Gross's Manual of General Anatomy, 8vo, Gross on the Bones and Joints, 8vo. Gross's Manual of Obstetrics, 12mo. Graham on Indigestion, 8vo. Gooch on Women. Gooch on Midwifery. Godman's Discourses. Gregory's Practice, 2 vols. Hamilton on Purgatives, 8vo. H loper's Examinations, new ed., 18mo. Hutin's Physiology. Hooper's Medical Dictionary, 8vo. Henning's Military Surgery* 8vo. Hall on Loss of Blood, 8vo. Hufeland on Scrofulous Diseases, 1 vol. Homer's (Dr.) Medical Works. Henry's Chemistry, 2 vols. Johnson on the I iver and Internal Organs. James's Burns, 1 vol. 8vo. Johnson on Change of Air. Laennec on the Chest, 8vo. London Practice of Midwifery, 8vo. Laennec on the Stethoscope. MEDICAL WORKS. Lobstein on the Eye. Lindley's Botany. Larrey's Surgical Memoirs. Lind on Hot Climates. Maculloch on Fevers, Svo. Manual of Surgical Anatomy. By Ed- wards. I2mo. Martinett's Therapeutics, 18mo. Manual for the Stethoscope, 12mo. Murray's Materia Medica, new ed., 8vo. Maculloch on Remittent and Intermittent Diseases. Maculloch on Malaria. Martinett's Manual of Pathology. Magriere's Midwifery, illustrated. McKenzie on the Diseases of the Eye. Miner and Tulley on Fever. Manual of Materia Medica. Magriere's Anatomy. McClean on Hydrothorax. Orfila on Poisons. Paris's Pharmacologia, anew ed., 8vo. Paris on Diet, 8vo. Phillips on Indigestion, 8vo. Phillips on Acute and Chronic Diseases, 8vo. Parson's Anatomical Preparations. Porter's Chemistry of the Arts, 2 vols. Richerand's Physiology, new edition. Rush on the Mind, new fine edition. Rush (Dr.") on the Voice. Robertson's Medical Conversations, 2 vols. 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BYRON'S WORKS, complete, 1 vol. 8vo., including all his Sup- pressed and Attributed Poems. dj3 This edition has been carefully compared with the recent London edition of Mr. Murray, and made complete by the addition of more than fifty pages of poems hereto- fore unpublished in England. Among these there are a number that have never appeared in any American edition; and the Publishers believe they are warranted in saying that this is the.most complete edili»nof Lord Byron's Poetical Works, ever published in the United States. . "•'. • ;'• C6" « ' ; THE P^ETteA'L .WORKS OF. MRS. HEMANS, complete, in 1 voU8*3-. ' *'" '" ■'*■'■ ' j " As no work in the English language can be * commended with more confidence, it will afgue bad taste in ai female in this' country to be without a complete edition of the writings of one who was ah honour to her sex and to humanity, and whose productions, from first to last, contain no syllable calculated to call a blush to the cheek of modesty and virtue. There is, moreover, in Mrs. Hemans' poetry a moral purity, and a religious feeling, which commend it, in an especial manner, to the discriminating reader. No parent or g'u'ardianwill be under the necessity of imposing restrictions with regard to the free perusal of every production emanating from this gifted woman. There breathes throughout the whole a most eminent exemption from impropriety of thought or diction— and there is at times a pensiveness of tone, a winning sadness in her more serious com- positions, which tells of a soul which has been lifted from the contemplation of terres- trial things, to divine communings with beings of a purer world." THE DISPENSATORY tit OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. By GEORGE B. WOOD, M. D., PROFESSOR OP MATERIA MEDICA AND PHARMACY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA, MEMBER OP THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, &C, &C, FRANKLIN BACHE, M. D., PROFESSOR OP CHEMISTRY IN THE PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OP PHARMACY, ONE OP THE SECRETARIES OP THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, &C, &C. FOURTH EDITION, ASD CAdM^L**#^E-%J^VX MAY 29*900 17 01/"0. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY GRIGG & ELLIOT, NO. 9 NORTH FOURTH STREET. 1839. y Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1839, By George B. Wood, M.Dt, and Franklin Bache, M.D., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. fcLm MO. 53C 6y 770- | Printed by T. K. fc P. G. Collins, No. 1 Lodge Alley. JOSEPH PARRISH, M.D., AND THOMAS. T. HEWSON, M.D., AS A MARK OF RESPECT FOR THEIR PRIVATE WORTH AND PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER, AND AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OP THEIR NUMEROUS KIND OFFICES, THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THEIR FRIENDS, THE AUTHORS. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The objects of a Dispensatory are to present an account of medicinal substances in the state in which they are brought into the shops, and to teach the modes in which they are prepared for use. The impor- tance of these objects, and the general value and even necessity of a work of this nature, will not be disputed. It may, however, be a question, how far the wants of the medical and pharmaceutical com- munity in this country are supplied by the Dispensatories already in circulation; and whether such a deficiency exists as to justify the offer of a new one to the public attention. The great merits of the works severally entitled " The Edinburgh New Dispensatory," and " The London Dispensatory," the former edited by the late Andrew Duncan, M.D., the latter by Anthony Todd Thomson, M.D., are well known wherever the English language is spoken. Founded, as they both are, upon the excellent basis laid by Lewis, they are nevertheless entitled, from the great addition of valuable materials, and the distinctive cha- racter exhibited in the arrangement of these materials, to be considered as original works; while the style in which they have been executed speaks strongly in favour of the skill and industry of their authors. But they were calculated especially for the sphere of Great Britain, and are too deficient in all that relates exclusively to this country, to admit of being received as standards here. In the history of our com- merce in drugs, and of the nature, growth, and collection of our indi- genous medical plants; in the chemical operations of our extensive laboratories; and in the modes of preparing, dispensing, and applying medicines, which have gradually grown into use among us; there is much that is peculiar, a knowledge of which is not to be gained from foreign books, and is yet necessary to the character of an accomplished American pharmaceutist. We have, moreover, a National Pharma- copoeia, which requires an explanatory commentary, in order that its 1* VI Preface. precepts may be fully appreciated, and advantageously put into prac- tice. On these accounts it is desirable that there should be a Dispensa- tory of the United States, which, while it embraces whatever is useful in European pharmacy, may accurately represent the art as it exists in this country, and give instruction adapted to our peculiar wants. It appears due to our national character, that such a work should be in good faith an American work, newly prepared in all its parts, and not a mere edition of one of the European Dispensatories, with here and there additions and alterations, which, though they may be useful in themselves, cannot be made to harmonize with the other materials so as to give to the whole an appearance of unity, and certainly would not justify the assumption of a new and national title for the book. Whether in the Dispensatories which have been published in the United States, these requisites have been satisfactorily fulfilled, it rests with the public to determine. That valuable treatises on Materia Medica and Pharmacy have been issued in this country, no candid per- son, acquainted with our medical literature, will be disposed to deny. In offering a new work to the medical and pharmaceutical professions, the authors do not wish to be considered as undervaluing the labours of their predecessors. They simply conceive, that the field has not been so fully occupied as to exclude all competition. The pharmacy of continental Europe is ground which has been almost untouched; and much information in relation to the natural history, commerce, and management of our own drugs, has lain ungathered in the posses- sion of individuals, or scattered in separate treatises and periodicals not generally known and read. Since the publication of the last edition of our National Pharmacopoeia, no general explanation of its processes has appeared, though required in justice both to that work and to the public. The hope of being able to supply these deficiencies, may, perhaps, be considered a sufficient justification for the present undertaking. The Pharmacopoeia of the United States has been adopted as the basis of this Dispensatory. It is followed both in its general division of medicines, and in its alphabetical arrangement of them under each division. Precedence is, in every instance, given to the names which it recognises; while the explanations by which it fixes the signification of these names, are inserted in immediate connexion with the titles to which they severally belong. Every article which it designates is more or less fully described; and all its processes, after being literally copied, are commented on and explained whenever comment or explanation appeared necessary. Nothing, in fine, has been omitted, Preface. vii which, in the estimation of the authors, could serve to illustrate its meaning or promote the ends which it was intended to subserve. This course of proceeding appeared to be due to the national character of the Pharmacopoeia, and to the important object of establishing, as far as possible, throughout the United States, uniformity both in the nomenclature and preparation of medicines. In one particular, convenience required that the plan of the Pharmacopoeia should be de- parted from. The medicines belonging to the department of Materia Medica, instead of being arranged in two divisions, corresponding with the Primary and Secondary Catalogues of that work, have been treated of indiscriminately in alphabetical succession; and the place which they respectively hold in the Pharmacopoeia is indicated by the employment of the term Secondary, in connexion with the name of each of the medicines included in the latter catalogue. But though precedence has thus been given to the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, those of Great Britain have not been neglected. The nomenclature adopted by the different British Colleges, and their formulae for the preparation of medicines, have been so extensively fol- lowed throughout the United States, that a work intended to represent the present state of pharmacy in this country would be imperfect with- out them; and the fact that the writings of British physicians and sur- geons, in which their own officinal terms and preparations are exclu- sively employed and referred to, have an extensive circulation among us, renders some commentary necessary in order to prevent serious mistakes. The Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, have, therefore, been incorporated, in all their essential parts, into the present work. Their officinal titles are uniformly given—always in subordination to those of the United States Pharmacopoeia, when they express the same object; but in chief, when,as often happens, no cor- responding medicine or preparation is recognised by our national standard. In the latter case, if different names are applied by different British Colleges to the same object, that is generally preferred which is most in accordance with our own system of nomenclature, and the others are given as synonymes. The medicines directed by the British Colleges are all described, and their processes either copied at length, or so far explained as to be intelligible in all essential particulars. Besides the medicinal substances recognised as officinal by the Pharmacopoeias alluded to, some others have been described, which, either from the lingering remains of former reputation, or from recent reports in their favour, or from their important relation to medicines in general use, appear to have claims upon the attention of the physi- Vlll Preface. cian and apothecary. Opportunity has, moreover, been taken to in- troduce incidentally brief accounts of substances used in other countries or in former times, and occasionally noticed in medical books; and that the reader may be able to refer to them when desirous of infor- mation, their names have been placed with those of the standard •remedies in the index. In the description of each medicine, if derived immediately from the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, the attention of the authors has been directed to its natural history, the place of its growth or pro- duction, the method of collecting and preparing it for market, its commercial history, the state in which it reaches us, its sensible pro- perties, its chemical composition and relations, the changes which it undergoes by time and exposure, its accidental or fraudulent adultera- tions, its medical properties and application, its economical uses, and the pharmaceutical treatment to which it is subjected. If a chemical preparation, the mode and principles of its manufacture are indicated in addition to the other particulars. If a poison, and likely to be accidentally taken, or purposely employed as such, its peculiar toxico- logical effects, together with the mode of counteracting them, are indicated; and the best means of detecting its presence by reagents are explained. The authors have followed the example of Dr. A. T. Thomson, in giving botanical descriptions of the plants from which the medicines treated of are derived. In relation to all indigenous medicinal plants, and those naturalized or cultivated in this country, the advantages of such descriptions are obvious. The physician may often be placed in situations, in which it may be highly important that he should be able to recognise the vegetable which yields a particular medicine; and the apothecary is constantly liable to imposition from the collectors of herbs, unless possessed of the means of distinguishing by infallible marks the various products presented to him. A knowledge of foreign medicinal plants, though of less importance, will be found useful in various ways, independently of the gratification afforded by the indulgence of a liberal curiosity in relation to objects so closely con- nected with our daily pursuits. The introduction of these botanical notices into a Dispensatory appears to be peculiarly appropriate, as they are to be considered rather as objects for occasional reference than for regular study or continuous perusal, and therefore coincide with the general design of the work, which is to collect into a con- venient form for consultation all that is practically important in relation to medicines. The authors have endeavoured to preserve a due pro- Preface. IX portion between the minuteness of the descriptions, and their value as means of information to the student; and, in pursuance of this plan, have generally dwelt more at length upon our native plants, than upon those of foreign growth: but in all instances, in which they have deemed any botanical description necessary, they have taken care to include in it the essential scientific character of the genus and species, with a reference to the position of the plant in the artificial and natural systems of classification; so that a person acquainted with the elements of botany may be able to recognise it when it comes under his observation. In preparing the Dispensatory, the authors have consulted, in addi- tion to many of the older works of authority, the greater number of the treatises and dissertations which have recently appeared upon the various subjects connected with Pharmacy, and especially those of the French writers, who stand at present at the head of this department of medical science. They have also endeavoured to collect such de- tached facts scattered through the various scientific, medical, and phar- maceutical journals, as they conceived to be important in themselves, and applicable to the subjects under consideration; and have had fre- quent recourse to the reports of travellers in relation to the natural and commercial history of foreign drugs. The occasional references in the body of the work will indicate the sources from which they have most largely drawn, and the authorities upon which they have most relied. In relation to our own commerce in drugs and to the operations of our chemical laboratories, they are indebted for information chiefly to the kindness of gentlemen engaged in these branches of business, who have always evinced, in answering their numerous inquiries, a promptitude and politeness which merit their warm thanks, and which they are pleased to have this opportunity of acknowledging.* It has not been deemed necessary to follow the example of the British Dispensatories, by inserting into the work a treatise upon Chemistry under the name of Elements of Pharmacy. Such a treatise must necessarily be very meagre and imperfect; and, as systems of chemistry are in the hands of every physician and apothecary, would uselessly occupy the place of valuable matter of less easy access. * The authors deem it proper to state that they are peculiarly indebted for assistance to Mr. Daniel B. Smith, president of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, to whom, besides much important information in relation to the various branches of the Apothe- cary's business, they owe the prefatory remarks on Pharmacy which are placed at the commencement of the second part of the work, and the several articles, in the Materia Medica, upon Leeches, Litmus, and the Carbonate and Sulphate of Magnesia. X Preface. The authors may perhaps be permitted to observe, in relation to themselves, that they have expended much time and labour in the preparation of the work; have sought diligently for facts from every readily accessible source; have endeavoured by a comparison of au- thorities, and a close scrutiny of evidence, to ascertain the truth whenever practicable; and have exerted themselves to the extent of their abilities to render the Dispensatory worthy of public approbation, both for the quality and quantity of its contents, and the general ac- curacy of its statements. They are conscious, nevertheless, that in so great a multiplicity of details numerous errors and deficiencies may exist, and that the faults of undue brevity in some cases, and prolixity in others, may not have been entirely avoided: but they venture to hope that a candid public will make all due allowances; and they take the liberty to invite from all those who may feel interested in the diffusion of sound pharmaceutical knowledge, the communication of friendly suggestions or criticisms in relation to the objects and execu- tion of the work. Philadelphia, January, 1833. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. In preparing the second edition of the Dispensatory, the authors bestowed much labour upon the work, correcting errors, curtailing superfluities, and supplying deficiencies, whenever observed, and en- larging the original plan by the addition of an Appendix, containing notices and descriptions of numerous drugs, which, though not in general use, were possessed of some interest from their former or existing relations to Medicine and Pharmacy. Their object was to compress, within convenient limits, all the information concerning medicinal substances which could be deemed essential or peculiarly interesting to the physician and apothecary. In the third edition, they adopted the plan of treating, in the body of the work, of those medicines and preparations exclusively which are recognised in the American and British Pharmacopoeias, while all others deemed worthy of notice were placed in the Appendix; thus giving a precision to the arrangement which was before wanting. They also introduced a table of pharmaceutical equivalents, corrected errors which had pre- viously escaped their observation, described several substances not noticed in previous editions, and, by incorporating in the work what- ever new facts and views the progress of research had developed, endeavoured to place it upon a level with the existing state of know- ledge in relation to Materia Medica and Pharmacy. They are grati- fied in being able to infer, from the rapidity with which the late edition, though much larger than either of the preceding, has been exhausted, that the public confidence in the Dispensatory remains undiminished. In preparing the present edition, they have laboured to render it.worthy of a continuance of this confidence, by making such alterations, and furnishing such additional information, as the discoveries of the last three years have suggested or supplied. The publication of a revised edition of the London Pharmacopoeia, with numerous and important changes, has rendered necessary correspond- ing changes in the Dispensatory; and the unfortunate adoption by the London College of the Imperial measure, instead of the Wine mea- sure before employed, has occasioned much embarrassment to the authors in the arrangement of the formulae so as to avoid the chances of error. They flatter themselves, however, that this difficulty has been in great measure overcome; and they again present their work to the public, in the confidence that, whatever may be its defects, it will be found, not less than formerly, to merit the favour which it has hitherto so amply received. Philadelphia, June, 1839. Abbreviations employed in the Work. U. S.—" The Pharmacopceia of the United States of America. By authority of the National Medical Convention, held at Washington, A. D. 1830." Lond.—London Pharmacopoeia, A. D. 1836. Ed.—Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, A. D. 1817. Dub.—Dublin Pharmacopoeia, A. D. 1826. Off". Syn.—Officinal Synonymes, or the titles employed by the Pharma- copoeias with the accompanying explanations, when these titles are not given in chief. Sex. Syst.—The Sexual System, or the artificial system of Linnaeus, founded on the sexual organization of plants. Nat. Ord.—The Natural Order to which any particular genus of plants belongs. When not otherwise stated, it is to be understood that the natural orders referred to are those recognised by Professor Lindley, of the University of London, in his " Introduction to the Natural System of Botany." Gen. Ch.—The Generic Character, or scientific description of any par- ticular genus of plants under consideration. Off. Prep.—Officinal Preparations; including all the preparations into which any particular medicine directed by the U. S. Pharmacopoeia and the British Colleges enters. When the same preparation has received different names in the different Pharmacopoeias, only one of these names is mentioned, and precedence is always given to that of the U. S. Phar- macopoeia. Sp.Gr.—Specific Gravity. Equiv., or Eq.—Chemical Equivalent, or the number representing the smallest quantity in which one body usually combines with others. Linn., Linn.eus.—Juss., Jussieu.—De Cand., De Candolle.—Willd. Sp. Plant., Willdenow's edition of the species plantarum of Linnaeus. —Woodv. Med. Bot., Woodville's Medical Botany, 2d edition.— B., Baume's Hydrometer. Fr., French.—Germ., German.—7ta/., Italian.—Span., Spanish.—Arab., Arabic. THE DISPENSATORY OF THE UNITED STATES. PART I. MATERIA MEDICA. The Materia Medica, in its most comprehensive sense, embraces all those substances which are capable of making sanative impressions on the human system; but, as the term is employed in this work, it has a more re- stricted signification. The Pharmacopoeias of the United States and Great Britain very appropriately arrange medicines in two distinct divisions, one including all those which are furnished immediately by nature, or thrown into commerce by the manufacturer; the other, those which are prepared by the apothecary, and are the objects of officinal directions. The former are enumerated under the title of " Matkria Medica;" the latter under that of " Preparations," or " Preparations and Compositions." In Dispensa- tories, which may be considered as commentaries on the Pharmacopoeias, the same arrangement is usually followed; and the authors of the present work adopt it the more willingly, as, independently of the weight of autho- rity in its favour, it has the recommendation of being the most convenient. By this plan, all the directions which relate to the practical operations of the apothecary are collected in one place, and are thus more easily referred to, than if mixed indiscriminately with other matters, as they must be by any mode of arrangement which makes no distinction between the original medicinal substances and their preparations. Under the head of Materia Medica, therefore, in this Dispensatory, we treat of medicines in the state only in which they are produced by nature, or come into the hands of the apothecary. Of these medicines, such as are recognized by our National Pharmacopoeia are most minutely described; but we consider also all that are included in the officinal catalogues of the British Colleges. Another point in which we accord with the Pharmacopoeias, is the alpha- betical arrangement of the objects of the Materia Medica. As a Dispensatory is intended rather for reference than for regular perusal, it is important that its contents should be so disposed as to facilitate consultation. Medicines, 2 2 Materia Medica. part i. in a work of this kind, are considered as independent objects, to be studied separately, and without any reference to community of source, or similarity of character. Their scientific classification belongs to works which treat of them rather in their relations than their essential properties; and different sys- tems have been adopted, according to the set of relations towards which the mind of the author has been especially directed. Thus, the naturalist classifies them according to the affinities of the several objects in nature from which they are derived; the chemist, according to their composition; the practi- tioner of medicine, according to their effects upon the system in a state of health and disease. But none of these classifications is without imperfec- tions; and a simple alphabetical arrangement is decidedly preferable in every case in which the medicines are considered solely in their individual capa- city. Yet, as it comes within the scope of this work to treat of their phy- siological and therapeutical effects, and as the terms by which these effects are expressed are also the titles of classes to which the medicines belong, it will not be amiss to present the reader with the outlines of a system of classification, by consulting which he will be enabled to ascertain the precise meaning we attach to the terms employed to designate the peculiar action of different medicinal substances. Remedies are divided into general and local, the former acting on the whole system, the latter on particular parts or organs. I. GENERAL REMEDIES include 1. Simple Stimulants, sometimes called Incitants, which, while they raise the actions of the system above the standard of health, exhibit their influence chiefly upon the heart and ar- teries; 2. Narcotics, which especially affect the cerebral functions, and are either stimulant or sedative according as they increase or diminish the na- tural actions; 3. Antispasmodics, which, with a general stimulant power, exert a peculiar influence over the nervous system, exhibited in the relaxa- tion of spasm, the calming of nervous irritation, &c; without any special and decided tendency to the brain; 4. Tonics, which moderately and per- manently exalt the energies of all parts of the frame, without necessarily producing any apparent increase of the natural actions; and 5. Astringents, which, with more or less tonic power, have the property of producing con- traction in the living fibre wherever they come in contact with it. II. LOCAL REMEDIES may be divided into four sections: a. Those affecting the function of a part, namely, 1. Emetics, which act on the stomach, producing vomiting; 2. Cathartics, which act on the bowels, producing a purgative effect; 3. Diuretics, which act on the kidneys, pro- ducing an increased flow of urine; 4. Antilithics, which act on the same organs, preventing the formation of calculous matter; 5. Diaphoretics, which increase the cutaneous discharge; 6. Expectorants, which augment the secretion from the pulmonary mucous membrane, or promote the dis- charge of the secreted matter; 7. Emmenagogues, which excite the men- strual secretion; 8. Sialagogues, which increase the flow of saliva; and 9. Errhines, which increase the discharge from the mucous membrane of the nostrils: b. Those affecting the organization of a part, including 1. Rube- facients, which produce redness and inflammation of the skin; 2. Epis- pastics or Vesicatories, which produce a serous discharge beneath the cuticle, forming a blister; and 3. Escharotics or Caustics, which destroy the life of the part upon which they act: c. Those operating by a mechani- cal agency, consisting of 1. Demulcents, which lubiicate the surface to which they are applied, and prevent the contact of irritating substances, or mingle with these and diminish their acrimony; and 2. Emollients, which serve as vehicles for the application of warmth and moisture, at the same PART I. Materia Medica. 3 time excluding the air: d. Those which act on extraneous matters con- tained within the organs, including 1. Anthelmintics, which destroy worms, or expel them from the bowels; and 2. Antacids, which neutralize acid, whether existing in the alimentary canal, or circulating with the blood. It is believed that all substances employed as medicines, with the excep- tion of a very few which are so peculiar in their action as scarcely to admit of classification, may be distributed without violence among the above classes. Some substances, however, in addition to the properties of the classes to which they are severally attached, possess others in common, which give them practical value, and authorize their association in distinct groups, not recognized in the system of classification, but constantly referred to in medical language. Thus we have Refrigerants, which, when inter- nally administered, diminish animal temperature; Alteratives, which change, in some inexplicable and insensible manner, certain morbid actions of the system; and Carminatives, which, by promoting contraction in the muscular coat of the stomach and bowels, cause the expulsion of flatus. It is common, moreover, to attach distinct names to groups of remedies, with reference to certain effects which are incident to the properties that serve tp arrange them in some more comprehensive class. Thus Narcotics fre- quently promote sleep and relieve pain, and in relation to these properties are called Soporifics and Anodynes; and various medicines, which by diversified modes of action serve to remove chronic inflammation and en- largements of the glands or viscera, are called Deobstruents. These terms are occasionally employed in the following pages, and are here ex- plained, in order that the sense in which we use them may be accurately understood. W, 4 Acaciae Gum mi. part i. ACACIA GUMML U.S. Gum Arabic. "Acacia vera. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. Off Syn. ACACIA. Acacia vera. Gummi. Lond.; ACACIiE ARA- BICS GUMML Ex variis Acaciae speciebus. Ed.; ACACIA ARABICA et ACACIA VERA. Gummi. Dub. Gomme Arabique, Fr.; Arabisches Gummi, Germ.; Gomma Arabica, Ital.; Goma Ara- biga, Span.; Samagh Arebee, Arab. Acacia. Sex. Syst. Polygamia Monoecia.---Nat. Ord. Leguminosae, Trib. Mimoseae. This genus is one of those into which the old genus Mimosa of Linnaeus was divided by Willdenow. The name Acacia was employed by the ancient Greeks to designate the gum-tree of Egypt, and has been appropriately ap- plied to the new genus in which that plant is included. Gen. Ch. Hermaphrodite., Calyx five-toothed. Corolla five-cleft, or formed of five petals. Stamens 4-100. Pistil one. Legume bivalve. Male. Calyx five-toothed. Corolla five-cleft, or formed of five petals. Stamens 4-100. mild. Several species of Acacia contribute to furnish the gum Arabic of the shops. Those which have attracted most attention are the A. vera and A. Arabica, confounded together by Linnaeus under the title of Mimosa Nilolica.* Acacia vera. Willd. Sp. plant, iv. 1805; Hayne, Darstel. und Beschreib. Sfc. x. 34. This is a tree of middling size, with numerous scattered branches, of which the younger are much bent, and covered with a reddish- brown bark. The leaves are alternate and bipinnate, with two pairs of pinnae, of which the lower are usually furnished with ten pairs of leaflets, the upper with eight. The leaflets are very small, oblong-linear, smooth, and supported upon very short footstalks. On the common petiole is a gland between each pair of pinnae. Both the common and partial petiole are smooth. Two sharp spines or rather prickles, from a quarter to half an inch long, of the colour of the smaller branches, and joined together at their base, are found at the insertion of each leaf. The flowers are yellow, ino- dorous, small, and collected in globular heads supported upon slender peduncles, which rise from the axils of the leaves, in number from two to five together. The fruit is a smooth, flat, two-valved legume, divided by contractions, occurring at regular intervals, into several roundish portions, each containing a single seed. This species flourishes in Upper Egypt and Senegal, and is probably scattered over the whole intervening portions of the African continent. The Acacia of the Cape of Good Hope, considered by Sparrman and Thunberg as the Mimosa Nilotica of Linn., and hence * Since the publication of the first edition of this Dispensatory, we have had an oppor- tunity of examining Hayne's great work on medical plants, entitled Gelreue Darstellung und Beschreibung der in der Arzneykunde gebrauchlichen Gewdchse, in to be dif- ferent, and is appropriately denominated cerasirl. This principle is colourless, semitrans- p.irent, tasteless, inodorous, uncrystallizable, insoluble in alcohol, insoluble in cold water, in which it softens and swells a little, and convertible by the action of boiling water into arabin, with which it appears to be isomeric. In this last property it differs materially from bassorin, whicli is not changed by boiling water. M. Guerin suggests that the natu- ral heat of the climate in tropical countries produces the same effect upon the exuded gums as artificial heat in colder regions, and that consequently the acacia gum consists chiefly of arabin.—Note to third edition. PART I. Acaciae Gummi. 9 Gum Arabic undergoes no change by time when kept in a dry place. Its aqueous solution, if strong, remains for a considerable length of time unal- tered, but ultimately becomes sour in consequenee of the production of acetic acid. At a temperature between 300° and 400°, the gum becomes soft, and may be drawn into threads. At a red heat it is decomposed, yielding, among other substances, a minute proportion of ammonia. When burnt, it leaves about three per cent, of ashes, consisting, according to Guerin, of the car- bonates of potassa and of lime, a little phosphate of lime, chloride of potas- sium, oxide of iron, alumina, magnesia, and silica. The lime exists in the gum combined with an excess of malic acid, which gives to its solution the property of reddening litmus paper. Besides pure gum or arabin, gum Arabic contains a very small proportion of some azotized body, several saline substances, and a considerable quantity of uncombined water, amounting, according to Guerin, to 16 or 17 per cent. Pure gum may be obtained by treating the compound of gum and protoxide of lead with sulphuretted hy- drogen. Its constituents, according to Gay-Lussac and Thenard, are car- bon 42.23, oxygen 50.84, and hydrogen 6.93; or carbon 42.23, and water 57.77; and this result accords very closely with that obtained by Berzelius. The analysis of Guerin is somewhat different, from the circumstance that he succeeded in depriving the gum more thoroughly of moisture. The properties above described belong to gum Arabic generally. There are, however, pharmaceutic varieties differing from each other to a degree and in a manner which deserve notice. 1. Gum that is transparent and readily soluble. This constitutes by far the greater portion of the commer- cial varieties distinguished by the names of Turkey gum and gum Senegal. It is characterized by its transparency, ready solubility, and the compara- tively slight degree of thickness and viscidity of its solution. Under this head may be included the gomme blanche fendillee of Guibourt, and other French writers. It is distinguished by the whiteness and deficient transpa- rency of the pieces, attributable to the minute cracks or fissures with which they abound, and which render them very brittle and easily pulverizable. This peculiar structure is generally ascribed to the influence of solar heat and light; but is conjectured by Hayne to arise from the exudation of the juice in the frothy state noticed by Ehrenberg. Though the pieces are somewhat opaque, each of the minute fragments into which they may be broken is perfectly transparent and homogeneous. This variety, in conse- quence of its prompt and entire solubility, is usually preferred for medical use, and for most purposes in pharmacy. 2. Gum less transparent and less soluble. Guibourt has proposed for a variety of this gum the name of gomme pelliculee, from the circumstance that the masses are always apparently covered, on some part of their surface, by a yellowish opaque pellicle. Its transparency is less perfect than that of the former variety; it is less quickly and less completely dissolved by water, and forms a more viscid solution. It melts with difficulty in the mouth; and adheres tenaciously to the teeth. It is found in all the commercial varieties of gum, but least in that from Egypt. In Europe it is frequently called gum Gedda. Between these two varieties of gum there are insensible gradations, so that it would be difficult always to classify the specimens which may come under notice. Medical Properties and Uses. This gum is used in medicine, chiefly as a demulcent. By the viscidity of its solution, it serves to cover and sheathe inflamed surfaces; and by blending with and diluting irritating matters, tends to blunt their acrimony. Hence it is advantageously employed in catarrhal affections and irritation of the fiuces, by being held in the mouth and al- lowed slowly to dissolve. Internally administered it has been found espe- 10 Acetosella. PART I. cially useful in inflammatory affections of the gastric and intestinal mucous membrane; and its employment has even been extended to similar affections of the lungs and urinary organs. Whether it is beneficial in the latter enscs in anv other manner than by the dilution resulting from its watery vehicle, is a doubtful point. By some physicians it is thought to possess a posi- tively sedative influence over the action of inflamed surfaces to which it is applied in the state of solution. As an article of diet in febrile cases, and others requiring an adherence to a very rigid regimen, it is perhaps superior to almost any other substance. If not positively sedative, it is certainly not in the least irritating, while it is sufficiently nourishing to prevent the inju- rious action of the organs upon themselves. Its nutritive properties have been denied; but the'fact of their existence rests on incontrovertible evidence. The Moors and negroes live on it almost exclusively during the period of its collection and conveyance to market; the Busliman Hottentots, in times of scarcity, support themselves upon it for days together; and we are told that the apes of South Africa are very fond of it. Six ounces a day are said to be sufficient to sustain life in a healthy adult. In many cases of disease, its solution may with propriety constitute the exclusive drink and food of the patient. It is best prepared by dissolving an ounce of the gum in a pint of boiling water, and allowing the solution to cool. In pharmacy, gum Arabic is extensively used for the suspension of insoluble substances in water, and for the formation of pills and troches. ' Off. Prep. Confectio Amygdalae, U.S., L,ond., Dub.; Emulsio Acaciae Arabicae, Ed., Dub.; Mucilago Acaciae, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Mistura Acaciae, Lond.; Pulvis Cretae Compositus, Lond., Dub.; Pulvis Tragacanthae Com- positus, Lond.; Syrupus Acaciae, U.S.; Trochisci Gummosi, Ed. W. ACETOSELLA. Und. Wood-sorrel. " Oxalis Acetosella." Lond. Oseille de bucheron, Surelle, Fr.; Sauerklee, Germ.; Alleluja, Ital.; Acedcrilla, Span. Oxalis. Sex. Syst. Decandria Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Oxalideae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved. Petals five, connected by the claws. Sta- mens unequal, the five shorter exterior ones connected at the base. Cap- sules opening elastically at the corners, five angled. Seeds covered with an arillus. Pursh. Oxalis Acetosella. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 780.; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 563. t. 201. The wood-sorrel is a small perennial, herbaceous, stemless plant, with numerous radical leaves, which are all ternate, and supported upon slender hairy petioles. The leaflets are obcordate, entire, hairy, of a vel- lowish-green colour, but frequently purplish on their under surface. The scape or flower-stalk, which usually exceeds the petioles in length, is fur- nished with two scaly bractes near the middle, and terminates in a large white, or flesh-coloured flower, marked with red streaks. The styles are of the same length with the inner stamens. This plant is a native both of Europe and N. America. In this country it is found chiefly in the mountainous regions of the interior. It selects shady places, such as woods, groves, and hedges; and flowers in May. Other indigenous species of Oxalis, more widely diffused than the O. Acetosella, PART I. Acetum. 11 might be substituted for it without disadvantage, as they possess similar pro- perties. They all have ternate leaves with obcordate leaflets, and, with the single exception of the O. violacea, bear yellow flowers. The whole her- baceous portion may be used. Properties. Wood-sorrel is without smell, and has a pleasant sour taste. It owes its acidity to the binoxalate of potassa, which is separated for use, and sometimes sold in the shops under the name of the salt of sorrel. In England it is mixed with a considerable proportion of bitartrate of potassa, and sold as the essential salt of lemons. It comes from Switzerland and Germany, where it is prepared from different species of Oxalis and Rumex. The following process is employed. The plants previously bruised are ma- cerated for some days in water, and then submitted to pressure. The liquid thus obtained is mixed with clay and occasionally agitated for two days. At the end of this time, the clear liquor is decanted, and evaporated so that crystals may form when it cools. These are purified by solution and a new crystallization. Five hundred parts of the plant afford four parts of the acidulous salt. The same salt may be prepared by cautiously dropping a solution of potassa into a saturated solution of oxalic acid. The binoxalate crystallizes when a sufficient quantity of the alkali has been added. It is in rhomboidal crystals, of a sour, pungent, bitterish taste, soluble in ten times their weight of boiling water, much less so in cold water, and unalterable in the air. It is employed for removing iron mould and ink stains from linen, and sometimes as a test for lime. It contains 72.48 parts or two equivalents of oxalic acid, 47.5 parts or one equivalent of potassa, and 18 parts or two equivalents of water. Medical Properties. This and other species of sorrel are refrigerant; and their infusion, or a whey made by boiling them in milk, may be used as a pleasant drink in febrile and inflammatory affections. A solution of the binoxalate of potassa is used on the continent of Europe as a substitute for lemonade. The fresh plant, eaten raw, is said to be useful in scorbutic cases. W. ACETUM. U.S., Lond., Ed. Vinegar. Off. Syn. ACETUM VINI. Dub. Vinaigre, Fr.: Essig, Germ.; Aceto, Ital.; Vinngre, Span. Vinegar is a sour liquid, the product of a peculiar fermentation called ace- tous. Viewed chemically, it is a very dilute solution of acetic acid, contain- ing foreign matters. (See Acidum Aceticum.) The acetous fermentation can be induced in all liquors which have under- gone or are susceptible of the vinous fermentation. Thus sugar and water, saccharine vegetable juices, infusion of malt, cider, and wine, may be con- verted into vinegar, if subjected to the action of a ferment, and exposed, with access of air, to a temperature between 75° and 90°. In different countries, different liquors are used for conversion into vine- gar. In France and other wine countries, wine is employed; in Britain, in- fusion of malt; and in the United States, for the most part, cider. For the use of the white lead manufacturer, it has, of latter years, been extensively made from potatoes. 12 Acetum. part r. The method pursued in making wine vinegar at Orleans, in France, where it is manufactured in the greatest perfection, is as follows. Casks are em- ployed of about the capacity of 88 wine gallons, those being preferred which have been previously used for a similar purpose. They are placed upright in three rows, one above another; each cask having an opening at the top of about two inches in diameter. In summer, no artificial heat is used; but in winter, the temperature of the manufactory is maintained at about 68°. The wine intended to be converted into vinegar is kept in separate casks, contain- ing beecli shavings, on which the lees are deposited. Twenty-two gallons of good vinegar, boiling hot, are first introduced into each vinegar cask, and at the end of eight days, about two gallons of the wine, drawn off clear, are added; and the same quantity is added every eight days, until the casks are full. After this, the vinegar takes about fifteen days to form. At the end of that time, only half the contents of each cask is drawn off; and it is filled up again by the addition of two gallons of wine every eight days as at first. In some cases, however, the quantity of wine added, and the intervals be- tween the successive additions, are greater or less than those here indicated; the variations in this respect depending upon the progress of the fermenta- tion. To determine this point, the vinegar makers plunge a stave into the cask; and if, upon withdrawing it, they find it covered with froth, they judge that the fermentation is going on properly, and, accordingly, add more wine. Two sorts of wine vinegar occur in commerce, the white and the red; the former being derived from the acetification of white, the latter, of red wine. Red vinegar, however, may be deprived of its colour and rendered limpid, by being passed repeatedly through animal charcoal. When the infusion of malt is employed, the process is as follows. The infusion, when properly cooled, is put into large and deep fermenting tuns, where it is mixed with yeast, anil kept in fermentation for four or five days. The liquor is now distributed into smaller vessels, placed in a room heated by means of a stove, and kept there for about six weeks, or until the whole is soured. It is then transferred to common barrels, which are placed in the open air, the bung-holes being simply covered with a tile to keep out the rain; in which situation they are allowed to remain for four or five months, or until perfect vinegar has formed. The process is then completed in the following manner. Large tuns are prepared, with false bottoms, on which is put a quantity of the refuse of raisins and other fruit, technically called rape. These tuns are worked in pairs, one being completely filled with the vinegar from the barrels, and the other only three-fourths filled. In the lat- ter, the fermentation takes place most readily; and the process is rendered more active alternately in one or the other tun, by filling up each daily from the other, until the process is completed. In the United States, cider is the principal liquid from which vinegar is prepared. In families, it is made from cider which has become too sour, and from the daily remains of the family consumption. These are put into the vinegar barrel, in a warm place, along with some good vinegar, or with what is called the mother of vinegar, that is, the peculiar gelatinous coagu- lum which forms in this liquid during the progress of the acetous fermenta- tion, and which acts as the ferment. In a few weeks the vinegar will be formed. When vinegar is made on a large scale from cider, the liquor is placed in barrels with their bung-holes open, which are exposed during the summer to the heat of the sun. The acetification is completed in the course of about two years. The progress of the fermentation, however, must be PART I. Acetum. 13 watched; and as soon as perfect vinegar has formed, it should be racked off into clean barrels. Without this precaution, the acetous fermentation would run into the putrefactive, and the whole of the vinegar be spoiled. The early cider is not so good for conversion into vinegar as the late, in consequence of the abundance of malic acid which the former contains; for it must be recollected, that in cider, the malic acid is not the subject matter of the acetous fermentation, but the alcohol which it contains as a vinous liquor. Vinegar may be clarified, without injuring its aroma, by throwing about a tumbler full of boiling milk into from fifty to sixty wine gallons of the liquid, and stirring the mixture. This operation has the effect, at the same time, of rendering red vinegar pale. The series of changes which occur during the acetous fermentation is called acetification. During its progress, there is a slight disengagement of heat; the liquor absorbs oxygen, becomes turbid, and filaments form, which are observed to move in various directions, until, finally, the fermentation being completed, they are deposited in a mass of a pultaceous consistence. The liquor now becomes transparent, its alcohol has disappeared, and acetic acid formed in its place. How then is this change of alcohol into acetic acid effected? Liebig supposes that it takes place in consequence of the formation of a new substance, derived from the partial dehydrogenation of the alcohol, called aldehyd. The alcohol, consisting of four equiv. of carbon, six of hydrogen, and two of oxygen, loses three equiv. of hydrogen through the influence of the atmosphere, and becomes aldehyd, composed of four equiv. of carbon, three of hydrogen, and two of oxygen. This, by the absorption of one equiv. of oxygen, becomes four equiv. of carbon, three of hydrogen, and three of oxygen, that is, acetic acid. See Journ. de Phar- macte, xxiii. 227. Thenard describes aldehyd as a colourless, very in- flammable, ethereal liquid of the density of 0.790. It absorbs oxygen with avidity, and is thus converted into aceiic acid. Its name alludes to its rela- tion to alcohol, a/cohol dehydrogeivMed. Acetic acid is not produced exclusively by the acetous fermentation. Thus it is found that sugar, mixed with water in which the gluten of wheat has fermented, will be converted into vinegar, without access of air, and without any appearance of fermentation. The infusion of malt, provided sufficient hops have not been added, becomes sour in the course of a few days; and the same is the case with beer and cider if long kept. Properties. Vinegar, when good, is of an agreeable penetrating odour, and pleasant acid taste, lis colour varies from pale yellow to deep red. According to the London College, a fluidounce is saturated by a drachm of the crystals of carbonate of soda. When long kepi, particularly if exposed to the air, it becomes muddy and ropy, acquires an unpleasant smell, putre- fies, and loses its acidity. This result may, in a good measure, be prevented by boiling it for a few minutes, so as to coagulate and separate the gluten, and immediately transferring it to bottles, which must be well corked. The essential ingredients of vinegar are acetic acid and water, in the pro- portion of about five parts of the former to ninety-five of the latter; but be- sides these it contains various other substances, derived from the particular vinous liquor from which it may have been prepared. Among these may be mentioned, colouring matter, gum, starch, gluten, sugar, a little alcohol, and frequently malic and tartaric acids, with minute portions of alkaline and earthy salts. Adulterations. The principal foreign substances which vinegar is liable to contain, are sulphuric acid and certain acrid substances, introduced by de- 3 14 Acetum. part r. sign, and copper and lead derived from improper vessels used in its manu- facture. Muriatic and nitric acids are but rarely present. Muriate of baryta will detect sulphuric acid, by producing an abundant white precipitate in the diluted vinegar; whereas, if it be pure, the test will produce a slight yellow- ish, flocculent precipitate. Muriatic acid may be discovered by adding to a distilled portion of the suspected vinegar, a solution of nitrate of silver, which will throw down a curdy white precipitate. If nitric acid be present, it may be detected by saturating the vinegar with carbonate of potassa, and evapo- rating to obtain the saline matter. If nitrate of potassa be present in this, it will deflagrate partially on live coals, and give reddish vapours of ni- trous acid, when mixed with brass filings, and treated with sulphuric acid. The acrid substances most usually introduced into vinegar are red pepper, long pepper, pyrethrum, grains of paradise, and mustard seed. These may be detected by evaporating so as to form an extract, which will have an acrid, biting taste, if any one of the substances mentioned be present. By far the most dangerous impurities in vinegar are copper and lead. The former may be detected by a brownish precipitate on the addition of ferrocyanate of po- tassa to the concentrated vinegar; the latter, by a blackish precipitate with sulphuretted hydrogen, and a yellow one with chromate of potassa. (Cheval- lier, Amer. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 33, from the Journ. de Chim. Med.) It may be proper to add, in connexion with this subject, that English malt vinegar always contains sulphuric acid, which the manufacturer is allowed by law to add in a certain proportion. The strongest kind, called proof vinegar, is estimated to contain five per cent, of acetic acid, and has added to it, in order to strengthen its acidity, one-thousandth of its weight of sul- phuric acid. In testing this vinegar, allowance should be made for this pro- portion of sulphuric acid, equivalent to one grain and fourteen-hundredths of sulphate of baryta to the fluidounce. Vinegar is rendered aromatic by various additions; such as citron, thyme, and rosemary. Henry''s aromatic vinegar is an acetic solution of camphor, and of the oils of cloves, lavender, and rosemary. The Edinburgh College have a preparation of this kind under the name of Acidum Aceticum Aro- maticum, to which head the reader is referred. Medical Propertiet. Vinegar acts as a refrigerant and diuretic. With this view, it is added to diluent drinks in inflammatory fevers. It is useful in affections of the urinary organs, attended with a white deposite from the urine, which consists of phosphate of lime mixed with phosphate of magnesia and ammonia. It is sometimes used as a clyster, diluted with twice or thrice its bulk of water. It has been supposed to be a powerful antidote to the narcotic poisons, but this is a mistake. In the case of opium the best authorities unite in considering it worse than useless, as it rather gives activity to the poison than neutralizes it. Externally it is employed as a fomentation or lotion in bruises and sprains. Diluted with water, it forms the best means of clearing the eye from small particles of lime. Its vapour is inhaled in certain states of sorethroat; and is diffused through sick rooms under the impression that it neutralizes pestilential effluvia, though in fact it has no other effect than to cover unpleasant smells. The dose is from one to four fluidrachms; as a clyster from one to two fluidounces. Off. Prep. Acetum Destillatum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Cataplasma Sinapis, Lond., Dub.; Ceratum Saponis, U.S., Lond.; Emplastrum Am- moniaci, U.S.; Linimentum iEruginis, I,ond.; Tinctura Opii Acetata, U.S. B. PART I. Acid. Acet. Empyreum. 15 ACIDUM ACETICUM EMPYREUMATICUM. U.S. Pyroligneous Acid. " Acidum aceticum impurum, ex ligno destillatum. Impure acetic acid, obtained from wood by distillation." U.S. Acide pyro-ligneux, Fr.; Brenzliche Holzsaure, Germ.; Acido pyrolignico, Ital. This is the impure acetic acid obtained from wood by its destructive dis- tillation in close vessels. Wood, when charred, yields many volatile pro- ducts, among which are an acid liquor, empyreumatic oil, and tar contain- ing creosote and some other newly discovered proximate principles. When the carbonization is performed in close vessels, these products, which are lost in the ordinary process of charring, may be collected, and at the same time, a larger amount of charcoal is obtained. The acid liquor, when freed as far as possible by rest from the tar and oil, is the pyroligneous acid. Carbonization in close vessels, with a view to preserve the volatile pro- ducts, was first put in practice by Mollerat at Nuits in France. The appa- ratus employed at Choisy, near Paris, is thus described by Thenard. It consists of, 1st, a furnace with a moveable top; 2d, a strong sheet-iron cylinder, sufficiently capacious to contain a cord of wood, and furnished with a sheet-iron cover; 3d, a sheet-iron tube proceeding horizontally,from the upper and lateral part of the cylinder to the distance of about a foot; 4th, a cop- per tube connected with the last, which is bent in such a manner as to plunge successively to the bottom of two casks filled with water, and, after rising out of the second, is bent back, and made to terminate in the furnace. At the bottom of each cask, the tube dilates into a ball, from the under part of which another tube proceeds, which, passing water-tight through the cask, terminates above a vessel, intended to receive the condensible products. The sheet-iron cylinder, being filled with wood, and closed by luting on its cover with fire-clay, is let down into the furnace by the help of a crane. The fire is then applied, and when the process is completed, the cylinder is removed by the same means, to be replaced by another. During the carbonization, the volatile products are received by the tube; and those which are condensible, being the pyroligneous acid and tar, are condensed by the water in the casks, and collect in the lower bends of the tubes, from which they run into the several recipients; while the incondensible products, being inflammable gases, are discharged into the furnace, where, by their combus- tion, they assist in maintaining the heat. Eight hundred pounds of wood afford, on an average, thirty-five gallons of crude acid, weighing about three hundred pounds. Properties. Pyroligneous acid is a brown transparent liquid, having a strong smoky smell. It consists essentially of acetic acid, diluted with more or less water, and holding in solution tar and empyreumatic oil. It may be purified by chemical means, and furnishes a strong acetic acid. In its purified stale it is sometimes used in the manufacture of white lead. In the extensive lead works of the Messrs. Lewis, of Philadelphia, pyrolig- neous acid is made on a large scale, after the French method, with a view, after purification, to its employment in the manufacture of that substance. Medical and Economical Properties. Pyroligneous acid, in a dilute state, has been used as an application to gangrene, and ill-conditioned ulcers. It acts on the principle of an antiseptic and stimulant, the former property being probably chiefly due to the presence of creosote. Several cases in which it was successfully employed, are reported in a paper by Dr. T. Y. 16 Acidum Arseniosum. PART i. Simons, of Charleston, S. C. published in the fifth volume of the American Journal of Medical. Sciences. This acid is advantageously applied to the preservation of animal food. Mr. William Ramsay, (Edin. Phil. Journ. iii. 21.) has made some in- teresting experiments on its use for that purpose. Herrings and other fish, simply dipped in the acid and afterwards dried in the shade, were effectually preserved, and when eaten, were found very agreeable to the taste. Her- rings slightly cured with salt, by being sprinkled with it for six hours, then drained, next immersed in pyroligneous acid for a few seconds, and after- wards dried in the shade for two months, were found by Mr. Ramsay to be of fine quality and flavour. Fresh beef, dipped in the acid in the summer season for the short space of a minute, was perfectly sweet in the following spring. Professor Silliman states, that one quart of the acid added to the common pickle for a barrel of hams, at the time they are laid down, will impart to them the smoked flavour as perfectly as if they had undergone the ordinary process of smoking. B. 1 "»9Qftw— ACIDUM ARSENIOSUM. U.S., Lond. Arsenious Acid. Off. Syn. OXIDUM ARSENICI, Ed.; ARSENICI OXYDUM AL- BUM. Dub. White arsenic; Acide arsenieux, Arsenic blanc, Fr.; Arsenichte Saure, Weisser Ar- senik, Germ.; Arsenik, Dan., Swed., Polish; Acido arsenioso, Arsenico, Ital; Arsenico bianco, Span. The basis of all the arsenical preparations is a peculiar metal called arsenic. It is brittle and of a steel-gray colour, and possesses much brilliancy when recently broken or sublimed. Exposed to the air, its surface becomes dull and blackens. Its texture is granular, and sometimes a little scaly. Rubbed in the hands it communicates a peculiar odour, but it is devoid of taste. Its sp. gr. is 5.7 according to Berzelius, 5.9 according to Guibourt. When heated to about 356° of Fahr. (Berzelius), it sublimes without fusing, giving rise to vapours having an alliaceous or garlicky odour. Its subliming point is differently stated by Dr. J. K. Mitchell and Mr. Durand. According to these experimenters, this point is as high as a red heat visible in the dark. (Journ. Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 108. July 1832.) Its equivalent number is 37.7. Arsenic forms two well characterized combinations with oxygen, both hav- ing acid properties, called arsenious and arsenic acid. Preparation, SfC. Arsenious acid is prepared chiefly in Bohemia and Saxony, where it is procured on a large scale, as a collateral product, during the smelting of cobalt ores, which are almost invariably accompanied by arsenic. These ores are roasted in reverberatory furnaces, with long hori- zontal flues. The arsenic is converted, by combustion, into arsenious acid, which sublimes and condenses on the sides of the flues. In this state it is not pure, and requires a second sublimation, which is performed in cast iron vessels, fitted with conical heads of the same material, having an openino- at the summit. The vessels are placed over a furnace, and brought to a red heat, when a portion of the impure arsenious acid is thrown in through the opening, which is immediately stopped. This portion being sublimed, a new portion is introduced in a similar manner. Finally the vessels are PART I. Acidum Arseniosum. 17 allowed to cool, and the heads being removed, the purified acid is found attached to them in vitreous layers, at first as transparent as glass, but gradu- ally becoming, by contact with the air, opaque at their surface. These are broken up in fragments of a convenient size, and thrown into commerce. The arsenious acid which reaches this country is generally packed in casks, containing from two to five hundred pounds, and is shipped principally from the ports of Hamburg and Bremen. Properties. Arsenious acid, as it occurs in commerce, is in masses exhi- biting a vitreous fracture. It is of a milk-white colour exteriorly, but inter- nally, perfectly transparent. As first sublimed, the whole mass is transpa- rent, but it gradually becomes white and opaque, the change proceeding pro- gressively from the surface inwards. The nature of this change has not been well determined. According to Guibourt, the sp. gr. of the transparent variety is 3.73; that of the opaque, 3.69. The experiments, however, of Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Durand make the density of the former variety from 3.208 to 3.333. As it occurs in the shops for medical use, it is in the form of a white powder, almost as fine as flour. In this state it is sometimes adulte- rated with powdered chalk, or sulphate of lime, a fraud which is easily de- tected by exposing the powder to a heat sufficient to evaporate the arseni- ous acid, when these impurities will be left behind. It is erroneously stated to have an acrid taste. Dr. Christison asserts that it possesses hardly any taste, inasmuch as it produces merely a faint sweetish impression on the pal- ate. In strong, hot solution, it has an austere taste, most nearly resembling that of sulphate of zinc. (Mitchell und Durand.) It has no smell even when in a state of vapour; as the garlicky odour, which is sometimes attri- buted to it, belongs only to the vapours of the metal; and when apparently arising from the acid itself, is, in fact, owing to its reduction. Its point of sublimation, according to Berzelius, is at an incipient red heat; but according to Mitchell and Durand, it is lower instead of higher than that of metallic arsenic, being only 425° of Fahr. When slowly sublimed, it condenses in regular oclohedral crystals, exhibiting a strong lustre. It consists of two equivalents of arsenic 75.4, and three equivalents of oxygen 24=99.4. Arsenio-is acid is soluble in water. Guibourt states that its solubility dif- fers according as it is transparent or opaque. Thus 1000 parts of water at 69° Fahr. dissolve 9.6 of the transparent, and 12.5 of the opaque variety; and the same quantity of boiling water dissolves 97 parts of the transparent, retaining 18 when cold, and 115 parts of the opaque, retaining 29 on cool- ing. These results show that a boiling saturated solution, when allowed to cool, retains more of the acid in solution, than can be dissolved in cold wa- ter without a preliminary boiling, and teach the propriety of employing a boiling temperature when searching for this mineral. The solubility of the powder of arsenious acid, as prepared for use in medicine, corresponds, of course, with that of the opaque variety. Medical Properties. Internally, the action of the preparations of arsenic is alterative and febrifuge; externally, for the most part, violently irritant. They have been considered as peculiarly applicable to the treatment of dis- eases of a periodical character. When commencing their exhibition, the dose should be small, and afterwards gradually increased, its operation being carefully watched. When the specific effects of the medicine are produced, it must be immediately laid aside. These are, a general disposition to oede- ma, especially of the face and eyelids, a feeling of stiffness in these parts, itching of the skin, tenderness of the mouth, loss of appetite, and uneasiness and sickness of the stomach. The peculiar swelling produced is called oede- ma arsenicalis. The principal preparations now in use are the arsenious 3* 18 Acidum Arseniosum. PART i. acid, the substance under consideration, and the solution of arsenite of potassa, or Fowler's solution. The arseniates of potassa and soda, and the sulphuret of arsenic are also occasionally employed. One grain of the arseniate of soda, dissolved in a fluidounce of water, forms the arsenical solution of Pearson. It may be questioned whether the different arsenical preparations act pre- cisely in the same way, when exhibited internally. It is supposed by some that the selection need only be regulated by the convenience for exhibition. The late Dr. Physick, whose opinion is entitled to great respect, thought other- wise; for, with regard to the arsenious acid, and the solution of arsenite of potassa, (Fowler's solution,) the result of his experience was that they act differently, and cannot be substituted for each other. Some writers have entirely proscribed the use of the arsenical prepara- tions in medicine. Amongst these, one of the most authoritative is Mr. Brande, who considers their introduction into the Pharmacopoeias as a great evil, on account of their affording facilities, by legalizing the medicinal use of the poison, for its employment for self-destruction and murder. At the same time he believes that more harm than benefit has resulted from its ad- ministration. (Man. of Pharm. p. 29.) Wre confess, however, that we do not share these opinions with Mr. Brande. Arsenic is confessedly a virulent poison, and is frequently employed for criminal purposes ; but when it is considered how extensively it is used in the arts, it is questionable whether its exclusion from the Materia Medica would much lessen the facility of ob- taining it. On the other hand, it may be asked, are poisons more dangerous as medicines than other medicinal substances, if given in their appropriate doses ? We should think not; though we freely acknowledge, that dan- gerous mistakes are more apt to occur. If the views of Mr. Brande were carried out, they would lead to the discarding of the corrosive chloride of mercury, hydrocyanic acid, strychnia, and other articles from the Materia Medica; but we believe that no practitioner will be found willing to strike these substances from the list of remedies. While we wish to retain arsenic as a potent remedy in the hands of the judicious practitioner, we should be glad to find the public authorities in the United States subjecting the sale of this poison to strict regulations, under heavy penalties for their infraction. Speaking of the practice in Europe, Berzelius remarks, " Le commerce de l'acide arsenieux est toujours soumis a une surveillance severe, et l'achat n'en est permis qu'a ceux, qui ont donne des preuves legales qu'il leur est indispensable dans l'exercise de leur etat. A l'exception de ces cas, l'acheteur et le vendeur sont soumis a une respon- sabilite tres severe." (Traite de Chimie, ii. 431.) Arsenic has been exhibited in a great variety of diseases, the principal of which are scirrhus and cancer, especially cancer of the lip; anomalous ulcers; intermittent fever; chronic rheumatism, particularly that form of it attended with pains in the bones; diseases of the bones, especially nodes; frontal neuralgia; and different painful affections of the head, known under the names of hemicrania and periodical headache. It has been extolled as a remedy in certain cutaneous affections, particularly lepra. Cases of its efficacy in several of these diseases will be mentioned here, while its effects in other complaints will be noticed under the article Liquor Potassse Arsenitis, to which the reader is referred. Its external application has been principally restricted to cancer, and anomalous and malignant ulcers, espe- cially of that kind denominated noli me tangere. For a complete list of the diseases in which arsenic has been tried, the reader is referred to Mr. Hill's paper in the Edin. Med. Journal, vols. v. and vi. PART I. Acidum Arseniosum. 19 Arsenic is thought highly of by some practitioners in cases of lupus, and ill-looking sores of the face, lips, and tongue, and sometimes effects a cure. Dupuytren was in the habit of using with advantage a powder composed of one part of arsenious acid and twenty-four parts of calomel, as a topical appli- cation to herpes exedens, and to the foul ulcers occurring in those who have undergone repeated courses of mercury. Arsenic is the chief ingredient in nearly all the empyrical remedies for the cure of cancer by external application. Plunket's caustic was a secret remedy of this kind, of great celebrity, and consisted of the Ranunculus acris and Ranunculus Flammula, each an ounce, bruised, and mixed with a drachm of arsenious acid, and five scruples of sulphur. The whole was beaten into a paste, formed into balls, and dried in the sun. When used, these balls are rubbed up with yolk of egg, and spread on pig's bladder. The use of the vegetable matter is to destroy the cuticle; for, unless this is done, the arsenic will not act. Mr. Samuel Cooper thinks this caustic was never of any permanent benefit in genuine cancer, but has effected perfect cures in some examples of lupus, and malignant ulcers of the lips and roots of the nails. The late Dr. Rush (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. ii. 212,) has given an account of the cancer powder of a certain Dr. Hugh Martin, who was surgeon to one of the Pennsylvania regiments during the American Revolution. Dr. Rush had witnessed its application in several cases, and bears testimony to its having performed complete cures in several cancerous ulcers, mostly seated on the nose or cheeks; but where the disease was much connected with the lymphatic system, or with scrofula, it always failed. Upon the death of Dr. Martin, Dr. Rush obtained some of the powder, and having subjected it to analysis, found its active ingredient to be arsenious acid, in the proportion of about one-fortieth of the whole powder. The remainder was vegetable matter, and, in the specimen which Dr. Rush experimented upon, consisted of belladonna. The powder in question gave less pain than the nitrate of silver, and seldom produced an eschar, but only moderate inflammation; the vegetable matter with which the arsenious acid was mixed mitigating the violence of its action. Dr. Martin sometimes touched the ulcers with a feather, dipped in a liquid which was probably a solution of arsenious acid. At Paris, an arsenical paste of the following composition is used as an application to malignant ulcers:—Red sulphuret of mercury 70 parts; dragon's blood 22 parts; arsenious acid 8 parts. It is applied, made up into a paste with saliva. The pain produced by this composition is very severe, and its application dangerous. The practice of sprinkling unmixed arse- nious acid on ulcers is now reprobated, as fraught with the greatest danger. Mr. S. Cooper characterizes it as a murderous practice. It may, however, be used either in solution, or reduced by some mild ointment. A lotion may be formed of eight grains of arsenious acid and the same quantity of carbonate of potassa, dissolved in four fluidounces of distilled water; and a cerate, of one drachm of arsenious acid and twelve drachms of simple cerate. The arsenic cerate of the U. S. Pharm. is only of half this strength. (See Ceratum Arsenici.) The lotion is in effect a solution of arsenite of potassa. Febure's remedy for cancer consisted of ten grains of arsenious acid dis- solved in a pint of distilled water, to which were added an ounce of extractum conii, three fluidounces of liquor plumbi subacetatis, and a fluidrachm of tinct. opii. With this the cancer was washed every morning. Febure's formula for internal exhibition was, arsenious acid two grains, rhubarb half an ounce; syrup of chicory, q. s.; distilled water a pint. Of this mixture, 20 Acidum Arseniosum. PART i. a tablespoonful, which contained about a twelfth of a grain of the arid, was given every night and morning, with half a fluidraclun of the syrup of poppies. The dose was gradually increased to six tablespoonfuls. Arsenious acid may also be given in pills. A convenient formula is to mix one grain of the acid with ten grains of sugar, and to beat the mixture with crum of bread, so as to form a pilular mass, to be divided into ten pills, one of which is a dose. The Asiatic pills, so called, consist of arsenious acid and black pepper, in the proportion of 1 part of the former to 80 of the latter. Properties of Arsenious Acid as a Poison. Arsenious acid, in an over- dose, administered internally, or applied externally, acts with very great energy, and generally destroys life in a short time. The symptoms it pro- duces are an austere taste; fetid state of the mouth; frequent ptyalism; con- tinual hawking; constriction of the pharynx and oesophagus; the sensation of the teeth being on edge; hickups; nausea; anxiety; frequent sinkings; burning pain at the precordia; inflammation of the lips, tongue, palate, throat, and oesophagus; irritable stomach, so as not to be able to support the blandest drinks; vomiting of matters, sometimes brown, at other times bloody; black, horribly fetid stools; pulse small, frequent, concentrated, and irregular, occasionally slow and unequal; palpitations; syncope; insatiable thirst; burning heat over the whole body, or a sensation of icy coldness; difficult respiration; cold sweats; scanty, red, and bloody urine; change in the countenance; a livid circle round the eye-lids; swelling and itching of the body; livid spots over the surface, and occasionally a miliary eruption; prostration of strength; loss of feeling, especially in the feet and hands; deli- rium; convulsions, often accompanied with insupportable priapism; falling off of the hair; detachment of the cuticle, &c. It is very rare to observe all these symptoms in the same individual. In some cases, indeed, they are nearly all wanting, death taking place without any pain or prominent symp- tom. After death, the morbid appearances are various. In some cases, no vestige of lesion can be discovered. The appearances, however, in the generality of cases, are the following. The mouth, stomach, and intestines are inflamed; the stomach and duodenum exhibit spots resembling eschars, and perforations of all their coats; and the villous coat of the former is in a manner destroyed, and reduced to the consistence of a reddish-brown pulp. Dr. Christison divides the poisonous effects of arsenious acid into three orders of cases, according to the character and violence of the symptoms. In the first order, the poison produces symptoms of irritation and inflamma- tion along the course of the alimentary canal, and commonly kills in from one to three days. In the second, the signs of inflammation are moderate, or even altogether wanting, and death occurs in five or six hours, at a period too early for inflammation to be always fully developed. In the third order of cases, two stages occur, one in which inflammatory symptoms are de- veloped, as in the first order; the other, marked by symptoms referrible to nervous irritation, such as imperfect palsy of the arms or legs, epilepsy, tetanus, hysterical affections, mania, and coma. It is a general character of this poison to induce inflammation of the stomach in almost all instances, provided death does not take place immediately, whatever be the part to which it is applied. Thus the poison, when applied to a fresh wound, will give rise to the same morbid appearances in the stomach and intestines, as when it is swallowed. In some cases, observed by Drs. Mall and Bailie, the rectum was much inflamed, while the colon and small intestines es- caped. The precise rank which should be assigned, in the scale of poisons, to PART I. Acidum Arseniosum. 21 arsenious acid when applied externally, is still undetermined. One set of observers contend that its external application is not attended with great danger, while another party conceives that it acts as a virulent poison. Hunter, Sir Everard Home, Jqsger, Brodie, Dr. Campbell of Edinburgh, Smith, and Orfila, have all adduced experiments on the inferior animals, which prove that arsenious acid, inserted into a recent wound, causes death after a longer or shorter period. Indeed, some observations prove that the poisonous effects of the substance are developed in a smaller dose, when used in this way, than when taken into the stomach. Nor are there want- ing many well authenticated facts of its deleterious effects on the human constitution. Roux reports the case of a young woman under his care, whose death was caused, after agonizing sufferings, by the application of an arsenical paste to a cancerous breast. A case is related of death from the application of an arsenical paste to a soft tumour of the temple; the poisonous effects on the system at large being the cause of the fatal result. (Archives Generates, ii. 230.) Sir Astley Cooper, in his lectures, bears testimony to the dangerous effects of arsenic externally applied. On the other hand, some writers contend for the safety of the external application of this poison. Mr. Blackadder applied it in large quantities to sores, and never witnessed a single instance in which it acted constitutionally. Dr. Randolph of Phila- delphia, (North Amer. Med. and Surg. Journ. v. 257,) states that Dr. Physick informed him, that though he had frequently and successfully em- ployed arsenic by external application, he had never, in the whole course of his practice, seen it productive of the injurious consequences which have been attributed to it. In weighing such conflicting testimony, we are con- strained to believe, that the circumstances of the different experiments and observations must have been different; and we think that the observations of Blackadder and Harles show in what this difference consists. It seems to depend entirely on the circumstances of the application, as being favourable or unfavourable to absorption. Blackadder attributes his very success to the large quantities of the arsenic which he employs; and which, he contends, kills the part without being absorbed; and this is probably the fact. Harles's observations may be explained on the same principle. He contended that the outward application of arsenic is comparatively safe to ulcers, either common or malignant; but is dangerous to parts recently wounded and pour- ing out blood. Here the difference would seem to consist in the greater liability to absorption in the latter than in the former case. The very dilu- tion caused by the blood, may be an efficient promoter of absorption, and is entirely consonant with the experiments of Dr. Campbell, who found that arsenic acted with more energy, when dissolved in water, than in the solid state. The case in which Dr. Randolph employed this mineral, by the ad- vice of Dr. Physick, was one of ulcerated scrotum, in which it acted by producing the death of the diseased part, a stale evidently unfavourable to absorption. The formula employed was one part of the arsenious acid to five parts of the flowers of sulphur. Arsenious acid, when it produces the death of a part, does not act, strictly speaking, as an escharotic. It destroys the vitality of the organized struc- ture, and its decomposition is the consequence. The true escharotic acts chemically by decomposing the part to which it is applied, inducing a change incompatible with its life. This distinction being preserved, we can explain why the operation of the arsenious acid is often limited to the destruction of diseased formations, which are known to possess a feeble vitality; while the true escharotics destroy both the diseased and healthy structure. When the arsenious acid succeeds as an external application to 22 Acidum Arseniosum. PART i. cancers, which is a very rare occurrence, it acts on this principle; destroying the vitality of the whole diseased portion, and causing it to be thrown off as something foreign to the system. Upon the whole, new facts are wanting to clear up this difficult subject. Judging from the lights we possess, the external application of arsenious acid, in case it is absorbed, is attended with very great danger; and the con- ditions of a part and of the system at large, favourable or otherwise to ab- sorption, are too little understood, to make it warrantable to use this poison externally without the greatest caution. Treatment of Poisoning by Arsenious Acid. The hydrated sesquioxide (peroxide) of iron, in the moist state, was announced in 1834 by Dr. Bunsen, of Goltingen, as an antidote for arsenious acid, and its efficacy has been con- firmed by MM. Orfila and Lesueur, and MM. Soubeiran and Miquel, by a number of experiments on inferior animals. It acts by producing with the poison the insoluble and, therefore, inert arsenite of iron. The antidote is prepared bv treating a boiling solution of crystallized sulphate of iron (green vitriol) with nitric acid, so long as orange fumes are given off, diluting and filtering the liquor, and then precipitating it by an excess of ammonia. The alkali throws down the hydrated sesquioxide as a reddish precipitate which must be carefully washed' by decantation. The state of feeble aggregation of the hydrate must not be changed, and hence filtration is to be avoided. The precipitate is allowed to deposite during several days, and after the de- cantation of the supernatant liquid, is to be kept under water in well stopped bottles. Bunsen and Berthold, Journ. de Pharm. xxiv. 93. Its amount, estimated as dry, is equal to about one-third of the weight of the sulphate decomposed. It is essential to its efficacy, that the oxide should be adminis- tered in its pulpy state, and in a dose at least twelve times as great as the amount of the poison supposed to be taken; but as the antidote is perfectly innocent in itself, it is prudent to give it in much larger quantities. Its effi- cacy is of course greater, the sooner it is administered after the ingestion of the poison; but even after delay, its use will prove advantageous, so long as there is reason to believe that any of the poison still remains in the stomach. (Journ. de Pharm. t. xxi. p. 98.) The efficacy of the sesquioxide of iron as an antidote for arsenic has been fully confirmed by a number of cases of its successful application to the human subject. The reader is referred, for further information, to the follow- ing cases among others:—1. The case of M. Blondel, in which two drachms of arsenic had been swallowed (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. new series, i. 350, from the Journ. de Chim. Med.); 2. two cases treated by Dr. Buzorini (French L,ancet, Nov. 17,1835.); 3. a case reported by Mr. John Robson, in which more than a drachm and a half of the poison had been swallowed, and the antidote was not administered until two hours after the poison had been taken. In the last mentioned case, about an hour after the ingestion of the poison, the stomach-pump had been used, but unsuccessfully, on account of the instrument becoming choked with the remains of food. (Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sci. xx. 222, from the Lond. Med. Gazette of Nov. 5, 1836.) The antidote above mentioned having been faithfully applied, the subsequent treatment will consist in the administration of mucilaginous drinks. Should the patient survive long enough for inflammatory symptoms to arise, these should be combated on the general principles for treating inflammation. Accordingly, venesection and leeches may become necessary; and in the course of the treatment, emollient enemata, antispasmodics, and narcotics will often prove useful in allaying pain and nervous irritation. Conva- lescence is generally long and distressing, and hence it becomes of the PART I. Acidum Arseniosum. 23 greatest importance to attend to the diet, which should consist exclusively of milk, gruel, cream, rice, and similar bland articles. Reugents for delecting Arsenious Acid. As arsenic is so frequently employed for criminal purposes, or self-destruction, it becomes of import- ance to detect its presence in medicolegal investigations. The tests for this poison may be divided into, 1. those which indicate indirectly its presence; and, 2. those which demonstrate its presence incontestibly, by bringing it to the metallic state. The former embrace all the liquid reagents, so called; the latter the different processes for metallization. The most characteristic reagents, according to Dr. Christison, are sul- phuretted hydrogen, ammoniacal nitrate of silver, and ammoniacal nitrate of copper. In the opinion of this writer, the concurrent indications of these three tests are all-sufficient for detecting in an infallible manner the presence of arsenious acid; but we think that in questions involving life and death, it is best to make assurance doubly sure, and, therefore, that the metallization of the poison ought never to be omitted. In using sulphuretted hydrogen, the solution must be neutral. An excess of alkali may be neutralized with acetic acid; and an excess of nitric or sul- phuric acid, by potassa. A slight excess of acetic acid is not, however, hurtful; on the contrary, it rather favours the subsidence of the precipitate, which is of course sulphuret of arsenic. According to Dr. Christison, this test is so exceedingly delicate, that it detects the poison, when dissolved in one hundred thousand parts of water. The colour it produces is lemon or sulphur-yellow; but the presence of vegetable or animal matter commonly changes it to a whitish or brownish tint. Some medical jurists recommend the use of sulphuretted hydrogen water; but the gas is far preferable. It can be applied with much convenience by using one of Dr. Hare's self-regulating gas reservoirs. Dr. Christison has shown, that how delicate soever the ammoniacal ni- trate of silver may be in ordinary solutions, it is not to be depended upon in dilute solutions of this poison, where animal or vegetable matter is present; for the precipitate is either not formed, in consequence of the organic prin- ciples exerting a solvent power over it, or, if formed, is essentially altered in colour. The ammoniacal sulphate of copper is a test of very great delicacy. The precipitate occasioned by it is the arsenite of copper, of an apple-green or grass-green colour. Its operation is prevented by muriatic, nitric, sulphuric, acetic, citric, and tartaric acids in excess; as also by ammonia. But a greater objection to it is, that its indications ful when animal or vegetable matter is present, in case the arsenic is not abundant. Of the three tests mentioned, perhaps the sulphuretted hydrogen is the most delicate; and it has the advantage of yielding a precipitate eligible for subsequent reduction. But they are all liable to the objection of being obscured in their indications, where the amount of poison is minute, by the presence of organic principles; a complication which constitutes the most difficult problem which can be presented to the attention of the medical jurist. As this ease includes all others of more easy solution, we shall sup- pose it presented to the medical chemist, and shall indicate the steps which are to be pursued. Having obtained general indications of the presence of arsenic, the first step will be to separate the organic matters; the second, to throw down the arsenic by means of sulphuretted hydrogen; and the third, to reduce the precipitate obtained. The following are the directions given by Dr. Christison for separat- 24 Acidum Arseniosum. PART I. ing the organic principles. Boil the suspected matter with distilled water for half an hour, and filter, first through gauze to separate the coarser par- ticles, and afterwards through paper. To the transparent solution thus obtained, add acetic acid, which will coagulate some animal principles. To ascertain whether the solution has been sufficiently freed from animal matter by this measure, neutralize with ammonia, and test a small portion of it with the ammoniacal nitrate of silver. If this gives a characteristic precipi- tate, the solution is sufficiently deprived of animal matter; if not, another measure must be adopted to separate it. This consists in first rendering the solution neutral or slightly alkaline, next faintly acidulating with muriatic acid, and then adding an excess of nitrate of silver. This salt precipitates the animal matter in combination with oxide of silver. After this step, the excess of silver is thrown down by a slight excess of chloride of sodium, (common salt,) and the solution filtered. Having in this manner disembarrassed the solution from organic matter, the free nitric acid is neutralized by potassa in slight excess, and the solution acidulated with acetic acid. A stream of sulphuretted hydrogen is then passed through it, which will throw down the arsenic as a sulphuret. If the proportion of arsenic be very small, a yellowness only will be produced, owing to the precipitate being soluble in an excess of the precipitant. In this case it is necessary to boil, to drive off the excess of sulphuretted hydro- gen. The precipitate is then collected and dried. If it be very minute, it must he allowed to subside, and the supernatant liquid having been with- drawn, the remainder is to be poured upon a filter. After filtration, the pre- cipitate is washed down to the bottom of the filter by means of the instru- ment called a pipette, employed for washing scanty precipitates. The filter is then gently pressed between folds of bibulous paper, and the precipitate removed with the point of a knife before it dries, and then dried in little masses on a watch-glass. In this manner Dr. Christison states that it is easy to collect so small a portion of the sulphuret as the twenty-fifth part of a grain. The precipitate is then to be reduced by means'of a flux, which this author recommends to consist of two parts of ignited carbonate of soda and one of charcoal, as preferable to black flux. The best flux for the arse- nious acid is freshly ignited charcoal. A method different from that of Dr. Christison has been recommended by M. Taufflier for separating organic substances. It consists in adding to the mucilaginous liquid, resulting from the decoction of the suspected matters, a solution of oxide of zinc in potassa. The oxide precipitates in union with the organic substances, while the potassa unites with the arsenious acid and remains in solution. The clear solution, obtained by decantation or fil- tration, being then acidulated with muriatic acid, the arsenic is precipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen, as recommended by Dr. Christison. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 492.) The general formula for reduction is as follows. The operation is per- formed in a small glass tube. If the matter to be operated on is small, it is introduced to the bottom of the tube, and then a little of the flux is added to cover it, care being taken that the materials are conducted to the place they are to occupy, by means of a small glass funnel with a slender stem, without soiling the empty part of the tube. The heat is to be applied by means of a spirit lamp, the upper part of the material being first heated with a small flame, and afterwards the lower part with a larger flame. A little water, disengaged at first, should be removed with a roll of filtering paper, before sufficient heat has been applied to sublime the metal. When the dark crust begins Ut form, the tube should be held quite steady, and in the same part of part i. Acidum Arseniosum.—Acidum Citricum. 25 the flame. This crust is the metallic arsenic, having the surface next the tube resplendent and polished, and the interior surface crystallized. Its cha- racters are quite distinct, even when it does not amount to more than the three-hundredth part of a grain. A new method of testing for arsenic has been proposed by Mr. Marsh. (Edin. New Phil. Journ. for Oct. 1836.) It consists in taking advantage of the power, which nascent hydrogen has, of decomposing the acids of ar- senic, with the result of forming water and arseniuretted hydrogen. The liquid in the stomach, or obtained from its contents by boiling water, is mixed with some dilute sulphuric acid, and placed in a self-regulating reservoir for hydro- gen, in which a piece of zinc is suspended. The materials are here present for the production of hydrogen ; but if the liquid from the stomach contain arsenic, the nascent hydrogen will combine with the metal, and the nature of the compound gas formed may be ascertained by burning a jet of it from a fine jet-pipe connected with the reservoir. The flame will have a charac- teristic blue colour, and by holding a piece of white porcelain over it, a thin film of metallic arsenic will be formed. Liebig and Mohr bear testimony to the delicacy of this test; but to remove every source of fallacy, it is ne cessary to be sure of the purity of the apparatus, as well as of the zinc and sulphuric acid; as these latter are liable to contain a minute portion of ar- senic. The piece of zinc employed should be renewed in every experiment. This test has been objected to by Mr. L. Thompson, who alleges that antimony forms a compound with hydrogen, very similar to arseniuretted hydrogen, both in the colour of its flame, and in the metallic crust which it deposites dur- ing combustion on cold surfaces. Still, according to Turner, these two com- pounds of hydrogen may be discriminated. For further details, see Turner's Chemistry, sixth American Edition, p. 335, where also a figure of the ap- paratus to be employed is given. Off. Prep. Arsenici Oxydum Album Sublimatum, Dub.; Liquor Potassa Arsenitis, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Ceratum Arsenici, U.S. B. ACIDUM CITRICUM, U.S., Lond., Dub. Citric Acid. Off. Syn. ACIDUM CITRICUM CRYSTALLIZATUM. Ed. Acidum limonis; Acide citrique, Fr.; Citroncnscture, Germ.; Acido citrico, Ital.; Span Citric acid is the peculiar acid to which limes and lemons owe their sour- ness, being found in greatest abundance in the former. It is present also in the juice of other fruits, though in smaller amount; such as the European cranberry, (Vaccinium Oxycoccus,) the red whortelberry, (Vaccinium Vitis idsea,) the berry of the bittersweet, (Solatium Dulcamara,) the red gooseberry, (Ribes Grossularia,)the garden currant, (Ribes rubrum,) the strawberry, (Fra- garia vesca,) the raspberry, (Rubus idaeus,) and the tamarind, (Tamanndus Indica.) The acid is extracted from lemon or lime juice by a very simple process, for which we are indebted to Scheele. The juice is imported into the United States from the West Indies, principally from the Island of Cuba, for the purpose of being converted into syrup, or manufactured into citric acid. To obtain the acid, the juice is first completely saturated with carbonate of lime, (chalk or whiting,) in fine powder, and the citrate of lime formed is allowed to subside. This is then washed repeatedly with water, and decomposed by diluted sulphuric acid. An insoluble sulpliate of lime is immediately 4 26 Acidum Citricum. part i. formed, and the citric acid, being separated, remains in the supernatant liquor. This is carefully concentrated in leaden boilers, until a pellicle begins to form, when it is transferred to other vessels in order to cool and crystallize. As the crystals obtained by the first crystallization are generally brown, they require to be redissolved and recrysiallized for several successive times, in order to render them pure and while. Mr. Parkes, in his Chemical Essays, has given a very interesting account of the manufacture of citric acid, which is made in large quantities in Lon- don for the use of the calico-printers. As Mr. P. was himself engaged in this manufacture, the following outline of the process which he pursued, may be received with greater confidence. The juice is placed in large square vats, in which it is saturated with clean soft chalk or whiting, gradually ad- ded to prevent excessive effervescence. The insoluble citrate of lime is allowed to subside, and the supernatant liquid, containing mucilage, saccha-t rine matter, and a little malic acid, is drawn off* by means of a syphon. The. citrate is then passed through a sieve, and washed with warm water, until all remaining mucilage, and other soluble impurities are removed. It is then decomposed, while yet moist, by means of sulphuric acid, taken in the pro- portion of nine pounds and a half of the strong acid diluted with seven gal- lons of water, for every ten pounds of chalk used in the saturation. Some deduction, however, may be made from the water of dilution, in considera- tion of the water present in the moist citrate. The quantity of chalk ex- pended may be easily ascertained by weighing out more than is sufficient for the purpose of saturation, and weighing the remainder after the point of satu- ration shall have been attained. The sulphuric acid is gradually poured in immediately after the water has been added to it, in order that the decompo- sition may be assisted by the heat generated by its dilution; and at the same time, the whole is well stirred with a strong wooden spatula, in order to pre- vent the citrate from running into lumps and thus escaping the action of the acid. As the point of complete decomposition of the citrate approaches, the sulphate of lime precipitates more and more quickly, and the quantity of supernatant liquid becomes sensibly greater. When the decomposition has been completed, the solution of citric acid is drawn off, and the sulphate of lime washed repeatedly with cold water, to separate any remains of acid. The solution of the acid, together with the washings, is then concentrated by evaporation in leaden boilers, until it reaches the sp. gr. of about 1.130; when the fire is to be withdrawn and the acid removed to a smaller leaden vessel, where it undergoes a further concentration by means of a water-bath. When the bulk of the acid liquor becomes very much reduced by evapora- tion, it requires to be transferred to a still smaller leaden boiler, where it is further evaporated by the same means, until the liquor acquires the consist- ence of very thin molasses. It is then watched with the greatest attention for noting the production of a pellicle, upon the appearance of which over the whole surface of the liquor, the acid is to be deemed sufficiently concen- trated, and must be immediately removed from the water-bath, and laid aside to cool and crystallize. If at this stage of the process the removal of the acid were neglected, the whole would be in danger of being carbonized and spoiled. The liquor is allowed to remain at rest four days, that crystals may be formed, from which the mother waters, presenting a black colour are to be drained. These are then diluted with ten or twelve times their bulk of wa- ter, saturated anew by means of carbonate of lime, and treated in all respects as if they consisted of fresh lemon juice. By this proceeding, a new crop of crystals will be obtained. PART I. Acidum Citricum. 27 Whatever care may be taken in conducting the process, the first crop of crystals will be of a light brownish colour; but if the solution has been burnt during the evaporation, or the mucilage imperfectly separated, they will be dark brown or black. In order to have the crystals perfectly pure and white, it is necessary to subject them to repeated solutions and crystallizations. Ac- cording to Mr. Parkes, a gallon of good juice, if the process be well con- ducted, will yield eight ounces of white crystals. But the product depends very much on the quality of the juice, which is very variable as to the quan- tity of citric acid which it contains. The more recent the juice the better the quality. That which is stale will sometimes be quite sour, without con- taining any citric acid, in consequence of having undergone the abtetous fer- mentation. In decomposing the citrate of lime by sulphuric acid, it is not prudent to trust altogether to the appearance of the liquor, in deciding when the decom- position is complete. A more certain criterion is to filter a small portion of the liquor, and test it with acetate of lead. If no sulphuric acid be pre- sent in excess, the precipitate will consist of citrate of lead, and be entirely soluble in nitric acid. On the contrary supposition, the precipitate will be a mixture of citrate and sulphate of lead, the latter of which will remain un- dissolved on the addition of nitric acid. It is desirable to have a slight excess of sulphuric acid; as it rather favours than otherwise the crystallization of the citric acid. It is found necessary also, to add occasionally a small portion of sulphuric acid to the citric acid liquor, during the progress of its concentration. Citric acid is manufactured in different cities of the United States, for use in the arts and in medicine. In Philadelphia it is made in the usual manner, from the juice of limes and lemons. The juice which is imported is of variable quality, furnishing from four to six ounces of the pure crystallized acid to the gallon. Citric acid is very properly placed in the Materia Medica of the United States and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, as an article purchased from the manu- facturing chemist, and not made by the apothecary. The London and Dub- lin Colleges place it among their preparations. The following is an outline of the process of the London Pharmacopoeia for 1836, for preparing this acid. Four ounces and a half of prepared chalk are added by degrees to four pints (eighty fluidounces, Lond.) of heated lemon juice. The resulting citrate of lime is carefully washed with tepid water, and decomposed, while yet moist, by the addition of twenty-seven and a half fluidounces of diluted sulphuric acid, and two pints (forty fluid- ounces, Lond.) of distilled water. The liquor is boiled for a quarter of an hour, and, after having been strained through a cloth with strong compres- sion, is filtered. The filtered liquor is then evaporated by a gentle heat, and set aside to crystallize. The solution and crystallization are to be repeated several times, in order to get the crystals pure. In the process of the Dub- lin College, the citrate of lime, which is unnecessarily directed to be dried, is decomposed by a quantity of diluted sulphuric acid, equal to eight times the weight of the chalk employed. Properties. Citric acid is a white crystallized solid, often in large crystals, permanent in the air, and having the form of rhomboidal prisms with dihe- dral summits. Its sp. gr. is 1.6. Its taste is strongly acid, and almost caus- tic. When heated, it dissolves in its water of crystallization, and at a higher temperature undergoes decomposition, becoming yellow or brown, and form- ing a very sour syrupy liquid, which is uncryslallizable. By destructive 28 Acidum Citricum.—Acidum Murialicum. part i. distillation, it gives rise to water, empyreumatic oil, acetic and carbonic acids, carburetted hydrogen, and a peculiar acid, called pyrocitric. Citric acid dissolves in three-fourths of its weight of cold, and half its weight of boiling water. A weak solution of it has an agreeable taste, but cannot be kept, as it undergoes spontaneous decomposition. It is incom- patible with alkaline solutions, whether pure or carbonated, converting them into citrates; also with the earthy and probably all the metallic carbonates, most acetates, the alkaline sulphurets, and soaps. It is characterized by its taste, by the shape of its crystals, and by its forming an insoluble salt with lime, and a deliquescent one with potassa. If sulphuric acid be present, the precipitate by acetate of lead will not be entirely soluble in nitric acid; the insoluble portion being sulphate of lead. Sometimes the larger crystals of tartaric acid are sold for the citric, a fraud which is readily detected by the addition of carbonate of potassa, which forms with the substituted acid a crys- talline precipitate of bitartrate of potassa (cream of tartar). Composition. This acid consists of two equivalents of hydrogen 2, four equivalents of carbon 24.48, and four equivalents of oxygen 32=58.48. The crystallized acid contains two equivalents of water 18, making its equivalent 76.48. Medical Properties. Citric acid is principally employed for making a sub- stitute for lemonade, and in the composition of the neutral mixture and effer- vescing draughts. When added in the quantity of nine drachms and a half to a pint of distilled water, it forms a solution of the average strength of lime juice. Of this solution, or of lemon juice, a scruple of bicarbonate of po- tassa saturates three fluidrachms and a half; a scruple of carbonate of potassa, four fluidrachms; and a scruple of carbonate of ammonia, six flui- drachms. Half a fluidounce of lemon juice, or of an equivalent solution of « citric acid, when saturated, is considered as a dose. An agreeable substitute for lemonade may be formed by dissolving from two to four parts of the acid, mixed with a little sugar and oil of lemons, in nine hundred parts of water; or a scruple of the acid may be dissolved in a pint of water, and sweetened to the taste with sugar which has been rubbed on fresh lemon-peel. B. ACIDUM MURIATICUM. U.S., Ed., Dub. Muriatic Acid. Off. Syn. Acidum Hydrochloricum. Lond. Spirit of sea-salt, Marine acid, Hydrochloric acid; Acide hydro-chlorique liquide, Fr.; Salzsaure, Kochsalzsaure, Germ.; Acido muriatico, Ital., Span. The muriatic acid of pharmacy and the arts, is a solution of muriatic acid gas in water, and is sometimes called liquid muriatic acid. Its officinal sp. gr., according to the United States, London, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, is 1.16; according to the Edinburgh, 1.17. The three British Colleges give a process for its preparation; while in the United States Pharmacopoeia, it is placed exclusively in the list of the Materia Medica, as an article to be pro- cured from the manufacturing chemist. Preparation. Muriatic acid is obtained by the action of sulphuric acid on chloride of sodium or common salt. It is procured, on a large scale, by dis- tilling the salt with an equal weight of sulphuric acid, somewhat diluted with water, from iron stills furnished with earthen heads, into earthenware receivers PART I. Acidum Muriaticum. 29 containing water. Thus obtained, it is contaminated with iron and other impurities, and is not fit for medicinal purposes. The acid is generally prepared in the laboratory, by saturating distilled water with the gas in a Woulfe's apparatus. A quantity of pure fused* common salt is introduced into a retort or matrass, placed in a sand-bath. The vessel is then furnished with an S tube, and connected with the series of bottles, each two-thirds full of water. A quantity of sulphuric acid is then gradually added, equal in weight to the common salt employed, and diluted with one-third of its weight of water. The materials ought not to occupy more than half the body of the retort. When the extrication of the gas slackens, heat is to be applied, and gradually increased until the water in the bottles refuses to absorb any more, or until upon raising the heat, no more gas is found to come over. As soon as the process is completed, boiling water is to be added to the contents of the retort, in order to facilitate the removal of the residue. During the progress of the saturation, the water in the several bottles suffers an increase of temperature, which lessens its power of absorption. It is therefore expedient, in order to obtain a strong acid, to keep the bottles cool by means of water or ice. The connecting tubes need not plunge deeply into the acid. The rationale of the process for obtaining this acid is sufficiently simple. Common salt is a compound of chlorine and sodium; muriatic acid, of chlo- rine and hydrogen; and liquid sulphuric acid, of dry sulphuric acid and water. The water is decomposed; its oxygen, combining with the sodium of the common salt, generates soda, which unites with the sulphuric acid to form sulphate of soda; while the hydrogen and chlorine, being in the nascent state, combine, and escape as muriatic acid gas. The residue of the process is consequently sulphate of soda, or Glauber's salt. It is reserved by the British Colleges to be dissolved and crystallized, in order to form the officinal sulphate of soda. (See Sodx Sulphas.) The following is a synopsis of the proportions of the ingredients prescribed by the British Colleges for obtaining this acid:—London, two pounds of dried chloride of sodium, twenty ounces of sulphuric acid, and twenty-four fluidounces of distilled water.—Edinburgh, equal weights of salt, acid, and water; the salt having been previously exposed to a red heat:—Dublin, one hundred parts of dried salt, eighty-seven of commercial sulphuric acid, and one hundred and twenty-four of water. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges distil the materials to dryness, the London and Edinburgh directing the use of a sand-bath. One-third of the water prescribed in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, and one-half of that directed in the London and the Dublin, is mixed with the sulphuric acid; the rest being put into the receiver to absorb the gas. From the above view, it is perceived that the British Colleges differ as to the proportion of acid to the salt. Theory calls for a little less than 82 parts of the liquid acid to 100 of the common salt; while the London College uses about 83 parts, the Dublin 87, and the Edinburgh 100 parts of acid to that quantity of salt. The London proportions are, therefore, nearest the theo- retical quantities, and would even seem to furnish a slight excess of acid; but from careful experiments made by Dr. Barker of Dublin/it appears to be demonstrated, that to decompose completely the whole of the salt, 87 parts of strong acid are necessary; for it is a principle now generally conceded, and which was contended for many years ago by Dr. Hope, that to produce * According to Thenard, the fusion of the common salt will very much facilitate the conducting of the process. 4* 30 Acidum Muriaticum. PART i. the complete decomposition of a salt, it is sometimes necessary to use more than an equivalent quantity of the decomposing agent. Accordingly, Dr. Hope declares, in favour of the Edinburgh process, that equal weights of sulphuric acid and salt give a larger product of muriatic acid, with less expense of time and fuel, than when a smaller quantity of the decomposing acid is employed. The drying and igniting of the common salt is not done with a view, as was formerly supposed, of driving off water of crystallization, as it does not contain anv; but it has been asserted by Dr. Duncan, that the ignition has the effect of affording a less coloured product, while it secures the incidental advantage of freeing the salt from nitrate of potassa. Properties of the Liquid Acid. Muriatic acid, when pure, is a transpa- rent colourless'liquid, of a corrosive taste and suffocating odour. Exposed to the air, it emits white fumes, owing to the escape of the acid gas, and its union with the moisture of the atmosphere. As ordinarily seen, it has a straw colour, due to the presence either of iron or of a minute portion of organic matter, such as cork, wood, &c. When concentrated, it blackens organic substances like sulphuric acid. Its sp. gr. varies with its strength. When as highly concentrated as possible, its density is 1.21. When of proper medicinal strength the acid has the sp. gr. of 1.16, and 100 grains of it saturate 132 grains of crystallized carbonate of soda. Mixed with nitric acid, it forms nitro-muriatic acid, or aqua regia. (See Acidum Nitro- murialicum. Dub.) As it is desirable to know, on many occasions, in chemical and pharma- ceutical operations, the quantity of strong liquid acid, of acid gas, and of chlorine, contained in samples of acid of different densities, we subjoin a table by Dr. Ure, containing this information, as abridged by Dr. Duncan. Table of the Quantity of Liquid Muriatic Acid of sp. gr. 1.2, of Muriatic Acid Gas, and of Chlorine, in 100 parts of Liquid Acid of different densities. Sp. Gr. Liquid Acid of sp. gr. 1.2 Acid Gas. i Chlorine.! Sp. Gr. Liquid Acid of sp. gr. 1.2 Acid Gas. Chlorine. 1.2000 100 40.777 39.675 1.1102 55 21.822 22.426 1.1910 95 38.738 37.692 1.1000 50 20.388 19.837 1 1822 90 36.700 35.707 I.0b99 45 18.348 17.854 1.1721 85 34.660 33.724 1.0798 40 16.310 15.870 1.1701 84 34.252 33.328 1.0697 35 14.271 13.887 1.1620 80 32.621 31.746 1,0597 30 12233 11.903 1.1599 79 32.213 31.343 1.0497 2.5 10.194 9.919 1.1515 75 30.582 29.757 1.0397 20 8.155 7.935 1.1410 70 28.544 27.772 1.0298 15 6.116 5.951 1.1308 65 26.504 25.789 1.0200 10 4.078 3.968 1.1206 60 24.466 23.805 1.0100 5 2.039 1.984 | Muriatic acid is characterized by forming, on the addition of nitrate of silver, a white precipitate, (chloride of silver,) which is insoluble in acids, but readily soluble in ammonia. It is incompatible with alkalies and most earths, with oxides and their carbonates, and with sulphuret and tartrate of potassa, tartar emetic, tartarized iron, nitrate of silver, and solution of sub- acetate of lead. Adulterations. This acid, when pure, will evaporate without residue in a platinum spoon. If sulphuric acid be present, muriate of baryta will cause PART I. Acidum Muriaticum. 31 a precipitate, in the dilute acid, of sulphate of baryta. If nitric acid be pre- sent, the muriatic acid will have the properties of aqua regia, and will con- sequently dissolve gold-leaf. Iron may be detected by saturating the dilute acid with carbonate of soda, and then adding ferrocyanate of potassa, which will strike a blue colour in case that metal is present. But the most inju- rious impurity in the muriatic acid of commerce, especially to those who consume it in the arts, is sulphurous acid. To detect this, IV1. Girardin, Prof, of Chemistry at Rouen, has proposed a very delicate test, namely, the protochloride of tin. The mode of using it, is to take about half an ounce of the acid to be tested, and add to it two or three drachms of the protochlo- ride. The mixture having been stirred, two or three times as much distilled water as of the protochloride is to be added. If sulphurous acid be present, the muriatic acid becomes turbid and yellow immediately upon the addition of the protochloride; and upon the subsequent addition of the water, a slight evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen takes place, perceptible to the smell, and the liquid assumes a brown hue, depositing a powder of the same colour. The manner in which the test acts is as follows. By a transfer of chlorine, it is converted into bichloride and metallic tin, the latter of which, by re- acting on the sulphurous acid, gives rise to a precipitate of the peroxide and prolosulphuret of tin. (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. New Series, i. 222, from the Journ. de Pharm.) The presence of free chlorine in muriatic acid is detected by its destroying the colour of the sulphate of indigo. Properties of Muriatic Acid Gas. Muriatic acid gas is a colourless elastic fluid, possessing a pungent odour, and irritating properties to the organs of respiration. It destroys life and extinguishes flame. It reddens litmus powerfully, and has the other properties of a strong acid. Its sp. gr. is 1.269. Subjected to a pressure of 40 atmospheres, at the temperature of 50°, it is condensed into a transparent liquid. It absorbs water with the greatest avidity, and, according to the temperature and pressure, unites with a greater or less quantity of that liquid. Water, at the temperature of 69° takes up 464 times its volume of the gas, increasing one-third in bulk, and about three-fourths in weight. Water thus saturated constitutes the strong liquid acid already described. With metallic oxides it forms either a muriate of the oxide, or a chloride of the metal and water. Composition. Muriatic acid gas consists of one equiv. of chlorine 35.42, and one equiv. of hydrogen 1 = 36.42; or of one volume of chlorine and one of hydrogen united without condensation. It is called hydrochloric and chlorohydric acid by the French chemical writers. Medical Properties. Muriatic acid is refrigerant and antiseptic. It is ex- hibited, largely diluted with water, in fevers, some forms of syphilis, and in the phosphaiic calculous diathesis. Dr. Paris has given it with success in the most malignant cases of typhus and scarlatina, administered in a strong infusion of quassia. The same writer has found it one of the most efficacious remedies for preventing the generation of worms, after a free evacuation of the bowels. It proves also a good adjunct to gargles in ulcerated sorethroat and scarlatina maligna. The dose for internal exhibition is from ten to twenty minims in a sufficient quantity of some bland fluid, as barley water or gruel. In the composition of gargles it may enter in the proportion of from half a fluidrachm to two fluidrachms, to six fluidounces of the vehicle. Toxicologic.al Properties. Muriatic acid, when swallowed in a poison- ous dose, produces blackness of the lips, fiery redness of the tongue, hickups, violent efforts to vomit, and agonizing pain in the stomach. There is much thirst, great restlessness, a dry and burning skin, and a small concentrated pulse. If the acid has been recently swallowed, white vapours of a pungent 32 Acidum Nitricum. PART I. smell are emitted from the mouth. The best antidote is magnesia, which acts by saturating the acid. Soap is also useful for the same reason. In the course of the treatment, bland and mucilaginous drinks must be freely given. When inflammation supervenes, it must be treated on the general principles for combating inflammation from other causes. Off Prep. Acidum Muriaticuin Dilutum, Dub., Lond.; Acidum Nitro- munaticum, Dub.; Antimonii Oxyduin Nitromuriaticum, Dub.; Baryta? Murias, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Ferri Ammonio-Chloridum, Lond.; Calcii Chloridum, Lond.; Liquor Calcis Muriatis, U.S., Ed.; Morphia; Hydrochloras, Lond.; Tinctura Ferri Muriatis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. B. ACIDUM NITRICUM. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Nitric Acid. Spirit of nitre; Aqua fortis; Acide nitrique, Acide azotique, Fr.; Salpetersfture, Germ.; Zalpeterzuur Skerkwater, Dutch; Skedwatter, Swed.; Acido nitrico, Ital., Span. This is a very powerful acid, obtained from nitrate of potassa or nitre, by the action of sulphuric acid. It is officinal in all the Pharmacopoeias. The British Colleges give a process for obtaining it; but, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, it is more properly placed in the Materia Medica list, as an article to be purchased from the manufacturing chemist. Its officinal sp. gr. in the United States and Lond. Pharm. is 1.5; in the Dublin, 1.49. The Edin. College does not indicate its sp. gr. The usual process adopted in the laboratory for obtaining this acid is to add to nitrate of potassa in coarse powder, contained in a retort, an equal weight of strong sulphuric acid, poured in by means of a tube or funnel, so as not to soil the neck. The materials should not occupy more than two- thirds of the capacity of the retort. A receiver being adapted, heat is ap- plied by means of a spirit-lamp, the naked fire, or a sand-bath, moderately at first, but afterwards more strongly when the materials are observed to begin to get solid, in order to bring the whole into a slate of perfect fusion. Red vapours will at first arise, and afterwards disappear in the pro- gress of the distillation. Towards its close they will be reproduced, which is an indication that the process is completed. The rationale of this process is as follows. Nitrate of potassa is a dry salt, consisting of one equiv. of nitric acid and one of potassa. Liquid sul- phuric acid consists of one equiv. of dry sulphuric acid and one equiv. of water; and liquid nitric acid, of one equiv. of dry nitric acid and one and a half equiv. of water. The equivalent quantities of the materials are one equiv. of nitrate of potassa and two equiv. of liquid sulphuric acid. Two equiv. of dry sulphuric acid, combine with the one equiv. of potassa, form- ing one equiv. of bisulphate of potassa, which remains in the retort retain- ing half an equiv. of water; while the remaining one and a half equiv. of water from the sulphuric acid, uniting with one equiv. of dry nitric acid, form one equiv. of liquid nitric acid, which distils over. Thus it is per- ceived that liquid sulphuric and nitric acids differ in this respect, that the former contains one, the latter one and a half equivalents of water, to one of the dry acid. Now nitric acid is incapable, according to Mr. Phillips, (Phil. Mag. ii. 430,) of existing in the ordinary liquid state, without being combined with at least one and a half equivalents of water; and as the resi- PART I. Acidum Nitricum. 33 dual bisulphate requires half an equivalent more, it becomes necessary, in effecting the decomposition of the nitre, to employ a quantity of liquid sul- phuric acid which contains two equivalents of water. The quantities of salt and acid for mutual decomposition, are in round numbers 102 of the former and 98 of the latter. Now this approaches very nearly to equal weights, the quantities found most eligible in practice; and when it is recollected that the theoretical proportions are based upon the supposition of a perfectly concentrated sulphuric acid, which is not always the condition of the acid of commerce, the slight excess of acid, which equal weights would seem to give, may be necessary to make up for any deficiency in its strength. The British Colleges differ somewhat in the proportion of the materials employed for making this acid. The following is an outline of their respec- tive processes. The fsondon College takes equal weights, (two pounds, each,) of dried nitrate of potassa and sulphuric acid. These are mixed in a glass retort, and the nitric acid is distilled by means of a sand-bath. About two hundred and seventeen grains of crystallized carbonate of soda are saturated by one hundred grains of this acid. The Dublin College mixes one hundred parts of nitrate of potassa with ninety-seven parts of commercial sulphuric acid, " in a glass retort, and with an apparatus adapted to collecting the acid products, distils until the residuum in the retort concretes, and again becomes liquid." The Edinburgh College first obtains a red fuming acid under the name of nitrous acid, by one formula; and by a separate one, exposes this to a gentle heat to dissipate the red portion, and convert it into nitric acid. The following is an outline of these two processes. Acidum Nitrosum. Ed.—Pour sixteen ounces of sulphuric acid on two pounds of bruised nitrate of potassa, and distil by means of a sand-bath with a heat gradually increased, until the iron pot begins to be red-hot. The sp. gr. of this acid is 1.52. Acidum Nitricum. Ed.—Take any quantity of nitrous acid, and pour it into a glass retort. Then having adapted a cooled receiver, expose the acid to a very gentle heat, until the red portion has passed over, and the nitrous acid, nearly deprived of colour, has been converted into nitric acid. The proportions of the London College are perhaps the best for obtaining nitric acid, for reasons already explained. They are preferred also by Thenard, and, being equal weights, have the advantage of being easily re- collected. The Dublin proportions of acid and nitre were deduced by Dr. Barker from careful experiments, and approach more nearly to the exact quantities for mutual decomposition than equal weights. They may be considered as virtually the same with the London. The Edinburgh College uses a proportion of sulphuric acid considerably less than the other Colleges, being only two-thirds of the weight of the nitre. The consequence is, that sufficient water not being present to condense the elements of the nitric acid, a part of it is resolved into nitric oxide or red nitrous acid fumes, which, uniting with the undecomposed portion, give rise to a red acid product, erroneously called by the College nitrous acid. Hence arises the necessity of the subsequent application of heat to dissipate the red portion, in the process for bringing it to the state of nitric acid. According to the Edinburgh proportions, it is perceived that there is more- than one, but less than two equivalents of sulphuric acid to one of the salt. It has been very justly remarked by Mr. Phillips, that one equivalent of sul- 34 Acidum Nitricum. PART i. phuric acid is competent to decompose one equivalent of nitrate of potassa, but not sufficient, from the deficiency of water, to condense and preserve all the nitric acid extricated. Dr. Hope, however, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh, defends the process of the College, and insists that the proportion of sulphuric acid used is sufficient to decompose the nitre, with the result of giving an acid of great strength and free from sul- phuric acid. The late Dr. Duncan also advocated the Edinburgh proportions, by alleging that they are the same as those of the Paris Codex. The question of the relative eligibility of the London and Edinburgh pro- cesses is not to be decided solely by the strength of the product, but by its strength and amount considered conjointly, and by those incidental advan- tages or disadvantages which may attach to either process. Neither ought the nitrous acid product to be made the basis of comparison; but rather the nitric acid, which may be obtained from it by the subsequent exposure to heat. Comparing the two processes in this point of view, it cannot fail to strike every one that the copious production of red vapours, as happens in the Edinburgh process, must lessen the amount of the nitric acid; and though it may be alleged that they consist of nitrous acid, yet they are lost when this is converted into nitric acid. Mr. Phillips found that 150 parts of red nitrous acid, of the sp. gr. 1.52, yielded, by the application of heat, only 114 of pale nitric acid, of sp. gr. i.49; while 27 parts of red nitrous acid of sp. gr. 1.58 distilled over. The loss, therefore, amounted to 9 parts. It is also an incidental disadvantage of the Edinburgh process, that the residual salt is a mixture of sulphate and bisulphate of potassa, which is not so readily washed out of the retort as the bisulphate, and the removal of which is much more apt to cause its fracture. Any saving which arises from the use of less sulphuric acid in the Edinburgh process, is perhaps more than counter- balanced by this circumstance. As the main objection to the process of the Edinburgh College is that the quantity of water supplied to the elements of the nitric acid is too small, while the sulphuric acid used is amply sufficient to decompose the salt; the question arises, how far it would answer a good purpose to add the neces- sary quantity of water to the sulphuric acid, before its addition to the nitre. This plan has been adopted by Dobereiner, who has found that a larger though less concentrated product is obtained, when one part of water is added to nine parts of sulphuric acid, just before its addition to the nitre. As in medicine and most of the arts, a strong nitric acid is not required, we would suggest, that one equivalent of nitre might be decomposed with least loss of acid, by being distilled with one equivalent of liquid sulphuric acid, previously united with three and a half equivalents of water. The water in this case would form a nitric acid with four equivalents of water, constituting a liquid acid, in which the acid and water are united with the strongest affinity, and which boils without undergoing any change. On these principles, Berzelius states, that where it is not necessary to have a concentrated nitric acid, it is best to dilute the sulphuric acid with an equal weight of water, before commencing the distillation. Whenever this plan is adopted, iron distillatory vessels cannot be used; as the dilute sulphuric acid would act on them much more rapidly than when it is in a concentrated state. We have stated above, that the red acid of the Edinburgh College is erro- neously called nitrous acid. It is in fact nitric acid holding nitric oxide in solution. Indeed, the acid of the other Colleges is to a certain extent of the same nature, as it is generally yellow from the presence of a small quantity of the same gas. Real nitric acid is perfectly colourless. Nevertheless, it PART I. Acidum Nitricum. 35 may be proper to add, that, according to the equivalent numbers, if we sup- pose two equivalents of nitric acid united to one equivalent of nitric oxide, the compound would correspond to three equivalents of nitrous acid. The red acid, whatever may be its exact nature, is known to be considerably denser than the real pale nitric acid. The officinal red acid, as already stated, has the density of 1.52. When at its highest degree of concentration, it weighs, according to Meissner 1.63; whilst the strongest perfectly colour- less nitric acid, according to the same authority, has the sp. gr. of 1.48 only. Preparation of Nitric Acid for the Arts. Two strengths of this acid occur in the arts ;—double aquafortis, which is half the strength of concen- trated nitric acid, and single aqua fortis, which is half as strong as the double. Aqua fortis is frequently obtained by distilling a mixture of nitre and calcined sulphate of iron. By an interchange of ingredients, sulphate of po- tassa and nitrate of iron are formed, the latter of which, at the distilling heat, readily yields its nitric acid. The sulphate of potassa is washed out of the residue, and the sesquioxide (peroxide) of iron which is left, is sold, under the name of colcothar, to the polishers of metals. The distillation is performed in large cast-iron retorts, lined on the inside with a thick layer of red oxide of iron, lo protect them from the action of the acid. The acid is received in large glass vessels containing water. A considerable portion of the acid is decomposed by the heat into reddish vapours, which subsequently dissolve in water, and absorb the oxygen which has been disengaged. The acid thus obtained is red and tolerably strong; but it is diluted with water before being thrown into commerce. The sp. gr. of this acid is about 1.22. In France nitric acid is manufactured on the large scale from nitre and sulphuric acid, in cast-iron cylinders. The cylinders are disposed horizon- tally across a furnace, and are strewed internally throughout their whole length with nitre. Two circular cast-iron plates, each pierced with a hole, serve to close the ends. At one end, the sulphuric acid is poured in, and by means of a stoneware tube connected with the other, the nitric acid is col- lected in receivers. The sulphate of potassa is removed after each operation. The iron cylinders are acted upon by the acid; yet, notwithstanding this dis- advantage, the process, when conducted in such vessels, is attended with a great saving of expense. In England, nitric acid is generally procured for the purposes of the arts, by distilling the materials in earthenware retorts, or cast-iron pots with an earthern head, connected with a series of glass or stoneware receivers con- taining water. The proportion of sulphuric acid employed by the manufac- turer, is between one and two equivalents; and hence the product has an orange-red colour, which is removed by heating the acid. In the United States, nitric acid is made on the large scale, in a distilla- tory apparatus, having the same general arrangement as in France and Eng- land. Sometimes a cast-iron cylinder is used as in France, and sometimes a thick cast-iron pot, with an earthenware head. The pot is set in brick- work over a fire-place, and the materials having been placed in it, the head is luted on with a fat lute, and made to communicate with two receivers, either of stoneware or glass, connected together by means of a tube. Large demijohns of glass answer the purpose of receivers very well. The incon- densible products are made to pass by means of a tube into a portion of wa- ter. The quantity of sulphuric acid employed in different establishments, varies from one-half to two-thirds of the weight of the nitre. In a very large chemical establishment in this city, which we had the pleasure of inspect- ing, through the kindness of the liberal proprietor, the proportions employed 36 Acidum Nitricum. PART I. for a charge are 150 pounds of nitre to 84 pounds of strong sulphuric acid. Nitrate of soda, having been latterly imported into the United States in large quantities from Peru, has been used by some manufacturing chemists to obtain nitric acid. It yields a larger amount of acid for a given weight than the nitrate of potassa; but the residuum, sulphate of soda, is less valua- ble than sulphate of potassa. The latter salt may be sold to the alum makers at the average price of twenty dollars per ton. Nitric acid is never imported into the United States; the foreign article not being able to enter into competition with the home manufacture. Properties. Nitric acid, so called from nitre, is a dense liquid, extremely sour and corrosive. It was discovered by Raymond Lully, in the 13th cen- tury, and its constituents, by Cavendish, in 1784. When perfectly pure, it is colourless; but as usually obtained, it has a straw colour, owing to the presence of nitrous acid. Exposed to the air, it emits white fumes, possess- ing a disagreeable odour. By the action of light, it undergoes a slight de- composition and becomes yellow. Its sp. gr., when as highly concentrated as possible, is 1.513. It acts powerfully on animal matter, producing its de- composition. On the living fibre it operates as a strong caustic. It stains the skin and most animal substances of an indelible yellow colour. On vegetable matter, it acts, when concentrated, by imparting oxygen, converting the carbon into carbonic acid, and the hydrogen into water. When diluted, it converts most animal and vegetable substances into oxalic, malic, and car- bonic acids. The general character of its action is to impart oxygen to other bodies, which it is enabled to do in consequence of the large quantity of this principle which it contains in a state of loose combination. It acidifies sul- phur and phosphorus, and oxidizes all the metals, except chromium, tung- sten, columbium, cerium, titanium, osmium, rhodium, gold, platinum, and iridium. In the liquid state, it always contains water, which is essential to its existence in that state. Mixed with a certain quantity of water it forms the diluted nitric acid of the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeias. (See Aci- dum Nitricum Dilutum.) It combines with salifiable bases and forms ni- trates. With muriatic acid, it constitutes nitro-muriatic acid or aqua regia. (See Acidum Nitromuriaticum, Dub.) When of the sp. gr. 1.42, its com- position being one equivalent of dry acid to four of water, it boils at 250°. When either stronger or weaker than this, it volatilizes at a lower tempera- ture; and by losing more acid than water in the first case, and more water than acid in the second, it constantly approaches to the sp. gr. of 1.42, when its boiling point becomes stationary. As in many chemical and pharmaceutical operations, a nitric acid below the standard strength is necessarily employed, it often becomes important to know the proportion of dry acid, and of acid of the standard strength of 1.5, contained in an acid of any given specific gravity. The following table, drawn up from experiments by Dr. Ure, gives information on these points. PART I. Acidum Nitricum. 37 Table, showing the Quantity of JAquid Nitric Acid, (sp. gr. 1.5.) and of Dry Nitric Acid, contained in 100 parts of the Acid at different Den- sities. \ Liq. Dry Liq. Dry Liq. Dry 1 Liq. Dry Sp.Gr. Acid Acid Sp. Gr. Acid Acid Sp. Gr. Acid Acid \ Sp. Gr. Acid Acid 1.5000 tn 100 in 100 mlOO in 100 in 100 in 100 in 100 in 100 19.923 100 79.700 1.4189 75 59.775 1.2947 50 39.850 1.1403 25 1.4980 99 78.903 1.4147 74 58.978 1.2887 49 39.053 1.1345 24 19.128 1.4960 98 78.10 1.4107 73 58.181 1.2826 48 38.256 1 1286 23 18.331 1.4940' 97 77.309 1.4065 72 57.384 1.2765 47 37.4591 1.1227 22 17.534 1.4910, 96 76.512 1.4023 71 56.587 1.2705 46 ;^6.bt2 l.HGr 21 16.737 1.4880 95 75.715 1.3J78 70 55.790 1.2644 45 35.865| 1.1109 20 15.940 1.4850' 94 74.918 1.3)45 69 54.993 1.2583 44 35.068 1.1051 19 15.143 1.4820 93 71.121 1.3882 68 54.196 1.2523 43 34.271 1.0993 18 14.346 1.4790 92 73.324 1.3833 67 53.399! 1.2462 42 33.474 1.0935 17 13.549 1.4760' 91 72.527 1.3783 66 52.602 1.2402 41 32.677 10878 16 12.752 1.4730 90 71.730 1.3732 65 51.805 1.2341 40 31.880 1.0821 15 11.955 1.4700 89 70.933 1.3681 64 51.068 1.2277 39 31.083 1.0764 14 11.158 1.4670 88 70.136 1.3630 63 50.211 1.2212 38 30.286 1.0708 13 10.361 1-4640 87 69.33.9 1.3579 62 49.414 1.2148 37 29.48.9 1.0651 12 9.564 1.4600 86 68.542 1.3529 61 48.617i 1.2084 36 28.692 1.0595 11 8767 1.4570 85 67.745 1.3477 60 47.820! 1.2019 35 27.815 1.0540 10 7.970 1.4530 84 66.948 1.3427 59 47.023 1.1958 34 27.098 1.0485 9 7.173 1.4500 83 66.155 1.3376 58 46.226 1.1895 33 26.301 1.0430 8 6.376 1.4460 82 65.354 1.3323 57 45.429 1.1833 32 25.504 1.0375 7 5.579 1.4424 81 64.557 1.3270 56 44 632 1.1770 31 24.707 1.0320 6 4.782 1.4385 80 63.760 1.3216 55 43.835 1-1709 30 23.910 1.0267 5 3.985 1.4346 79 62.963 1.3163 54 43.038 1.1648 29 23.113' 1.0212 4 3.188 1.4306 78 62.166 1.3110 53 42.241 1.1587 28 22.316 1.0159 3 2.391 1.4269 77 61.369 1.3056 52 41.444 1.1526 27 21.519 1.0106 2 1.594 1.4228 76 60.572 1.3001 51 40.647 I 1.1465 26 20.7221 1.0053 1 0.797< The nitrous acid of the Edinburgh College (Acidum Nitrosum) is a red or orange-coloured liquid, exceedingly volatile, and emitting red fumes of a suffocating odour. It consists of nitric acid holding nitric oxide in solution. When diluted with water, it parts with the nitric oxide and becomes suc- cessively blue, green, and yellow. Mixed with an equal weight of water, it forms the dilute nitrous acid of the Edinburgh College. (See Acidum Nitrosum Dilutum.) Nitric acid, when uncombined, is recognized by its peculiar action on silver and copper, and by its forming nitre when saturated with potassa. When in the form of a nitrate, it is detected by its action on gold-leaf, after the addition of muriatic acid, in consequence of the evolution of the chlorine; or it may be discovered, according to Dr. O'Shaughnessy, by heating the supposed nitrate in a test tube with a drop of sulphuric acid, and then add- ing a crystal of morphia. If nitric acid be present, it will be set free by the sulphuric acid, and communicate an orange-red followed by a yellow colour to the morphia. To prevent all ambiguity, arising from the accidental pre- sence of nitric acid in the sulphuric acid employed, the operator should satisfy himself by a separate experiment, that the latter acid has no power to produce the colours mentioned with morphia. (Turner's Chemistry, Sixth Amer. edit. p. 184.) The most common impurities in nitric acid are sulphuric and muriatic acids; the former derived from the acid used in the process, the latter from common salt, which is not an unfrequent impurity in nitre. They may be detected by adding a k\v drops of the solution of muriate of baryta and ni- 5 38 Acidum Nitricum. part i. trate of silver to separate portions of the nitric acid, diluted with three or four parts of distilled water. If these precipitants should produce a cloud, the muriate will indicate sulphuric acid, and the nitrate, muriatic acid. These impurities may be separated by adding nitrate of silver in slight excess, which will precipitate them as chloride and sulphate of silver, and then distilling nearly to dryness in very clean vessels. The sulphuric acid may also be got rid of by distilling from a fresh portion of nitre. These impurities, however, do not in the least affect the medicinal properties of the acid. Composition. The officinal nitric acid consists of one equiv. of dry acid 54.15, and one and a half equiv. of water 13.5=67.65. The dry acid con- sists of one equiv. of nitrogen 14.15, and five equiv. of oxygen 40=54.15; or in volumes of one volume of nitrogen, and two and a half volumes of oxygen, supposed to be condensed, to form nitric acid vapour, into one volume. The strongest possible liquid acid consists of one equiv. of dry acid and one equiv. of water, and has the sp. gr. 1.513. (Thenard.) Incompatibles. Most of the substances with which nitric acid is incom- patible, may be inferred from what has been already said. It is incompatible with protosulphate of iron, which it converts into sesquisulphate, with sali- fiable bases, carbonates, and sulphurets, and with the acetates of lead and potassa. It is also capable of decomposing alcohol, with which it forms nitric ether. Medical properties. Nitric acid is tonic and antiseptic. Largely diluted with water, it forms a good acid drink in febrile diseases, especially typhus. Dr. Duncan frequently gave it, with unequivocal advantage, in the low typhus occurring in the suburbs of Edinburgh. In syphilis, and in the chronic hepatitis of India, it is highly extolled by Dr. Scott, formerly of Bombay. It cannot be depended upon as a remedy in syphilis, but is often an excellent adjuvant in worn-out constitutions, either to prepare the system for the use of mercury, or to lessen the effects of that metal on the constitu- tion, by supporting the tone of the system. Externally, it has been used with advantage as a lotion to ulcers, of the strength of about twelve minims to the pint of water. This practice originated with Sir Everard Home, and is particularly applicable to those ulcers which are superficial and not dis- posed to cicatrize. As nitric acid dissolves both uric acid and the phos- phates, it was supposed to be applicable to those cases of gravel in which the uric acid and the phosphates are mixed; but subsequent experience has not confirmed its efficacy in such cases. Nevertheless, when the sabulous deposite depends upon certain states of disordered digestion, this acid may prove serviceable by restoring the tone of the stomach. The dose is from five to twenty minims in three fluidounces or more of water, given three or four times a day. Nitric acid, in the state of vapour, is considered useful for destroying con- tagion; and hence is employed in purifying gaols, hospitals, and ships, and other infected places. It is prepared for use by the extemporaneous decom- position of nitre by sulphuric acid. Half an ounce of powdered nitre is put into a saucer, which is placed in an earthen dish containing heated sand. On the nitre, two drachms of sulphuric acid are then poured, and the nitric acid fumes are immediately disengaged. The quantities just indicated are considered to be sufficient for disinfecting a cubic space of ten feet. Fumi- gation in this manner was first introduced by an English physician, Dr. Carmichael Smyth, who received from the British Parliament for its dis- covery, a reward of five thousand pounds. It may well be doubted whether the nitric acid, as a disinfector, is at all comparable to chlorine; and since PART I. Acidum Sulphuricum. 39 the introduction of the chlorides of lime and soda as disinfecting agents, this gas has been brought into so manageable a form, that its use may very well supersede that of every other agent employed with similar intentions. See Calx Chlorinata, Lond., and Liquor Sodse Chlorinatse, Lond. Properties as a Poison. Nitric acid, in its concentrated state, is one of the mineral poisons most frequently taken for the purpose of self-destruction. Im- mediately after swallowing it, there are produced burning heat in the mouth, oesophagus, and stomach ; acute pain; disengagement of gas; abundant eruc- tations; nausea and hiccup. Soon after, there occur repeated and excessive vomiting, the vomited matter having a peculiar odour and taste; tumefaction of the abdomen, with exquisite tenderness; a feeling of coldness on the sur- face; horripilations; icy coldness of the extremities; small depressed pulse; horrible anxieties; continual tossings and contortions; extreme thirst. The breath becomes extremely fetid, and the countenance exhibits a complete pic- ture of suffering. The cases are almost uniformly fatal. The best remedies are repeated doses of magnesia as an antitode, mucilaginous drinks in large quantities, olive or almond oil in very large doses, emollient fomentations, and clysters. Until magnesia can be obtained, an immediate resort to a solution of soap in large amount will be proper. Off. Prep, of Nitric Acid. Acidum Nitricum Dilutum, Lond., Dub.; Aci- dum Nitromuriaticum, Dub.; Antimonii Oxydum Nitromuriaticum, Dub.; Argenti Nitras, U. S., I,ond.; Bismuthi Subnitras, U. S., Lond.; Hydrargyri Oxidum Rubrum, U. S., I^ond.; Spiritus iElheris Nitrici, Lond., Dub.; Unguentum Acidi Nitrici, Dub.; Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitratis, U.S., Lond., Dub. Off. Prep, of Nitrous Acid. Acidum Nitrosum Dilutum, Ed.; Spiritus iEtheris Nitrosi, Ed.; Unguentum Acidi Nitrosi, Ed.; Unguentum Nitratis Hydrargyri Fortius, Ed. ACIDUM SULPHURICUM. U.S., Lond., Ed. Sulphuric Acid. Off. Syn. ACIDUM SULPHURICUM VENALE, Dub. Oil of vitriol; Acide sulphurique, Fr.; Vitriolol, Schwefelsaure, Germ.; Acido solforico, Ital.; Acido sulfurico, Span. Sulphuric acid is placed in the Materia Medica of all the Pharmacopoeias noticed in this work, as an article to be obtained from the wholesale manu- facturer. Its officinal sp. gr., as prescribed in the U. S. Pharm., is 1.8485; in the London and Edinburgh, 1.845; and in the Dublin, 1.850. These dif- ferences in density are so slight, that a virtual agreement may be assumed to exist in the strength of the different officinal acids. Preparation. Sulphuric acid is obtained by burning sulphur, mixed with one-eighth of its weight of nitre, over a stratum of water, contained in a cham- ber lined with sheet lead. If the sulphur were burnt by itself, the product would be sulphurous acid, which contains only two-thirds as much oxygen as sulphuric acid. The object of the nitre is to furnish, by its decomposition, the requisite additional quantity of oxygen. To understand the process, it is necessary to bear in mind that nitric acid contains five, sulphuric acid three, sulphurous acid two, nitric oxide two, hyponitrous acid three, and nitrous acid four equivalents of oxygen, combined with one equiv. of their several radicals. One equiv. of sulphur decomposes one equiv. of nitric acid of the nitre, and becomes one equiv. of sulphuric acid, which combines with the 40 Acidum Sulphuricum. PART I. potassa of the nitre to form sulphate of potassa. In the mean time, the ni- tric acid, by furnishing three equiv. of oxygen to form the sulphuric acid, is converted into one equiv. of nitric oxide, which is evolved. This gas, by combining with two equiv. of the oxygen of the air, immediately becomes nitrous acid vapour, which diffuses itself throughout the leaden chamber. While these changes are taking place, the remainder of the sulphur is under- going combustion, and filling the chamber with sulphurous acid gas. The nitrous and sulphurous acid gases, being thus intermingled in the chamber, react on each other: one equiv. of nitrous acid, by the aid of moisture, reacts upon one equivalent of sulphurous acid, so as to form a crystalline compound consisting of one equiv. of sulphuric acid, and one equiv. of hyponitrous acid united to a portion of water. This compound falls into the water of the chamber, and instantly undergoes decomposition. The sulphuric acid dissolves in the water, and the hyponitrous acid, resolved, at the moment of its extrication, into nitrous acid and nitric oxide, escapes with effervescence. The nitrous acid thus set free, as well as that reproduced by the nitric oxide uniting with the oxygen of the atmosphere, again reacts with sulphurous acid and humidity, and gives rise to a second portion of the crystalline com- pound, which undergoes the same changes as the first. In this manner the nitric oxide performs the part of a carrier of oxygen from the air of the chamber to the sulphurous acid, to convert the latter into sulphuric acid. The residue of the process consists of sulphate of potassa, and is sold to the alum makers. Preparation on the L,arge Scale. The leaden chambers vary in size, but are generally from thirty to thirty-two feet square, and from sixteen to twenty feet high. The floor is slightly inclined to facilitate the drawing off of the acid, and covered to the depth of several inches with water. There are several modes of burning the mixture of sulphur and nitre, and otherwise conducting the process, but that pursued in France is as follows. Near to one of the sides of the chamber, and at about a foot from its bottom, a cast iron tray is placed over a furnace, resting on the ground, its mouth opening externally, and its chimney having no communication with the chamber. On this tray the mixture is placed, being introduced by a square open- ing which may be shut by means of a sliding door, and the lower side of which is level with the surface of the tray. The door being shut, the fire is gradually raised in the furnace, whereby the sulphur is inflamed, and the products already spoken of are generated. When the combustion is over, the door is raised, and the sulphate of potassa removed. A fresh portion of the mixture is then placed on the tray, and the air of the chamber is renewed by opening a door and valve situated at its opposite side. Next, the several openings are closed, and the fire is renewed. These operations are repeated with fresh portions of the mixture, every three or four hours, until the water at the bottom of the chamber has reached the sp. gr. of about 1.2. It is then drawn off and transferred to leaden boilers, where it is boiled down until it has nearly attained the sp. gr. of 1.5. Its further concentration requires a higher heat than lead can bear, and accordingly, it is transferred to large glass or platinum retorts, where it is evaporated as long as water dis- tils over. This water is slightly acid and is thrown back into the cham- ber. When the acid is fully concentrated, opaque grayish-white vapours arise, which indicate the completion of the process. The acid is allowed to cool, and is then transferred to large demijohns of green glass, called car- boys, which, for greater security, are surrounded with straw or wicker-work, and packed in square boxes, or in flour barrels sawed in two. The English method of manufacturing this acid, as described by Mr. PART T. Acidum Sulphuricum. 41 Parkes, is somewhat different. The mixture is usually spread on iron or leaden plates, resting on stands of lead within the chamber, placed at some distance from each other, and a foot or two above the surface of the water. The sulphur is then lighted by means of a hot iron, and the doors closed. If the sulphur and nitre be well mixed, the combustion will last for thirty or forty minutes; and in three hours from the time of lighting, the condensa- tion of the gases having in that interval been completed, the doors are thrown open for from fifteen to thirty minutes, to admit fresh atmospheric air, and to allow time for the residuary nitrogen to escape, preparatory to the next burn- ing. These operations are repeated with fresh charges of the mixture, every four hours, both night and day, until the water has attained the requisite acid impregnation, when it is transferred to leaden boilers, and otherwise treated as just explained. The quantity of the charge for each burning is deter- mined by the size of the chamber, allowing one pound of the mixture for every three hundred cubic feet of atmospheric air which it may contain. As, in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, the nitre is the most expensive material, many plans have been resorted to, for the purpose of obtaining the nitrous acid at a cheaper rate. One plan is to procure it by the igneous decomposition of nitre and dried sulphate of iron, and to pass it into a cham- ber already filled with sulphurous acid and atmospheric air, but devoid of water. After an interval of several hours, when the chamber is fully charg- ed with the several gases, a certain quantity of steam from a boiler is allowed to enter with great force. This causes the formation of the sulphuric acid, which precipitates with the condensed steam on the floor of the chamber. Another method of obtaining nitrous acid is by treating molasses or starch with common nitric acid. In this case, the manufacturer obtains oxalic acid as a collateral product, which serves to diminish his expenses. In most of the manufactories of sulphuric acid in France, nitrate of soda has been substituted for nitre. The advantages of the former salt are its greater cheapness, and the circumstance of its containing a larger propor- tional quantity of nitric acid. The above explanations relate to the mode of preparing common sulphu- ric acid; but there is another kind known on the continent of Europe by the name of the fuming sulphuric acid of Nordhausen, so called from its properties, and a place in Saxony where it is largely manufactured. This acid is obtained by distilling dried sulphate of iron in large stoneware retorts, heated nearly to whiteness, and connected with receivers of glass or stone- ware. The acid distils over, and sesquioxide of iron is left behind in the form of colcothar. The process for making sulphuric acid by the combustion of sulphur with nitre was first mentioned by Lemery, and afterwards put in practice by an English physician of the name of Ward. As practised by him, the com- bustion was conducted in very large glass vessels. About the year 1746, the great improvement of leaden chambers was introduced by Dr. Roebuck, an eminent physician of Birmingham, where the first apparatus of this kind was erected; and in consequence of it, the acid immediately fell to one- fourth of its former price, and was introduced into many arts, from which it had been previously excluded by its dearness. At the present day, immense quantities are manufactured in Great Britain, amounting, in 1823, according to a calculation of Mr. Parkes, to upwards of six millions of pounds. In the United States, the first manufactory of this acid was established in Philadelphia by the late Mr. John Harrison. At present there are manu- factories in successful operation in most of the large cities of the Union. 5* 42 Acidum Sulphuricum. PART I. These supply the entire demand of the United States, no foreign acid being imported at present. Properties. Sulphuric acid is a dense, colourless, inodorous liquid, of an oleaginous appearance, and possessing strong corrosive qualities. On the living fibre, it acts as a powerful caustic. Rubbed in small quantity between t the fingers, it has an unctuous feel, in consequence of its dissolving the cuticle. In the liquid form, it always contains water, which is essential to its exist- ence in that form. When pure ami as highly concentrated as possible, its sp. gr. is 1.8485, a fluidounce weighing a small fraction over fourteen drachms. Whenever its density exceeds this, the presence of sulphate of lead, or of some other impurity is indicated. It boils at 620°, and freezes at 15°. When diluted, its boiling point is lowered. When of the sp. gr. 1.78, it freezes above 32°; and hence it is hazardous for manufacturers to keep an acid of that strength in glass vessels in cold weather, as they are liable to burst. With salifiable bases, it forms a numerous class of salts called sul- phates. It acts powerfully on organic bodies, whether vegetable or animal, depriving them of the elements of water, developing charcoal, and turning them black. A small piece of cork or wood dropped into the acid, will, on this principle, render it of a dark colour. When diluted with pure water, it ought to remain limpid, and when heated sufficiently in a platinum spoon, the fixed residue should not exceed the one four-hundredth part of the acid employed. When present in small quantities in solution, it is detected unerringly by muriate of baryta, which causes a precipitate of sulphate of baryta. The most usual impurities in it are the sulphates of potassa and lead, the former derived from the residue on the iron tray, the latter from the leaden boilers in which the acid is concentrated. It occasionally contains nitre, which is added to render dark acid colourless. These impurities often amount to three or four per cent. The commercial acid cannot be expected to be absolutely pure, but, when properly manufactured, it ought not to con- tain more than one percent, of impurity. The fixed impurities are discover- able by evaporating a portion of the suspected acid, when they will remain. If sulphate of lead be present, the acid will become turbid on dilution. Sulphuric acid, as it occurs in commerce and in the shops, is often under its standard strength; a»d hence it becomes important to know how much liquid sulphuric acid of the standard specific gravity, and of dry acid, is con- tained in an acid of any given density. The following table, drawn up from careful experiments by Dr. Ure, gives this information. The mode of using it, is first to ascertain the specific gravity of any sample of the acid by experi- ment; and then, opposite to this specific gravity in the table, will be found the quantity, per cent., of standard liquid acid, and of dry acid contained in it part i. Acidum Sulphuricum. 43 Table of the Quantity of Liquid Sulphuric Acid of Sp. Gr. 1.8485, and of Dry Acid, in 100 parts of Dilute Acid at different Densities. Liq. i Dry !j | Liq. Dry Liq. Dry Liq. Dry Sp. Gr. Arid ; Arid Sp. Gr.\ Acid Acid Sp. Gr. Acid Acid Sp. Gr. Acid Acid in 100 in 100 i nlOl rilOO in 100 in 100 40.77 in 100 in 100 1-8485 100 81.54 1.65201 75 61.15 1.3884 50 1.1792 25 20.38 1.8475 99 80.72 1.6415 74 60.34 1.3788 49 3J.95 1.1706 24 19.57 1.8460 98 79.90 1.6321 73 59.52 1.3697 48 3M4 1.1626 23 18.75 1.8439 97 79.09 1.6204 72 58.71 1.3612 47 38.32 1.1549 22 17.94 1.8410 96 78.28 1.6090 71 57.89 1.3530 46 37.51 1.1480 21 17.12 1.8376 95 77.46 1.5)75 70 57.08 1.3440 45 36.69 1.1410 20 16. 1 1.8336 94 76.65 1 58G8 69 5626 1.3345 44 35.88 1.1330 19 15.49 1.82)0 93 75.83] 1.5760 68 55.45 1.3255 43 35.06 1.1246 18 14.68 1.8233 92 75.02! 1.5648 67 54.63 1.3165 42 34.25 1.1165 17 13.86 1.8179 91 74.21) 1.5503 66 53.82 1.3080 41 33.43 1.1090 16 13.05 1.8115 90 73.3.. 1.5390 65 53.00 1.2999 40 32.61 1.1019 15 12.23 1.8043 89 72.57 1.528H 64 52.1b 1.2913 39 31,80 i 1.0953 14 1141 1.7962 88 71.75 1.5170 63 51.37 1.2826 38 30.98 1.0887 13 10.60 1.7870 87 70.94 1.5066 62 50.55 1.2740 37 30.17 1.0809 12 9.78 1.7774 86 70-121 1.4960 61 49 74 1.2654 36 2.J.35 1.0743 11 8.97 1.7673 85 69.31 1.4860 60 48.92 1.2572 35. 28.54 1.0682 10 8.15 1.757H 84 68.49 1.4760 59 48.11 1.24)0 34 27.72 1.0614 9 7.34 1.7465 83 67.68 1.4660 58 47.29 12409 33 26.91 1.0544 8 6.52 1.736U 82 66.86 1.4560 57 46 48 1.2334 32 26.09 1.0477 7 5.71 1.7245 81 66.05 1.4460 56 45.66 1.2260 31 25 28 1.0405 6 4.89 1.7120 80 65.23 1.4360 55 44.85 1.2184 30 24.46 1.0336 5 4.08 1.691)3 79 64.42 1.4265 54 44.03 12108 29 23.65 1.0268 4 3.26 1.6870 78 63.60 1.4170 53 43 22 1.2032 28 22.83 1.0206 3 2.446 1.675C 77 62.78 1.4073 52 42.40 1.1956 27 22 01 1.0140 2 1.63 1.6630 76 1 61.97 1.3977 51 41.58 1.1876 26 21.20 i 1.0074 1 0.8154 The only way to obtain pure sulphuric acid is by distillation. Owing to the high boiling point of this acid, the operation is rather precarious, in con- sequence of the danger of the fracture of the retort, from the sudden concus- sions to which the boiling acid gives rise. Dr. Ure recommends that a retort of the capacity of from two to four quarts be used in distilling a pint of acid. This is connected, by means of a wide glass tube three or four feet long, with a receiver surrounded with cold water. All the vessels must be perfectly clean, and no luting is employed. The retort is then to be cautiously heated by a small furnace of charcoal. It is useful to put into the retort a few sharp-pointed pieces of glass, or slips of platinum foil, with the view of diminishing the shocks produced by the acid vapour. The distilled product ought not to be collected until a dense grayish-white vapour is generated, the appearance of which is the sign that the pure concentrated acid is coming over. If this vapour should not immediately appear, it shows that the acid subjected to distillation is not of full strength, and the distilled product, until the point of utmost concentration is attained, will be an acid water. The Dublin College gives a formula for purifying the commercial acid by distillation. (See Acidum Sulphuricum Purum.) This formula, however, is unnecessary, as the commercial sulphuric acid, diluted with water, where- by it is purified from sulphate of lead, is sufficiently pure for medical use; while the pure distilled acid is only necessary in conducting experiments of research. The strong acid is not convenient for medicinal use, and hence a formula for a diluted acid is given in the United States Pharmacopoeia, following the example of the British Colleges. (See Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum.) 44 Acidum Sulphuricum. part i. Incompatibles. Sulphuric acid is incompatible with most metals; with salifiable bases and their carbonates; with most salts, effecting their decom- position; with alcohol, which it converts into ether; with all organic sub- stances, which it chars or otherwise decomposes; and with vegetable astrin- gent infusions. Composition. The ordinary liquid acid of the sp. gr. 1.8485, consists of one equivalent of dry acid 40.1, and one equiv. of water 9=49.1; and the dry acid, of one equiv. of sulphur 16.1, and three equiv. of oxvgen 24=40.1. The liquid acid of Nordhausen has a density as high as 1.89 or 1.9, and consists of two equiv. of dry acid, and one equiv. of water. This acid is particularly adapted to the purpose of dissolving indigo for dyeing the Saxon blue. When heated gently in a retort, connected with a dry and refrigerated receiver, dry or anhydrous sulphuric acid distils over, and the common liquid acid remains behind. The anhydrous acid under 64° is in the form of small colourless crystals, resembling asbestos. It is tenacious, difficult to cut, and may be moulded in the fingers like wax, without acting on them. Exposed to the air, it emits a thick opaque vapour of an acid smell. Above 64° it is a liquid, very nearly of the density of 2. It has so strong an affinity for water, that when thrown into that liquid, it causes a hissing noise, like that produced by quenching red-hot iron. Medical Properties. Sulphuric acid is tonic, antiseptic, and refrigerant. Internally it is always administered in a dilute state. For its medical pro- perties in this form, the reader is referred to the title, Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum. Externally it is sometimes employed as a caustic; but, from its liquid form, it is very inconvenient for that purpose. It is employed also as an ointment mixed with lard, in swellings of the knee-joint and other affec- tions, in the proportion of a drachm to an ounce. (See Unguentum Acidi Sulphurici, Dub.) Charpie, corroded by it, forms a good application to gangrene. Toxicological Properties. The symptoms of poisoning by this acid are the following:—Burning heat in the throat and stomach; extreme fetidness of the breath; nausea, and excessive vomitings of black or reddish matter; excruciating pains in the bowels; difficulty of breathing; extreme anguish; a feeling of cold on the skin; great prostration; constant tossing; convulsions, and death. The intellectual faculties remain unimpaired. Frequently the uvula, palate, tonsils, and other parts of the fauces, are covered with black or white sloughs. The treatment consists in the administration of large quantities of magnesia, or, if this is not at hand, of a solution of soap. The safety of the patient depends upon the greatest promptitude in the applica- tion of the remedies. After the poison has been neutralized, mucilaginous and other mild drinks must be taken in large quantities. Uses in the Arts. Sulphuric acid is more used in the arts than any other acid. It is employed to obtain nearly all other acids; to extract soda from common salt; to make alum and sulphate of iron, when these salts command a good price, and the acid is cheap; to dissolve indigo; to prepare skins for tanning; and, lastly, to prepare phosphorus, sulphuric ether, the chlorides of mercury, chloride of lime or bleaching salt, sulphate of zinc, and sulphate of magnesia. The arts of bleaching and dyeing cause its principal con- sumption. Off Prep. Acidum Sulphuricum Aromaticum, U. S., Ed., Dub.; Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Acidum Sulphuricum Purum, Dub.; Ferri Sulphas, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Hydrargyri Persulphas, Dub.; Hydrargyri Sulphas Flavus, U.S., Ed.; Magnesia; Sulphas Purum, Dub.; Potassae Bisulphas, Lond., Dub.; Quiniae Sulphas, U.S., Lond.; PART I. Acidum Sulphuricum.—Acidum Tartaricum. 45 Solutio Sulphatis Cupri Composi.a, Ed.; Unguentum Acidi S.dphurici, Dub; Unguentum Sulphuris Compositum, U.S; Zinci Sulphas, U.^, Ed., Dub. —•»►« © ©««— ACIDUM TARTARICUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tartaric Acid. Acide tartrique, Fr.; Weinsteinsaurc, Germ.; Acido tartarico, Ital, Span Tariric Mid is officinal in all the Pharmacopoeias commented on m this work, except the Edinburgh. It is placed among the preparations by■ ihe London and Dublin Colleges; but stands more properly, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, in the Materia Medica, as an article to be purchased from the wholesale manufacturer. It is extracted from tartar, a pectibar sub- stance which concretes on the inside of wine-casks, being deposited the e dunn' the fermentation of the wine. Tartar, when purified, is the cream of tartar of the shops, and is found to be a supersalt, consisting of two equivalents of tartaric acid, and one equiv. of potassa. It is, there ore in correct chemical language, a bitartrate of potassa. (See Potass* Super- tU Tartaric acid was first obtained in a separate state by Scheele in 1770. The process consists in saturating the excess of acid in the bitartrate ot potassa with carbonate of lime, and decomposing the resulting insoluble tar- trate of lime by sulphuric acid, which precipitates in combination with tfce limp, and liberates the tartaric acid. The equivalent quantities are one equiv. of bitartrate, and one equiv. of carbonate of lime. The process, when thus conducted, furnishes the second equivalent or excess of acid only of the bitartrate. The other equivalent may be procured by decom- posing the neutral tartrate of potassa, remaining in the solution after the precipitation of the tartrate of lime, by muriate of lime in excess. By double decomposition, muriate of potassa will be formed in solution and a fresh portion of tartrate of lime, which latter may be decomposed by sul- phuric acid in the same manner as the first portion. The process, when [bus conducted, will furnish, in theory, twice as much tartaric acid as when the excess of acid only is saturated and set free. Preparation on the Large Scale. The mode of obtaining this acid on the large scale is as follows. Mix intimately, by grinding in a mortar and passing through a sieve, 100 parts of bitartrate of potassa (cream of tartar> with 26| parts of pulverized chalk. Throw the mixture, by spoonfuls, into 8 or 10 times its weight of boiling water, waiting until the effervescence has ceased, before every fresh addition. Examine the solution by litmus paper, and if not neutral, make it so by the addition of a little chalk. Wash the tartrate of lime with abundance of cold water, and add to it a quantity ot sulphuric acid equal in weight to the chalk employed, and diluted with from 10 to 16 times its weight of water. Agitate the mixture frequently lor 24 hours, and then test a small portion of the clear solution for sulphuric acid by acetate of lead. A precipitate will be formed, which is either tartrate ot lead or a mixture of tartrate and sulphate of lead. If the former, it will dissolve entirely in dilute nitric acid; if the latter, only partially, as the sul- phate of lead is insoluble in that acid. If a slight excess of sulphuric acid should be indicated, it is of no consequence; but if the excess be consider- able it must be removed by a fresh addition of chalk. On the other hand, 46 Acidum Tartaricum. PART I. an excess of tartrate of lime, which interferes very much with the crystalli- zation of the tartaric acid, must be decomposed by adding a small quantity of sulphuric acid. The clear liquor, separated from the sulphate of lime, is concentrated by evaporation to the consistence of syrup, and allowed to crystallize. Repeated solutions and crystallizations are necessary to get the crystals white. The mode of ascertaining the quantity of chalk consumed, is to weigh out more than is necessary in the process, and, after the satura- tion has been completed, to weigh what is left. If the neutral tartrate of potassa be also converted into tartrate of lime in the manner already explained, the quantity of sulphuric acid for decomposition must be doubled. Sometimes the bitartrate of potassa is decomposed by lime, in which case the whole of the tartaric acid present is converted into tartrate of lime at one operation; but the caustic potassa at the same time liberated, by dissolving the tartrate of lime formed and preventing it from precipitating, renders this process ineligible. The reader is now prepared to understand the formulae of the London and Dublin Colleges. In the former the new London measures are of course adopted. " Take of bitartrate of potassa four pounds; boiling distilled water two gallons and a half; prepared chalk twenty-five ounces and six drachms; diluted sulphuric acid seven pints and seventeen fluidounces; hydrochloric acid twenty-six and a half fluidounces, or as much as may be sufficient. Boil the bitartrate of potassa with two gallons of the distilled water, and add, by degrees, the half of the chalk; when the effervescence is over, add the remainder of the chalk, previously dissolved in the hydrochloric acid, diluted with four pints of the distilled water. Then set aside that the tartrate of lime may subside, and, having poured off the liquor, wash the tartrate fre- quently with distilled water until it is free from taste. Then pour on the diluted sulphuric acid, and boil for a quarter of an hour. Having filtered the liquor, evaporate it by a gentle heat, that crystals may form. These, in order to be pure, must be dissolved in water two or three times, and the solution as often filtered, evaporated, and set aside."—Lond. " Take of bitartrate of potassa, reduced to powder, ten parts; prepared chalk, four parts; sulphuric acid seven parts; water, one hundred and twenty parts. Mix the bitartrate of potassa with one hundred parts of hot water, and gradually add the prepared chalk; then, as soon as the effervescence shall have ceased, pour off the supernatant liquor. Wash the residual tar- trate of lime, until it becomes tasteless. Into the clear decanted liquor, drop as much of the water of muriate of lime as may be sufficient to throw down the tartrate of lime. Let this also be washed with water, and mixed with the former deposite. Then add the sulphuric acid, diluted with twenty parts of water, and, employing frequent agitation, digest the mixture with a medium heat during three days. Pour off the supernatant acid fluid, and wash out the acid from the sediment. Let the liquors, including the first acid liquor and the washings, evaporate with a gentle heat to the point of crystallization. Let the crystals, purified by repeated solutions and crystal- lizations, be kept in a stopped glass vessel."—Dub. The quantity of chalk directed in the Dublin formula is excessive, being two-fifths of the weight of the bitartrate; whereas, by theory, a portion only one-fourth the weight of the latter is required; and making every allowance for impurities, one-third would be amply sufficient. The plan of dissolving the bitartrate in boiling water and then adding the chalk, is not an eligible one. It is better to mix them together according to the plan given by Dr. Henry, as described in the beginning of this article, and to throw the mix- PART I. Acidum Tartaricum. 47 ture by spoonfuls at a time into boiling water. In this way, less water is necessary, and less excess of chalk required, as less of it escapes decompo- sition. Instead of prescribing the quantity of chalk, it would, perhaps, have been an improvement, if the Colleges, above quoted, had directed a quantity " sufficient for saturation." The London College, in their new formula, given above, have very properly followed the example of the Dublin College, by directing the decomposition of the neutral tartrate of potassa by means of a solution of muriate of lime. Nearly all the tartaric acid consumed in the United States is of domestic manufacture. Occasionally, however, a few kegs are imported from Bordeaux or Marseilles, when the acid happens to command a good price. Properties. Tartaric acid is a white crystallized solid in the form of irre- gular six-sided prisms. Sometimes two opposite sides of the prism become very much enlarged, so as to cause the crystals to present the appearance of tables. It is unalterable in the air, and possesses a strong acid taste, which becomes agreeable when the acid is sufficiently diluted with water. It is soluble in five or six times its weight of cold, and twice its weight of boil- ing water. It is also soluble in alcohol. A weak solution undergoes spon- taneous decomposition by keeping, becoming covered with a mouldy pellicle. In the form of crystals, it always contains combined water, from which it cannot be separated without previous combination with a base. In uniting with bases, it has a remarkable tendency to form double salts, several of which constitute important medicines. When subjected to heat,rit yields, in addition to the usual products of the destructive distillation of vegetable matter, a peculiar acid, called pyrotartaric. It is distinguished from all other acids by forming a precipitate, consisting of bitartrate of potassa, when added to a salt of that alkali. Its most usual impurity is sulphuric acid, which may be detected by the solution affording, with acetate of lead, a precipitate only partially soluble in nitric acid. Tartaric acid is incompatible with salifiable bases and their carbonates; with salts of potassa, with which it produces a crystalline precipitate of bitar- trate; and with the salts of lime and of lead, with which it also forrfis pre- cipitates. It consists, when dry, of two equivalents of hydrogen 2, four equiv. of carbon 24.48, and five equiv. of oxygen 40=66.48, and when crystallized, of one equivalent of dry acid 66.48, and one equiv. of water 9=75.48. Medical Properties. Tartaric acid, being cheaper than citric acid, forms, when dissolved in water and sweetened, a good substitute for lemonade. It is very much used in medicine to form acid refrigerant drinks and efferves- cing draughts. What are called soda powders consist of twenty-five grains of tartaric acid, and half a drachm of bicarbonate of soda, put up in separate papers. When used, the acid and salt are dissolved in separate , portions of water, and the solutions mixed and drunk in a state of effer- vescence. These powders furnish a good substitute for soda water. Tar- taric acid is also a constituent in the gentle aperient called Seidlitzpowders. These consist of a mixture of two drachms of tartrate of potassa and soda, (Rochelle salt,) and two scruples of bicarbonate of soda, put up in a white paper, and thirty-five grains of tartaric acid contained in a blue one. The contents of the white paper are dissolved in about half a pint of water, to which those of the blue paper are added; and the whole is taken in a state of effervescence. The excess of acid renders the medicine more pleasant, with- out injuring its aperient quality. This acid, when powdered and dried by a gentle heat, and then mixed in due proportion with the bicarbonate of soda, forms a good effervescing powder, a teaspoonful of which, stirred into a turn- 43 Aconitum. PART I. bier of water, forms the dose. The mixture must be kept in well stopped vials. The neutralizing power of tartaric acid is about the same as that of citric acid. Tartaric acid is not employed in any officinal preparation. B. ACONITUM, U.S. Aconite. " Aconitum Neomontanum. Folia. The leaves." U. S. Off.Syn. ACOMT1 FOLIA. ACONITI RADIX. Aconitum panicu- latum. Folia. Radix. Ixnid.; ACONITI NAPELLI FOLIA. Ed.; ACO- NITUM PAMCULATUM. Folia. Dub. Aconit, Fr.; Eisenhut, Monchskappe, Germ.; Aconito, Napello, Ital.; Aconito, Span. Aconitum. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Trigynia.—Nut. Ord. Ranunculaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Petals five, the highest arched. Nectaries two, peduncled, recurved. Pods three or five. Willd. The plants belonging to this genus are herbaceous, with divided leaves, and violet or yellow flowers disposed in spikes, racemes, or panicles. In the French Codex three species are adopted as officinal, the A. Anthora, A. Cammarum, and A. Napellus of Linnaeus. The Edinburgh College recog- nises only the A. Napellus, which was erroneously supposed to be the plant employed by Storck, who introduced the medicine into notice. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia follows Willdenow in adopting the A. neomontanum as the plant described by Storck. The London and Dublin Colleges recognise the A. paniculatum of De Candolle. This botanist, in his Prodromus, divides the genus Aconitum into four sections—Anthora, Lycoctonum, Cammarum, and Napellus. The A. paniculatum belongs to the third of these divisions; and the particular plant believed to have been used by Storck, is a variety of this species, distinguished in the Prodromus as the Slorckianum. De Can- dolle is probably correct. The A. neomontanum of Willdenow for which the honour has been generally claimed, is, according to Geiger, possessed of little acrimony, and is therefore very different from Storck's plant, which is represented as extraordinarily acrid. It is, however, of little consequence which was used by Storck, as most of the species possess similar virtues, and one is frequently substituted for another in the shops. Geiger states that he has found none equal to the A. Napellus in acrimony; and this may, there- fore, perhaps, be considered as the most efficacious. Only one species of aconite is indigenous in this country—the A. uncinatum. Most of the others are natives of the Alpine regions of Europe and Siberia. Those employed in medicine appear to be indiscriminately called by English writers wolfsbane or monkshood. Aconitum Napellus. Linn. Flor. Suec. ed. 1755, p. 186.__A.neuber- gense. De Cand. Syst. veg. i. 373.—A. variabile neubergense. Hayne, Darstel. und Beschreib. &c, xii. 14. This is a perennial herbaceous plant, with a turnip-shaped or fusiform root, and an erect, round, smooth, leafy stem, which is usually simple, and rises from two to four feet, some- times even six or eight feet in height. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, divided almost to the base, from two to four inches in diameter, deep green upon their upper surface, light green beneath, somewhat rigid, and more or less smooth and shining on both sides. Those on the lower part of the PART I. Aconitum. 49 stem have long footstalks and five or seven divisions, the upper, short foot- stalks and three or five divisions. The divisions are narrow at their base, but widen in the form of a wedge towards their summit, and present two or three lobes, which extend nearly or quite to the middle. The lobes are cleft or toothed, and the laciniae or teeth are linear or linear-lanceolate and pointed. The flowers are of a dark violet-blue colour, large and beautiful, and are borne at the summit of the stem upon a thick, simple, straight, erect, spike-like raceme, beneath which, in the cultivated plant, several smaller racemes arise from the axils of the upper leaves. Though without calyx, they have two small calycinal stipules situated on the peduncle within a few lines of the flower. The petals are five, the upper helmet-shaped and beaked, nearly hemispherical, open or closed, the two lateral roundish and internally hairy, the two lower oblong-oval. They enclose two pedicled nectaries, of which the spur is capitate, and the lip bifid and revolute. The fruit consists of three, four, or five podlike capsules. The plant is abundant in the mountainous forests of France, Switzerland, and Germany. It is also cultivated in the gardens of Europe, and has been introduced into this country as an ornamental flower. All parts of it are acrid and poisonous. The leaves are usually employed, and should be col- lected when the flowers begin to appear, or shortly before. In the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia, the root also has been adopted as offi- cinal. According to Dr. Turnbull, this is by far the most active part of the plant. It should be gathered before the seeds are formed. Properties. The fresh leaves have a faint narcotic odour, which is most sensible when they are rubbed. Their taste is at first bitterish and herbace- ous, afterwards burning, very acrid, and durable. When long chewed, they inflame the tongue. The dried leaves have a similar taste, but the acrid impression commences later. Their sensible properties and medicinal activity are impaired by long keeping. They should be of a green colour, and neither musty nor tasteless. Those parcels should always be rejected which are destitute of acrimony. Other species of aconite are often sub- stituted, and, if possessed of the same sensible properties, without incon- venience. The analysis of aconite, though attempted by several chemists, has not been satisfactorily accomplished. Bucholz obtained from the fresh herb of the A. neomontanum, resin, wax, gum, albumen, extractive, lignin, malate and citrate of lime and other saline matters, besides 83.33 per cent. of water. During the bruising of the herb, he experienced headach, ver- tigo, &c, though water distilled from it produced no poisonous effect. It has been rendered probable by the researches of Geiger and Hesse, that there are two active principles in aconite, one easily destructible, upon which the acrimony depends, the other less acrid, having alkaline pro- perties, and capable of exerting a powerful narcotic influence over the system. For the latter, the name of aconitin has been proposed; which, however, if the claim of the principle to the rank of an alkali be admitted, should be changed to aconitia. Hesse obtained it from the dried leaves by a process similar to that employed in procuring atropia. (See Belladonna.) The London College has adopted it as officinal, and given a process for its preparation under the name of aconitina. (See Aconitina, in the second part of this work.) Peschier has announced the existence of a peculiar acid in aconite, which he calls aconitic acid. Medical Properties and Uses. Aconite was well known to the ancients as a powerful poison, but was first employed as a medicine by Baron Storck of Vienna, whose experiments with it were published in the year 1762. In moderate doses it excites the circulation, increases the perspiratory and 6 50 Adeps. part i. urinary discharge, and exercises considerable influence over the nervous system. Among its effects, when it is pretty freely given, are, according to Turnbull, headach, nausea, weakness of the joints and muscles, slight con- fusion of intellect, and a remarkable sensation of tingling in various parts of the body, particularly in the head, face, and extremities. In poisonous doses, it occasions burning heat of the stomach, thirst, violent nausea, vomit- ing, purging, severe gastric and intestinal spasms, vertigo, mania, convul- sions, and death. Its constitutional effects are also experienced when it is applied to the surface of a wound. Orfila inferred from his experiments, that, while it irritates the part to which it is applied, it also enters the circu- lation and acts powerfully on the nervous system, particularly the brain, giving rise to a species of mental alienation. Dissection reveals inflammation of the stomach and bowels, with engorgement of the brain and lungs. Aconite has been employed in rheumatism, neuralgia, gout, scrofula, secondary syphilis, scirrhus and cancer, certain cutaneous diseases, amaurosis, paralysis, epilepsy, intermittent fever, and other complaints. Its highest reputation has perhaps been as a remedy in obstinate rheumatism, in which complaint it has been very successful in the hands of the German practitioners. Professor Fou- quier, who experimented largely with it in the Hopital de la Charite, found little advantage from its use, except as a diuretic in passive dropsy. It may be administered in powder, extract, or tincture. The dose of the powdered leaves is one or two grains; that of the extract from half a grain to a grain, to be repeated twice or three times a day, and gradually increased till the effects of the medicine are experienced. The tincture may be prepared by macerating two ounces of the dried leaves in a pint of alcohol, and may be given in the dose of ten or fifteen drops, to be gradually augmented. Dr. Turnbull recommends a tincture made from the root carefully dried and pow- dered in the proportion of one ounce to six fluidounces of strong alcohol. Of this, eight or ten drops may be given three times a day, and gradually increased till its effects become obvious. Few patients, he observes, will bear more than twenty drops. Aconite is little used by American practi- tioners. Off. Prep. Aconitina, Lond.; Extractum Aconiti, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. ADEPS. U.S., Lond. Lard. " Sus scrofa. Adeps curata. The lard." U. S. " Sus scrofa. Adeps prxparatus." Lond. Off. Syn. ADEPS SUILLUS. Ed.; ADEPS SUILLUS PR.EPA- RATUS. Dub. Axonge, Graissc, Saindoux, Fr.; Schwcineschmalz, Germ.; Grasso di porco, Lardo, Ital.; Manteca de puerco, Lardo, Span. Lard is the prepared fat of the hog. The Dublin College gives a process for its preparation; but as in this country it is purchased by the druggists already prepared, the introduction of any officinal directions into our Phar- macopoeia was deemed superfluous. The adipose matter of the omentum and mesentery, and that which surrounds the kidneys, are usually employed; though the subcutaneous fat is said to afford lard' of a firmer consistence. In the crude state it contains membranes and vessels, and is more or less contaminated with blood, from all which it must be freed before it can be fit PART I. Adeps. 51 for use. For this purpose, the fat, having been deprived as far as possible, by the hand, of membranous matter, is cut into pieces, washed with water till the liquor ceases to be coloured, and then melted, usually with a small portion of water, in a copper or iron vessel, over a slow fire. The heat is continued till all the moisture is evaporated, which may be known by the transparency of the melted fat, and the absence of crepitation when a small portion of it is thrown into the fire. Care should be taken that the heat is not too great, as otherwise the lard might be partially decomposed, acquire a yellow colour, and become acrid. The process is completed by straining the fluid through linen, and pouring it into suitable vessels, in which it con- cretes upon cooling. Lard, as offered for sale, often contains common salt, which renders it unfit for pharmaceutic purposes. To free it from this, the Dublin College directs that it be melted with twice its weight of boiling water, the mixture well agitated and set aside to cool, and the fat then separated. Properties. Lard is white, inodorous, with little taste, of a soft consist- ence at ordinary temperatures, fusible at about 100° F., insoluble in water, partially soluble in alcohol, dissolved and decomposed by the stronger acids, and converted into soap by union with the alkalies. According to Braconnot, it contains, in 100 parts, 62 of olein or the liquid principle of oils, and 38 of stearin or the concrete principle. Most fats and oils, of animal origin, are composed of these two ingredients, upon the relative proportion of which their consistence respectively depends. They may be obtained separate by the action of boiling alcohol, which on cooling deposites the stearin, and yields the olein upon evaporation. Another method is to compress fat, or oil congealed by cold, within the folds of bibulous paper. The olein is absorbed by the paper, and may be separated by compression under water; the stearin remains. Olein, originally denominated eldin, resembles oil in appearance, is colour- less when pure, congeals at 20° F., may be evaporated unchanged in vacuo, has little odour and a sweetish taste, is insoluble in water but soluble in boil- ing alcohol, and consists of carbon, oxyen, and hydrogen. Stearin is white, concrete, fusible at 111° F., volatilizable, unchanged in vacuo, partly volatilized and partly decomposed when heated in a retort, insipid, inodorous, slightly soluble in alcohol, insoluble in water, and com- posed, like the former principle, of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. From the experiments, however, of M. Le Canu it appears, that the concrete por- tion of animal oils to which the name of stearin has been applied, consists of two principles, distinguished by their different fusibility and solubility in ether. For that which is most fusible and most soluble in ether, he proposes the name of margarin, irom its resemblance to the solid principle of vegetable oils, while for the other he retains the appellation before given to the mixture of the two. Exposed to the air, lard absorbs oxygen and becomes rancid. It should, therefore, be kept in well closed vessels, or procured fresh when wanted for use. In the rancid slate it is irritating to the skin, and sometimes exercises an injurious reaction on substances mixed with it. Thus the ointment of iodide of potassium, which is white when prepared with fresh lard, is said to be more or less yellow when the lard employed is rancid. Medical Properties and Uses. Lard is emollient, and is occasionally employed by itself in frictions, or in connexion with, poultices to preserve their soft consistence; but its chief use is in pharmacy as an ingredient of ointments and cerates. It is frequently added to laxative enemata. Off. Prep. Ceratum Simplex, U. S.; Unguentum Aquae Rosae, U. S.; Unguentum Cetacei, Dub.; Unguentum Simplex, U. S., Dub. W. 52 Alcohol. PART I. ALCOHOL. U.S. Alcohol. Off. Syn. SPIRITUS RECTIFICATUS. Lond., Dub.; ALCOHOL FORTIUS. Ed. Spirit of wine; Alcool, Esprit de vin, Fr.; Rectificirter Weingeist, Germ.; Alcoole, Acquaviterettificata, Ital.; Alcohol, Espiritu rectificado de vino, Span. SPIRITUS VINI GALLICI. Lond. Brandy. " Spiritus. E vino Gallico destillatus." Lond. Eau de vie, Fr.; Brantwein, Germ.; Acquavite, Ital.; Aqua ardiente, Span. Considerable confusion prevails in the nomenclature adopted in the differ- ent Pharmacopoeias, to express the various pharmaceutical strengths of the liquid, which in its pure state is- known to the chemist under the name of alcohol. The London and Dublin Colleges have adopted three strengths of this substance; while the Edinburgh and United States Pharmacopoeias have admitted only two. The following table presents a synoptic view of the names and strengths of the alcohol according to these different authorities; assuming those preparations to be identical, the specific gravities of which approach to an equality. U.S. Lond. Dub. Ed. Highest off. S strength. ( Medium do. < Lowest do. < Alcohol. Sp. gr. 0.835 Alcohol Dilu-tum. Alcohol. Sp. gr. 0.815 Spiritus Rectifi-catus. Sp. gr. 0.838 Spiritus Tenuior. Sp. gr. 0.920 Alcohol. Sp. gr. 0.810 Spiritus Rectifi-catus. Sp. gr. 0.840 Spiritus Tenuior. Sp. gr. 0.919 Alcohol Fortius. Sp. gr. 0.835 Alcohol Dilutius. Sp. gr. 0.935 The London College, in their revised Pharmacopoeia for 1836, have intro- duced brandy, under the officinal name of Spiritus Vini Gallici. As this is an alcoholic liquor, and may be considered as a fourth form of alcohol recognised by that College, its officinal title has been associated with " Alco- hol," in forming the heading of this article. By the table it is perceived that the officinal " Alcohol" of the United States Pharmacopoeia, is a rectified spirit of the sp. gr. 0.835; while the spirit under the same officinal name, of the London and Dublin Colleges, is much stronger. It is certainly to be regretted that the same name has been applied to the substance of such different strengths, as it leads to confusion. Our principal object, however, in this article, is to describe the alcohol of the United States Pharmacopoeia, corresponding to the London and Dublin Spiritus Rectificatus, and the Edinburgh Alcohol Fortius; and we shall introduce incidentally our notice of brandy and of the stronger spirit of the London and Dublin Colleges, also called alcohol. The Alcohol Dilutum, and the corresponding preparations of the British Pharmacopoeias, will be considered in their appropriate place, in the second part of this work. (See Alcohol Dilutum.) PART I. Alcohol. 53 Alcohol, in the chemical sense, is a peculiar liquid, generated for the most part in vegetable juices and infusions by a peculiar fermentation, called the vinous or alcoholic. The liquids which have undergone it are called vinous liquors, and are of various kinds. Thus the fermented juice of the grape is called wine; of the apple, cider; and the fermented infusion of malt, beer. All these, and many others, are vinous liquors, and for that reason contain alcohol. With regard to the nature of the liquids susceptible of the vinous fermen- tation, one general character prevails, however various they may be in other respects, that, namely, of containing sugar in some form or other. It is found further, that after they have undergone the vinous fermentation, the sugar they contained has, either wholly or in part, disappeared, and that the only new products are alcohol which remains in the liquid, and carbonic acid which escapes during the process; and these, when taken together, are found to be equal in weight to the sugar lost. It is hence inferred, with much appearance of probability, that sugar is the subject matter of the vinous fermentation, and that, during the change, it is resolved into alcohol and carbonic acid. Additional facts in support of this view, will be adduced under the head of the composition of alcohol. Sugar, however, will not undergo the vinous fermentation by itself; but requires to be dissolved in water, subjected to the influence of a ferment, and kept at a certain temperature. Accordingly, sugar, water, the presence of a ferment, and the maintenance of an adequate temperature, may be deemed the prerequisites of the vinous fermentation. The water acts by giving fluidity, and the ferment and temperature operate by commencing and main- taining the chemical changes. The precise manner in which the ferment operates in commencing the reaction is not known. Neither has it been cer- tainly ascertained whether it is a peculiar vegetable principle, or whether a number of distinct vegetable substances are capable of acting in a similar way. As a general rule, substances containing nitrogen, such as gluten, albumen, caseous matter, &c, possess the property of inducing the vinous fermentation. The proper temperature ranges from 60° to 90°. Certain vegetable infusions, as those of potatoes and rice, though consist- ing almost entirely of starch, are, nevertheless, capable of undergoing the vinous fermentation, and form seeming exceptions to the rule that sugar is the only substance susceptible of this fermentation. The apparent excep- tion is explained by the circumstance, that starch is susceptible of a sponta- neous change which converts it into sugar. How this change takes place is not well known, but it is designated by some authors as the saccharine fer- mentation. Thus Kirchoff proved, that if a mixture of gluten from flour, and starch from potatoes, be put into hot water, the starch will be converted into sugar. When, therefore, starch is apparently converted into alcohol by fermentation, it is supposed that during the change it passes through the intermediate state of sugar. Alcohol, being the product of the vinous fermentation, necessarily exists in all vinous liquors, and may be obtained from them by distillation. For- merly it was supposed that these liquors did not contain alcohol, but were merely capable of furnishing it in consequence of a new arrangement of their ultimate constituents, the result of the heat applied in the distillation. Brande, however, disproved this idea, by showing that alcohol may be obtained from all vinous liquors without the application of heat, and, therefore, must pre- exist in them. His method consists in precipitating their acid and colouring matter by subacetate of lead, and separating the water by carbonate of potassa. Gay-Lussac and Donovan have proved the same fact. According 6* 54 Alcohol. PART I. to the former, litharge in fine powder is the best agent for precipitating the colouring matter. In vinous liquors, the alcohol is diluted with abundance of water, and associated with colouring matter, volatile oil, extractive, and various acids and salts. In purifying it we take advantage of its volatility, which enables us to separate it by distillation, combined with some of the principles of the vinous liquor employed, and more or less water. The distilled product of vinous liquors forms the different varieties of ardent spirit of commerce. When obtained from wine, it is called brandy; from fermented molasses, rum; from cider, malted barley, or rye, whiskey; from malted barley and rye-meal with hops, and rectified from juniper berries, Holland gin; from malted barley, rye, or potatoes, rectified with turpentine, common gin; and from fermented rice, arrack. These spirits are of different strengths, that is, contain different proportionate quantities of alcohol, and have various pecu- liarities by which they are distinguished by the palate. Their strength is accurately judged of by the specific gravity, which is always inversely pro- portionate to their concentration. When they have a sp. gr. of 0.920 they are designated in commerce by the term proof spirit. If lighter than this, they are said to be above proof; if heavier, below proof. Proof spirit may be considered as corresponding with the average strength of the weaker alcohol used in pharmacy. (See Alcohol Dilutum.) Proof spirit is still very far from being pure; being a dilute alcohol, con- taining about half its weight of water, together with essential oil and other foreign matters. It may be further purified and strenghtened by redistillation, or rectification as it is called. Whiskey is the spirit usually employed for this purpose, and from every hundred gallons, between fifty-seven and fifty- eight will be obtained, of the average strength of rectified spirit, (sp. gr. 0.835,) corresponding to the alcohol of the U.S. Pharm., and the Spiritus Rectificatus of the Lond. and Dub. Colleges. When this is once more cau- tiously distilled, it will be further purified from water, and attain the sp. gr. of about 0.825, which is the lightest spirit which can be obtained by ordinary distillation. It still, however, contains eleven per cent, of water. In the mean while, the spirit, by these repeated distillations, becomes more and more freed from essential oil. If it be desired to obtain alcohol of still greater concentration, it is neces- sary to avail ourselves of certain substances which have a powerful affinity for water. Of this nature are lime, carbonate of potassa, and chloride of calcium.. These, being mixed with the rectified spirit, unite with water and sink, while the purer spirit floats above, and may be separated by decantation or distillation. By availing themselves of substances of this nature, the London and Dublin Colleges are enabled to produce their strongest spirit, which they denominate alcohol. (See tabular view, page 52.) The following are the processes which they adopt. Alcohol, (sp. gr. 0.815,) Lond.—"Take of rectified spirit, a gallon; chloride of calcium, a pound. Add the chloride of calcium to the spirit, and when it has dissolved, distil seven pints, and five fluidounces." Alcohol, (sp. gr. 0.810,) Dub.—" Take of rectified spirit, a gallon; pearlashes, dried and still hot, three pounds and a half; muriate of lime, dried, a pound. Add the pearlashes in powder to the spirit, and let the mixture digest in a covered vessel for seven days, shaking it frequently. Draw off the supernatant spirit, and mix with it the muriate of lime. Lastly, distil, with a moderate heat, until the mixture in the retort begins to thicken." In these processes, the London College uses chloride of calcium; the PART I. Alcohol. 55 Dublin, both carbonate of potassa and chloride of calcium, for separating the water. These substances are both well fitted to abstract water, on account of their strong attraction for that liquid. Formerly the London Phar- macopoeia directed the use of carbonate of potassa for this purpose; but in the revision of 1836, the chloride was very properly substituted, which is a more powerful deaquating agent, on account of its solubility in alcohol, which affords the means, as Dr. Barker of Dublin justly remarks, of bring- ing it in contact with every particle of the water. Alcohol, thus obtained, still contains a small proportion of water, to sepa- rate which, it must be very carefully and repeatedly distilled from chloride of calcium, or some other substance having a powerful attraction for water. When thus treated, it is finally brought to the sp. gr. 0.796, at the temp, of 60°, which is considered its point of greatest concentration; as it is now entirely free from water of dilution. In this state, it is called absolute alcohol. Absolute alcohol may be obtained, on a small scale, by the ingenious method of Mr. Graham of Edinburgh. It consists in supporting a cup, con- taining a few ounces of common alcohol, over a shallow basin, covered to a small depth with lime. The whole is placed on the plate of an air-pump under a shallow receiver, and the air exhausted. The exhaustion causes a mixed atmosphere of the vapours of alcohol and water to arise, the latter of which only is absorbed by the lime. Its absorption permits fresh por- tions of watery vapour to be formed, which are absorbed in their turn, and the emission and absorption of the aqueous vapour continue so long as any water remains in the alcohol. In the mean time the permanent atmosphere of alcoholic vapour effectually represses its fresh formation. Common spirit may thus be brought to the state of absolute alcohol in the course of five or six days. A good way for ascertaining when all the water has been removed, is to drop into the liquid a piece of anhydrous baryta, which will remain unchanged if the alcohol be free from water; otherwise it will fall to powder. Properties. Alcohol is a colourless transparent liquid, of a penetrating, agreeable odour, and a burning and highly pungent taste. When free from water of dilution, its sp. gr. is 0.796, at the temp, of 60°. Its density progressively increases by dilution, so that its sp. gr. is an index of its strength. When of the sp. gr. 0.820, its boiling point is at 176°; this point being always lower in proportion as the alcohol is stronger. Its spe- cific gravity, as a vapour, is 1.60 compared with air. It has never been congealed, having been exposed to the artificial cold of 91° below zero, without losing its liquidity. On account of this property, it is used in thermometers for measuring very low temperatures. It is inflammable, and burns without smoke or residue, the products being water and carbonic acid. Its flame is of a bluish colour when the alcohol is strong; but yellowish, when weak. It combines with water in all proportions, form- ing mixtures which are variously denominated in commerce. Its value depends upon the quantity of absolute alcohol which it contains; and as this is greater in proportion as the sp. gr. of any sample is less, it is found convenient to take the density in estimating its purity. This is done by instruments with bulbs and long stems, called hydrometers, which, by being allowed to float in the spirit, sink deeper into it in proportion as it is lighter. Any given hydrometer strength corresponds with some particular specific gravity; and by referring to tables constructed for the purpose, the percentage of absolute alcohol indicated in each case is at once shown. The following table constructed by Lowitz and improved by Thomson, is 56 Alcohol. PART I. of this kind. We have placed in notes, referring to their respective specific gravities in the table, the names of the different officinal spirits, whereby the percentage of absolute alcohol is indicated which they severally contain. Table of the Specific Gravity of different Mixtures of Absolute Alcohol and Distilled frater, at the Temp, of 60°. 100 Parts. Sp. Gr. at 60°. 100 Parts. Sp. Gr. at 60°. 100 Parts. Sp. Gr. at 60°. 100 Parts. Sp. Gr. at 60°. Ale. Wat Ale. Wat. Ale. Wat. Ale. Wat. 100 0 .796 76 24 .857 52 48 .912 28 72 .962 99 1 .798 75 25 .860 51 4!! .915 27 73 .963 98 2 .801 74 26 .863 50 50 .917 26 74 .965 97 3 .804 73 27 .865 49 51 .92011 25 75 .967 96 4 .807 72 28 •867 48 52 .922 24 76 .968 95 5 .809* 71 29 .870 47 53 .924 23 77 .970 94 6 .812 70 30 .871 46 54 .926 22 78 .972 93 7 .815t 69 31 .874 45 55 .928 21 79 .973 92 8 .817 68 32 .875 44 56 .930 20 80 .974 91 9 .820 67 33 .879 43 57 .933 19 81 .975 90 10 .822 66 34 .880 42 58 .935** 18 82 .977 89 11 .825* 65 35 .883 41 59 .937 17 83 578 88 12 .827 64 36 .886 40 60 .939 16 84 .979 87 13 .830 63 37 .889 39 61 .941 15 85 .981 86 14 .832 62 38 .891 38 62 .943 14 86 .982 85 15 .835§ 61 39 .893 37 63 .945 13 87 .984 84 16 .838ft 60 40 .896 36 64 .947 12 88 .986 83 17 .84011 59 41 .898 35 65 .949 11 89 .987 82 18 .843 58 42 .900 34 66 .951 10 90 .988 81 19 .846 57 43 .903 33 67 .953 9 91 .989 80 20 .848 56 44 .904 32 68 .955 8 92 .990 79 21 .851 55 45 .906 31 69 .957 7 93 .991 78 22 .853 54 46 .908 30 70 .958 6 94 .992 77 23 .855 53 47 .910 29 71 .960 Alcohol is capable of dissolving a great number of substances; as for example, sulphur and phosphorus in small quantity, iodine, ammonia, and potassa, soda, and lithia in the caustic state, but not as carbonates. Among vegetable substances, it is a solvent of the organic vegetable alkalies, sugar, mannite, camphor, resins, balsams, volatile oils, and soap. It dissolves the fixed oils sparingly, except castor oil, which is abundantly soluble. It acts on most acids, forming ethers with some, and effecting the solution of others. All deliquescent salts are soluble in alcohol, except carbonate of potassa; while the efflorescent salts, and those either insoluble or sparingly soluble in water, are mostly insoluble in it. It is capable of combining, in the solid form, with different substances, so as to form definite compounds, which, from their analogy to hydrates, are called alcoates. Composition. Alcohol consists of three equivalents of hydrogen 3, two equiv. of carbon 12.24, and one equiv. of oxygen 8=23.24; or in volumes, of three volumes of hydrogen, two volumes of the vapour of carbon, and half a volume of oxygen. These ultimate constituents are considered by the generality of chemists to be so combined as to form one equiv. of defiant gas 14.24, and one equiv. of water 9; corresponding to one volume of olefi- * Alcohol, Dub. (nearly.) f Alcohol, Lond. J Lightest spirit obtained by ordinary distillation. § Alcohol, U.S.; Alcohol Fortius, Ed. ft Spiritus Rectificatus, Lond. i Spiritus Rectificatus, Dub. V Spiritus Tenuior, Lond. ** Alcohol Dilutius, Ed. part i. Alcohol. 57 ant gas, and one volume of the vapour of water, which are condensed into one volume of alcohol vapour. Some chemists view the equivalent number of alcohol as double that given above, or 46-48. Those who take this view consider it as a compound of one equiv. of etherine 28.48, and two equiv. of water 18; or in volumes, of one volume of etherine and two volumes of the vapour of water, condensed into two volumes. Etherine is a highly volatile liquid, discovered by Faraday, consisting of four equiv. of carbon 24.48, and four of hydrogen 4=28.48; or of four volumes of the vapour of carbon, and four of hydrogen condensed into one volume of its vapour. It is hence obvious that etherine is isomeric with defiant gas, aud only differs from it in having an equivalent exactly double, and in being, in a state of vapour, twice as dense. It has been already stated that, in the vinous fermentation, sugar is con- verted into alcohol and carbonic acid. Now sugar consists, according to the analysis of Dr. Prout, of one equiv. of hydrogen, one of carbon, and one of oxygen; and carbonic acid, of one equiv. of carbon and two of oxygen. Bearing in mind these data, as also the composition of alcohol, it is easy to explain how sugar may be resolved into alcohol and carbonic acid. If, in order to equalize the hydrogen in the sugar and alcohol respectively, we suppose three equiv. of sugar to be the subject-matter of decomposition, we shall have present in that quantity of it, three equiv. of hydrogen, three of carbon, and three of oxygen. Now, if from these we take one equiv. of carbon and two of oxygen—that is, carbonic acid—we shall have left three equiv. of hydrogen, two of carbon, and one of oxygen, or the exact constitu- ents of alcohol. Thus the composition of the several substances concerned fully confirms the statement previously made as to the subject-matter and products of the vinous fermentation. Medical Properties, fyc. Alcohol is a very powerful diffusible stimulant. It is the intoxicating ingredient in all spirituous and vinous liquors, includ- ing under the latter term, porter, ale, and cider, and every liquid in short which has undergone the vinous fermentation. In its pure state it is never used in medicine; but diluted to various degrees, it forms a menstruum for many remedies. In a diluted state, and taken in small quantity, it excites the system, renders the pulse full, communicates additional energy to the muscles, and gives temporary exaltation to the mental faculties. In some states of acute disease, characterized by excessive debility, it is a valuable remedy. In the form of brandy it is frequently given in the sinking stages of typhus with advantage. Other kinds of ardent spirit are occasionally administered, and each is supposed to have its peculiar qualities. Thus, according to Dr. Paris, brandy may be esteemed simply cordial and stom- achic; rum, heating and sudorific; and gin and whiskey, diuretic. Physi- cians should be on their guard not to prescribe alcoholic remedies in chronic diseases, whether alone or in the form of tinctures, for fear of begetting habits of intemperance in their patients. Externally, alcohol is sometimes applied to produce cold by evaporation, or to stimulate when its evaporation is repressed. As an article of daily and dietetic use, alcoholic liquors produce the most deplorable consequences. Besides the moral degradation which they cause, their habitual use gives rise to dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, visceral obstruc- tions, dropsy, paralysis, and not unfrequently mania. Alcohol is extensively employed by perfumers and distillers, in making essences and cordials. In the arts it is used to form drying varnishes, and in chemistry, as an important analytic agent. Being a powerful antiseptic, it is very useful in preserving anatomical preparations. 58 Alcohol—Aletris. PART I. Effects as a Poison. When taken in large quantity, alcohol, in the form of various ardent spirits, produces a true apoplectic state, and occasionally speedy death. The face becomes livid or pale, the respiration stertorous, the mouth frothy; and sense and feeling are more or less completely lost. Where the danger is imminent, an emetic may be administered. The affu- sion of cold water is often very useful. As a counter-poison, acetate of ammonia has been asserted to act with advantage. Pharmaceutic Uses. Alcohol is very extensively employed as a pharma- ceutic agent. Either in its rectified state, or diluted with water, it is used in the formation of all the tinctures, spirits, ethers, and resinous extracts; is added to the vinegars, some of the medicated waters, and one or more of the decoctions and infusions, to assist in their preservation; serves as a vehi- cle or diluent of certain active medicines, as in the Alcohol Ammoniutum, and Acidum Sulphuricum Aromaticum; and is employed for various inci- dental purposes connected with its solvent power. Off. Prep, of alcohol. Alcohol Dilutum, U.S. Off. Prep, of brandy. Mistura Spiritus Vini Gallici, Lond. B. ALETRIS. U.S. Secondary. Star Grass. "Aletris farinosa. Radix. The root." U.S. Aletris. Sex. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Asphodelea:. Gen. Ch. Corolla tubular, six-cleft, wrinkled, persistent. Stamens in- serted into the base of the segments. Style triangular, separable into three. Capsule opening at the top, three-celled, many seeded. Bigelow. Aletris farinosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 183; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 92. This is an indigenous perennial plant, the leaves of which spring immediately from the root, and spread on the ground in the form of a star. Hence have originated the popular names of star grass, blazing star, and mealy starwort, by which it is known in different parts of the country. The leaves are sessile, lanceolate, entire, pointed, very smooth, longitu- dinally veined, and of unequal size, the largest being about four inches in length. From the midst of them a flower stem rises, one or two feet in height, nearly naked, with 'remote scales, which sometimes become leaves. It terminates in a slender scattered spike, the flowers of which stand on very short pedicels, and have minute bractes at the base. The calyx is want- ing. The corolla is tubular, oblong, divided at the summit into six spread- ing segments, of a white colour, and presenting, when old, a mealy or rugose appearance on the outside. The plant is found in almost all parts of the U. States, growing in fields and about the borders of woods, and flowering in June and July. Properties. The root, which is the officinal portion, is small, crooked, branched, blackish externally, brown within, and intensely bitter. The bitterness is extracted by alcohol, and the tincture becomes turbid upon the addition of water. The decoction is moderately bitter; but much less so than the tincture. It affords no precipitate with the salts of iron.— (Bigelow.) Medical Properties. In small doses the root appears to be simply tonic, and may be employed advantageously for similar purposes with other bitters of the same class. When largely given it produces nausea. The powder may be administered as a tonic in the dose of ten grains. W. PART I. Allium. 59 ALLIUM. U.S., Lond. Garlick. " Allium sativum. Bulbus. The Bulb." U.S. Off. Syn. ALLII SATIVI RADIX. Ed.; ALLIUM SATIVUM. Bulbus. Dub. Ail, Fr; Knoblauch, Germ.; Aglio, Ital.; Ajo, Span. Allium. Sex. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Asphodelea?.""" Gen. Ch. Carolla six-parted, spreading. Spathe many-flowered. Umbel crowded. Capsule superior. Willd. This is a very extensive genus, including more than sixty species, most of which are European. Of the nine or ten indigenous to this country, none are employed. Of the European species, several have been used from a very early period, both as food and medicine. Three only are officinal; the A. sativum, or garlick; the A. Cepa, or onion; and the A. Porrum, or leek. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia has adopted only the A. sativum, and to this we shall confine our observations in the present place, simply stating that few genera present a greater resemblance in medical and sensible pro- perties among the various species that compose them, than the present. Allium sativum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 68; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 749, t. 256. This is a perennial plant, and like all its congeners, bulbous. The bulbs are numerous, and enclosed in a common membranous covering, from the base of which the fibres that constitute the proper root descend. The stem is simple, and rises about two feet in height. The leaves are long, flat, and grass-like; and sheath the lower half of the stem. At the termination of the stem is a cluster of flowers and bulbs mingled together, and enclosed in a pointed spathe which opens on one side and withers. The flowers are small and white, and make their appearance in July. This species of garlick grows wild in Sicily, Italy, and the South of France; and is cultivated in all civilized countries. The part employed, as well for culinary purposes as in medicine, is the bulb. The Edinburgh College erroneously directs the root, which, though in ordinary language confounded with the bulb, is, in fact, botanically speak- ing, composed of the fibres that proceed from its base. The bulbs are dug up with a portion of the stem attached, and, having been dried in the sun, are tied together in bunches, and thus brought into market. They are said to lose by drying nine parts of their weight out of fifteen, with little dimi- nution of their sensible properties. This species of Allium is commonly called English garlick, to distinguish it from those which grow wild in our fields and meadows. Properties. Garlick, as found in the shops, is of a shape somewhat spherical, flattened at the bottom, and drawn towards a point at the summit, where a portion of the stem several inches in length projects. It is covered with a white, dry, membranous envelope, consisting of several delicate laminae, within which the small bulbs are arranged around the stem, having each a distinct coat. These small bulbs, which in common language are called cloves of garlick, are usually five or six in number, of an oblong shape, somewhat curved, and in their interior are whitish, moist, and of a fleshy consistence. They have a disagreeable pungent odour, so peculiar as to have received the name of alliaceous. Their taste is bitter and acrid. This 60 Allium. part r. smell and taste, though strongest in the bulb, are found to a greater or less extent in all parts of the plant. They depend on an essential oil which is very volatile, and may be obtained by distillation, passing over with the first portions of water. It is of a yellow colour, exceedingly pungent odour, strong and acrid taste; is heavier than water; and when applied to the skin produces much irritation, and sometimes even blisters. Besides this oil, fresh garlick, according to Cadet-Gassicourt, contains in 1406 parts, 520 of mucilage, 37 of albumen, 48 of fibrous matter, and 801 of water. Bouillon- Lagrange mentions among its constituents, sulphur, a saccharine matter, and a small quantity of fecula. The fresh bulbs yield upon pressure nearly a fourth part of juice, which is highly viscid, and so tenacious as to require dilution with water before it can be easily filtered. When dried it serves as a lute for porcelain. It has the medical properties of the bulbs. Water, alcohol, and vinegar extract the virtues of garlick. Boiling, however, if continued for some time, renders it inert. Medical Properties and Uses. The use of garlick as a medicine and condiment, ascends to the highest antiquity. When taken internally, its active principle is very speedily absorbed, and penetrating throughout the system, becomes sensible in the breath and various secretions. Even ex- ternally applied, as for example to the soles of the feet, it imparts its pecu- liar odour to the breath, urine, and perspiration, and, according to some writers, may be tasted in the mouth. Its effects upon the system are those of a general stimulant. It quickens the circulation, excites the nervous system, promotes expectoration in a debilitated state of the vessels of the lungs, produces diaphoresis or diuresis according as the patient is kept hot , or cool, and acts upon the stomach as a tonic and carminative. Applied to the skin, it is irritant and rubefacient, and moreover exercises to a greater or less extent, its peculiar influence upon the system, in consequence of its absorption. Moderately employed, it is beneficial in enfeebled digestion and flatulence; and is habitually used as a condiment by many who have no objection to an offensive breath. It has been given with advantage in chronic catarrh, humoral asthma, and other pectoral affections in which the symptoms of inflammation have been subdued, and a feeble condition of the vessels remains. Some physicians have highly recommended it in old atonic dropsies and calculous disorders; and it has been employed in the treatment of intermittents. It is said also to be an excellent anthelmintic. If taken too largely, or in excited states of the system, it is apt to occasion gastric irritation, flatulence, hemorrhoids, headach, and fever. As a medi- cine, it is at present more used externally than inwardly. Bruised and applied to the feet, it acts very beneficially as a revulsive in disorders of the head; and is especially useful in the febrile complaints of children, by quiet- ing restlessness and producing sleep. Its juice mixed with oil, or the garlick itself bruised and steeped in spirits, is frequently used as a liniment in infantile convulsions, and other cases of spasmodic or nervous disorder among children. The same application has been made in cases of cutaneous eruption. A clove of garlic, or a few drops of the juice introduced into the ear, are said to prove highly efficacious in atonic deafness; and the bulb, bruised and applied in the shape of a poultice above the pubis, has some- times restored action to the bladder in cases of retention of urine, from debility of that organ. In the same shape it has been recommended as a resolvent in indolent tumours, and may perhaps prove beneficial by stimu- lating the absorbents. Garlick may be taken in the form of pill; or the clove may be swallowed either whole, or cut into pieces of a convenient size. Its juice is also fre- part i. Allium Cepa.—Aloe. 61 quently administered mixed with sugar. The infusion in milk was at one time highly recommended, and the syrup is officinal. The dose in substance is from a half a drachm to a drachm, or even two drachms of the fresh bulb. That of the juice is half a fluidrachm. Off. Prep. Syrupus Allii, U. S. W. ALLIUM CEPA. Bulbus. Dub. Onion. Ognon, Fr.; Zwiebel-Lauch, Germ.; Cipolla, Ital.; Cebolla, Span. Allium. See ALLIUM, U. S. Allium Cepa. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 80. The onion is a perennial bulbous plant, with a naked scape, swelling towards the base, exceeding the leaves in length, and terminating in a simple umbel of white flowers. The leaves are hollow, cylindrical, and pointed. The original country of this species of Allium is unknown. The plant has been cultivated from time immemorial, and is now diffused over the whole civilized world. All parts of it have a peculiar pungent odour, but the bulb only is used. Properties. This is of various size and shape, ovate, spherical, or flattened, composed of concentric fleshy and succulent layers, and covered with dry membranous coats, which are reddish, yellowish, or white, according to the variety. It has, in a high degree, the characteristic odour of the plant, with a sweetish and acrid taste. Fourcroy and Vauquelin obtained from it a white acrid volatile oil holding sulphur in solution, albumen, much uncrys- tallizable sugar and mucilage, phosphoric acid both free and combined with lime, acetic acid, citrate of lime, and lignin. The expressed juice is sus- ceptible of the vinous fermentation. Medical Properties and Uses. The onion is stimulant, diuretic, expec- torant, and rubefacient. Taken moderately, it increases the appetite and promotes digestion, and is much used as a condiment; but in large quanti- ties it is apt to cause flatulence, gastric uneasiness, and febrile excitement. The juice is occasionally given, made into syrup with sugar, in infantile catarrhs and croup, in the absence of much inflammatory action. It is also recommended in dropsy and calculous disorders. Deprived of its essential oil by boiling, the onion becomes a mild esculent; and it is much more used as food than as medicine. Roasted and split, it is sometimes applied as an emollient cataplasm to suppurating tumours. W. ALOE. U.S., Lond. Aloes. " Aloe Spicata. Extractum. The extract." U. S. " Aloe spicata. Folio- rum succus spissatus." Lond. Off Syn. ALOES EXTRACTUM. Ex variis aloes speciebus. a. Aloe Hepatica. b. Aloe Socotorina. Ed.; ALOE HEPATICA, ex A. vulgari. ALOE SOCOTORINA, ex A. spicata. Dub. Sue d'aloes, Fr; Aloe, Germ., Ital.; Aloe, Span.; Musebber, Arab. 7 62 Aloe. part i. Most of the species belonging to the irenns Aloe are said to yield a bitter juice, which has all the properties of the officinal aloes. It is impossible, from the various and sometimes conflicting accounts of writers, to deter- mine exactly from which of the species the drug is in all instances actually derived. The Aloe spicata, however, is generally acknowledged to be an abundant source of it; and the Aloe vulgaris, and Aloe Soccolrina of Ilaworth or Aloe vera of Miller, are usually ranked among the medicinal species. In Loudon's Encyclopaedia of plants are also mentioned the A. purpurascens of Ilaworth, and the A. arborescens* of the Hortus Kewensis; and others are, wiihout doubt, occasionally resorted to. The U. S. Phar- macopoeia and that of London at present recognise only the Aloe spicata. We shall confine ourselves to a description of this species, noticing others only incidentally, when speaking of tiie products which they afford. Aloe. Sex. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia.—-Vat. Ord. Asphodeleae. Gen. Ch. Corolla erect, mouth spreading, bottom nectariferous. Fila- ments inserted into the receptacle. If'illd. Aloe Spicata. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 185. This species of aloes was described by Thunberg; but we cannot ascertain that it has been figured. The stem is round, three or four feet high, about four inches in diameter, and leafy at the summit. The leaves are spreading, subverticilate, about two feet long, broad at the base, gradually narrowing to the point, channeled or grooved upon their upper surface, and with remote teeth upon their edges. The flowers are of a scarlet colour and bell-shaped, and spread horizontally in very close spikes. They contain a large quantity of purple honey juice. The spiked aloes is a native of Southern Africa, growing near the Cape of Good Hope, and, like all the other species of this genus, preferring a sandy soil. In some districts of the colony it is found in great abundance, par- ticularly at Zwellendam, near Mossel bay, where it almost covers the sur- face of the country. As it grows spontaneously, and requires not the least culture, the Hottentots find an occupation accordant with their indolent habits, in collecting and preparing the juice. The process is exceedingly simple. According to Thunberg, the leaves are cut off and so arranged, that the lowest serves as a gutter to convey the juice, which runs from the wounded surface, into a suitable recipient. In other accounts, it is stated that the juice is extracted by pressure from the leaves, previously cut in pieces. The liquor is inspissated by heat in iron cauldrons, and, when of a proper consistence, is poured into casks which contain from one hundred to three hundred pounds. Commercial History and Varieties. Three varieties of aloes reach the markets of this country; that of the Cape of Good Hope, the Socotrine, and the Hepatic. I. 1 lie Cape Aloes, which is by far the most abundant, and by its extra- ordinary cheapness and excellent qualities, promises to supersede the other varieties, has been imported chiefly if not exclusively from Great Britain, as no direct trade has till recently been carried on between the U. States and the Cape of Good Hope. It lias sometimes been confounded with the Socotrine from which, however, it differs very considerably in appearance and sensible properties. By the German writers it is called shining aloes. When freshly broken, it has a very dark olive colour approaching to black, presents a smooth bright almost glassy surface, and if held up to the light appears translucent at its edges. The small fragments also are semi-trans- *Tlie A. vulgaris, A. Soccotrina, A. purpurascens, and .1. arborescens, are considered by some botunuU as mere varieties of the A. perfolialaof Lirmoeus. PART I. Aloe. 63 parent, and have a tinge of yellow or red mixed with the deep olive of the opaque mass. The same tinge is sometimes observable in the larger pieces. 'J he powder is of a fine greenish-yellow colour, and being generally more or less sprinkled over the surface of the pieces as they are kept in the shops, gives them a somewhat yellowish appearance. The odour is strong and disagreeable, but not nauseous. It has not the slightest mixture of the aro- matic. Cape aloes, when perfectly hard, is very brittle, and readily reduced to powder; but in very hot weather, it is apt to become somewhat soft and tenacious, and the interior of the pieces is occasionally more or less so even in winter. It is usually imported in casks or boxes. 2. Socotrine Aloes.—The genuine Socotrine aloes is produced in the Island of Socotora, which lies in the Straits of Babelmandel, about forty leagues to the east of Cape Guardafui; but we are told by Ainslie, that the greater part of what is sold under that name is prepared in the kingdom of Melinda, upon the eastern coast of Africa. Dr. Ruschenberger states that the island of Socotora, as well as the neighbouring coast of Africa, belongs to the Sultan of Muscat, on the southern coast of Arabia;* and it is proba- ble that the commerce in this variety of aloes is carried on chiefly by the maritime Arabs, who convey it either to India, or up the Red Sea by the same channel through which it reached Europe before the discovery of the southern passage into the Indian Ocean. The species of Aloe which yields it is not certainly known. Ainslie says that it is evidently from the same spe- cies with the Cape aloes; but he does not give his reasons for the opinion; and the external character of the drug is so different from that of the Cape, that we cannot but hesitate in admitting their identity of origin. We have been able to discover no good reason for depriving the A. Soccotrina of Haworth—the A. vera of Miller—of the honour formerly conceded to it, of producing this highly valuable variety of aloes. The process for procuring the medicine in Socotora is said to differ somewhat from that followed at the Cape. The juice, expressed from the leaves, is allowed to stand for some time, that the feculent matter may subside; the clear liquor is then poured off into flat dishes and evaporated in the sun. When sufficiently hard, it is introduced into skins and exported. A portion ascends the Red Sea, and through Egypt reaches the ports of Smyrna and Malta, whence it is sent to London. Another portion is carried to Bombay, and thence trans- mitted to various parts of the world. The little that reaches this country either comes by special order from London, or is brought by our India traders. AVe have seen a parcel of the drug said to have been received in our market directly from the Island of Socotora. The Socotrine aloes is in pieces of a yellowish or reddish-brown colour, wholly different from that of the former variety. It is rendered much darker by exposure to the air. Its surface is somewhat glossy, and its fracture smooth and conchoidal, with sharp and semi-transparent edges. The colour of its powder is a bright golden yellow. It has a peculiar, not unpleasant odour, and a taste, which, though bitter and disagreeable, is accompanied with an aromatic flavour. Though hard and pulverulent in cool weather, it is somewhat tenacious in summer, and softens by the heat of the hand. Much of the aloes sold as the Socotrine, has never seen the Island of Socotora, nor even the Indian seas. It has been customary to affix this title :fs a mark of superior value to those portions of the drug, from whatever source they may have been derived, which have been prepared with unusual *"A voyage round the world" &c., in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837, by W. S. W. Ruschenberger. Philadelphia, 1838. 64 Aloe. PART I. care, and are supposed to be of the best quality. Thus, both in Spain and the West Indies, the juice which is obtained without expression, and inspis- sated in the sun without artificial heat, is called Socotrine aloes; and is pro- bably little inferior to the genuine drug. The Socotrine aloes has been very long known under this name, and in former times held the same superiority in the estimation of the profession, which it still to a certain degree retains. 3. Hepatic Aloes.—This variety is prepared in the West Indies and Spain; and is also brought from the ports of India, particularly from Bom- bay. According to Ainslie, it is not produced in Hindostan; but taken thither from Yemen in Arabia. The Hepatic aloes brought from India, is probably obtained from the same plant or plants which yield the Socotrine; but pre- < pared with less care than this variety, or by a different process. That pro- duced in Spain is procured from the Aloe vulgaris. But the British West Indies are the source of by far the greater part of this variety that is consumed in Europe. In Barbadoes and Jamaica, the aloes plant is largely cultivated in the poorer soils; and in the former island especially, the drug has been so abundantly produced, that the name of Barbadoes aloes has been frequently used as synonymous with hepatic. The species most extensively cultivated in the West Indies, is the Aloe vulgaris,* a native of Southeastern Europe, and supposed to be the true aloe of the ancients. The A. Soccotrina,^ A. purpu- rascens^ and A. arborescens,^ are also said to be cultivated in these islands. The process for preparing the aloes appears to be somewhat different in dif- ferent places, or at least as described by different authors. The finest, which is usually called Socotrine, results from the inspissation of the juice placed in bladders or shallow vessels, and exposed to the sun. The common kind is made either by boiling the juice to a proper consistence, or by first form- ing a decoction of the plant, and then evaporating the decoction. In either case, when the liquor has attained the consistence of honey, it is poured into calabashes and allowed to harden. Hepatic aloes like the Socotrine, is of a reddish-brown colour, but is darker and less glossy. It derived its name from the supposed resemblance of its colour to that of the liver. Its odour is disagreeable and nauseous, wholly unlike that of Cape aloes, and without the aromatic flavour of the Socotrine. The taste is nauseous, and intensely bitter. The fracture is not so smooth, nor the edges so sharp and transparent as in either of the first mentioned varieties. It softens in the hand, and becomes adhesive. The powder is of a dull olive-yellow colour. Comparatively'little of the hepatic aloes is used in this country. The Caballine, fetid, or horse aloes seldom if ever reaches us. It is a very impure and offensive variety of the drug, procured from the dregs of the juice deposited during the preparation of the more valuable varieties. It is given only to horses; and the best Cape aloes is so cheap, as to render the importation of the caballine, for this purpose, unnecessary. It is almost black, quite opaque, hard, and in consequence of the sand and other impurities which it contains, of a rough fracture. General Properties. The odour of aloes is different in the different varieties. The taste is in all of them intensely bitter and very tenacious. The colour and other sensible properties have already been sufficiently * De Candolle, Plantcs Grasses, fig. 27. t De Candolle, Plantes Grasses, fig. 85. Curtis's Botanical .Magazine, pi. 472. t Curtis's Botanical Magazine, pi. 1474. § De Candolle, Plantes Grasses, fig. 38. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, pi. 1306. PART I. Jiioe. described. Several distinguished chemists have investigated the nature and composition of aloes. The opinion at one time entertained, that it was a gum-resin, has been abandoned since the experiments of Braconnot, who found it to consist of a bitter principle, soluble in water and in alcohol ot 38° B which he considered peculiar and named resino-amer; and ot ano- ther substance, in much smaller proportion, inodorous and nearly tasteless, very soluble in alcohol, and scarcely soluble in boding water, winch he designated by the name offlea-coloured principle. These results have been essentially confirmed by the experiments of Trommsdorff, Bouillon-Lagrange, and Vogel, who consider the former substance as extractive matter, and the latter as having the chief characters of resin. Besides these princi- ples, Trommsdorff discovered in a variety of hepatic aloes, a proportion ot insoluble matter which he considered as albumen; and Bouillon-Lagrange and Vogel found that Socotrine aloes yields, by distillation, a small quantity of volatile oil, which they could not obtain from the hepatic. Tne propor- tions of the ingredients vary greatly in the different varieties of the drug; and the probability is, that scarcely any two specimens would afford pre- cisely the same results. Braconnot found about 73 per cent, of the bitter principle and 20 of the flea-coloured principle. Trommsdorff obtained from Socotrine aloes about 75 parts of extractive, and 25 of resin; and from the hepatic 81.25 of extractive, 6.25 of resin, and 12.50 of albumen, in the hundred parts. The former variety, according to Bouillon-Lagrange and Vo»el, contains 08 percent, of extractive and 32 of resin; the latter 52 ot extractive, 42 of resin, and 6 of the albuminous matter of Trommsdorff. We are not aware that any analysis has been published of the Cape aloes as a distinct variety. Berzelius considers the resin of Trommsdorff and others, to belong to that form of matter which he calls apotheme, (See Extracts.) and which is nothing more than extractive, altered by the action of the air. It may be obtained separate, by treating aloes with water, and digesting the undissolved portion with oxide of lead, which unites with the apotheme, forming an insoluble compound, and leaves a portion of unaltered extractive, which had adhered to it, dissolved in the water. The oxide of lead may be separated by nitric acid very much diluted; and the apotheme remains in the form of a brown powder", insoluble in cold water, very slightly soluble in boiling water to which it imparts a yellowish-brown colour, soluble in alcohol, ether, and alkaline solutions, and" burning like tinder without flame and without being melted. According to the same author, the bitter extractive which constitutes the remainder of the aloes, may be obtained by treating the watery infusion of the drug with oxide of lead, to separate a portion of apotheme which adheres to it, and evaporating the liquor. Thus procured, it is a Yellowish, translucent, gum-like substance, fusible by a gentle heat, ot a "bitter taste, soluble in ordinary alcohol, but insoluble m that fluid when anhydrous, and in ether. Chlorine produces with its solution a precipitate analogous to apotheme. Cold sulphuric acid dissolves without changing it. IS itric acid dissolves it, producing a greenish colour. Its solution is rendered brighter by acids, which occasion a slight precipitate, and dark red by the alkalies and the salts of iron. The acetate of lead, tartanzed antimony, permuriate of tin, and the salts of manganese, zinc, and copper, do not disturb the solution; the protomuriate of tin, and the nitrates of mercury and silver occasion precipitates. \loes yields its active matter to cold water, and when good is almost wholly dissolved by boiling water; but the resinous portion, or apotheme of Berzelius, is deposited as the solution cools. It is also soluble in alcohol, 66 Aloe. PART I. rectified or diluted. Long boiling impairs its purgative properties by con- verting the extractive into insoluble apotheme. The alkalies, their carbo- nates, and soap, alter in some measure its chemical nature, and render it of easier solution. It is inflammable, swelling up and decrepitating when it burns, and giving out a thick smoke which has the odour of the drug. Those substances only are incompatible with aloes, which alter or preci- pitate the bitter extractive; as the insoluble portion is without action upon the system. Its aqueous solution keeps a long time, even for several months, without exhibiting mouldiness or putrescency; but it becomes ropy, and acquires the character, which it did not previously possess, of affording an abundant precipitate with the infusion of galls. Medical properties and Uses. Aloes was known to the ancients. It is mentioned in the works of Dioscorides and Celsus, the former of whom speaks of two kinds. The varieties are similar in their mode of action. They are all cathartic, operating very slowly but certainly, and having a peculiar affinity for the large intestines. Their action, moreover, appears to be di- rected rather to the muscular coat than to the exhalent vessels; and the dis- charges which they produce, are therefore seldom very thin or watery. In a full dose they quicken the circulation, and produce general warmth. When frequently repeated, they are apt to irritate the rectum, giving rise, in some instances, to hemorrhoids, and aggravating them when already existing. Aloes has also a decided tendency to the uterine system. Its emmenagogue effect, which is often very considerable, is generally attributed to a sympa- thetic extension of irritation from the rectum to the uterus; but we can see no reason why the medicine should not act specifically upon this organ; and its influence in promoting menstruation is by no means confined to cases in which its action upon the neighbouring intestine is most conspicuous. A peculiarity in the action of this cathartic is, that an increase of the quantity administered beyond the medium dose, is not attended by a corresponding increase of effect. Its tendency to irritate the rectum may be obviated, in some measure, by combining it with soap or an alkaline carbonate; but it does not follow, as supposed by some, that this modification of its operation is the result of increased solubility; for aloes given in a liquid state produces the same effect as when taken in pill or powder, except that it acts somewhat more speedily. Besides, when externally applied to a blistered surface, it operates exactly in the same manner as when internally administered; thus proving that its peculiarities are not dependent upon the particular form in which it may be given, but on specific tendencies to particular parts.* With its other powers, aloes combines the property of slightly stimulating the stomach. It is, therefore, in minute doses, an excellent remedy in habitual costiveness, attended with torpor of the digestive organs. From its special direction to the rectum, it has been found peculiarly useful in the treatment of ascarides. In amenorrhcea it is perhaps more frequently employed than any other remedy, entering into almost all the numerous empirical prepara- tions which are habitually resorted to by females in this complaint, and enjoying a no less favourable reputation in regular practice. It is, moreover, frequently given in combination with more irritating cathartics, in order to regulate their liability to excessive action. In the treatment of amenorrhcea, it is said to be peculiarly efficacious when given in the form of enema about the period when the menses should appear. Aloes is contra-indicated by the existence of hemorrhoids, and is obviously unsuitable, unless modified by combination, to the treatment of inflammatory diseases. * See a paper on Endermic Medication, by Dr. Gerhard, in the North Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. x. p. 155. part i. Aloe.—Allhaeae Folia.—Althsese Radix. 6 7 The medium dose is 10 grains; but as a laxative it will often operate in the quantity of 2 or 3 grains; and when a decided impression is required, the dose may be augmented to 20 grains. In consequence of its excessively bitter and somewhat nauseous taste, it is most conveniently administered in the shape of pill.* Off. Prep. Decoctum Aloes Comp., Lond., Dub.; Enema Aloes, Lond.; Extractum Aloes Hepaticae, Dub.; Ext. Aloes Purificat., Lond.; Ext. Colo- cynth. Comp., U. S., Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Aloes, U. S., Ed.; Pil. Aloe's Comp., Lond., Dub.; Pil. Aloes et Assafcetidae, U. S., Ed.; Pil. Aloes et Myrrhae, U. S., Ijond., Ed., Dub.; Pil. Colocynth. Comp., Ed. Dub.; Pil. Gambogiae Comp., Ed., Dub., Lond.; Pil. Rhei Comp., U. S., Ed.; Pil. Sagapeni Comp., Lond.; Pulvis Aloes Compositus, Lond., Dub.; Pulvis Aloes et Canellae, U. S., Dub.; Tinctura Aloes, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinct. Aloes iEtherea, Ed.; Tinct. Aloes et Myrrhae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinct. Benzoini Comp., U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinct. Rhei et Aloes, U. S., Ed.; Vinum Aloes, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. ALTH^E FOLIA. ALTH^^ RADIX. Lond. Leaves and Root of Marshmallow. " Althaea officinalis. Folia. Radix." Lond. Off. Syn. ALTH^E^E OFFICINALIS RADIX. Ed.; ALTHAEA OFFICINALIS. Folia et Radix. Dub. Guimauve, Fr.; Eibisch, Germ.; Altea, Ital.; Altea, Malvavisco, Span. Althjea. Sex. Syst. Monadelphia Polyandria.—Nat. Ord. Malvaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx double, the exterior six or nine-cleft. Capsules nume- rous onc*sc6(l6c] Tf^illcl Althaea Officinalis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 770.; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 552. t. 198. The marshmallow is an herbaceous perennial, with a per- pendicular branching root, and erect woolly stems, from two to four feet or more in height, branched and leafy towards the summit. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, nearly cordate" on the lower part of the stem, oblong- ovate and obscurely three-lobed above, somewhat angular, irregularly serrate, pointed, and covered on both sides with a soft down. The flowers are ter- minal and axillary, with short peduncles, each bearing one, two, or three flowers. The corolla has five spreading, obcordate petals, of a pale purplish colour. The fruit consists of numerous capsules united in a compact cir- cular form, each containing a single seed. The plant grows throughout Europe, inhabiting salt marshes, the banks of rivers, and other moist places. * Dr. Paris enumerates the following empirical preparations, containing aloes as a leading ingredient:—Anderson's pills, consisting of aloes, jalap, and oil of aniseed; Hooper's pills, of aloes, myrrh, sulphate of iron, canella, and ivory black; Dixon's antibilious pills, of aloes, scammony, rhubarb, and tartarized antimony; Speedtman's pills, of aloes myrrh, rhubarb, extract of chamomile, and ess. oil of chamom.; Dinner pills, of aloes, mastich, red roses, and syrup of wormwood; Fothergill's pills, of aloes, scammony, colocynth, and oxide of antimony; Peter's pills, of aloes, jalap, scammony, gamboge, and calomel; and Radcliff's Elixir, of aloes, cinnamon, zedoary, rhubarb, cochineal, syrup of buckthorn, and spirit and water as the solvent; to which may be added, Lee's Windham pills, consisting of gamboge, aloes, soap, and nitrate of potassa, and Lee's New-London pills, of aloes, scammony, gamboge, calomel, jalap, soap, and syrup of buckthorn. 6S Allhxx Folia.—Qlthicpp Radix. part i. It is found also in this country on the borders of salt marshes. In some parts of the Continent of Europe, it is largely cultivated for medical use. The whole plant abounds in mucilage. Both the leaves and root are offici- nal, but the latter oniv is employed to any extent in this country. The flowers are sometimes to be found in the shops, but are scarcely used. The roots should be collected in autumn from plants at least two years old. They are cylindrical, branched, as thick as the finger or thicker, from a foot to a foot and a half long, externally of a yellowish colour which becomes grayish by drying, within white and fleshy. They are usually prepared for the market by removing the epidermis. Our shops are supplied chieHy if not exclusively from Europe. Properties. Marshmallow root comes to us in pieces three or four inches or more in length, usually not so thick as the linger, generally round but sometimes split, while externally and downy from the mode in which the epidermis is removed, light and easily broken with a short somewhat fibrous fracture, of a peculiar faint smell, and a mild mucilaginous sweetish taste. Those pieces are to be preferred which are plump and but slightly fibrous. The root contains a large proportion of mucilage besides starch and saccha- rine matter, and yields its virtues readily to boiling water. A principle was discovered in it by 1M. Bacon, which be supposed to be peculiar to the Marshmallow, but which has been ascertained to be identical with the aspu- ragin of Robiquet. MM. Boutrou-Charlard and IMouze have found ii to belong to that class of organic principles, which are convertible by the agency of strong acids, of potassa or soda, or even of water alone at a high temperature, into ammonia and peculiar acids, and which are designated by the termination amide. Thus asparagin, which must now be called aspar- amide, is converted into ammonia and usparmic, or, as it was formerly named, aspartic acid; and one atom of the resulting asparmate of ammonia is equivalent to one atom of asparamide and one of watef. A solution of asparamide undergoes this change, in some degree, even at common tempe- ratures; but the alteration is greatly promoted by the agency of heat, or of the alkalies. Acids, also, produce the same effect, but they unite with the am- monia and liberate the asparmic acid. Asparamide may be obtained by macerating the bruised marshmallow root in four times its weight of cold water for two days, decanting, repeating the maceration with a fresh portion of water, uniting the infusions thus prepared, evaporating to one-half, filter- ing, again evaporating to the consistence of syrup, and allowing the liquor to stand. In four or five days crystals of asparamide are deposited. Tins principle is crystallizable, inodorous, of a very feeble taste, soluble in 58 parts of cold water, and in much less boiling water, more soluble in diluted alcohol than in water, but insoluble in anhydrous alcohol and ether. It is found in various other plants besides the iiiarshmallow, as in the shoots of asparagus, in all the varieties of the potato, and in the roots of the comfrey and liquorice plant. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 208.) Marshmallow root is said to become somewhat acid by decoction. Those pieces should be rejected which are woody, discoloured, mouldy, of a sour or musty smell, or a sourish taste. The roots of other Malvaceae are sometimes substituted without disadvan- tage, as they possess similar properties;—,-ueh are those of the Althaea rosea or hollyhock, and the Malva Alcea. Medical Properties and Uses. The virtues of the marshmallow are ex- clusively those of a demulcent. The decoction of the root is much used in Europe in irritation and inflammation of the mucous membranes. The roots themselves, boiled and bruised, are sometimes employed as a poultice. PART I. Alumen. 69 The leaves are applied to similar uses. In France, the powdered root is much used in the preparation of pills and electuaries. Off. Prep. Decoctum Althaeae, Dub., Ed.; Syrupus Althaeae, Lond., Ed., Dub. W. ALUMEN. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Alum. Alun, Fr., Dan., Swed.; Alaun, Germ.; Allume, Ital.; Alumbre, Span. The officinal alum is a double salt, consisting of the sulphate of alumina, united to the sulphate of potassa. It is included in the Materia Medica of the United States and British Pharmacopoeias, as an article to be procured from the wholesale manufacturer. Alum is manufactured occasionally from earths which contain it ready formed, but most generally from minerals which, embracing most or all of its constituents, are called alum ores. The principal alum ores are the alum stone, which is a native mixture of subsulphate of alumina and sulphate of potassa, found in large quantities at Tolfa and Piombino in Italy, and certain natural mixtures of sulphuret of iron with schist or clay. It is particularly at the Solfaterra and other places in the kingdom of Naples, that alum is extracted from earths which contain it ready formed. The ground being of volcanic origin, and having a temperature of about 104°, an efflorescence of pure alum is formed upon its surface. This is collected and lixiviated, and the solution made to crystallize by slow evaporation in leaden vessels sunk in the ground. The alum stone is manufactured into alum by calcination, and subsequent exposure to the air for three months; the mineral being frequently sprinkled with water, in order that it may be brought to the state of a soft mass. This is lixiviated, and the solution obtained crystallized by evaporation. The alum stone may be considered as consisting of alum united with a certain quantity of the hydrate of alumina. This latter, by the calcination, loses its water, and becomes incapable of remaining united with the alum of the mineral, which is consequently set free. Alum of the greatest purity is obtained from this ore. Native mixtures of sulphuret of iron and schist, when compact, are treated by exposure to the air for a month. The mineral is then stratified with wood, which is set on fire. The combustion which ensues is slow and protracted. The sulphur is in part converted into sulphuric acid, which unites with the alumina; and the sulphate of alumina thus formed generates a por- tion of alum with the potassa derived from the ashes of the wood. The iron, in the mean time, is almost wholly converted into sesquioxide, and thus becomes insoluble. The matter is lixiviated, and the solution crystal- lized into alum by evaporation. The mother-waters, containing sulphate of alumina, are then drawn off and made to yield a fresh portion of alum by the addition of sulphate of potassa. This process is practised at Liege in France. When the alum ore consists principally of sulphuret of iron and clay, sul- phate of iron or green vitriol is obtained at the same time. The ore is placed in heaps, and occasionally sprinkled with water. The sulphuret of iron gradually absorbs oxygen and passes into the state of sulphate, which efflo- 70 Alumen. PART I. resces on the surface of the heap. Part of the sulphuric acid formed unites with the alumina; so that after the chemical changes are completed, the heap contains both the sulphate of iron and the sulphate of alumina. At the end of about a year, the matter is lixiviated, and the solution of the two sul- phates obtained is concentrated to the proper degree in leaden boilers. The sulphate of iron crystallizes, while the sulphate of alumina, being a deliques- cent salt, remains in the mother-waters. These are drawn off, and treated with a certain quantity of the sulphate of potassa in powder, heat being at the same time applied. They are then allowed to cool, that the alum may crystallize. The crystals are then separated from the solution,'and puntied by a second solution and crystallization. They are next added to boiling water to full saturation, and the solution is transferred to a cask, where, on cooling, nearly the whole concretes into a crystalline mass. The cask is then taken to pieces, and the salt having been broken up, is packed in barrels for the purposes of commerce. This process is most generally followed for manufacturing alum, being employed in France, Great Britain, and the United States. Alum is manufactured also by the direct combination of its constituents. Wih this view, clays are selected as free from iron and carbonate of lime as possible, and calcined to sesquioxidize the iron and render them more easily pulverizable; after which they are dissolved, by the assistance of heat, in weak sulphuric acid. The sulphate of alumina thus generated, is next crystallized into alum by the addition of sulphate of potassa in the usual manner. Alum has not been an article of import into the United States to any extent since 1818, or a year or two earlier; the demand since then having been almost entirely supplied by the domestic manufacture. The method usually employed in the United States, consists in the direct combination of sulphuric acid with clay. Tyson & Ellicott, however, manufacturing chemists of Baltimore, employ for making alum the ore found at Cape Sable, on the Magothy river, Maryland. This ore, which was extensively worked during the late war under the superintendence of Dr. Troost, con- sists of lignite, clay, sulphurej. of iron, and sand. It exists in beds of from six to ten feet in thickness, covered by a stratum of sand. It is dug up, and thrown into heaps of from one to three thousand tons, is set on fire, and con- tinues to burn for several years. The ashes are transported to the manufac- tory, where they are lixiviated, and the solution obtained evaporated in leaden vessels. When the solution indicates about 25° of Baume's hydrometer, sulphate of potassa is added, after which it is drawn off to crystallize. At the end of about a week, the crystallization having been completed, the mother-waters are pumped off; and the crystals, after being washed and well drained, are dissolved in leaden boilers. From these the solution is trans- ferred to the refining vessels, and left for about three weeks to crystallize. At the end of that time, the mother-waters are drawn off from the crystals, and these are broken up, dried, and packed in barrels. Besides the officinal alum, the mode of manufacturing which is above described, there are several varieties of this salt, in which the potassa is replaced by other bases, as for example, ammonia and soda. Ammoniacal alum, or the sulphate of alumina and ammonia, is sometimes manufactured in France, where it is formed by adding putrid urine to a solution of the sulphate of alumina. It resembles so exactly the potassa alum, that it is impossible by simple inspection to distinguish them; and, in composition, it is perfectly analogous to the ordinary alum. It may, however, be distin- PART I. A lumen. 71 guished by subjecting it to a strong calcination, after which alumina will be found as the sole residue; or by rubbing it up with potassa or lime and a little water, when the smell of ammonia will be perceived. Properties. Alum is a white, slightly efflorescent salt crystallized in regu- lar octohedrons, and possessing a sweetish, astringent taste. It dissolves in between fourteen and fifteen times its weight of cold, and three-fourths of its weight of boiling water. Its sp. gr. is 1.71. It reddens litmus, but changes the blue tinctures of the petals of plants, green. It cannot, there- fore, be properly said to contain .an excess of acid. When heated a little above the boiling point, it undergoes the aqueous fusion; and if die heat be continued, it loses its water, swells up, becomes white and opaque, and is converted into the officinal preparation called dried alum. (See Alumen Exsiccatum.) Exposed to a read heat, it gives off oxygen, together with sulphurous and anhydrous sulphuric acids; and the residue consists of alu- mina and sulphate of potassa. When calcined with finely divided charcoal, it gives rise to a peculiar spontaneously inflammable substance, called pyro- phorus, which consists of a mixture of sulphuret of potassium, alumina, and charcoal. Several varieties of alum are known in commerce. Roche alum, so called from its having come originally from Roccha in Syria, is a purer sort of alum, which occurs in fragments about the size of an almond, and covered with an efflorescence of a pale rose colour. A similar description is given by Thenard of the Roman alum, which he states to be in small fragments, having a rose-coloured surface, arising from a slight covering of oxide of iron. All the alums of commerce contain more or less sulphate of iron, varying from five to seven parts in the thousand. Roman alum is among the purest varieties, and is, therefore, much esteemed. The iron is readily detected by adding to a solution of the suspected alum, a few drops of the ferrocyanate of potassa, which will cause a greenish-blue tint, if iron be present. The quantity of iron usually present, though small, is injurious to the alum when used in dyeing. It may, however, be purified by dissolving it in the smallest quantity of boiling water, and stirring the solution as it cools; or by repeated solutions and crystallizations. Incompatibles. Alum is incompatible with the alkalies and their carbo- nates, lime and lime-water, magnesia and its carbonate, tartrate of potassa, and acetate of lead. Composition. Alum was regarded as sulphate of alumina, until it was proved by Descroizilles, Vauquelin, and Chaptal, that it also contains sulphate of potassa, sulphate of ammonia, or both these salts. When its second base is potassa, it consists of one equivalent of tersulphate of alumina 171.7, one equiv. of sulphate of potassa 87.25, and twenty-four equiv. of water 216= 474.95. In the ammoniacal alum, the equiv. of sulphate of potassa is re- placed by one of sulphate of ammonia. In other respects its composition is the same. Alumina is classed by the chemist as an earth, and is essen- tial to the constitution of alum, as it cannot be replaced by any other base. It may be obtained by precipitating a solution of alum by water of ammonia, added in excess. As thus obtained, it presents a gelatinous appearance, and is in the state of hydrate. In this form it has been used by some practitioners on the continent of Europe in diarrhoea. It consists of two equiv. of a metal- lic radical called aluminium 27.4, and three equiv. of oxygen 24=51.4. It is, therefore, a sesquioxide. Medical Properties, 8,-c. Alum is a powerful astringent, and as such is used both internally and externally in restraining hemorrhages. In large 72 Alumen.—Ammoniacum. part r. doses, according to Cullen, it operates occasionally as a purgative. It has been recommended in free doses by Dr. Scudamore, in the form of saturated solution, in haemoptysis and haematemesis. It is employed locally in the form of astringent and repellent injections and collyria. The dose in he- morrhages is from five to twenty grains, repeated every hour or two until the bleeding abates. In less urgent cases, smaller doses are advisable; as large ones are apt to nauseate, an effect which may often be obviated by the addition of some aromatic. Dr. Percival extolled its use as a remedy in colica pictonum, in which disease it may be supposed to act on chemical principles, by converting the poisonous carbonate of lead into the inert sul- phate. It may be given in these cases in doses of fifteen grains, repealed every third, fourth, or fifth hour. In various anginose affections, it is found highly useful, applied topically either in powder or solution. When the affection is attended with mem- branous exudation, its efficacy has been particularly insisted on by Breton- neau, applied in solution prepared with vinegar and honey for adults, and in powder, by insufflation, in the cases of children. When used in the latter way, a drachm of finely powdered alum may be placed in one end of a tube, and then blown by means of the breath into the throat of the child. M. Velpeau, in 1835, extended the observations of M. Bretonneau, and has suc- cessfully applied alum, not only in simple inflammatory sore-throat, but in those forms of angina dependent on small-pox, scarlatina, &c. In these cases the powdered alum may be applied several times a day to the fauces by means of the index finger, so as to cover the affected surfaces. In the interval, the patient should gargle the throat with a solution of from two to four scruples of alum in four fluidounces of barley-water, sweetened with honey. (N. Amer. Archives of Med. and Surg. Sci., ii. 281.) Alum is sometimes exhibited in the form of alum whey, made by boiling two drachms of alum in a pint of milk, and straining the decoction, of which two fluidrachms are a dose. Briskly agitated with the white of eggs, it forms a coaguhim which is used as an external application in some forms of ophthalmia. (See Cataplasma Aluminis.) Off. Prep. Alumen Exsiccatum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Cataplasma Aluminis, Dub.; Liquor Aluminis Compositus, Lond.; Pulvis Aluminis Compositus, Ed. B. AMMONIACUM. U.S., Lond., Ed. Ammoniac. " Heracleum gummiferum. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. "Dorema Ammoniacum. Gummi-resina." Lond. Off. Syn. AMMONIACUM GUMMI. HERACLEUM GUMMIFE- RUM. Gummi Resina. Dub. Gomme ammoniaque, Fr.; ammoniak, Germ.; Gomma ammoniaco, Ital.; Goma amoniaco, Span.; Ushek, Arab.; Semugh belshereen, Persian. Much uncertainty has existed among botanists as to the plant which yields ammoniac. It was generally believed to be a species of Ferula, till Will- denow raised from some seeds mixed with the gum-resin found in the shops, a plant which he ascertained to be an Heracleum, and named H. gummife- rum, under the impression that it must be the true source of the medicine. On this authority, the plant has been adopted by the British Colleges, and is PART I. Ammoniacum. 73 recognised in our national Pharmacopoeia. Willdenow expressly acknow- ledges that he could not procure from it any gum-resin, but ascribes the result to the influence of the climate. The Heracleum, however, does not correspond exactly with the representations given of the ammoniac plant by travellers; and Sprengel has ascertained that it is a native of the Pyrenees, and never produces gum. By this botanist it is named H. Pyrenaicum, though before described by Lapeyrouse under the title of H. amplifolium. (Merat and De Lens.) Mr. Jackson in his account of Morocco, imper- fectly describes a plant indigenous in that country, supposed to be a species of Ferula, from which gum-ammoniac is procured by the natives: but it may be doubted whether its product is the true ammoniac of the shops, which is derived exclusively from Persia. M. Fontanier, who was sent by the French Government into the Levant, and resided many years in Persia, saw the ammoniac plant growing in the province of Fars, and transmitted a drawing of it with specimens to Paris. From these it was inferred to be a species of Ferula; and Merat and De Lens propose for it the name originally applied to it by Leraery, of F. ammonifera. It would appear, however, from recent accounts, that specimens of the plant obtained in Persia by Colonel Wright, and examined by Dr. David Don, prove it to belong to a genus allied to Ferula, but essentially different; and named by Mr. Don, Dorema. A description of it is contained in the 16th volume of the Linnean Transac- tions, under the name of D. Ammoniacum. The ammoniac plant grows spontaneously in Farsistan, Irauk, and other Persian provinces. It attains the height of six or seven feet, and in the spring and early part of summer abounds in a milky juice, which flows out upon the slightest puncture. From the accounts of travellers it appears, that in the month of May, the plant is pierced in innumerable places by an insect of the beetle kind. The juice, exuding through the punctures, concretes upon the stem, and when quite dry is collected by the natives. M. Fontanier states that the juice exudes spontaneously, and that the harvest is about the middle of June. The gum-resin is sent to Bushire, whence it is transmitted to India. It reaches this country usually by the route of Calcutta. The name ammoniac, is thought to have been derived from the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Lybian desert, where the drug is said to have been formerly collected; but Mr. Don considers it a corruption of Armeniacum, originating in the circumstance that the gum-resin was formerly imported into Europe through Armenia. Properties. Ammoniac comes either in the state of separate tears, or in aggregate masses, and in both forms is frequently mixed with impurities. That of the tears, however, is preferable, as the purest may be conveniently picked out, and kept for use. These are of an irregular shape, usually more or less globular, opaque, yellowish on the outside, whitish within, compact, homogeneous, brittle when cold, and breaking with a conchoidal shining fracture. The masses are of a darker colour and less uniform structure, appearing, when broken, as if composed of numerous white or whitish tears, embedded in a dirty gray or brownish substance, and frequently mingled with foreign matters, such as seeds, fragments of vegetables, and sand, or other earth. The smell of ammoniac is peculiar, and stronger in the mass than in the tears. The taste is slightly sweetish, bitter, and somewhat acrid. The sp. gr. is 1.207. When heated, the gum-resin softens and becomes adhesive, but does not melt. It burns with a white flame, swelling up, and emitting a smoke of a strong, resinous, slightly alliaceous odour. It is partly soluble in water, alcohol, ether, vinegar, and alkaline solutions. Triturated with 8 74 Ammoniacum.—Ammonise Liquor Foriior. part i. water, it forms an opaque milky emulsion, which becomes clear upon stand- ing. The alcoholic solution is transparent, but is rendered milky by the addition of water. Bucholz obtained from 100 parts of ammoniac, 22.4 parts of gum, 72.0 of resin, 1.6 of bassorin, and 4.0 of water including volatile oil and loss. Braconnot obtained 18.4 per cent, of gum, 70.0 of resin, 4.4 of a gluten-like substance (bassorin), and 6.0 of water, with 1.2 per cent, of loss. Hagen succeeded in procuring the volatile oil in a separate state by repeated distillation with water. It has a penetrating disagreeable odour, and a taste at first mild, but afterwards bitter and nauseous. The resin of ammoniac is dissolved by alcohol and the fixed and volatile oils, but is divided by ether into two resins, of which one is soluble, the other insoluble in that men- struum. Medical Properties and Uses. This gum-resin is stimulant and expecto- rant, in large doses cathartic, and, like many other stimulants, may be so given as occasionally to prove diaphoretic, diuretic, or emmenagogue. It has been employed in medicine from the highest antiquity, being mentioned in the writings' of Hippocrates. The complaints in which it is most frequendy used, are chronic catarrh, asthma, and other pectoral affections, attended with deficient expectoration without acute inflammation, or with too copious secre- tion from the bronchial mucous membrane dependent upon debility of the vessels. It is thought to have been useful in some cases of amenorrhoea, and in those chlorotic and hysterical conditions of the system arising out of this complaint. It has also been prescribed in obstructions or chronic engorge- ments of the abdominal viscera, under the vague notion of its deobstruent power. Any good which it may do in these affections, is more probably ascribable to its revulsive action upon the alimentary mucous membrane. Authors speak of its utility in long and obstinate colics dependent on mucous matter lodged in the intestines; but it would be difficult to ascertain in what cases such mucous matter existed, and, even allowing its presence, to decide whether it was a cause or a result of the diseased action. Ammoniac is usually administered in combination with other expectorants, with tonics, or emmenagogues. It is much less used than formerly. Externally applied in the shape of a plaster, it is thought to be useful as a discutient or resolvent in white swellings of the joints and other indolent tumours. (See Emplastrum Ammoniaci.) It is given in substance, in the shape of pill or emulsion. The latter form is preferable. (See Mistura Ammoniaci.) The dose is from ten to thirty grains. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Ammoniaci, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Emplas- trum Ammoniaci cum Hydrargyro, Lond., Dub.; Emplastrum Gummosum, Ed.; Mistura Ammoniaci, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Ipecacuanhae Com- positae, Lond.; Pilulae Scillae Compositae, Lond., Ed., Dub. W. AMMONLE LIQUOR FORTIOR. Lond. Strong Water of Ammonia. This is a new officinal of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836. The Lon- don College had previously included in their list, only the weaker water of ammonia, proper for medicinal employment, under the name of Liquor Ammonise. (See Aqua Ammonise, in the second part of this work.) The part i. Ammonias Liquor Fortior. 75 strong water of ammonia, now introduced into their Materia Medica list, is directed to have the sp. gr. of 0.882, and it is stated that it may be reduced to the proper medicinal strength of water of ammonia, by being diluted with three times its volume of distilled water. The introduction into the officinal list of strong water of ammonia, under a distinct title, may be deemed an improvement; since, in point of fact, water of ammonia of high strength is made by the manufacturing chemist, and is diluted to the requisite degree by the apothecary. Yet as some may wish to prepare the weaker medicinal water of ammonia by a distinct process, the London College still retain their formula for that purpose. Preparation on the Large Scale. Strong water of ammonia is generally made by the manufacturing chemist in a cast iron vessel, furnished with a copper head, which communicates with glass receivers containing water, arranged as in a Wolfe's apparatus. Equal weights of muriate of ammonia in powder, and slaked lime being placed in the vessel, the head is luted on with a mixture of lime and white of eggs. This apparatus, according to Thenard, offers the advantages of allowing considerable quantities of the materials to be operated on at the same time, and of permitting an admixture of water, which, by bringing the lime to a pasty consistence, facilitates remarkably the decomposition of the muriate. The lime unites with the muriatic acid, so as to form chloride of calcium and water, and the ammonia, being disengaged, passes into the receivers, and is absorbed by the water. To form the strong water of ammonia, the water in the receivers should be equal in weight to the muriate employed. Sulphate of ammonia may be used in this process, instead of the muriate, as proposed by Payen, with economical results. Properties. Strong water of ammonia is a colourless liquid, of a caustic, acrid taste, and peculiar, pungent smell. It is strongly alkaline, and imme- diately changes turmeric to reddish-brown when held over its fumes. It blisters the tongue and skin. Cooled down to 40° below zero, it concretes into a gelatinous mass, and at the temperature of 130°, enters into ebullition, owing to the rapid disengagement of the gas. It possesses a very strong affinity for carbonic acid, and when insecurely kept, attracts it from the atmosphere. When pure, it evaporates in a glass capsule without residue. The presence of carbonic acid may be detected by its effervescing with acids, and by affording a precipitate when poured into lime-water. It unites with oils, forming a liquid soap, and dissolves resins and many other vegetable principles. Its sp. gr. is in inverse proportion to its strength. When as concentrated as possible, it weighs 0.875 at the temperature of 50°, and contains 32.5 per. cent, of ammonia. The sp. gr. of the London officinal strong water of ammonia is not at the maximum, it being only 0.882, at which density the preparation contains about 29 per cent, of ammonia. Properties of Gaseous Ammonia. All the ammoniacal compounds owe their distinctive properties to the presence of a peculiar gaseous compound of hydrogen and nitrogen, called ammonia. It is most easily obtained by the action of lime upon muriate of ammonia, as already stated. It is trans- parent and colourless like common air, but possesses an acrid and hot taste, and an exceedingly pungent smell. It has a powerful alkaline reaction, and, from its gaseous nature, was called the volatile alkali by the earlier chemists. Its sp. gr. is 0.59. It is irrespirable, the glottis closing spasmodically when the attempt is made to breathe it. It consists of one equiv. of nitrogen 14.15, and three of hydrogen 3 = 17.15; or in volumes, of one volume of nitrogen and three volumes of hydrogen, condensed into two volumes. Medical Properties. Strong water of ammonia, on account of its great 76 Ammonise Liquor Fortior.—Ammonise Murias. part i. strength, can only be used as a caustic and vesicatory. Recently Dr. Gran- ville has proposed the strongest water of ammonia as a counter-irritant in the treatment of many serious disorders, and for the almost immediate relief of nervous and muscular pain, when not dependent on structural disease. (See his work entitled, Counter-Irritation, its Principles, and Practice, &c. London, 1838.) For this purpose, he does not use it pure, but mixes it variously with distilled spirit of rosemary, and spirit of camphor, each made according to formulae which differ from the officinal ones. Dr. Granville lays much stress on the advantages of the mixtures which he employs, and which, he contends, act differently from their ingredients. In a recent communication to the London Lancet, he has given the proportions by measure for forming two of his ammoniated lotions, which he considers applicable to ordinary cases, as follows:— Milder Lo-rioN. Stronger Lotion. Strongest water of ammonia.......four-eighths. five-eighths. Distilled spirit of rosemary .......three-eighths. two-eighths. Spirit of camphor...........one-eighth. one-eighth. The stronger lotion has been employed by Dr. Granville, only in cases of apoplexy, and for the purpose of cauterization. The first two ingredients are to be gradually mixed; whereupon the mixture becomes opalescent and gives out an ethereal smell. Before the addition of the third ingredient, the mixture should be rendered transparent by means of a little alcohol. These lotions are stated to produce as full a vesication in a space of time varying from three to ten minutes, as can be produced by cantharides in as many hours. They are applied by means of folds of linen impregnated with them. (Med. Examiner, Nov. 21, 1838, from the Lond. Lancet.) It is certainly important to possess a prompt vesicatory, and we believe that Dr. Granville's lotions, for this purpose, will answer very well. It is impossible to say what may be the modifying effects of the rosemary and camphor. Perhaps the latter may act by lessening the pain of the applica- tion. They both, no doubt, serve to dilute the ammonia. The liquid am- monia employed by Dr. Granville, being a saturated solution, is considerably stronger than the strong water of ammonia of the London College; neverthe- less we believe that the latter would be fully competent to produce all the effects derived from Dr. Granville's preparation. If a given impression from the ammonia must be made, the officinal preparation might be mixed with less of the other ingredients of the lotion. Indeed, it strikes us as probable that Dr. Granville's liquid ammonia must prove inconveniently strong. Being made by saturating water at 32°, it must progressively evolve ammonia as the temperature rises. B. AMMONITE MURIAS. U.S., Dub. Muriate of Ammonia. Off. Syn. AMMONLE HYDROCHLORAS, Lond.; MURIAS AM- MONITE. Ed. Sal ammoniac, Hydrochlorate of ammonia; Sel ammoniac, Fr.; Salmiak, Germ.; Sale ammoniaco, Ital.; Sal ammoniaco, Span. This salt is placed in the Materia Medica list of all the Pharmacopoeias noticed in this work, as a substance to be obtained from the wholesale manu- facturer. It originally came from Egypt, where it was obtained by sublima- PART I. Ammonise Murias. 77 lion from the soot of camels' dung, which is used in that country for fuel. Since the year 1790, it has been manufactured in Europe by chemical pro- cesses, and the importation from Egypt has gradually ceased. The first European sal ammoniac manufactories were established in England and Scotland. Soon after these, one was set up in Paris by Baume, and shortly afterwards another in Brunswick in Germany. Preparation. The French method of preparing muriate of ammonia is as follows. Bones and old woollen rags are distilled in cast iron cylinders, placed over furnaces. At one end of the cylinder, which is made to open and shut, the substances are introduced, and from the other, by means of a tube communicating with a series of casks connected together by other tubes, the products are disengaged. A tube from the last cask carries the incon- densible products either outside the manufactory, or into the furnace to be consumed by combustion. In case of the latter arrangement, partitions of wire-gauze must be placed at intervals within the tube, to prevent explosions. The products consist of water, oil, a small quantity of acetate and hydro- cyanate of ammonia, and a large quantity of carbonate of ammonia. After being withdrawn from the casks, they are mixed with powdered sulphate of lime, or made to filter through a layer of that salt. By double decomposi- tion, sulphate of ammonia and carbonate of lime are generated, the former of which remains in solution, while the latter is precipitated. Chloride of sodium (common salt) is now added in excess to the solution of the sulphate; and by a new play of affinities, implying the decomposition of water, muriate of ammonia and sulphate of soda are formed. The solution of the mixed salts is then concentrated, and by successive evaporations and cool- ings, they are made to crystallize separately. The muriate of ammonia is then dried, and finally sublimed. The drying is performed by exposing the crystallized salt to heat in a kind of oven, whereby it becomes changed into a spongy friable ash-coloured mass. This is put, while hot, into glazed earthen jars, furnished with a perforated cover, where it is sublimed by means of a sand-bath, at a heat of 320°. The process pursued in England is in principle the same as that adopted by the French. In London, however, much use is made of the ammoniacal liquor, generated in coal-gas works, to obtain the sulphate of ammonia for sublimation with the common salt. Besides the method just described, there are several others for obtaining sulphate of ammonia, for the purpose of being converted into muriate of ammonia. Sometimes bones are heated to redness directly with sulphate of lime or gypsum. In this case there are formed sulphate of ammonia and carbonate of lime, the former of which is separated by lixiviation. In Scot- land, the sulphate of ammonia is procured by lixiviating the soot of sul- phureous coal. It has been proposed to obtain muriate of ammonia by heating a mixture of the bittern of sea-salt works wiih animal matters. The bittern consists principally of muriate of magnesia, and the animal matters furnish impure carbonate of ammonia; and these salts, by double decomposition, would generate muriate of ammonia and carbonate of magnesia. Other processes have been proposed or practised, for an account of which the reader is referred to the Chemical Essays of the late Mr. Parkes, who has appro- priated a separate essay to this subject. Commercial History. All the muriate of ammonia consumed in the United Slates, is obtained from abroad. Its commercial varieties are known under the names of the crude and refined. The crude is imported from Calcutta in chests, containing from 350 to 400 pounds. This variety is 8* 78 Ammonise Murias. PART I. consumed almost entirely by coppersmiths and other artisans in brass and copper, being employed for the purpose of keeping the metallic surfaces bright, preparatory to brazing. The refined comes to us exclusively from England, packed in casks containing from 5 to 10 cwt. Properties. Muriate of ammonia is a white salt, occurring either in cir- cular concavo-convex cakes of about two inches in thickness, or crystallized in conical masses. It has a sharp saline taste, but no smell. Its sp. gr. is 1.45. It dissolves in three times its weight of cold, and about its own weight of boiling water; and during its solution, considerable cold is pro- duced. A hot concentrated solution, when it cools, deposites the salt in feathery crystals. These, when exposed to heat, first undergo the watery fusion, then dry, and finally, below a red heat, sublime in the form of white vapours. Muriate of ammonia possesses the property of combining with the corrosive chloride of mercury and increasing its solubility. It is decom- posed by the strong mineral acids, and by the alkalies and alkaline earths, the former disengaging muriatic acid, the latter, ammonia. It is a perma- nent salt in the ordinary states of the atmosphere, but sometimes the conical crystallized variety is deliquescent, owing to the presence of a portion of muriate of lime. Hence the sublimed salt is always to be preferred in medicine. It is incompatible with acetate of lead and nitrate of silver, pro- ducing with these salts a precipitate of chloride of lead or silver. Composition. Muriate of ammonia is composed of one equivalent of muriatic acid 36.42, and one equiv. of ammonia 17.15 = 53.57; or in ulti- mate constituents, of one equiv. of chlorine, one of nitrogen, and four of hydrogen. In equivalent volumes, it consists of two volumes of muriatic acid, and two volumes of ammonia, condensed into a solid. Medical Properties. Muriate of ammonia is employed both internally and externally. Internally it acts primarily on the alimentary canal as a peculiar irritative stimulus; but secondarily as an excitant and alterative of the capillary, glandular, and lymphatic system, as also of the mucous, serous and fibrous membranes, the secretions of which it is supposed to improve. It has accordingly been deemed useful in catarrhal and rheumatic fevers, pneumonia, bronchitis, pulmonary catarrh, and other mucous and serous inflammations, after their first violence has abated. Several cases of pec- toral disease, simulating incipient phthisis, are reported to have b en cured by this remedy in Otto's Bibliothek, for 1834. (N. Amer. Archives, i. 299, Jan. 1835.) It has also been found useful in visceral obstructions of various kinds. The dose is from five to thirty grains, repeated every two or three hours, either given in powder mixed with powdered gum or sugar, or dissolved in syrup or mucilage. It is very little used as an internal remedy in the United Stales: but on the continent of Europe, especially in Ger- many, it is a good deal employed. Considering the potent nature of its constituents, and the various testimony borne in favour of its powers, its employment has perhaps been too much neglected. Externally applied, it operates in two ways—by the cold produced during its solution, and by the stimulus exerted by the salt itself. It acts in the former way when it proves beneficial in the form of lotion, applied to the head in mania, apoplexy, and violent headach; and on the latter princi- ple, in the cure of indolent tumours, contusions, gangrene, psora, ophthalmia, chilblains, &c. For external use, it may be dissolved to the extent of an ounce in nine fluidounces of water, a fluidounce of alcohol being added to the solution. Muriate of ammonia is used as a reagent in the preparation of ammonia- ted alcohol, water of ammonia, and carbonate of ammonia. PART I. Amygdala. 79 Off. Prep. Ferrum Ammoniatum, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Hydrargyrum Am- moniatum, U.S.; Liquor Hydrargyri Bichloridi, Lond. B. AMYGDALA. U.S. Almonds. "Amygdalus communis. Nuclei. The kernels." U.S. Off. Syn. AMYGDALA AMARA. AMYGDALA DULCIS. Amyg- dalus communis. Nuclei. Lond.; AMYGDALAE AMARjE. AMYG- DALAE DULCES. Amygdalus communis. Nuclei. Dub.; AMYGDALI COMMUNIS NUCLEI. Amygdalae dulces, ex varietate sativa. Ed. Amande douce, Amande amere, Fr.; Sflsse Mandeln, bittere Mandeln, Germ.; Man- dorle dolci, Mandorlc amare, Ital.; Almendra dulce, Almendra amarga, Span. Amygdalus. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia.«—Nat. Ord. Amygdaleae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft, inferior. Petals five. Drupe with a nut perforated with pores. Willd. Amygdalus communis. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 982; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 507. t. 183. The almond tree rises usually from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and divides into numerous spreading branches. The leaves stand upon short footstalks, are about three inches long, and three quarters of an inch broad, elliptical, pointed at both ends, veined, minutely serrated, with the lower serratures and petioles glandular, and are of a bright green colour. The flowers are large, of a pale red colour varying to white, with very short peduncles and petals longer than the calyx, and are usually placed in nume- rous pairs upon the branches. The fruit is of the peach kind, with the outer covering thin, tough, dry, and marked with a longitudinal furrow, where it opens when fully ripe. Within this covering is a rough shell, which con- tains the kernel or almond. There are several varieties of this species of Amygdalus, differing chiefly in the size and shape of the fruit, the thickness of the shell, and the taste of the kernel. The last is the most important point of difference, and has given rise to the botanical division of the species into—1. Amygdalus (com- munis) dulcis, and 2. Amygdalus (communis) amara, the former bearing sweet, the latter bitter almonds. It is the fruit of the first only which is considered officinal in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. The almond tree is a native of Persia, Syria, and Barbary, and is very extensively cultivated in various parts of the South of Europe. It has been introduced into the United States; but in the northern and middle sections the fruit does not usually come to perfection. We are supplied with sweet almonds chiefly from Spain and the South of France. They are distin- guished into the soft-shelled and hard-shelled, the former of which come from Marseilles and Bordeaux, the latter from Malaga. From the latter port they are sometimes brought to us without the shell. Dr. A. T. Thomson states, that the Jordan almonds, which are taken from Malaga to England, and are the best imported into that country, are said to be the produce of a distinct species of Amygdalus. According to the same author, the bitter almonds are obtained from Morocco. Properties. The shape and appearance of almonds are too well known to require description. Each kernel consists of two white cotyledons, enclosed in a thin, yellowish-brown, bitter skin, which is easily separable after immersion in boiling water. When deprived of this covering, they are 80 Amygdala. TART I. called blanched almonds. On exposure to the air they are apt to become rancid; but if thoroughly dried and kept in well closed glass vessels, they may be preserved unaltered for many years. The two varieties of sweet and bitter almonds deserve each a separate notice, as they are considered officinal in several of the Pharmacopoeias of Europe, and both are occasion- ally employed in medicine. 1. Amygdalae Dulces. Sweet Almonds. These when blanched are with- out smell, and have a sweet, very pleasant taste, which has rendered them a favourite article of diet in almost all countries where they are readily attain- able. They are, however, generally considered of difficult digestion. By the analysis of M. Boullay, it appears that they contain in 100 parts, 5 parts of pellicle, 54 of fixed oil, 24 of albumen, 6 of uncrystallizable sugar, 3 of gum, 4 of fibrous matter, 3.5 of water, and 0.5 of acetic acid comprising loss. The albumen is said to differ somewhat from ordinary vegetable albu- men, and has received from certain chemists the name of emulsin. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 394.) The fixed oil, which may be obtained by expression, is colourless or slightly tinged with yellow, sweet and bland to the taste, and may be substituted for olive oil in most of the economical uses to which the latter is applied. (See Oleum Amygdalae.) Almonds when rubbed with water form a milky emulsion, the insoluble matters being suspended by the agency of the aluminous, mucilaginous, and saccharine principles. 2. Amygdalae Amar,e. Bitter Almonds. These are smaller than the pre- ceding variety. They have the bitter taste of the peach-kernel, and, though in their natural state inodorous or nearly so, have, when triturated with water, the fragrance of the peach blossom. They were formerly supposed to contain, in addition to the principles found in the other variety, a portion of hydrocyanic acid, and an essential oil, to which their peculiar taste and smell, and their peculiar operation upon the system were ascribed. It has, however, been ascertained by MM. Robiquet and Boutron, that these prin- ciples do not pre-exist in the almond, but result from the reaction of water; and Wohler and Liebig have proved, what was suspected by Robiquet, that they are formed out of a substance of peculiar properties, denominated amygdalin, which is the characteristic constituent of bitter almonds. This substance, which was discovered by Robiquet and Boutron, is white, crys- tallizable, inodorous, of a sweetish bitter taste, unalterable in the air, freely soluble in water and hot alcohol, very slightly soluble in cold alcohol, and insoluble in ether. Its elementary constituents are carbon, hydrogen, oxy- gen, and nitrogen. Liebig and Wohler recommend the following process for procuring it, in which the object of the fermentation is to destroy the sugar with which it is associated. Bitter almonds, previously deprived of their fixed oil by pressure, are to be boiled in successive portions of alcohol till they are exhausted. From the liquors thus obtained, all the alcohol is to be drawn off by distillation, care being taken, near the end of the process, not to expose the syrupy residue to too great a heat. This residue is then to be diluted with water, mixed with good yeast, and placed in a warm situa- tion. After the fermentation which ensues has ceased, the liquor is to be filtered, evaporated to the consistence of syrup, and mixed with alcohol. The amygdalin is thus precipitated in connexion with a portion of gum, from which it may be separated by solution in boiling alcohol, which will deposite it upon cooling. If pure, it will form a perfectly transparent solution with water. Any oil which it may contain may be separated by washing it with ether. (Annalen der Pharm. xxii. part 1st, and xxiv. part 1st.) Amygdalin, when mixed with an emulsion of sweet almonds, gives rise to the volatile oil of bitter almonds and hydrocyanic acid; and according to PART I. Amygdala. 81 Wohler and Liebig, it is the albuminous principle of the emulsion which dis- poses to this result by setting on foot a reaction between the amygdalin and water, serving in this respect merely the purposes of a ferment. But Robi- quet has ascertained the existence, in almonds, of a peculiar principle for which he proposes the name of synaptase, which has the property ascribed by the above mentioned chemist to the albumen. It appears then that the volatile oil and hydrocyanic acid, developed in bitter almonds when moistened, result from the mutual reaction of amygdalin, water, and synaptase. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiv. 326.) Bitter almonds yield their fixed oil by pressure; and the essential oil, impregnated with hydrocyanic acid, may be obtained from the residue by distillation with water. This oil, usually called oil of bitter almonds, has a bitter, acrid, burning taste, and the peculiar odour of the kernel in a very high degree. It is of a yellowish colour, heavier than water, soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water, and deposites, upon standing, a white crystalline substance, which consists chiefly of benzoic acid. It may be entirely freed from hydrocyanic acid, by agitating it strongly with hydrate of lime and a solution of muriate of iron, and submitting the mixture to distilla- tion. The oil comes over with the water, from which it may be separated in the usual manner. Thus purified, it still retains its peculiar odour, with a burning and aromatic taste; but, as proved by Dr. Goppert of Breslau, is wholly destitute of those poisonous properties which distinguish the oil in its original state, and which depend on the presence of hydrocyanic acid. The odour of the oil of bitter almonds has been usually, but erroneously, ascribed to this acid, which, on examination, will be found to smell very dif- ferently. The same remark is applicable to the essential oils of the cherry laurel, of the bird cherry, and probably of other vegetables supposed to con- tain hydrocyanic acid. The benzoic acid which the oil of bitter almonds deposites upon standing, has been satisfactorily proved by Robiquet and Boutron not to pre-exist in the oil, but to result from the absorption of oxy- gen; and Wohler and Liebig have rendered it probable that there exists a radical in the oil, consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which, though it has not yet been isolated, is a distinct substance, and constitutes the basis of numerous compounds. The oil is composed of this radical, called ben- zoile, and hydrogen, with the former of which, oxygen when absorbed forms benzoic acid, and with the latter, water. The essential oil of bitter almonds operates upon the system in a manner closely analogous to that of hydrocyanic acid. A single drop is sufficient to destroy a bird, and four drops have occasioned the death of a dog of the mid- dle size. The distilled water of bitter almonds operates in a similar manner, though less powerfully; and the almonds themselves have proved deleterious when taken in considerable quantities. Confectioners employ bitter almonds for communicating flavour to the syrup of orgeat. The kernel of the peach possesses similar properties, and is frequently used as a substitute. The oil of bitter almonds is much used by the perfumers. Medical Properties and Uses. Sweet almonds exercise no other influ- ence upon the system than that of a demulcent. The emulsion formed by triturating them with water is a pleasant vehicle for the administration of other medicines, and is itself useful in cases of catarrhal affection. Bitter almonds are more energetic, and, though not much in use, might undoubt- edly be employed with advantage in cases to which the hydrocyanic acid is applicable. An emulsion made with them has been beneficially prescribed in pectoral affections attended with cough, and is said to have cured inter- mittents when bark has failed. (Bergius, Mat. Med.) It probably ope- 82 Amygdala.—Amygdalus Persica. part i. rates by diminishing the excitability of the nervous system, and moderating existing irritation. Dr. A. T. Thomson says that he has found it extremely useful as a lotion in acne rosea and in impetigo. Bitter almonds are said by Hufeland to have been successfully employed for the expulsion of the tape worm. In some persons they produce urticaria when taken in the smallest quantities. The oil of bitter almonds might probably be substituted with advantage for the medicinal hydrocyanic acid, as the acid contained in the oil is much less liable to decomposition, remaining for several years unaltered, if the oil is preserved iu well stopped bottles. According to Schrader, 100 parts of the oil contain sufficient acid for the production of 22.5 parts of Prussian blue. From this fact it may be inferred, that the oil is about four times as strong as our officinal hydrocyanic acid, and may therefore be given in the dose of a quarter of a drop, to be gradually and very cautiously increased till 6ome effect upon the system is observed. It may be administered in emul- sion with gum Arabic, loaf sugar, and water. Wohler and Liebig propose, as a substitute for cherry-laurel water, which owes its effects to the hydrocyanic acid it contains, but is objectionable from its unequal strength, an extemporaneous mixture, consisting of 17 grains of amygdalin and one fluidounce of an emulsion made with two drachms of sweet almonds, and a sufficient quantity of water. This mixture contains, according to the above named chemists, one grain of absolute hydrocyanic acid, and is equivalent to two fluidounces of fresh cherry-laurel water. If it be found to answertin practice, it will have the great advantage of certainty in relation to the dose, as amygdalin may be kept any length of time unal- tered. If the calculation of Wohler and Liebig be correct as to the quantity of acid it contains, not more than one fluidrachm should be given as a com- mencing dose. Off. Prep. Confectio Amygdalae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Emulsio Acaciae Arabicae, Ed., Dub.; Emulsio Amygdali Communis, Ed.; Mistura Amyg- dalae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Oleum Amygdalarum, Dub., Ed. W. AM Yd D ALUS PERSICA. Folia. Dub. Peach Leaves. Pecher, Fr.; Pfirsichbaum, Germ.; Persico. Ital.; Alberchigo, Span. Amygdalus. See AMYGDALA. Amygdalus Persica. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 982; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 511. t. 184.—Persica Vulgaris. Miller, Lamarck. Every one is familiar with the appearance of the common peach tree. It is characterized speci- fically by having " all the serratures of the leaves acute, and by its sessile solitary flowers." Though its native country is not certainly known, it is generally supposed to have been brought originally from Persia. In no country, perhaps, does it attain greater perfection, as regards the character of its fruit, than in the United States. Peaches are among the most grateful and wholesome of our summer fruits. They abound in saccharine matter, which renders their juice sus- ceptible of the vinous fermentation; and a distilled liquor prepared from them is much used in some parts of the country under the name of peach brandy. The kernels of the fruit bear a close resemblance in appearance and pro- perties, and probably in chemical nature, to bitter almonds, for which part i. Amygdalus Persica.—Amylum. 83 they are frequently, and without inconvenience, substituted in our shops. They are employed by distillers in the preparation of liqueurs, and by cake- bakers to give flavour to various productions of their ovens. The flowers and leaves also have the peculiar odour and taste of the bitter almonds, and would probably yield hydrocyanic acid. The leaves afford a volatile oil by distillation. These are the only part directed by the Dublin College. Medical Properties, fyc. Peach leaves are said to be laxative; and they probably exert, to a moderate extent, a sedative influence over the nervous system. They have been used as an anthelmintic with great reported suc- cess. More recently their infusion has been recommended in irritability of the bladder, in sick stomach, and hooping-cough. Half an ounce of the dried leaves may be infused in a pint of boiling water, and half a fluidounce given for a dose three times a day, or more frequently. Dr. Dougos gives, in hooping-cough, a pint of the strong infusion, in small doses, in the course of the day. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 356.) The flowers also are laxative; and a syrup prepared from them is consi- derably used, in infantile cases, upon the continent of Europe. Woodville states that a drachm of the dried flowers, or half an ounce in their recent state, given in infusion, is the dose as a vermifuge. The kernels have more of the peculiar powers of hydrocyanic acid, and therefore require to be used with some caution. Blanched, and rubbed up with hot water, they form an emulsion well adapted to coughs depending on or associated with nervous irritation. The dried fruit stewed with sugar is an excellent laxative article of diet, suitable to cases of convalescence attended with torpid bowels. W. AMYLUM. Lond., Ed. Starch. " Triticum hybernum. Seminum Faecula." Lond. Amidon, Fr.; Starkmehl, Germ.; Amido, Ital.; Almidon, Span. Starch is a proximate vegetable principle contained in most plants, and especially abundant in the various grains; such as wheat, rye, barley, oats* rice, maize, &c; in other seeds, as peas, beans, chestnuts, acorns, &c; and in numerous tuberous roots, as those of the potato (Solanum tuberosum), the sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas), the arrow-root, the cassava plant, and different species of Curcuma. The process for obtaining it consists essentially in reducing the substances in which it exists to a state of minute division, agitating or washing them with cold water, straining or pouring off the liquid, and allowing it to stand till the fine fecula which it holds in sus- • pension has subsided. This, when dried, is starch, more or less pure ac- cording to the care taken in conducting the process. The starch of com- merce is procured chiefly from wheat, sometimes also from potatoes. Our space will not allow us to enter into details in relation to the particular steps of the operation to which these substances are subjected; and the omission is of loss consequence, as starch is never prepared by the apothecary. Starch is white, pulverulent, opaque, and as found in the shops, is usually in columnar masses, having a somewhat crystalline aspect, and producing a peculiar sound when pressed between the fingers. It is insoluble in alcohol, ether, and cold water; but unites with boiling water, which, on cooling, 84 Amylum. part r. forms with it a soft semi-transparent paste, or a gelatinous opaline solution, according to the proportion of starch employed. The paste, placed on folds of blotting paper, renewed as they become wet, abandons its water, con- tracts, and assumes the appearanceof horn. If the proportion of starch be very small, the solution after slowly depositing a very minute quantity of insoluble matter, continues permanent, and upon being evaporated yields a semi-transparent mass, which is partially soluble in cold water. The starch has, therefore, been modified by the combined agency of water and heat; nor can it be restored to its original condition. Exposed, in the dry state, to a temperature somewhat above 212°, it undergoes, according to Oaventou, a similar modification; and a degree of heat sufficient to roast it slightly con- verts it into a substance soluble in cold water, and applicable to the same purposes as gum in the arts. The same change in regard to solubility is, to a certain extent, produced by mechanical means, as by trituration in a mor- tar; and that the effect is not the result of heat evolved by friction, is evinced by the fact that it takes place when the starch is triturated with water. The soluble substance which results from the action of heat, was supposed by Caventou to be identical with that produced during the fermentation of starch, upon which De Saussurc had previously conferred the name of amidine; but new opinions upon the subject are now entertained by chemists, in conformity with the views originally presented by Raspail, and subse- quently confirmed and extended by Guibourt, Guerin, and others. Accord- ing to these views, starch consists of organized granules, which, examined by the microscope, appear to be of various form and size. These granules consist of a thin exterior pellicle or tegument, and of an interior substance, the former wholly insoluble, the latter soluble in water. The former con- stitutes, according to M. Payen, only 4 or 5 thousandths of the weight of starch, according to M. Guerin, who, however, did not obtain it entirely pure, as much as 2.2 per cent. In relation to the interior portion different opinions are entertained. M. Guerin thinks that it consists of two distinct substances, one soluble in cold water, which he calls amidine, the other soluble at first in boiling water but becoming insoluble by evaporation, which he dis- tinguishes by the name of soluble amidin; while upon the substance of which the teguments consist, he confers the name of tegumentary amidin. Thus, when one part of starch is boiled for fifteen minutes in one hundred parts of water, and the liquid is allowed to stand, a small portion, consisting of the broken teguments, is gradually deposited. If the solution be now filtered and evaporated, another portion is deposited which cannot afterwards be dissolved. This is the soluble amidin. When wholly deprived of this portion and evaporated to dryness, the solution yields the part soluble in cold water, or the amidine. According to MM. Payen and Persoz, the interior portion of the globules consists only of a single substance, which is converted into the two just mentioned by the agency of water; and Thenard is inclined to the same opinion. Starch, in its perfect state, is not affected by cold water, because the exterior insoluble tegument prevents the access of the liquid to the interior portion; but when the pellicle is broken by the agency of heat, or by mechanical means, the fluid is admitted, and the starch partially dissolved. Iodine forms with starch, whether in its original state or in solution, a blue compound; and the tincture of iodine is the most delicate test of its presence in any mixture. The colour varies somewhat according to the proportions employed. When the two substances are about equal, the compound is of a beautiful indigo blue; if the iodine is in excess, it is blackish-blue; if the starch, violet-blue. A singular property of the iodide PART I. Amylum. 85 of starch is that its solution becomes colourless if heated, and afterwards recovers its blue colour upon cooling. Alkalies unite with starch, forming soluble compounds, which are decomposed by the acids, the starch being precipitated. It is thrown down from its solution by lime water and baryta water, forming insoluble compounds with these earths. The solution of subacetate of lead precipitates it in combination with the oxide of the metal. It is dissolved by the diluted acids, which, by long boiling, convert it first into dextrine,* and ultimately into a saccharine substance similar to the sugar of grapes. This result is perhaps most readily obtained by means of sulphuric acid. A similar conversion into dextrine and the sugar of grapes is effected by means of a principle called diastase, recently discovered by MM. Payen and Persoz in the seeds of barley, oats, and wheat, after germi- nation. (See Hordeum.) Strong muriatic and nitric acids dissolve it; and the latter, by the aid of heat, converts it into oxalic and malic acids. Con- centrated sulphuric acid decomposes it. Mixed with hot water and exposed to a temperature of about 70°, it undergoes fermentation, which results in the formation of several distinct principles, among which are sugar, a gummy substance (perhaps dextrine), and a modification of starch which De Saus- sure called amidine. Starch may be made to unite with tannin by boiling their solutions together; and a compound results, which, though retained by the water while hot, is deposited when it cools. Hence the precipitate which takes place in the decoction of Peruvian bark, in which both these principles are contained. <■ Starch, as obtained from different substances, is somewhat different in its characters. That from wheat, when examined by a microscope, is found to consist of smaller globules than that from the potato. It is usually, more- over, harder and more adhesive, owing, according to Guibourt, to the escape of a portion of the interior substance of the granules in the act of grinding the grain. This attracts some moisture from the air, and thus becoming glutinous, acts as a bond between the unbroken globules. The fecula from the root of the Maranta arundinacea, commonly called arrow-root, is in grains much larger and more shining than those of wheat starch, aud quite transparent when examined by the microscope. Hence the powder in mass is of a less brilliant whiteness. The granules are intermediate in size between those of the fecula of wheat and those of potato starch. In the last they are largest. In other respects these three forms of starch are closely similar. Tapioca differs in being partially soluble in cold water, as well as in its consistence. (See Tapioca.) This is attributable to the cir- cumstance that it is granulated upon heated plates of iron, which cause many of the granules to burst. A form of fecula is procured from the'same root, which bears a close resemblance to arrow-root, differing only in the smaller size of its granules, and their greater uniformity, as evinced by examination by the microscope. This fecula is prepared by drying in the open air, without the assistance of heat. It is called moussache in France. Sago differs from the ordinary forms of starch, rather in the degree of its aggregation than in any essential quality. It is scarcely at all soluble in cold water; and the microscope shows that it consists of small unbroken granules like those of potato starch, closely pressed and often matted together. * Dextrine is a substance resembling gum in appearance and properties, but differing from it in not affording inucic acid by the action of nitric acid. It is largely dissolved bj water, hot or cold, and forms a mucilaginous solution, from which it is precipitated by alcohol. This fluid has no action on dextrine. 9 86 Amylum.—Amyridis Gileadensis Resina. part i. If prepared with heat, the degree of it must have been insufficient to produce much change in the integrity of the organized granules. Starch consists, according to Berzelius, of 6.074 parts of hydrogen, 44.250 of carbon, and 49.076 of oxygen in the hundred. The results obtained by Gay-Lussac and Thenard are nearly the same. Medical Properties, Sfc. Starch is nutritive and demulcent, but in its ordinary form is seldom administered internally. Powdered and dusted upon the skin, it is sometimes used to absorb irritating secretions, and pre- vent excoriation. Dissolved in hot water and allowed to cool, it is often employed in enemata, either as a vehicle of other substances, or as a demul- cent application in irritated states of the rectum. Off. Prep. Decoctum Amyli, Lond.; Mucilago Amyli, Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Tragacanthae Comp., Lond.; Trochisci Gummosi, Ed. W. AMYRIDIS GILEADENSIS RESINA. Ed. Balsam of Gilead. Baume de la Mecque, Fr.; Mekkabalsam, Germ.; Balsamo della Mecca, Ital.; Opo- balsamo, Balsamo de Mecca, Span. The genuine Balsam of Gilead is the resinous juice of the Amyris Gile- adensis of Linn., the Balsamodendron Gileadense of Kunth, a small ever- green tree, growing on the Asiatic and African shores of the Red Sea. It was in high repute with the ancients, and still retains its value in the esti- mation of the eastern nations, among whom it is employed both as a medi- cine and cosmetic. In western Europe, and in this country, it is never found in a state of purity, and its use has been entirely abandoned. We notice it here, simply because it is retained by the Edinburgh College. It possesses no medical properties which do not exist in other balsamic or terebinthinate juices. It was formerly known by the name of opobalsamum; while the dried twigs of the tree were called xylobalsamum, and the dried fruit, carpobal- aamum. W. ANCHUS^E TINCTORI.E RADIX. Ed. Alkanet Root. Orcanette, Fr.; Alkanne, Germ.; Alcanna, Ital; Bugula, Span. Anchtjsa. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Boragineae. Gen. Ch. Corolla funnel-shaped; the throat closed with arches. Seeds sculptured at the base. Willd. Anchusa tinctoria. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 758; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 314. t. 106. The dyer's alkanet has a perennial root, with round, rough, hairy, branching, lax, herbaceous stems, from six inches to a foot or more in height, and furnished with long, lanceolate, obtuse, hairy, sessile leaves. The flowers are reddish-purple, and disposed in terminal bracleate spikes, with bractes longer than the calyx, which is five-parted. The arches are enclosed beneath the anthers in the tube of the corolla. This species of Anchusa is a native of the Grecian Archipelago and the part i. Anchusse Tinctorise Radix.—Anethum. 87 South of Europe. It is said in some medical works to be cultivated abun- dantly in the South of France; but the plant referred to is probably the Lithospermum tinctorium of Linnaeus and De Candolle, the Anchusa tinc- toria of Lamarck, which is a native of that country, and the root of which is considered as the true alkanet by the French writers. Alkanet, as found in the shops, is in pieces three or four inches in length, from the thickness of a quill to that of the little finger, somewhat twisted, consisting of a daik-red, easily separable bark, and an internal ligneous por- tion, which is reddish externally, whitish near the centre, and composed of numerous distinct, slender, cohering fibres. As it comes to us it is usually much decayed internally, very light, and of a loose almost spongy texture. The fresh root has a faint odour and a bitterish astringent taste; but when dried it is nearly inodorous and insipid. Its colouring principle, which abounds most in the cortical part, is soluble in alcohol, ether, and the oils, to which it imparts a fine deep red; but is insoluble in water. It may be obtained separate by first exhausting the root with water, and then treating it with a weak solution of the carbonate of potassa or soda, from which the colouring principle may he precipitated by an acid. According to Pelletier, by whom it was discovered, it possesses decided acid properties, uniting with the alkalies and earths to form neutral compounds, which are of a blue colour, and have the singular property of being soluble in alcohol and ether. He calls it anchusic acid, and states that it is capable of being sublimed un- changed. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 105.) The tincture of alkanet has its colour deepened by the acids, changed to blue by the alkalies, and again restored by neutralizing the latter substances. It may, therefore, be used as a test. The extract obtained by evaporating the tincture is dark brown. Medical Properties and Uses. Alkanet root is somewhat astringent, and was formerly applied to the treatment of several diseases; but it is now em- ployed exclusively for colouring oils, ointments, and plasters, which are beautifully reddened by one-fortieth of their weight of the root. It is said also to be used in the preparation of spurious Port wine. W. —»*e® ©<«••— ANETHUM. Lond. Dill Seeds. " Anethum graveolens. Fructus." Lond. Aneth a. odeur forte, Fr.; Dill, Germ.; Aneto, Ital.; Eneldo, Span. Anethum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit nearly ovate, compressed, striated. Petals involuted, entire. Willd. Anethum graveolens. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1469; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 125. t. 48. Dill is an annual plant, three or four feet high, with a long spindleshaped root; an erect, striated, jointed, branching stem; and bipinnate or tripinnaie, glaucous leaves, which stand on sheathing footstalks, and have linear and pointed leaflets. The flowers are yellow, and in large, flat, terminal umbels, destitute of involucre. The plant is a native of Spain, Portugal, and the South of France. It is cultivated in all the countries of Europe, and has been introduced into our own gardens; but is much less esteemed than its congener, the A. Foeniculum. The seeds only are used. They are usually rather more than a line in length, of an oval shape, thin, concave on one side, convex and striated on the other, of a brown colour, and sur- 88 Angelica.—Angelica Archangelica. part i. rounded by a yellowish membranous expansion. Their smell is strong and aromatic, but less agreeable than that of fennel-seed; their taste moderately warm and pungent. These properties depend on a volatile oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation. It is of a pale yellow colour, and of the sp. gr. 0.881. The bruised seeds impart their virtues to alcohol and to boiling water. Medical Properties. Dill seeds have the properties common to the aro- matics, but are very seldom used in this country. They may be given in powder or infusion. The dose is from fifteen grains to a drachm. Off. Prep.—Aqua Anethi, Lond. W. ANGELICA. U.S. Secondary. Angelica. " Angelica atropurpurea. Planta. The plant." U.S. Angelica. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit elliptic, compressed, somewhat solid and corticate, ridges three, dorsal acute, intervals grooved, margin alated. General invo- lucre none. (Sprengel.) Umbel large, many-rayed, spreading; umbellet dense, subhemispheric; involucell about eight-leaved. Calyx five-toothed. Petals inflected. Nuttall. Angelica atropurpurea. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1430. This indigenous species of Angelica, sometimes called masterwort, has a perennial purplish root, and a smooth herbaceous stem, the dark colour of which has given rise to the trivial name of the plant. The leaves are ternate, and supported by very large inflated petioles. The partitions of the leaf are nearly quinate, with ovate, acute, deeply serrate, somewhat lobed leaflets, of which the three terminal are confluent. The flowers are greenish-white. The purple angelica extends throughout the United States from Canada to Carolina, growing in meadows and marshy woods, and flowering in June and July. It is smaller than the A. Archangelica, with a less succulent stem. The whole plant is officinal. It has a strong odour, and a warm aromatic taste. The juice of the recent root is acrid, and is said to be poisonous; but the acrimony is dissipated by drying. Medical Properties, 4"C. The medical virtues of the plant are similar to those of the garden Angelica of Europe, for which it has been proposed as a substitute. It is, however, little employed. An infusion is occasionally used in flatulent colic; and we are told that the stems are sometimes candied by the country people. \V. ANGELICA ARCHANGELICA. Semina. Dub. ANGELICA ARCHANGELICiE RADIX. Ed. The Seeds and Root of Garden Angelica. Angelique, Fr.; Engelwurzel, Germ.; Arcangelica, Ital.; Angelica, Span. Angelica. See ANGELICA. U.S. Angelica Archangelica. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1428; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 86. t. 35. The garden angelica has a long, thick, fleshy, biennial root, part i. Angelica Archangelica.—Angustura. 89 furnished with many fibres, and sending up annually a hollow, jointed, round, channeled, smooth, purplish stem, which rises five feet or more in height, and divides into numerous branches. The leaves, which stand upon round fistulous footstalks, are very large, doubly pinnate, with ovate lanceo- late, pointed, acutely serrate leaflets, of which the terminal one is three- lobed. The flowers are small, greenish-while, and disposed in very large, many-rayed, terminal umbels, composed of numerous dense, hemispherical umbellels. This plant is a native of the north of Europe, and is found in the high, mountainous regions in the southern section of that continent, as in Switzer- land and among the Pyrennees. It has become an object of culture in various parts of Europe, and may be occasionally met with in the gardens of this country. It flowers during the summer. The whole plant diffuses a fragrant odour, and possesses aromatic properties; but the root and seeds only are officinal. 1. The root should be dug up in the autumn of the first year, as it is then less liable to become mouldy and worm-eaten than when taken from the ground in the spring. It is spindle-shaped, an inch or more in thickness at its upper extremity, and beset with numerous long descending radicles. The fresh root has a yellowish-gray epidermis, a fleshy yellow parenchyma, and when wounded yields a honey-coloured juice, which has all the aro- matic properties of the plant. The dried root is grayish-brown and much wrinkled externally, whitish and spongy within, breaking with a starchy fracture, exhibiting shining resinous points. It is very apt to be attacked by worms. The smell is strong and fragrant, the taste at first sweetish, afterwards warm, aromatic, bitterish, and somewhat musky. These pro- perties are extracted by alcohol, and less perfectly by water. The con- stituents of the root, according to John, are an essential oil, gum, inulin, bitter extractive, an acrid resin, lignin, and a peculiar principle soluble only in a solution of potassa. Five hundred parts yielded by distillation nearly four parts of volatile oil. 2. The seeds are two or three lines long, oval, obtuse or somewhat notched at the ends, flat, and marked with a longitudinal furrow on one side, convex with three angular ridges on the other. They are ash-coloured, and have the same smell and taste as the root. M. Fee says that they keep well. Medical Properties. Angelica is an elegant aromatic tonic; but it is little employed in the United States. The Laplanders, in whose country it flou- rishes, are said to esteem it highly as a condiment and medicine. In Europe, the stems are frequently made into a preserve, and used in desserts in order to excite the stomach. The dose of the root or seed in substance is from thirty grains to a drachm. Off. Prep.—Spiritus Anisi Compositus. Dub. W. ANGUSTURA. U.S. Angustura Bark. •• Galipea Officinalis. Hancock. Bonplandia trifoliata. Plant. Equinoct. Cortex. The Bark." U.S. Off. Syn. CUSPARIA. Galipea Cusparia. Cortex. Lond.; BON- 90 Angustura. part i. PLANDLE TRIFOLIATE CORTEX. Angustura. Ed.; ANGUSTU- RA. BONPLANDIA TRIFOLIATA. Cortex. Dub. Angusturc, Fr.; Angusturarinde, Germ.; Corteccia dell' Angustura, Ital.; Corteza de Angostura, Span. The subject of Angustura bark, in its botanical relations, has been involved in some confusion. The drug was at first supposed to be derived from a species of Magnolia, and in Europe was referred by some to the Magnolia glauca of this country. Humboldt and Bonpland were the first to enlighten the medical public as to its true source; though the name which it bore was sufficient to indicate the neighbourhood of its growth. These gentlemen, when at Angustura, a South American city upon the banks of the Orinoco, received specimens of the foliage of the plant from which the bark was obtained; and afterwards believed that they had found this same plant in a tree growing in the vicinity of Cumana. This latter they had the opportu- nity of personally inspecting, and were therefore enabled to describe accu- rately. Unable to attach it to any known genus, they erected it into a new one, with the title of Cusparia, a name of Indian origin, to which they added the specific appellation of febrifuga. On the authority of these botanists, the Cusparia febrifuga was generally believed to be the true source of the medicine, and was recognised as such by the London College. A specimen having in the mean time been sent by them to Willdenow, the name of Bon- plandia was imposed on the new genus by that celebrated botanist; and was subsequently adopted by Humboldt and Bonpland themselves, in their great work on equinoctial plants. Hence the title of Bonplandia trifoliata, by which the tree is described in many works of Materia Medica. De Can- dolle, however, having found in the description all the characters of the genus Galipea of Aublet, has rejected both these titles, and proposes to substitute that of Galipea Cusparia, which has been adopted by the London Col- lege in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia. After all these commuta- tions, however, it appears from the researches of Dr. Hancock, who resided for several months in the country of the Angustura bark tree, that the plant described by Humboldt and Bonpland is not that which yields the medicine, but probably another species of the same genus, which these authors had mis- taken for it, having been led into error by the imperfect specimens which they received.* Among other striking differences in the two plants, is that of their size; the tree described by Humboldt and Bonpland being of great magnitude, attaining the height of sixty or eighty feet, while that from which the bark is obtained is never higher than twenty feet. Hancock pro- poses for the latter the title of Galipea officinalis, which has been adopted in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. Galipea. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Diosmeae. Gen. Ch. Corolla inferior, irregular, four or five cleft, hypocrateriform. Stamens four; two sterile. Loudon's Encyc. Galipea officinalis. Hancock, Trans. Lond. Medico-Bot. Soc. This is a small tree, irregularly branched, rising to the medium height of twelve or fifteen feet, with an erect stem from three to five inches in diameter and covered with a smooth gray bark. The leaves are alternate, petiolate^ and composed of three leaflets, which are oblong, pointed at each extremity, from six to ten inches in length, from two to four in breadth, and supported upon the common petiole by short leafstalks. They are very smooth and glossy of a vivid green colour, marked occasionally-with small whitish round spots, and, when fresh, of a strong odour resembling that of tobacco. The flow- * See a paper by John Hancock, M.D., in the Transactions of the London Medico- liotamcal Society. PART I. Angustura. 91 ers are numerous, white, arranged in axillary and terminal, peduncled racemes, and exhale a peculiar unpleasant odour. The fruit consists of five bivalve capsules, of which two or three are commonly abortive. The seeds, two of which are contained in each capsule, one often abortive, are round, black, and of the size of a pea. This tree grows in great abundance on the mountains of Carony, situated between the 7th and 8th degrees of N. latitude; and is well known in the missions of Tumeremo, Uri, Aha Gracia, and Cupapui, near the Orinoco, upwards of two hundred miles from the ocean. It flourishes at the height of from six hundred to one thousand feet above the level of the sea. Its elegant white blossoms, which appear in vast profusion in August and Sep- tember, add greatly to the beauty of the scenery. The bark is generally brought from the West India ports packed in casks; but, according to Mr. Brande, the original package, formed in Angustura or its neighbourhood, consists of the leaves of a species of palm, surrounded by a network made of sticks. Properties. The pieces are of various lengths, for the most part slightly curved, rarely quilled, sometimes nearly flat, from half a line to a line or more in thickness, pared away towards the edges, covered externally with a light yellowish-gray or whitish wrinkled epidermis, and internally of a yel- lowish-fawn colour. They are very fragile, breaking with a short resinous fracture, and yield, on being pulverized, a pale yellow powder; but when macerated for a short time in water, they become soft and tenacious, and may be cut into strips with scissors. The smell of Angustura bark is pecu- liar and disagreeable when fresh, but becomes fainter with age; the taste is bitter and slightly aromatic, leaving a sense of pungency at the end of the tongue. According to Fischer, it contains volatile oil, bitter extractive, a hard and bitter resin, a soft resin, a substance analogous to caoutchouc, gum, lignin, and various salts. The active principles are probably the volatile oil and bitter extractive. The bark imparts its virtues to water and alcohol.* Dr. A. T. Thomson states that precipitates are produced with the infu- sion by the solutions of sulphate of iron, tartrate of antimony and potassa, sulphate of copper, acetate and subacetate of lead, bichloride of mercury, nitrate of silver, and pure potassa; by nitric and sulphuric acids; and by the infusions of galls and yellow cinchona; but how far these substances are medicinally incompatible with the bark, it would be difficult in the present state of our knowledge to determine. False Angustura. Under this title, the European writers on materia medica describe a bark which has been introduced on the continent mixed with the true Angustura bark, and which, possessing poisonous properties, has in some instances produced unpleasant effects when prescribed by mistake for that medicine. It is distinguished by its greater thickness, hardness, weight, and compactness; by its dull and brownish fracture; by the appearance of its epidermis, which is sometimes covered with a ferruginous efflorescence, sometimes is yellowish-gray, and marked with prominent white spots; by the brownish colour and smoothness of its internal surface; by the white * In the Journal de Pharmacie, tom. xxii. p. 662, we find a notice extracted from the Jahresbericht for 1835, in which it is stated, that when an infusion of Angustura bark is treated with absolute alcohol, at the common temperature, and allowed to evaporate sponta- neously, telrahedral crystals of peculiar substance are deposited, which Saladin, its dis- coverer, proposes to call cusparia. This principle is strictly neutral, fusible at a gentle heat, by which it loses 23.09 per cent, of its weight, soluble in 200 parts of cold, and 100 parts of boiling water, soluble in the concentrated acids and in the alkalies, and precipi- tated by the infusion of galls. 92 Angustura. PART I. slightly yellow powder which it yields; by its total want of odour, and its intense tenacious bitterness. When steeped in water it does not become soft like the true Angustura. Analyzed by Pelletier and Caventou, it was found to contain a peculiar alkaline principle which they called brucia, and upon which its poisonous operation depends. Of this alkali we shall have occa- sion to speak in another place. (See Nux Vomica.) In consequence of its presence, a drop of nitric acid upon the internal surface of the bark produces a deep blood-red spot. The same acid applied to the external surface ren- ders it emerald-green. In the true Angustura bark, a dull red colour is pro- duced by the acid on both surfaces. The false Angustura was at first sup- posed to be derived from the Brucea antidysenterica; but as this tree is a native of Africa, the opinion was abandoned when it was considered that the bark in question was brought from South America. Botanists now generally refer it to an unknown species of Strychnos; and the correctness of this reference is rendered probable by the fact, that the nux vomica, and bean of St. Ignatius, both products of species of Strychnos, have been found to contain brucia.* Medical Properties and Uses. Angustura bark has been long used by the natives of the country where it grows, before it became known in Europe. From the continent its employment extended to the .West Indies, where it acquired considerable reputation. It was first taken to Europe about fifty years since, and attracted particular attention among the English physicians. It is now ranked among the officinal remedies throughout Europe and Ame- rica; but has not sustained the estimation in which it was at first held; and in the United States is not much prescribed. Its operation is that of a sti- mulant tonic. In large doses it also evacuates the stomach and bowels, and is often employed for this purpose in South America. It was at one time considerably used as a febrifuge in the place of Peruvian bark; but has not been found generally successful in the intermittents of northern latitudes. It is said to be particularly efficacious in bilious diarrhoeas and dysenteries; and has been recommended in dyspepsia, and other diseases in which a tonic treatment is demanded. The testimony, however, of practitioners in Europe and the United States, is not strongly in its favour; and it is probably better adapted to tropical diseases, than to those of temperate climates. Hancock employed it very extensively in the malignant bilious intermittent fevers, dysenteries, and dropsies of Angustura and Demarara; and speaks in the strongest terms of its efficacy in these complaints. The form in which he used it was that of fermented infusion, as recommended by the native practi- tioners. It has this advantage over Peruvian bark, that it is less apt to oppress the stomach. It may be given in powder, infusion, tincture, or extract. The dose in substance is from ten to thirty grains. In larger quantities it is apt to pro- duce nausea. From five to fifteen grains is the dose of the extract, which, however, according to Dr. Hancock, is inferior to the powder or infusion. To obviate nausea, it is frequently combined with aromatics. Off Prep. Infusum Angusturae, U.S., Lond.; Tinctura Angusturae, U.S. Ed., Dub. W. * Dr. O'Shaughncssy, Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College of Calcutta, thinks that he has satisfactorily ascertained that the false Angustura is the bark of the Strychnos Nux Vomica, which, according to his observation, exactly corresponds in external cha- racter to the description given by authors of the false Angustura, and, like it, contains bru- cia. The only difficulty in the way of this opinion is, that the false Angustura is said to have been taken to Europe from South America, while the S. Nux Vomica is an Asiatic plant (See Am, Jour, of Pharm. x. 144.) PART I. Anisum. 93 ANISUM. U.S., Lond. Anise. "Pimpinella Anisum. Semina. The Seeds." U.S. " Pimpinella Ani- sum. Fructus." L,ond. Off. Syn. PIMPINELLiE ANISI SEMINA. Ed.; ANISUM. PIM- PINELLA ANISUM. Semina. Dub. Graines d'anis, Fr.; Anissame, Germ.; Semi d'aniso, Ital.; Simiente de anis, Span.; Anison, Arab. Pimpinella. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit ovate-oblong. Petals inferior. Stigma nearly globu- lar. Willd. Pimpinella Anisum. W'illd. Sp. Plant, i. 1473; Woodv. Med. BotJ'jp. 135. t. 52. This is an annual plant, about a foot in height, with an erect, slightly scabrous, striated, and branching stem. The leaves are petiolate, the lower roundish-cordate, entire or irregularly three-lobed, the upper three- parted or ternate. The flowers are white, and in terminal compound umbels, destitute of involucres. Anise is a native of Egypt and the Levant, but has been introduced into the South of Europe, and is cultivated in various parts of that continent. It is also cultivated occasionally in the gardens of this country. The seeds are abundantly produced in Malta and Spain. The Spanish are smaller than the German or French, and are usually preferred. Anise seeds are about a line in length, oval, striated, somewhat downy,. attached to their footstalks, and of a greenish-brown colour, with a shade of yellow. Their odour is fragrant and increased by friction; their taste warm, sweet, and aromatic. These properties, which depend on a peculiar volatile oil, are imparted sparingly to boiling water, freely to alcohol. The volatile oil exists in the envelope of the seeds, and is obtained separate by distillation.. (See Oleum Anisi.) Their internal substance contains a bland fixed oil. By expression, a greenish oil is obtained, which is a mixture of the two. The seeds are sometimes adulterated with small fragments of argillaceous earth; and their aromatic qualities are occasionally impaired, in consequence of a slight fermentation which they are apt to undergo in the mass, when collected before maturity. The Star aniseed, the badiane of the French writers, though analogous in sensible properties to the common aniseed, is derived from a different plant, being the fruit of the Jllicium anisatum, an evergreen tree growing in China, Japan, and Tartary. The fruit consists of from five to ten brownish ligneous capsules, four or five lines long, united together in the form of a star, each containing a brown shining seed. It is much used in France to flavour liquors, and the volatile oil upon which its aromatic properties depend is imported into this country from the East Indies, and sold as common oil of aniseed, to which, however, it is much superior. (Togno and Durand.) Medical Properties and Uses. Anise is a grateful aromatic carminative; and like several other seeds of a similar character, is supposed to have the property of increasing the secretion of milk. In Europe it is much em- ployed in flatulent colii-, and as a corrigent of griping or unpleasant medi- cines; but in this country fennel-seed is usually preferred. Anise may be given bruised, or in powder, in the dose of twenty or thirty grains or more. The infusion is less efficient. The volatile oil may be substituted for the 94 Anisum.—Anthemis. PART I. seeds in substance. Much use is made of this aromatic for imparting flavour to liquors. Off. Prep. Oleum Anisi, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Anisi, Lond. W. ANTHEMIS. U.S., Lond. Chamomile. «' Anthemis nobilis. Flores. The flowers." U. S. " Anthemis nobilis. Ftores simplices." L,ond. Off.Syn. ANTHEMIDIS NOBILIS FLORES. Ed.; CHAMiE- MELUxM. ANTHEMIS NOBILIS. Flores. Dub. Camomille Romaine, Fr.; Romische Kamille, Germ; Camomilla Romana, Ital.; Man- zanilla Romana, Span. Anthemis. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Composite Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle chaffy. Seed down none or a membranaceous mar- gin. Calyx hemispherical, nearly equal. Florets of the ray more than five. Willd. Several species of Anthemis have been employed in medicine. The A. nobilis, which is the subject of the present article, is by far the most im- portant. The A. Cotula or May-weed is also recognised by the U. S. Phar- macopoeia. (See Cotula.) The A. Pyrethrum, which affords the pellitory root, is ranked among the officinal plants by the Dublin College. (See Pyre- thrum.) The A. arvensis, a native of this country and of Europe, bears flowers which have an acrid bitter taste, and possess medical properties analo- gous though much inferior to those of the common chamomile, for which they are said to be sometimes substituted in Germany. They may be distin- guished by their want of smell. The A. tinctoria is occasionally employed as a tonic and vermifuge in Europe, and is admitted among the officinal me- dicines by the French Codex. Anthemis nobilis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 2180; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 47. t. 19. This is an herbaceous plant with a perennial root. The stems are from six inches to a foot long, round, slender, downy, trailing, and divided into branches, which turn upwards at their extremities. The leaves are bi- pinnate, the leaflets small, thread-like, somewhat pubescent, acute, and gene- rally divided into three segments. The flowers are solitary, with a yellow convex disc, and white rays. The calyx is common to all the florets, of a hemispherical form, and composed of several small imbricated hairy scales. The receptacle is convex, prominent, and furnished with rigid bristle-like paleae. The florets of the ray are numerous, narrow, and terminated with three small teeth. The whole herb has a peculiar fragrant odour, and a bitter aromatic taste. The flowers only are officinal. This plant is a native of Europe, and grows wild in all the temperate parts of that continent. It is also largely cultivated for metlicinal purposes. In France, Germany, and Italy, it is generally known by the name of Roman chamomile. The flowers become double by cultivation, and in this state are usually preferred; though, as the sensible properties are found in the greatest de- gree in the disc, which is not fully developed in the double flowers, the single are the most powerful, and are exclusively directed by the London College. It is rather, however, in aromatic flavour, than in bitterness, that the radial PART I. Anthemis. 95 florets are surpassed by those of the disc. If not well and quickly dried, the flowers lose their beautiful white colour, and are less efficient as a medicine. Those which are whitest should be preferred. Though not a native of America, chamomile grows wild in some parts of this country, and is occasionally cultivated in our gardens for family use, the whole herb being employed.* The medicine, as found in our shops, con- sists chiefly of the double flowers, and is imported from Germany and Eng- land. From the former country are also occasionally imported, under the name of chamomile, the flowers of the Matricaria Chamomilla, a plant be- longing to the same family with the Anthemis, and closely allied to it in sen- sible as well as medicinal properties. The flowers of the Matricaria are, however, less pleasant to the smell, and are considerably weaker than the true chamomile. As they reach us they are also much smaller, and differ, moreover, in exhibiting a much larger proportion of the dise florets, com- pared with those of the ray. They are much used in Germany. Properties. Chamomile flowers, as usually found in the shops, are large, almost spherical, of a dull-white colour, a fragrant odour, and a warmish, bitter, aromatic taste. When fresh, their smell is much stronger, and was fancied by the ancients to resemble that of the apple. Hence the name cha- msemelum; and it is somewhat singular that the Spanish name manzanilla has a similar signification/!" The flowers impart their odour and taste to both water and alcohol, the former of which, at the boiling temperature, extracts nearly one-fourth of their weight. They have not been accurately analyzed, but are known to contain a volatile oil, a bitter extractive matter, resin and a small quantity of tannin. The first two are probably their active ingredients. (See Oleum Anthemidis.) Medical Properties and Uses. Chamomile is a mild tonic, in small doses acceptable and corroborant to the stomach, in larger quantities capable of act- ing as an emetic. In cold infusion it is often advantageously used in cases of enfeebled digestion, whether occurring as an original affection, or conse- quent upon some acute disease. It is especially applicable to that condition of general debility with languid appetite, which often attends convalescence from idiopathic fevers. As a febrifuge, it has also acquired much reputation, being frequently prescribed in remittents, when the subsidence of action be- tween the paroxysms is so considerable as to demand the use of tonics, but is not sufficiently complete to admit of a resort to Peruvian bark or its prepa- rations. Chamomile in substance has, in some instances, proved effectual in the treatment of intermittents; but we have so many other remedies more efficient in these cases, that it is now seldom if ever employed. The tepid infusion is very often given to promote the operation of emetic medicines, or to assist the stomach in relieving itself when oppressed by its contents. The flowers are sometimes applied externally as fomentations in cases of irritation or inflammation of the abdominal viscera, and as gentle incitants in flabby, ill-conditioned ulcers. The dose of the powder as a tonic is from half a drachm to a drachm three or four times a day, or more frequently, according to the end proposed. The infusion is usually preferred. The decoction and extract cannot exert the full influence of the medicine, as the volatile oil, upon which its virtues partly depend, is driven off at the boiling temper- ature. * Eaton tells us, in his Manual of Botany, that he has seen it growing wild near Pitts- field, Massachusetts; and Nuttall states that it is naturalized near Lewistown in Delaware. t Chamtemelum from xay-al on tne ground, and ^tuXov an apple. Manzanilla signifies a little apple. 96 Anthemis.—Antimonium. PART I Off. Prep. Decoctum Anthemidis Nobilis, Ed.; Decoctum Chamrcmeli Comp., Dub.; Decoctum Malvae Comp., J^ond.; Extractum Anthemidis, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Infusum Anthemidis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Oleum Anthemidis, Lond., Ed. W. ANTIMONIUM. Antimony. Regulus of antimony; Stibium, hat.; Antimoine, Fr.; Antimon, Spiessglas, Germ.; Antimonio, Span., Ital. Antimony, in the metallic state, is not officinal in the British or United States Pharmacopoeias; but as it enters into the composition of a number of important pharmaceutical agents and medicines, we have thought it proper to notice it under a distinct head. Antimony exists in nature in four states; 1. as metallic antimony; 2. as an oxide; 3. as a sulphuret; and 4. as a sulphuretted oxide. It is found principally in France and Germany. Extraction. Nearly all the antimony of commerce is extracted from the native sulphuret, which is by far the most abundant ore of this metal. The ore is first separated from its gangue by fusion. It is then reduced to pow- der, and placed on the floor of a reverberatory furnace; where it is subjected to a gentle heat, being constantly stirred about with an iron rake. The heat should not be sufficient to cause fusion. This process of roasting takes a good deal of time, and is known to be completed, when the matter is reduced to the state of a dull grayish-white powder. By this treatment the antimony is sesquioxidized, and nearly all the sulphur dissipated in the form of sulphurous acid gas: a little sulphuret, however, remains undecom- posed. The matter is then mixed either with tartar, or with charcoal im- pregnated with a concentrated solution of carbonate of soda, and the mixture introduced into crucibles, which are placed in a melting furnace. Heat being applied, the charcoal reduces the sesquioxide of antimony, while the alkali unites with the undecomposed sulphuret, and forms with it melted scoriae, which cover the reduced metal and diminish its loss by volatiliza- tion. The metal obtained is then fused a second time for the purpose of purification. In Scotland, the sulphuret of antimony is decomposed by the superior affinity of iron for the sulphur; but the metal obtained by this process is of bad quality. Antimony is imported into the United States principally from France, from the ports of Havre and Bordeaux, packed in casks, and most of it arrives at New York. A portion is also shipped from Trieste, from Holland, and occasionally from Cadiz. The Spanish antimony is generally in the form of pigs; the French, in circular cakes of about ten inches in diameter, flat on one side and convex on the other; and the English, in cones. The French is most esteemed. Very little English antimony is at present im- ported into the United States. Properties, fyc. The time of the discovery of antimony is not known; but, according to Berzelius and Thenard, Basil Valentine was the first to describe the method of obtaining it, in his work entitled Currus Tri- vmphalis Antimonii, published towards the end of the fifteenth century. It is a brittle, brilliant metal, ordinarily of a lamellated texture, and of a silver- PART I. Antimonium. 97 white colour when pure, but bluish-white as it occurs in commerce. When rubbed between the fingers, it communicates to them a sensible odour. Its sp. gr. is 6.7, and its fusing point 810°, or about a red heat. On cooling after fusion, it assumes a crystalline structure, and an appearance on the sur- face bearing some resemblance to a fern leaf. When strongly heated it takes fire, and burns with emission of white vapours, consisting of sesquioxide, formerly called argentine flowers of antimony. A small portion being fused, and then thrown irom a moderate height upon a plane surface, divides into numerous globules, which burn rapidly as they pass through the air. It forms three combinations with oxygen; one oxide—sesquioxide of anti- mony, and two acids—antimonious and antimonic acids. Its equivalent number, according to Berzelius, is 64.6; and the sesquioxide contains one and a half, antimonious acid two, and antimonic acid two and a half equiv. of oxygen. The sesquioxide only is a salifiable base, and it is this oxide which is uniformly present in the active medicinal preparations of this metal. It will be noticed under another head. (See Antimonii Oxydum Nitromuriaticum, Dub.) Antimonic acid is in the form of a lemon- coloured powder, which may be prepared by oxidizing the metal by diges- tion in nitric acid, and then driving off the excess of nitric acid by a heat not exceeding 600°. When exposed to a red heat, it parts with oxygen, and is converted into antimonious acid. This is a white powder, and, though medicinally inert, frequently forms a large proportion of the prepara- tion called antimonial powder. (See Pidvis Antimonialis, Dub.) The following table exhibits a view of the different officinal preparations of antimony:— I. Sulphuretted:— 1. Antimonii Sulphuretum, U.S., Dub.; Antimonii Sesquisalphure- tum, Isond.; Sulphuretum Antimonii, Ed. 2. Antimonii Sulphuretum Praeparatum, U.S., Dub.; Sulphuretum Antimonii Praeparatum, Ed. 3. Antimonii Sulphuretum Praeeipitatum, U.S.;- Antimonii Oxysul- phuretum, Lond.; Sulphuretum Antimonii Praeeipitatum, Ed.; Sulphur Antimoniatum Fuscum, Dub. II. Oxidized:— 1. Sesquioxide. Antimonii Oxydum Nitromuriaticum, Dub. 2. Sesquioxide, combined with tartaric acid and potassa. Anti- monii et Potassse Tartras, U.S., Dub.; Antimonii Potassio- Tartras, Lond.; Tartras Antimonii, Ed. Dissolved in wine. Vinum Antimonii, U.S; Vinum Antimonii Potassio-Tartratis, Lond.; Vinum Tartratis Antimonii, Ed. Dissolved in diluted alcohol. Liquor Tartari Emetici, Dub. Mixed with lard. Unguentum Tartari Emetici, Dub. 3. Sesquioxide and antimonious acid, mixed with phosphate of lime. Pulvis Antimonii Compositus, Lond.; Pulvis Antimonialis, Dub.; Oxidum Antimonii cum Phosphate Calcis, Ed. In Pharmacy, antimony is not much used in the metallic state; the sul- phuret being the source, either directly or indirectly, of nearly all its medi- cinal preparations. (See Antimonii Sulphuretum.) B. 10 98 Antimonii Sulphuretum. part i. ANTIMONII SULPHURETUM. U.S., Dub. Sulphuret of Antimony. Off. Syn. ANTIMONII SESQUISULPHURETUM. Lond.; SUL- PHURETUM ANTIMONII. Ed. Crude antimony, Artificial sulphuret of antimony; Antimoine sulphur^, Fr.; Schwefel- antimon, Schwefelspiessglas, Germ.; Solfuro d'antimonio, Ital.; Antimonio crudo, Span. Preparation, <^c. The officinal sulphuret of antimony of the Pharmaco- poeias is a sesquisulphuret of the metal, and is uniformly placed in the list of the Materia Medica, as an article to be purchased by the apothecary. It is obtained from the native sulphuret, by far the most abundant ore of this metal, by different processes of purification, of which the following is an outline of that generally pursued. The ore is pounded, and placed in earthen pots with perforated bottoms, which are made to rest on others, half buried in the earth. The upper pots are surrounded with wood, which is then kindled. By its combustion the sulphuret is quickly melted, and runs down into the lower pots, leaving the stony and earthy impurities behind. A better pro- cess is to use slightly conical earthenware tubes, fixed vertically in a kind of reverberatory furnace, in place of the earthen pots. This arrangement affords facilities for removing the residue of the operation, and permits the melted sulphuret to run out from the furnace without interrupting the fire, and con- sequently without loss of time or fuel. Properties, 4'C. Sulphuret of antimony is mostly prepared in France and Germany, and comes to the United Stales principally from the ports of France. It is called in commerce antimony, or crude antimony, and occurs in fused roundish masses, denominated loaves. These are dark-gray exter- nally, and exhibit internally, when broken, a brilliant steel-gray colour, and a radiated or fibrous crystalline texture. Their goodness depends upon their compactness and weight, the largeness and distinctness of the fibres, and their entire volatility by heat. The quality of the sulphuret cannot well be judged of, except in mass; hence it ought never to be bought in powder. The powder of the pure sulphuret is reddish-brown; but that of the commer- cial sulphuret is almost always black. The most usual impurities are lead, iron, and arsenic. Lead may be detected by the texture of the leaves being foliated and indistinctly striated; iron, by a brown colour being produced by deflagration with nitre; and arsenic, by its peculiar smell when the sulphuret is healed. According to Serullas, all the antimonial preparations, except tartar emetic and butter or chloride of antimony, contain a minute portion of arsenic. Tartar emetic is an exception, because, according to this chemist, it separates entirely, in the act of crystallizing, from any minute portion of arsenic in,the materials from which it is prepared; the poisonous metal be- ing left behind in the mother-waters of the process. Composition. Sulphuret of antimony consists of one equivalent of anti- mony 64.6, and one and a half equiv. of sulphur 24.15=88.75. Pharmaceutical Uses. Sulphuret of antimony requires to be levigated in order to fit it for exhibition as a medicine. Processes are accordingly given for this purpose in the United States, Edinburgh, and Dublin Pharmaco- poeias, but not in the London. The medical properties of sulphuret of anti- mony will accordingly be noticed under the head of the prepared sulphuret. (See Antimonii Sulphuretum Praeparatum.) Off. Prep. Sulphuret of antimony is used pharmaceutical^ in a number of preparations. Besides being employed to obtain the prepared sulphu- part i. Apocynum Androssemifolium. 99 ret as just mentioned, it is used in the following preparations;—Antimonii Oxysulphuretum, Lond.; Pulvis Antimonii, Compositus, Lond., Ed.; Tar- tras Antimonii, Ed., Lond. In all other preparations in which sulphuretted antimony is required, the prepared sulphuret is employed. B. APOCYNUM ANDROSSEMIFOLIUM. U.S. Secondary. Dog's-bane. " Apocynum androssemifolium. Radix. The Root." U.S. Apocynum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Apocyneae. Gen. Ch. Calyx very small, five-cleft, persistent. Corolla campanulate, half five-cleft, lobes revolute, furnished at the base with five dentoid glands alternating with the stamens. Anthers, connivent, sagittate, cohering to the stigma by the middle. Style obsolete. Stigma thick and acute. Fol- licles long and linear. Seed comose. Nuttall. Apocynum androssemifolium. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1259; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 148. The Dog's-bane is an indigenous, perennial, herbaceous plant, from three to six feet in height, and abounding in a milky juice, whieh exudes when any part of the plant is wounded. The stem is eiect, smooth, simple below, branched above, usually red on the side exposed to the sun, and covered with a tough fibrous bark. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, ovate, acute, entire, smooth on both sides, and two or three inches long. The flowers are white, tinged with red, and grow in loose, nodding, termi- nal or axillary cymes. The peduncles are furnished with very small acute bractes. The tube of the corolla is longer than the calyx, and its border spreading. The fruit consists of a pair of long, linear, acute follicles, con- taining numerous imbricated seeds, attached to a central receptacle, and each furnished with a long seed-down. The plant flourishes in all parts of the United States, from Canada to Carolina. It is found along fences and the skirts of woods, and flowers in June and July. The root is the part employed. This is large, and like other parts of the plant contains a milky juice. Its taste is unpleasant and intensely bitter. Bigelow inferred from his expe- riments that it contained bitter extractive, a red colouring matter soluble in water and not in alcohol, caoutchouc, and volatile oil. Medical Properties. The powder of the recently dried root acts as an emetic in the dose of thirty grains; and is said to be sometimes employed by practitioners in the country for this purpose. By Dr. Zollickofler it is considered a useful tonic, in doses of from ten to twenty grains. Dr. Bigelow states that its activity is diminished, and eventually destroyed by keeping. It is among the remedies employed by the Indians in lues venerea. W. APOCYNUM CANNABINUM. U.S. Secondary. Indian Hemp. " Apocynum cannabinum. Radix. The Root." U. S. Apocynum. See APOCYNUM ANDROSSEMIFOLIUM. Apocynum cannabinum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1259; Knapp, Am. Med. 100 Apocynum Cannabinum. part i. Rev. iii. 197. In general appearance and character, this species bears a close resemblance to the preceding. The stems are herbaceous, erect, branching, of a brown colour, and two or three feet in height; the leaves are opposite, oblong-ovate, acute at both ends, and somewhat downy beneath; the cymes are paniculate, many-flowered, and pubescent; the corolla is small and greenish, with a tube not longer than the calyx, and with an erect bor- der; the internal parts of the flower are pinkish or purple. The plant grows in similar situations with the A. androsaemifolium, and flowers about the same period. Like that species, it abounds in a milky juice, and has a tough fibrous bark, which, by maceration, affords a substitute for hemp. From this circumstance the common name of the plant was derived. The root is the part designated by the United States Pharmacopoeia, in the last edition of which this species was first recognised as officinal. It is horizontal, five or six feet in length, about one-third of an inch thick, dividing near the end into branches which terminate abruptly, of a yellowish- brown colour when young, but dark chestnut when old, of a strong odour, and a nauseous, somewhat acrid, permanently bitter taste. The internal or ligneous portion is yellowish-white, and less bitter than the exterior or corti- cal part. The fresh root, when wounded, emits a milky juice, which con- cretes into a substance closely resembling caoutchouc. In the dried state, it is brittle and readily pulverized, affording a powder like that of ipecacuanha. According to Dr. Knapp* it contains a bitter principle, extractive, tannin, gallic acid, resin, wax, caoutchouc, fecula, lignin, and a peculiar principle upon which its activity depends, and which he proposes to call opocynin. Dr. Griscom by a subsequent analysis obtained similar results, with the addi- tion of gum to the other ingredients. The root yields its virtues to water and alcohol, but, according to Dr. Griscom, most readily to the former. Medical Properties and Uses. Indian Hemp is powerfully emetic and cathartic, sometimes diuretic, and like other emetic substances, promotes dia- phoresis and expectoration. It produces much nausea, diminishes the fre- quency of the pulse, and appears to induce drowsiness independently of the exhaustion consequent upon vomiting. The disease in which it has been found most beneficial is dropsy. An aggravated case of ascites, under the care of Dr. Joseph Parrish.of Philadelphia, was completely cured by the decoction of the plant, which acted as a powerful hydragogue cathar- tic. Dr. Knapp also found it useful in a case of dropsy. Other instances of its efficacy in this complaint have been recently published by Dr. Gris- com of New York. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sciences, xii. 55.) From fifteen to thirty grains of the powdered root will generally produce copious vomiting and purging. The decoction is a more convenient form of administration. It may be prepared by boiling half an ounce of the dried root in a pint and a half of water to a pint, of which from one to two fluid- ounces may be given two or three times a day, or more frequently if requi- site. The watery extract, in doses of three or four grains three times a day, will generally act on the bowels. W. * See an Inaugural Dissertation by M. L. Knapp, M. D., in the American Med. Review, Philadelphia, 1826. Vol. iii. p. 197. PART I. Aqua. 101 AQUA. U.S. Water. [!J»^, Gr.; Eau, Fr.; Wasscr, Germ.; Acqua, Ital.; Agua, Span. Water stands very properly, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, as an article of the Materia Medica, on account of its great importance as a medical and pharmaceutical agent. In the British Pharmacopoeias it has been unac- countably omitted from the list of the Materia Medica, although it is con- stantly employed in the preparations. It is one of the most abundant pro- ductions in nature, and plays an important part in the economy of the universe. It is more or less concerned in almost all the changes which take place in inorganic matter, and is essential to the growth and exis- tence of living beings, whether animal or vegetable. In treating of a sub- stance of such diversified agency, our limits will only allow of a sketch of its properties and modifications. We shall speak of it under the several heads of pure water, common water, and mineral waters. Properties of Pure Water. Water, in a pure state, is a transparent liquid, without colour, taste, or smell. Its sp. gr. is assumed to be unity by common consent, and forms the term of comparison for that of all solids and liquids. A cubic inch of it, at the temp, of 60°, weighs very nearly 252.5 grains. It is compressible to a small extent, as was first proved by Canton, and afterwards, in an incontestable manner, by Perkins. Reduced in temp, to 32°, it becomes a solid or ice; and raised to that of 212°, an elastic fluid called steam. In the state of steam its bulk is increased nearly 1700 fold, and its sp. gr. so far diminished as not to be much more than half as great as that of atmospheric air. At the tern p. of 39° its density is at the maximum; and consequently, setting out from this point, it is increased in bulk by being either heated or cooled. It has the power of dissolving more or less of all the gases, and among the rest, of common air, the constituents of which are always present in natural water. It is uniformly present in the atmosphere, in the^form of an invisible vapour, even in the driest weather, and exerts, by its variable amount at different times, an important influence on the animal economy. Water unites with other bodies either in the liquid or solid form; in the former case producing solutions, in the latter hydrates. It is the most uni- versal solvent known, and on this property mainly depends its great influence in the operations of nature. Water consists of one equivalent of hydrogen 1, and one of oxygen 8=9; or in volumes, of one volume of hydrogen and half a volume of oxygen, condensed into one volume of aqueous vapour or steam. On these data, it is easy to calculate the sp. gr. of steam; for its density will be .0689 (sp. gr. of hydrogen) + .5512 (half the sp. gr. of oxygen) = .6201. Common Water. From the extensive solvent powers of water, it may be readily inferred, that, in its natural state, it must be more or less contami- nated with foreign matter. This is found to be the case; and, according to the nature of the strata through which it percolates, it becomes va- riously impregnated. When the foreign substances present are in so small amount, as not very materially to alter its taste and other sensible qualities, it constitutes the different varieties of common water. Common water possesses almost innumerable shades of difference, as obtained from different localities and sources; but all its varieties may be conveniently arranged under the two heads of soft and hard. A soft water 10* 102 Aqua. PART I. is one which contains but inconsiderable impurities, and which, when used in washing, does not curdle soap. By a hard water is understood a variety of water which contains sulphate of lime, and, therefore, curdles soap, and is unfit for domestic purposes. Tincture of soap is a convenient and useful test for ascertaining the quality of water. In distilled water it produces no effect; in soft water, only a slight opalescence; and in a hard water, a milky appearance. This latter appearance is due to the formation of an insoluble compound between the oil of the soap and the lime of the sulphate of lime. The most usual foreign substances in common water, besides oxygen and nitrogen, and matters held in a state of mechanical suspension, are carbonic acid, sulphate and carbonate of lime, and chloride of sodium (common salt). Carbonic acid is detected by lime-water, which produces a precipitate before the water is boiled, but not afterwards, as ebullition drives olf this acid. The presence of sulphate of lime is shown by precipitates being produced by nitrate of baryta, and, after ebullition, by oxalate of ammonia. The first test shows the presence of sulphuric acid, and the latter, of lime not held in solution by carbonic acid. Carbonate of lime can be present only by being held in solution by an excess of carbonic acid, and is detected by boiling the water, which causes it to precipitate. Nitrate of silver will produce a precipitate, if any chloride or muriate be present; and in all ordinary cases the particular one present may be assumed to be common salt. It is generally supposed that the oxygen and nitrogen present in natural waters are in the same proportion as in atmospheric air; but for the most part the oxygen is in excess. In atmospheric air, the oxygen amounts to 20 per cent, in volume, but the usual gaseous mixture expelled from fresh water by boiling contains about 32 per cent, of this gas. The cause of this dif- ference in proportion, is that water has a greater affinity for oxygen than for nitrogen, and consequently takes up proportionably more of the former from the atmosphere. Common water is also divided into varieties according to its source. Thus we have Rain, Snow, Spring, River, Well, Lake, and Marsh Water. This division is not so practical, however, as that into soft and hard; as the source of the water is not always indicative of its quality. We shall notice these varieties in a general manner. Rain and Snow waters are the purest kinds of natural water, being, in effect, produced by a kind of natural distillation. Rain water, to be obtained as pure as possible, must be collected in large vessels in the open fields at a distance from houses, and some time after the rain has commenced falling; otherwise it will be contaminated with the dust which floats in the atmos- phere, and other impurities derived from roofs. It may be obtained tolerably pure, even in the large cities, by taking advantage of a heavy rain, and, after it has descended for a considerable time and washed away every impurity, collecting it as it falls from the roofs and spouts. Rain water ordinarily contains atmospheric air; and, according to Liebig, a little nitric acid, if it descended during a storm. It is said to contain also a trace of chloride of calcium; but this is highly improbable, on account of the fixed nature of this salt. Snow water has a peculiar taste, which was formerly supposed to depend on the presence of air more oxygenous than that of the atmosphere; but in point of fact, when newly melted it contains no air, and this accounts for its vapid taste. After exposure to the air, how- ever, for some time, it takes up the constituent gases of the atmosphere like other natural waters. Both rain and snow water are sufficiently pure for employment in most chemical operations. Spring water (aqua fontana) depends entirely for its quality on the strata PART I. Aqua. 103 through which it flows, being purest when it passes through sand or gravel. It almost always contains a trace of common salt, and generally other impu- rities, which vary according to the locality of the spring. River water (aqua fluviatilis), generally speaking, is less impregnated with saline matter than spring water; on account of its being made up in considerable part of rains, and of its volume bearing so large a proportion to the surface of its bed. On the other hand, it is much more apt to have mechanically suspended in it, certain insoluble matters of a vegetable and earthy nature, which impair its transparency. Well water, like that from springs, is liable to contain various impurities. As a general rule, the purity of the water of a well will be in proportion to its depth; and the constancy with which it is used. The Artesian or overflowing wells, on account of their great depth, generally afford a very pure water. Lake water cannot be characterized as having any invariable qualities. In most of the lakes in the United States it constitutes a very pure and wholesome water. This remark is particularly applicable to our great lakes. Marsh water is generally stagnant, and contains vegetable remains under- going decomposition. It is an unwholesome variety of water, and ought never to be used for medicinal purposes. The term Aqua, in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, may be considered as desig- nating any natural water of good average quality. A good water may be known by its being lively, limpid, and without smell. It answers well for the cooking of vegetables, and does not curdle soap. Upon the addition of nitrate of baryta, nitrate of silver, or oxalate of ammonia, its transparency is but slightly affected; and upon being evaporated to dryness, it leaves but an inconsiderable residue. Water should never be kept in leaden cisterns, on account of the risk of its dissolving a small portion of lead. This risk is greater in proportion to the original purity of the water; for it is found that the presence of a minute portion of saline matter, as for example of a muriate or sulphate, protects the water from the slightest metallic impregnation. The protection is afforded by the formation of an insoluble film on the surface of the lead, as a consequence of the decomposition of the saline matter. (See Christison on Poisons.) The Schuylkill water introduced into the city of Philadelphia possesses all the characteristics of a good water, except that it is occasionally turbid after heavy rains. Accordingly, it may be used pharmaceutically in all cases in which " water" is directed as contra-distinguished from " distilled water." A brackish or hard water ought never to be employed. For some pharma- ceutical processes, however, no natural water is deemed sufficiently pure; and hence the necessity of resorting to a process for its purification. This is effected by distillation, and accordingly all the Pharmacopoeias give a for- mula for distilled water. (See Aqua Desti/lata.) Mineral Waters. Natural waters, when they are so far impregnated with foreign substances as to have a decided taste and a peculiar operation on the animal economy, are called Mineral Waters. These are necessarily very diversified in their nature, but they are conveniently arranged for description under the four heads of carbonated, sulphuretted, chalybeate, and saline. 1. Carbonated waters are characterized by containing an excess of car- bonic acid, which gives them a sparkling appearance, and the power of red- dening litmus paper. These waters frequently contain the carbonates of lime, magnesia, and iron, which are held in solution by the excess of car- 104 Aqua. part r. bonic acid. The waters of Seltzer, Spa, and Pyrmont in Europe, and of the sweet springs in Virginia, belong to this class. 2. Sulphuretted waters are such as contain sulphuretted hydrogen, and are distinguished by the peculiar fetid smell of that gas, and by their yield- ing a brown precipitate with the salts of lead or silver. Examples of this kind of mineral water are furnished by the waters of Aix la Chapelle and Harrowgate in Europe, and those of the white, red, and salt sulphur springs in Virginia. 3. Chalybeate waters are characterized by a strong inky taste, and by striking a black colour with the infusion of galls, and a blue one with ferro- cyanate of potassa. The iron is generally in the state of protocarbonale, held in solution by excess of carbonic acid. By standing, the carbonic acid is given off, and the protoxide becomes a hydrated sesquioxide of an ochre- ous colour, and is precipitated. The principal chalybeate waters are those of Tunbridge and Brighton, in England, and Balston Spa, Bedford, Pitts- burg, and Brandywine, in the United States. 4. Saline waters are those, the prominent properties of which depend upon saline impregnation. The salts most usually present are the sulphates, muriates, and carbonates of lime, magnesia, and soda. Potassa is occasion- ally present, and lithia has been detected by Berzelius in the spring of Carls- bad, in Germany. Bromine exists in considerable quantity in the saline at Theodorshalle, in Germany, and iodine is not unfrequently present. The water of the Congress spring at Saratoga, in the state of New York, contains, according to Dr. Steel, both iodine and bromine in small quantity. The principal saline waters are those of Seidlitz in Bohemia, Cheltenham and Bath in England, and Harrodsburg and Saratoga in the United States. To these may be added, a most important saline water, that of the ocean. We subjoin a summary view of the composition of most of the mineral waters enumerated under the foregoing heads, with the authority for each analysis. Carbonated. Seltzer. In a wine pint. Carbonic acid 17 cubic inches. Solid contents;—carbonate of soda 4 grs.; carbonate of magnesia 5; carbo- nate of lime 3; chloride of sodium 17. Total 29 grs. Bergmann. Spa. In a wine pint. Carbonic acid 13 cubic inches. Solid contents;— carbonate of soda 1.5 grs.; carbonate of magnesia 4.5; carbonate of lime 1.5; chloride of sodium 0.2; oxide of iron 0.6. Total 8.3 grs. Berg- mann. Pyrmont. In a wine pint. Carbonic acid 26 cubic inches. Solid con- tents;—carbonate of magnesia 10 grs.; carbonate of lime 4.5; sulphate of magnesia 5.5; sulphate of lime 8.5; chloride of sodium 1.5; oxide of iron 0.6. Total 30.6 grs. Bergmann. Sulphuretted. Aix la Chapelle. In a wine pint. Sulphuretted hydrogen 5.5 cubic inches. Solid contents;—carbonate of soda 12 grs.; carbonate of lime 4.75; chloride of sodium 5. Total 21.75 grs. Bergmann. Harrowgate old well. In a wine gallon. Gaseous contents;—sulphuretted hydrogen 14 cubic inches; carbonic acid 4.25; nitrogen 8; carburetted hy- drogen 4.15. Total 30.4 cubic inches. Solid contents;—chloride of sodium 752 grs.; muriate of lime 65.75; muriate of magnesia 29.2; bicarbonate of soda 12.8. Total 859.75 grs. English West. Quart. Journ. White sulphur. In a wine gallon. Gaseous contents;—sulphuretted hy- drogen 2.5 cubic inches; carbonic acid 2; oxygen 1.448; nitrogen 3.552. Total 9.5. Solid contents in a pint;—sulphate of magnesia 5.588 grs.; sulphate of lime 7.744; carbonate of lime 1.150; muriate of lime 0.204; PART I. Aqua. 105 chloride of sodium 0.180; oxide of iron a trace; loss 0.410. Total 15.276 grs. Prof. IVilliam B. Rogers. Chalybeate. Tunbridge. In a wine gallon. Solid contents;—chloride of sodium 2.46 grs.; muriate of lime 0.39; muriate of magnesia 0.29; sul- phate of lime 1.41; carbonate of lime 0.27; oxide of iron 2.22: traces of manganese, vegetable fibre, silica, &c. 0.44; loss 0.13. Total 7.61 grs. Scudamore. Brighton. In a wine pint. Carbonic acid 2.5 cubic inches. Solid con- tents;—sulphate of iron 1.80 grs.; sulphate of lime 4.09; muriate of soda 1.53; muriate of magnesia 0.75; silica 0.14; loss 0.19. Total 8.5 grs. Marcet. Cheltenham, (chalybeate.) In a wine pint. Gaseous contents;—carbonic acid 2.5 cubic inches. Solid contents;—carbonate of soda 0.5 grs.; sulphate of soda 22.7; sulphate of magnesia 6; sulphate of lime 2.5; chloride of sodium 41.3; oxide of iron 0.8. Total 73.8 grs. Brande and Parkes. Balston Spa. Sans Souci Spring. In a wine gallon. Solid Contents;— chloride of sodium 143.733 grs.; bicarbonate of soda 12.66; bicarbonate of magnesia 39.1; carbonate of lime 43.407; carbonate of iron 5.95; hydriodate of soda 1.3; silica 1. Total 247.15 grs. Steel. Bedford. Anderson's Spring. In a wine gallon. Carbonic acid 74 cubic inches. Solid contents;—sulphate of magnesia 80 grs.; sulphate of lime 14.5; chloride of sodium 10; muriate of lime 3; carbonate of iron 5; carbo- nate of lime 8. Total 120.5 grs. Church. Saline. Seidlitz. In a wine pint. Solid contents;—carbonate of mag- nesia 2.5 grs.; carbonate of lime 0.8; sulphate of magnesia 180; sulphate of lime 5; muriate of magnesia 4.5. Total 192.8 grs. Bergmann. Cheltenham, (pure saline.) In a wine pint. Solid contents;—sulphate of soda 15 grs.; sulphate of magnesia II; sulphate of lime 4.5; chloride of sodium 50. Total 80.5 grs. Parkes and ^Brande. Bath. In a wine pint. Carbonic acid 1.2 cubic inches. Solid contents;— carbonate of lime 0.8 grs.; sulphate of soda 1.4; sulphate of lime 9.3; chloride of sodium 3.4; silica 0.2; oxide of iron a trace. Total 15.1 grs. Phillips. Saratoga. Congress Spring. In a wine gallon. Gaseous contents;—car- bonic acid 311 cubic inches; atmospheric air 7. Total 318 cubic inches. Solid contents;—chloride of sodium 385 grs.; hydriodate of soda 3.5; bi- carbonate of soda 8.982; bicarbonate of magnesia 95.788; carbonate of lime 98.098; carbonate of iron 5.075; silica 1.5; hydrobromate of potassa a trace. Total 597.943 grs. Steels- Sea Water. In a wine pint. Chloride of sodium 180.5 grs.; muriate of magnesia 18.3; muriate of lime 5.7; sulphate of magnesia 21.6. Total 226.1 grs. Murray. s Medical and Dietetic Properties of Water.—Water is a substance of the first necessity to living beings, whether vegetable or animal. In animals there exists an instinctive desire for it, to repair the waste of the fluids which is constantly taking place in the animal economy. It constitutes the basis of nearly all the secretions, and nine-tenths of the weight of the blood. In short, it is nature's agent for producing the liquid state, and is the only diluent proper in a state of health. * We have taken our notices of the mineral waters of the United States from a valua- ble work on Baths and Mineral Waters, by Dr. John Bell, and from the interesting trea- tise on the Mineral Waters of Saratoga and Balston, by Dr. John H. Steel; both published in 1831. 106 Aqua. PART i. Water as a remedy is highly important, though we are apt to overlook its agency, on account of our familiarity with its use. When taken into the stomach, it acts by its temperature, by its bulk, and by being absorbed. When of the temperature of about 60°, it gives no positive sensation either of heat or cold; between 60° and 45°, it creates a cool sensation; and be- low 45°, a decidedly cold one. Between 60° and 100°, it relaxes the fibres of the stomach, and is apt to produce nausea, particularly if the effect of bulk be added to that of temperature. By its bulk and solvent powers, it often allays irritation by diluting the acrid contents of the stomach and bowels, and favouring their final expulsion; and by its absorption, it pro- motes the secretion of urine and cutaneous transpiration. Indeed, its in- fluence is so great in the latter way, that it may be safely affirmed, that sudorifics and diuretics will not produce their proper effect unless assisted by copious dilution. Water, externally applied as a bath, is also an important remedy. It may act by its own specific effects as a liquid, or as a means of modifying the heat of the body. It acts in the latter way differently, according to the par- ticular temperature at which it may be applied. When this is above 97°, it constitutes either the vapour or hot bath; when between 97° and 85°, the warm bath; between 85° and 65°, the tepid bath; and between 65° and 32°, the cold bath. The general action of the vapour bath is to accelerate the circulation, and produce profuse sweating. It acts locally on the skin by softening and re- laxing its texture. In stiffness of the joints, and various diseases of the skin, it has often proved beneficial. The late Dr. Duncan stated that he had seen scaly cutaneous diseases, which had resisted for years every other treatment, become quickly cured by its use. The hot, like the vapour bath, is decidedly stimulant. By its use, the pulse becomes full and frequent, uie veins turgid, the face flushed, the skin red, and the respiration quickened. If the temperature be high, and the constitution peculiar, its use is not without danger; as it is apt to produce a feeling of suffocation, violent throbbing in the temples, and vertigo, with tendency to apoplexy. When it acts favourably, it depletes actively from the skin by producing profuse sweating. The warm bath, though below the animal heat, nevertheless produces a sensation of warmth, as its temperature is above that of the surface. It diminishes the frequency of the pulse, especially if previously accelerated, renders the respiration slower, lessens the heat of the body, and relaxes the skin. The warm bath cannot be deemed, strictly speaking, a stimulant; but by relieving certain diseased actions and states, accompanied by morbid irri- tability, it forms an excellent soothing remedy, producing a disposition to sleep. It is proper, in febrile and exanthematous diseases, in which the pulse is frequent, and the skin preternaturally hot and dry, and where the general condition is characterized by restlessness. It is contra-indicated in diseases of the head and chest. The tepid bath, from its temperature, is not calculated to have much modifying influence on the heat of the body. Its peculiar effects are to soften and cleanse the skin, and promote insensible perspiration. The cold bath acts differently according to its temperature and manner of application, and the condition of the system to which it is applied. When of low temperature and suddenly applied, it acts primarily as a stimulant, by the sudden and quick manner in which the caloric is abstracted, or made to pass out of the body; next, as a tonic, by removing the opponent to attraction which tends to condense the living fibre; and finally, as a sedative. part i. Aqua.—Aralia Nudicaulis. 107 If it were applied at a temperature just sufficient to excite a cool sensation, and this temperature were gradually and imperceptibly lowered, it is probable that the cold bath would act exclusively as a sedative. From the above explanations, it may be easily understood that the cold bath will act very differently under different circumstances. It is often useful in diseases of relaxation and debility, when practised by affusion or plunging. But it is essential to its efficacy and safety in these cases, that the stock of vitality should be sufficient to create, immediately after its use those general sensations of warmth and invigoration included under the term reaction. It has also been used with advantage by the late Dr. Currie of Liverpool, in the form of affusion, in certain febrile diseases, especially scarlatina. To make it safe, however, the heat must be steadily above the natural standard, and the patient must be free from all sense of chilliness, and not in a state of profuse perspiration. Cold water is frequently applied as a sedative in local inflammations, and as a means of restraining hemorrhage. Its use, however, is inadmissible in inflammations of the chest. Pharm. Uses. Water is the most extensive pharmaceutical agent which we possess. It is employed in a vast number of preparations, as a means of promoting chemical action by its solvent powers. It is more or less present in all the liquid forms of medicines, and is the sole menstruum in the medicated waters, decoctions, and infusions. Off. Prep. Aqua Destillata, U. S., Land., Ed., Dub. B. ARALIA NUDICAULIS. U.S. Secondary. False Sarsaparilla. " Aralia nudicaulis. Radix. The Root." U. S. Aralia. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Araliaceae. Gen. Ch. Flowers umbelled. Calyx five-toothed, superior. Petals five, Stigma sessile, subglobose. Berry five-celled, five-seeded. Torrey. Aralia nudicaulis. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1521; Rafinesque, Med. Flor. i. 53. The false sarsaparilla, wild sarsaparilla, or small spikenard, as this plant is variously called, is an indigenous perennial, with one leaf and one flower-stem springing together from the root or from a very short stalk, and seldom rising two feet in height. The leaf, which stands upon a long foot- stalk, is twice ternate, or once and quinate, with oblong-oval, acuminate leaflets, rounded at the base, serrate on the margin, and smooth on both surfaces. The scape or flower-stem is naked, shorter than the leaf, and terminated by three small umbels, each consisting of from twelve to thirty small yellowish or greenish flowers. The fruit consists of small round berries, about as large as those of the common elder. The plant grows throughout the United States, from Canada to Carolina, inhabiting shady and rocky woods, and delighting in a rich soil. It flowers in May and June. The root is the officinal portion. This is horizontal, creeping, sometimes several feet in length, about as thick as the little finger, more or less twisted, externally of a yellowish- brown colour, of a fragrant odour, and a warm, aromatie, sweetish taste. It has not been analyzed. Medical Properties and Uses. False sarsaparilla is a gentle stimulant and diaphoretic, and is thought to exert an alterative influence over the 108 Aralia Nudicaulis.—Aralia Spinosa. part i. system analogous to that of the root from which it derived its common name. It is used in domestic practice, and bv some practitioners in the country, as a remedy in rheumatic, syphilitic, and cutaneous affections, in the same manner and dose as the genuine sarsaparilla. The root of the Aralia racemosa or American spikenard, though not officinal, is used for the same purposes as the A. nudicaulis, which it is said to resemble in medical properties. Dr. Peck strongly recommends the root of the Aralia hispida, called in Massachusetts dwarf elder, as a diuretic in dropsy. He uses it in the form of decoction, and finds it pleasanter to the taste and more acceptable to the stomach than most other medicines of the same class. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xix. 117.) W. ARALIA SPINOSA. U.S. Secondary. Angelica-tree Bark. " Aralia spinosa. Cortex. The Bark." U. S. Aralia. See ARALIA NUDICAULIS. Aralia spinosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1520. This is an indigenous arbo- rescent shrub, variously called angelica-tree, toothach tree, and prickly ash. The last name, however, should be dropped, as it belongs properly to the Xanthoxylum fraxineum, and if retained might lead to confusion. The stem is erect, simple, from eight to twelve feet high, armed with numerous prickles, and furnished near the top with very large bipinnate or tripinnate leaves, which are also prickly, and are composed of oval, pointed, slightly serrate leaflets. It terminates in an ample panicle, very much branched, and bearing numerous small hemispherical umbels, in each of which are about thirty white flowers. This species of Aralia is found chiefly in the Southern and Western States, though cultivated in the gardens of the north as an ornamental plant. It flourishes in low, fertile woods, and flowers in August and September. The bark, root, and berries are medicinal; but the first only is directed by the Pharmacopoeia. The bark is thin, grayish externally, yellowish within, of an odour some- what aromatic, and a bitterish, pungent, acrid taste. It yields its virtues to boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. The virtues of Aralia spinosa are those of a stimulant diaphoretic. According to Elliot, an infusion of the recent bark of the root is emetic and cathartic. The remedy is used in chronic rheumatism and cutaneous eruptions. Pursh states, that a vinous or spi- rituous infusion of the berries is remarkable for relieving rheumatic pains; and a similar tincture is said to be employed in Virginia with advantage in violent colic. The pungency of this tincture has also been found useful in relieving toothach. The bark is most conveniently administered in decoction. W. part i. Arctium Lappa.—Argentum. 109 ARCTIUM LAPPA. Semina. Radix. Dub. Seeds and Root of Burdock. Off. Syn. ARCTII LAPPiE SEMINA. ARCTII LAPP^E RADIX. Ed. Bardane, Fr.; Gemeine Klette, Germ.; Bardana, Ital., Span. Arctium. Sex. Syst. SyngenesiaiEqualis.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Cina- rocephalae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle chaffy. Calyx globular; the scales at the apex with inverted hooks. Seed-down bristly, chaffy. Willd. Arctium Lappa. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1631; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 32. t. 13. The burdock is a biennial plant, with a simple spindleshaped root, a foot or more in length, brown externally, white and spongy within, furnished with threadlike fibres, and having withered scales near the summit. The stem is succulent, pubescent, branching, and three or four feet in height, bearing very large cordate, denticulate leaves, which are green on their upper surface, whitish and downy on the under, and stand on long footstalks. The flowers are purple, globose, and arranged in terminal panicles. The calyx consists of imbricated scales, with hooked extremities, by which they adhere to clothes, and the coats of animals. The seed-down is rough and prickly, and the seeds are quadrangular. This plant is a native of Europe, and is abundant in this country, where it grows on the road sides, among rubbish, and in cultivated grounds. Pursh thinks that it was introduced. The root, which should be collected in spring, loses four-fifths of its weight by drying. The odour of the root is weak and unpleasant, the taste mucilaginous and sweetish, with a slight degree of bitterness and astringency. Among its eonstituents, inulin has been found by Guibourt, and sugar by Fee. The seeds are aromatic, bitterish, and somewhat acrid. Medical Properties and Uses. The root is considered aperient, diapho- retic, and sudorific, without irritating properties; and has been recommended in gouty, scorbutic, venereal, rheumatic, scrofulous, leprous, and nephritic affections. To prove effectual, its use must be persevered in for a long time. It is best administered in the form of decoction, which may be pre- pared by boiling two ounces of the recent bruised root in three pints of water to two, and given in the quantity of a pint during the day. The seeds are diuretic, and have been used in the same complaints in the form of emulsion or powder. The dose is a drachm. The leaves have also been employed both externally and internally in cutaneous eruptions and ulcerations. W. ARGENTUM. U S., Lond,, Ed., Dub. Silver. Argent, Fr.; Silber, Germ.; Argento, Ital; Plata, Span. Silver is occasionally found in the metallic state, sometimes pure and crys- tallized or in the form of vegetations, at other times combined with gold, antimony, arsenic, or mercury; but more usually it occurs in the state of sulphuret, either pure, or mixed with other sulphurets, such as those of 11 110 A/gentum. TART i. copper, lead, and antimony. It is sometimes, though n.rely found as a chloride. The most productive mines of silver are found on this continent, being those of Mexico and Peru; the rii-hest in Europe are situated at Kongsberg in Norway, in Hungary, a.nd in Transylvania. The principal ore which is worked is the sulphuret". The mineral containing silver which is most disseminated is the argentiferous galena, which is a sulphuret of lead, asso- ciated with sulphuret of silver. No mines of silver have been found in the United States; but argentiferous galena exists in several localities. That from the mine of Ephraim Lane, seventeen miles west of New-Haven, is exceedingly rich, yielding two hundred and seventy-two ounces of silver to the ton of reduced lead. The annual product of all the silver mines in Europe and America is estimated at about eight hundred and fifty tons, of which only a twelfth or fifteenth part is furnished by Europe. Extraction. Silver is extracted from its ores by two principal processes, amalgamation and cupclluiion. At Freybourgin Saxony, the ore, which is principally the sulphuret, is worked in the following manner. It is mixed with a tenth of chloride of sodium (common salt), and roasted in a reverbe- ratory furnace. The sulphur becomes acidified, and combines with the soda, resulting from the oxidizement of the sodium, to form sulphate of soda, while the chlorine forms a chloride with the silver. The roasted mass is then reduced to very fine powder, mixed with half its weight of mercury, one-third of its weight of water, and about a seventeenth of iron in flat pieces, and subjected, for sixteen or eighteen hours, to constant agitation in barrels turned by machinery. The chlorine combines with the iron, and remains in solution as chloride of iron, while the silver forms an amalgam with the mercury. The amalgam is then subjected to pressure in leathern bags, through the pores of which the excess of mercury passes, while a solid amalgam remains behind. This is then subjected to heat in a distillatory apparatus, by means of which the mercury is separated from the pure silver, which remains behind in the form of a porous mass. In Peru and Mexico the process is somewhat similar to the above, common salt and mercury being used; but slacked lime and sulphuret of iron are also employed, with an effect which is not very obvious. When argentiferous galenas are worked for the silver they contain, they are first reduced, and the metal obtained is subjected to the combined action of heat and a current of air on a very large and shallow cupel, called a test, made of spent ashes or pulverized bones. The metal undergoes fusion, and the lead, becoming oxidized and vitrified, is either scraped or blown off the test; while the silver, not being oxidizable, remains behind. Properties. Silver is a white metal, very brilliant, malleable, and ductile. In malleability and ductility, it is inferior only to gold. It is harder than gold, but softer than copper. Its tenacity is very great, and its sp. gr. about 10.5. Exposed to a full red heat, it enters into fusion, and exhibits a bril- liant appearance. It is not oxidized in the air, but contracts a superficial tarnish, in consequence of combining with sulphur. It forms but one well characterized oxide, which is of an olive colour, consisting of one equivalent of silver 108, and one equiv. of oxygen 8 = 116. Pharm. Uses. Silver has no action on the animal economy, and is intro- duced into the Pharmacopoeia solely for the purpose of forming nitrate of silver, the only officinal preparation of this metal. Off.Przp. Argenii Nitras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Argenti Nitratis Crystalli, Dub. B. PART I. Armor acia. Ill ARMORACIA. U.S., Lond. Horse-radish. " Cochlearia armoracia. Radix recens. The fresh root." U.S. Off. Si/n. COCHLEARS ARMORACIiE RADIX. Ed.; COCH- LEARIA ARMORACIA. Radix. Dub. P Raifort sauvage, Fr.; Meerrettig, Germ.; Jlafano rusticano, Ital.; Rabano rustieano, Span. Cochlearia. Sex. Syst. Tetradynamia Siliculosa.—Nat. Ord. Cruci- ferae. Gen. Ch. Silicula emarginate, turgid, scabrous, with gibbous, obtuse valves. Willd. Cochlearia Armoracia. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 451; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 400. t. 145. The root of this plant is perennial, sending up numerous very large leaves, from the midst of which a round, smooth, erect, branch- ing stem rises two or three feet in height. The radical leaves are lance- shaped, waved, scoljopped on the edges, sometimes pinnatifid, and stand upon strong footstalks. Those of the stem are much smaller, without foot- stalks, sometimes divided at the edges, sometimes almost entire. The flowers are numerous, white, peduncled, and form thick clusters at the ends of the branches. The calyx has four ovate, deciduous leaves, and the co- rolla an equal number of obovate petals, twice as long as the calyx, and in- serted by narrow claws. The pod is small, elliptical, crowned with the persistent stigma, and divided into two cells, each containing from four to six seeds. The horse-radish is a native of western Europe, growing wild on the sides of ditches and in other moist situations. It is cultivated for culinary pur- poses in most civilized countries, and is said to have become naturalized in some parts of the United States. Its flowers appear in June. The root, which is officinal in its fresh state, is long, tapering, whitish externally, very white within, fleshy, of a strong pungent odour when scraped or bruised, and of a hot, biting, somewhat sweetish taste. Its vir- tues are imparted to water and alcohol. They depend upon a volatile oleaginous principle, which is dissipated by drying; the root becoming at first sweetish, and ultimately insipid and quite inert. Its acrimony is also destroyed by boiling. The volatile oil may be separated by distillation with water. It is pale yellow, heavier than water, very volatile, excessively pungent, acrid, and corrosive, exciting inflammation and even vesication when applied to the skin. Besides this principle, the fresh root contains, according to Gutret, a minute quantity of bitter resin, sugar, extractive, gum, starch, albumen, acetic acid, acetate and sulphate of lime, water, and lignin. (Geiger.) It may be kept for some time without material injury, by being buried in sand in a cool place. Medical Properties and Uses. Horse-radish is highly stimulant, exci- ting the stomach when swallowed, and promoting the secretions, especially that of urine. Externally applied it is a rubefacient. Its chief use is as a condiment to promote appetite, and invigorate digestion; but it is also occa- sionally employed as a medicine, particularly in dropsical complaints attended with an enfeebled condition of the digestive organs, and of the system in general. It has, moreover, been recommended in palsy and chronic rheuma- tism, both as an internal and external remedy; and in scorbutic affections is highly esteemed. CuUen found advantage in cases of hoarseness from the 112 Arnica. part i. use of a syrup prepared from an infusion of horse-radish and sugar, and slowly swallowed in the quantity of one or two teaspoonfuls, repeated as occasion demanded. The root may be given in the dose of half a drachm or more, either grated or cut into small pieces. Off. Prep. Cataplasma Sinapis, Dub.; Infusum Armoraciae, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Spiritus Armoraciae Compositus, Lond., Dub. W. ARNICA. U.S. Secondary. LcoparaVs-ban e. " Arnica montana. Planta. The plant." U.S. Off.Syn. ARNICiE MONTANA FLORES. ARNICJE MON- TANA RADIX. Ed.; ARNICA MONTANA. Flores. Folia. Radix. Dub. Arnique, Fr.; Berg-Wolverly, Gcmeines achtes Fallkraut, Germ.; Arnica montana, Ital., Span. Arnica. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Calyx with equal leaflets, in a double row. Seed-down hairy, sessile. Seeds both of the disc and ray furnished with seed-down. Recepta- cle hairy. Hayne. Arnica montana. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 2106; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 41. t. 17. This is a perennial, he-rbaceous plant, having a woody, brownish, horizontal root, ending abruptly, and sending forth numerous slender fibres of the same colour. The stem is about a foot high, cylindrical, striated, hairy, and terminating in one, two, or three peduncles, each bearing a flower. The radical leaves are ovate, entire, ciliated, and obtuse; those of the stem, which usually consist of two opposite pairs, are lance-shaped. Both are of a bright green colour, and somewhat pubescent on their upper surface. The flowers are very large, and of a fine orange-yellow colour. The calyx is greenish ,imbricated, with lanceolate scales. The ray consists of about fourteen ligulate florets, twice as long as the calyx, striated, three-toothed and hairy at the base; the disc, of tubular florets, with a five-lobed margin. This plant is a native of the mountainous districts of Europe and Siberia, and is found, according to Nuttall, in the northern regions of this continent, west of the Mississippi. It has been introduced into England, and, were there a sufficient demand for it, might no doubt be cultivated in this country; but it is very little used, and in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia has been placed with the medicines not considered strictly officinal. The flowers, leaves, and root have been employed in medicine; but the flowers are usually pre- ferred. Properties. The whole plant, when fresh, has a strong disagreeable odour, which is apt to excite sneezing, and is diminished by desiccation. The taste is acrid, bitterish, and durable. Water extracts its virtues. Chevallier and Lassaigne have discovered in the flowers, gallic acid, gum, albumen, yellow colouring matter, an odorous resin, and a bitter principle which they con- sider identical with that discovered by them in the seeds of the Cytisus La- burnum, and hence named cytisin. This substance is yellow, of a bitter and nauseous taste, deliquescent, readily soluble in water and diluted alcohol, but with difficulty in strong alcohol, and insoluble in ether. In the dose of five grains it is powerfully emetic and cathartic, and is supposed to be the parti. Arnica.—Artemisia Absinthium. 113 active principle of the plant. The flowers are said also to contain a small pro- portion of a blue volatile oil. According to Pfaff, the root contains volatile oil, an acrid resin, extractive, gum, and lignin. Medical Properties and Uses. Leopard's-bane is a stimulant, directed « with peculiar energy to the brain and whole nervous system, as manifested by the headach, spasmodic contractions of the limbs, and difficulty of respi- ration, which result from its use. It acts also as an irritant to the stomach and bowels, often producing an emetic and cathartic effect; and is said by Bergius to be diuretic, diaphoretic, and emmenagogue. It is much used by the Germans, who prescribe the flowers and root with advantage in amau- rosis, paralysis, and other nervous affections. It is said to prove service- able in that disordered condition which succeeds concussion of the brain from falls, blows, &c; and from this circumstance has received the title ot pana- cea lapsorum. It has also been recommended in intermittent fever, dysen- tery, diarrhoea, nephritis, gout, rheumatism, dropsy, chlorosis, and various other complaints, in most of which it seems to have been empyrically pre- scribed. It appears to be peculiarly useful in diseases attended with a debi- litated or typhoid state of the system, to which it is adapted by its stimulant properties. The powdered leaves are sometimes employed as a sternutatory; and the inhabitants of Savoy and the Vosges are said to substitute them for tobacco. The French practitioners occasionally use the flowers of arnica, though much less extensively than the German. In England and the United Slates the medicine is little known. It is best given in substance or infusion. The dose of the powder is from five to ten grains frequently repeated. The infu- sion may be prepared by digesting an ounce in a pint of water, of which from half a fluidounce to a fluidounce may be given every two or three hours. It should always be strained through linen, in order to separate the fine fibres, which might otherwise irritate the throat. The poisonous properties of the plant are said to be best counteracted by the free use of vinegar or other dilute vegetable acid. W. ARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM. Summitates florentes. Dub. Flowering Tops of Wormwood. Off. Syn. ABSINTHIUM. Artemisia Absinthium. Lond.; ARTEMI- SLE ABSINTHII FOLIA. ARTEMISIA ABSINTHII SUMMI- TATES. Ed. Absinthe, Fr.; GemeinerWermuth, Germ.; Assenzio, Ital; Artemisio Axenjo, Span. Artemisia. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle sub-villous or nearly naked. Seed-down none. Calyx imbricate, with roundish, converging scales. Corollas of the ray none. Willd. Several species of Artemisia have enjoyed some reputation as medicines. The leaves of the A. Abrotanum, or southernwood, have but recently been discharged from the Pharmacopoeias. They have a fragrant odour, a warm, bitter and nauseous taste; and were employed as a tonic, deobstruent, and anthelmintic. Similar virtues have been ascribed to the A. Santonica. The A. pontica has been occasionally substituted for common wormwood, but is weaker. The A. vulgaris or mugwort formerly enjoyed considerable reputation as an emmenagogue, and has recently come into some notice, in 114 Artemisia Absinthium. PART I. consequence of the recommendation of its root as a remedy in epilepsy by Dr. Burdach of Germany. For this purpose, it should be collected in au- tumn or early in the spring, and the side roots only dried for use. These should be powdered as they are wanted, the ligneous portion being rejected. The dose is about a drachm, to be administered in some warm vehicle in anticipation of the paroxysm, and to be repeated once or twice, at intervals of half an hour, till perspiration is produced, the patient being confined to bed. In the intervals, it may be given every second day. This is merely the revival of an old practice in Germany. The A. vulgaris of this country is thought by Nuttall to be a distinct species, and may not possess similar properties. In China, moxa is said to be prepared from the leaves of the Artemisia Chinensis, and A. Indie a, which are for this reason ranked among the officinal plants by the Dublin College. (See Moxa.) The medicine known in Europe by the name of wormseed, is probably the product of different species of Artemisia. (See the succeeding article.) But the only species which requires particular description is the A. Absinthium. Artemisia Absinthium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1844; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 54. t. 22. Wormwood is a perennial plant, with herbaceous, branching, round and striated or furrowed stems, which rise two or three feet in height, and are panicled at their summit. The radical leaves are triply pinnalifid, with lanceolate, obtuse, dentate divisions; those of the stem doubly or simply pinnatifid, with lanceolate, somewhat acute divisions; the floral leaves are lanceolate; all are hoary. The flowers are of a brownish-yellow colour, hemispherical, pedicelled, nodding, and in erect racemes. The florets of the disc are numerous, those of the ray few. This plant is a native of Europe, where it is also cultivated for medical use. It is among our garden herbs, and has been naturalized in the moun- tainous districts of New England. The leaves and flowering summits are the parts employed, the larger parts of the stalks being rejected. They should be gathered in July or August, when the plant is in flower. Wormwood has a strong odour, and an intensely bitter, nauseous taste, which it imparts to water and alcohol. A dark green volatile oil, upon which the odour depends, is obtained by distillation. The constituents, according to Braconnot, are a very bitter, and an almost insipid azotized matter, an ex- cessively bitter resinous substance, a green volatile oil, chlorophylle, albumen, starch, saline matters, and lignin. Among the saline substances, Braconnot found a combination of potassa with a peculiar acid, which he denominated absinthic acid. Medical Properties and Uses. Wormwood is highly tonic, and has en- joyed great reputation as a remedy in numerous complaints attended with a debilitated condition of the digestive organs, or of the system geneially. Be- fore the introduction of Peruvian bark, it was much used in the treatment of intermittents. It has also been supposed to possess anthelmintic virtues. At present, however, it is little used in regular practice on this side of the Atlantic. A narcotic property has been ascribed to it by some writers, in consequence of its tendency to occasion headach, and, when long continued, to produce disorder of the nervous system. This property is supposed to depend on the volatile oil, and therefore to be less obvious in the decoction than in the powder or infusion. The herb is sometimes applied externally, by way of fomentation, as an antiseptic and discutient. The dose of worm- wood in substance is from one to two scruples; of the infusion made by macerating an ounce in a pint of boiling water, from one to two fluidounces. Off. Prep. Extractum Artemisiae Absinthii. Dub. W. PART I. Artemisia Santonica. 115 ARTEMISIA SANTONICA. Semina. Dub. Seeds of Tartarian Southernwood. Off. Syn. ARTEMISIA SANTONICiE CACUMINA, Ed. Barbotine, Semencine Fr.; Wurmsame, Germ.; Seme Santo, Ital. Artemisia. See ARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM. The wormseed of Europe are ascribed by the Edinburgh and Dublin Col- leges, without sufficient authority, to the Artemisia Santonica, or Tartarian southernwood. They are of two kinds; one called the Aleppo, Alexandria, or Levant wormseed, the other Barbary wormseed. The former are supposed to be the product of the Artemisia Contra, which grows in Persia, Asia Minor, and other parts of the East. They are in fact not the* seeds, but the small globular unexpanded flowers of the plant, mixed with their broken peduncles, and with minute, obtuse, smooth leaves. They have a greenish colour; a very strong aromatic odour increased by friction, and a very bitter disagreeable taste. The Barbary wormseed are thought by some to be derived from the Arte- misia Judaica, by others from the A. glomerata of Sieber, both of which grow in Palestine and Arabia. They consist of broken peduncles, having the calyx sometimes attached to their extremity. The calyx is also some- times separate, consisting of very small linear obtuse leaflets. The flowers are wanting, or in the shape of minute globular buds. All these parts are covered with a whitish down, which serves to distinguish this variety from the wormseed of the Levant. They are moreover lighter and more coloured than the latter. Their smell and taste are the same. These products contain a volatile oil and a resinous extractive matter, to which their virtues have been ascribed. A peculiar principle has also been discovered in them, which has received the name of santonin. It is crystal- lizable, colourless, tasteless, inodorous, soluble in ether and alcohol, and nearly insoluble in water. It may be obtained by treating wormseed with hydrate of lime and alcohol, evaporating the tincture to one-quarter, filtering the residue to separate the resin, and treating it while hot with concentrated acetic acid. The santonin is deposited in crystals as the liquor cools. In the dose of three or four grains twice a day, it is said to have been found useful as a vermifuge; but the fact is very doubtful. (Journ. de Pharm. xvii. 115, and xx. 44.) Medical Properties and Uses. The products above described have long been celebrated as a vermifuge, and the title of semen contra, by which they are designated in many works on pharmacy, originated in their anthelmintic property. They may be given in powder or infusion. The dose in sub- stance is from ten to thirty grains, which should be repeated morning and evening for several days, and then followed by a brisk cathartic. They are not used in this country, having been superseded by the seeds of the Cheno- podium anthelminlicum, which are universally known among us by the name of wormseed. "W. 116 Arum. PART i. ARUM. U.S. Secondary. Dragon-root. " Arum triphyllum. Radix. The root." U.S. Arum. Sex. Syst. Monopcia Polyandria.—Nat. Ord. Aroideae. Gen. Ch. Spathe one-leafed, cowled. Spadix naked above, female below, stamineous in the middle. Willd. The root of the Arum maculatum is occasionally used as a medicine in Europe, and held a place in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia previously to the last edition. Its medicinal properties are so precisely those of the A. triphyllum of this country, that the substitution of the latter in our Pharmacopoeia was a matter of obvious propriety, independently of the consideration that the root is efficient only in the recent state. Arum triphyllum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 480; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 52. The dragon-root, Indian turnip, or ivake-robin, as this plant is vari- ously called in common language, has a perennial tuberous root, which, early in the spring, sends up a large, ovate, acuminate, variously coloured spathe, convoluted at bottom, flattened and bent over at lop like a hood, and sup- ported by an erect, round, green or purplish scape. Within the spathe is a club-shaped spadix, green, purple, black, or variegated, rounded at the end, and contracted near the base, where it is surrounded by the stamens or germs in the dioecious plants, and by both in the monoecious, the female organs being below the male. The spathe and upper portion of the spadix gra- dually decay, while the germs are converted into a compact bunch of shining, scarlet berries. The leaves, which are usually one or two in number, and stand on long sheathing footstalks, are composed of three ovate acuminate leaflets, paler on their under than their upper surface, and becoming glaucous as the plant advances. There are three varieties of this species of Arum, distinguished by the colour of the spathe, which in one is green, in another dark purple, and in a third white. The plant is a native of North and South America, and is common in all parts of the United States, growing in damp woods, in swamps, along ditches, and in other moist shady places. All parts of it are highly acrid, but the root only is officinal. This is roundish, flattened, an inch or two in diameter, covered with a brown, loose, wrinkled epidermis, and internally white, fleshy, and solid. In the recent state, it has a peculiar odour, and is violently acrid, producing, when chewed, an insupportable burning and biting sensation in the mouth and throat, which continues for a long time, and leaves an unpleasant sore- ness behind. According to Dr. Bigelow, its action does not readily extend through the cuticle, as the bruised root may lie upon the skin till it becomes dry, without producing pain or redness. The acrid principle is extremely volatile, and is entirely driven off'by heat. It is not imparted to water, alco- hol, ether, or olive oil. By exposing the bruised root and stalks to a boiling heat under water, Dr. Bigelow obtained small quantities of an inflammable gas. The root loses nearly all its acrimony by drying, and in a short time becomes quite inert. It contains a large proportion of starch, which may be obtained from it as white and delicate as from the potato. In Europe, the dried root of the A. maculatum is said sometimes to be employed by the country people, in times of great scarcity, as a substitute for bread. For medicinal use, the Indian turnip may be preserved fresh for a year, if buried in sand. (Thatcher.) PART I. Arum.—Asarum. 117 Medical Properties and Uses. Arum in its recent state is a powerful local irritant, possessing the property of stimulating the secretions, particu- larly those of the skin and lungs. It has been advantageously given in asthma, pertussis, chronic catarrh, chronic rheumatism, and various affec- tions connected with a cachectic state of the system. As immediately taken from the ground, it is too acrid for use. The recently dried root, which retains a portion of the acrimony, but not sufficient to prevent its convenient administration, is usually preferred. It may be given in the dose of ten grains, mixed with gum arabic, sugar, and water, in the form of emulsion, repeated two or three times a day, and gradually increased to half a drachm or more. The powder made into a paste with honey or syrup, and placed in small quantities upon the tongue, so as to be gradually diffused over the mouth and throat, is said to have proved useful in the aphthous sore-mouth of children. W. ASARUM. Lond. Asarabacca. " Asarum Europseum. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. ASARI EUROPiEI FOLIA. Ed.; ASARUM EURO- PIUM. FOLIA. Dub. Asaret, Cabaret, Fr.; Haselwurzel, Germ.; Asaro, Ital, Span. Asarum. Sex. Syst. Dodecandria Monogynia.—Nut. Ord. Aristolo- chiae. Gen. Ch. Calyx three or four-cleft, sitting on the germen. Corolla none. Capside coriaceous, crowned. Willd. Asarum Europaeum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 838; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 170. t. 66. The asarabacca has a perennial root, with a very short, round, simple, herbaceous, pubescent stem, which in general supports only two leaves and one flower. The leaves, which are opposite and stand on long footstalks, are kidney-shaped, entire, somewhat hairy, and of a shining deep green colour. The flower is large, of a dusky purple colour, and placed upon a short terminal peduncle. The calyx, which supplies the place of a corolla, is bell-shaped, greenish at the base, and divided at the mouth into three pointed purplish segments, which are erect, aud turned inwards at their extremity. The filaments are twelve, and prolonged beyond the anthers into a small hook. The style is surmounted by a six-parted reddish stigma. The fruit is a six-celled coriaceous capsule, crowned with the per- sistent calyx. This species of Asarum is a native of Europe, growing between 37° and 60° N. latitude, in woods and shady places, and flowering in May. All parts of the plant are acrid. The root and leaves are officinal on the conti- nent of Europe; the leaves only in Great Britain. The root is about as thick as a goose-quill, of a grayish colour, quadrangular, knotted and twisted, and sometimes furnished with radicles at each joint. It has a smell analo- gous to that of pepper, an acrid taste, and affords a grayish powder. The leaves are nearly inodorous, with a taste slightly aromatic, bitter, acrid, and nauseous. Their powder is yellowish-green. Both parts rapidly lose their activity by keeping, and ultimately become inert. Geiger, however, asserts that they keep well if perfectly dry. Their virtues are imparted to alcohol 118 Asarum. PART I. and water, but are dissipated by decoction. According to MM. Feneulle and Lassaigne, the root contains a concrete volatile oil, a very acrid fixed oil, a yellow substance analogous to cytisin, starch, albumen, mucilage, citric acid, and saline matters. Medical Properties and Uses. The root and leaves of asarabacca, either fresh or carefully dried, are powerfully emetic and cathartic, and were for- merly much used in Europe with a view to these effects. The dose is from thirty grains to a drachm. But as an emetic they have been entirely super- seded by ipecacuanha, and are now used chiefly, if not exclusively, as an errhine. The powdered root, snuffed up the nostrils in the quantity of one or two grains, produces much irritation, and a copious flow of mucus which is said to continue sometimes for several days. The leaves are milder and generally preferred. They should be used in the quantity of three or four grains, repeated every night until the desired effect is experienced. They have been strongly recommended in headach, chronic ophthalmia, and rheu- matic and paralytic affections of the face, mouth, and throat. Off. Prep. Pulvis Asari Compositus, Ed., Dub. W. ASARUM. U. S. Secondary. Canada Snakeroot. Wild Ginger. " Asarum Canadense. Radix. The root." U. S. Asarcm. See ASARUM. Asarum Canadense. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 838; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 149; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 85. This species of Asarum very closely resembles the A. Europaeum, or asarabacca, in appearance and botanical cha- racter. It has a long, creeping, jointed, fleshy, yellowish root, furnished with radicles of a similar colour. The stem is very short, dividing before it emerges from the ground, into two long round hairy leaf-stalks, each of which bears a broad kidney-shaped leaf, pubescent on both surfaces, of a rich shining light green above, veined and pale or bluish beneath. A single flower stands in the fork of the stem, upon a hairy pendulous peduncle. The flower is often concealed by the loose soil or decayed vegetable matter; so that the leaves with their petioles are the only parts that appear above the surface of the ground. There is no corolla. The calyx is very woolly, and divided into three broad concave acuminate segments, with the ends reflexed, of a deep brownish-purple colour on the inside, and of a dull purple inclining to greenish externally. The filaments, which are twelve in number, and of unequal length, stand upon the germ, and rise with a slender point above the anthers attached to them. Near the divisions of the calyx, are three fila- mentous bodies, which may be considered as nectaries. The pistil consists of a somewhat hexagonal germ, and a conical grooved style, surmounted by six revolute stigmas. The capsule is six-celled, coriaceous, and crowned with the adhering calyx. The Canada snakeroot, or wild ginger, is an indigenous plant, inhabiting woods and shady places from Canada to Carolina. Its flowering period is from April to July. All parts of the plant have a grateful aromatic odour, which is most powerful in the root. This is the officinal portion. As we have seen it in the shops, it is in long, more or less contorted pieces, of a thickness from that of a straw to that of a goose-quill, brownish parti. Asclepias Incarnata.—Asclepias Syriaca. 119 and wrinkled externally, whitish within, hard and brittle, and frequently fur- nished with short fibres. Its taste is agreeably aromatic and slightly bitter, said to be intermediate between that of ginger and serpentaria, but in our opinion bearing a closer resemblance to that of cardamom. The taste of the petioles, which usually accompany the root, is more bitter and less aromatic. Among its constituents, according to Dr. Bigelow, are a light coloured, pungent, and fragrant essential oil, a reddish bitter resinous matter, starch, and gum; in addition to which Mr. Rushton found fatty matter, chlorophylle, and salts of potassa, lime, and iron. It imparts its virtues to alcohol, and less perfectly to water. Medical Properties and Uses. The root is an aromatic stimulant tonic, with diaphoretic properties, applicable to similar cases with the serpentaria, which it resembles in its effects. It is said to be sometimes used by the country people as a substitute for ginger. From the close botanical analogy of the plant with the European Asarum, it might be supposed, like that, to possess emetic and cathartic properties; but such does not appear to be the case, at least with the dried root. It would form an elegant adjuvant to tonic infusions and decoctions. It may be given in powder or tincture. The dose in substance is twenty or thirty grains. W. ASCLEPIAS INCARNATA. U.S. Secondary. Flesh-coloured Asclepias. " Asclepias incarnata. Radix. The root." U. S. Asclepias. See ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA. Asclepias incarnata. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1267. This species has an erect downy stem, branched above, two or three feet high, and furnished with opposite, nearly sessile, lanceolate, somewhat downy leaves. The flowers are red, sweet-scented, and disposed in numerous crowded erect umbels, which are generally in pairs. The nectary is entire, with its horn exserted. In one variety the flowers are white. The plant grows in all-parts of the United States, preferring a wet soil, and flowering from June to August. Upon being wounded it emits a milky juice. The root is the officinal portion. Its properties are probably simi- lar to those of the A. Syriaca; but they have not, so far as we know, been fully tested. Dr. Griffith states that it has been employed by several physi- cians, who speak of it as a useful emetic and cathartic. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm, iv. 283.) W. ASCLEPIAS SYRIACA. U.S. Secondary. Common Silk-weed. " Asclepias Syriaca. Radix. The root." U. S. Asclepias. See ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA. A. Syriaca. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1265. Thesilk-weed has simple stems, from three to five feet high, with opposite, lanceolate-oblong, petiolate 120 Asclepias Syriaca.—Asclepias Tuberosa. part i. leaves, downy on their under surface. The flowers are large, of a pale pur- pie colour, sweet-scented, and arranged in nodding umbels, which are two or three in number. The nectary is bidentate. The pod or follicle is co- vered with sharp prickles, and contains a large quantity of silky seed-down, which has been sometimes used as a substitute for fur in the manufacture of hats, and for feathers in beds and pillows. This species of Asclepias is very common in the United States, growing in sandy fields, on the road-sides, and on the banks of streams from New England to Virginia. It flowers in July and August. Like the preceding species, it gives out a white juice when wounded, and has hence received the name of milk-weed, by which it is frequently called. Dr. Richardson of Massachusetts found the root possessed of anodyne properties. He gave it with advantage to an asthmatic patient, and in a case of typhus fever attended with catarrh. In both instances it appeared to pro- mote expectoration, and to relieve pain, cough and dyspnoea. He gave a drachm of the powdered bark of the root, in divided doses, during the day; and employed it also in strong infusion. W. ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA. U. S. Secondary. Butterfy-weed. " Asclepias tuberosa. Radix. The root." U. S. Asclepias. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Asclepiadeae. Gen. Ch. Calyx small, five-parted. Corolla rotate, five-parted, mostly reflexed. Staminal crown (or nectary) simple, five-leaved; leaflets oppo- site the anthers, with a subulate averted process at the base. Stigmas with the five angles (corpuscles) opening by longitudinal chinks. Pollinia five distinct pairs. Torrey. Asclepias tuberosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1273; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 59; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 239. The root of the butterfly-weed or pleu- risy-root is perennial, and gives origin to numerous stems, which are erect, ascending or procumbent, round, hairy, of a green or reddish colour, branching at the top, and about three feet in height. The leaves are scat- tered, oblong-lanceolate, very hairy, of a deep rich green colour on their upper surface, paler beneath, and supported usually on short footstalks. They differ, however, somewhat in shape according to the variety of the plant. In the variety with decumbent stems, they are almost linear, and in another variety cordate. The flowers are of a beautiful reddish-orange colour, and disposed in terminal or lateral corymbose umbels. The fruit is an erect lanceolate follicle, with flat ovate seeds connected to a longitudinal receptacle by long silky hairs. This plant differs from other species of Asclepias in not emitting a milky juice when wounded. It is indigenous, growing throughout the United States from Massachusetts to Georgia, and when in full bloom in the months of June and July, exhibiting a splendid appearance. It is most abundant in the Southern States. The root is the only part used in medicine. This is large, irregularly tuberous, branching, often somewhat fusiform, fleshy, externally brown, internally white and striated, and in the recent state of a sub-acrid nauseous taste. When dried it is easily pulverized, and part i. Asclepias Tuberosa,—Assafoetida, 121 has a bitter but not otherwise unpleasant taste. It yields its virtues readily to boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. The root of the Asclepias tuberosa is diaphoretic and expectorant, without being stimulant. In large doses it is often also cathartic. In the Southern States it has long been employed by regular practitioners in catarrh, pneumonia, pleurisy, consumption, and other pectoral affections; and appears to be decidedly useful if applied in the early stages, or, after sufficient depletion, when the complaint is already formed. Its popular name of pleurisy-root expresses the estimation in which it is held as a remedy in this disease. It has also been used advantageously in acute rheumatism, and might probably prove beneficial in our autumnal remittents. Dr. Eberle found it highly useful in dysentery. (Eberle's Practice, i. 216.) Much testimony might be advanced in proof of its pos- sessing very considerable diaphoretic powers. It is said also to be gently tonic, and has been popularly employed in pains of the stomach arising from flatulence and indigestion. From twenty grains to a drachm of the root in powder maybe given seve- ral times a day; but as a diaphoretic it is best administered in decoction or infusion, made in the proportion of an ounce to the quart of water, and given in the dose of a teacupful every two or three hours till it operates. W. ASSAFOETIDA. U.S., Lond. Assafetida. "Ferula assafoetida. Succus radicis concretus. The concrete juice of the root." U. S. " Ferula Assafoetida. Gummi-resina." Lond. Off. Syn. FERULA ASSjEFCETID^ GUMMI-RESINA. Ed.; ASSAFCETIDA. FERULA ASSAF(ETIDA. Gummi Resina. Dub. Assafetida, Fr.; Stinkasant ,Teufelsdrcck, Germ.; Assafetida, Ital; Asafetida, Span.; Ungoozeh, Persian; Hilteet, Arab. Ferula. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit oval, compressed plane, with three streaks on each side. Willd. Ferula Assafoetida. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1413; Kcempfer, Amoenitat. Exotic. 535. t. 536. The following description of the plant which yields assafetida is derived from that by Kcempfer who wrote from actual observa- tion. The root is perennial, fleshy, tapering, when of full size as large as a man's leg, beset with many strong fibres near the top, externally blackish, internally white, and abounding in an excessively fetid, opaque, milky juice. The leaves, all of which spring immediately from the root, are six or seven in number, nearly two feet long, bipinnate, with the leaflets alternate, smooth, -variously sinuated and lobed, sometimes lanceolate, of a deep green colour and fetid smell. From the midst of the leaves rises a luxuriant, herbaceous atem, from six to nine feet in height, two inches in diameter at the base, simple, erect, round, smooth, striated, and terminating in large plano-convex umbels with numerous radii. The flowers are pale yellow; the seeds oval, flat, foliaceous, and of a reddish-brown colour. The plant is said to differ greatly both in the shape of its leaves, and the character of its fetid product, according to the situation and soil in which it grows. It is a native of Persia and perhaps other countries of the East; and flourishes most abundantly in the mountainous provinces of Laar and Cho- 12 122 Assafoetida. part i. rassan, where its juice is collected. Bums, in his travels into Bokhara, states that the plant is eaten with relish by the people, and that sheep crop it greedily. Some suppose that other species of Ferula contribute to the production of the assafetida of commerce. The oldest plants are most productive, and those under four years old are not considered worth cutting. At the season when the leaves begin to fade, the earth is removed from about the top of the root, and the leaves and stem being twisted off near their base, are thrown with other vegetable matters over the root, in order to protect it from the sun. After some time the sum- mit of the root is cut off transversely, and the juice which exudes having been scraped off, another thin slice is removed, in order to present a fresh surface for exudation. This process is repeated at intervals till the root ceases to afford juice, and perishes. During the whole period of collection, which occupies nearly six weeks, the solar heat is as much as possible excluded. The juice collected from numerous plants is put together, and allowed to harden in the sun. Assafetida is brought to this country either from India, whither it is con- veyed from Bushire, or by the route of Great Britain. It usually comes in mats or cases, the former containing eighty or ninety, the latter from two hundred to four hundred pounds. It is sometimes also imported in casks. As found in the shops it is in irregular masses, of a softish consistence when not long exposed, of a yellowish or reddish-brown colour externally, exhibiting when broken an irregular whitish, somewhat shining surface, which soon becomes red on exposure to the air, and ultimately passes into a dull yellowish-brown. This change of colour is characteristic of assafetida; and is ascribed to the influence of air and light upon its resinous ingredient. The masses appear as if composed of distinct portions intermingled and agglutinated together, sometimes of white, almost pearly tears, embedded in a darker, softer, and more fetid paste. Occasionally the tears are brought in a separate state. The odour of assafetida is alliaceous, extremely fetid, and tenacious; the taste, bitter, acrid, and durable. The effect of time and expo- sure is to render it more hard and brittle, and to diminish the intensity of its smell and taste, particularly the former. Kcempfer assures us that one drachm of the fresh juice diffuses a more powerful odour through a close room than one hundred pounds of the drug as usually kept in the stores. Assafetida softens by heat without melting, and is of difficult pulverization. Its sp. gr. is 1.327. (Berzelius.) It is inflammable, burning with a clear, lively flame. It yields all its virtues to alcohol, and forms a clear tincture, which becomes milky on the addition of water. Macerated in water it pro- duces a turbid red solution, and triturated with that fluid gives a white or pink-coloured milky emulsion of considerable permanence. In one hundred parts, Pelletier found 65 parts of resin, 19.44 of gum, 11.66 of bassorin, 3.60 of volatile oil, with traces of supermalate of lime. Brandes, the German chemist, obtained 4.6 parts of volatile oil, 47.25 of a bitter resin soluble in ether, 1.6 of a tasteless resin insoluble in ether, 1.0 of extractive, 19.4 of gum containing traces of potassa and lime united with sulphuric, phosphoric, acetic, and malic acids, 6.4 of bassorin, 6.2 of sulphate of lime, 3.5 of carbonate of lime, 0.4 of oxide of iron and alumina, 0.4 of malate of lime with resin, 6.0 of water, and 4.6 of impurities consisting chiefly of sand and woody fibre. The odoiir of the gum-resin depends on the volatile oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation with water or alcohol. It is lighter than water, colourless when first distilled, but becoming yellow with age, of an exceedingly offensive odour, and of a taste at first flat, but after- PART I. Assafoetida. 123 wards bitter and acrid. It is said to contain a small portion of sulphur. The volatile oil and the bitter resin are the active principles. Medical Properties and Uses. The effects of assafetida on the system are those of a moderate stimulant, powerful antispasmodic, efficient expec- torant, and feeble laxative. As an antispasmodic simply, it is employed in the treatment of hysteria, hypochondriasis, convulsions of various kinds, spasm of the stomach and bowels unconnected with inflammation, and in those numerous irregular nervous disorders which accompany derangement of the different organs, or result from mere debility of the nervous system. From the union of expectorant with antispasmodic powers, it is highly use- ful in spasmodic pectoral affections, such as hooping-cough, asthma, and certain infantile coughs and catarrhs, complicated with disorder of the ner- vous apparatus, or with a dispostion of the system to sink. In these last cases it has been employed with great success by Dr. Jos. Parrish of Phila- delphia.* In catarrhus senilis; the secondary stages of peripneumonia notha, croup, measles, and catarrh; in pulmonary consumption; in fact, in all cases of disease of the chest in which the lungs do not perform their office from want of due nervous energy, and in which inflammation is absent or has been sufficiently subdued, assafetida may occasionally be prescribed with advantage. In the form of enema it may be beneficially employed in typhoid diseases attended with inordinate accumulation of air in the bowels, and in other cases of tympanitic abdomen. The same form will be found most convenient in the hysteric paroxysm, and other kinds of convulsion. In most cases its laxative tendency adds to its advantages; but in some instances must be counteracted by theaddition of laudanum. It may often be usefully combined with purgative medicines in constipation of the bowels with flatu- lence. It appears to have been known in the East from very early ages, and not- withstanding its repulsive odour, is at present much used in India and Persia as a condiment. Persons soon habituate themselves to its smell, which they even learn to associate pleasantly with the agreeable effects experienced from its internal use. Children with the hooping-cough sometimes become fond of it; and older persons may be found, without going so far as India, who employ it habitually. The medium dose is ten grains, which may be given in pill or emulsion. (See Mistura Assafostidae.) The tincture is officinal, and is frequently used. When given by injection it should be prepared by trituration with warm water. From half a drachm to two drachms may be administered at once in this way. As assafetida is not apt to affect the brain injuriously, it may be given very freely when not contra-indicated by the existence of inflamma- tory action. Off. Prep. Enema Fcetidum, Dub.; Mistura Assafoetidae, U. S., I^ond., Dub.; Pilulae Assafoetida?, U. S.; Pilulae Assaefietidae Compositae, Ed.; Pilulae Aloes et Assafoetidae, U.S., Ed.; Pilulae Galbani Compositae, Lond.; Spi- ritus Ammonise Fcetidus, Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Assafcetidae, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Castorei Composita, Ed. W. * See a paper by Dr. Parrish in the N. Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. i. p. 24. 124 Aurantii Cortex. PART i. AURANTII CORTEX. U.S. Orange Peel. " Citrus aurantium. Fructus cortex exterior. The outer rind of the fruit." U.S. Off. Syn. AURANTIUM. Citrus Aurantium. Fructus. AURANTII COR- TEX. Citrus vulgaris. Fructus Cortex exterior. AURANTII FLORES. Citrus Aurantium. Flores. AURANTII OLEUM. Oleum e floribus destilla- tum. Lond.; CITRI AURANTII CORTEX. Cortex exterior fructus. CITRI AURANTII SUCCUS. Succus fructus. Ed.; CITRUS AURAN- TIUM. Fructus succus et tunica exterior. Flores. Folia. Dub. Ecorcc d'orange, Fr.; Pomeranzenschalen, Germ.; Scorze del frutto dell'arancio, Ital.; Corteza de naranja, Span. Citrus. Sex. Syst. Polyadelphia Icosandria.—Nat. Ord. Aurantjaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Petals five, oblong. Anthers twenty, the fila- ments united into different parcels. Berry nine-celled. Willd. This very interesting genus is composed of small evergreen trees, with ovate, or oval-lanceolate, and shining leaves, odoriferous flowers, and fruits which usually combine beauty of colour with a fragrant odour and grateful taste. They are all natives of warm climates, and where the winters are severe require the aid of artificial heat. Though the species are not nume- rous, great diversity exists in the character of the fruit; and many varieties, founded upon this circumstance, are noticed by writers. In the splendid work on the natural history of the Citrus by Risso and Poiteau, 169 varie- ties are described under the eight following heads:—1. sweet oranges, 2. bitter and sour oranges, 3. bergamots, 4. limes, 5. shaddocks, 6. lumes, 7. lemons, and 8. citrons. Of these it is difficult to decide which have just claims to the rank of distinct species, and which must be considered merely as varieties. Those employed in medicine may be arranged in two sets, of which the orange, C. Aurantium, and the lemon, C. Medica, are respec- tively the types, the former characterized by a winged, the latter by a naked or nearly naked petiole. The form and character of the fruit which are not entirely constant, serve as the basis of the subdivisions. The C. Decumana, which yields the shaddock, agrees with the C. Aurantium in the form of its petiole; but its fruit is not officinal. Citrus Aurantium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1427; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 523. t. 188. The orange tree grows to the height of about fifteen feet. Its stem is round, very much branched, sometimes even from the base, and covered with a smooth, shining, greenish-brown bark. In the wild state, and before inoculation, it is often furnished with axillary spines. The leaves are ovate, pointed, entire, smooth, and of a shining pale green colour. When held between the eye and the light, they exhibit numerous small trans- parent vesicles, filled with essential oil; and when rubbed between the fin- gers, are highly fragrant. Their footstalks are about an inch long, aud are furnished with wings or lateral appendages. The flowers, which have a delightful odour, are large, white, and attached by short peduncles, singly or in clusters, to the smaller branches. The calyx is saucer-shaped, with pointed teeth. The petals are oblong, concave, white, and beset with nu- merous small glands. 'I he filaments are united at their base in three or more distinct portions, and support yellow anthers. The germen is round- ish, and bears a cylindrical style, which is terminated by a globular stigma. PART I. Auranlii Cortex. 125 The fruit is a spherical berry, often somewhat flattened at its base and apex, rough, of a yellow or orange colour, and divided internally into nine vertical cells, in each of which are from two to four seeds, surrounded by a pulpy matter. The rind of the fruit is double, consisting of a thin exterior layer which abounds in vesicles filled with a fragrant essential oil, and of an inte- rior one which is thick, white, fungous, insipid, and inodorous. There are two varieties of the C. Aurantium, considered by some as distinct spe- cies. They differ only in the character of the fruit, which in one is sweet, in the other sour,and bitterish. The first retains the original botanical title, the second is called Citrus vulgaris by Risso and others. The Seville orange is the product of the latter. This beautiful evergreen, in which the fruit is mingled, in every stage of its growth, with the blossoms and foliage, is one of those productions of the tropics which have been applied to the most numerous purposes both of utility and ornament. A native of China and India, it was introduced into Europe at a very early period, was transplanted to America soon after the first settlement of this continent, and is now found in every civilized country where the climate is favourable to its cultivation. In colder countries, it is one of the most cherished ornaments of the hot-house, though in this situa- tion its beauties are not fully developed, and its fruit does not attain perfec- tion. It flourishes in the most southern portion of our own country, par- ticularly in the neighbourhood of St. Augustine in Florida, whence we annually derive a considerable supply of very fine oranges. The tree also grows in the gardens about New Orleans, but is sometimes destroyed by the frosty winters which are incident to that climate. The fruit is brought to us chiefly from the South of Europe and the West Indies. The Havana oranges have the sweetest and most pleasant flavour. Various parts of the orange-tree are used in medicine. The leaves, which are bitter and aromatic, are employed in some places in the state of infusion as a gently stimulant diaphoretic. The fresh flowers impart to water distilled from them their peculiar fragrance; and the preparation thus obtained is much esteemed in the South of Europe for its antispasmodic virtues. The distilled water of orange-flowers is recognised as officinal by the London and Dublin Colleges. An oil is also obtained from the flowers by distillation, which is called neroli in France, and is much used in perfumery, and in the composition of liqueurs. It is an ingredient of the famous Cologne water. The fruit is applied to several purposes. Small unripe oranges, about the size of a cherry or less, previously dried, and rendered smooth by a turning lathe, are sometimes employed to maintain the discharge from issues. They are preferred to peas on account of their agreeable odour, and by some, are thought to swell less with the moisture; but this is denied by others, and it is asserted that they require to be renewed at the end of twenty-four hours. An essential oil is obtained from them by distillation, known to the French by the name of essence de petit grain, and employed for similar purposes with that of the flowers. The unripe fruit is also among the Dublin offici- nals. All the British Colleges recognise the ripe fruit or its juice. The juice of the Seville orange is sour and bitterish, and forms with water a refreshing and grateful drink in febrile diseases. It is employed for the same purposes with the juice of the lemon, which it resembles in containing citric acid, though in much smaller proportion. The sweet orange is much more pleasant to the taste, and is very extensively used as a light refrigerant article of diet in inflammatory diseases, care be- ing taken to reject the membranous portion, and to swallow only the pulp. The rind of the mature fruit is the only part directed by the U. S. 126 Aurantii Cortex.—Avenae Farina. part i. Pharmacopoeia. The outer portion is that considered officinal, as the inner is wholly destitute of useful properties, and by its affinity for moisture pro- duces a disposition in the peel to become mouldy. The best mode of sepa- rating the outer rind, when its desiccation and preservation are desired, is to pare it from the orange in narrow strips with a sharp knife, exactly as we pare an apple. When the object is to apply the fresh rind to certain phar- maceutic purposes, as, for instance, to the preparation of the confection of orange peel, it is best separated by a grater. The dried peel, sold in our drug stores, is usually that of the Seville orange, and is chiefly brought from the Mediterranean. Properties. Orange peel has a grateful aromatic odour, and a warm bitter taste, which depend upon the essential oil contained in its vesicles. The rind of the Seville orange is much more bitter than that of the other variety. Both yield their sensible properties to water and alcohol. The essential oil may be obtained by simple expression from the fresh grated rind. It has properties closely resembling those of the oil of lemons, and may be used for similar purposes. Medical Properties and Uses. Orange peel is a mild tonic, carminative, and stomachic, but is seldom used alone. It is chiefly employed to commu- nicate a pleasant flavour to other medicines, to correct their nauseating pro- perties, and to assist their stimulant impression upon the stomach. It is a frequent and very useful addition to bitter infusions and decoctions, as those of gentian, quassia, columbo, and especially Peruvian bark. It is obviously improper to subject orange peel to long boiling, as the essential oil on which its virtues chiefly depend is thus driven off. The dose in substance is from half a drachm to a drachm three times a day. Large quantities are some- times productive of mischief, especially in children, in whom violent colic and even convulsions are sometimes induced by it. We have known the case of a child, in which death resulted from eating the rind of an orange. When the object in the use of orange peel is simply to obtain its agree- able flavour, the rind of the sweet orange is preferable; as a tonic, that of the Seville orange. Off. Prep. Aqua Aurantii Corticis, U.S., Ed.; Aqua Florum Aurantii, Lond.; Confectio Aurantii Corticis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Infusura Aurantii Compositum, Lond.; Syrupus Aurantii Corticis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. AVENGE FARINA. U.S. Oatmeal. " Avena saliva. Farina. The meal." U.S. Off. Syn. AVENA. Avena sativa. Semina integumentis nudata. Lond.; AVENiE SATIV^E SEMINA. Semina decorticata. AVENGE SATI- VJE FARINA. Ex seminibus. Ed; AVENA SATIVA. Farina ex semi- nibus. Dub. Farine d'avoine, Fr.; Hafermehl, Germ.; Farina delPavena, Ital.; Harina de avena, Span. Avena. Sex. Syst. Triandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Gramineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx two-valved, many-flowered, with a twisted awn on the back. Willd. Avena sativa. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 446. The common oat is so well part i. Avense Farina.—Azedarach. 127 known that a minute description would be superfluous. It is specifically distinguished by its " loose panicle, its two-seeded glumes, and its smooth seeds, one of which is awned." It was known to the ancients, and is now cultivated in all civilized countries; but its original locality has not been satisfactorily ascertained. It grows wild in Sicily, and is said to have been seen by Anson in the Island of Juan Fernandez, on the coast of Chili. This grain, though cultivated chiefly for horses, is very nourishing, and is largely consumed as food by the inhabitants of Scotland, the North of Ireland, Brittany, and some other countries. The seeds deprived of their husk are called groats, and are directed by the British Colleges; but are not officinal on this side of the Atlantic. It is only the meal, prepared by grind- ing the seeds, that is kept in our shops. Oatmeal contains, according to Vogel, in 100 parts, 59 of starch, 4.30 of a grayish substance resembling rather coagulated albumen than gluten, 8.25 of sugar and a bitter principle, 2.50 of gum, 2 of fixed oil, and 23.95 of fibrous matter including loss. It has no smell, is very slightly but not un- pleasantly bitter, and yields most of its nutritive matter with facility to boil- ing water. Gruel made with oatmeal affords a nutritious, bland, and easily digested aliment, admirably adapted to inflammatory diseases; and from its somewhat laxative tendency, preferable in certain cases to the purely mucilaginous or amylaceous preparations. It is very often administered after brisk cathar- tics, in order to render them easier and at the same time more efficient in their action. It is sometimes also used in the form of enema, and the meal boiled with water into a thick paste, forms an excellent emollient cataplasm. Oatmeal gruel may be prepared by boiling an ounce of the meal with three pints of water to a quart, straining the decoction, allowing it to stand till it cools, and then pouring off the clear liquor from the sediment. Sugar and lemon-juice may be added to improve iis flavour; and raisins are not unfre- quently boiled with the meal and water for the same purpose. Off. Prep. Pulvis pro Cataplasmate, Dub. W. AZEDARACH. U.S. Secondary. Azedarach. " Melia azedarach. Radicis cortex. The bark of the root." U. S. Melia. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Meliacea?. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-toothed. Petals five. Nectary cylindrical, toothed, bearing the anthers in the throat. Drupe with a five-celled nut. Willd. Melia Azedarach. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 558; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. iii. 4. This is a beautiful tree, rising thirty or forty feet in height, with a trunk fifteen or twenty inches in diameter. When standing alone, it attains less elevation, and spreads itself out into a capacious summit. Its leaves are large, and doubly pinnate, consisting of smooth, acuminate, denticulate, dark green leaflets, which are disposed in pairs with an odd one at the end. The flowers, which are of a lilac colour and delightfully fragrant, are disposed in beautiful axillary clusters near the extremities of the branches. The fruit is a round drupe, which, when ripe, is about as large as a cherry, and of a yel- lowish colour. This species of Melia is variously called pride of India, pride of China, and common bead tree. It is a native of Syria, Persia, and the North of 128 Azedarach.—Baryta. part i. India, and is cultivated for ornamental purposes in various parts of the eastern and western continents. It is abundant in our Southern States, where it lines the streets of cities, and adorns the environs of dwellings, and in some places has become naturalized. North of Virginia it does not flourish, though small trees may sometimes be seen in sheltered situations. Its flowers appear early in the spring. The fruit is sweetish to the taste, and, though said by some to be poisonous, is eaten by children at the South withput in- convenience, and is even reputed to be powerfully vermifuge. But the bark of the root is the part chiefly employed. It is preferred in the recent stale, and is therefore scarcely 10 be found in the shops at the North. It has a bitter, nauseous taste, and yields its virtues to boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. This bark is cathartic and emetic, and in large doses is said to produce narcotic effects similar to those of Spigelia, especially if gathered at the season when the sap is mounting. It is con- sidered iu the Southern States an efficient anthelmintic, and appears to en- joy, in some places, an equal degree of confidence with the pink-root. It is thought also to be useful in those infantile remittents which resemble ver- minose fevers, without being dependent on the presence of worms. The form of decoction is usually preferred. A quart of water is boiled with four ounces of the fresh bark to a pint, of which the dose for a child is half a fluidounce every two or three hours, till it affects the stomach or bowels. Another plan is to give a dose morning and evening for several successive days, and then to administer an active cathartic. W. BARYTA. Baryta. Baryte, Fr.; Baryt, Baryterde, Schwererde, Germ.; Barite, Ital; Barito, Tierra pe- Bada, Span. This earth is not used in medicine in its uncombined state; but as several of its salts are officinal, a short notice of it may be proper. Baryta exists in nature almost exclusively as a carbonate and sulphate. It may be obtained from the carbonate by intense ignition with carbonaceous matter, whereby the carbonic acid is decomposed and dissipated; and from the sulphate, by ignition with charcoal which converts it into a sulphuret, subsequent solution in nitric acid, and strong ignition of the nitrate formed to dissipate the acid. Baryta, obtained by either of these processes, is anhydrous, and of a grayish-white colour. It is very refractory, requiring the flame of the com- pound blow-pipe for fusion. When sprinkled with water it becomes hot, and, after the lapse of some time, is reduced to the state of a fine white pow- der. By the addition of more water it becomes a hard, crystalline mass. In close vessels it dissolves in boiling water, forming the test called barytic water; and the solution thus obtained will yield, by proper concentration, crystals of baryta, containing a large quantity of water of crystallization. Hydrate of baryta has an acrid, caustic, alkaline taste. It acts on the animal economy as a poison. Its sp. gr. is about 4. Exposed to a high temperature, it melts in its water of crystallization, then becomes dry, and remains in the form of powder. At a still higher temperature, it under- goes the igneous fusion and flows like oil. In this state, if poured out on a part i. Baryta.—Baryta Carbonas.—Barytas Sulphas. 129 cold surface, it forms a solid of a crystalline aspect, which still retains one equivalent of water. Baryta is the protoxide of a metal called barium, and consists of one equi- valent of barium 68.7, and one equiv. of oxygen 8=76.7. The only preparation of baryta used in medicine is the muriate, to obtain which either the native carbonate or native sulphate may be employed. These minerals are noticed in the two succeeding articles. B. BARYTiE CARBONAS. U. S., Lond. Carbonate of Baryta. Off. Syn. CARBONAS BARYTiE. Ed. Carbonate de baryte, Fr.; Kohlensaurer Baryt, Germ.; Barite carbonata, Ital; Carbo- nato de barito, Span. The officinal carbonate of baryta is the native carbonate, a mineral dis- covered in 1783 at Anglesark in England, by Dr. Withering, in honour of whom it is sometimes called Witherite. It is rather a rare mineral. It is found principally in Sweden, Scotland, and England; but most abundantly in Anglesark, in Lancashire. It has not been met with in the United States. It was, indeed, announced, in Silliman's Journal, vol. ii. as occurring near Lexington, Ky.; but this statement has not been confirmed. It occurs usually in small fibrous masses, but sometimes crystallized. Its sp. gr. varies from 4.2 to 4.4. Generally it is strongly translucent, but sometimes opaque. Its colour is whitish or gray, usually tinged with yellow or green, and occa- sionally with blue, brown, and red. It effervesces with acids, and, before the blowpipe, melts into a while enamel without losing its carbonic acid. It is distinguished from the carbonate of strontia, with which it is most liable to be confounded, by its greater specific gravity, and by the absence of a red- dish flame upon burning alcohol impregnated with its nitric solution. On the animal economy, it acts as a poison. It consists of one equivalent of acid 22.12, and one of base 76.7=98.82. Its only officinal use is to obtain the muriate of baryta. (See Barytae Murias) Off. Prep. Barytae Murias, U.S., Lond., Ed. B. BARYTAE SULPHAS. Dub. Sulphate of Baryta. Off. Syn. SULPHAS BARYTAE. Ed. Ponderous spar, Baroselenite; Sulfate de baryte, Fr.; Schwefelsaurer Baryt, Germ.; Barite solfata, Ital. The native sulphate of baryta is used in pharmacy with the same view as the native carbonate; namely, to obtain the muriate. The U. S. and London Pharmacopoeias direct for this purpose the carbonate of baryta, and the Dublin College the sulphate; while the Edinburgh College retains both, giving a separate formula for the use of each, according to the option of the operator. (See Barytae Murias.) Sulphate of baryta is a heavy mineral, varying in sp. gr. from 4.29 to 4.60. 130 Barytae Sulphas.—Belladonna. part r. It is generally translucent, sometimes transparent or opaque, and commonly of a white colour, either pure, or with shades of yellow, red, blue, or brown. Its primitive form is a right rhombic prism. Before the blowpipe, it strongly decrepitates, and melts into a white enamel, which, in the course of ten or twelve hours, falls to powder. By this treatment, it is partially converted into sulphuret, and, if applied to the tongue, will give a taste like that of putrid eggs, which arises from the formation of sulphuretted hydrogen. It is distinguished from the sulphate of strontia, by being free from the sulphu- retted hydrogen taste after ignition on charcoal; and from the carbonates of baryta and strontia, by not effervescing with dilute nitric acid. This salt, on account of its great insolubility, is not poisonous. It consists of one equivalent of acid 40.1, and one equiv. of baryta 76.7=116.8. Off. Prep. Barytae Murias, Dub. Ed. B. BELLADONNA. U.S., Lond. Deadly Nightshade. " Atropa belladonna. Folia. The leaves." U. S. Off. Syn. ATROPiE BELLADONNiE FOLIA, Ed.; ATROPA BEL- LADONNA. Folia et radix. Dub. Belladone, Fr.; Gemeine Tollkirsche, Wolfskirsche, Germ.; Belladonna, Ital.; Bella- dona, Belladama, Span. Atropa. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Solaneae. Gen. Ch. Corolla bell-shaped. Stamens distant. Berry globular, two- celled. Willd. Atropa Belladonna. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1017; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 230. t. 82. The deadly nightshade is an herbaceous perennial plant, with a thick and fleshy root, from which rise several erect, round, purplish, branching, annual stems, to the height of about three feet. The leaves, which are attached by short footstalks to the stem, are in pairs of unequal size, oval, pointed, entire, of a dusky green colour on their upper surface, and paler beneath. The flowers are large, bell-shaped, pendent, of a dull reddish colour, and are supported upon solitary peduncles, which rise from the axils of the leaves. The fruit is a roundish berry with a longitudinal furrow on each side, at first green, afterwards red, ultimately of a deep purple colour, bearing considerable resemblance to the cherry, and containing, in two distinct cells, numerous seeds, and a sweetish violet-coloured juice. The calyx adheres to the base of the fruit. The plant is a native of Europe, where it grows in shady places, along walls, and amidst rubbish, flowering in June and July, and ripening its fruit in September. The leaves are the only part directed by the United States, London, and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias; the root also is ordered by the Dublin College. Properties. The dried leaves are of a dull greenish colour, with a very faint nareotic odour, and a sweetish, subacrid, slightly nauseous taste. The root is long, woody, round, from one to several inches in thickness, branched and fibrous, externally when dried of a reddish-brown colour, internally whitish, and having the same taste with the leaves. Both the leaves and root, as well as all other parts of the plant, impart their active properties to water and alcohol. The juice of belladonna was analyzed by Vauquelin, who discovered in it an azotized substaoce, insoluble iu alcohol, soluble in PART I. Belladonna. 131 water, and affording a precipitate with the infusion of galls; and another substance, soluble in alcohol, of a bitter and nauseous taste, and yielding ammonia by destructive distillation. The activity of the plant he considered to reside in the latter. The German chemist, Brandes, obtained more pre- cise results. It appeared from his analysis that the narcotic principle of belladonna was of an alkaline nature; and he supposed it to exist in the plant combined with an excess of malic acid. It was appropriately named atropia. Besides the malate of atropia, Mr. Brandes found in the dried herb two azo- tized principles, a green resin (chlorophylle), wax, gum, starch, albumen, lignin, and various saline ingredients. The alkaline principle was after- wards detected by M. Runge; and the fact of its existence has recently been established beyond question by the experiments of Geiger and Hesse, who obtained it from an extract prepared with the stems and leaves of the plant. It was first, however, procured in a state of purity by Mr. Mein, a German apothecary, who extracted it from the root.* Atropia crystallizes in white, silky prisms; is inodorous and of a bitter taste; dissolves easily in absolute alcohol and ether, but very slightly in water, and more freely in all these liquids hot than cold; melts at a temperature above 212°, and is volatilized unchanged; restores the colour of litmus paper reddened by the acids; forms soluble salts with the sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, and acetic acids; and, in a very dilute solution, produces, when applied to the eye, a speedy and dura- ble dilatation of the pupil. Like the other vegetable alkalies, it consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Medical Properties and Uses. The action of belladonna is that of a powerful narcotic, possessing also diaphoretic and diuretic properties, and somewhat disposed to operate upon the bowels. Orfila infers from his ex- periments, and from known facts, that it has little intensity of local action, but is absorbed, and entering the circulation, exercises its influence upon the nervous system., especially upon the brain. Among the first obvious effects which it produces when taken in the usual dose, and continued for * The following is the process employed by Mein. The roots of plants two or three years old were selected. Of these, reduced to an extremely fine powder, 24 parts were digested, for several days, with 60 parts of alcohol of 86 or 90 per cent. The liquid having been separated by strong expression, the residue was treated anew with an equal quantity of alcohol; and the tinctures, poured together and filtered, were mixed with one part of hydrate of lime, and frequently shaken for twenty-four hours. The copious pre- cipitate which now formed was separated by filtering; and diluted sulphuric acid was added drop by drop to the filtered liquor, till slightly in excess. The sulphate of lime having been separated by a new filtration, the alcoholic liquid was distilled to one-half, then mixed with 6 or 8 parts of pure water, and evaporated with a gentle heat till the whole of the alcohol was driven off. The residual liquid was filtered, cautiously evapo- rated to one-third, and allowed to cool. A concentrated aqueous solution of carbonate of potassa was then gradually added, so long as the liquid continued to be rendered turbid; and the mixture was afterwards suffered to rest some hours. A yellowish resinous sub- stance which opposes the crystallization of the atropia was thus precipitated. From this the liquid was carefully decanted, and a small additional quantity of the solution of the carbonate was dropped into it, till it no longer became turbid. A gelatinous mass now gradually formed, which, at the end of twelve or twenty-four hours, was agitated in order to separate the mother-waters, then thrown upon a filter, and dried by folds of unsized paper. The substance thus obtained, which was atropia in an impure state, was dissolved in five times its weight of alcohol; and the solution, having been filtered, was mixed with six or eight times its bulk of water. The liquor soon became milky, or was rendered so by evaporating the excess of alcohol, and, in the course of twelve or twenty-four hours, deposited the atropia in the form of light yellow crystals, which were rendered entirely pure and colourless by washing with a few drops of water, drying on blotting paper, and again treating with alcohol as before. From twelve ounces of the root, Mein obtained by this process twenty grains of the pure alkali. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 87.) 132 Belladonna. . part i. some time, are dryness and stricture of the fauces and neighbouring parts, with slight uneasiness or giddiness of the head, and more or less dimness of vision. The practitioner should watch for these effects as signs of the activity of the medicine, and should gradually increase the dose till some one of them is experienced in a slight degree, unless the object at which he aims should be previously attained; but so soon as they occur the dose should be diminished, or the use of the narcotic suspended for a time. When taken in too large a quantity, belladonna is capable of producing the most deleterious effects. It is in fact a powerful poison, and many instances are recorded in which it has been accidentally swallowed or purposely ad- ministered with fatal consequences. All parts of the plant are poisonous. It is not uncommon, in countries where the belladonna grows wild, for children to pick and eat the berries, allured by their fine colour and sweet taste. Soon after the poison has been swallowed, its peculiar influence is experienced in dryness of the mouth and fauces, great thirst, difficult deglu- tition, nausea and ineffectual retching, vertigo, intoxication or delirium, attended with violent gestures, and sometimes with fits of laughter, and fol- lowed by a comatose state. The pupil is dilated and insensible to light, the face red and tumid, the mouth and jaws spasmodically affected, the stomach and bowels insusceptible of impressions, in fact the whole nervous system prostrate and paralyzed. A feeble pulse, cold extremities, subsultus tendi- num, deep coma or delirium, and sometimes convulsions, precede the fatal termination. Dissection discloses appearances of inflammation in the sto- mach and intestines; and it is said that the body soon begins to putrefy, swells, and becomes covered with livid spots, while dark blood flows from the mouth, nose, and ears. To obviate the poisonous effects of belladonna, the most effectual method is to evacuate the stomach as speedily as possible, either by means of emetics, or the stomach-pump, and afterwards to cleanse the bowels by purgatives and enemata. It is not probable that vinegar, which has been recommended, can be of any essential service as an antidote. The infusion of galls might possibly be useful, and, if the experiments of VI. Runge can be relied on, lime-water or the alkaline solutions would render the poisonous matter which remained in the stomach inert. Notwithstanding the tremendous energy of this narcotic when taken in very large doses, it has been used as a medicine, even from very early times. The leaves were first employed externally to discuss scirrhous tumours, and heal cancerous and other ill-conditioned ulcers; and were afterwards administered internally for the same purpose. Much evidence of their bene- ficial influence in these affections is on record, and even Dr.'Cullen has spoken in their favour; but this application of the remedy has fallen into disuse. It is at present more esteemed in nervous diseases. The German practitioners are much in the habit of using it in hooping-cough, in the advanced stages of which it is undoubtedly sometimes beneficial. In neu- ralgia it is one of the most effectual remedies in our possession; and we ourselves can bear testimony to its usefulness in this complaint. Hufeland recommends it in the convulsions dependent on scrofulous irritation. It has been prescribed also in chorea, epilepsy, hydrophobia, mania, paralysis, amaurosis, rheumatism, gout, obstinate intermittents, dropsy, and jaundice; and in such of these affections as have their seat chiefly in the nervous sys- tem, it may sometimes do good. It is said to have been effectually employed in several cases of strangulated hernia. In Germany it has within a few years acquired great credit as a preventive or scarlatina—an application of the remedy first suggested by the famous author of the homoeopathic doc- part t. Belladonna.—Benzoinum. 133 trine,* and founded upon the idea, that, as the symptoms produced by scar- latina in the nervous system closely resemble those which result from large doses of belladonna, the former might be prevented, or at least moderated, by establishing the latter, as small-pox is prevented by vaccination, or ren- dered milder if the system has already come partially under its influence. Applied to the eye, belladonna has the property of dilating the pupil ex- ceedingly, and for this purpose is sometimes employed by European oculists previously to the operation for cataract. In cases of partial opacity of the crystalline lens, confined to the centre of that body, vision is temporarily improved by a similar use of the remedy, and it may also perhaps be bene- ficially used, when, from inflammation of the iris, there is danger of a per- manent closure of the pupil. For these purposes, a strong infusion of the plant, or a solution of the extract, may be dropped into the eye, or a little of the extract itself rubbed upon the eyelids. The same application of the remedy has been recommended in cases of morbid sensibility of the eye. The decoction or extract of belladonna applied to the neck of the uterus, is asserted to have hastened tedious labour dependent on rigidity of the os tineas. The inhalation of the vapour from a decoction of the leaves or extract has been highly recommended in spasmodic asthma. For this pur- pose, two drachms of the leaves, or fifteen grains of the aqueous extract are employed to the pint of water. Belladonna may be given in substance, infusion, or extract. The dose of the powdered leaves is for children from the eighth to the fourth of a grain, for adults one or two grains, repeated daily, or twice a day, and gradually increased till the peculiar effects of the medicine are experienced. An infu- sion may be prepared by adding a scruple of the dried leaves to ten fluid- ounces of boiling water, of which from one to two fluidounces is the dose for an adult. The extract is more used in the United States than any other preparation. (See Extractnm Belladonnse.) Off. Prep. Extractum Belladonnae, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. BENZOINUM. U.S.,Lond. Benzoin. " Styrax benzoin. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. " Styrax Benzoin. Balsamum." Lond. Off. Syn. STYRAC1S BENZOINI BALSAMUM, Ed.; STYRAX BENZOIN. Resina. Dub. Benjoin, Fr.; Bcnzoe, Germ; Belzoino, Ital.; Benjui, Span. The botanical source of benzoin was long uncertain. At one time it was generally supposed in Europe to be derived from the Laurus Benzoin of this country. This'error was corrected by Linnaeus, who, however, com- mitted another, in ascribing the drug to the Croton Benzoe, a shrub which he afterwards described under the name of Terminalia Benzoin. Mr. Dry- ander was the first who ascertained the true benzoin tree to be a Styrax; and his description, published in the 77th vol. of the English Philosoph. Transact., has been copied by most subsequent writers. The specimen by which Mr. Dryander decided the generic character, was obtained by Sir Jos. Banks from Mr. Marsden at Sumatra. * Hahnemann of Leipsick. 13 134 Benzoinum. part i. Styrax. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—yat. Ord. Guaiacinae, Juss.; Styraceae, Richard, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx inferior. Corolla funnel-shaped. Drupe two-seeded Willd. Styrax Benzoin. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 623; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. '294. t. 102. This is a tall tree of quick growth, sending off many strong round branches, covered with a whitish downy bark. Its leaves are alternate, entire, oblong, pointed, smooth above and downy beneath. The flowers are in com- pound, axillary clusters, nearly as long as the leaves, and usually hang all on the same side upon short slender pedicels. The benzoin, or benjamin tree as it is sometimes called, is a native of Sumatra, Java, Laos, and Siam. (Ainslie.) By wounding the bark near the origin of the lower branches, a juice exudes, which hardens upon exposure, and constitutes the benzoin of commerce. A tree is thought of a proper age to be wounded at six years, when its trunk is about seven or eight inches in diameter. The operation is performed annually, and the product on each occasion from one tree never exceeds three pounds. The juice which first flows is the purest, and affords the whitest and most fragrant benzoin. It is exported chiefly from Acheen in Sumatra, and comes into the western markets in large masses packed in chests and casks, and presenting exter- nally the impression of the reed mats in which they were originally con- tained. Two kinds of benzoin are distinguishable in the market, one consisting chiefly of whitish tears united by a reddish brown connecting medium, the other of brown or blackish masses, without tears. The first is the most va- luable, and has been called benzoe amygdaloides, from the resemblance of the white grains to fragments of blanched almonds: the second is sometimes called benzoe in sortis—benzoin in sorts—and usually contains numerous impurities. Between these two kinds there is every gradation. We have seen specimens of this balsam consisting exclusively of yellowish-white ho- mogeneous fragments, which, when broken, presented a perfectly smooth, clear white, shining surface. These were no doubt identical in constitution with the tears of the larger masses. Properties. Benzoin has an agreeable and fragrant odour, with very little taste; but when chewed for some time, leaves a sense of irritation in the mouth and fauces. It breaks with a resinous fracture, and presents a mot- tled surface of white and brown or reddish-brown; the white spots being smooth and shining, while the remainder, though sometimes shining and even translucent, is usually more or less rough and porous, and often exhibits impurities. In the inferior kinds, the white spots are very few or entirely wanting. Benzoin is easily pulverized, and while in the process of being pow- dered is apt to excite sneezing. Its sp. gr. is from 1.063 to 1.092. When heated, it melts and emits thick, white, pungent fumes, which excite cough when inhaled, and consist chiefly of benzoic acid. It is wholly soluble, with the exception of impurities, in alcohol; and is precipitated by water from the solution, rendering the liquor milky like the gum-resins. It imparts to boiling-water a notable proportion of benzoic acid. Lime-water and the alkaline solutions partially dissolve it, forming benzoates, from which the acid may be precipitated by the addition of another, having stronger affinity for the base. Its chief constituents are resin and benzoic acid; and it there- fore belongs to the balsams. The white tears, and the brownish connecting medium, are said by Stolze to contain very nearly the same proportion of acid, which, according to Bucholz, is 12.5 per cent., to Stolze 19.8 per cent. The resin is of three different kinds, one extracted from the balsam along part i. Benzoinum.—Bergamii Oleum. 135 with the benzoic acid by a boiling solution of carbonate of potassa in excess, another dissolved by ether from the residue, and the third affected by neither of these solvents. Besides benzoic acid and resin, the balsam contains a mi- nute proportion of extractive, and traces of volatile oil. Medical Properties and Uses. Benzoin, like the other balsams, is stimulant and expectorant, and was formerly employed in various pectoral affections; but, except as an ingredient of the compound tincture of benzoin, it has fallen into almost entire disuse. It is employed in pharmacy for the preparation of benzoic acid (see Acidum Benzoicum); and the milky liquor resulting from the addition of water to its alcoholic solution, is sometimes used as a cosmetic, under the impression that it renders the skin soft and tender. In the East Indies it is burnt by the Hindoos as a perfume in their temples. Off. Prep. Acidum Benzoicum,'77.$., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Ben- zoini Composita, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. VV. BERGAMII OLEUM. Lond. Oil of Bergamot. " Citrus Limetta Bergamium. Oleum e fructus cortice destillatum." Lond. Huile de Bergamote, Fr.; Bergamottb'I, Germ. Citrus. See AURANTII CORTEX. Citrus Limetta Bergamium. De Candolle. The bergamot tree has been ranked by botanists generally among the lemons, but was considered by Risso as a variety of his Citrus Limetta, and is so placed by De Candolle. It has ovate, dentate leaves, with winged footstalks; white flowers with from twenty to twenty-six stamens (Guibourt); and rather small globular or pyri- form fruit, terminating in an obtuse point. The pulp of the fruit is sourish, somewhat aromatic, and not disagreeable to the taste. The rind is shining, and of a pale yellow colour, and abounds in a very grateful volatile oil. This may be obtained either by expression or distillation. In the former case, it preserves the agreeable flavour of the rind, but is somewhat turbid; in the latter, it is limpid but less sweet. . The mode of procuring it by expression is exactly that used for the oil of lemons. (See Oleum Limonis.) It is brought from the South of France, Italy, and Portugal. The oil of bergamot has a sweet, very agreeable odour, a bitter aromatic pungent taste, and a pale greenish-yellow colour. Though possessed of the excitant properties of the volatile oils in general, it is employed chiefly if not exclusively as a perfume. Off. Prep. Unguent. Sulphuris, Lond.; Unguent. Sulph. Comp. L,ond. W. 136 Bismuthum. part i. BISMUTHUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Bismuth. Tinglass; Etain de glace, Bismuth, Fr.; Wissmuth, Germ.; Bismuto, Ital.; Bismut, Span. Bismuth is a peculiar metal, occurring usually in the metallic state, occa- sionally as a sulphuret, and rarely as an oxide. It is by no means generally diffused, being principally found in Saxony, Bohemia, and Transylvania. It occurs also in Cornwall, and has been found at Monroe, Conn., seven- teen miles west of New-Haven, which is the only known locality in the United States. It is obtained almost entirely from the native bismuth, which is heated by means of wood or charcoal, whereby the metal is fused and becomes separated from its gangue. Almost all the bismuth of com- merce comes from Saxony. Bismuth was first distinguished as a peculiar metal by Agricola, in his treatise entitled Bermanus, published in 1520. Before that period, it was confounded with lead. It is a brittle, brilliant metal, of a peculiar yellowish- white colour and crystalline texture. Its crystals are in the form of cubes. It undergoes but a slight tarnish in the air. Its sp. gr. is 9.822, and its melting point 497°. At a high temperature, in close vessels, it volatilizes, and may be distilled over. When heated in the open air to a full red heat, it takes fire, and burns with a small blue flame, forming an oxide of a yellow colour. This is the protoxide, and consists of one equivalent of bismuth 71, and one equiv. of oxygen 8 = 79. Besides this oxide, bismuth forms a sesquioxide of a brown colour, very like the peroxide of lead, and consist- ing of two equiv. of metal 142, and three of oxygen 24 = 166. Bismuth is acted on feebly by muriatic acid, but violently by nitric acid, which dissolves it with a copious extrication of red fumes. Sulphuric acid when cold has no action on it, but at a boiling heat effects its solution with the extrication of sulphurous acid. As it occurs in commerce, it is generally contaminated with a little arsenic, the presence of which may be detected by its not being completely soluble in an excess of nitric acid. It may be purified from all contaminating metals, by dissolving the bismuth of com- merce in nitric acid, precipitating the clear solution with water, and reduc- ing the white powder thus obtained with black flux. Pharmaceutical Uses, $-c. Bismuth, in an uncombined state, is not used in medicine, but is employed pharmaceutically to obtain the subnitrate of bis- muth, the only medicinal preparation formed from this metal. In the arts, it is used to form a cosmetic, or white paint for the complexion, called pearl white; and it enters into the composition of the best pewter. Its consump- tion is limited by the small quantity of the metal which is supplied to com- merce, this being computed not to exceed annually eleven or twelve thousand pounds. Off. Prep. Bismuthi Subnitras, U.S., Lond., Dub. B. PART I. Boletus lgniarius. 137 BOLETUS IGNIARIUS. Ed. Agaric of the oak. Touchwood. Spunk. Amadouvier, Agaric de Chfine, Fr.; Feucrschwamm, Germ.; Esca, Ital.; Agarico Span. Boletus. Sex. Syst. Cryptogamia Fungi.—Nat. Ord. Fungi. Gen. Ch. Fungus horizontal, porous beneath. Several species belonging to this genus of mushroons are used as food, several are poisonous, and two at least are officinal in Europe. The Bole- tus laricis, which grows upon the larch of the old world, is the white agaric or purging agaric, of medical writers. It is of various sizes, from that of the fist to that of a child's head, or even larger, hard and spongy, exter- nally brownish or reddish; but as found in commerce, is deprived of its exterior coat, and consists of a light, white, spongy, somewhat farinaceous, friable mass, which, though capable of being rubbed into powder upon a sieve, is not easily pulverized in the ordinary mode, as it flattens under the pestle. It has a sweetish very bitter taste, and consists, according to Bra- connot, of 72 parts of resinous matter, 2 of bitter extractive, and 26 of fungin, a nutritious animalized principle, constituting the base of the fleshy substance of mushrooms. It contains also benzoic acid and various saline compounds. In the dose of four or six grains it is said to act powerfully as a cathartic; but Lieutaud asserts that it may be given in the quantity of thirty grains or a drachm without sensibly purging. M. Andral has found it useful in checking the night sweats of phithisis. He uses it in doses of eight grains, and gradually increases to a drachm during the day, without any observable inconvenience of the digestive functions. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 599.) In this country it is scarcely employed, though we have met with it in the shops. That vfhich is most esteemed is said to be brought from Siberia, but it is probably produced wherever the European larch tree grows. The species of Boletus which is directed by the Edin- burgh College is the B. igniarius, [which grows upon the decayed trunks of the oak, ash, and various other trees, and is common to the old and new continents. Boletus igniarius. Sowerby, Fung. t. 34; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 808. t. 273. The agaric of the oak, like the species just described, is compared in shape to the horse's hoof. Its diameter is from six to ten inches. When young it is soft like velvet, but afterwards becomes hard and ligneous. It usually rests immediately upon the bark of the tree, without any supporting footstalk. On the upper surface it is smooth, but marked with circular ridges of different colours more or less brown or blackish; on the under, it is whitish or yellowish and full of small pores; internally it is fibrous, tough, and of a tawny brown colour. It is composed of short tubular fibres com- pactly arranged in layers, one of which is added every year. The best is that which grows on the oak, and the season for collecting it is August or Sep- tember. It has neither taste nor smell. Its constituents, according to Bouillon- Lagrange, are extractive, resin in very small proportion, animal matter also in smalljquantity, muriate of potassa, and sulphate of lime; and in its ashes are found iron and phosphate of lime and magnesia. It is prepared for use by removing the exterior rind or bark, cutting the inner part into thin slices, and beating these with a hammer until they be- come soft, pliable, and easily torn by the fingers. In this state it was for- merly much used by surgeons for arresting hemorrhage. If steeped in a 13* 133 Boletus Igniarius.—Brominium. part i. solution of nitro, and afterwards dried, it becomes very readily inflammable, and is applicable to the purposes of tinder. Some recommend the substitu- tion of chlorate of potassa for nitre. The preparation is usually known by the name of spunk, and is brought to us from Europe. Spunk or tinder, the amadou of the French, is in flat pieces, of a consist- ence somewhat like that of very soft rotten buckskin leather, of a brownish- yellow colour, capable of absorbing liquids, and inflammable by the slightest spark. It is said to be prepared from various other species of Boletus, as the B. ungulalus, B. fomentarius, B. ribis, fyc. Medical Properties, fyc. The prepared agaric was atone time thought to have a peculiar property of arresting hemorrhage when compressed upon a bleeding vessel; but it is now believed to act mechanically, like any other soft porous substance, by absorbing the blood and causing it to coagulate, and is not relied on in severe cases. In the obstinate hemorrhage which occasionally takes place from leech bites, especially those of the European leech, it may be used advantageously, though perhaps not more so than well prepared lint. It has been sometimes applied to the purposes of moxa. W. BROMINIUM. Lond. Bromine. Brome, Fr.; Brom, Germ. Bromine is an elementary body, possessing many analogies with chlorine and iodine. It was discovered in 1826 by Balard, a chemist of Montpellier, in the bittern of sea-salt works, in v9hich it exists as a bromide of magnesium. Since then it has been discovered in the waters of the ocean, in certain marine animals and vegetables, in numerous salt springs, both in Europe and America, and, in two instances, in the mineral kingdom—in an ore of zinc, and in the cadmium of Silesia. In the United Stales it was first discovered by Professor Silliman, who found it in the bittern of the salt works at Salina, in the state of New York, where it exists apparently in considerable quantities. It has been detected also in the wateis of the Saratoga Springs, and by Professor Emmet of the University of Virginia, in the Kenhawa water. Preparation. Bromine is prepared by passing a current of chlorine through bittern, and then agitating it strongly with a portion of ether. The chlorine decomposes the bromide of magnesium present in the bittern, form- ing a chloride of magnesium, and the disengaged bromine dissolves in the ether, to which it communicates a hyacinth-red colour. The etherial solu- tion of bromine is next decanted, and treated with a concentrated solution of caustic potassa, whereby the bromine is converted into bromide of potassium, and bromate of potassa. In the mean time the ether loses its colour and becomes pure, and may be employed again in dissolving fresh portions of bromine. Having in this way obtained a sufficient quantity of the salts above mentioned, their solution is evaporated to dryness, and the dry mass calcined at a red heat, in order to convert the bromate of potassa into bromide of potassium. The bromide is next decomposed by distilling it with sul- phuric acid and the peroxide of manganese, from a retort furnished with a bent tube plunging into water contained in a bottle. The acid combines with PART I. Brominium. 139 potassium and oxygen so as to form sulphate of potassa, and the liberated bromine distils over, and condenses under the water. Properties. Bromine is a liquid, of a dark red colour when viewed in mass, but hyacinth-red in thin layers. Its taste is very caustic, and its smell powerful and disagreeable, having some resemblance to that of chlorine. Its density is very nearly three. At 4° it becomes a hard, brittle, crystal- line solid, having a dark leaden colour, and a lustre nearly metallic. It boils at about 117°, forming a reddish vapour resembling that of nitrous acid, and of the sp. gr. 5.39. It evaporates readily, a single drop being sufficient to fill a large flask with its peculiar vapour. This vapour extinguishes flame, but previously communicates to it a greenish colour at its base, and a red one above. Bromine is sparingly soluble in water to which it communicates an orange colour, but is very soluble in alcohol, and especially in ether. The alcoholic and etherial solutions lose their colour in a few days, and become acid from the generation of hydrobromic acid. It bleaches vegetable substances like chlorine, and decomposes organic matters, such as wood, cork, resins, vola- tile oils, 44. In a state of vapour, its density is 0.4215, as obtained by calculation. It is a very unalterable and indestructible sub- stance, and has great power to resist and correct putrefaction in other bodies. When in a state of extreme division, it possesses the remarkable property of destroying the colouring and odorous principles of most liquids. The * Professor Silliman, however, is of opinion that it is fusible when subjected to the intense heat produced by the galvanic deflagrator of Dr. Hare; and Dr. Colquhoun inclines to the opinion that the perfectly pure charcoal deposited from coal gas has undergone fusion. PART I. Carbo.—Carbo Jlnimalis. 165 conditions, under which this property is most powerfully developed, will be explained under the head of animal charcoal. (See Carbo Animalis.) Its other physical properties differ according to its source and peculiar state of aggregation. Its equivalent number is 6.12. As a chemical element, it enjoys a very extensive range of combination. It combines in five propor- tions with oxygen, forming carbonic oxide, and carbonic, oxalic, mellitic, and croconic acids. (See Aqua Acidi Carbonici, and Oxalic Acid.) It unites also with chlorine, iodine, and bromine. With hydrogen it forms many combinations, amongst which the! most interesting and best known are light carburetted hydrogen or fire-damp, and olefiant gas. With nitrogen it constitutes cyanogen, the compound radical of hydrocyanic or prussic acid; and united with iron in minute proportion it forms steel. It is thus per- ceived, that as a chemical agent it performs a most important part in the economy of nature. To notice all the forms of the carbonaceous principle would be out of place in this work. We shall, therefore, restrict ourselves to the conside- ration of those which are officinal, namely, animal charcoal, and common wood charcoal; and these will be described in the two following articles. B. CARBO ANIMALIS. U.S., Lond. Animal Charcoal. " Carbo. Ex came et ossibus coctus." Lond. Charbon animal, Fr.; Thierische Kohle, Germ.; Carbone animate, Ital; Carbon ani- mal, Span. By animal charcoal is meant that form of the carbonaceous principle which is obtained from animal substances, and possesses the property of removing colouring matters from solutions. All kinds of animal charcoal do not necessarily possess the decolorizing property, and hence would not be applicable to pharmaceutical purposes. The kind of animal charcoal, usually employed in pharmacy and the arts, is obtained from bones, by subjecting them to a red heat in close vessels. The residue of the ignition is a black matter, which when reduced to powder forms the substance properly called bone-black, but familiarly known under the incorrect name of ivory-black. Ivory by carbonization will fur- nish a black, which, on account of its fineness and intensely black colour, is more esteemed than the ordinary bone-black; but it is much more expen- sive. Animal charcoal, in the form of bone-black, is almost exclusively pre- pared by the makers of ammoniacal products. Bones are by these manu- facturers subjected to destructive distillation in iron retorts or cylinders, and after all the ammoniacal products have come over, the residuum is charred bone, or bone-black. The bone consists of animal matter with phosphate and carbonate of lime. In consequence of a new arrangement of the ele- ments of the animal matter, the hydrogen and nitrogen united as ammonia, and a part of the charcoal as carbonic acid, distil over; while the remainder of the charcoal is left in the retort, intermingled with the calcareous salts. In this form, therefore, of animal charcoal, the carbon is evidently mixed with phosphate and carbonate of lime, and the same is the case with the true ivory-black. 166 Carbo Jlnimalis. part i. Properties. Animal charcoal, in the form of bone-black, (called ivory- black in the shops,) is a black powder, possessing a slightly alkaline and bitterish taste, and having a general resemblance to powdered vegetable charcoal. It is, however, more dense and less combustible than this char- coal, from which, moreover, it may be distinguished by burning a small portion of it on a red-hot iron, when it will leave a residuum imperfectly acted on by sulphuric acid; whereas the ashes from vegetable charcoal will readily dissolve in this acid, and form a bitterish solution. Animal charcoal by no means necessarily possesses the decolorizing pro- perty; as this depends upon its peculiar state of aggregation. If a piece of pure animal matter be carbonized, it usually enters into fusion, and, from the gaseous matter which is extricated, becomes porous and cellular. The charcoal formed has generally a metallic lustre, and a colour resembling that of black lead. It has, however, little or no decolorizing power, even though it may be finely pulverized. Pharmaceutical and Economical Uses. Animal charcoal is used in pharmacy for the most part to decolorize vegetable principles, such as quinia, morphia, &c, and in the arts, principally for the purpose of clarifying syrups in sugar refining, and of depriving spirits distilled from grain of the peculiar volatile oil, which imparts to them an unpleasant taste as first distilled. The manner in which it is used is to mix it with the substance to be decolorized, and to allow the mixture to stand for some time. The charcoal unites chemically with the colouring matter, and the solution by filtration is obtained white and transparent. The only formula in which it is used in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, is that for the preparation of sulphate of quinia. For pharmaceutical operations, however, it should be purified by muriatic acid from phosphate and carbonate of lime, in the way directed by the Lon- don College. (See Carbo Animalis Purificatus. Lond.) Rationale of the Effects of Charcoal as a Decolorizing Agent. Under this head we shall speak generally of the condition necessary to constitute charcoal a decolorizing agent; by which it will more clearly appear why certain animal charcoals possess this property. The decolorizing power of charcoal was first noticed by Lovvitz of St. Petersburg; and the subject was subsequently ably investigated by Bussy, Payen, and Desfosses. It is generally communicated to charcoal by igniting it in close vessels, but not always. The kind of charcoal, for example, obtained from substances which undergo fusion during carbonization, does not possess the property, even though it may be afterwards finely pulverized by mechanical means. The property in question is possessed to a certain extent by wood charcoal; but is developed in it in a much greater degree by burning it with some chemical substance, which may have the effect of reducing it to an extreme degree of fineness. The most powerful of all the charcoals for discharging colours, are those obtained from certain animal matters, such as dried blood, hair, horns, hoofs, &c. by first carbonizing them in connexion with carbo- nate of potassa, and then washing the product with water. Charcoal thus prepared, seems to be reduced to its finest possible particles. The next most powerful decolorizing charcoal is ivory or bone-black, in which the separation of the carbonaceous particles is effected by the phosphate of lime present in the bone. Vegetable substances also may be made to yield a good charcoal for destroying colour, provided, before carbonization, they be well comminuted, and mixed with pumice stone, chalk, flint, calcined bones, or other similar substance in a pulverized state. It results from the foregoing facts, that the decolorizing power of charcoal depends upon a peculiar mode of aggregation of its particles, the leading PART I. Carbo Atnimalis. 167 character of which is that they are isolated from one another, and thus enabled to present a greater extent of surface. It is on this principle that certain chemical substances act in developing the property in question, when they are ignited in a state of intimate mixture with the substance to be charred. Thus it is perceived that there is no necessary connexion be- tween animal charcoal and die decolorizing power; as this charcoal may or may not possess the peculiar aggregation of its particles on which the power depends. Bone black, for instance, has this property, not because it is an animal charcoal; but because, in consequence of the phosphate of lime pre- sent in the bone, the favourable state of aggregation is induced. Of all the substances yet tried to insulate the carbonaceous molecules, carbonate of potassa appears to be the best. Charcoal which has been used for decolorizing, loses its peculiar property, which cannot be restored by a fresh ignition, unless it be previously mixed with some inorganic substance. The best substance for this purpose is car- bonate of potassa, which, after the ignition, must be washed away from the charcoal. The following table, abridged from one drawn up by Bussy, denotes the decolorizing power of different charcoals, compared with the effect of bone- black taken as unity. KINDS OF CHARCOAL. Bone-black,........... Bone charcoal treated by an acid,....... Oil ignited with phosphate of lime,...... Lampblack, not ignited, ........ Charcoal from acetate of potassa, ....... Gluten ignited with carbonate of potassa, ..... Blood ignited with phospate of lime,...... Lampblack ignited with carbonate of potassa, .... Blood ignited with chalk,........ White of egg ignited with carbonate of potassa, . - - - Glue ignited with carbonate of potassa, ..... Bone charcoal, formed by depriving the bone of phosphate of lime by an acid, and ignition with potassa, ...... Blood ignited with carbonate of potassa,..... Comparing the extremes of this table, it is perceived that blood ignited with carbonate of potassa is twenty times more powerful in discharging the colour of syrup, and fifty times more powerful in decolorizing indigo, than an equal weight of bone-black. This is certainly a great disparity in effect, and could hardly have been anticipated. Off. Prep. Carbo Animalis Purificatus, Lond. B. 16S Carbo Ligni. part i. CARBO LIGNI. U.S., Lond., Ed.,Dub. Charcoal. Charbon de bois, Fr.; Holzkohle, Germ.; Carbone di legno, Ital; Carbon de lena, Span. Preparation on the Large Scale. Common charcoal is prepared in the following manner. Billets of wood are piled in a conical heap, and covered with earth and sod to prevent thr; access of air; several holes being left at the bottom, and one at the top of the heap, in order to produce a draught lo commence the combustion. The wood is then kindled from the bottom. In a little while, the hole at the top is closed, and after the ignition has been found to pervade the whole heap, those at the bottom are stopped also. The combustion taking place with a smothered flame and limited access of air, the volatile portions of the wood, consisting of hydrogen and oxygen, are dissipated, while the carbon, in the form of charcoal, is left behind. In this process for the carbonization of wood, all the volatile products are lost; and a portion of the charcoal itself is dissipated by combustion. Wood, thus carbonized, yields not more than 17 or 18 per cent, of charcoal. A better method is to char the wood in iron cylinders, when it yields from 22 to 23 parts in the 100 of excellent charcoal; and at the same time, the means are afforded for collecting the volatile products, consisting of pyroligneous acid, empyreumatic oil, and tar. This process for obtaining charcoal has been described under another head. (See Acidum Aceticum Empyreumati- cum, U. S.) Preparation for Medical Use. Common charcoal is not, perhaps, suffi- ciently pure for medical exhibition; as all the volatile portions of the wood are not completely expelled. Lowitz directs its purification to be conducted in the following manner. Fill a crucible with ordinary charcoal reduced to fine powder, and lute on a perforated cover. Then expose the whole to a strong red heat, and continue the ignition as long as a blue flame issues from the aperture in the cover. When this ceases, allow the charcoal to cool, and transfer it quickly to bottles, which must be well stopped. The Paris Codex directs the preparation of charcoal for medical use to be conducted as follows. Take any quantity of thoroughly burnt charcoal, very light, sonorous, and pure, made from the wood of the linden-tree, wil- low, poplar, or some other of the lighter woods, and moisten it with water. Reduce it to powder in an iron mortar, or by means of a mill; and having mixed it with water to form a fluid mass, let it stand for a few days; after which, place it on a linen cloth to drain. Make up the paste into round cakes, and expose them to the rays of the sun until they are thoroughly dried. By this process of insolation, the charcoal is stated in the Codex to be completely deprived of all adventitious colour and smell, and to be singu- larly improved in efficiency; advantages which are not equally obtained, when it is dried in the shade. Properties. Charcoal is a black, shining, brittle, porous substance, taste- less and inodorous, and insoluble in water. It is a good conductor of elec- tricity, but a bad one of heat. In masses, it floats in water; but when reduced to a fine powder, whereby its porosity is destroyed, it sinks in that liquid. It possesses the remarkable property of absorbing many times its own bulk of certain gases, provided it be perfectly dry. When exposed to the air after ignition, it increases rapidly in weight, absorbing from twelve to fourteen per cent, of moisture. As ordinarily prepared, it contains the part i. Carbo Ligni.—Cardamine. 169 incombustible part of the wood, which would have formed the ashes in its ordinary combustion. These amount to about one-fiftieth of the charcoal, and may be removed by digesting it in diluted muriatic acid, and afterwards washing it thoroughly on a filter with boiling water. Medical Properties, <^c. Powdered charcoal is antiseptic and absorbent. It is employed with advantage in certain forms of dyspepsia, attended with fetid breath and putrid eructations; and it has been exhibited in dysentery with the effect of correcting the fetor of the stools. As a remedy in obsti- nate constipation, Dr. Daniel of Savannah speaks of it in high terms, and reports fourteen or fifteen cases as occurring in his practice, in which it proved successful. He also found it a useful remedy in the nausea and con- fined state of the bowels which usually attend pregnancy. Mixed with crum of bread or linseed meal and water, into the consistence of a cataplasm, it forms a good application to gangrene and ill-conditioned ulcers; and the Dublin College has an officinal preparation of this kind. Mr. Pearson, a distinguished surgeon of London, employed it advantageously as a topical application in traumatic hemorrhage, and states that he believes it to be the basis of Ruspini's styptic. Several of its varieties constitute the best tooth- powder which can be used. Those which are generally preferred are the charcoals of the cocoa-nut shell and of bread. The dose of charcoal varies from twenty grains to a drachm or more. Dr. Daniel gave it in his cases, in doses of a tablespoonful repeated every half hour. In consequence of the absorbent and antiseptic properties of charcoal, it is invaluable in domestic economy. Meat embedded in it in close vessels is kept perfectly sweet for many months; and water intended for long voyages is equally preserved by the addition of its powder. The power of some of its varieties in destroying colours and odours is very considerable; and it acts upon the principle which has been explained under the head of animal charcoal. (See Carbo Animalis.) Off. Prep. Cataplasma Carbonis Ligni, Dub. B. —.»t»a@9t''" ■ CARDAMINE. Lond. Cuckoo-flower. " Cardamine pratensis. Flores." Lond. Off. Syn. CARD AMINES PRATENSIS FLORES. Ed.; CARDA- MINE PRATENSIS. Flores. Dub. Cresson des pres Fr.; Wisenkresse, Germ.; Kardamine, Ital. Cardamine. Sex. Syst. Tetradynamia Siliquosa.—Nat. Ord. Cruciferae. Gen. Ch. Pods opening elastically, with re volute valves. Stigma entire. Calyx somewhat gaping. Willd. Cardamine pratensis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 487; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 398. t. 144. The Cuckoo-flower is a perennial herbaceous plant, with a simple, smooth, erect stem, about a foot in height. The leaves are pinnate; the radical, composed of roundish irregularly toothed leaflets, those of the stem alternate, with leaflets which become narrower, more entire, and pointed as they ascend. The flowers are purplish-white or rose-coloured, and terminate the stem in a raceme approaching the character of a corymb. This species of Cardamine is a native of Europe, and is found in the 16 \ 170 Cardamine.—Cardamomum. part i. northern parts of our continent, about Hudson's Bay. It is a very hand- some plant, abounding in moist meadows, which it adorns with its flowers in the months of April and May. The leaves are bitterish and slightly pun- gent, resembling in some measure those of water-cresses, and like them supposed to be possessed of antiscorbutic properties. In Europe they are sometimes added to salads. The flowers only are officinal. They have the same taste with the leaves, and, when fresh, a somewhat pungent odour. When dried, they become inodorous and nearly insipid. They formerly possessed the reputation of being diuretic, and since the publication of a paper by Sir George Baker, somewhat more than half a century ago, have been occasionally used as an antispasmodic in various nervous diseases, such as chorea and spasmodic asthma, in which they were successfully employed by that physician. They produce, however, little obvious effect upon the system, and are not employed in this country. W. CARDAMOMUM. U.S., Lond. Cardamom. " Matonia Cardamomum. Roscoe. Elettaria Cardamomum. Maton. Semina. The seeds." U.S. " Alpinia Cardamomum. Semina." Lond. Off. Syn. AMOMI REPENTIS SEMINA. Ed.; AMOMUM CAR- DAMOMUM. Semina. Dub. Petit cardamome, Fr.; Kleine Kardamomen, Germ.; Cardamomo minore, Ital.; Carda- momo menor, Span.; Ebil, Arab.; Kakeleh seghar, Persian; Capalaga, Malay; Gujarati elachi, Hindoost. The name cardamom has been applied to the aromatic capsules of vari- ous Indian plants belonging to the family of the Scitamineae. Three varieties have long been known under the distinctive titles of lesser, middle, and larger —the cardamomum minus, medium, and majus, of older writers. Of these, the first only is recognised by the Pharmacopoeias, or generally kept in the shops. The middle cardamoms, which are longer than the lesser, but not so thick, are of unknown origin, being considered by some as derived from the same plant with the first variety, by others as identical with the third, and differing in size only in consequence of having been collected at a different stage of maturity. The larger greatly exceed the others in dimensions, being sometimes an inch and a half long, by one quarter of an inch in thick- ness. They are generally ascribed to the Amomum Cardamomum of Will- denow, which grows in Malacca, Java, and other Malay islands. We find also described by writers on the Materia Medica, the round cardamoms and the long cardamoms; but of these the first may without violence be joined with the lesser; and the second with the larger. Under the^name of grains of paradise—grana paradisi—small, brown, angular seeds, of a strong odour, and a pungent, aromatic, peppery taste, are kept in the shops, though not introduced into the catalogues of the Pharmacopoeias. They are thought by some to be the seeds of the larger cardamoms separated from the capsule; but are treated as wholly distinct by others, who refer them to the Amo- mum Grana Paradisi of Linn., growing in Ceylon, Madagascar, and per- haps in Guinea. The following remarks have reference exclusively to the lesser or genuine Malabar cardamoms. Some confusion has prevailed in relation to the botanical history of the PART I. Cardamomum. 171 cardamom plant. Linnaeus confounded under the name of Amomum Carda- momum, two different vegetables—the genuine plant of Malabar, and another growing in Java, and producing larger but much inferior capsules. These were separated by Willdenow, who conferred on the former Sonnerat's title of Amomum repens, while he retained the original name for the latter, though not the true cardamom plant. In the tenth vol. of the Linn. Transactions, A. D. 1811, Mr. White, a British Army Surgeon in India, published a very minute description of the Malabar plant, which he had enjoyed frequent op- portunities of examining in its native state. From this description, the learned Dr. Maton inferred that the plant, according to Roscoe's arrangement of the Scitamineae, could not be considered an Amomum; and as he was unable to attach it to any other known genus, he proposed to construct a new one, with the name of Elettaria, derived from elettari, or ela-tari, the Malabar name of this vegetable. Sir James Smith afterwards suggested the propriety of naming the new genus Matonia, in honour of Dr. Maton; and the latter title having been adopted by Roscoe, obtained a place in the Lon- don and United States Pharmacopoeias. This explanation was necessary to account for the discordant nomenclature of the different Colleges. After all, however, it is very doubtful whether the new genus is well founded; and the celebrated Dr. Roxburgh describes the Malabar cardamom plant as an Alpinia, with the specific appellation of A. Cardamomum. He has been followed by Sprengel, and several other German authorities, and recently by Lindley in England, as well as by the London College in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia. The only material point in which the plant differs from most of the other Alpiniee, is that the inflorescence proceeds horizon- tally from the base of the stem, instead of being terminal. We shall follow the authority of Roxburgh. Alpinia. Sex. Syst. Monandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Scitamineee. Gen. Ch. Corolla with interior border unilabiate. Anther double, naked, (uncrowned). Capsule berried, three-celled. Seeds a few, or numerous, arilled. Roxburgh, Asiat. Research, vol. xi. p. 350. Alpinia Cardamomum. Roxburgh.—Elettaria Cardamomum. Maton.— Matonia Cardamomum. Roscoe.—Amomum Repens. Sonnerat; Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 9.—Figured in Linn. Trans, x. 248. The cardamom plant has a tuberous horizontal root, furnished with numerous fibres, and sending up from eight to twenty erect, simple, smooth, green and shining, perennial stems, which rise from six to twelve feet in height, and bear alternate sheathing leaves. These are from nine inches to two feet long, from one to five inches broad, elliptical-lanceolate, pointed, entire, smooth and dark-green on the upper surface, glossy and pale sea-green beneath, with strong midribs, and short footstalks. The scape or flowerstalk proceeds from the base of the stem, aud lies upon the ground, with the flowers arranged in the form of a panicle. The calyx is monophyllous, tubular, and toothed at the margin; the corolla monophyllous and funnel-shaped, with the inferior border unila- biate, three-lobed, and spurred at the base. The fruit is a three-celled cap- sule, containing numerous seeds. This valuable plant is a native of the mountainous regions of Malabar, where it springs up spontaneously in the forests after the removal of the undergrowth. From time immemorial great numbers of the natives have depended for a livelihood upon its cultivation. It begins to yield fruit at the end of the fourth year, and continues to bear for several years afterwards. The capsules when ripe are picked from the fruit stems, dried over a gentle fire, and separated by rubbing with the hands from the footstalks and adhering calyx. 172 Cardamomum.—Carota. PART I. Thus prepared, they are from four to seven lines long, from three to four thick, three-sided with rounded angles, obtusely pointed at both ends, lon- gitudinally wrinkled, and of a yellowish-white colour. The seeds which they contain are small, angular, irregular, rough as if embossed upon their surface, of a brown colour, easily reduced to powder, and thus separable from the capsules, which, though slightly aromatic, are much less so than the seeds, and should be rejected when the medicine is given in substance. The odour of cardamom is fragrant, the taste warm, slightly pungent, and hiofhly aromatic. These properties are extracted by water and alcohol, but more readily by the latter. They depend on a volatile oil which rises with water in distillation. The seeds contain, according to Trommsdorff, 4.6 per cent, of volatile oil, 10.4 of fixed oil, 2.5 of a salt of potassa mixed with a colouring principle, 3.0 of starch, 1.8 of azotized muciline, 0.4 of yellow colouring matter, and 77.3 of ligneous fibre. The volatile oil is colourless, of an agreeable and very penetrating odour, and of a strong, aromatic, burn- ing, camphorous, and slightly bitter taste. Its sp.gr. is 0.945. It cannot be kept long without undergoing change, and finally, even though excluded from the air, loses its peculiar odour and taste. (Trommsdorff, Annalen der Pharmacie, July, 1834.) The seeds should be powdered only when wanted for immediate use, as they retain their aromatic properties best while enclosed within the capsules. Medical Properties and Uses. Cardamom is a warm and grateful aro- matic, less heating and stimulating than some others belonging to the class, and very useful as an adjuvant or corrective of cordial, tonic, and purgative medicines. Throughout the East Indies it is largely consumed as a condi- ment, and is considered almost among the necessaries of life. It was known to the ancients,,and derived its name from the Greek language. In this country it is employed chiefly as an ingredient in compound preparations. Off.Prep. Confectio Aromatica, Lond., Dub.; Extract. Colocynthidis Comp., U. S., Lond., Dub.; Pil. Scillilicae, Ed.; Pulvis Aromaticus, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinct. Cardamomi, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Cardam. Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Cinnam. Comp., U.S., Lond., Ed.; Tinct. Gentian. Comp., U.S., Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Rhei, U.S., Ed.; Tinct. Rhei Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Rhei et Aloes, U.S., Dub.; Tinct. Sennae Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Sennae et Jalapae, U.S.; Tinct. Conii, Ed., Dub.; Vinum Aloes, U.S., Ed. W. CAROTA. U. S. Secondary. Carrot Seed. " Daucus carota. Semina. The seeds." U. S. Off. Syn. DAUCI FRUCTUS. Daucus Carota. Fructus. Lond.; DAU- CUS CAROTA. Var. SYLVESTRIS. Semina. Dub. DAUCI RADIX. Lond. Garden Carrot Root. "Daucus Carota. Radix recens." Lond. ' Off. Syn. DAUCUS CAROTA. Radix. Dub. Carrotte, Fr.; Gemeine Mohre, Gelbe Rube, Germ.; Carota, Ital; Lanahoria, Span. Daucus. Sex. Syst. Peutandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. PART I. Carota. 173 Gen. Ch. Corolla somewhat rayed. Florets of the disk abortive. Fruit hispid with hairs. Willd. Daucus Carota. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1389; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 130. t. 50. The wild carrot has a biennial spindleshaped root, and an annual, round, furrowed, hairy stem, which divides into long, erect, flower-bearing branches, and rises two or three feet in height. The leaves are hairy, and stand on footstalks nerved on their under side. The lower are large and tripinnate, the upper, smaller and less compound; in both, the leaflets are divided into narrow pointed segments. The flowers are small, white, and disposed in many-rayed compound umbels, which are at first flat on the top and spreading, but when the seeds are formed, contract so as to present a concave cup-like surface. A sterile flower of a deep purple colour is often observable in the centre of the umbel. The general involucrum is composed of several leaves, divided into long narrow segments; the partial is more simple. The petals are five, unequal and cordate. The fruit consists of two plano-convex hispid seeds, connected by their flat surface. The Daucus Carota is exceedingly common in this country, growing along the fences, and in neglected fields, which in the months of June and July are sometimes white over their whole surface with its flowers. It grows wild also in Europe, from which it is supposed by some botanists to have been introduced into the United States. The well-known garden carrot is the same plant somewhat altered by cultivation. The officinal por- tions are the seeds of the wild, and the root of the cultivated variety. 1. Carrot Seeds. These are very light, of a brownish colour, of an oval shape, flat on one side, convex on the other, and on their convex sur- face presenting four longitudinal edges, to which stiff whitish hairs or bris- tles are attached. They have an aromatic odour, and a warm, pungent, and bitterish taste. By distillation they yield a pale yellow volatile oil, upon which their virtues chiefly depend. Boiling water extracts their active pro- perties. Medical Properties and Uses. Carrot seeds are moderately excitant and diuretic, and are considerably employed, both in domestic practice and by physicians, in chronic nephritic affections, and in dropsy. As they possess to a certain extent the cordial properties of the aromatics, they are especially adapted to cases in which the stomach is enfeebled. They are said to afford relief in the strangury from blisters. From thirty grains to a drachm of the bruised seeds may be given at a dose, or a pint of the infusion, containing the virtues of half an ounce or an ounce of the seeds, may be taken during the day. The whole umbel is often used instead of the seeds alone. 2. Carrot Root. The root of the wild carrot is whitish, hard, coriaceous, branched, of a strong smell, and an acr^d disagreeable taste; that of the cul- tivated variety is reddish, fleshy, thick, conical, rarely branched, of a pleasant odour, and a peculiar, sweet, mucilaginous taste. The constituents of the root are crystallizable and uncrystallizable sugar, a little starch, extractive, gluten, albumen, volatile oil, vegetable jelly [pectin of Braconnot), malic acid, saline matters, lignin, and a peculiar crystallizaable colouring principle, without odour or taste, called carotin. In relation to the nature of vegetable jelly much uncertainty has existed. By some it has been considered a mo- dification of gum or mucilage combined with vegetable acid. Braconnot at one time considered it closely analogous to, if not identical with, his pectic acid; but more recent investigations have led him to the conclusion that it is a peculiar principle, out of which the pectic acid is formed by the reaction of an akali. He proposes to call it pectin, a name derived, from the Greek word Tttjxtis, and expressive of the peculiar property of gelatinizing, by 174 Carota.—Carthamus. PART i. which it is distinguished. It exists more or less in all vegetables, and is abundant in certain fruits and roots from which jellies are prepared. It may be separated from the juice of fruits by the addition of alcohol, which pre- cipitates it in the form of a jelly. This being washed with weak alcohol and dried, yields a semitransparent substance bearing some resemblance to fish-glue or isinglass. Immersed in 100 parts of cold water, it swells like bassorin, and is ultimately dissolved, forming a homogeneous jelly. With a larger proportion of water it exhibits a mucilaginous consistence. It is less acted on by boiling than by cold water. When perfectly pure it is tasteless and has no effect on vegetable blues. A striking peculiarity is, that by the agency of a fixed alkali or alkaline earthy base it is instantly con- verted into pectic acid, which unites with the base to form a pectate. This may be decomposed by the addition of an acid, which unites with the alkali and separates the pectic acid. (Braconnot, Annates de Chimie, Juillet 1831.) The pectic acid thus obtained is in the form of a colourless jelly, slighUy acidulous, with the property of reddening litmus paper, scarcely soluble in cold water, more soluble in boiling water, and forming with the latter a solu- tion, which, though it does not become solid on cooling, is coagulated by the addition of alcohol, lime-water, acids, or salts, and even of sugar if allowed to stand for some time. With the akalies the acid forms salts which are also capable of assuming the consistence of a jelly. With the earths and metallic oxides it forms insoluble salts. Braconnot thinks that the pectic acid exists in many plants already formed, being produced by the reaction of alkalies present in the plant upon the pectin. Medical Properties and Uses. The wild root possesses the same pro- perties with the seeds, and may be used for the same purposes. That of the garden plant has acquired much reputation as an external application to phagedenic, sloughing, and cancerous ulcers, the fetor of which it is supposed to correct, while it sometimes changes the character of the diseased action. It is brought to the proper consistence by scraping. In this state it retains a portion of the active principles of the plant, which render it somewhat stim- ulant. Boiled and mashed, as usually recommended, the root is perfectly mild, and fit only to form emollient cataplasms. Off. Prep. Cataplasma Dauci, Dub. W. CARTHAMUS. U.S. Secondary. Dyers'1 fiaffron, " Carthamus tinctorius. Flores. The floivers." U.S. Fleurs de carthame, Safran batard, Fr.; Farber Saflor, Germ.; Cartamo, Ital Span Carthamus. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia iEqualis.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Cinarocephalae. r Gen. Ch. Receptacle paleaceous, setose. Calyx ovate, imbricated, with scales ovate, leafy at the end. Seed-down paleaceous, hairy, or none. Triad. Carthamus tinctorius. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1706. The dyers' saffron oxsaffiower is an annual plant, with a smooth erect stem, somewhat branched at top, and a foot or two in height. The leaves are alternate, sessile, ovate acute, entire, and furnished with spiny teeth. The flowers are compound in large, terminal, solitary heads. The florets are of an orange-red colour PART I. Carthamus.—Carum. 175 ?r?hl fun"f shaped corolla, of which the tube is long, slender, and cvlin- uncal, and the border divided into five equal, lanceolate, narrow segments. ine plant is a native of the Levant and Egypt, but is cultivated in various parts ot L,urope and America. The florets are the part employed Thev are brought to us chiefly from the ports of the Mediterranean! Considerable saffron ^ P Ced in this C0untl7> and sold ""der the name of American Saffiower in mass is of a red colour, diversified by the yellowness of the filaments contained within the floret. It has a peculiar slightly aromatic odour, and a scarcely perceptible bitterness. Among its ingredients are two colouring substances—one red, insoluble in water, slightly soluble in alcohol, very soluble in alkaline liquids, and called carthamite (carthamic acid by Dobereiner); the other yellow and soluble in water. It is the for- mer which renders saffiower useful as a dye-stuff. Carthamite mixed with finely powdered talc forms the cosmetic powder known bv the name of rouge. These flowers are sometimes fraudulently mixed with saffron, which they resemble in colour, but from which they may be readily distinguished by their tubular form, and by the yellowish style and filaments which they enclose. J Medical Properties. In large doses carthamus is said to be laxative; and administered in the state of warm infusion it proves somewhat diaphoretic It is used in domestic practice, as a substitute for saffron, in measles, scarla- tina, and other exanthematous diseases, in order to promote the eruption. An infusion made in the proportion of two drachms to a pint of boiling water is usually employed, and given without restriction as to quantity. W. CARUM. U.S. Caraway. "Carum carui. Semina. The Seeds." U.S. mPJF: Sy?; CARUL Carum Carui. Fructus. Lond.; CARI CARUI SE- MUNA. Ed.; CARUM CARUI. Semina. Dub. Carv., Fr., Ital; Gemeiner Kummel, Germ.; Alcaravea, Span. L^arvm. Sex Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—.V^. Ord. Umbelliferae. <*en.Lh. Fruit ovate-oblong, striated. Involucre one-leafed. Petals keeled, inflexed-emarginate. Willd. Carum Carui. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1470; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 102. t. 41. 1 his plant is biennial and umbelliferous, with a spindleshaped, fleshy, whitish root and an erect stem, about two feet in height, branching above and furnished with doubly pinnate, deeply incised leaves, the segments of which are linear and pointed. The flowers are small and white, and ter- minate the branches of the stem in erect umbels, which are accompanied with an involucre consisting sometimes of three or four leaflets, sometimes of one only and are destitute of partial involucre. Each flower is succeeded by two seeds. The caraway plant is a native of Europe, growing wild in meadows and pastures, and cultivated in many places. It has been introduced into this country 1 he flowers appear in May and June, and the seeds, which are not perfected till the second year, ripen in August. The root, when im- 176 Carum.—Caryophyllus. PART I. proved by culture, resembles the parsnip, and is used as food by the inha- bitants of the North of Europe. The seeds are the part used in medicine. They are collected by cutting down the plant and threshing it on a cloth. Our markets are supplied partly from Europe, partly from our own gardens. The American seeds are usually rather smaller than those brought from Germany. Caraway seeds are about two lines in length, slightly curved, with five longitudinal ridges which are of a light yellowish colour, while the inter- vening spaces are dark brown. They have a pleasant aromatic smell, and a sweetish, warm, spicy taste. These properties depend on an essential oil, which they afford largely by distillation. The residue is insipid. They yield their virtues readily to alcohol, and more slowly to water. Medical Properties and Uses. Caraway is a pleasant stomachic and carminative, occasionally used in flatulent colic, and as an adjuvant or cor- rective of other medicines. The dose in substance is from a scruple to a drachm. An infusion may be prepared by adding two drachms of the seeds to a pint of boiling water. The volatile oil, however, is most employed. (See Oleum Cari.) The seeds are sometimes baked in cakes, to which they communicate an agreeable flavour, while they serve to stimulate the digestive organs. Off. Prep. Aqua Carui, L,ond., Dub.; Confectio Opii, Lond., Dub.; Confectio Rutae, Lond., Dub.; Decoctum Anthemidis Nobilis, Ed.; Oleum Cari, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Spiritus Carui, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Juniperi Compositus, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Cardamomi Comp. Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Sennae Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Sennae et Jalaps, U.S., Ed. W. CARYOPHYLLUS. U.S., Lond. Cloves. "Eugenia caryophyllata. Gemmae florales. The flower buds." U.S. " Caryophyllus aromaticus. Flores nondum explicati, exsiccati." Lond. Off. Syn. EUGENIA CARYOPHYLLATA FLORES. Flores non- dum explicit!, Ed.; CARYOPHYLLUS. EUGENIA CARYOPHYL- LATA. Flores nondum expliciti. Dub. Girofle, Clous de Girofles, Fr.; Gewiirznelken, Germ.; Garofani, Ital; Clavos de cspicia, Span.; Cravo da India, Portuguese; Kruidnagel, Dutch; Kerunfel, Arab. The genus to which the clove-tree belongs, was denominated Caryophyl- lus by Linnaeus. Botanists afterwards ascribed the plant to the genus Eu- genia, with the specific title caryophyllata; and this reference is supported by the authority of most of the Pharmacopoeias recognised in this work. It appears, however, that there are slight differences between the characters of the clove-tree and those of the othei Eugeniae, which have induced some botanists to arrange the former in a distinct genus. In Persoon's Synopsis, Loudon's Encyclopaedia of plants, and various French works, it is described under the title of Caryophyllus aromaticus, which has also been adopted in the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia. According to this arrange- ment, it is the only species of its genus. The characters of the Caryophyl- lus, as given in Loudon's Encyclopaedia, are—" Calyx funnel-shaped;/rm7 dry, one or two-celled, otherwise like Eugenia." Eugenia. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Myrtaceae. part i. Caryophyllus. 177 Gen. Ch. Calyx four-parted, superior. Petals four. Berry one-celled, one-seeded. Willd. Eugenia caryophyllata. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 965; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 538. t. 193. This small tree is one of the most elegant of those which inhabit the sunny clime of India. It has a pyramidal form, is always green, and is adorned throughout the year with a succession of beautiful rosy flowers. The stem is of hard wood, and covered with a smooth grayish bark. The leaves are about four inches in length by two in breadth, ovate lanceolate, pointed at both ends, entire, sinuated, with many parallel veins on each side of the midrib, supported upon long footstalks, and opposite to each other upon the branches. They have a firm consistence, a shining green colour, and when bruised are highly fragrant. The flowers are disposed in terminal corymbose panicles, and exhale a strong, penetrating, and grateful odour. The natural geographical range of the clove-tree is extremely limited. It was formerly confined to the Molucca islands, in most of which it grew abun- dantly before their conquest by the Dutch. By the monopolizing policy of this commercial people, the trees were extirpated in nearly all the islands except Amboyna and Ternate, which were under their immediate inspection. Notwithstanding, however, the jealous vigilance of the Dutch, a French governor of the Isle of France and of Bourbon, named Poivre, succeeded, in the year 1770, in obtaining plants from the Moluccas, and introducing them into the colonies under his control. Five years afterwards, the clove-tree was introduced into Cayenne and the West Indies, in 1803 into the Island of Sumatra, and in 1818 into Zanzibar. It is now cultivated largely in these and other places; and commerce has ceased to depend on the Moluccas for supplies of this valuable spice. The unexpanded flower buds are the part of the plant employed under the ordinary name of cloves.* They are first gathered when the tree is about six years old. It is said that the full-blown flower and the fruit are destitute of aromatic properties. The buds are picked by the hand, or separated from the tree by long reeds, and are then quickly dried. In the Moluccas they are said to be sometimes immersed in boiling water, and afterwards exposed to smoke and artificial heat, before being spread out in the sun. In Cayenne and the West Indies they are dried simply by the solar heat. Gloves appear to have been unknown to the ancients. They were first introduced into Europe by the Arabians, and were circulated through the medium of Venetian commerce. After the discovery of the southern pas- sage to India, the trade in this spice passed into the hands of the Portu- guese; but it was subsequently wrested from them by the Dutch, by whom it was long monopolized. Within a few years, however, the extended culture of the plant has opened new sources of supply; and the commerce in cloves is no longer restricted to a single nation. The United States derive their chief supplies from the West Indies and the European colonies in Guiana. Of the average annual import, according to the custom house returns, from 1820 to 1828 inclusive, 43,240 pounds were brought from the West Indies or South America, and 12,828 from France; while from England, Holland, and the East Indies together, the amount imported was only 11,090 pounds; and as the cloves obtained from France were probably of American growth, it appears that we can receive but a very small proportion of those produced * The peduncles of the flowers have been sometimes employed. They possess the odour and taste of the cloves, though in a less degree, and furnish a considerable quantity of essential oil. The French call them griffes de girojles. 17S Caryophyllus. part i. in the Moluccas. The latter are said to be thicker, darker, heavier, more oily, and more highly aromatic than those of the colonies to which the clove-tree has been transplanted. Properties. Cloves resemble a nail in shape, are usually rather more than half an inch long, and have a round head with four spreading points beneath it. Their colour is externally deep brown, internally reddish; their odour strong and fragrant; their taste hot, pungent, aromatic, and very per- manent. The best cloves are large, heavy, brittle, and exude a small quantity of oil on being pressed or scraped with the nail. When light, soft, wrinkled, pale, and of feeble taste and smell, they are inferior. We are told that those from which the essential oil has been distilled are sometimes fraudulently mixed with the genuine. Trommsdorff obtained from 1000 parts of cloves 180 of volatile oil, 170 of astringent extractive matter, 130 of gum, 60 of resin, 280 of vegetable fibre, and 180 of water. M. Lodibert afterwards discovered a fixed oil, aromatic and of a green colour, and a white resinous substance which crystallizes in fasciculi composed of very fine diverging silky needles, without taste or smell, soluble in ether and boiling alcohol, and exhibiting no alkaline reac- tion. This substance, called by M. Bonastre caryophyllin, was found in the cloves of the Moluccas, of Bourbon, and of Barbadoes, but not in those of Cayenne. Berzelius considers it a stearoptene, and probably identical with that deposited by the oil of cloves when long kept. M. Dumas has discovered another crystalline principle, which forms in the water distilled from cloves, and is gradually deposited. Like caryophyllin, it is soluble in alcohol and ether, but differs from that substance in assuming a red colour when touched with nitric acid. M. Bonastre proposes for it the name of eugenin. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 565.) Water extracts the odour of cloves with comparatively little of their taste. All their sensible properties are im- parted to alcohol, and the tincture when evaporated leaves an excessively fiery extract, which becomes insipid when deprived of the oil by distillation with water, while the oil which comes over is mild. Hence it has been in- ferred that the pungency of this aromatic depends on a union of the essen- tial oil with the resin. For an account of the oil of cloves, see Oleum Caryophylli. Medical Properties and Uses. Cloves are among the most stimulant of the aromatics, but, like others of this class, exert less effect upon the system at large than on the part to which they are immediately applied. They are sometimes administered in substance or infusion to relieve nausea and vomiting, correct flatulence, and excite languid digestion; but their chief use is to assist or modify the action of other medicines. They enter as ingre- dients into several officinal preparations. Their dose in substance is from five to ten grains. The French Codex directs a tincture of cloves to be prepared by digest- ing for six days, and afterwards filtering, a mixture of 2 parts by weight of powdered cloves and 8 of alcohol of 32° Baume. Three ounces to the pint of rectified alcohol is a sufficiently near approximation. Off. Prep. Confectio Aromatica, Lond., Dub.; Confectio Scammonii, Lond., Dub.; Infusum Caryophylli, Lond., Dub.; Infusum Aurantii Com- positum, Lond., Dub.; Mistura Ferri Aromatica, Dub.; Spiritus Ammonise Aromaticus, Lond.; Spiritus Lavandulae Compositus, U.S., Dub.; Syrupus Rhei Aromaticus, U.S.; Vinum Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. ' W. PART I. Cascarilla. 179 CASCARILLA. U.S., Lond. Cascarilla. " Croton Eleutheria. Cortex. The bark." U.S. " Croton Cascarilla. Cortex." Lond. Off. Syn. CROTONIS ELEUTHERIjE CORTEX. Ed.; CASCA- RILLA. CROTON CASCARILLA. Cortex. Dub. Cascarille, Fr.; Cascarillrinde, Germ.; Cascariglia, Ital; Chacarila, Span. Croton. Sex. Syst. Moncecia Monadelphia.—Nat. Ord. Euphorbiaceae. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx cylindrical, five-toothed. Corolla five-petalled. Stamens ten to fifteen. Female. Calyx many-leaved. Corolla none. Styles three, bifid. Capsule three celled. Seed one. Willd. Cascarilla has been ascribed by different authors to different species of Croton. The London aud Dublin Pharmacopoeias indicate the C. Casca- rilla; those of the United States and of Edinburgh, the C. Eleutheria. Both species grow in the West Indies, and it is not impossible that the bark of both may have been sold as cascarilla; but there is reason to believe that the C. Eleutheria is at least the most abundant source of it. Croton Eleutheria. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 545; Sloane's Jamaica, vol. ii. t. 174. This species of Croton is a small tree or shrub, said by Browne to be four or five feet in height, but as seen by Dr. Wright in Jamaica, rising to twenty feet, and branching thickly towards the summit. The leaves are entire, ovate or cordate lanceolate, and elongated towards the apex, which is blunt. They are of a bright green colour upon their upper surface, and stand alternately upon short footstalks. The flowers, which are of a whitish colour, are disposed in axillary and terminal racemes. This shrub grows wild in the West Indies, especially the Bahama islands, in one of which— the small island of Eleutheria—it is found so abundantly as to have received its name from that circumstance. It is called by Browne sea-side balsam. Croton Cascarilla. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 531; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 629. t. 222. This is still smaller than the preceding species, and is called by Browne the small sea-side balsam. The stem is branched and covered with a brown bark, of which the external coat is rough and whitish. The leaves are long, very narrow, somewhat pointed, entire, of a bright green colour on the upper surface, downy and of a silvery whiteness on the under. They are placed alternately on short foot-stalks. The flowers are small, greenish, and disposed in long terminal spikes. This plant is a native of the Bahamas, has been found abundantly in Hayti, and is said also to grow in Peru and Paraguay. Browne describes it as hot and pungent to the taste. The Croton lineare of Jacquin, considered by Willdenow as a variety of the C. Cascarilla, is made a distinct species by Sprengel. It is the wild rosemary of Jamaica, and is said by Dr. Wright to have none of the sensible qualities of cascarilla. Cascarilla is brought to this market from the West Indies, and chiefly, as we have been informed, from the island of Eleutheria.* It comes in bags * In a note by Mr. Don, published in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for April 1834, the author observes; " I rather incline to the opinion of Boulduc, Spielman, and others, that the cascarilla bark is a production of the Spanish Main, for it does not appear that it ever was obtained from Jamaica, or even from the Bahama Islands." Upon inquiry from merchants engaged in the trade of drugs in Philadelphia, we have learned, that cascarilla is brought from the Bahama Islands, and that little or none comes from other places. 180 Cascarilla.—Cassia Fistula. part i. or casks. We have observed it in the shops in two forms so distinct as almost to deserve the title of varieties. In one, the bark is in rolled pieces of every size from three or four inches in length and half an inch in diameter to the smallest fragments, covered externally with a dull whitish or grayish- white epidermis, which in many portions is partially, sometimes wholly removed, leaving a dark-brown surface, while the inner surface has a choco- late colour, and the fracture is reddish-brown. The small pieces are some- times curled, but have a distinct abrupt edge as if broken from the branches. The second variety consists entirely of very small pieces not more than an jnch or two in length, very thin, without the white epidermis, not regularly quilled, but curved more or less in the direction of their length, often having a small portion of woody fibre attached to their inner surface, and presenting an appearance precisely as if shaved by a knife from the stem or branches of the shrub. Whether these two varieties are derived from distinct species, or differ only from the mode of collection, or the part of the plant from which they are taken, it is difficult to determine. May not one be the pro- duct of the C. Cascarilla, the other of the C. Eleutheria? Properties. Cascarilla has an aromatic odour, rendered much more dis- tinct by friction, and a warm, spicy, bitter taste. It is brittle, breaking with a short fracture. When burnt it emits a pleasant odour very closely resem- bling that of musk, but weaker and more agreeable. This property serves to distinguish it from all other barks. Trommsdorff found it to contain 1.6 of a greenish-yellow volatile oil, having a penetrating odour analogous to that of the bark, and the sp. gr. 0.938, 15.1 of a brown, soft, slightly bitter resin, 18.7 of bitter extractive mixed with gum and traces of muriate of potassa, and 65.6 of lignin. (Berzelius, Traite de Chim.) Either alcohol or water will partially extract its active matters; but diluted alcohol is the proper menstruum. Medical Properties and Uses. This bark is aromatic and tonic. It was known in Germany so early as the year 1690, and was much used as a sub- stitute for Peruvian bark by those who were prejudiced against this febrifuge in the treatment of remittent and intermittent fevers. It has, however, lost much of its reputation, and is now employed only where a pleasant and gently stimulant tonic is desirable; as in dyspepsia, chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, flatulent colic, and other cases of debility of the stomach or bowels. It is sometimes advantageously combined with the more powerful bitters. It may be given in powder or infusion. The dose of the former is from a scruple to half a drachm, which may be repeated several times a day. In consequence of its pleasant odour when burnt, some smokers mix it in small quantity with their tobacco; but it is said when thus employed to occasion vertigo and intoxication. Off. Prep. Extractum Cascarillae, Dub.; Infusum Cascarillae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Cascarillae, Lond., Dub. W. CASSIA FISTULA. U.S. Purging Cassia. " Cassia fistula. Willd. Cathartocarpus fistula. Persoon. Fructus. The fruit." U.S. Off. Syn. CASSIA. Cassia Fistula. Leguminum Pulpa. Lond.; CASSIiE part i. Cassia Fistula. 181 FISTULjE FRUCTUS. Ed.; CASSIA FISTULA. Pulpa leguminis. Dub. Casse, Fr.; Rohrenkassie, Germ.; Polpa di Cassia, Ital; Cana Fistula, Span. Cassia. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Leguminosae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved. Petals five. Anthers, three upper sterile, three lower beaked. Lomentum. Willd. The tree which yields the purging cassia is ranked by many botanists in a distinct genus, separated from the Cassia and denominated Cathartocarpus, of which the following is given as the essential generic character. " Calyx five-parted, deciduous. Corolla regular, of five petals. The lower fila- ments bowed. Pod long, woody, many-celled. Cells filled with pulp." Lindley, in Loud. Eneyc. of Plants. Cassia Fistula. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 518; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 445. t. 160.—Cathartocarpus Fistula. Persoon, Synops. i. 459. This is a large tree, rising to the height of forty or fifty feet, with a trunk of hard heavy wood, dividing towards the top into numerous spreading branches, and covered with a smooth ash-coloured bark. The leaves are commonly com- posed of five or six pairs of opposite leaflets, which are ovate, pointed, undulated, smooth, of a pale green colour, from three to five inches long, and supported upon short petioles. The flowers are large, of a golden yellow colour, and arranged in long pendent axillary racemes. The fruit consists of long, cylindrical, woody, dark-brown, pendulous pods, which, when agitated by the wind, strike against each other, and produce a sound that may be heard at a considerable distance. This species of Cassia is a native of Upper Egypt and India, whence it is generally supposed to have been transplanted to other parts of the world. It is at present very extensively diffused through the tropical regions of the old and new continents, being found in Insular and Continental India, Cochin China, Egypt, Nubia, the West Indies, and the warmer parts of America. The fruit is the officinal portion of the plant. It is imported from the East and West Indies, chiefly from the latter, though at present it is rare in our markets. Properties. Cassia pods are a foot or more in length, straight or but slightly curved, cylindrical, less than an inch in diameter, with a woody shell, externally of a dark brown colour, and marked with three longitudinal shining bands, extending from one end to the other, two of which are in close proximity, appearing to constitute a single band, and the third is on the opposite side of the pod. These bands mark the place of junction of the valves of the legume, and are represented as sometimes excavated in the form of furrows. There are also circular depressions at unequal distances. Internally the pod is divided into numerous cells by thin transverse plates, which are covered with a soft, black pulp. Each cell contains a single, oval, shining seed. The pods brought from the East Indies are smaller, smoother, have a blacker pulp, and are more highly esteemed than those which come from the West Indies. We have seen a quantity of pods in this market, said to have been brought from Barbary, and sold as cassia pods, which were an inch and a half in diameter, flattened on the sides, exceed- ingly rough on the outer surface, and marked by three longitudinal very elevated ridges, corresponding to the bands or furrows of the common cassia. The pulp was rather nauseous, but answered all the purposes required of the medicine. They were probably derived from a different plant. The heaviest pods, and those which do not make a rattling noise when shaken, are to be preferred, as they contain a larger portion of the pulp, which is the part employed. This should be black and shining, and have a 17 182 Cassia Fistula.—Cassia Marilandica. part t. sweet taste. It is apt to become sour if long exposed to the air, or mouldy if kept in a damp place. The pulp is extracted from the pods by first bruising them, then boiling them in water, and afterwards evaporating the decoction; or, when the pods are fresh, by opening them at the sutures, and removing the pulp by a spatula. The pulp is the portion considered officinal by the London and Dublin Colleges; but as it is the pod that is usually kept in the shops, the Edin- burgh and United States Pharmacopoeias designate the latter. Cassia pulp has a slight rather sickly odour, and a sweet mucilaginous taste. From the analysis of M. Henry it appears to contain sugar, gum, a substance analo- gous* to tannin, a colouring matter soluble in ether, traces of a principle resembling gluten, and a small quantity of water. Medical Properties and Uses. Cassia pulp is gently laxative, and may be advantageously given in small doses in cases of habitual costiveness. In quantities sufficient to purge, it occasions nausea, flatulence, and griping. In this country it is very rarely prescribed, except as an ingredient in the confection of senna, which is a highly pleasant and useful laxative prepara- tion. The dose of the pulp as a laxative is one or two drachms, as a purge one or two ounces. Off. Prep. Confectio Cassiae, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Confectio Sennae,*/..?., Lond. W. CASSIA MARILANDICA. U.S. American Senna. " Cassia Marilandica. Folia. The leaves." U. S. Cassia. See CASSIA FISTULA. Cassia Marilandica. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 524; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 116; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 137. This is an indigenous perennial plant, of vigorous growth, sending up annually numerous round, erect, nearly smooth stems, which are usually simple, and rise from three to six feet in height. The leaves are alternate, and composed of from eight to ten pairs of oblong lanceolate, smooth, mucronate leaflets, green on their upper surface, pale beneath, and connected by short petioles with the common footstalk, which is compressed, channeled above, and furnished near its base with an ovate, stipilate gland. The flowers, which are of a beautiful golden yellow colour, grow in short axillary racemes at the upper part of the stem. The calyx is composed of five oval, obtuse, unequal, yellow leaves; the corolla of the same number of spatulate, concave petals, of which three are ascend- ing, and two descending and larger than the others. The stamens are ten, with yellow filaments and brown anthers, which open by a terminal pore. The three upper stamens bear short abortive anthers; the three lowermost are long, curved, and tapering into a beak. The germ, which descends with the latter, bears an erect style terminating in a hairy stigma. The fruit is a pendulous legume, from two to four inches long, linear, curved, swelling at the seeds, somewhat hairy, and of a blackish colour. The American senna, or wild senna as it is sometimes called, is very common in all parts of the United States south ol New York, and grows naturally as far northward as the southern boundary of Massachusetts. It prefers a low moist rich soil, in the vicinity of water, and, though frequently part i. Cassia Marilandica.—Castanea. 183 found in dryer and more elevated places, grows most abundantly and luxu- riantly in the flat ground on the borders of rivers and ponds. It is some- times cultivated to the northward in gardens for medical use. In the months of July or August, when it is in full bloom, it exhibits a rich and beautiful appearance. The leaves should be collected in August, or the beginning of September, and carefully dried. They are sometimes brought into the market, compressed into oblong cakes, such as those prepared by the Shakers from most herbaceous medi- cinal plants. The leaflets are from an inch and a half to two inches long, from one quarter to half an inch in breadth, thin, pliable, and of a pale green colour. They have a feeble odour, and a nauseous taste somewhat analogous to that of senna. Water and alcohol extract their virtues. They were analyzed by Mr. Martin of Philadelphia, and found to contain a prin- ciple analogous to cathartin'm chemical properties and effects on the system, albumen, mucilage, starch, chlorophylle, yellow colouring matter, volatile oil, fatty matter, resin, and lignin, besides salts of potassa and lime. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. I. 22.) Medical Properties and Uses. American senna is an efficient and safe cathartic, closely resembling the imported senna in its action, and capable of being substituted for it in all cases in which the latter is employed. It is, however, less active; and to produce an equal effect must be administered in a dose about one-third larger. It is habitually used by many practitioners in the country. Like senna, it is most conveniently given in the form of in- fusion, and should be similarly combined in order to obviate its tendency to produce griping. W. CASTANEA. U.S. Secondary. Chinquapin. " Castanea pumila. Cortex. The bark." U. S. Castanea. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Polyandria.—Nat. Ord. Cupulifera?. Gen.Ch. Male. Ament naked. Calyx none. Corolla five-petalled. Sta- mens ten to twenty. Female. Calyx five or six-leaved, muricate. Corolla none. Germs three. Stigmas pencil-formed. Nuts three, included in the echinated calyx. Willd. Castanea pumila. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 461; Michaux, JV. Am. Sylv. iii. 15. The chinquapin is an indigenous shrub or small tree, which, in the Middle States, rarely much exceeds seven or eight feet in height; but in Ca- rolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, sometimes attains an elevation of thirty or forty feet, with a diameter of trunk equal to twelve or fifteen inches. The leaves are oblong, acute, mucronately serrate, and distinguished from those of the chestnut, which belongs to the same genus, by their whitish and downy under surface. The barren flowers are grouped upon axillary pe- duncles three or four inches long, the fertile aments are similarly disposed but less conspicuous. The fruit is spherical, covered with sharp prickles, and encloses a brown nut which is sweet and edible, but differs from the chestnut in being much smaller, and convex on both sides. The tree extends from the banks of the Delaware, southward to the Gulf of Mexico, and south-westward to the Mississippi. It is most abundant in the southern portion of this tract of country. The bark is the part used. It is astringent and tonic, and has been employed in the cure of intermit- 184 Castoreum. part i. tents; but has no peculiar virtues to recommend it, and might well be spared even from the Secondary Catalogue of the Pharmacopoeia. W. CASTOREUM. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Castor. " Castor fiber. Concretum sui generis. A peculiar concrete substance." U.S. Castor fiber. " Concretum in folliculis preeputii repertum." Lond. Castoreum, Fr.; Bibergeil, Germ.; Castoro, Ital; Castoreo, Span. In the beaver, Castor fiber of naturalists, between the anus and external genitals of both sexes, are two pairs of membranous follicles, of which the lower and larger are pear-shaped, and contain an oily, viscid, highly odorous substance, secreted by glands which lie externally to the sac. This sub- stance is called castor. After the death of the animal, the follicles contain- ing it are removed and dried either by smoke or in the sun; and in this state are brought into the market. This drug is derived either from the northern and north-western parts of the American continent, or from the Russian dominions; and is distinguished, according to its source, into the Canadian or American, and Russian castor. Of the latter but a very small portion reaches this country. That which is brought to Philadelphia is derived chiefly from Missouri. Castor comes to us in the form of solid unctuous masses, contained in sacs about two inches in length, larger at one end than at the other, much flattened and wrinkled, of a blackish colour externally, and united in pairs by the excretory ducts which connect them in the living animal. In each pair, one sac is generally larger than the other. They are divided in- ternally into numerous cells containing the castor, which, when the sacs are cut or torn open, is exhibited of a brown or reddish-brown colour, inter- mingled more or less with the whitish membrane forming the cells. Those brought from Russia are larger, fuller, heavier, and less tenacious than the American; and their contents, which are of a rusty or liver-colour, have a stronger taste and smell, and are considered more valuable as a medicine. In the castor from Missouri, the contents of the sac are sometimes almost white, and evidently of inferior quality. It is said by M. Kohli, that the Canadian castor, treated with distilled water and ammonia, affords an orange precipitate, while the matter thrown down by the Russian under similar treatment is white. According to Mr. Pereira, one of the best discriminating tests between the two varieties, is to drop a small piece into diluted muriatic acid, with which the Russian effervesces, while no effect is produced in the American. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 85.) Properties. Good castor has a strong, fetid, peculiar odour; a bitter, acrid, and nauseous taste; and a colour more or less tinged with red. It is of a softer or harder consistence according as it is more or less thoroughly dried. When perfectly desiccated, though still somewhat unctuous to the touch, it is hard, brittle, and of a resinous fracture. Its chemical constituents, accord- ing to Brandes, whose analysis is the most recent, are volatile oil; a resinous matter; albumen; a substance resembling osmazome; mucus; urate, carbo- nate, benzoate, phosphate, and sulphate of lime; acetate and muriate of soda; muriate, sulphate, and benzoate of potassa; carbonate of ammonia; membra- nous matter; and a peculiar proximate principle previously discovered by PART I. Castoreum.—Catechu. 185 M. Bizio, an Italian chemist, and called by him castorin. This principle crystallizes in long, diaphanous, fasciculated prisms, has the smell of castor, of which it is alleged to be the active constituent, and a taste like that of copper. It is insoluble in cold water and in cold alcohol; but is dissolved by one hundred parts of the latter liquid at the boiling temperature, and by the essential oils. It possesses neither alkaline nor acid properties. It may be obtained by treating castor minutely divided with six times its weight of boiling alcohol, filtering the liquor while bot, and allowing it to cool. The castorin is slowly deposited, and may be purified by the action of cold alcohol. Its claim to be considered the active principle of castor is very doubtful. Alcohol and sulphuric ether extract the virtues of castor. An infusion made with boiling water has its sensible properties in a slight degree; but the odorous principle of the drug is dissipated by decoction. The virtues of castor are impaired by age; and the change is more rapid in proportion to the elevation of temperature. Moisture promotes its speedy decomposition. In a dry cool place it may be kept for a long time without material deterioration. When quite black, with little taste or smell, it is unfit for use. A factitious preparation is sometimes sold, consisting of a mixture of various drugs, scented with genuine castor, intermingled with membrane, and stuffed into the scrotum of a goat. The fraud may be de- tected by the comparatively feeble odour, the absence of other characteristic sensible properties, and the want of the smaller follicles containing fatty matter, which are always attached to the real bags of castor. Medical Properties and Uses. Castor is moderately stimulant and anti- spasmodic. The experiments of Thouvenel prove, that in large doses it quickens the pulse, increases the heat of the skin, and produces other symp- toms of general excitement; but its force is chiefly directed to the nervous system, and in small doses it scarcely disturbs the circulation. It has also enjoyed a high reputation as an emmenagogue. It was employed by the ancients. Pliny and Dioscorides speak of it as useful in hysteria and ame- norrhcea. In Europe, especially on the continent, it is still frequently pre- scribed in low forms of fever attended with nervous symptoms, in spasmodic diseases, such as hysteria and epilepsy, in many anomalous nervous affec- tions, and in diseases dependent on or connected with suppression or retention of the menses. The practitioners of this country rarely resort to it. The dose in substance is from ten to twenty grains, which may be given in bolus, or emulsion. The tincture is sometimes employed. Off. Prep. Tinctura Castorei, U. S., Lond., Ed.; Tinctura Castorei Rossici, Dub. W. CATECHU. U.S., Lond. Catechu. 11 Acacia catechu. Extractum. T/ie extract." U. S. " Acacia Catechu. Ligni Extractum." Lond. Off Syn. ACACLE CATECHU EXTRACTUM. Ex ligno. Ed.; CATECHU. ACACIA CATECHU. Extractum ex ligno. Dub. Cachou, Fr.; Catechu, Germ.; Catecu, Catciu, Catto, Ital; Catecu, Span.; Cutt, fllw- doostanee. 17* 186 Catechu. part i. Acacia. See ACACLE GUMMI. ,,,,«, ,oo Acacia Catechu. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 1079; \\ oodv. Med. Bot.o. 133. t. 157. According to Mr. Kerr, whose description has been followed by- most subsequent writers, the Acacia Catechu is a small tree, seldom more than twelve feet in height, with a trunk one foot m diameter, dividing towards the top into many close branches, and covered with a thick, rough, brown bark. The leaves, which stand alternately upon the younger branches, are composed of from fifteen to thirty pairs of pinna; nearly two inches long, each of which is furnished with about forty pairs of linear leaflets, beset with short hairs. At the base of each pair of pinnae is a small gland upon the common footstalk. Two short, recurved spines are attached to the stem at the base of each leaf. The flowers are in close spikes, which arise from the axils of the leaves, and are about four or five inches long. The fruit is a lanceolate, compressed, smooth, brown pod, with an undulated thin margin, and contains six or eight roundish flattened seeds, which when chewed emit a nauseous odour. This species of Acacia is a native of Hindostan, where it grows abun- dantly in the provinces of Bahar and Canara. Like most others of the same genus it abounds in astringent matter, which may be extracted by decoction. Catechu is an extract from the wood of the tree. This drug had been long known in medicine before its true source was discovered. It was at first called terra Japonica, under the erroneous im- pression that it was an earthy substance derived from Japan. When ascer- tained by analysis to be of vegetable origin, it was generally considered by writers on the Materia Medica to be an extract obtained from the betel-nut, which is the fruit of a species of palm, denominated by Linnaeus Areca Catechu. The true origin of the drug was m;ide known by Mr. Kerr, assistant-surgeon of the civil hospital in Bengal, who had an opportunity not only of examining the tree from which it was obtained, but also of witness- ing the process of its extraction. According to Mr. Kerr, the manufacturer, having carefully cut off the exterior white part of the wood, reduces the interior brown or reddish-coloured portion into chips, which he then boils in water in unglazed earthen vessels, till all the soluble matter is dissolved. The decoction thus obtained is evaporated first by artificial heat, and after- wards in the sun, till it has assumed a thick consistence, when it is spread out to dry upon a mat or cloih, being, while yet soft, divided by means of a string into square or quadrangular pieces. It is probable that some differ- ence exists in the mode of its preparation. According to some authors, the unripe fruit and leaves are also submitted to decoction, and Mr. Kerr states that the areca nut may sometimes be added to the other ingredients in places where it is abundant. It is probable that what is sold as catechu in the East is derived from various sources. Dr. Duncan in his Dispensatory remarks, that many varieties have been sent to him from different parts ot India, and M. Guibourt enumerates nine different kinds which have come into his possession. (Journ. de Pharm. Decemb. 1831.) The name in the native language signifies the juice of a tree. We are informed by Dr. Ains- lie, that, in the bazaars of Lower India, two astringent extracts are sold, resembling catechu in their properties, and employed for the same purposes both by fie European aud native practitioners. They are derived from the betel-nut, (fruit of the Areca Catechu,) and are much used by the natives for chewing, mixed with the leaves of the Piper Betel, commonly called betel leaves. They are, however, never exported in any considerable quantity. Two commercial varieties of catechu are spoken of by authors; the Ben- gal catechu, procured chiefly in the province of Bahar, and shipped at Cal- PART I. Catechu. 187 cutta, and the Bombay catechu, prepared in Canara, and named from its place of export. We derive the drug directly from Calcutta, or by orders from London; and it is sold in our markets without reference to its origin. Dr. Duncan states, that the Bombay catechu is of a uniform texture and of a red-brown tint, while that from Bengal is more friable, less consistent, of a chocolate colour externally, with a mixture of chocolate and red-brown internally. Properties. Catechu, as it comes to us, is in masses of different shapes, some roundish, some flattened, some saucer-shaped, others cubical or oblong, or quite irregular, and of every grade in size, from small angular pieces, which are evidently fragments of the original cakes, to lumps which weigh nearly a pound. The colour is externally of a rusty brown, more or less dark, internally varying from a pale reddish or yellowish-brown to a dark liver colour. The extract has been distinguished into the pale and dark varieties; but there does not appear to be sufficient ground for retaining this distinction. Catechu is inodorous, with an astringent and bitter taste, which is followed by a sense of sweetness. It is brittle, and breaks with a frac- ture, which is rough in some specimens, in others uniform, resinous, and shining. That which is preferred in our market is of a dark colour, easily broken into small angular fragments, with a smooth glossy surface, bearing some resemblance to kino. Dr. A. T. Thomson observes, that the dark variety is heavier and has a more austere and bitter taste than the light. Cateehu is often mixed with sand, sticks, and other impurities. Its chief chemical constituents are tannin, extractive, and mucilage. Out of 200 parts of Bombay catechu, Sir H. Davy obtained 109 parts of tannin, 68 of extractive, 13 of mucilage, and 10 of insoluble residue. The same quantity of Bengal catechu yielded 97 of tannin, 73 of extractive, 16 of mucilage, and 14 of insoluble residue. The chemical difference between the two com- mercial varieties is of no practical importance. Catechu is almost entirely soluble in large quantities of water. Dr. Duncan states that 18 ounces at 52° are required to 100 grains of the extract, of which about -jL of earthy matter is left undissolved. The extractive is much less soluble than the astringent principle, which may be almost entirely separated from it by the frequent application of small quantities of cold water. Boiling water dis- solves the extractive matter much more readily than cold, and deposites it of a reddish-brown colour upon cooling. The infusion of catechu is of a brown colour, and affords precipitates with concentrated sulphuric and muriatic acids; with the solutions of lime, strontia, and baryta; with the salts of alumina, the nitrate of potassa, sulphate of magnesia, ferrocyanate of potassa, acetate of lead, persulphate of iron, and solutions of albumen and gelatin. The alkalies prevent its precipitation by gelatin, and the carbonates of the alkalies produce only a slight turbidness. Duncan. Medical Properties and Uses. Catechu is gently tonic, and powerfully astringent. The dark coloured has the latter property in a somewhat greater degree than the light, and is therefore usually preferred. The latter, being rather sweeter, is preferred by the Malays, Hindoos, and other Indians, who consume vast quantities of this extract by chewing it, mixed with a small proportion of lime and with aromatics, and wrapped in the leaf of the Piper Betel. Catechu may be advantageously used in most cases where astrin- gents are indicated, and, though less employed in this country than kino, is not inferior to it in medicinal virtues. The complaints to which it is best adapted are diarrhoea dependent on debility or relaxation of the intestinal exhalents, and passive hemorrhages, particularly that from the uterus. A small piece of it, held in the mouth and allowed slowly to dissolve, is an 1SS Catechu.—Centaurese Benedictae Ilerba. part i. excellent remedy in relaxation of the uvula, and the irritation of the fauces and troublesome cough which depend upon it. Applied to spongy gums, in the stale of powder, it sometimes proves useful; and it has been recom- mended as a dentifrice in combination with powdered charcoal, Peruvian bark, myrrh, &c. Sprinkled upon the suifa.-e of indolent ulcers, it is occa- sionally beneficial, and is much used in India for the same purpose mixed with other ingredients in the state of an ointment. An infusion or decoction of catechu may be used as an injection in obstinate gonorrhoea, gleet, and leucorrhcea; and we have found it highly beneficial, when thrown up the nostrils, in arresting epistaxis. The dose is from ten grains to half a drachm, which should be frequently repeated, and is best given with sugar, gum Arabic, and water. Off. Prep. Electuarium Catechu Compositum, Ed., Dub.; Infusum Catechu Compositum, Lond.; Infusum Acaciae Catechu, Ed.; Tinctura Catechu, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. CENTAUREiE BENEDICTS HERBA. Ed. Blessed Thistle. Off Syn. CENTAUREA BENEDICTA. CNICUS BENEDICTUS. Folia. Dub. Cliardon benit, Fr.; Cardobenrdikten, Germ.; Cardo santa, Ital.; Cardo bendito, Span. Centai'rea. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Frustranea.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Cinarocephalae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle bristly. Seed-down simple. Corollas of the ray funnelshaped, longer, irregular. If'illd. Centuurea benedicta. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 2315; Wood v. Med. Bot. p. 34. t. 14. The blessed thistle—carduus be-mdictus—is an annual herba- ceous plant, the stem of which is about two feet high, branching towards the t"p, and furnished with long, elliptical, rough leaves, irregularly toothed, barbed with sharp points at their edges, of a bright green colour on their upper surface, and whitish on the under. The lower leaves are deeply sinuated, and stand on footstalks; the upper are sessile, and in some measure decurrent. The flowers are yellow, and surrounded by an involucre of ten leaves, of which the five exterior are largest. The calyx is oval, woolly, and composed of several imbricated scales, terminated by rigid, pinnate, spinous points. This plant is a native of the South of Europe, and is cultivated in gardens in other parts of the world. It has become naturalized in the United States. The period of flowering is June, when its medicinal virtues are in greatest perfection. The Edinburgh College directs the whole herbaceous part of the plant; the Dublin only the leaves. It should be cut when in flower, quickly dried, and kept in a dry place. It has a feeble unpleasant odour, and an intensely bitter taste, more dis- agreeable in the fresh than the dried plant. Water" and alcohol extract its virtues. The infusion formed with cold water is a grateful bitter; the de- coction is nauseous, and offensive to the stomach. The bitterness remains in the extract, which is said to contain nitrate of potassa. Fee. Medical Properties and Uses. The blessed thistle maybe so adminis- tered as to prove tonic, diaphoretic, or emetic. The cold infusion, made with half an ounce of the leaves to a pint of water has heen employed as a PART I. Centaurium. 189 mild tonic in debilitated conditions of the stomach. A stronger infusion, taken warm while the patient is confined to bed, produces copious perspira- tion. A still stronger infusion, or the decoction, taken in large draughts, provokes vomiting, and has been used to assist the operation of emetics. The herb, however, is at present little employed, as all its beneficial effects may be obtained from chamomile. The dose of the powder as a tonic is from a scruple to a drachm, that of the infusion two fluidounces. W. CENTAURIUM. Lond. Common European Centaury. " Erythraea Centaurium." Lond. Off. Syn. CHIRONIiE CENTAURII SUMMITATES. Summitates florentes. Ed.; CENTAUREUM. ERYTHRiEA CENTAUREUM. Folia. Dub. Petite centauree, Fr.; Tausenguldcnkraut, Germ.; Centaurea minore, Ital; Centaura minor. Span. This plant, first ranked among the Gentianae, and afterwards among the Chironiae, is now placed in a new genus separated from the latter by Per- soon, and entitled Erythraea. As the Erythraea Centaurium it is recognised by the London and Dublin Colleges. Erythraea. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Gentianeae. Gen. Ch. Capsule linear. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla funnelshaped, with a short limb withering. Anthers often bursting, spiral. Stigmas two. Loudon's Encyc. Erythraea Centaurium. Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 130.— Chironia Centaurium. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1068; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 275. t. 96. This is a small, annual, herbaceous plant, rising about a foot in height, with a branching 6tem, which divides above into a dichotomous panicle, and bears opposite, sessile, ovate lanceolate, smooth, and obtusely pointed leaves. The flowers are of a beautiful rose colour, standing without peduncles in the axils of the stems, with their calyx about half as long as the tube of the corolla. The plant grows wild in most of the countries of Europe, adorning the woods and pastures, during the latter part of summer, with its pretty and delicate flowers. All the green parts of the plant have a strong bitter taste, which they im- part to water and alcohol. The flowering summits are generally preferred, though the Dublin College directs the leaves. Medical Properties and Uses. The common centaury of Europe has tonic properties very closely resembling those of gentian, with Avhich it is associated in the same natural family. It is employed on the other side of the Atlantic in dyspeptic complaints, and formerly had considerable reputa- tion in the treatment of fever. It was one of the ingredients of the Portland powder. In the United States it has been superseded by the Sabbatia angu- laris or American Centaury. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm. Another species of Erythraea—the E. Chilensis—possesses similar properties, and is employed to a considerable extent in Chili as a mild tonic. W. 190 Cera Alba.—Cera Flava. part i. CERA ALBA. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. White Wax. Cire blanche, Fr.; Weisses Wachs, Germ.; Cera bianca, Ital; Cera blanca, Span. CERA FLAVA. U.S., Ed., Dub. Yellow Wax. Off. Syn. CERA. Apis mellifica. Concretum ab ape paratum. Lond. Cire jaune, Fr.; Gelbes Wachs, Germ.; Cera giulla, Ital.; Cera amariila, Span. Wax is one of the products of the common bee, the Apis mellifica of naturalists, which constructs with it the cells of the comb in which the honey and larvae are deposited. It was at one time a doubtful point, whether the insect elaborated the wax by its own organs, or merely gathered it already formed from vegetables. The question was set at rest by Huber, who fed a swarm of bees exclusively on honey and water, and found nevertheless that they formed a comb consisting of wax. This, therefore, is a proper secretion of the insect. It is produced in the form of scales under the rings of the belly. But wax also exists in plants, bearing in this, as in other re- spects, a close analogy to the fixed oils, which are found in both kingdoms, with almost as little discoverable difference as between animal and vegetable wax. It is, however, the product of the bee only that is recognised as officinal by the Pharmacopoeias. This is directed in two forms: 1. that of yellow wax procured immediately from the comb; and 2. that of white wax prepared by depriving the former of its colour. We shall consider these separately, and shall afterwards give a brief account of vegetable wax. I. Cera Flava or Yellow Wax. This is obtained by slicing the comb taken from the hive, draining and afterwards expressing the honey, and melting the residue in boiling water, which is kept hot for some time in order to allow the impurities to separate, and either subside or be dissolved by the water. When the liquid cools the wax concretes, and, having been removed and again melted in boiling water, is strained and poured into pans or other suitable vessels. It is usually brought to market in round flat cakes of considerable thickness. The druggists of Philadelphia are supplied chiefly from the Western States and North Carolina, especially the latter, and from Cuba. Some of an inferior quality is imported from Africa. In this state wax has a yellowish colour, an agreeable somewhat aromatic odour, and a slight peculiar taste. To the touch it is rather soft and unctuous, though of a firm solid consistence and brittle. It has a granular fracture; but when cut with a knife presents a smooth glossy surface, the lustre of which is so peculiar as when met with in other bodies to be called waxy. It does not adhere to the fingers, nor to the teeth when chewed, but is soft- ened and rendered tenacious by a moderate heat. Its point of fusion is 142° F.; its specific gravity from 0.960 to 0.965. Its chemical properties will be detailed under the head of white wax. The colour, odour, and taste of yellow wax depend on some principle associated with it, but not constituting one of its e?sential ingredients. Various adulterations have been practised, most of which may be readily detected. Meal, earth, and other insoluble substances, are at the same time discovered and separated by melting and straining the wax. When the fracture is smooth and shining instead of being granular, the presence of part r. Cera Alba.—Cera Flava. 191 resin may be suspected. This is dissolved by cold alcohol, while the wax is left untouched. Tallow and suet are detected by the softness they com- municate to the wax, and its unpleasant odour when melted. Yellow wax is used in medicine chiefly as an ingredient of plasters and cerates. r 2. Cera Alba or White Wax. The colour of yellow wax is discharged by exposing it with an extended surface to the combined influence of air, light, and moisture. The process of bleaching it is carried on to a consi- derable extent in the vicinity of Philadelphia. The wax, previously melted, is made to fall in streams upon a revolving cylinder, kept constantly wet^ upon which it concretes, forming thin ribband-like layers. These, "having been removed, are spread upon linen cloths stretched on frames, and ex- posed to the air and light; care being taken to water and occasionally turn them. In a few days they are partially bleached; but to deprive the wax completely of colour it is necessary to repeat the whole process once, if not oftener. When sufficiently white it is melted and cast iuto small circular cakes, which are usually four or five inches in diameter, and about one-third of an inch in mean thickness. The colour may also be discharged by chlorine; but the wax is said to be somewhat altered. Perfectly pure wax is white, shining, diaphanous in thin layers, inodo- rous, insipid, harder and less unctuous to the touch than the yellow, soft and ductile at 95° F., and fusible at about 155°, retaining its fluidity at a lower temperature. According to Saussure, its specific gravity in the solid state is 0.966, at 178° F. 0.834, and at 201° 0.8247. By a great heat it is partly volatilized, partly decomposed; and when flame is applied to its vapour, takes fire and bums with a clear bright light. It is insoluble in water, and in cold alcohol or ether, but is slightly soluble in boiling alcohol and ether, which deposite it in great measure upon cooling. The essential and fixed oils dissolve it with facility; resin readily unites with it by fusion; and soaps are formed by the action of soda and potassa in solution. It is not affected by the acids at ordinary temperatures, but is converted into a black mass when boiled with concentrated sulphuric acid. Its ultimate constituents are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Dr. John ascertained that it consists of two distinct proximate principles, one of which he called cerin, the other myricin, the former soluble to a considerable extent in boiling alcohol and ether, and of the sp. gr. 0.969, the latter nearly insoluble in alcohol or ether, whether hot or cold, softer and more fusible than cerin, and of about the same ep.gr. as water. M. Delarnatherie succeeded in making wax artificially by the action of diluted nitric acid on olive oil. White wax has been adulterated with white lead and tallow. The former sinks to the bottom of the vessel when the wax is melted; the latter imparts to it a dull opaque appearance, and a disagreeable odour during fusion. Starch has been employed for the same purpose. It may be detected by dissolving the wax in oil of turpentine, in which starch is "insoluble. Medical Properties and Uses. Wax has little effect upon the system. Under the impression, however, that it sheathes the inflamed mucous mem- brane of the bowels, it has been occasionally prescribed in diarrhoea and dysentery; and it is mentioned by Dioscorides as a remedy in the latter com- plaint. By Poerner it is highly recommended in excoriations of the bowels, attended with pain and obstinate diarrhoea. His mode of using it is to melt the wax with oil of sweet almonds or olive oil, and while the mixture is still hot, to incorporate it by means of the yolk of an egg with some mucilagi- 192 Cera Alba.—Cera Flava. part i. nous fluid. The dose is about half a drachm, to be repeated three or four times a day. Another method is to form an emulsion by means of soap; but it is evident that this would be the most energetic ingredient of the mixture. Wax is sometimes used to fill cavities in carious teeth. Its chief employ- ment, however, is in the formation of ointments, cerates, and plasters. It is an ingredient in almost all the officinal cerates, which, indeed, owe their general title to the wax they contain. 3. Vegetable Wax. Many vegetable products contain wax, or a sub- stance closely analogous to it, as one of their constituents. It exists in the pollen of numerous plants; and forms the bloom or glaucous powder which covers certain fruits, and the coating of varnish with which leaves are some- times supplied. In some plants it exists so abundantly as to be profitably extracted for use. Such is the Ceroxyton Andicola, a lofty palm growing on the Mountain of Quindiu in the South American Andes. Upon the trunk of this tree, in the rings left by the fall of the leaves, is a coating of wax- like matter, about one-sixth of an inch thick, which is removed by the natives and employed in the manufacture of tapers. It contains, according to Vauquelin, two-thirds of a resinous substance, and one-third of pure wax. (Fee.) But the form of vegetable wax in which the druggists of this country are particularly interested, is that derived from the Myrica cerifera, and commonly called myrtle wax. (See Bigelow's Am. Med. Bot. iii. 32.) This is a dioecious, tetrandrous plant, belonging to the natural order Myriceie of Kichard and Lindley. Nuttall gives the following generic character. " Masc. Anient oblong. Calyx ovate scales. Corolla none. Fem. Flower as the male. Styles two. Drupe one-seeded." The species is distin- guished according to Michaux by its wedge-shaped lanceolate leaves, hav- ing a few serratures at top; by its barren lax aments; and its spherical, naked, distinct fruit. The M. Caroliniensis of Willd., and M. Pennsyl- vania of Lamarck, are perhaps only varieties of this species. The wax myrtle is an aromatic shrub, growing from one to twelve feet in height, and found in almost all parts of the United States from New England to Louisi- ana. The fruit, which grows in clusters closely attached to the stems and branches, is small, globular, and covered with a whitish coating of wax, which may be separated for use. Other parts of the plant are said to pos- sess medical virtues. The bark of the root is acrid and astringent, and in large doses emeiic, and has been popularly employed as a remedy in jaun- dice. (See Bigelow's Med. Bot. and Thatcher's Dispens.) The process for collecting the wax is simple. The berries are boiled in water and the wax, melting and floating on the surface, is either skimmed off and strained, or allowed to concrete as the liquor cools, and removed in the solid stale. To render it pure, it is again melted and strained, and then cast into large cakes. It is collected in New Jersey, but more abundantly in New Eng- land, particularly Rhode Island, whence it is exported to other parts of the country. Myrtle wax is of a pale grayish-green colour, somewhat diaphanous, more brittle and at the same time more unctuous to the touch than beeswax, of a feeble odour, and a slightly bitterish taste. It is about as heavy as water, and melts at 109° F. It is insoluble in water, scarcely soluble in cold alcohol, soluble, with the exception of about thirteen per cent., in twenty parts of boiling alcohol, which deposites the greater portion upon cooling, soluble also in boiling ether, and slightly so in oil of turpentine. In chemical relations it bears a close resemblance to beeswax, and consists, like that product, of cerin and myricin, containing 87 parts of the former and 13 of the latter in the 100. The green colour depends upon a distinct part !• Cerevisias Fermentum. 193 principle, which may be separated by boiling the wax with ether and allow- ing the liquid to cool. The wax is deposited colourless, while the ether remains green. It is probable that the bitter taste also depends upon a prin- ciple distinct from the wax itself. Medical Properties and Uses. This variety of wax has been popularly employed in the United States as a remedy for dysentery; and we are told by Dr. Fahnestock, that he found great advantage from its use in numerous cases during an epidemic prevalence of this complaint. He gave the pow- dered wax in doses of a teaspoonful frequently repeated, mixed with muci- lage or syrup. (Am. Journ. Med. Scien. ii. 313.) It is occasionally substituted by apothecaries for beeswax in the formation of plasters, and is used in the preparation of tapers and candles. It is somewhat fragrant when burning, but emits a less brilliant light than common lamp-oil. W. CEREVISI^E FERMENTUM. Lond., Ed., Dub. Yeast. Levure, Fr.; Bierhefen, Germ.; Fermento di cervogia, Ital; Espumade cerveza, Span. J his is the frothy substance which rises to the surface of beer while fermenting. A similar substance is always produced during the vinous fermentation of saccharine liquids; but the principles of its formation are unknown. It is flocculent, frothy, somewhat viscid, semi-fluid, of a dirty yellowish colour, a sour vinous odour, and a bitter taste. At a temperature of 60° or 70°, in a close vessel or damp atmosphere, it soon undergoes putrefaction. Exposed to a moderate heat, it loses its liquid portion, becomes dry, hard, and brittle; and may in this state be preserved for a long time. In France it is brought to the solid state by introducing it into sacs, washing it with water, then submitting it to pressure, and ultimately drying it. Yeast is insoluble in alcohol or water. It was analyzed by Westrumb, and found to contain in 15142 parts, 13 of potassa, 15 of carbonic acid, 10 of acetic acid, 45 of malic acid, 69 of lime, 240 of alcohol, 120 of extractive, 240 of mucilage, 315 of saccharine matter, 480 of gluten, 13595 of water, besides traces of silica and phosphoric acid. Its bitterness is attributable to a principle derived from the hops. The property for which it is chiefly valued is that of exciting the vinous fermentation in saccharine liquids, and the panary fermentation in various farinaceous substances. This property it owes to the azolized principle or gluten which it contains; for if separated from this constituent, it loses its powers as a ferment, and re-acquires them upon the subsequent addition of the gluten. By boiling in water it is de- prived of the property of exciting fermentation. At an elevated temperature it is decomposed, affording products similar to those which result from the decomposition of animal matters. Medical Properties and Uses. Yeast has been highly extolled as a remedy in typhoid fevers, and is said to have been given with advantage in hectic. It is, however, little employed; as its somewhat tonic and stimulant effects, ascribable to the bitter principle of hops, the alcohol, and the carbonic acid which are among its constituents, may be obtained with equal certainty from more convenient medicines. Dr. Hewson, of Philadelphia, informs 18 194 Cerevisise Fermentum.—Cetaceum. part i. us, that in a case of typhoid fever attended with great irritability of the sto- mach, the patient was benefitted and sustained by taking a pint of yeast daily for five days, during which period no other remedy was employed. When largely taken, it generally proves laxative; and it may sometimes be necessary to obviate this effect by opium. Externally applied, it is very useful in foul and sloughing ulcers, the fetor of which it corrects, while it affords a gentle stimulus to the debilitated vessels. It is usually employed mixed with farinaceous substances in the form of a cataplasm. The dose is from half a fluidounce to two fluidounces every two or three hours. Off. Prep. Cataplasma Fermenti, Lond., Dub. W. CETACEUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Spermaceti. " Physeter macrocephalus. Concretum sui generis. A peculiar con- crete substance." U.S. " Physeter Macrocephalus. Concretum inpropriis capitis cellis repertum." Lond. Off. Syn. SPERMACETI. Ex physetere macrocephalo. Ed. Blanc de baleine, Spermaceti, Cetine, Fr.; Wallrath, Germ.; Spermaceti, Ital; Es- perma de Ballena, Span. The spermaceti whale is from sixty to eighty feet in length, with an enor- mous head, not less in its largest part than thirty feet in circumference, and constituting one-third of the whole length of the body. The upper part of the head is occupied by large cavities, separated from each other by cartila- ginous partitions, and containing an oily liquid, which, after the death of the animal, concretes into a white unctuous spongy mass, consisting of the proper spermaceti mixed with oil. This mass is removed from the cavities, and the oil allowed to separate by draining. The quantity of crude sperma- ceti thus obtained from a whale of the ordinary size, is more than sufficient to fill twelve large barrels. It still, however, contains much oily matter and other impurities, from which it is freed by expression, washing with hot water, melting, straining, and lastly by repeated washing with a weak boiling ley of potash. The common whale oil, and the oil of other cetaceous ani- mals, contain small quantities of spermaceti, which they slowly deposite on long standing. In the last edition of the United States Pharmacapoeia, the example of the London College has been followed in substituting, for the former inaccurate title, the more appropriate and less inelegant appellation of cetaceum. Spermaceti is in white, pearly, semitransparent masses, of a crystalline foliaceous texture; friable, soft and somewhat unctuous to the touch; slightly odorous; insipid; of the sp. gr. 0.943; fusible at 112° F. (Bostock); volati- lizable at a higher temperature without change in vacuo, but partially decomposed if the air is admitted; inflammable; insoluble in water; soluble in small proportion in boiling alcohol, ether, and oil of turpentine, but preci- pitated as the liquids cool; readily soluble in the fixed oils; forming an im- perfect soap when heated with the pure alkalies, by which it is converted into the margaric and oleic acids, and a peculiar substance named ethal by Chevreul; not affected by the mineral acids, except the sulphuric, which decomposes and dissolves it; rendered yellowish and rancid by long expo- sure to hot air, but capable of being again purified by washing with a warm PART I. Cetaceum.—Chenopodium. 195 ley of potash. By Fourcroy, spermaceti was supposed to be identical with adipocire, but Chevreul proved it to be a distinct principle, and proposed for it the name of cetin, which has been adopted in France. As found in the shops it is not entirely pure, containing a fixed oil, and often a peculiar colouring principle. From these it is separated by boiling in alcohol, which on cooling deposites the cetin in crystalline scales. In this state it does not melt under 120° F., is insoluble in 40 parts of alcohol of the sp. gr. 0.821 (Thenard), and is harder, more shining, and less unctuous to the touch than ordinary spermaceti. The ultimate constituents of spermaceti are, according to Berard, carbon 81, oxygen 6, hydrogen 13, in- 100 parts; according to Saussure, carbon 75.074, hydrogen 12.795, oxygen 11.377, and nitrogen 0.354. Medical Properties and Uses. Like the fixed oils, spermaceti has been given as a demulcent in irritations of the pulmonary and intestinal mucous membranes; but it possesses no peculiar virtues, and its internal use has been generally abandoned. It may be reduced to powder by the addition of a little alcohol or almond oil, or suspended in water by means of mucilage or the yolk of eggs and sugar. Externally it is much employed as an ingre- dient of ointments and cerates. Off. Prep. Ceratum Cetacei, U. S., Lond.; Ceratum Simplex, Ed.; Un- guentum Cetacei, Lond., Dub. W. CHENOPODIUM. U.S. Wormseed. " Chenopodium anthelminticum. Semina. The seeds." U.S. Chenopodium. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Cheno- podeae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved, five-cornered. Corolla none. Seed one, lenticular, superior. Willd. Chenopodium anthelminticum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1304; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 183. This is an indigenous perennial plant, with an herbaceous, erect, branching, furrowed stem, which rises from two to five feet in height. The leaves are alternate or scattered, sessile, oblong lanceolate, attenuated at both ends, sinuated and toothed on the margin, conspicuously veined, of a yellowish-green colour, and dotted on their under surface. The flowers are very numerous, small, of the same colour with the leaves, and arranged in long, leafless, terminal panicles, which are composed of slender, dense, glomerate, alternating spikes. This species of Chenopodium, known commonly by the name of worm- seed, and Jerusalem oak, grows in almost all parts of the United States, but most vigorously and abundantly in the southern section. It is usually found in the vicinity of rubbish, along fences, in the streets of villages, and in the commons about the larger towns. It flowers from July to September, and ripens its seeds successively through the autumn. The whole herb has a strong, peculiar, offensive, yet somewhat aromatic odour, which it retains when dried. All parts of the plant are occasionally employed; but the seeds only are strictly officinal. These should be collected in October. As found in the shops, they are small, not larger than the head of a pin, irregularly spherical, very light, of a dull, greenish-yellow or brownish 196 Chenopodium.—Chimaphila. part i. colour, a bitterish, somewhat aromatic, pungent taste, and possessed in a high degree of the peculiar smell of the plant. When deprived, by rubbing them in the hand, of a capsular covering which invests them, they present a shining surface of a very dark colour. They abound in a volatile oil, upon which their sensible properties and medical virtues depend, and which is obtained separate by distillation. (See Oleum Chenopodii.) The same oil impregnates to a greater or less extent the whole plant. The seeds of the Chenopodium ambrosioides, which is also an indigenous plant, and very prevalent in the Middle States, are said to be used indiscri- minately with those of the C. anthelminticum. They may be distinguished by their odour, which is weaker and less offensive, and to some persons agreeable. The plant itself is often confounded with the true wormseed, from which it differs in having its flowers in leafy racemes. This species of Chenopodium has been employed in Europe as a remedy in nervous affections, particularly chorea. Five or six cases of this disease, reported by Plenk, yielded, after having resisted the ordinary means, to the daily use of an infusion of two drachms of the plant in ten ounces of water, taken in the dose of a cupful morning and evening, and associated with the em- ployment of peppermint. (Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med.) The C. Botrys, which is also known by the vulgar name of Jerusalem oak, is another indigenous species, possessing anthelmintic virtues. The plant is said to have been used in France with advantage as a pectoral in catarrh and humoral asthma. Medical Properties and Uses. Wormseed is one of our most efficient indigenous anthelmintics, and is thought to be particularly adapted to the expulsion of lumbrici in children. A dose of it is usually given before breakfast in the morning, and at bed time in the evening, for three or four days successively, and then followed by calomel or some other brisk cathar- tic. If the worms are not expelled, the same plan is repeated. The seeds are most conveniently administered in powder, mixed with syrup in the form of an electuary. The dose Tor a child two or three years old, is from one to two scruples. The volatile oil is perhaps more frequently given than the seeds in sub- stance, though its offensive odour and taste sometimes render it of difficult administration. The dose for a child is from five to ten drops, mixed with sugar, or in the form of emulsion. A tablespoonful of the expressed juice of the leaves, or a wineglassful of a decoction prepared by boiling an ounce of the fresh plaut in a pint of milk, with the addition of orange-peel or other aromatic, is sometimes sub- stituted in domestic practice for the ordinary dose of the seeds and oil. W. CHIMAPHILA. U.S., Lond. Pipsissewa. " Chimaphila umbellata. Barton. Pyrola umbellata, Bigelow. Herba. The herb." U. S. " Chimaphila corymbosa. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. PYROLA UMBELLATA. Herba. Dub. Chimaphila. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Pyroleae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-toothed. Petals five. Style very short, immersed in the germ. Stigma annular, orbicular, with a five-lobed disk. Filaments PART I. Chimaphila. 197 stipitate; stipe discoid, ciliate. Capsules five-celled, opening from the sum- mits, margins unconnected. Nuttall. This genus was separated from the Pyrola by Pursh, and is now admitted by most botanical writers. It embraces two species, the C. umbellata and C. maculata, which are both indigenous, and known throughout the country by the common title of winter green. The generic title was founded upon the vulgar name of the plants. It is formed of two Greek words, ^tt/ta winter, and $aoj a friend. The C. umbellata only is officinal. Chimaphila umbellata. Barton, Med. Bot. i. 17.—Pyrola umbellata. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 622; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 15. The pipsissewa is a small evergreen plant, with a perennial, creeping, yellowish root, which gives rise to several simple, erect or semi-procumbent stems, from four to eight inches in height, and ligneous at their base. The leaves are wedge- shaped, somewhat lanceolate, serrate, coriaceous, smooth, of a shining sap- green colour on the upper surface, paler beneath, and supported upon short footstalks, in irregular whorls, of which there are usually two on the same stem. The flowers are disposed in a small terminal corymb, and stand upon nodding peduncles. The calyx is small, and divided at its border into five teeth or segments. The corolla is composed of five roundish, concave, spreading petals, which are of a white colour tinged with red, and exhale an agreeble odour. The stamens are ten, with filaments shorter than the petals, and with large, nodding, bifurcated, purple anthers. The germ is globular and depressed, supporting a thick and apparently sessile stigma, the style being short and immersed in the germ. The seeds are numerous, linear, chaffy, and enclosed in a roundish, depressed, five-celled, five-valved capsule, having the persistent calyx at the base. This humble but beautiful evergreen is a native of the northern latitudes of America, Europe, and Asia. It is found in all parts of the United States, and extends even to the Pacific ocean. It grows under the shade of woods, and prefers a loose sandy soil, enriched by decaying leaves. The flowers appear in June and July. All parts of the plant are endowed with active properties. The leaves and stems are kept in the shops. The C. maculata, or spotted winter green, probably possesses similar virtues with the C. umbellata. The character of the leaves of the two plants will serve to distinguish them. Those of the C. maculata are lanceo- late, rounded at the base, where they are broader than near the summit, and of a deep olive green colour, veined with greenish white; those of the officinal species are broadest near the summit, gradually narrowing to the base, and of a uniform shining green. In drying, with exposure to light, the colour fades very much, though it still retains a greenish hue. Pipsissewa, when fresh and bruised, exhales a peculiar odour. The taste of the leaves is pleasantly bitter, astringent, and sweetish; that of the stems and root unites with these qualities a considerable degree of pungency. Boiling water extracts the active properties of the plant, which are also imparted to alcohol. The constituents, so far as ascertained, are bitter extractive, tannin, resin, gum, lignin, and saline matters. The active prin- ciple has not yet been isolated, though it probably exists in the substance called bitter extractive. Medical Properties and Uses. This plant is diuretic, tonic, and astrin- gent. It was employed by the aborigines in various complaints, especially scrofula, rheumatism, and nephritic affections. From their hands it passed into those of the European settlers, and was long a popular remedy in cer- tain parts of the country, before it was adopted by the profession. The first regular treatise in relation to it that has come to our knowledge, was 18* 19S Chimaphila.—Cimicifuga. part i. the thesis of Dr. Mitchell, published in the year 1803; but little was thought of it till the appearance of the paper of Dr. Sommerville, in the 5th vol. of the London Medico-Chirurgical Transactions. By this writer it was highly recommended as a remedy in dropsy; and his favourable report has been sustained by the subsequent statements of many respectable practitioners. It is particularly useful in cases attended with disordered digestion and gene- ral debility, in which its tonic properties and general acceptability to the stomach prove highly useful auxiliaries to its diuretic powers. Neverthe- less, it cannot be relied on exclusively in the treatment of the complaint; for though it generally produces an increased flow of urine, it has seldom effected cures. Other disorders, in which it is said to have proved useful, are calculous and nephritic affections, and in general all those complaints of the urinary passages for which uva ursi is prescribed. It is very highly esteemed by some practitioners as a remedy in scrofula, both before and after the occurrence of ulceration; and it has certainly proved highly advantageous in certain obstinate ill-conditioned ulcers and cutaneous eruptions, supposed to be connected with a strumous diathesis. In these cases it is used both internally, and locally as a wash. The decoction is the preparation usually preferred. It is made by boil- ing two ounces of the fresh bruised leaves with three pints of water to a quart, and given to the amount of a pint in twenty-four hours. The watery extract may be given in the dose of twenty or thirty grains four times a day. Off. Prep. Decoctum Chimaphilae, Lond., Dub. W. CIMICIFUGA. U. S. Secondary. Black Snakeroot. " Cimicifuga racemosa. Nuttall. Cimicifuga serpentaria. Pursh. Radix. The root." U.S. Cimicifuga. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Di-Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Ranun- culaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx four or five-leaved. Petals four to eight, deformed, thickish, sometimes wanting. Capsules one to five, oblong, many -seeded. Seeds squamose. Nuttall. Cimicifuga racemosa. Torrey, Flor. 219.—C. serpentaria. Pursh, Flor. Am. Sept. p. 372.—Actaea racemosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1139.—Macrotys racemosa. Eaton's Manual, p. 288. This is a tall, stately plant, having a perennial root, and a simple herbaceous stem, which rises from four to eight feet in height. The leaves are large, and ternately decomposed, consisting of oblong ovate leaflets, incised and toothed at their edges. The flowers are small, white, and disposed in a long, terminal, wandlike raceme, with occasionally one or two shorter racemes near its base. The calyx is white, four-leaved, and deciduous; the petals are minute, and shorter than the sta- mens; the pistil consists of an oval germ and a sessile stigma. The fruit is an ovate capsule containing numerous flat seeds. The black snake-root or cohosh, as this plant is sometimes called, is a native of the United States, growing in shady and rocky woods, from Cana- da to Florida, and flowering in June and July. The root is the part em- ployed. PART I. Cimicifuga.— Cinchona. •199 This, as found in the shops, consists of a thick, irregularly bent or con- torted body or caudex, from one-third of an inch to an inch in thickness, often several inches in length, furnished with many slender radicles, and rendered exceedingly rough and jagged in appearance by the remains of the stems of successive years, which to the length of an inch or more are fre- quently attached to the root. The colour is externally dark brown, almost black, internally whitish; the odour is feeble; the taste bitter, herbaceous, and somewhat astringent, leaving a slight sense of acrimony. The root yields its virtues to boiling water. It was found by Mr. Tilghman, of Philadel- phia, to contain gum, starch, sugar, resin, wax, fatty matter, tannin and gallic acid, a black colouring matter, a green colouring matter, lignin and salts of potassa, lime, magnesia, and iron. (Journ. of Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 20.) Medical Properties and Uses. Cimicifuga unites, with a tonic power, the property of stimulating the secretions, particularly those of the skin, kidneys, and pulmonary mucous membrane. It is thought also by some to have a particular affinity for the uterus, and probably exerts some influence over the nervous system, of a nature not exactly understood. Its common name was probably derived from its supposed power of curing the disease arising from the bite of the rattlesnake. Till recently, it has been employed chiefly in domestic practice as a remedy in rheumatism, dropsy, hysteria, and various affections of the lungs, particularly those resembling consumption. Several cases of chorea are recorded by Dr. Jesse Young, in which it is said to have effected cures; and the editor of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences states, that he was informed by Dr. Physick that he had known it, in the dose of ten grains every two hours, prove successful in the cure of this complaint in several instances. In the cases recorded by Dr. Young, the powdered root was given in the quantity of a teaspoonful three times a day. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sciences, ix. 310.) We have administered this medicine in a case of chorea, which rapidly recovered under its use after the failure of purgatives and metallic tonics; and have also derived the happiest effects from it in a case of convulsions, occurring periodically, and connected with uterine disorder. It is usually administered in the form of decoction. An ounce of the bruised root may be boiled for a short time in a pint of water, and one or two fluidounces given for a dose several times a day. W. CINCHONA. U.S. Peruvian Bark. CINCHONA FLAVA, Yellow Bark. CINCHONA PAL- LIDA, Pale Bark. CINCHONA RUBRA, Red Bark. " Cinchona lancifolia et aliae. Cortex. The bark." U. S. Off. Sun. CINCHONA CORDIFOLIA. Cinchona cordifolia. Cortex. CINCHONA LANCIFOLIA. Cinchona lancifolia. Cortex. CINCHO- NA OBLONGIFOLIA. Cinchona oblongifolia. Cortex. Lond. C1NCHON.E CORDIFOLLE CORTEX. Cortex Cinchonae flavus.— CINCHONiE LANCIFOLIiE CORTEX. Cortex Cinchonae commu- nis.—CTNCHON.E OBLONGIFOLLE CORTEX. Cortex Cinchonae ruber. Ed. CINCHONA CORDIFOLIA. Cortex. Cinchona flava.—CINCHO- 200 Cinchona. part i. NA LANCIFOLIA. Cortex. Cinchona officinalis.—CINCHONA OB- LONGIFOLIA. Cortex. Cinchona rubra. Dub. Quinquina, Fr.; China, Peruvianische Rinde, Germ.; China, Ital; Quina, Span. The great importance of Peruvian bark, and the extraordinary degree of attention which it has received, as well from naturalists as from physicians and pharmaceutists, entitle it to a fuller consideration, than, in accordance with the plan of this work, can be given to most other articles of the Ma- teria Medica. Our remarks, therefore, on this subject, will be more than usually extensive; and will embrace many particulars in relation to the natural and commercial history of the drug, which, though not absolutely essential to the full understanding of its properties, are possessed of interest for the inquiring mind, and may lead to useful practical results. Botanical History. Though the use of Peruvian bark was introduced into Europe so early as 1640, it was not till the year 1737 that the plant which produced it was known to naturalists. In that year, La Condamine, one of the French Academicians who were sent to South America to make observations rela- tive to the figure of the earth, on his journey to Lima, through the province of Loxa, had an opportunity of examining the tree, of which, upon his return, he published a description in the Memoirs of the Academy. Soon afterwards Linnaeus gave it the name of Cinchona officinalis, in honour of the Countess of Cinchon, who is said to have first taken it to Europe; but, in his description of the plant, he is stated by Humboldt to have united the species discovered by La Condamine with the C. pubescens, a specimen of which had been sent him from Santa Fe de Bogota. For a long time botanists were ignorant that more than one species of this genus existed; and the C. officinalis continued, till a comparatively recent date, to be recognised by the Pharmacopoeias as the only source of the Peruvian bark of commerce. A plant was at length discovered in Jamaica, having the generic characters of the Cinchona as then established, and received the title of C. Caribssa. Analogous species were afterwards met with in various parts of the West Indies; Forster found one in the island of Tongataboo in the South Pacific, Roxburgh another on the Coromandel coast of Hindostan, Nee a third in the Philippines; many new species were discovered in various parts of New-Granada and Peru by Mutis, Zea, Ruiz and Pavon, Humboldt and Bonpland, and Tafalla; several Brazilian plants appeared to certain botanists worthy of ranking in the same genus; and even the southern portion of our own country, and the distant isles of Bourbon and Mauritius, were made to burthen with their productions the already greatly overloaded catalogue. Not less than forty-six different plants have by various authors been brought under the genus Cinchona; and the number would be greatly augmented, were we to admit as distinct species all the varieties for which this rank is claimed by one or another botanist. But in thus throwing together the productions of so many and such distant climates, botanists compelled an association which nature never intended, which many authors indeed have never admitted, and, which is now dissolved by universal consent. Accord- ing to De Candolle, there exists sufficient ground for distributing these vari- ous species into at least eight genera; viz. Cinchona, Buena, Remijia, Exostemma, Pinckneya, Hymenodyction, Luculia, and Danais. These genera all belong to the Class and Order Pentandria Monogynia; Nat. Ord. Rubiaceae, Juss., tribe Cinchonaceae, and undertribe Cinchoneae of De Candolle. The Cinchona is confined exclusively to New Granada, Peru, PART I. Cinchona. 201 and Bolivia. The Buena includes two Peruvian and one Brazilian species, the former of which, before their change of name, were designated as the Cinchona acuminata, and C, obtusifolia. The genus Remijia was estab- lished by De Candolle, and embraces three shrubs of Brazil, which were ascribed by Aug. de St. Hilaire to the Cinchona, and the bark of which is used as a febrifuge by the natives of the country. To the Exostemma be- long the West India species, of which there are not less than nine, formerly known as the Cinchona Caribaea, C.floribunda, &c. To the same genus belong the former Cinchona Philippica of the Philippine islands, the C. corymbifera of Tongataboo, four species indigenous to Peru, and two dis- covered by M. de St. Hilaire in Brazil. The Pinckneya consists of a single species, inhabiting Georgia and South Carolina, discovered by Mi- chaux the elder, and described in some botanical works by the name of Cinchona Caroliniana. The Uymenodyction is an East India genus, in- cluding the Cinchona excelsa of Roxburgh, found on the Coromandel coast. The Luculia, of which there is but one species—the Cinchona gralissima of Roxburgh's Flora Indica—inhabits the mountains of Nepaul. The Danais embraces the Cinchona Afro-Inda of Willem., growing in the Isle of France. Of these various genera, the Cinchona, Buena or Cosmibuena of Ruiz and Pavon, and the Exostemma, have been most generally con- founded. The last, however, is decidedly distinguished by the projection of the stamens beyond the corolla, a character expressed in the name of the genus. The two former are still frequently combined by scientific writers. The Buena was originally suggested as a distinct genus by Ruiz and Pavon, has been recognised by De Candolle and some other authors, and appears to be sufficiently characterized. Its chief peculiarities are the shape of the corolla, the separation of the calyx from the fruit at maturity, and the open- ing of the capsule from above downwards. We have briefly noticed these genera, which have at various times been confounded with the true Cin- chona, because the barks of some of them have been occasionally substituted in pharmacy for the genuine febrifuge of Peru. We shall now proceed to consider the proper Cinchona. Cinchona. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Cinchonaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx with the tube turbinate, the limb five-cleft, persistent. Corolla with the tube terete, and the limb divided into five oblong lobes. Stamens five; filaments short and inserted in the middle of the tube; anthers linear, entirely included. Stigma bifid, somewhat club-shaped. Capsule ovate or oblong, marked with a furrow on each side, two-celled, crowned with the calyx, opening from below upwards. Seeds numerous, erect, im- bricated upwards, compressed, furnished with a membranous margin. The plants composing this genus are trees or shrubs. The leaves are opposite, upon short petioles, with flat margins, and are attended with ovate or oblong, foliaceous, free, deciduous stipules. The flowers are terminal, in corymbose panicles, and of a white or purplish rose colour. De Candolle. It has been stated that the genuine cinchona trees are confined exclusively to the continent of South America. Within these limits, however, they are very widely diffused, extending from La Paz, in the former vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres, to the mountainous regions of Santa Martha on the northern coast. Those which yield the bark of commerce grow at various elevations upon the Andes, seldom less than 4000 feet above the level of the sea; and require a temperature considerably lower than that which usually prevails in tropical countries. There appears to have been much difficulty in arranging the plants be- longing to this genus into their appropriate species; and botanists have not 202 Cinchona. part i. only differed among themselves on this point, but have in some instances exhibited a degree of excitement unbecoming the dignity of science. Ruiz and Pavon, in the Flora Peruviana, describe thirteen new species, while Mutis reduced the number to seven, and Professor Zea has attempted to prove, that almost all the efficacious species of Ruiz and Pavon are reducible to the four described by Mutis in the year 1793, in the Literary News of Santa Fe de Bogota. It appears from the best testimony, that the number of the species has been unnecessarily augmented by certain botanists; mere fugi- tive differences, depending on peculiarities of situation or growth, having been exaggerated into permanent characteristics. One source of the difficulty of a proper discrimination is stated by Humboldt to be the varying shape of the leaves of the same species, according to the degree of elevation upon the mountainous declivities, to the severity or mildness of the climate, the greater or less humidity of the soil, and to various circumstances in the growth of individual plants. Even the same tree often produces foliage of a diversified character; and a person not aware of this fact, might be led to imagine that he had discovered different species from an examination of the leaves which have grown upon one and thesame branch. The fructification partakes, to a certain extent, of the same varying character; and the difficulty is thus still further augmented. Lambert, in his " Illustration of the genus Cinchona," published in the year 1821, after admitting with Humboldt the identity of several varieties which had received specific names from other botanists, describes nineteen species, exclusive of the two Peruvian Buense. De Candolle enumerates only sixteen well ascertained species. In the present state of our knowledge, it is impossible to decide from which species of Cinchona the several varieties of bark are respectively de- rived. The former references of the yellow bark to the C. cordifolia, of the pale to the C. lancifolia, and of the red to the C. oblongifolia, have been very properly abandoned in the last edition -of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, though still retained in those of Great Britain. We shall have occasion here- after to show, that the valuable barks which are now known in the market by these titles, are, at least in two of the three instances, not the product of the species to which they have been ascribed. It is stated by Humboldt, that the property of curing agues belongs to the barks of all the cinchonas with hairy and woolly blossoms, and to those alone. In Lambert's catalogue this division includes seventeen species. We shall notice the most promi- nent, mentioning also the synonymes employed by different authors. In relation to two of the species—C. Conclaminea and C. lancifolia—not a little difference of opinion has existed. The name lancifolia was applied by Mutis to a tree, first noticed by himself, which flourishes in the neigh- bourhood of Santa Fe de Bogota, and the bark of which is known at that place by the title of cascarilla naranjanda, or orange-coloured bark. From specimens which he received of the Cinchona originally observed by Con- damine, from which the celebrated Cascarilla fina de Uritusinga was de- rived, he was induced to consider this tree as identical with the C. lancifolia. But Loxa, in the vicinity of which this fine bark is collected, is separated from Bogota, the residence of Mutis and the locality of his C. lancifolia, by no less than eight degrees of latitude, and was never visited by this botanist; so that he had no opportunity of personally inspecting the plant in its natural state. While Mutis, five hundred miles to the north of Loxa, was thus identifying the cascarilla fina with his own cascarilla naranjanda, Ruiz was claiming for his C. nitida, which grows at an almost equal distance to the south of that place, the honour of being the plant seen and described by La Conda- PART I. Cinchona. 203 mine. But Ruiz also laboured under the disadvantage of never having visited Loxa, and like Mutis was compelled to form his opinion upon uncer- tain grounds. Humboldt and Bonpland, who were themselves in that neigh- bourhood, and had the opportunity of personally inspecting the tree in its native forests, assert that it is neither the lancifolia of Mutis nor the nitida of Ruiz and Pavon—plants which have since been satisfactorily ascertained to be identical—but a distinct species never before accurately described, which they name, in honour of its first observer, Condaminea. Lambert, however, gives his opinion in favour of Mutis, stating that the scrobiculi on the leaves, which Bonpland regarded as a permanent differential character, are found more or less numerous in all the species of the genus. Much weight is due to the opinion of this botanist, as he had specimens of both plants before him. Dr. A. T. Thomson in his Dispensatory states, that the C. Condaminea, if not precisely the same with the C. lancifolia, is evidently a variety of that species; and M. Guibourt, in a report presented to the Society of Pharmacy at Paris, coincides with Lambert. If this opinion can be relied on, the C. lancifolia would appear to be very widely spread over the mountainous regions of New Granada and Peru; for Bogota, where it was found by Mutis, is between 4° and 5° of north latitude; while the forests of Huamalies and Xauxa, where the C. nitida of Ruiz and Pavon, now ac- knowledged to be identical with it, was observed, are from 10° to 12° south of the equator; and the C. Condaminea occupies an intervening station between these two extremes. To this species are also reduced, by the best authors, the C. glabra and the C. angustifolia of the Quinologia of Ruiz, and the C. lanceolata of the Flora Peruviana. But giving its due weight to the authority of Mutis, supported by the botanists who have been mentioned, it is impossible not to hesitate, unless with ampler means of forming a correct opinion than we are at present possessed of, in pronouncing Humboldt and Bonpland to have been mistaken; for these celebrated travellers, from their abundant opportunities of personal inspection, from their access to all the knowledge of their predecessors, and from their high scientific qualifications and habits of observation, are indisputably among the first authorities at pre- sent existing on the subject of the natural history of the Cinchona. In the remarks, therefore, which follow, the C. Condaminea of Humboldt and Bonpland, and the C. lancifolia of Mutis, will be considered separately, without any decided opinion being pronounced as to the identity of their botanical characters. It is proper, in the present place, to observe, that the causes which tend to perplex botanists in arranging the different species of the genus Cinchona, are particularly applicable to the individual case before us; as, in the language of Humboldt, " the C. Condaminea varies amazingly in its leaves." 1. C. Condaminea. Humb. et Bonpl. PI. Equin. i. p. 33.1.10; De Cand. Prodrom. iv. 352. This tree, when full grown, has a stem about eighteen feet high and a foot in thickness, with branches arranged in opposite pairs, of which the lower are horizontal, and the higher rise upwards at their extremi- ties. The bark of the trunk is of an ash-gray-colour, with clefts or fissures, and yields on incision a bitter astringent juice; that of the small branches has a greenish hue, is smooth and glossy, and easily separable from the wood. The leaves are oblong, generally when full grown about four inches in length by less than two in breadth, acuminate at both extremities, of a shining lively green colour, and furnished with glands upon their upper surface, with corresponding scrobiculi or depressions upon the under. In very young plants they are much broader in proportion to their length; and it is an observation of Humboldt, that the older the tree, the narrower is the 204 Cinchona. part I. leaf. The corolla has a rose-coloured tube, and a woolly border, snow white upon its upper surface. The capsules are ovate, and twice as long as they are broad. The tree grows under the fourth degree of south latitude, on the declivities of the mountains, at an elevation of from about one mile to a mile and a half, and in a mean temperature of 67° of Fahrenheit. It is confined to the neighbourhood of Loxa, and produces the variety of bark commonly known by the name of crown bark of Loxa. 2. C. lancifolia. Mutis, Period, de Santa Fe,y. 465; De Cand. Prodrom. iv. 352.—C. nitida. Ruiz and Pavon, Fl. Peruv. ii. 50. t. 191.—C. lanceo- lata. Ibid. iii. 1. t. 223.—C. angustifolia. Ruiz, Quinolog. Suppl. p. 14. The variety of this species discovered by Mutis in New Granada is a very handsome tree, from thirty to forty-five feet in height, with a trunk from one to four feet in diameter. The leaves are obovate lanceolate, very smooth on both sides, and without glands; the flowers are in large brachiate panicles; the corolla is silky externally; and the capsules are oblong, smooth, and of a length five times greater than their breadth. The tree is quite soli- tary, never clustering like other Cinchona? of the same neighbourhood, which are often so crowded together as to form almost closely connected shrubbe- ries. This solitary character appears to pertain to all the more valuable species, and has led to their scarcity in the regions where bark has been long collected. When a tree has been felled, no suckers, as in the inferior species, arise from the roots, and assist to propagate the plant. Perhaps the superiority in size of the full grown C. lancifolia of Mutis over the C. Condaminea as described by Humboldt, is attributable to the fact, that the bark has been gathered in Loxa from the earliest periods of its uses as a medicine, while in New Granada, the commerce in the drug is compara- tively of recent date. The C. lancifolia requires a colder climate than the C. Condaminea, growing between the fourth and fifth degrees of north lati- tude, at an elevation upon the mountains of from 4500 to near 10,000 feet, and in a mean temperature of 61° of Fahrenheit. In the highest situations in which it is found, the thermometer often sinks to 50°, and in the nights is sometimes at the freezing point. Judging from the botanical characters of this species as given by Mutis, it scarcely differs from the C. Condaminea, unless we consider the absence of glands upon the leaves as sufficiently distinctive. That it yields the same kind of bark is to be inferred from the fact, that the Cascarilla fina de Uritusinga or Crown bark of Loxa, ad- mitted to be the product of the O. Condaminea, was considered by the experienced Mutis as identical with the cascarilla naranjanda, derived from his C. lancifolia; while Ruiz and Pavon, without any communication with Mutis, and at the distance of nearly a thousand miles, claimed a simi- lar identity for the bark of their C. nitida, now generally acknowledged to be the same tree with the C. lancifolia. The Crown bark of Loxa is uni- versally ranked among the pale barks, while that of the C. lancifolia, growing near Bogota, is called orange coloured; and this difference of title might appear to indicate a difference in their nature; but the difficulty vanishes when we consider, that the latter name was derived from the colour of the internal surface of the bark, the former from that of the powder; and that the pale barks are orange coloured in their natural state. It is probable that much of the pale bark of commerce is derived from varieties of the C. lancifolia. 3. C. cordifolia. Mutis, ex Humb. Magaz. Berlin, 1807, p. 117; Lambert, Illustration, j-c, 1821, p. 4. This is a spreading tree, fifteen or twenty feet high, rising on a single erect round stem, which is covered with a smooth bark of a brownish-gray colour. The smaller branches have a PART I. Cinchona. 205 lighter coloured bark, and are covered with a fine down. The leaves vary much in form; but some of a heart-shape are to be found on almost every branch, and have given origin to the name of the species. They are usually roundish, ovate, about nine inches long, smooth and shining on the upper surface, ribbed and pubescent on the under. The down upon the leaves and smaller branches has given rise to the name of velvet bark, by which the tree is known to the common people of New Granada. The flowers are in spreading, brachiate, pubescent panicles. The teeth of the calyx are round- ish, and somewhat mucronate. The capsules are ovate, oblong, cylindrical, and without ribs. This species was first described by Mutis, who found it in the mountains about Santa Fe de Bogota; and it is said to flourish also in those of Loxa, Cuenca, and the ancient kingdom of Quito. Like the other medicinal spe- cies, it grows in the elevated plains, and on the declivities of the Andes, at heights varying from 5800 to 9500 feet. In the British Pharmacopoeias, the C. cordifolia is recognised as the source of the officinal yellow bark. It undoubtedly produces the variety known to the Spaniards as the quina amarilla, or yellow bark of Santa Fe; but this is by no means the product which circulates in the commerce of this country, England, and France, by the name of yellow bark or Calisaya bark, and which is so largely consumed in the manufacture of the sulphate of quinia. This will be rendered obvious at once by the statement, that the valuable yellow or Calisaya bark is derived exclusively from the western coast of South America on the Pacific; while the C. cordifolia of Mutis flourishes most about Bogota, of which the commercial outlet is Carthagena on the northern coast of the continent. The truth seems to be that this species yields the yellow Carthagena bark, which is probably identical with the quina amarilla de Santa Fe of the Spaniards: and the British Colleges have simply followed Mutis in ascribing the yellow bark to C. cordifolia, without taking into consideration the total want of similarity, except in the shade of colour, between the medicine known to him by that title, and the valuable variety which they intended to adopt as officinal. In the United States Pharmacopoeia this error of the British Colleges has been avoided. By some authors the C. pubescens of Vahl, and the C. hirsuta of the Flora Peruviana, are considered mere synonymes of the C. cordifolia. 4. C. pubescens. Vahl, in Act. Havn. i. p. 19. t. 2; Lambert, Monog. i. 2.—C. ovata. Ruiz and Pavon, Flor. Peruv. ii. p. 52. t. 195. This was de- scribed and named by Vahl, who received his specimen from the collec- tion of Jussieu at Paris, whither it was brought by Joseph de Jussieu from the neighbourhood of Loxa. It is admitted to be identical with the C. ovata of the Peruvian Flora, even by the authors of that work. Bonpland has pronounced it to be the same with the C. cordifolia; but Lambert, though he admits their similarity, decides, from dried specimens in his possession, that they are quite distinct. The C. pubescens differs, according to this botanist, from the C. cordifolia, in having longer petioles, the teeth of the calyx less broad and round, the filaments not more than half the length, and the capsules obscurely ribbed and tomentose, while those of the C. cordifolia are smooth and ribless. The tree grows about Loxa, also in the warmer regions of the Andes near Pozuzo and Panao, and in the forests of Huanuco to the north-east of Lima. It contributes to furnish the bark of commerce, though we are wholly unable to ascertain the particular variety it affords. Ruiz calls its product cascarilla palido; and it is not improbable that a por- tion of the pale bark of Loxa and Lima is derived from it. 5. C. hirsuta. Ruiz and Pavon, Flor. Peruv. ii. p. 51. t. 192. Humboldt, 19 206 Cinchona. part r. upon the authority of Zea, erroneously referred this species to the C. cordi- folia; and the error has been copied by De Candolle. The two species have not the least resemblance, and Zea himself has acknowledged his mistake. (Lambert's Illustration. A. D. 1821, p. 10.) The C. hirsuta derives its name from the stiff hairs upon its extreme branches, leaves, and flowers. The leaves are oval and acute at the base; the flowers glomerate; the seg- ments of the calyx lanceolate and acuminate; and the capsules ovate. It grows in lofty and cold situations upon the Peruvian Andes near Pillao and Acomayo. It attains the height of about fifteen feet, and is then surrounded , by shoots springing upwards from its roots, and forming with the4parent tree an oval surface, having the appearance of a dome. Its bark is called delgada or slender, is very thin, and may be ranked among the pale varieties of English and American pharmacy, the gray of the French. Though a valuable bark, it is seldom gathered, as its extreme fineness renders its collection much less profitable than that of the larger varieties. 6. C. scrobiculata. Humb. and Bonpl. Plant. Equin. i. p. 165. t. 47; De Cand. Prodrom. iv. 352. This is a large tree, attaining the height of forty feet, with oval oblong leaves, from four to twelve inches in length and from two to six in breadth, acute at each end, smooth, shining on the upper surface, and marked on the under with scrobiculi at the axils of the veins. The tube of the corolla is externally pubescent and the limb woolly. The capsule is ovate oblong, with a breadth equal to one-third of its length. The tree was originally described by Humboldt and Bonpland, who found it growing in great abundance on the mountains near the city of Jaen de Bra- comoros, where it forms immense forests. They inform us that the bark of its younger branches so much resembles that of the C. Condaminea, that it is difficult to distinguish the two varieties. It cannot, therefore, as stated by De Candolle, be one of the red barks of commerce; for the product of the C. Condaminea is universally classed among the pale or gray barks. It is called by the natives cascarilla fina, and probably contributes to form the packages which come to us under the name of Loxa bark. 7. C. purpurea. Ruiz and Pavon, Flor. Peruv. ii. p. 52. t. 193; De Cand. Prodrom. iv. p. 353. Lambert unites this species with the C. scrobiculata of Humb. and Bonp., retaining the present title: but the species are gene- rally considered distinct. The leaves are broadly oval, somewhat wedge- shaped at the base, subcuspidate at the apex, smooth above, slightly pubes- cent on the veins beneath, and inclining to a purple colour. The flowers are purplish-white, subcorymbose, and disposed in large brachiate panicles. The corolla is slightly tomentose on the outside, with the limb hirsute inter- nally. The capsules are ovate oblong, about an inch in length, a quarter of an inch in breadth, and marked with longitudinal nerves. The tree grows in the Peruvian Andes, near Chinchao, Pati, &c. Its bark is brown on the outside, light brown within, and is called by the natives Cascarilla boba de hoja morada, or simply Cascarilla morada. It is probably among those derived from Lima, which is the entrepot of the trade in bark from the inte- rior of Peru about Huanuco, &c. 8. Cinchona oblongifolia. Mutis, Mss. ex Humb. Mag. Bert. i. p. 118. Lambert. Jllust. 1821, p. 12. This is one of the largest trees of the genus, rising to a great height on a single, erect, round stem, which is covered with a smooth, brownish, ash-coloured bark. The leaves are oblong or cordate, rough, thickly covered with hairs, and of great size, being fre- quently one or two feet in length. The flowers are in brachiate corym- bose panicles. The corolla is pilose, with linear segments; the anthers three limes as long as the filaments. The capsules are ovate. This tree PART I. Cinchona. 207 was discovered by Mutis in New Granada, where it is very abundant, espe- cially in the vicinity of Mariquita, in about four degrees of N. latitude. It grows at an elevation of from 4000 to 8500 feet. Botanists generally agree with Humboldt and Bonpland in uniting with this species the C. m'agni- folia of the Flora Peruviana, which grows to the south of the equator, upon the mountains of the Panatahuas, near Cuchero, Chinchao, and Chaca- huassi, where it was seen by Ruiz and Pavon in the year 1780. Lambert, however, describes them as different species, having found the characters of each distinct and constant in the specimens in his possession. He states that the C. oblongifolia is distinguished^ from the C. magnifolia " by its leaves being rounded at the base, often cordate, covered on both sides with rough pilose tomentum. Sometimes, however, the older leaves become nearly naked above. The corolla is covered on the outside with bristly pilose hairs, while that of magnifolia has short pubescence. The laciniae are also much narrower, the style is enclosed with the stamens in the tube of the corolla. The lobes of the stigma are cylindrical, and the capsules are ovate; those of magnifolia are linear and cylindrical." (Illustration, &c. 1821. p. 12.) The C. oblongifolia is called by the natives cascarilla de flor de azahar, from the resemblance of its flowers in odour to those of the orange. Till very recently it has been considered as indisputably the source of the best red bark of commerce, which is ascribed to it by the British Pharmacopoeias. A little reflection might have convinced those acquainted with the commerce in bark, that this reference was incorrect; for who ever hears of the officinal red bark as coming from Carthagena? and yet this is the port from which the product of the C. oblongifolia, growing in New Granada, is shipped. The mistake originated in that implicit acquiescence with which the state- ments of Mutis have been received. The tree does undoubtedly, as asserted by Mutis, produce a red bark; but it is the red Carthagena bark, a compa- ratively valueless variety, wholly distinct from the genuine red bark, brought from the Pacific, and so highly esteemed as a febrifuge. We shall have oc- casion to say more on this subject hereafter. 9. C. macrocarpa. Vahl in Act. Havn. i. p. 20. t. 3; De Cand, Prodrom. iv. 354.—C. ovalifolia. Mutis. This is a shrub about nine feet in height, with elliptical coriaceous leaves, very smooth on the upper surface, some- what hirsute pubescent beneath. The flowers are in trichotomous panicles. The corolla is externally pubescent, but hirsute on the inner surface of its segments. The capsules are cylindrical, and twice as long as they are broad. This species inhabits the provinces of Loxa and Cuenca, where it forms considerable forests. It was also found by Mutis in New Granada, and grows as far north as Santa Martha. The variety found in the latter locality has leaves smooth on both sides. The tree derived its name from the extraordinary magnitude of its fruit. Its bark-is called by the Spaniards quina blanca, or white bark, probably from the colour of the epidermis. May not this species be the source of that commercial variety of Cinchona brought from Maracaybo and Santa Martha, in the neighbourhood of which the tree is said by Humboldt to be found? The species of Cinchona above enumerated are the most interesting, whether from the attention they have attracted, or from the value of their products. Several others probably furnish more or less of the bark of com- merce. Among these maybe mentioned, 10. C. micrantha of the Peruvian Flora, a large and handsome tree, found by Tafalla growing in the elevated regions of San Antonio Playa Grande in the Peruvian Andes, and furnish- ing a bark called cascarilla fina by the natives; 11. C. glandulifera of the 208 Cinchona. part I. same work, a shrub with several stems about twelve feet high, flourishing in the country to the north of Huanuco, where it is called cascarilla negr ill a; 12. C. ovalifolia of Humboldt and Bonpland, the C. Humboldliuna of R(em. and Schult, a shrub from six to nine feet high, inhabiting the pro- vince of Cuenca, where it forms considerable forests, and is called by the natives cascarilla peluda or hairy baik; 13. C. caducifiora of Humboldt and Bonpland, a very large tree, more than one hundred feet high, growing near the city of Jaen de Bracomoros, and yielding a bark called cascarilla bova by the Peruvians; 14. C. acutifolia of the Fl. Peruv., a tree twenty- four feet high, discovered by Tafalla in the Peruvian mountains north of Huanuco, near the Taso, and yielding the cascarilla hoja uguda; and 15. C. dichotoma, which grows to thejheight of fifteen feet, was discovered by the same botanist in the same region as the preceding species, and affords the bark called cascarilla aharquilla by the natives. Besides these species, several others might be added, which, though named and described by botanists, are not known to furnish any of the bark of commerce. Such are the C. macrocalyx, C. pelalba, and C. crassifolia of Pavon, quoted by De Candolle; and the C. Pavonii, C. Humboldtiana, C. rotundifolia, and C. stenocarpa described by Lambert, upon the autho- rity of Pavon, and from specimens in his own possession.* In all the preceding species except the C. caducifiora, the corolla is more or less hairy or woolly: the C. rosea is the only other strictly belonging to this genus which has the corolla entirely smooth. It rises usually to the height of fifteen feet, and when in blossom presents a very handsome ap- pearance, as well from the richness of its foliage, as from the beauty of its flowers, with which the natives adorn their churches. It inhabits the forests of the Andes near Pozuzo and San Antonia de Playa Grande. Its bark is called cascarilla parda. Commercial History. For more than a century after Peruvian bark came into use, it was pro- cured almost exclusively from Loxa and the neighbouring provinces. In a memoir published A. D. 1738, La Condamine speaks of the bark of Rhio- bambo, Cuenca, Ayavaca, and Jaen de Bracomoros. Of these places, the first two, together with Loxa, lie within the ancient kingdom of Quito, at its southern extremity; the others are in the same vicinity, within the borders of Peru. The drug was shipped chiefly at the Port of Payta, from which it was carried to Spain, and thence spread overJSurope. Beyond the limits above mentioned, the Cinchona was not supposed to exist, till, in the year 1753, a gentleman of Loxa, familiar with the aspect of the tree, discovered it while on a journey from the place of his residence to Santa Fe de Bogota, in numerous situations along his route, wherever, in fact, the elevation of the country was equal to that of Loxa, or about 6,500 feet above the level of the sea. This discovery extended quite through Quito into the kingdom of New Granada, as far as two degrees and a half north of the equator. But no practical advantage was derived from it; and the information lay buried * Much weight has been given, in these remarks upon the different species of Cin- chona, to the authority of Lambert, who, independently of his familiarity with the sub- ject, resulting from long attention to it, had opportunities, enjoyed by few other botanists, of coining to correct conclusions—having in his possession numerous dried specimens of all the species collected by Ruiz and Pavon and their pupils, besides many others derived from other sources. PART I. Cinchona. 209 in the Archives of the vice-royalty, till subsequent events brought it to light. To Mutis undoubtedly belongs the credit of making known the existence of the Cinchona in New Granada. He first discovered it in the neighbourhood of Bogota, in the year 1772. A botanical expedition was some time after- wards organized by the Spanish government, with the view of exploring this part of their American dominions, and the direction was given to Mutis. The researches of the expedition eventuated in the discovery of several spe- cies of the Cinchona in New Granada, and a commerce in the bark soon commenced, which was afterwards increased, and carried on with great vigour through the ports of Carthagena and Santa Martha. The English and North Americans, opening a contraband trade with these ports, were enabled to undersell the Spanish merchant, who received his supplies by the circuitous route of Cape Horn; and the barks of New Granada were soon as abundant as those of Loxa in the markets of Europe. To these sources another was added about the same time, A. D. 1776, by the discovery of the Cinchona in the centre of Peru, in the mountainous region about the city of Huanuco, which lies on the eastern declivity of the Andes, to the north-east of Lima, at least six degrees to the south of the pro- vince of Loxa. To explore this new locality, another botanical expedition was set on foot, at the head of which were Ruiz and Pavon, the distinguished authors of the Flora Peruviana. These gentlemen spent several years in this region, during which time they discovered numerous species that were afterwards described in their Flora. Several of their species, however, are now considered identical with the C. lancifolia previously described by Mutis. Lima became the entrepot for the barks collected around Huanuco; and hence probably originated the name of Lima bark, so often conferred, in common language, not only upon the varieties received through that city, but also upon the medicine generally. Soon after the last mentioned discovery, two additional localities of the Cinchona were found, one at the northern extremity of the continent near Santa Martha, the other very far to the south, in the provinces of La Paz and Cochabamba, then within the vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres, now attached to the republic of Bolivia. These latter places became the source of an abundant supply of excellent bark, which received the name of Cali- saya bark. It was sent partly to the ports on the Pacific, partly to Buenos Ayres. The consequence of these discoveries, following each other in such rapid succession, was a vast increase in the supply of bark, which was now shipped from the ports of Guayaquil, Payta, Lima, Arica, Buenos Ayres, Carthagena, and Santa Martha. At the same time the average quality was probably deteriorated; for, though many of the new varieties were possessed of excellent properties, yet equal care in superintending the collection and assorting of the article could not be exercised now that the field was so ex- tended, as when it was confined to a small portion of the South of Quito and North of Peru. The varieties which were poured into the market soon became so numerous as to burthen the memory, if not to defy the discrimi- nation of the druggist; and the best pharmaceutists found themselves at a loss to discover any permanent peculiarities, which might serve as the basis of a proper and useful classification. This perplexity has continued more or less to the present time; though the discovery of the new alkaline principles has presented a ground of distinction which was before unknown. The restric- tions upon the commerce with South America, by directing the trade into irregular channels, had also a tendency to deteriorate the character of the 19* 210 Cinchona. part i. drug. In the complexity of contrivance to which it was necessary to resort, to deceive the vigilance of the government, little attention could be paid to a proper assortment of the several varieties; and not only were the best barks mixed with those of inferior species and less careful preparation, but the products of other trees, bearing no resemblance to the Cinchona, were sometimes added, having been artificially prepared so as to deceive a careless observer. The markets of this country were peculiarly ill furnished. The supplies being derived chiefly, by means of a contraband trade, from Car- thagena and other ports on the Spanish Main, or indirectly through the Havana, were necessarily of an inferior character; and the little good bark which reached us was imported by our druggists from London, whither it was sent from Cadiz. A great change, however, in this respect, has taken place since the ports on the Pacific have been opened to our commerce. The best kinds of bark have thus been rendered directly accessible to us; and increased intelligence in the community has co-operated with the facility of supply, to exclude from our markets that kind of trash with which they Were formerly glutted. Our ships trading to the Pacific, run along the American coast from Valparaiso to Guayaquil, stopping at the intermediate ports of Coquimbo, Copiapo, Arica, Callao, Truxillo, &c, from all which they probably receive supplies of bark in exchange for the mercury, piece- goods, flour, &c, which constitute their outward cargo. The persons who collect the bark are called in South America Cascaril- leros. Considerable experience and judgment are requisite to render an individual well qualified for this business. He must not only be able to distinguish the trees which produce good bark from those less esteemed, but must also know the proper season and the age at which a branch should be decorticated, and the marks by which the efficiency or inefficiency of any particular product is indicated. The dry season, from September to No- vember inclusive, is the harvest of the bark gatherers. They separate the bark by making a longitudinal incision with a sharp knife through its whole thickness, and then forcing it off from the branch with the back of the instru- ment. Other means are resorted to when the trunk or larger limbs are decorticated. They consider the branch to be sufficiently mature, when the inner surface of the bark begins to redden upon exposure to the air within three or four minutes after its removal. The next object is to dry the bark in the sun. In the drying process it rolls itself up, or in technical language becomes quilled, and the degree to which this effect takes place, is propor- tionate directly to the thinness of the bark, and inversely to the age of the branch from which it was derived. In packing the bark for exportation, due care is seldom taken to assort the varieties according either to the spe- cies of Cinchona by which they are furnished, or to their resemblance in appearance and character; and it often happens that several different kinds are introduced into the same case. The packages are, in commercial Ian- guage, called seroons. As found in this market they are usually covered with a case of thick and stiff ox-hide, which is lined within by a very coarse cloth, apparently woven out of some kind of grass. Means of distinguishing good bark. To the druggist and apothecary it is highly important to possess the means of deciding upon the relative value of the numerous varieties of bark of every quality brought into mar- ket, or at least of discriminating between the energetic and inefficient. The following rules are given by men who pretend to a familiar acquaintance with the subject. They are essentially the same with those which, ac- cording to Dr. Devoti, a physician of Lima, are practised in South America in choosing the barks proper to be admitted into commerce. PART I. Cinchona. 211 In forming a judgment, it is necessary to consider whether the bark has been taken from a branch of the proper age, and whether it has been care- fully dried. Very young bark has not acquired the virtues which render the medicine valuable; that derived from the trunk or older branches has often been injured by time or by the action of parasitic plants; and, to hasten the drying process in certain mountainous situations where the sun has little power, or to increase the rolling, a certain degree of which renders the drug more saleable to the merchants, it is said not to be an uncommon practice to expose the fresh barks injuriously to artificial heat. Bark more than an inch and a half in diameter must have come from the trunk or great branches, that which is smaller than a goosequill, from young and immature branches; and both are deemed of inferior quality. The same remark is applicable to the degree of thickness; but in forming a judgment on this point it is neces- sary to take the species into consideration. Though, as a general rule, very thin or very thick bark is of inferior quality, yet specimens have been found very effectual upon trial, which have not fallen within the limits usually considered the most proper in this respect. That which exceeds a line in thickness is not approved at Cadiz. The specific gravity of bark is also considered, in some measure, a criterion of its value, the heaviest being most esteemed. The fracture should be to a certain extent splintery; if sharp and short it indicates too great age; if the fibres are very long, there is reason to apprehend a want of maturity. The rolling of a bark affords another ground of judgment, though by no means to be relied on, as some excellent varieties are almost or quite flat. A feeble rolling indicates a bark too old or too slowly dried; a spiral form, one that has been gathered before it was ripe, or afterwards exposed to an improper degree of heat. The effects of heat are also observable in the darker colour of the bark, and the appearance of whitish stripes of a sickly hue on the inside. Some de- pendence is placed by the South Americans upon the appearance of the epidermis; and the following commercial varieties have had their origin in this source:—1. Negrilla, blackish'; 2. crespilla, crisped; 3. pardo-ob- scura, dark leopard-gray; 4. pardo-clara, bright leopard-gray; 5. lagarti- jada, silver or lizard coloured; 6. blanquissima, very white; and 7. ceni- cienla, ash-coloured. The first three are most esteemed. It is possible that among those well skilled in the subject, and thoroughly acquainted with the cinchona tree in its natural state, inferences may be drawn from these appearances, as to the elevation upon the mountains, the degree of ex- posure to the sun, and sometimes, perhaps, as to the species of the plant; but little reliance can be placed upon them by persons who are not already too well informed to need instruction. The properties of colour, taste, and smell are more important. The co- lour which, according to Dr. Devoti, is most highly esteemed, is orange; and the gradation of shades from this to white mark a corresponding dimi- nution in value. A dark colour between red and yellow is considered a sign either of inferiority in species, of improper preparation, or of injurious exposure to air and moisture. The taste should be bitter and very slightly acid, but not acrid, nauseous, nor very astringent. The odour is never very strong, but this quality exists in some degree in the better kinds of bark, and affords a favourable sign when it is decided and peculiar, without being disagreeable. These remarks are of general application; they will be further extended, when the varieties of bark are separately described. 212 Cinchona. PART i. Classification. To form a c orrect and lucid system of classification is the most difficult part of the subject of bark, which is throughout full of perplexities. An arrangement founded on the botanical species, though the most scientific and satisfactory when attainable, is in the present instance utterly out of the question. There are few varieties, of the precise origin of which we can be said to have any certain knowledge; by far the greater number being either derived from an unknown source, or but obscurely traceable to their native tree. Pharmaceutists indeed are not wanting, who are disposed to ascribe all the genuine barks, yielding quinia and cinchonia, to the same species of Cinchona. Guibourt at one time advanced the opinion, that they are all derived from varieties of the C. lancifolia; and adduced in support of it the statement of La Condamine, that when at Loxa he was informed, on good authority, that the trees yielding severally the yellow and red barks could not be distinguished by the eye. (Journ. de Pharm. xvi. 220.) The Spanish merchants adopted a system of classification dependent partly on the place of growth or shipment, and partly on some inherent property, or the supposed relative value of the bark. So long as the sources of the drug were very confined, and the number of varieties small, this plan answered the purposes of trade; but at present it is altogether inadequate; and, though some of the names originally conferred upon this principle are still retained, they have ceased to be expressive of the truth, and are often erroneously, almost always-confusedly applied. The Loxa barks embrace, among us, not only those which come from that province, but those also from the neighbourhood of Huanuco; while others, which have received dif- ferent names, are brought from the same place. It is said that, by the traders in South America, the young slender gray barks are called by the name of Loxa, from whatever source they may be derived; while those somewhat larger and older receive their appellation from Lima. Perhaps the best arrangement for pharmaceutical and medicinal purposes is that adopted in the United States Pharmacopoeia, founded upon difference of colour. It is true that dependence cannot be placed upon this property alone; as barks of a similar colour have been found to possess very different virtues; and between the various colours considered characteristic, there is an insensible gradation of shade, so that it is not always possible to decide where one ends and the other begins. Still it has been found that the most valuable barks may be arranged, according to their colour, in three divisions, which, though mingling at their extremes, are very distinctly characterized, in certain specimens, by peculiarity not only in colour, but also in other sensible properties, and even in chemical constitution. The three divisions alluded to are the pale, the yellow, and the red. These may be considered as exclusively the officinal barks; while the inferior varieties which approach one or other of these classes in colour, but differ in other properties, may be treated as extra-officinal, and considered under a separate head. As these inferior kinds come chiefly if not exclusively from the northern ports of New Granada and Venezuela, they are known in commerce by the name of Car- thagena barks, and by this name will be described in the present work. Specimens of little value may be occasionally imported from the Pacific coast of South America; but the quantity is small, as the profit they would yield would not pay the expense of so long a voyage. In describing, therefore, the different kinds of bark, we shall treat first of the officinal varieties under the three heads of pale, yellow, and red, and secondly of PART I. Cinchona. 213 the extra-officinal under the title of Carthagena barks. The commercial name will at the same time be given in all instances in which a knowledge of it can be useful in this country. It is proper here to state, that the different barks frequently come to us mingled in the same package, and that, in deciding upon the character of a seroon, the druggist is guided rather by the predominance than the exclusive existence of certain dis- tinctive properties. 1. Pale Bark. The epithet pale applied to these barks is derived from the colour of the powder. The French call them quinquinas gris, or gray barks, from the colour of the epidermis. They come into the market in cylindrical pieces of variable length, from a few inches to a foot and a half, sometimes singly, sometimes doubly quilled, from two lines to an inch in diameter, and from half a line to two or three lines in thickness. The finest kinds are about the size of a goosequill. Their exterior surface is usually more or less rough, marked with circular and longitudinal fissures, and of a grayish colour, owing to the lichens which cover the epidermis. The shade is different in different samples. Sometimes it is a light gray, approaching to white, sometimes dull and brown, sometimes a grayish-fawn, and frequently diver- sified by the intermixture of the proper colour of the epidermis with that of the patches of lichens attached to it. The interior surface, in the finer kinds, is smooth and velvety; in the coarser, it is occasionally rough and some- what ligneous. Its colour is uniformly a brownish-orange, sometimes in- clining to red, sometimes to yellow, and in some inferior specimens is of a dusky hue. The product of the C. lancifolia of Bogota, probably received the name of orange-coloured bark from the appearance of its inner surface. The fracture is usually clear, with some short filaments on the internal part only. In the coarser barks it is more fibrous. The colour of the powder is a pale fawn, which is of a deeper hue in the inferior kinds. The taste is moderately bitter and somewhat astringent, without being disagreeable or nauseous. Authors speak also of an acidulous and aromatic flavour, which is less evident. The superior kinds have a feeble odour, which is distinct and agreeably aromatic in the powder and decoction. The pale barks are chemically characterized by containing a much larger proportion of cincho- nia than of quinia. Their appearance indicates that they were derived from the smaller branches. They are collected in the provinces about Loxa, or in the country which surrounds the city of Huanuco to the north-east of Lima, and are probably derived chiefly from the C. Condaminea, C. scrobiculata, and varieties of the C. lancifolia. In this country, the pale barks are all known in commerce by the general title of Loxa bark. The finest specimens are sometimes called crown bark of Loxa, a name also applied to them in England and Germany, and evi- dently derived from the impression, that they have the same origin and cha- racter with the bark formerly selected with great care for the use of the king of Spain and the royal family. It is probable, however, that the best of all the different kinds were appropriated to the royal use; and the honour was certainly possessed by the yellow as well as by the pale. The extension of the term Loxa bark to all the different varieties which belong to this class, is peculiar to the United States, and is not authorized by the facts of the case. They are not obtained exclusively from the province of Loxa, nor from the country bordering upon it. The French and Germans distribute them into several distinct divisions, originally named from the place oS 214 Cinchona. PART I. growth or export, but depending at present upon peculiarity in properties, without any geographical reference.* * Since the publication of the first edition of this Dispensatory, we have had an opportunity of examining Von Bergen's splendid work upon bark, entitled Versuch einer Monographie der China, published in Hamburg in the year 1826. His descriptions are undoubtedly among the most precise and accurate which have been published, and we have availed ourselves of them in drawing up the following sketch of the varieties which may be arranged under the head of pale bark. We have also consulted, in relation to this subject, the works of the French pharmaceutical writers, particularly that of Guibourt, and the elaborate German work of Geiger, entitled Handbuch der Pharmacie, S;c. We have thrown our remarks into the form of a note, as the information in relation to these different varieties can be of little practical use to the student, though it may possibly serve to aid the discrimination of the druggist in the purchase of barks, by enabling him to decide on the relative value of the different parcels submitted to his notice. 1. Loxa bark, Crown bark.—Quinquina de Loxa, Fr.—Loxa-China, Kron-China, Germ.—This is in cylindrical tubes, strongly rolled, from six to fifteen inches long, from two lines to an inch in diameter, and from half a line to two lines thick. The outer surface is more or less rough, seldom much wrinkled longitudinally, but marked with numerous transverse fissures, which usually run round the bark, and divide it into rings, the edges of which are somewhat elevated. In the larger quills, these fissures are fewer, and more apt to be interrupted. The proper colour of the epidermis is dark- gray, sometimes almost black, sometimes ash-coloured, and occasionally inclining to fawn; but frequently diversified by whitish lichens, which are in some instances so numerous as to cover almost the whole exterior of the bark, and give it a light-gray appearance. The inner surface is smooth and uniform, and of the colour of cinnamon, with occasionally a reddish tinge. The fracture in the smaller quills is quite smooth, in the larger somewhat fibrous. The bark is of a rather firm consistence, and when cut transversely exhibits a resinous character. Its odour is compared by Guibourt to that perceived in damp woods, by Von Bergen to that of tan. Its taste is acidulous, astrin- gent, and bitterish. The powder is of a dull cinnamon colour. This variety of bark appears to contain, on an average of several results stated by Geiger, about 0.48 per cent, of cinchonia, and 0.06 of quinia. In the thicker pieces, which appear to be richest in the organic alkalies, Thiel found 1.0 per cent of cinchonia, and 0.03 of quinia. The strong reaction of a solution of gelatin indicates the presence of much tannin. Guibourt, in the edition of his Histoire des Drogues printed in 1836, describes several varieties of Loxa bark, one answering to the above, under the name of Quinquina gris brun de Loxa, a second, under that of quinquina de Loxa cendre, which he considers identical with the Jaen bark of Von Bergen, and two others both of which he calls quinquina de Loxajibreux. Of these two, one is probably not found in commerce, and the other is the variety de- scribed in his former edition as the Quinquina gris de Loxa. This is characterized bv its light-gray colour externally, and by its extreme thinness, which is observable even in the pieces taken from the larger branches, the bark being almost as thin and as much rolled as Ceylon cinnamon. It is very rare. The Loxa bark is thought to be derived chiefly from the C. Condaminea, and to have been the variety first imported into Europe. By some writers it is conjecturally ascribed in part to the C. scrobiculata. 2. Lima or Huanuco bark.—Quinquina de Lima, Fr.—China Huanuco, Graue China, Germ.—The Lima or Huanuco bark was introduced into notice about the year 1779, after the discovery of Cinchona trees in the central regions of Peru. The first name originated from the circumstance that the bark entered into commerce through the city of Lima, the second was derived from the name of the city, (Huanuco or Guanuco,) in the more immediate neighbourhood of which the trees were found. The dimensions of this variety of bark do not materially differ from those of the preceding, although in the largest pieces the diameter is somewhat greater. Many of the smaller quills have a more or less spiral form. At the edge of most of the complete quills, a sharp oblique slit made with a knife is observable. The epidermis is usually adherent. The exterior surface is marked with longitudinal wrinkles, which in the thick pieces are often so deep as to amount to furrows, penetrating quite through the outer coating of the bark. Transverse fissures are also generally observable, but they never run wholly round the quill, often not more than a quarter or half round, and do not exhibit elevated borders. In some pieces the outer layer of the epidermis is rubbed off either wholly or in spots, and in a few the entire thickness of the external layers, which we usually denominate the epidermis, is here and I here removed, exhibiting the proper bark in patches. The colour externally is very light gray, almost milk-white, with occasionally bluish-gray part i. Cinchona. 215 In this country, the pale bark appears to be falling into disuse; and the sales made by the druggists have, we are informed, been much diminished. and darkish spots intermingled. Where the outer crust which imparts this whitish colour is wanting, the surface is grayish-fawn or reddish-gray, and in the thicker pieces of a dark cinnamon colour. The inner surface, though in the smaller quills sometimes tolerably uniform, is generally more or less uneven, fibrous, or splintery, especially in the larger pieces, in which may often be observed adhering yellowish-white splinters of wood. The colour is usually a rusty-brown inclining somewhat to red, with occasionally a purplish tinge. The transverse fracture is smooth in the exterior part, fibrous or splin- tery in the interior. The longitudinal fracture is usually somewhat uneven, without being splintery, and exhibits here and there minute shining spots. The inner layers of (lie bark are usually soft and friable. The colour of the powder is a full cinnamon-brown. The odour of the bark is like that of clay, and in this respect different from that of all other varieties. The taste is at first acidulous, astringent, and slightly aromatic, and ultimately bitter and adhesive. The proportion of cinchonia contained in Huanuco bark, by an average of several results stated by Geiger, is 1.72 per cent., of quinia 0.29 per cent Von Santen got from the best specimens, as the maximum, 2.73 per cent, of cin- chonia and no quinia. The most productive pieces are those of middling size. Guibourt makes two varieties of this bark, the quinquina gris Jin de Lima, including the smaller quills, and the quinquina gros Lima, or Lima blanc, including the larger. The botanical origin of the bark is uncertain; but there is reason to believe that it is derived from the varieties of the C. lancifolia, described by Ruiz and Pavon. 3. Jaen bark.—China Jaen, Blasse Ten-China, Germ.—This is considered as a distinct variety only by the German writers. It probably derives its name from the province of Jaen de Bracomoros, in the vicinity of Loxa, where large quantities of bark have been collected. The Jaen bark is always in quills, which do not differ much in size from those of the Loxa bark, but are distinguishable by being frequently curved longitudi- nally, or bent in different directions, and somewhat spiral. The outer coat is often par- tially or entirely rubbed off, leaving the surface smooth and soft to the touch. When the epidermis is perfect, it exhibits small irregular transverse fissures, with occasionally faint longitudinal fissures and wavy wrinkles, and here and there a few warts, but no deep furrows. The colour varies from light or ash-gray to light yellow, diversified with blackish and brownish spots. When the outer coat is rubbed off, it inclines still more to yellow. Considered in mass, the bark always appears somewhat yellowish or straw- coloured. The exterior layers are soft and rather spongy, and may be readily scraped by the nail. The inner surface is exceedingly diversified, sometimes smooth, sometimes uneven and splintery. It is usually of a dull cinnamon colour. The bark is very brittle, and the fracture is smooth in the smaller quills, more or less uneven and sometimes splintery in the larger, and in neither exhibits a resinous appearance. The odour is somewhat sweetish, and is compared to that of tan. The taste is acidulous, slightly astringent, and bitter without being disageeable. The colour of the powder is cinnamon- brown. In composition this bark resembles the Loxa and Huanuco, though it is said to contain less of the active principles. It is thought by Von Bergen to be derived from the C. pubescens; but nothing certain is known of its origin. Von Bergen describes another variety of pale bark, under the name of dark Jaen lark (Dunkele Ten-China), or Pseudo Loxa, which bears a considerable resemblance to the genuine Loxa, but may be distinguished by the oblique or bent shape of the quills, and the uneven, fibrous, or even splintery appearance of the inner surface. It seldom comes in large pieces. It contains very little of the active principles of bark. Von Santen dis- covered neither quinia nor cinchonia in two specimens which he examined. Its general appearance, and strong reaction with a solution of gelatin, appear to associate it with the Loxa bark; and Geiger's conjecture is not improbable, that it is the product of the same tree growing in unfavourable situations, or altered by disease. 4. Huamilies bark.—China Huamilies, Germ.—This, like the preceding, is not gene- rally known as a distinct variety, though probably identical with the quinquina ferru- gineux, or ferruginous bark of the French writers. Its commercial name was undoubt- edly derived from the province of Huamilies, which lies in the interior of Peru, to the northward of Huanuco, and is a part of the country explored by the botanical expedition under Ruiz and Pavon. It came into notice in Germany about the beginning of the present century, when a parcel of it was imported directly from Lima into Hamburg. It is in quills and flat pieces. The quills are from three lines to an inch and a half in diameter, from five to sixteen inches long, and from half a line to three lines thick. The flat pieces, which are usually only fragments of the largest quills, are from one to two 216 Cinchona. part i. As it yields little quinia, it is not employed in the manufacture of the sulphate of that alkali, which has almost superseded the bark as a remedy in intermittents; and the red bark is preferred by physicians, when it is necessary to resort to the medicine in substance. There is little doubt, however, that cinchonia possesses febrifuge properties little if at all inferior to those of quinia; and should the source of the latter begin to fail, the pale bark would come into more extensive use for the preparation of the former. 2. Yellow Bark. The officinal term yellow bark should be considered as applicable only to the valuable variety of the drug having this colour. This is known in commerce under the name of Calisaya, which has been said, though erro- neously, to be derived from a district of country in Bolivia, near the city of La Paz, where the bark is collected.* Among the druggists, the Calisaya bark is arranged in two divisions, the quilled and the flat, which sometimes come mixed together in the same seroon, sometimes separate. The appear- ance of both indicates that they were taken from larger and older branches than those which yield the pale varieties. They are sometimes called by the French quinquina jaune royal, from their resemblance to a variety of bark formerly selected for the Spanish king. The quilled Calisaya, Calisaya arrolada of the Spanish Americans, is in pieces from three or four inches to a foot and a half long, from a quarter of an inch to two or three inches in diameter, and of equally variable thickness. The epidermis is of a brownish colour diversified or concealed by whitish or yellowish lichens, is marked by longitudinal wrinkles and transverse fissures, and is often partially separated, and generally easily separable from the proper bark. In the larger kinds it is thick, rough, deeply indented by the transverse fissures which often surround the quills, and is composed of several layers separated from each other by a reddish-brown membrane like inches broad, and six to twelve inches long. In general all the layers of the bark are present, but sometimes the outer coat, and even the whole of that part usually called the epidermis in our descriptions of bark, (including those outer layers which in the tree are destitute of vitality, having been thrown outward by the annually renewed layers beneath them,) are wanting in spots, though very seldom entirely absent. The epidermis is comparatively thin, very brittle, soft, and spongy. The outer surface, in the small and middling quills, is sometimes nearly smooth, but usually marked with wavy longitudinal wrinkles, and beset here and there with warts. These warts are abundant upon the thick pieces, which they sometimes almost entirely cover. Transverse fissures are seldom found, and only in the thick pieces. The colour of the epidermis is usually grayish-fawn, here and there passing into a rusty brown; but in the thicker pieces, in which the warts are abundant, it is between a liver and chestnut colour, often mixed with a tingrc of purple. When the epidermis is wanting, the colour is often a full ochre yellow. The inner surface is sometimes uniform and almost smooth, sometimes slightly fibrous, rarely splintery. The colour of the surface is rusty brown, occasionally reddish, and in the fibrous or splintery pieces of an ochre yellow. The fracture in the smaller quills is rather even, in the larger presents short fibres, and is sometimes even splintery. The odour of the bark is feeble but agreeable, the taste somewhat aromatic, bitterish, and slightly astringent. The powder is of a full cinnamon colour. The average product of cinchonia and quinia, as stated by Geiger, is 0.67 per cent, of the former, and 0.25 of the latter; so that the bark, though dissimilar in appearance from the other varieties of pale bark, agrees with them in containing more cinchonia than quinia. Von Santen obtained, as a maximum, 1.2 per cent, of cinchonia, and little or no quinia.—Note to Second Edition, altered in the Fourth. * No such province exists in Bolivia. According to M. Laubcrt, the name is a cor- ruption of colisalla, said to be derived from colla, a remedy, and salla, a rocky country. (Journ. de PJtarm. xxii. 614.) PART I. Cinchona. 217 velvet. This epidermis yields a dark red powder, is tasteless, and possess- es none of the virtues of the bark. It is desirable, therefore, to get rid of it before the bark is powdered, as the medicine is thus procured of greater strength. The bark itself, without the epidermis, is from one to two lines in thickness, of a fibrous texture, and when broken presents shining points, apparently the termination of small fibres running longitudinally, which, examined by the microscope, are found, when freed from a salmon-coloured powder that surrounds them, to be yellow and transparent. They readily separate when the bark is powdered, in the form of spiculae, which, like those of the cowhage, insinuate themselves into the skin, and produce a disagreeable itching and irritation. The colour of the bark is yellow with a tinge of orange, the taste less astringent than that of the pale bark, but much more bitter and more nauseous. The external part of the proper bark is more bitter and astringent, and consequently stronger in medicinal power, than the internal; probably from the longer exposure of the latter to the action of air and moisture. The odour is faint, but when the bark is boiled resembles that of the pale varieties. The small quills closely resemble some of the pale varieties in appearance, but may be distinguished by their very bitter taste. The flat Calisaya, Calisaya plancha of the Spaniards, which appears to have been derived from the large branches aud trunk, is in pieces of various lengths, either quite flat, or but slightly curved, generally destitute of the epidermis, and therefore presenting the yellowish colour of the bark both within and without. It is usually thicker than the quilled, more fibrous in its texture, less compact, less bitter, and possessed of less medicinal power. Though weaker than the proper bark of the quills, it is usually, in equal weight, more valuable than that variety, because free from the useless epi- dermis. The valuable yellow bark is characterized by its strongly bitter taste, with comparatively little astringency; by its fine brownish-yellow somewhat orange colour, which is still brighter in the powder; and by containing a large pro- portion of quinia with very little cinchonia. The salts of quinia and lime are so abundant in its composition, that its infusion instantly precipitates a solution of sulphate of soda. (Guibourt.)* * The Calisaya bark is the third variety of Von Bergen, who describes it under the name of China Regia or Kbnig's China. We give a brief abstract of his description, omitting the form and dimensions, which are given with sufficient minuteness in the text. The epidermis.t which in many of the small quills is partly wanting, in the flat pieces usually altogether absent, is very thick and brittle, constituting from a third to one- half of the bark, and in some of the largest quills, or partially quilled pieces, even two- thirds. In the latter case it may often be seen to consist of six or eight different layers. The quills are generally marked with longitudinal wrinkles and furrows, as well as with transverse fissures, the last of which are never absent. The fissures, which often form complete circles round the quills, have usually an elevated border, and sink so deeply in many of the larger pieces, that they are even observable upon the proper bark. In the smaller pieces, they are otten faint, but usually crowded. The colour of the epidermis varies from whitish-gray to bluish-gray, but is vury much diversified by lichens, so as to present yellowish-white, ash-gray, and blackish spots. When the outer layer of the epi- dermis is wanting, as is not unfrequently the case to a greater or less extent, the colour is somewhat sooty-brown, or almost liver-brown. The outer surface of the pieces without epidermis, is of a colour between cinnamon-brown and dark rusty-brown. The inner t By the epidermis is here understood the whole of the external layers which are accumulated upon the outer surface of the bark by the annual renewal of the cortical layers and the consequent separation of those of former years, which remain, but without life, attached to the external sur- face. A different meaning is attached to the term by Von Bergen, but as we have taken pains to make the description in every instance correspond with our definition, we do not misrepresent bis meaning. 20 218 Cinchona. part r. Authors are by no means agreed as to the particular species which yields Calisaya bark. Some, influenced simply by its officinal title of yellow bark, have attributed it to the C. cordifolia, because Mutis gave the same name to the product of this species. The British colleges have fallen into this error, without, however, being aware that the yellow bark which they adopted as officinal was really the Calisaya. That it is an error has been fully demon- strated; as no Ctdisaya bark is brought from those regions where the C. cor- difolia most abounds. Many writers ascribe this variety to the C. lancifolia, on the authority of Mutis himself, who asserts that it is indisputably derived from that species. This may possibly be the case; but neither Minis, nor any other botanist, has been in possession of information so accurate as to justify a positive decision on the subject; and Ruiz himself acknowledges that he is unacquainted with its source.* According to M. Auguste Delondre, surface, in the pieces of all dimensions, is uniform and almost smooth, but exhibits fine longitudinal fibres closely compressed. Splinters of wood are never found adhering to the inner surface, as in some other varieties. The prevailing colour of this surface is mostly a rather dark or full cinnamon-brown, passing sometimes into a rusty-brown, but seldom of a reddish hue. This bark breaks more easily in the longitudinal direction than any other variety, exhibiting a chestnut-brown colour in the part answering to the epidermis, a more or less dark cinnamon-brown in that answering to the proper bark. The transverse fracture of the epidermis is rather even, that of the inner part sometimes fibrous, some- times splintery. A resinous layer may be observed beneath the epidermis, which usually remains when the latter is removed, and communicates to the flat pieces the dark colour by which their external surface is distinguished. Small sharp splinters, which in the lon- gitudinal fracture appear like shining points, are apt to insinuate themselves into the skin, when the bark is broken or much handled. The odour is feebly tan-like, the taste slightly acidulous, strongly but not disagreeably bitter, somewhat aromatic, feebly astrin- gent, and rather durable. The powder is of a fine cinnamon hue. Thiel obtained from the flat Calisaya bark 2.3 per cent, of quinia, and 0.08 of cinchonia; Michaelis from the flat 3.7 per cent., and from the quill 2.0 per cent, of quinia, but no cinchonia from either; Von Santen from the flat, an average of 2.0 per cent, of quinia, nnd little or no cinchonia; Wittslock, on an average, 3.0 per cent of sulphate of quinia, and 0.12 of cinchonia. Geiger. Under the name of light Calisaya, Guibourt, in the last edition of his work, describes a variety of bark which he says is brought from the same region of country that pro- duces the genuine. It is identical with that named in previous editions orange-yellow bark, (quinquina jaune orange), and is of comparatively little value, at least for the prepa- ration of sulphate of quinia, though the best specimens, as they contain much cinchonia, are not without medicinal activity. Like the Calisaya, it is in quills or flat pieces, some- times with and sometimes without the epidermis; but it may be distinguished by its want of thickness, its finer and more compact texture, and by a character which is most striking in the fresh specimens, viz., that of presenting a rose colour in the part which is near the epidermis, while the inner portion is of a pure yellow, so that the whole bark has an orange colour. The epidermis, moreover, when present, is thin, smoother than that of the genuine Calisaya, and without the numerous transverse fissures which mark the latter bark. Another bark derived from the same region of country as the preceding, and some- times sold as Calisaya bark, though wholly without quinia, is described by Guibourt under the name of ( usco bark, and has recently attracted some attention as the source of a new alkali discovered by MM. Pelleticr and Coriol, and named aricina from the port of Arica, whence the bark is said to be sent. The smaller pieces may be distinguished from the genuine Calisaya by their white, uniform epidermis, without fissures; but when the epidermis is wanting, as frequently happens in the larger pieces, the two barks might easily be confounded. The test of sulphate of soda may here be found useful; as this salt, which so strikingly precipitates the infusion of Calisaya, does not disturb that of the Cusco bark. It is proper to state, that Guibourt could obtain from this bark no other alkali than cinchonia, and is disposed to consider aricina as the result of the modi- fying influence of the process employed in its preparation. Note to the Second and Fourth Editions. * He says, however, that it may be derived from the C. lanceoluta, which is now acknowledged to be the same species with the C. lancifolia. (Memoir by M. Laubert) See Lambert's Illustration, p. 70. PART r. Cinchona. 219 who received specimens of the plants producing Calisaya bark from his cor- respondents in South America, no less than three distinct trees contribute to furnish the bark thrown iuto commerce under that title. One of these speci- mens appeared to Guibourt to belong to the Cinchona Micrantha, and ano- ther to the C. Condaminea. The third resembled the latter of these two species, but differed somewhat both in its leaves and fruit. A fourth speci- men had fruit like that of the Condaminea, but smaller leaves, and was con- sidered by Guibourt as probably the C. angustifolia of Ruiz, now thought to be merely a variety of the C. lancifolia. But this information is quite too vague to lead to any satisfactory conclusions. It may, however, serve to explain the fact that barks are sometimes imported under the name of Ca- lisaya, and derived from the same district of country, which differ from the genuine bark both in appearance and qualities, and will not serve for the preparation of sulphate of quinia.* The genuine Calisaya bark is produced most abundantly, if not exclu- sively, in Bolivia, formerly Upper Peru, in the province of La Paz or its neighbourhood; and, before the disturbances in these countries, was shipped as well from the port of Buenos Ayres as from those on the Pacific. It is at present, however, procured exclusively from the latter. A very fine parcel was exhibited to us, imported directly from Coquimbo in Chili. We have been informed by gentlemen who have been long personally engaged in commercial transactions upon the Pacific coast of South America, that the Calisaya bark of commerce is originally obtained chiefly, if not exclusively, at the port of Arica, whither it is brought from the interior provinces of Bo- livia. From that town it is sent to various other ports on the Pacific. It is generally supposed to have been first introduced into commerce towards the end of the last century, and it was probably not known by its present name till that period; but La Condamine states that the Jesuits of La Paz, at a period anterior to the discovery of the febrifuge of Loxa, sent to Rome a very bitter bark by the name of quinaquina, which, though supposed by that tra- veller to have been derived from the Peruvian balsam tree, was very pro- bably, as conjectured by Guibourt, the true cinchona. Besides, Pomet, in his History of Drugs, published in 1694, speaks of a bark more bitter than that of Loxa, obtained from the province of Potosi, which borders upon that of La Paz; and Chomel also states, that the cinchona tree inhabited the mountains of Potosi, and produced a bark more esteemed than that which grew in the province of Quito. (Guibourt, Journ. de Pharm. xvi. 235.) It is possible that, though known at this early period, it may have gone out of use; and its re-introduction into notice towards the end of the last century, may have been mistaken for an original discovery. Whether it is found in the other localities of bark in Peru and Quito, it is difficult to determine; but we may infer from the existence of a commercial variety known to the Spa- niards by the name of Calisaya de Quito, that either the identical bark, or a variety closely analogous to it, has been found in that province. The Calisaya de Santa Fe, mentioned by Laubert, has no other claim to the title given it than its colour; and it is not distinguished in the market, perhaps not distinguishable from the ordinary yellow Carthagena bark. * See Guibourt's Histoire des Drogues, 1836, and an interesting article upon the sub- ject of the origin and collection of the Calisaya bark, in the Journal de Pharmacie, xxi. 505, and in the American Journ. of Pharm., vii. 325. 220 Cinchona. part i. 3. Red Bark. The name of this variety is very appropriately applied, as the colour is usually distinct both in the bark and the powder. In South America it is called cascarilla roxa and colorada. Some writers have divided it into several sub-varieties; but there does not seem to be ground for such division in any essential difference of properties. Like the Calisaya, it comes in quills and flat pieces, which are probably derived from different parts of the same tree. Some of the pieces are entirely rolled, some partially so, as if they had been taken from half the circumference of the branch; others are nearly or quite flat. They vary very greatly in size, the quill being sometimes less than half an inch in diameter, sometimes so much as two inches, while the flat pieces are occasionally very large and thick, as if derived from the trunk of a tree. They are covered with a reddish-brown or gray, sometimes whitish epidermis, which is rugged, wrinkled longitudinally, and in the thicker pieces marked with furrows, which in some places penetrate to the surface of the proper bark. In many specimens, numerous small roundish or oblong eminences, called warts, may be observed upon the outer surface. Beneath the epidermis is a layer, dark red, brittle, and compact, which pos- sesses some bitterness and astringency, but much less than the interior parts. These are woody and fibrous, of a more or less liveTy red colour, which is usually very distinct, but in some specimens passes into the orange and even yellowish-brown, so that it' is not always possible to distinguish the variety by this property alone. The taste is bitter and astringent, and the odour similar to that of other good barks. Red bark is chemically distin- guished by containing considerable quantities both of quinia and of cin- chonia.* * The red bark is given as a distinct variety by Von Bergen, and stands first on his list, under the name of China rubra or rothe China. The following is an abstract of his description. The quills are from two lines to an inch and a quarter in diameter, from ono-tliird of a line to two lin( s thick, and from two to twelve inches or more in length. The smaller quills are often spiral. The flat pieces are from one to two inches broad, from three- eighths to a quarter of an inch thick, and of the same length as the quills. In the smaller and middling-sized quills, the external surface exhibits longitudinal wavy wrinkles. In the thicker pieces, these wripkles, between which are here and there longitudinal furrows, often elevate themselves into roundish or oblong warts, which are of a somewhat friable and granular consistence. The longitudinal furrows sometimes penetrate to the bark. Transverse fissures seldom occur. The colour in the smaller quills varies from a fawn- gray to a dull reddish-brown, in the larger is reddish-brown or chestnut-brown with a tinge of purple. When the wrinkles and warts are rubbed off, the peculiar brownish-red colour of the bark appears. The pieces are often in part or almost wholly covered with a whitish-gray or yellowish-white coat, either belonging to the epidermis or consisting of lichens. In some of the quills the epidermis is wanting in spots, which exhibit a dirty reddish-cinnamon colour. The inner surface is delicately fibrous and almost uniform in the small quills, but becomes more fibrous and uneven in the larger, and in the flat pieces is splintery and very irregular. Its colour varies with the size of the pieces, being a reddish-rusty brown in the least, redder in the larger, and a full brownish-red in the largest. The inner surface is also sometimes yellowish, or brownish, or of a dirty appear- ance. It becomes darker when scraped with the nail or other hard body. The fracture exhibits the different colours of the epidermis and inner bark, as also of a resinous layer which lies between the two. It is usually smooth in the smaller quills, fibrous in the larger, and at the same time fibrous and splintery in the largest and flat pieces. The fracture of the epidermis, however, is in all either smoother only here and there somewhat granular. The odour is like that of tan and earthy, the taste strongly but not disagreeably bitter, somewhat aromatic, and not lasting. The powder is of a dull brownish-red colour. Experiments upon many different specimens of red bark, as stated by Pfaff, give as an PART r. Cinchona. 221 Till very recently, it has been almost universally admitted, on the autho- rity of Mutis, that the red bark was the product of the C. oblongifolia of that author, and the C. magnifolia of the Flora Peruviana, which is gene- rally supposed to be the same species with the former. But it is now well understood that the red bark of Santa Fe, the real product of the C. oblon- gifolia, has little else in common with the true officinal red bark than its colour, and belongs properly to the Carthagena barks. This might have been conjectured from the fact, that none of the best red bark is brought from the Atlantic ports of New Granada, through which the product of the C. oblongifolia must, at least in part, be sent out of the country. But Von Bergen is the first author who has satisfactorily shown, that the genuine red bark of commerce is not derived from this species. The proofs ad- vanced by him are the following. A specimen of the bark of the C. oblongi- folia, given by Humboldt to Shrader, was found to be the quina nova of commerce, and to bear no resemblance to the genuine red bark; and Hum- boldt acknowledged to this gentleman, that he was unacquainted with the tree which yields the latter. Ruiz and Pavon, also, though they frequently mention the red bark, agree in stating that they are ignorant of its source; and, in the supplement to the Quinologia, mention that the red bark from the C. oblongifolia is wholly different from the commercial variety which bears that name. Besides, in the collection belonging to Ruiz, were speci- mens of the bark of the C. oblongifolia, designated by the name of quina azahar o roja de Santa Fe, which were entirely different from the genuine red bark, while they bore an exact resemblance to the quina nova. These arguments of Bergen are still further strengthened by the testimony of Gui- bourt, who states that a specimen of the red bark of Mutis, the product of his C. oblongifolia, which had been presented by this botanist to Hum- boldt, and by him deposited in the botanical cabinet of the Jardin du Roi, was found upon examination scarcely to differ from that known in com- merce by the name of quina nova. This quina nova is an inferior kind of Carthagena bark, of a red colour, formerly supposed to be furnished by the Portlandia grandifiora, and containing little or no quinia or cinchonia. It appears, therefore, that the valuable red bark is not derived from the C. ob- longifolia, and that nothing is certainly known as to its source. There is some reason to believe that it may be derived from the same species with the pale barks, but taken from the larger branches or the trunk. This opinion receives some support from a statement made by La Condamine, in his memoir upon the subject of cinchona. We are told by this author that three kinds of bark were known in the neighbourhood of Loxa—the white, the yellow, and the red. The white, so named from the colour of the epidermis, scarcely possessed any medicinal virtue, and was obtained from a tree entirely distinct from that which yielded the two other varieties. The average result 1.7 per cent, of pure cinchonia, and 0.44 of sulphate of quinia. The high- est product obtained was 3.17 per cent, of cinchonia, and 0.15 of sulphate of quinia. Another specimen yielded 1.21 per cent of the former, and 1.33 of the latter. Pelletier and Caventou obtained 0.8 per cent, of cinchonia, and 1.7 of quinia. (Geiger.) It appears, therefore, that the proportion of the alkalies is exceedingly different in different specimens. The degree of bitterness is, perhaps, the best criterion of their efficacy. Guibourt divides the red bark into two varieties, which he distinguishes by the namee of quinquina rouge verruqueux, and quinquina rouge non verruqueux, from the presence or absence of the warts upon the outer surface. He describes also a variety of bark, under the name of quinquina rouge de Lima, resembling the proper red bark in appear- ance, but without bitterness; and two others, distinguished severally by the names of quinquina rouge orange and quinquina rouge pale, which, however, merit little attention.— Note to Second and Fourth Editions. 20* 222 Cinchona. part i. red was superior to the yellow; but he was assured, on the very best authority, that the trees producing them grew together, and were not dis- tinguishable by the eye. Of the three varieties mentioned by La Conda- mine, the white does not reach us; and that which he calls yellow is proba- bly identical with the pale variety of the Pharmacopoeia, as this grows most abundantly about Loxa, and before being powdered is often of a yellowish colour. Should it be admitted that the red bark is furnished by the same tree which yields the pale, we have a ready explanation of the difference in size of the two varieties. Carthagena Barks. Under this head may be classed all the barks brought from the northern Atlantic ports of South America. Like those of Peru and Quito, they may be arranged in several subdivisions characterized chiefly by peculiarities of colour. 1. The most abundant is the yellow Carthagena bark, which comes in fragments of various sizes, from one to three or even five lines in thickness, usually covered wholly or in part with a white epidermis. The bark itself is of a yellow colour, spongy under the teeth, and of a bitter nauseous taste. It is probably obtained from the C. Cordifolia; as Guibourt found that a specimen of the bark of this tree, which came originally from Mutis, resembled it precisely in all its sensible properties.* 2. Another * Von Bergen considers the Carthagena barks under the two divisions of 1. China Jlava dura, or harte gelbe China, and 2. China Jlava Jibrosa, or holzige gelbe China. As these, with the varieties before noticed as described by him, complete the nine divisions under which he ranks the barks of commerce, we shall give a brief abstract of his account of them. They are both included under the title of yellow Carthagena bark, as given in the text. 1. China Jlava dura, or hard yellow bark.—This is in quills and flat pieces. The quills are from three to eight lines in diameter, from half a line to a line and a half thick, and from five to nine inches, and sometimes, though rarely, even fifteen inches long. Tho flat pieces are considerably thicker, from half an inch to two inches broad, and from four to eight in length. They are often somewhat twisted, and so curved in the drying that the upper surface is rather concave. The epidermis is in many pieces partially or almost wholly wanting. The outer surface is on the whole rather smooth, though it usually ex- hibits a few faint longitudinal furrows and transverse fissures, and pieces are occasionally found with hard warts or protuberances. In the flat pieces, the epidermis, when present, has somewhat of the consistence of cork, and consists of several layers. The colour of the epidermis varies from yellowish-while to ash-gray, and is sometimes diversified by bluish-gray or blackish lichens. When it is wanting, the colour is between a dark cinnamon and brownish-yellow. These shades, however, are seldom clear, and the flat pieces have usually a somewhat dusty aspect. The inner surface of the quills is tolerably uniform, that of the flat pieces uneven or faintly furrowed and even splintery, the points of the splinters often projecting. Its colour, which is almost always dull, as if the surface were dusty, varies between a light cinnamon and a dull oehre-yellow, and in some pieces is rusty-brown or fawn-gray, or even whilish-yellow. The bark does not readily break in the longitudinal direction. The transverse fracture presents short splinters, and is some- times fibrous. When cut transversely, the bark obscurely exhibits a very small darker coloured resinous layer beneath the epidermis. The odour is feeble, the taste slightly astringent and bitter, but not strongly so. The powder is of the colour of cinnamon. Von Bergen attributes this variety to the C. cordifolia. 2. China Jlava Jibrosa, or woody yellow bark.—In shape and dimensions, this variety dons not materially differ from the preceding; but the flatter pieces are almost always a little rolled, or curved laterally. The epidermis is seldom entire, being in general either in part or wholly rubbed off. When present, it resembles in consistence that of the former variety. Its outer surface is nearly pmooth, only marked here and there with faint irre- gular transverse fissures and longitudinal furrows. Its colour varies from a dirty whitish- gray to yellowish, but is sometimes more or less dark. When the outer surface is rubbed off, as is the case here and there in the quills, and almost always in the flat pieces, the colour is a nearly pure ochre-ycllow. Where the whole thickness of the epidermis is PART I. Cinchona. 223 variety may be called the brown Carthagena bark. This also has a white epidermis, which is smooth and without fissures. The bark is hard, com- pact, very heavy, rough and thick, of a chocolate colour internally, and of a bitter and astringent taste, more disagreeable than that of the pale barks, to which it is in other respects somewhat analogous. Its source is unknown. 3. A third variety is the red Carthagena bark, distinguished from the offi- cinal red bark by its whitish smooth epidermis, and by its comparatively feeble taste. It is probably derived from the C. oblongifolia, and is not known in this country as a distinct variety. 4. Within a few years a variety has appeared in our market under the name of Santa Martha bark, which ranks itself by its characters among those of Carthagena. It derives its name from the port where it is shipped. It is either in small irregularly oblong fragments, flat or but slightly curved, from one to three lines in thickness, usually destitute of epidermis, and presenting an appearance somewhat as if chipped from the large branches or trunk of the tree; or in short quills, partially covered with a whitish epidermis, and evidently derived from the smaller branches. This bark is compact, of a pale yellowish colour, and a bitter, somewhat nauseous taste. It is usually considered superior to the ordinary Carthagena bark, probably from its greater bitter- ness. May it not be derived from the C. macrocarpa, the C. ovalifolia of Mutis, which Humboldt informs us grows in the neighbourhood of Santa Martha? All the Carthagena barks, as will have been observed, have a white some- what micaceous epidermis. They are also distinguished by a taste less bitter and more nauseous than that of the officinal varieties; and, though they contain more or less quinia and cinchonia, are by no means abundant in these principles. False Barks. Before dismissing the subject of the varieties of cinchona, it is.proper to observe, that numerous barks have at various times been introduced into the market, and sold as closely resembling or identical with the febrifuge of Peru, which experience has proved to differ from it materially, both in chemical composition and medicinal virtues. These barks are generally wanting, as happens here and there in spots, it is dark cinnamon, or dark ochre-yellow, and commonly dull or powdery. The inner surface is usually even, but is sometimes irregular and splintery, and always feels harsh to the fingers, leaving small splinters sticking in the skin when drawn over it. Tiie colour is a nearly pure ochre-yellow, like that of the external surface when the outer layer is rubbed off, though somewhat duller and very powdery. The fracture distinguishes this variety from the preceding and from all others. The longitudinal fracture is strikingly fibrous, and in the flat pieces the fragments still hang together by connecting fibres. The bark, moreover, breaks obliquely, and the fracture even of the epidermis, which in other varieties is almost always smooth, is here uneven or rough-gruined. The transverse fracture exhibits very long and thin splinters or fibres, which are very flexible, and may almost be said to be soft. No traces of a resinous appearance are observable in the fracture. The odour is feeble, the taste at first woody and flat, afterwards slightly bitter and astringent, and weaker in this than in any other variety of bark. The colour of the powder is intermediate between that of cinnamon and yellow-ochre. The tree from which this variety is obtained is unknown. Of these two varieties of Carthagena bark, the first yielded, on an average of two experiments, 0.57 per cctit. of pure cinchonia, and 0.33 per cent, of sulphate of quinia; the second yielded, on an average of five trials with different specimens, 0.4 per cent, of pure cinchonia, and 0.36 of sulphate of quinia. The highest product of the woody bark was about 0.59 per cent, of cinchonia, and 0.52 of sulphate of quinia. From this state- ment, it appears that, so far as regards the relative proportion of their two active ingre- dients, tjiey should rank with the red bark, though greatly inferior to it in strength. 224 Cinchona. part r. procured from trees which were formerly ranked among the Cinchona^, but are now arranged in other genera. They are distinguished from the true Peruvian bark by the absence of quinia and cinchonia. Among them are I. the Caribman bark, from the Exostemma Caribaea; 2. the St. Lucia bark, or quinquinapiton of the French, derived from the Exostemma ffori- bunda; 3. the Pitaya bark, known in France by the name of quinquina bicolor, supposed by some to be derived from an Exostemma, by others from the Strychnos pseudo-quina; and 4. the bark called on the continent of Europe new bark (quina nova), which, though generally ranked with the false barks and considered as the product of the Portlandia grandijiora, is believed by some pharmaceutists to be the same with the red bark of Mutis, and should therefore be considered identical with the red Carthagena bark. Most of these barks are scarcely known in the commerce of this country, not one of them being used in our medical practice; and they are mentioned in this place only that the student, when he meets with their names in other works, may know where to refer them. Chemical History. In the analysis of Peruvian bark, the attention of chemists was at first directed exclusively to the action of water and alcohol upon it, and to the determination of the relative proportion of its gummy or extractive and resi- nous matter. The presence of tannin and of various alkaline or earthy salts in minute quantities was afterwards demonstrated. Fourcroy made an ela- borate analysis, which attracted much attention at the time, and proved the existence of other principles in the bark than those previously ascertained; but the results which he obtained were not very definite. Dr. Westrino- was ' the first who attempted the discovery of an active principle in the bark on which its febrifuge virtues might depend; but he was unable to carry out his conception to any successful result. Seguin afterwards pursued the same track, and endeavoured, by observing the effects of various re-agents, to dis- cover the relative value of different varieties of the drug. The conclusions, however, at which he arrived, have not been supported by subsequent expe- riment. M. Deschamps, an apothecary of Lyons, obtained from bark a crystallizable salt of lime, the acid of which Vauquelin afterwards separated, and called kinic acid. The latter chemist also pushed to a much further extent the researches of Seguin, as to the influence of re-agents. He examined seventeen different kinds of bark, which he arranged in three classes, accord- ing to their chemical relation with certain re-agents—ihe first class including those which afforded precipitates with tannin and not with gelatin; the second, those which precipitated gelatin and not tannin; the third, those which precipitated at the same time tannin, gelatin, and tartar emetic. He supposed those to be the most efficient which gave precipitates with tannin or the infusion of galls; but his classification has been abandoned with the progress of discovery. Reuss of Moscow succeeded in isolating a pecu- liar colouring matter from red bark, which he designated by the name of cinchonic red, and obtained a bitter substance, which probably consisted in part of the peculiar alkaline principles, subsequently discovered. The first step, however, towards the discovery of cinchonia and quinia appears to have been taken by the late Dr. Duncan of Edinburgh. He believed the precipitate afforded by the infusion of cinchona with that of galls, to be a peculiar vegetable principle, and accordingly denominated it cinchonine. Dr. Gomez, a Portuguese physician, convinced that the active principle of bark resided in this cinchonine, but in an impure state, instituted experi- PART I. Cinchona. 225 ments upon some pale bark, which resulted in the separation of a white crys- talline substance, considered by him to be the pure cinchonine of Dr. Duncan. It was obtained by the action of potassa upon an aqueous infusion of the alcoholic extract of the bark, and was undoubtedly the principle now uni- versally known by the name of cinchonine or cinchonia. But Dr. Gomez was ignorant of hs precise nature, considering it to be analogous to resin. M. Laubert afterwards obtained the same principle by a different process, and described it under the name of white matter or pure white resin. To Pelletier and Caventou was reserved the honour of crowning all these expe- riments, and applying the results which they obtained to important practical purposes. They demonstrated the alkaline character of the principle dis- covered by Gomez and Laubert, and gave it definitively the name of cincho- nine. They discovered in the yellow or Calisaya bark another alkaline principle, which they denominated quinine. Both these bases they proved to exist naturally in the barks, combined with the kinic acid in the state of kinatc of cinchonine and of quinine. It has moreover been established by their labours, that the febrifuge property of bark depends upon the presence of these two principles. It was in the year 1820 that these chemists an- nounced their discovery. Dr. Duncan's suggestion was made so early as 1803. Among English and American chemists, the names of these alkaline bodies have been changed to cinchonia and quinia, for the sake of uniformity of nomenclature; and by these names we shall always call them. It has before been stated, on more than one occasion, that the three offi- cinal varieties of bark are distinguished by peculiarities of composition. We give the result of the analysis of each variety as obtained by Pelletier and Caventou. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 70. 89. 92.) Pale bark of Loxa contains, 1. a fatty matter, discovered by Laubert; 2. a red colouring matter, very slightly soluble, identical with the cin- chonic red of Reuss; 3. a yellow colouring matter, observed by Laubert, soluble in water and alcohol, and capable of being precipitated by the subacetate of lead; 4. tannin; 5. gum; 6. starch; 7. lignin; 8. kinate of lime; 9. kinate of cinchonia, with a very minute proportion of kinate of quinia. Yellow Calisaya bark contains the fatty matter, the cinchonic red, the yellow colouring matter, tannin, starch, lignin, kinate of lime, and acidu- lous kinate of quinia, with a comparatively small proportion of kinate of cinchonia.*' Red bark contains the fatty matter, a large quantity of the cinchonic red, the yellow colouring matter, tannin, starch, lignin, kinate of lime, and a large proportion both of acidulous kinate of quinia, and of acidulous kinate of cinchonia. Carthagena bark contains the same ingredients with the red bark, but in different proportions. It has less of the alkaline matter, which it also yields with much greater difficulty to water, in consequence of the abundance of insoluble cinchonic red which it contains, and which either involves the * Winkler is said to have discovered in Calisaya bark a peculiar bitter principle, which he found also in greater proportion in the new bark, (kina nova,) and for which he proposes the name of kinovic bitter. It is insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether, without alkaline or acid properties, and without nitrogen in its composition. Winkler obtained it from the new bark by treating this in fine powder with ether, evaporating the ether, treating the residue with alcohol, then decolorizing the solution by means of animal charcoal, and precipitating the bitter principle by ammonia. It exists in the new bark along with a peculiar acid discovered by Pelletier and Caventou, and denominated by them kinoric acid. 226 Cinchona. PART I. salts of quinia and cinchonia so as to prevent the full contact of water, or retains these alkalies in a species of combination. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 105.) By the experiments of Henry Jun. and Plisson, it may be considered as established, that the alkalies of the different varieties of bark are combined at the same time with kinic acid, and with one or more of the colouring matters, which, in relation to these substances, appear to act the part of acids. This idea was originally suggested by Robiquet. (Journ. de Pharm. xii. 282. 369.) It is stated that the compounds of quinia and cinchonia with the cinchonic red are scarcely soluble in water, while the kinates of these bases are very soluble. (Ibid. xvii. 201.) From the statements above made, it appears that the three officinal varie- ties of bark differ little, except in the proportion of their constituents. All contain both quinia and cinchonia; the yellow bark abounding in the first, the pale in the second, and the red in both. Gum is the only constituent found in one and not in the others. It is an ingredient in the pale bark, but is wanting in the red and yellow. The observations which follow on the peculiar and characteristic properties of the proximate principles of bark, are derived chiefly from the Memoir of Pelletier and Caventou, published in the 7th volume of the Journal de Pharmacie. The fatty matter, which was first obtained pure by M. Laubert, is of a greenish colour as obtained from the pale bark, orange-yellow from the yel- low. It is insoluble in water, soluble in boiling alcohol, which precipitates a part of it on cooling, very soluble in sulphuric ether even cold, and capa- ble of forming soaps with the alkalies. The colour is probably owing to extraneous matter connected with it. The cinchonic red of Reuss, the insoluble red colouring matter of Pelle- tier and Caventou, is reddish-brown, insipid, inodorous, largely soluble in alcohol, especially when hot, and almost insoluble in ether or water, though the latter dissolves a little at the boiling temperature. The acids promote its solubility in water. It precipitates tartar emetic, but not gelatin; but, if treated with a cold solution of potassa or soda, or by ammonia, lime, or baryta with heat, and precipitated by an acid from the solution thus formed, it acquires the properly of forming an insoluble compound with gelatin, and seems to be converted into a species of tannin. It is precipitated by sub- acetate of lead. It is most abundant in the red bark, and least so in the pale. The yellow colouring matter has little taste, is soluble in water, alcohol, and ether, precipitates neither gelatin nor tartar emetic, and is itself precipi- tated by subacetate of lead. The tannin, or soluble red colouring matter of Pelletier and Caventou, has been considered as possessing all the properties which characterize the proximate vegetable principles associated together under this name. It has a brownish-red colour and austere taste, is soluble in water and alcohol, com- bines with metallic oxides, and produces precipitates with the salts of iron, which vary in colour according to the variety of bark; being deep green with the pale bark, blackish-brown with the yellow, and reddish-brown with the red. It must, however, differ materially from the tannin or tannic acid of galls, which could not exist in aqueous solutions containing cinchonia without forming an insoluble compound with that base. But the most interesting and important constituents of Peruvian bark are the cinchonia and quinia, and the acid with which they are combined. In relation to these, therefore, we shall be more minute in our details. Cinchonia when pure is a white crystalline substance, soluble in two part i. Cinchona. 227 thousand five hundred parts of boiling water, almost insoluble in cold water, very soluble in boiling alcohol which deposites a portion in the crystalline state upon cooling, and slightly soluble in ether and the fixed and volatile oils. Its bitter taste, at first not very obvious in consequence of its difficult" solubility, is developed after a short time by the solution of a minute por- tion in the saliva. Its alcoholic, ethereal, and oleaginous solutions are very bitter. Its alkaline character is very decided, as it neutralizes the strongest acids, forming with them saline compounds. Of the salts of cinchonia the sulphate, nitrate, muriate, phosphate, and acetate are soluble in water. The neutral tartrate, oxalate, and gallate are insoluble in cold water, but may be dissolved in hot water, in alcohol, or in an excess of acid. Several processes have been employed for the preparation of cinchonia. One of the simplest is the following. Powdered pale bark is submitted to the action of sulphuric or muriatic acid very much diluted, and the solution thus obtained is precipi- tated by an excess of lime. The precipitate is collected on a filter, washed with water, and treated with boiling alcohol. The alcoholic solution is filtered while hot, and deposites the cinchonia when it cools. A further quantity is obtained by evaporation. If not perfectly white, it may be freed from colour by first converting it into a sulphate with dilute sulphuric acid, then treating the solution with animal charcoal, filtering, precipitating by an alkali, and redissolving by alcohol in the manner already mentioned. It may also be obtained from the mother waters of sulphate of quinia, by diluting them with water, precipitating with ammonia, collecting the precipi- tate on a filter, washing and drying it, and then dissolving it in boiling alcohol, which deposites the cinchonia in a crystalline form upon cooling. It may be still further purified by a second solution and crystallization. Cinchonia consists, according to Liebig, of 77.81 parts of carbon, 8.87 of nitrogen, 7.37 of hydrogen, and 5.93 of oxygen; and its equivalent number may be stated at 156.55, hydrogen being considered as unity. Exposed to the air, cinchonia does not suffer decomposition, but very slowly absorbs carbonic acid, and acquires the property of effervescing slightly with acids. It may be distin- guished, when dissolved in the saline state in water, from any other vegetable alkali by a reddish somewhat orange colour, produced by the addition first of liquid chlorine and then of ammonia to the solution. (Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 135.) Sulphate of cinchonia, the only salt of this base which has been employed to any extent in a separate stale, may be prepared by heating the cinchonia with a little water, adding dilute sulphuric acid gradually till the alkali is dissolved, then boiling with animal charcoal previously washed with muriatic acid, filtering the solution while hot, and setting it aside to crystallize. By alternate evaporation and crystallization, the whole of the sulphate may be obtained from the solution. It is a white, very bitter salt, crystallizing in flexible, somewhat shining, four-sided, flattened prisms, terminated by an inclined face, and generally collected in fasciculi. It is soluble in fifty-four parts of water at common temperatures, and in a smaller quantity of boiling water. Chemists at present generally consider it as a disulphate. By the addition of the necessary quantity of acid, it passes into the neutral sulphate, which is soluble in less than half its weight of water at 58°. It consists, according to Pelletier and Caventou, of 100 parts of cinchonia, and 13.021 of sulphuric acid. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 57.) Quinia is whitish, and as usually prepared is rather flocculent in its ap- pearance, not crystalline like cinchonia. It may, however, be crystallized, by cautious management, in pearly silky needles. (Journ. de Pharm. xi. 249.) It is fusible like the resins, and becomes brittle on cooling. It is 228 Cinchona. part i. more bitter than cinchonia, is almost insoluble in water, but is very soluble in alcohol, and soluble also in ether, and in the fixed and volatile oils. Its alcoholic solution is intensely bitter. It unites with the acids to form salts, which crystallize with facility. The gallate, tartrate, and oxalate are said to be insoluble, or nearly so, in cold water, but are dissolved by an excess of acid. It is unalterable in the air, not even absorbing carbonic acid. Its salts may be distinguished from those of the other vegetable alkalies by the beautiful emerald green colour which results when their solution is treated first with solution of chlorine and then with ammonia, and which changes to a white or violet upon saturation with a dilute acid. (Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 135.) The constituents of quinia, according to Liebig, are carbon 75.16, oxygen 8.61, hydrogen 7.52, nitrogen 8.11. Its equivalent number, that of hydrogen being unity, is inferred from this statement of its com- position, as well as from the synthesis of the muriate and .analysis of the sulphate by Liebig, to be 164.55. This number, however, is founded on the opinion, that of the two salts which quinia forms with sulphuric acid, the one originally considered neutral and denominated simply sulphate of quinia is in fact basic, consisting of two equivalents of the base and one of the acid, while the other, at first supposed to be a supersalt, is strictly neutral, consisting of one equivalent of each of its ingredients. The same remark is applicable to the combining number of cinchonia. In both cases, were the original opinion of the composition of the sulphates to be admitted, the real combining numbers of the two alkalies would be double those already stated. Quinia is obtained by treating its sulphate with the solution of an alkali, collecting the precipitate which forms, washing it till the water comes away tasteless, then drying it, dissolving it in alcohol at 97° F., and slowly evaporating the solution. The only important artificial salt of quinia is the sulphate, the process for procuring which, as well as its properties, will be hereafter described. (See Quinise Sulphas, among the Preparations.) The muriate, phosphate, ferrocyanate, acetate, citrate, and tannate have also been employed and recommended, but none of them has yet gained a reputation which entitles it to rank among standard remedies. Kinic Acid, and the Kinates of Cinchonia and Quinia. It may be de- sirable to procure the alkaline principles in that state of saline combination in which they exist in the bark, as it is possible that they may exert an influence over the system in this state, somewhat different from that pro- duced by their combinations with the sulphuric or other mineral acid. As it is impossible to procure the kinates immediately from the bark in a pure state, it becomes necessary first to obtain the kinic acid separately, which may thus become of some practical importance. We shall, therefore, briefly describe the mode of procuring it, and its characteristic propeities. By evaporating the infusion of bark to a solid consistence, and treating the ex- tract thus obtained with alcohol, we have in the residue a viscid matter con- sisting chiefly of mucilage and kinate of lime.* If an aqueous solution of this substance be formed, and allowed to evaporate at a gentle heat, crystals of the kinate are deposited, which may be purified by a second crystalliza- tion. The salt thus obtained, being dissolved in water, is decomposed by means of oxalic acid, which precipitates the lime and leaves the kinic acid in solution. This may be procured in the crystalline state by spontaneous evaporation. The crystals are transparent and colourless, sour to the taste, and readily soluble in alcohol and water. The kinates of cinchonia and * The kinate of lime is soluble in water but not in alcohoL PART I. Cinchona. 229 quinia may be obtained either by a direct combination of their constituents, or by the mutual decomposition of the sulphates of those alkalies and the kinate of lime. The kinate of cinchonia has a bitter and astringent taste, is very soluble in water, is soluble also in alcohol, and is crystallized with difficulty. The kinate of quinia is also very soluble in water, but less so in rectified alcohol. Its taste is very bitter, resembling exactly that of yel- low bark. It crystallizes in crusts of a mammillated form, and opaque or semitransparent. The salt is with difficulty obtained free from colour, and only by employing the ingredients in a state of extreme purity. (Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. Juillet 1829.) Of the relations of bark with the several solvents employed in pharmacy we shall speak hereafter, under the heads of its infusion, decoction, and tincture; where we shall also have an opportunity of mentioning some of the more prominent substances which afford precipitates with its liquid pre- parations. It is sufficient at present to state, that all the substances which precipitate the infusion of bark do not by any means necessarily affect its virtues, as it contains several inert ingredients which form insoluble com- pounds with bodies which do not disturb its active principles. As tannic acid forms a compound insoluble in water with quinia and cinchonia, it is desirable that substances containing this acid, in a free state, should not be prescribed in connexion with the infusion or decoction of bark; for, though it is not improbable that this insoluble tannate might be found efficacious if administered, yet being precipitated from the liquid, it would be apt to be thrown away as dregs, or at any rate would communicate, if agitated, an unpleasant turbidness. It is evident from what has been said, that an infusion of bark, on account of the tannin-like principle which it contains, may precipitate gelatin, tartar emetic, and the salts of iron, without having a particle of cinchonia or quinia in its composition; and that consequently any inference as to its value drawn from this chemical property, would be altogether fallacious; but, as the active principles are thrown down by the tannic acid of galls, no bark can be con- sidered good which does not afford a precipitate with the infusion of this substance. It is impossible to determine, with accuracy, the relative proportion of the active ingredients in the different varieties of cinchona, as the quantity is by no means uniform in different specimens of the same variety. Pelletier and Caventou state, in their first Memoir, that they had been able to obtain only 2 parts of cinchonia from 1000 of pale bark; while from an equal quantity of the yellow they had succeeded in extracting 9 parts of quinia, and from the red, 8 parts of cinchonia and 17 parts of quinia. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 92.) But either they employed inferior specimens of the first two varieties, or did not completely exhaust those upon which they experimented. Ac- cording to a statement subsequently made by them to the French Institute, they obtained from the best Calisaya bark 2.9 per cent, of sulphate of quinia, from inferior kinds 1.5 per cent.; and the average result was 2.33 per cent. (North Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. v. 475.) Accounts generally agree in giving less alkaline matter to the pale barks than to the yellow, and more to the red than to either. Mr. Viltmann of Osnabruck obtained from the Huanuco bark 3.5 per cent of cinchonia, from the Calisaya or royal yellow, 5 per cent, of quinia, from the red, 6 per cent, of quinia and cin- chonia, and from the Carthagena, 3.3 per cent, of alkaline matter. (Journ. de Cliim. Medicate, Nov. 1830.) We cannot, however, avoid suspecting some inaccuracy in the steps by which he obtained results so far exceeding those of the experienced French chemists before quoted. 21 230 Cinchona. part i. The following mode of estimating, in a hasty way, the value of bark by the quantity of alkaline matter it contains, we copy from a communication of M. Tilloy of Dijon, published in the 13th vol. of the Journ. de Phar- macie, p. 530. " Take an ounce of the bark coarsely powdered, introduce it into about 12 ounces of alcohol of 30° B. (sp. gr. 0.8748), expose the mix- ture for half an hour to a temperature of from 105° to 120° F., draw off the alcohol, add a fresh portion, and act as before; unite the liquors, and throw into them a sufficient quantity of acetate or subacetate of lead to precipitate the colouring matter and kinic acid, then allow the insoluble matter to sub- side, and filter. Add to the filtered liquor a few drops of sulphuric acid to separate the excess of acetate of lead, filter, and distil off* the alcohol. There remains an acetate or sulphate of quinia, according to the quantity of sulphuric acid employed, together with a fatty matter which will adhere to the vessel. Decant the liquor, and add ammonia, which will instantaneously precipitate the quinia. Too much ammonia will retain it in solution; but in this case a few drops of sulphuric acid will cause it to precipitate. The quinia washed with warm water, and then treated with sulphuric acid, water, and a little animal charcoal, yields very white sulphate of quinia. I have thus obtained in six hours nine grains of the sulphate from an ounce of bark [576 grains French], which is a large proportion when allowances are made for the loss during the process." Medical Properties and Uses. This valuable remedy was unknown to the civilized world till about the middle of the seventeenth century; though the natives of Peru are generally supposed to have been long previously acquainted with its febrifuge powers. Humboldt, however, is of a different opinion. In his Memoir on the Cin- chona forests he states, that it is entirely unknown as a remedy to the Indians inhabiting the country where it grows; and as these people adhere with per- tinacity to the practices of their ancestors, he concludes that it never was employed by them. They have generally the most violent prejudices against it, considering it absolutely poisonous; and in the treatment of fever pre- fer the milder indigenous remedies. Humboldt is disposed to ascribe the discovery of the febrifuge powers of the bark to the Jesuits, who were sent to Peru as missionaries, and among whom were many familiar with the medical knowledge of the day. As bitters had been chiefly relied on in the treatment of intermittent fevers, and as bitterness was observed to be a pre- dominant property in the bark of certain trees which were felled in clearing the forests, the missionaries were naturally led to give it a trial in the same complaint. They accordingly administered an infusion of the bark in the tertian ague, then a prevalent disorder in Peru, and soon ascertained its ex- traordinary powers. A tradition to this effect is said by Humboldt to be current at Loxa. Ruiz and Pavon, however, are among the writers who ascribe the discovery to the Indians. The Countess of Chinchon, wife of the Viceroy of Peru, having in her own person experienced the beneficial effects of the bark, is said, on her return to Spain in the year 1640, to have first introduced the remedy into Europe. Hence the name of pulvis Commitissse, by which it was first known. After its introduction, it was distribtated and sold by the Jesuits, who are said to have obtained for it the enormous sum of its weight in silver. From this circumstance it was called Jesuits' pow- der, a title which it long retained. It had acquired some reputation in Eng- land so early as the year 1658, but from its extravagant price, and from the prejudice excited against it, was at first little used. At this early period, PART I. Cinchona. 231 however, its origin and nature do not seem to have been generally known; for we are told that Sir John Talbot, an Englishman, having employed it with great success in France, in the treatment of intermittents, under the name of the English powder, at length, in the year 1679, sold the secret of its origin and preparation to Louis XIV., by whom it was divulged. When taken into the stomach, bark usually excites in a short time a sense of warmth in the epigastrium, which often diffuses itself over the abdomen and even the breast, and is sometimes attended with considerable gastric and intestinal irritation. Nausea and even vomiting are sometimes produced, especially if the stomach was previously in an inflamed or irritated state. Purging, moreover, is not an unfrequent attendant upon its action. After some time has elapsed, the circulation often experiences its influence, as exhibited in the somewhat increased frequency of pulse; and if the dose be repeated, the whole system becomes more or less affected, and all the func- tions undergo a moderate degree of excitement. Its action upon the nervous system is sometimes evinced by a sense of tension or fulness or slight pain in the head, singing in the ears, and partial deafness, which are always ex- perienced by some individuals when brought completely under its influence. The effects above mentioned entitle bark to a place among the tonics, and it is usually ranked at the very head of this class of medicines. But be- sides the mere excitation of the ordinary functions of health, it ptoduces other effects upon the system, which must be considered peculiar, and wholly independent of its mere tonic operation. The power by which, when administered in the intervals between the paroxysms of intermittent disorders, it breaks the chain of morbid association, and interrupts the pro- gress of the disease, is something more than what is usually understood by the tonic property; for no other substance belonging to the class, however powerful or permanent may be the excitement which it produces, exercises a control over intermittents at all comparable to that of the medicine under consideration. As in these complaints it is probable, that in the intervals, a train of morbid actions is going on out of our sight, within the recesses of the nervous system, so it is also probabje, that bark produces in the same system an action equally mysterious, which supersedes that of the malady, and thus accomplishes the restoration of the patient. From the possession both of the tonic, and of the anti-intermittent property, if we may be allowed so to designate it, bark is capable of being usefully applied in the treatment of a great number of diseases. It may usually be employed with benefit in all morbid conditions of the system, whatever may be the peculiar modifications, in which a permanent corroborant effect is desirable, provided the stomach be in a proper state for its reception. In low or typhoid forms of disease, in which either no in- flammation exists, or that which does exist has been moderated by proper measures, or has passed into the suppurative or the gangrenous stage, this remedy is often of the greatest advantage in supporting the system till the morbid action ceases. Hence its use in the latter stages of typhus gravior; in malignant scarlatina, measles, and small pox; in carbuncle, and gangrenous erysipelas; and in all cases in which the system is exhausted under large purulent discharges, and the tendency of the affection is towards recovery. As a tonic, bark is also advantageously employed in chronic diseases connected with debility; as, for example, in scrofula, dropsy, passive he- morrhages, certain forms of dyspepsia, obstinate cutaneous affections, ame- norrhcea, chorea, hysteria; in fact, whenever a corroborant influence is desired, and no contra-indicating symptoms exist. But in all these cases it greatly behooves the physician to examine well the condition of the system, 232 Cinchona. part r. and before resorting to the tonic, to ascertain the real existence of an enfee- bled condition of the functions, and the absence of such local irritations or inflammations, especially of the stomach or bowels, as would be likely to be aggravated by its use. But it is in the cure of intermittent diseases that bark displays its most ex- traordinary powers. It was originally introduced into notice as a remedy- in fever and ague, and the reputation which it acquired at an early period it has ever since retained. Very few cases of this disease will be found to re- sist the judicious use of bark," or some one of its preparations. This is not the place to speak of the precise circumstances under which it is best ad- ministered. It will be sufficient to say, that physicians generally concur in recommending its early employment, in divided doses, to the extent of one or two ounces, during the intermission, and the repetition of this plan till the disease is subdued, or the remedy is found insufficient for its cure. Other intermittent diseases have been found to yield with almost equal cer- tainty to the remedy, particularly those of a neuralgic character. Hemicrania and violent pains in the eye, face, and other parts of the body, occurring periodically, are often almost immediately relieved by the use of bark. Some cases of epilepsy, in which the convulsions recurred at regular inter- vals, have also been cured by it; and even the hectic intermittent is frequently arrested, though, as the cause still generally continues to operate, the relief is too often only temporary. Diarrhoea and dysentery sometimes put on the intermittent form, especially in miasmatic districts; and under these circumstances may often be cured by bark. Nor is it necessary, that, in the various diseases which have been mentioned, the intermission should always be com plete, in order to justify a resort to the remedy. Remittent fevers, in which the remission is very decided, not unfrequently yield to the use of bark, if preceded by proper depleting measures. But, as a general rule, the less of the diseased action there is in the interval, the better is the chance of success ; and if it exceed a certain point, the bark has usually been found to aggravate instead of relieving the complaint. Some observations are requisite as to the choice of the barks, and the forms of administration. In the treatment of intermittents, either the red or the yellow bark is decidedly preferable to the pale, and of the first two, the red is usually considered the most powerful. With regard to the red, experience had pronounced in its favour long before analysis had proved its superiority. It not only contains more of the active principles of the bark than the other varieties, but has also the advantage of uniting them both in nearly equal proportion. The pale bark may possibly, in its finest forms, be superior for the purposes of a general tonic, as it is less liable to offend the stomach, and perhaps to irritate the bowels. Where the object is to make a decided and speedy impression, bark is most effectually administered in substance. We can by no means be absolutely certain that quinia and cinchonia are its only active ingredients; and even supposing them to be so, we are equally uncertain whether they may not be somewhat modified in their properties, even by the therapeutically inert principles with which they are associated. In fact, bark in substance has been repeatedly known to cure intermittents when the sulphate of quinia has failed. It is best administered diffused in water or some aromatic infusion. Experience has proved that its efficacy in the cure of intermittents is often greatly promoted by admixture with other substances. A mixture of powdered bark, Virginia snakeroot, and carbonate of soda, was at one time highly esteemed in this city ; and another, consisting of bark, confection of opium, lemon-juice, and port wine, has, in our own experience, and that of PART I. Cinchona. 233 some of our friends, proved highly efficacious in some obstinate cases of fever and ague.* But notwithstanding the superior efficacy of the bark in substance, it is in the great majority of instances sufficient to resort to some one of its prepa- rations; and in many cases we are compelled to this resort by the inability of the stomach to support the powder, or the unwillingness of the patient to encounter its disagreeable taste. The best substitute, in cases of intermit- tent disease, is decidedly the sulphate of quinia, or sulphate of cinchonia, the former of which is used almost to the exclusion of the latter, though not perhaps upon sufficient grounds. The advantage of these preparations is their great facility of administration, and the possibility, by their employ- ment, of introducing a large quantity of the active matter, with less risk of offending the stomach. The sulphate of quinia is now almost universally employed in the treatment of intermittents, and bark resorted to only after this has failed. (See Quinise Sulphas.) Though quinia possesses the anti-intermittent power of bark, it is by no means satisfactorily ascertained that it is capable of exerting all the peculiar influence of that medicine as a tonic; but as bark in powder can seldom be supported by a delicate stomach, for a sufficient period to insure the neces- sary influence of the medicine in chronic disease, it is customary to resort, in this case, to some one of its preparations in which the quinia is extracted in connexion with the other principles; as the infusion, decoction, tincture, and extiact. Each of these will be particularly treated of among the prepa- rations. It is here only necessary to say, that their use is mostly confined to chronic cases; or to those of a malignant character, as typhus gravior, «e®9'"" CUPRUM. Copper. Cuivre, Fr.; Kupfer, Germ.; Rame, Ital.; Cobre, Span. This metal is not officinal in the metallic state, in which it is never used in medicine; but it furnishes several important preparations. Copper is very generally diffused in nature, and exists principally in four states; as native copper, as an oxide, as a sulphuret, and as a salt. Its prin- cipal native salts are the sulphate, carbonate, arseniate, and phosphate. In the United States it has been found in various localities, but most abundantly in New Jersey, and in the North-West Territory. The principal copper mines in the world, are those of the Pyrenees in France, Cornwall in Eng- land, and Fahlun in Sweden. Properties. Copper is a brilliant, sonorous metal, of a reddish colour, and very ductile, malleable, and tenacious. It has a slightly nauseous taste, and emits a disagreeable smell when rubbed. Its texture is granular, and its fracture hackly. Its sp. gr. is 8.89, and its fusing point, 1996 F. according to Daniel]; being intermediate in fusibility between silver and gold. Its equivalent number is 31.6. Exposed to the air it undergoes a slight tarnish. Its combinations are numerous and important. With oxygen it forms two well characterized oxides, a suboxide or dioxide, of a red colour, consisting of two equiv. of copper and one of oxygen; and a protoxide of a black colour, formed of one equiv. of metal and one of oxygen. The latter oxide, which alone is salifiable, forms with acids several salts, important in medi- cine and the arts. With metals copper forms numerous alloys, of which that with zinc, called brass, is the most useful. When copper is in solution, it may be readily detected by the immersion of a bright plate of iron, which immediately becomes covered with a film of metallic copper. Action on the Animal Economy. Copper, in its pure state, is perfectly inert; but in combination is highly deleterious. Nevertheless a trace of it has been detected by M. Sarzeau in the blood. Its combinations, when taken in poisonous doses, produce a coppery taste in the mouth; nausea and vomiting; violent pain of the stomach and bowels; frequent, black, and bloody stools; small, irregular, sharp, and frequent pulse; faintings; burning thirst; difficulty of breathing; cold sweats; paucity of urine; violent headach; cramps, convulsions, and finally death. The best treatment in cases of poi- soning by copper, is to neutralize the poison by the white of eggs, diffused in water, and administered in large and repeated doses. If this remedy be not at hand, the patient must in the mean lime be gorged with warm or even cold water, or with some emollient decoction, and the throat irritated by the finger or a feather, with a view to excite vomiting. Should vomiting not take place by these means, the stomach-pump may be employed. Sugar, formerly recommended as an antidote by Orfila on the authority of M. Mar- celin Duval, is now considered by the former to have the power merely of part i. Cuprum.—Cupri Jlcetas. 273 calming irritation after vomiting has taken place, and to be far inferior to albumen, which, by decomposing the cupreous preparation, acts as a true counterpoison. After the foregoing statements we need hardly add, that the use of vessels of copper should be discontinued in all operations connected with pharmacy and domestic economy; for although the metal, uncombined, is innocuous, yet the risk is great that they may be acted on, in which event, whatever may be contained in them would be rendered deleterious. Pharm. Prep. The following is a list of all the preparations containing copper, in the U. S. and British Pharmacopoeias, arranged so as to exhibit the synonymes. Cupri Acetas. Crystalli. Dub. Cupri Acetas, U.S.; JErugo, Lond.; Sub-Acetas Cupri, Ed.; Cupri Subacetas, Dub.; Anglice, Verdigris. Cupri Acetas Praeparatus, U.S.; Cupri Subacetas Praeparatum, Dub. Anglice, Prepared verdigris. Unguentum Cupri Acetatis, U. S.; Unguentum Sub-Acetatis Cupri, Ed.; Unguentum Cupri Subacetatis, Dub. Oxymel Cupri Subacetatis, Dub.; Linimentum iEruginis, Lond. Emplastrum Cantharides Vesicatoriae Compositum, Ed. Cupri Sulphas, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Sulphas Cupri, Ed. Solutio Sulphatis Cupri Composita, Ed. Cuprum Ammoniatum, U.S., Dub.; Cupri Ammonio-Sulphas,Zoraf.; Ammoniaretum Cupri, Ed. Liquor Cupri Ammonio-Sulphatis, Lond.; Cupri Ammoniati Aqua, Dub. Pilulae Ammoniareti Cupri, Ed. B. —»»9ga..... CUPRI ACETAS. U.S. Acetate of Copper. Off. Syn. iERUGO, Lond.; SUB-ACETAS CUPRI, Ed.; CUPRI SUBACETAS, Dub. Verdigris; Acetate de cuivre brut, Vert-de-gris, Fr.; Grunspan, Germ.; Verde rame, Ital.; Cardenillo, Span. Preparation. Verdigris is prepared in large quantities in the South of France, more particularly in the neighbourhood'of Montpellier. It is also manufactured in Great Britain and Sweden. In France the process is con- ducted in the following manner. Sheets of copper are stratified with the refuse of the grape which remains after the expression of the juice in making wine, and allowed to remain in this state for a month or six weeks. At the end of this time, the plates are found coated with a considerable quantity of verdigris. This is scraped off, and the plates are then replaced as at first, to be further acted on. The scrapings thus obtained form a paste, which is afterwards well beaten with wooden mallets, and packed in oblong leathern bags, about ten inches in length by eight in breadth, in which it is dried in the sun, until the loaf of verdigris, as it is called, attains the proper degree of hardness. The rationale of the process is easily understood. The grape-refuse contains a considerable quantity of juice, which, by contact with the air, undergoes the acetous fermentation. The copper becomes oxidized, and, by subsequent combination with the acetic acid generated during the 274 Cupri Jicetas. part i. fermentation, forms the acetate of copper or verdigris. In England a purer verdigris is prepared by covering copper plates with cloth soaked in pyro- ligneous acid. Verdigris comes to this country exclusively from France, being imported principally from Bordeaux and Marseilles. The leathern packages in which it is put up, called sacks of verdigris, weigh generally from twenty-five to thirty pounds, and arrive in casks, each containing from thirty' to forty sacks. Properties. Verdigris is in masses of a pale green colour, and composed of a multitude of minute silky crystals. Sometimes, however, it occurs of a bright blue colour. Its taste is coppery. It is insoluble in alcohol, and, by the action of water, a portion of it is resolved into the neutral acetate which dissolves, and a subacetate containing three equiv. of base, which remains behind in the form of a dark green powder, gradually becoming black. It is hence evident that, when verdigris is prepared by levigation with water, it is altered in its nature. The neutral acetate is the crystallized acetate of cop- per of the Dublin College (see Cupri Acetas. Crystalli); while the above mentioned subacetate may be viewed as identical with the prepared verdigris (see Cupri Acetas Praeparatus). When acted on by sulphuric acid, it is decomposed with effervescence, vapours of acetic acid being evolved, easily recognised by their vinegar odour. The verdigris of commerce generally contains from a half to two per cent, of impurities, consisting of particles of copper, and the husks and stones of the grape. When of good quality, it has a lively green colour, is free from black or white spots, and is dry and difficult to break. The green rust, called in popular language verdigris, which copper vessels are apt to contract when not kept clean, is a carbonate of copper, and must not be confounded with real verdigris. Composition. Verdigris, apart from its impurities, is a variable mixture of the subacetates of copper; the sesquibasic acetate predominating in the green variety, the diacetate in the blue. The London College defines it to be an impure diacetate of copper. When acted on by water, the portion con- sisting of diacetate is converted into soluble neutral acetate, and insoluble tribasic acetate, as above mentioned. Medical Properties and Uses. Verdigris acts as an emetic, and is said also to possess tonic properties. As an emetic it is prompt in its action, and not without danger. Externally it acts as a detergent and escharotic, and is occasionally applied to ulcers attended with fungus, or to callous edges. Its dose as a tonic is from an eighth to a quarter of a grain, and as an emetic, from one to two grains; but it is very seldom employed internally ; and con- sidering its irritating nature, it has very properly fallen into disuse. For its effects as a poison, and the mode of treatment, the reader is referred to the article Cuprum. Off. Prep. Cupri Acetas Praeparatus, U.S., Dub.; Emplastrum Canthari- dis Vesicatoriae Compositum, Ed.; Linimentum iEruginis, Lond.; Unguen- tum Sub-Acetatis Cupri, Ed. B. —~»9©9«.— CUPRI ACETAS. Crystalli. Dub. Crystals of Acetate of Copper. Distilled verdigris, Crystals of Venus, neutral acetate of copper; Cristaux de Venus, Verdct crystalline, Fr.; Destillirter Griinspan, Kupferkrystallen, Germ. Crystallized acetate of copper is prepared principally at Montpellier in part i. Cupri ^cetasf—Cupri Sulphas. 275 France. The verdigris which is made in private houses is collected and carried to the manufactory. It is there dissolved in vinegar by the assistance of heat, and the solution, after having been sufficiently concentrated, is trans- ferred to ipitable vessels, where it crystallizes on cooling. The crystalliza- tion is facilitated by inserting sticks in the liquid, split in four longitudinally, the several portions being kept apart by small wedges of wood. On these the crystals are deposited. This «alt has a deep bine colour and strong styptic taste, crystallizes in rhomboidal prisms, and effloresces slightly in the air. It dissolves in water, without residue, a character which serves to distinguish it from verdigris. It consists of one equivalent of acetic acid, one of protoxide of copper, and one of water. Its popular name of distilled verdigris is incorrect, as no dis- tillation is practised in its preparation. Medical and Pharmaceutical Uses. It is not very obvious for what reason the Dublin College has.included this among its officinal preparations. It possesses similar medical properties with verdigris ; but, being more active and poisonous, must be used in smaller doses. It is sometimes employed in pharmacy for the purpose of obtaining acetic acid, which may be disengaged from it by the action of sulphuric acid ; and the larger proportional quantity of acetic acid which it contains, makes it more eligible for this purpose than verdigris. It enters into no officinal preparation. B. CUPRI SULPHAS. U.S.,Lond., Dub. Sulphate of Copper. Off. Syn. SULPHAS CUPRI. Ed. Blue vitriol; Sulfate de c.uivrc, Vitriol bleu, Couperose bleu, Fr.; Schwefelsaures Kup- fer, Kupfervitriol, Blauervitriol, Blauer Galitzenstein, Germ.; Rame solfato, Vitriolo di rame, Vitriolo di Cipro, Ital.; Stflfato de cobre, Vitriolo azul. Span. Preparation, Src. Sulphate of copper occasionally exists in nature, and generally in solution in the water which flows through copper mines. It is obtained artificially by three principal methods. One consists in merely evaporating the waters which naturally contain the salt in solution. An- other is to roast the native sulphuret in a reverberatory furnace, whereby it is made to pass, by absorbing oxygen, into the state of sulphate. The roasted mass is lixiviated, and the solution obtained evaporated that crystals may form. The salt procured by either of these methods, contains a little sulphate of the sesquioxide of iron, from which it may be freed by adding an excess of protoxide of copper, which has the effect of precipitating the iron. The third method alluded to is pursued in France. It consists in wetting, and then sprinkling with sulphur, sheets of copper, which are next heated to redness for some time, and afterwards plunged into water while yet hot. The same operation is repeated until the sheets are entirely corroded. At first a sulphuret is formed, which by the action of heat and air gradually passes into the state of sulphate. This is dissolved in the water, and is ob- tained in crystals by evaporation. On account of the duty upon sulphate of copper, none of it is at present imported into the United States, the whole demand being supplied from our own laboratories. The process for making it, generally pursued in this country, is by direct combination between old scrap copper and sulphuric acid. 276 Cupri Sulphas. part i. Properties. Sulphate of copper has a rich deep-blue colour, and strong metalline styptic taste. It reddens vegetable blues, and crystallizes in large, transparent, rhomboidal prisms, which effloresce slightly in the air and be- come greenish, and are soluble in four parts of cold, and two*of boiling water, but insoluble in alcohol. When heated, it first melts in its water of crystallization, and then dries and becomes white. If the heat be increased, it next undergoes the igneous fusion ; and finally, at a high temperature, loses its acid, protoxide of copper being left. Potassa, soda, and ammonia throw down from it a bluish-white precipitate of hydrated protoxide of cop- per, which is immediately dissolved by an excess of the last mentioned alkali, forming a rich deep-blue solution, called in early pharmacy, aqua sapphirina. It is also decomposed by the alkaline carbonates, and by a number of im- portant salts, such as borax, acetate and subacetate of lead, acetate of iron, nitrate of silver, corrosive chloride of mercury, tartrate of potassa, and mu- riate of lime; and it is precipitated by all astringent vegetable infusions. Of course it must not be associated in prescription with any of these substances. If it become very green on the surface by the action of the air, it shows the presence of sesquioxide of iron. This oxide may also be detected by am- monia, which will throw it down along with the oxide of copper, without taking it up when added in excess. (Phillips.) The salt consists of one equivalent of sulphuric acid, one of protoxide of copper, and five of water. Medical Properties.—Sulphate of copper, in small doses, is deemed astringent and tonic; in large ones, a prompt emetic. With a view to its tonic effect it has been given in intermittent fever, as well as in epilepsy and some other spasmodic diseases; and as an emetic, for discharging poisons from the stomach, especially opium. It has been used also as an emetie in incipient phthisis, but its effects in that disease are probably worse than useless. In crotfp it has been employed as an emetic with encouraging success in a number of cases by Drs. Serlo and Malin. In one case in which the ordinary remedies were tried without affording much relief, a cure was effected by an emetic of the sulphate, which produced the dis- charge of the false membrane. (N. Amer. Afeh. I. 159, from Hufeland's Journal for Jan. 1834.) In small doses it has of late been highly recom- mended in chronic diarrhcea. Externally it is employed in solution as a stimulant to ill-conditioned ulcers, as an escharotic for destroying warts, fungus, and canons edges, and as a styptic to bleeding surfaces. In weak solution, either alone or associated with other substances, it forms a useful collyrium in the chronic stages of aome forms of ophthalmia. Eight grains of it, mixed with an equal weight of Armenian bole, and two grains of cam- phor, and added to half a pint of boiling water, forms, after becoming limpid by standing, a collyrium strongly recommended by Mr. Ware, as a substi- tute for Bates's Aqua Camphorata, in the purulent ophthalmia of infants. The dose as a tonic is a quarter of a grain, gradually increased; as an eme- tic, from two to five grains. Orfila cautions against giving large doses of this salt as an emetic in cases of poisoning; as it is apt, from its poisonous effects, to increase the mischief. Upon the whole, such is the activity of the sulphate of copper, that it ought to be exhibited with the greatest caution. For its effects as a poison, see Cuprum. Off Prep. Cuprum Ammoniatum, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Solutio Sul- phatis Cupri Composita, Ed. B. part i. Curcuma. 277 CURCUMA. U.S. Secondary, Lond. Turmeric. " Curcuma longa. Radix. The root." U. S. " Curcuma longa. Rhi- zoma." Lond. Off Syn. CURCUMA LONGA. Radix. Dub. Safran des Indes, Fr.; Kurkuma, Gilbwurz, Germ.; Curcuma, Ital., Span.; Zirsood Arab.; Huldie, Hindoo. Curcuma. Sex. Syst. Monandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Scitamineae. Gen. Ch. Both limbs of the corolla three-partite. Anther with two spurs at the base. Seeds with an arillus. Loudon's Encyc. The roots of several species of Curcuma have been employed in medi- cine. Two varieties of zedoary—an aromatic tonic formerly admitted into the officinal lists of the London and Dublin Colleges, but now discarded— are ascribed to this genus, one to the C. Zedoaria of Roscoe, the other to the C. Zerumbet of Roxburgh. We are informed that from the tubers of several species, a very pure starch, similar to arrow-root, is prepared, and used in some parts of India, especially in Travancore. But the only species at present acknowledged as officinal, in either of the British Pharmacopoeias, or in our own, is the C. longa, or turmeric plant. Curcuma longa. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 14; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 737. t. 252. The root of this plant is perennial, tuberous, palmate, and internally of a deep yellow or orange colour. The leaves are radical, large, lanceolate, obliquely nerved, sheathing at their base, and closely embrace each other. The scape or flower-stem, which rises from the midst of the leaves, is short, thick, smooth, and constitutes a spike of numerous imbricated bracteal scales, between which the flowers successively make their appearance. The plant is a native of the East Indies antTCochin-China, and is cultivated in various parts of Southern Asia, particularly in Bengal and Java, whence the root is exported. The dried root is in cylindrical or oblong pieces, about as thick but not as long as the finger, tuberculated, somewhat contorted, externally yellowish- brown, internally deep orange-yellow, hard, compact, and breaking with a fracture like that of wax. Another variety, comparatively rare, is round or oval, about the size of a pigeon's egg, and marked externally with nume- rous annular wrinkles. It is distinguished by the name of curcuma rotunda, the former being called curcuma longa. The two varieties have a close resemblance in sensible properties, and are thought to be derived from the same plant, though formerly ascribed to different species of Curcuma. The odour of turmeric is peculiar; the taste warm, bitterish, and feebly aromatic. It tinges the saliva yellow, and affords an orange-yellow powder. Analyzed by Pelletier and Vogel, it was found to contain lignin, starch, a peculiar yel- low colouring matter, a brown colouring matter, gum, an odorous and very acrid volatile oil, and a small quantity of muriate of lime. The peculiar colouring principle is reddish-brown in the concrete state, yellow when mi- nutely divided, heavier than water, of an acrid and pungent taste like that of pepper, slightly soluble in water, very soluble in alcohol, ether, and the oils. The alkalies rapidly change its colour to a reddish-brown; and paper tinged with tincture of turmeric is employed as a test of the presence of these bodies. Berzelius, however, states that its colour is changed to red or brownish-red by the concentrated mineral acids, by pure boracic acid, espe- cially when dissolved in alcohol, and by numerous metallic salts; so that its 25 278 Curcuma.—Cydonia. part I. indications cannot be certainly relied on. Turmeric is used for dyeing yel- low; but the colour is not permanent. Medical Properties, fyc. This root is a stimulant aromatic, bearing some resemblance to ginger in its operation, and is much used in India as a con- diment. It is a constant ingredient in the curries so generally employed in the East. In former times it had some reputation in Europe as a remedy in jaundice and other visceral diseases; but at present it is employed only to impart colour to ointments, and other pharmaceutic preparations. W. CYDONIA. Lond. Quince Seeds. " Cydonia vulgaris. Semina." Lond. ■ Semences de coings, Fr.; Quittenkerne, Germ.; Semi di cotogno, Ital.; Simiente de membrillo, Span. The quince tree has been separated from the genus Pyrus and erected into a new one with the title Cydonia, which is now generally admitted by botanists. It differs from the Pyrus in the circumstance that the cells of its fruit contain many seeds, instead of two only as in the latter. Cydonia. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Pomaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five parted, with leafy divisions. Apple closed, many- seeded. Testa mucilaginous. Loudon's Encyc. Cydonia vulgaris. Pers. Enchir. ii. 40.—Pyrus Cydonia. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1020; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 505. t. 182. The common quince tree is characterized as a species by its downy deciduous leaves. It does not require particular description. It is supposed to have been originally obtained from Crete, but grows wild in Austria, on the banks of the Danube. It is abundantly cultivated in this country. The fruit is about the size of a pear, yellow, downy, of a pleasant odour, a rough, astringent, acidulous taste; and in each of its five cells contains from eight to fourteen seeds. Though not eaten in its raw state, it forms a very pleasant confection; and a syrup prepared from it may be used as a grateful addition to drinks in sick- ness, especially in looseness of the bowels, which it is supposed to restrain by its astringency. The seeds are the officinal portion. They are ovate, angled, of a reddish-brown colour externally, white within, inodorous, and nearly insipid, being slightly bitter when long chewed. Their coriaceous envelope abounds in mucilage, which is ex- tracted by boiling water. Two drachms of the seeds are sufficient to rendeT a pint of water thick and ropy. It has been proposed by a German phar- maceutist to evaporate the decoction to dryness, and powder the residue. Three grains of this powder form a sufficiently consistent mucilage with an ounce of water. Medical Properties, fyc. The mucilage of quince seeds may be used for all the purposes to which other mucilaginous liquids are applied. It is pre- ferred by some practitioners as a local application in conjunctival ophthal- mia, but in this country is less used for this purpose than the infusion of sassafras pith. Off.Prep. Decoctum Cydonke, Lond. W. PART I. Cyminum.—Delphinium. 279 CYMINUM. Lond. Cumin Seed. " Cuminum Cyminum. Fructus.V Lond. Cumin, Fr.; Romischer Kummel, Germ.; Comino, Ital., Span. Cuminum. Sex; Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferas Gen. Ui. Fruit ovate, striated. Partial umbels four. Involucres four- Cuminum Cyminum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1440: Woodv. Med. Bot o 142. t. 56. This is an annual plant, about six or eight inches high, having a round, slender, branching stem, with numerous narrow, linear, pointed smooth grass-like leaves, of a deep green colour. The flowers are white or purple, and disposed in numerous terminal umbels, which have very few rays, and are attended with general and partial involucres, consisting of three or four linear leaflets. The fruit consists of two oblong plano-convex seeds, united by their flat sides The plant is a native of Egypt, but is cultivated tor its seeds in Sicily, Malta, and other parts of Europe The cumin seeds of the shops are elliptical, flat on one side, convex, furrowed, and rough on the other, about one-sixth of an inch in length, and o a I.ght-brown colour. Two are sometimes united together as upon the plant. Their odour is peculiar, strong, and heavy; their taste warm, bitter- ish, aromatic, and disagreeable. They contain much essential oil, which is the seeds" Wat6r' °f a yellowish colour' and has the se«sible properties of Medical Properties and Uses. In medical properties they resemble the other aromatic seeds of umbelliferous plants, but are more stimulating. They are seldom used in the United States, and appear to have been retained by the London College, merely as an ingredient in a stimulant and dis- cutient officinal plaster, which, however, has been discarded in the last edi- tion oi their Pharmacopoeia. w DELPHINIUM. U.S. Secondary. Larkspur. " Delphinium consolida. Radix. The root." U.S. Pied d'allouette, Fr.; Feld-Ritterspom, Germ. lace)a?LPHINIUM' SCX' SySt' Polyandria Trigynia—Nat. Ord. Ranuncu- thrfeeo;one.?&°ne" ^'^ ^ Nectary hm^med behind. Pods PlanlfT^ wi^r, Vf' SP' PlT H' 1226j Loudon's *™/c. of Plants, p. 473. 7832 I he larkspur is a showy annual plant, with an erect branched, slightly pubescent stem Its leaves are divided into linear seg! meats, widely separated, and forked at the summit. The flowers are usually of a beaiitiful azure blue colour, and disposed, in loose terminal racemes, with peduncles longer than the bractes. The nectary is one-leaved, with an ascending horn nearly equalling the corolla. The seeds are contained in smooth, solitary capsules. This species of larkspur has been introduced from Europe into this conn- 280 Delphinium.—Dianthi Caryophylli Flores. part i. try, where it has become naturalized, growing in the woods and fields, and flowering in June and July. Various parts of the larkspur have been employed in medicine; and the plant is said to have properties closely analogous to those of the Delphinium Staphisagria. (See Slaphisagrise Semina.) The flowers are bitter and acrid, and having formerly been supposed to possess the power of healing wounds, gave the name of consolida to the species. They were considered diuretic, emmenagogue, and vermifuge; but are not now used. The seeds are very acrid, are esteemed diuretic, and in large doses produce vomiting and purging. A tincture prepared by macerating an ounce of the seeds in a pint of diluted alcohol, has been found useful in spasmodic asthma and dropsy. The dose is ten drops, to be gradually increased till some effects upon the system are evinced. The remedy has been employed both in America and England; and the seeds of an indigenous species, the D. exal- tatum, have been applied to a similar purpose. The root probably possesses the same properties with other parts of the plant; but, though designated in the Pharmacopoeia, is little if at all used. W. DIANTHI CARYOPHYLLI FLORES. Ed. Flowers of the Clove Pink. Off. Syn. DIANTHUS CARYOPHYLLUS. Flores. Dub. Dianthus. Sex. Syst. Decandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Caryophylleae. Gen. Ch. Calyx cylindrical, one-leafed, with four scales at the base. Petals five, with claws. Capsule cylindrical, one-celled. Willd. Dianthus Caryophyllus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 674; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 579. t. 205. The clove pink or carnation is too well known to require minute description. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant, characterized as a species by its branching stem; its solitary flowers; the short ovate scales of its calyx; its very broad, beardless petals; and its linear, subulate, channeled, glaucous leaves. Indigenous in Italy, it is every where cultivated in gar- dens for the beauty of its flowers, of which numerous varieties have been pro- duced by horticulturists. Those are selected for medicinal use which have the deepest red colour, and the most aromatic odour. The petals should not be collected till the flower is fully blown, and should be employed in the recent state. They have a fragrant odour said to resemble that of the clove. Their taste is sweetish, slightly bitter, and somewhat astringent. Both water and alcohol extract their sensible properties, and they yield a fragrant essential oil by distillation. In Europe they are employed to impart oolour and flavour to a syrup which serves as a vehicle for other less pleasant medicines. Off. Prep. Syrupus Dianthi Caryophylli, Ed. W. PART I. Digitalis. 281 DIGITALIS. U.S. Foxglove. vt>' "Digitalis purpurea. Folia. The leaves." U.S. Off. Syn. DIGITALIS FOLIA. DIGITALIS SEMINA. Dio-italis nur purea. Folia. Semina. Lond.; DIGITALIS PURPUREA FOf TA pi DIGITALIS PURPUREA. Folia. Dub. r^iA. Jul.; /^fDelCr^r0^^'^ PurPu"otherFi<^"t, Germ, Digitale purpurea, Digitalis. Sex. Syst. Didynamia Angiospermia.—iVaf.CW. Scronhn larmeae. ^ Gen Ch. Calyx five-parted Corolla bell-shaped, five-cleft, ventricose. Capsule ovate, two-celled. Willd Digitalis purpurea. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 283; Woodv. Med. Bot. p 218 t. 78. Foxglove is a beautiful plant, with a biennial or perennial, fibrous'root' which sends forth large tufted leaves, and a single, erect, downy, and leafy stem, rising from two to five feet in height, and terminating in an elegant spike of purple flowers. The lower leaves are ovate, pointed, about eight inches in length, and three in breadth, and stand upon short, winged foot- stalks; the upper are alternate, sparse, and lanceolate; both are obtusely serrated at their edges, and have wrinkled velvety surfaces, of which the upper is of a fine deep-green colour, the under paler and more downy The flowers are numerous, and attached to the upper part of the stem by short peduncles, in such a manner as generally to hang down upon one side At the base of each peduncle is a floral leaf, which is sessile, ovate, and pointed. The calyx is.divided into five segments, of which the uppermost is narrower than the others. The corolla is monopetalous, bell-form, swell- ing on the lower side, irregularly divided at the margin into short obtuse lobes, and in shape and size bearing some resemblance to the end of the finger of a glove, a circumstance which has suggested most of the names by which the plant is designated in different languages. The mouth of the co rolla is guarded by long, soft hairs. Its general colour is briaht purple • but sometimes the flowers are whitish. The internal surface is sprinkled 'with black spots upon a white ground. The filaments are white, curved and sur- mounted by large yellow anthers. The style, which is simple, supports a bind stigma. The seeds are very small, numerous, of a dark colour and contained in a pyramidal, two-celled capsule. The foxglove grows wild in most of the temperate countries of Europe where it flowers in the middle of summer. In this country it is cultivated' both as an ornamental garden plant, and for medicinal purposes. The leaves are the part usually employed, although the London College recognises the seed also as officinal. Much care is requisite in selecting, preparing and preserving foxglove in order to insure its activity. The leaves should be gathered in the second year, immediately before or during the period of in- florescence, and those only should be chosen which are full grown and per" fectly fresh. (Geiger.) It is said that those plants are preferable which grow" spontaneously in elevated places, exposed to the sun. (Duncan.) As the leaf-stalk and mid-rib are comparatively inactive, they may be rejected. The leaves should be dried either in the sunshine, or by a gentle heat before the fire ; and care should be taken to keep them separate during the drying pro- cess. It is probably owing to the want of proper attention in preparing digitalis for the market, that it is so often found to be inefficient. Much of 25* 2S2 Digitalis. part i. the medicine kept in our shops is obtained from the settlement of the Sha- kers in New-York, and is in the state of oblong compact masses, into which the leaves are probably compressed before they are thoroughly dried ; at least the cakes when opened are not unfrequently found to be somewhat mouldy. This mode of preparing the drug is highly objectionable ; and it is not surprising that our practitioners are so frequently disappointed in its effects. A comparison of the sensible properties of digitalis in this state, with those of the carefully dried leaves imported from England, will at once evince the great superiority of the latter. It is, indeed, highly probable, that the wild plant in its native country attains greater medicinal perfection, than that which is cultivated in a foreign soil. The dried leaves should be.kept in tin canisters, well closed so as to exclude light and moisture, or they may be pulverized, and the powder preserved in well-stopped and opaque phials. Properties. Foxglove is without smell in the recent state, but acquires a faint narcotic odour when dried. Its taste is bitter and nauseous. The colour of the dried leaf is a dull pale green, modified by the whitish down upon the under surface ; that of the powder is a fine deep green. Digitalis yields its virtues both to water and alcohol. The dried leaves, analyzed by Rein and Haase, were found to contain in 100 parts, 5.5 of a green resin, soft, viscid, soluble in alcohol, ether, and the volatile oils, and possessing the properties of a mixture of resin and fixed oil; 15.0 of gum mixed with a salt of potassa; 2.0 of superoxalate of potassa; 52.0 of lignin; 5.5 of water, with 5.0 parts lost. According to Haase, the virtues of digitalis de- pend upon the soft resin. (Berzelius, Trait, de Chim.) MM. Brault and Poggiale state, as the result of their researches, that the leaves contain chlo- rophylle, resin, a fatty matter, starch, vegetable fibre, gum, tannin, a volatile oil, and salts of lime and of potassa. They are disposed to ascribe the vir- tues of the plant chiefly to the resin, which has a bitter, acrid, almost corro- sive taste. The pretended digitalin of M. Le Royer has turned out to be nothing more than a mixture of chlorophylle, resin, fatty matter, and diffe- rent salts of lime and of potassa. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 130.) Medical Properties and Uses. Digitalis is narcotic, sedative, and diuretic. When administered in quantities sufficient to bring the system under its in- fluence, it produces a sense of tightness or weight with dull pain in the head, vertigo, dimness or other disorder of vision, and more or less confusion in the mental operations. At the same time, it occasionally gives rise to irri- tation in the pharynx and oesophagus, which extends to the larynx and tra- chea, producing hoarseness; and, in more than one instance, ptyalism has been observed to result from its action. It sometimes also disturbs the bowels, and excites nausea, or even vomiting. Another effect, which, in a practical point of view, is perhaps the most important, is an augmented flow of urine. This has been ascribed by some to the increased absorption which digitalis is supposed to produce ; and in support of this opinion it is stated, that its diuretic operation is observable only when dropsical effusion exists; but the fact seems to be, that it is capable of augmenting the quantity of urine in health, and it probably exerts a directly stimulating influence over the secre- tory function of the kidneys. This influence is said sometimes to extend to the genital organs.* Besides the various effects above detailed, most of which indicate the existence of a stimulating power, digitalis exerts a re- markably sedative operation upon the heart. This is exhibited in the reduc- * See an account of experiments by Professors Jcerg and others of Lcipsic, in the N. Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. xi. p. 235. PART I. Digitalis. 283 tion both of the force and frequency of the pulse, which sometimes sinks from the ordinary standard to 50, 40, or even 30 strokes in the minute. In some instances, however, it undergoes little change; in others only becomes irregular; and we are told that it is even occasionally increased in frequency. It was observed by Dr. Baildon, that the effects of digitalis upon the circula- tion were very much influenced by posture. Thus, in his own case, the pulse which had been reduced from 110 to 40 in the recumbent position, was increased to 72 when he sat, and to 100 when he stood. We do not dis- cover any thing remarkable in this circumstance. It is well known that the pulse is almost always more frequent in the erect than in the horizontal pos- ture, and the difference is greater in a state of debility than in health. Di- gitalis diminishes the frequency of the pulsations of the heart by a directly debilitating power; and this very debility, when any exertion is made which calls for increased action in that organ, causes it to attempt by an increase in the number of its contractions, to meet the demand which it is wholly unable to supply by an increase in their force. The various effects above detailed may result from digitalis given in doses calculated to produce its remediate influence. In larger quantities its opera- tion is more violent. Nausea and vomiting, stupor or delirium, cold sweats, extreme prostration of general strength, hiccough, convulsions, syncope, are among the alarming symptoms which indicate the poisonous character of the medicine. These effects are best counteracted by stimulants, such as brandy, the volatile alkali, and opium. When there is reason to believe that any of the poison remains, it is obviously proper, before employing other measures, to evacuate the stomach by the free use of warm liquids. A peculiarity of digitalis is that, after having been given in moderate doses for several days, without any apparent effect, it sometimes acts suddenly with an accumulated influence, endangering even the life of the patient. It is, moreover, very permanent in its operation, which, having once commenced, is maintained like that of mercury, for a considerable period, without any fresh accession of the medicine. The practical inferences deducible from these properties of digitalis, are first, that after it has been administered for some time without effect, great caution should be observed not to increase the dose, nor to urge the medicine too vigorously; and secondly, that after its effects have begun to appear, it should be suspended for a time, or exhibited in moderate doses, lest a dangerous accumulation of its influence should be experienced. In numerous instances death has resulted from its incautious employment. Digitalis has been long known to possess medicinal powers; but it was never generally used, nor regarded as a standard remedy, till after its appli- cation by Withering to the treatment of dropsy, about the year 1775. It is at present employed very extensively, both for its diuretic power, and for its sedative influence over the circulation. The former renders it highly useful in dropsical diseases, though like all other remedies it very frequently fails; the latter adapts it to the treatment of cases in which the action of the heart requires to be controlled. The idea was at one period entertained, that it might serve as a substitute for the lancet in inflammatory complaints; and it is at present much employed for this purpose by the Italian physicians, who practise in accordance with the contra-stimulant doctrine; but experience has proved that it is a very frail support in any case in which the symptoms of inflammation are such as to call for the loss of blood. As an adjuvant to the lancet, and in cases in which circumstances forbid the employment of this remedy, it is often very useful. Though it certainly has not the power, at one lime ascribed to it by some practitioners, of curing phthisis, it acts 284 Digitalis.—Diosma. part i. beneficially as a palliative in that complaint by repressing the excited move- ments of the heart. In the same way it proves advantageous in aneurism, hypertrophy of the heart, palpitations from rheumatic or gouty irritation, and in various forms of hemorrhage, after action has been sufficiently re- duced by the lancet. It has also been prescribed in mania, epilepsy, per- tussis, and spasmodic asthma; and highly respectable testimony can be ad- duced in favour of its occasional efficacy in these complaints; but any good which may be derived from it is ascribable rather to its influence over the brain and nerves, than to that which it exercises over the circulation. In delirium tremens it has recently been recommended as a specific, given in the form of infusion, in the full dose, repeated every two hours till symp- toms of narcotism are induced; but the practice is somewhat hazardous unless the patient be carefully watched. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xvii. 501.) The medicine, externally applied, is said to act speedily and powerfully as a diuretic, and to have been used advantageously in dropsy. For this pur- pose the fresh leaves bruised, or the tincture may be rubbed over the abdo- men and on the inside of the thighs. (Revue Medicale, May 1834.) Digitalis is most effectually administered in substance. The dose of the powder is one grain, repeated twice or three times a day, and gradually increased till some effect is produced upon the head, stomach, pulse, or kid- neys, when it should be omitted or reduced. The infusion and tincture are officinal preparations often resorted to. (See Infusum Digitalis, and Tinctura Digitalis.) The extract has also been employed; and Orfila found it, whether prepared with water or alcohol, more powerful than the powder; but the virtues of digitalis are too energetic to require concentration; and the preparation is not more certain thin the powder. The decoction has also been used, but has nothing to recommend it. Off. Prep. Extractum Digitalis, Lond.; Infusum Digitalis, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Digitalis, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. DIOSMA. Lond. Buchu Leaves. " Diosma crenata. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. DIOSMA CRENATA. Folia. BUCHU. Dub. Diosma. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Diosmeae. Gen. Ch. Petals five. Nectary of five scales crowning the germen. Cap- sules three or five, connected. Seeds in an elastic, bivalved arillus. Diosma crenata. De Cand. Prod. i. 714; Loddiges, Bot. Cab. t. 404; Woodville's Med. Bot. 3d Ed. v. 52. It is somewhat doubtful whether the plant described by Loddiges and De Candolle is the same as that of Thun- berg and Linnaeus, which was placed by Willdenow in his new genus of Agathosma. We adopt, however, the former, as we find it described and delineated in the last edition of Woodville's Medical Botany. It is a slender shrub, with smooth, somewhat angular branches, of a purplish colour. The leaves are opposite, ovate, acute, crenate, coriaceous, and full of small pel- lucid dots on the under surface. The flowers are white or of a reddish tint, and stand solitarily at the end of short, opposite, lateral, leafy shoots. The fruit is an ovate capsule, containing an oblong, solitary seed. The plant is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, where, in common with others belong- ing to the same genus, it is called buchu in the language of the Hottentots, PART I. Diosma.—Diospyros. 285 by whom the leaves are highly esteemed for their odour, and nibbed in the state of powder upon their greasy bodies. Properties. The buchu leaves of the shops are from three quarters of an inch to an inch long, from three to five lines broad, elliptical, lanceolate or ovate, sometimes slightly pointed, sometimes blunt at the apex, very finely notched and glandular at the edges, smooth and of a green colour on the upper surface, dotted and paler beneath, and of a firm consistence. Their odour is strong, diffusive, and somewhat aromatic; their taste bitterish, and closely analogous to that of mint. These various properties are abundantly sufficient to distinguish them from senna, with which they might be con- founded upon a careless inspection. Analyzed by Cadet de Gassicourt, they were found to contain in 1000 parts, 6.65 parts of a light, brownish- yellow volatile oil, 211.7 of gum, 51.7 of extractive, 11 of chlorophylle, and 21.51 of resin. Water and alcohol extract their virtues, which probably depend on the volatile oil and extractive matter. The latter is precipitated by the infusion of galls. Medical Properties and Uses. Buchu leaves are gently stimulant, with a peculiar tendency to the urinary organs, producing diuresis, and, like all other similar medicines, exciting diaphoresis when circumstances favour this mode of action. The Hottentots at the Cape of Good Hope have long used them in a variety of diseases. From these rude practitioners they were borrowed by the resident English and Dutch physicians, by whose recommendation they have been employed to some extent in Great Bri- tain and on the continent of Europe, and have attracted attention on this side of the Atlantic. They are chiefly given in complaints of the urinary organs, such as gravel, chronic catarrh of the bladder, morbid irrita- tion of the bladder and urethra, disease of the prostate, and retention or incontinence of urine from a loss of tone in the parts concerned in its evacuation. The remedy has also been recommended in chronic rheumatism and cutaneous affections. From twenty to thirty grains of the powder may be given two or three times a day. The leaves are also used in infusion, in the proportion of an ounce to a pint of boiling water, of which the dose is one or two fluidounces. A tincture has been employed as a stimulant em- brocation in local pains. Off. Prep. Infusum Diosmae, Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Buchu, Dub. W. DIOSPYROS. U.S. Secondary. Persimmon. " Diospyros Virginiana. Cortex. The bark." U.S. Diospyros. Sex. Syst. Dioscia Octandria.—Nat. Ord. Ebenacea?. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx four to six-cleft. Corolla urceolate, four to six- cleft. Stamens eight to sixteen; filaments often producing two anthers. Female. Flower as the male. Stigmas four or five. Berry eight to twelve- seeded. Nuttall. Diospyros Virginiana. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 1107; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. ii. 210. The persimmon is an indigenous tree, rising in the Southern States in favourable situations to the height of sixty feet, with a trunk eighteen or twenty inches in diameter; but seldom attaining more than half this size near its northern limits, and often not higher than fifteen or twenty feet. The stem is straight, and in the old tree covered with a furrowed 0S6 Diospyros.—Dolich os. BART i- blackish bark. The branches are spreading; the leaves ovate oblong, acu- minate, entire, smooth, reticulately veined, alternate, and supported on pubes- cent footstalks. The buds are smooth. The male and female flowers are on different trees. They are lateral, axillary, solitary, nearly sessile, of a pale orange colour, and not conspicuous. The fruit is a globular berry, of a dark yellow colour externally when perfectly ripe, and containing numerous seeds embedded in a soft yellow pulp. This tree is very common in the Middle and Southern States; but, accord- ing to Michaux, does not flourish beyond the forty-second degree of north latitude. The flowers appear in May or June; but the fruit is not ripe till the middle of autumn. While in the green state, the fruit is excessively astringent; but when perfectly mature, and after having been touched by the frost, it is sweet and palatable. We are told by Michaux, that in the Southern and Western States it is made into cakes with bran, and used for preparing beer with the addition of water, hops, and yeast. A spirituous liquor may be obtained by the distillation of the fermented infusion. The bark is the only part of the tree directed by the Pharmacopoeia. It is astringent and very bitter; and is said to have been used advantageously in intermittents, and in the form of a gargle in ulcerated sorethroat. W. DOLICHOS. U.S. Cowhage. " Dolichos pruriens. Leguminum pubes. The bristles of the pods." U.S. Off. Syn. MUCUNA. Mucuna pruriens. Leguminum pubes. Lond.; DOLICHI PRURIENTIS PUBES. Ex Legumine. Ed.; DOLICHOS PRURIENS. Pubes leguminis. Dub. Pois a gratter, Fr.; Kuhkratze, Germ.; Dolico Scottante, Ital. Dolichos. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Leguminosae. Gen. Ch. Base of the Banner with two oblong parallel callosities, com- pressing the wings beneath. Willd. The cowhage plant has been separated by some botanists from the Dolichi. De Candolle has erected the section to which it belongs into a new genus with the title Mucuna; and Persoon places it in the genus Stizolobium. The London College has adopted the arrangement of De Candolle. The Edinburgh and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, as wrell as that of the United States, refer it to Dolichos. Dolichos pruriens. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1041; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 422. t. 153. This is a perennial climbing plant, with an herbaceous branching stem, which twines round the trees in its vicinity, and rises to a considerable height. The leaves are ternate, and stand on long footstalks placed alter- nately on the stem at the distance of a foot from each other. They are smooth on their upper surface, and hairy beneath. The flowers, which re- semble those of the pea in form, are large, of a red or purplish colour, usually placed in threes on short peduncles, and hang from the axils of the leaves in pendent spikes about a foot in length. The fruit is a coriaceous pod, shaped like the Italic letter/, about four inches long, and covered with brown bristly hairs, which easily separate, and when handled stick in the fingers, pro- ducing an intense itching sensation. The plant is a native of the East and PART I. Dolichos.—Dracontium. 287 West Indies, and other parts of tropical Asia and America. The part usually imported is the pod, of which the hairs are the officinal portion. Medical Properties and Uses. These spiculae are said to be possessed of powerful vermifuge properties, and are thought to act mechanically, by penetrating the worms. That they do act in this manner is evinced, as well by the result of direct experiment upon worms out of the body, as by the fact that neither the tincture nor decoction is in the slightest degree anthel- mintic. Why the worms should be injured, and the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels escape with impunity, is not satisfactorily explained. The medicine was first employed as a vermifuge by the inhabitants of the West Indies, and thence passed into British practice. The testimony in its favour is too strong to admit of any reasonable doubt as to its efficiency. It has been chiefly employed against the round worm ; but all the different species which infest the alimentary canal have been expelled by its use. It is best administered mixed with some tenacious vehicle. The usual mode of preparing it is to dip the pods into syrup or molasses, and scrape off the hairs with the liquid, which is in a proper state for administration when it has attained the consistency of thick honey. The dose of this preparation is a tablespoonful for an adult, a teaspoonful for a child three or four years old, to be given every morning for three days, and then followed by a brisk cathartic. The root of the D. pruriens is said by Ainslie to be employed in the East Indies in the treatment of cholera ; and both this part and the pods have been thought to possess diuretic properties. W. DRACONTIUM. U. S. Secondary. Skunk Cabbage. " Dracontium foetidum, Willd. Ictodes foetidus, Bigelow. Symplocarpus foetidus, Barton. Radix. The root." U. S. Botanists have had some difficulty in properly arranging this plant. It is attached by Willdenow to the genus Dracontium, by Michaux and Pursh is considered a Pothos, and by American botanists has been erected into a new genus, which Nuttall calls Symplocarpus after Salisbury, and for which Dr. Bigelow has proposed the name Ictodes, expressive of the odour of the plant. The term Symplocarpus, though erroneous in its origin, was first proposed for the new genus, and, having been adopted by several botanists, should be retained. Symplocarpus. Sex. Syst. Tetrandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Aroidese. Gen. Ch. Spathe hooded. Spadix covered with perfect flowers. Calyx with four segments. Petals none. Style pyramidal. Seeds immersed in the spadix. Bigelow. Symplocarpus foetidus. Barton, Med. Bot. i. 123,-Ictodes foetidus. Bige- low, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 41. The skunk cabbage is a very curious plant, the only one of the genus to which it belongs. The root is perennial, large, abrupt, and furnished with numerous fleshy fibres, which penetrate to the depth of two feet or more. The spathe, which appears before the leaves, is ovate, acuminate, obliquely depressed at the apex, auriculated at the base, folded inwards at the edges, and of a brownish-purple colour, varied with spots of red, yellow, and green. Within the spathe, the flowers which re- semble it in colour, are placed in great numbers upon a globose, peduncled spadix, for which they form a compact covering. After the spathe has de- 288 Dracontium. PART I- cayed, the spadix continues to grow, and, when the fruit is mature, has at- tained a size exceeding bv several fold its original dimensions. The differ- ent parts of the flower, with the exception of the anthers, augment in like proportion. At the base of each style is a roundish seed, immersed in the spadix, about the size of a pea, and speckled with purple and yellow. The leaves, which rise from the ground after the flowers, are numerous and crowded, oblong, cordate, acute, smooth, strongly veined, and attached to the root by long petioles, which are hollowed in front, and furnished with coloured sheathing stipules. At the beginning of May, when the leaves are fully developed, they are very large, being from one to two feet in length, and from nine inches to a foot in breadth. This plant is indigenous, growing abundantly in meadows, swamps, and other wet places, throughout the whole northern and middle sections of the Union. Its flowers appear in March and April, and in the lower latitudes often so early as February. The fruit is usually quite ripe, and the leaves are decayed before the end of August. The plant is very conspicuous from its abundance, and from the magnitude of its leaves. All parts of it have a disagreeable fetid odour, thought to resemble that of the offensive animal after which it is named. This odour resides in an extremely volatile princi- ple, which is rapidly dissipated by heal, and diminished by desiccation. The root is the part usually employed in medicine. It should be collected in autumn, or early in spring, and dried with care. The dried root, as found in the shops, consists of two distinct portions ; the body or caudex, either whole or in transverse slices, and the separated radicles. The former, when whole, is cylindrical, or in the shape of a truncated cone, two or three inches long by about an inch in thickness, ex- ternally dark brown and very rough from the insertion of the radicles, in- ternally white and amylaceous. The latter are in pieces of various lengths, about as thick as a hen's quill, very much flattened and wrinkled, white within, and covered by a yellowish reddish-brown epidermis, of a consider- ably lighter shade than that of the body of the root. The fetid odour re- mains, to a greater or less extent, for a considerable period after the comple- tion of the drying process. The taste, though less decided than in the fresh state, is still acrid, manifesting itself, after the root has been chewed for a short time, by a pricking and smarting sensation in the mouth and throat. The acrimony, however, is dissipated by heat, and is entirely lost in decoc- tion. It is also diminished by time and exposure ; and the root should not be kept for use longer than a single season. According to Mr. Turner, (see Inaug. Essay in Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 2.) the radicles, even in the recent plant, have less acrimony than the caudex. The seeds are said by Mr. Turner to have an exceedingly acrid taste, and, though inodorous when whole, to give out strongly, when bruised, the peculiar odour of the plant. Medical Properties and Uses. The properties of this root are those of a stimulant, antispasmodic, and narcotic. In large doses it occasions nausea and vomiting, with headaeh, vertigo, and dimness of vision. Dr. Bigelow has witnessed these effects from thirty grains of the recently dried root. The medicine was introduced into notice by the Rev. Dr. Cutler, who recom- mended it highly as an antispasmodic in asthma; and it has been subse- quently employed with apparent advantage in chronic catarrh, chronic rheu- matism, and hysteria. Cures are also said to have been effected by its use in dropsy. It is best given in powder, of which the dose is from ten to twenty grains, to be repeated three or four times a day, and gradually increased till some evidence of its action is afforded. A strong infusion is sometimes PART I. Dulcamara. 289 employed, and the people in the country prepare a syrup from the fresh root; but the latter preparation is very unequal. The root itself, as kept in the shops, is of uncertain strength, in consequence of its deterioration by age. W. DULCAMARA. U.S., Lond. Bittersweet. " Solanum dulcamara. Caulis. The stalk." U. S. Off. Syn. SOLANI DULCAMARA CAULES, Ed.; DULCAMARA. SOLANUM DULCAMARA. Caules. Dub. Douce-amere, Fr.; Bittersiiss, Alpranken. Germ.; Dulcamara, Ital., Span. Solanum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Orel. Solaneae. Gen. Ch. Corolla wheel-shaped. Anthers somewhat coalescing, open- ing by two pores at the apex. Berry two-celled. Willd. This genus includes numerous species, of which several have been used in medicine. Besides the S. Dulcamara, which is the only officinal spe- cies, two others merit a brief notice. 1. The Solanum nigrum, the com- mon garden, or black nightshade, is an annual plant from one to two feet high, with an unarmed herbaceous stem, ovate, angular-dentate leaves, and white or pale violet flowers, arranged in peduncled nodding umbel-like ra- cemes, and followed by clusters of spherical black berries, about the size of peas. There are numerous varieties of this species, one of which is a na- tive of the United States. The leaves are the part employed in medicine. They are said to produce diaphoresis, sometimes diuresis and moderate purging, and in large doses nausea and giddiness. As a medicine they have been used in cancerous, scrofulous, and scorbutic diseases, and other painful ulcerous affections, being given internally, and applied at the same time in the form of poultice, ointment, or decoction to the tumours or ulcers them- selves. A grain of the dried leaves may be given every night and gradually increased to ten or twelve grains, or till some sensible effect is experienced. The medicine, however, is scarcely used at present. By some persons the poisonous properties usually ascribed to the common nightshade are doubted. M. Dunal of Montpellier states as the result of numerous experiments, that the berries are not poisonous to man or the inferior animals; and the leaves are said to be consumed in large quantities in the Isles of France and Bour- bon as food, having been previously boiled in water. In the latter case, the active principle of the plant must have been extracted by decoction. 2. The Solanum tuberosum, or common potato, is interesting on account of the nu- tritive properties of its tubers, so extensively employed as food. The leaves, stalks, and unripe berries are asserted to have narcotic properties, and an ex- tract prepared from the leaves has been employed as a remedy in cough and spasmodic affections, in which it is said to act like opium. (Geiger.) From half a grain to two grains may be given as a dose. Dr. Latham of London found the extract to produce very favourable effects in various chronic com- plaints, such as protracted cough, chronic rheumatism, angina pectoris, can- cer of the uterus, &c. The influence which it exercised upon the nervous system was strongly marked, and, in many instances, the dose could not be increased above a few grains without giving rise to threatening symptoms* It appeared to Dr. Latham to be very analogous in its operation to digitalis. 26 290 Dulcamara. PART i- His experiments were repeated in Philadelphia by Dr. Worsham with very different results. The extract was found, in the quantity of nearly one hun- dred grains, to produce no sensible effect on the system. (Philad. Journ. of Med. and Phys. Sciences, vi. 22.) We can reconcile these opposite state- ments only upon the supposition, that the properties of the plant vary with the season, or with the place and circumstances of culture. An excellent form of starch, called potato arrow-root, is prepared from potatoes for med- ical use; and an imitation of sago is also made from them in Germany. Dr. Julius Otto found solania in the germs of the potato. He was induced to make the investigation by observing, that cattle were destroyed by feeding on the residue of germinated potatoes, used for the manufacture of brandy. (See Journ. of Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 348.) Solanum Dulcamara. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1028; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 237. t. 84; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 169. The bittersweet or woody nightshade is a climbing shrub, with a slender, roundish, branching, woody stem, which, in favourable situations, rises six or eight feet in height. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, ovate, pointed, veined, soft, smooth, and of a dull green colour. Many near the top of the stem are furnished with late- ral projections at their base, giving them a hastate form. Most of them are quite entire, some cordate at the base. The flowers are disposed in elegant clusters, somewhat analogous to cymes, and standing opposite to the leaves. The calyx is very small, purplish, and divided into five blunt persistent segments. The corolla is wheel-shaped, with five pointed reflected seg- ments which are of a violet-blue colour, with a darker purple vein running longitudinally through their centre, and two shining greenish spots at the base of each. The filaments are very short, and support large erect lemon- yellow anthers, which cohere in the form of a cone around the style. The berries are of an oval shape and a bright scarlet colour, and continue to hang in beautiful bunches after the leaves have fallen. This plant is common to Europe and North America. It flourishes most luxuriantly in damp and sheltered places, as on the banks of rivulets, and among the thickets which border our natural meadows. It is also found in higher and more exposed situations, and is frequently cultivated in gardens. In the United States it extends from New England to Ohio, and is in bloom from June to August. The root and stalk are possessed of the medicinal properties of the plant, though the latter only is officinal. The berries, wdiich were formerly esteemed poisonous, and thought to act with great se- verity on the stomach and bowels, are now said to be innoxious. Bitter- sweet should be gathered in autumn, after the fall of the leaf; and the ex- treme twigs should be selected. That grown in high and dry situations is said to be the best. The dried twigs, as brought to the shops, are of various lengths, cylindri- cal, about as thick as a goose-quill, externally wrinkled and of a grayish-ash colour, consisting of a thin bark, an interior ligneous portion, and a central pith. They are inodorous, though the stalk in the recent state emits, when bruised, a peculiar, rather nauseous smell. Their taste, which is at first bitter, and afterwards sweetish, has given origin to the name of the plant. Boiling water extracts all their virtues. These are supposed to depend, at least in part, upon a peculiar alkaline principle called solanin or solania, which was originally discovered by M. Desfosses of Besancon in the berries of the Solanum nigrum, and has subsequently been found in the stalks, leaves, and berries of the S. Dulcamara and S. tuberosum. It is supposed to exist in the bittersweet combined with malic acid. It is obtained by pre- cipitating the decoction of bittersweet with ammonia or magnesia, washing PART I. Dulcamara. 291 the precipitate with cold water, and then treating it with boiling alcohol, which deposites the alkaline principle on cooling, and still further by evapo- ration. Solania is in the form of a white opaque powder, inodorous, of a bitter taste, fusible at a little above 212°, scarcely soluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether, and capable of neutralizing the acids. Given to a cat it was found by M. Desfosses to operate at first as an emetic, and afterwards as a narcotic. Dr. J. Otto observed, among its most striking effects, a paralytic condition of the posterior limbs of the animals to which it was administered. One grain of the sulphate of solania was sufficient in his hands to destroy a rabbit in six hours. Besides solania, the stalks of the S. Dulcamara contain, according to Pfaff, a peculiar principle to which he has given the name of picroglycion, indicative of the taste at once bitter and sweet, which it is said to possess. This has been obtained in a crystalline state by Biltz, by the following process. The watery extract is treated with alcohol, the tinc- ture evaporated, the residue dissolved in water, the solution precipitated with subacetate of lead, the excess of this salt decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, the liquor then evaporated to dryness, and the residue treated with acetic ether, which yields the principle in the form of small isolated crystals by spontaneous evaporation. Medical Properties and Uses. Dulcamara possesses narcotic properties, with the power of increasing the secretions, particularly that of the kidneys and skin. We have observed, in several instances, when the system was under its influence, a dark purplish colour of the face and hands, and at the same time considerable languor of the circulation. Its narcotic effects do not become obvious, unless when it is taken in large quantities. In over- doses it produces nausea, vomiting, faintness, vertigo, and convulsive mus- cular movements. It has been recommended in various diseases, but is now nearly confined to the treatment of cutaneous eruptions, particularly those of a scaly character, as lepra, psoriasis, and ptyriasis. In these complaints it is often decidedly beneficial, especially in combination with minute doses of the antimonials. Its influence upon the secretions is insufficient to account for its favourable effects, and we must be content with ascribing them to an alterative action. It is said to have been beneficially employed in chronic rheumatism. Antaphrodisiac properties are ascribed to it by some physi- cians. (See Am. Cyc. of Pract. Med. ii. 23.) We have seen it apparently useful in mania connected with strong venereal propensities. The usual form of administration is that of decoction, of which two fluidounces may be taken four times a day, and gradually increased till some slight disorder of the head indicates the activity of the medicine. (See Decoctum Dul- camarse.) An extract may also be prepared, of which the dose is from five to ten grains. That of the powder would be from thirty grains to a drachm. In cutaneous affections a strong decoction is often applied to the skin, at the same time that the medicine is taken internally. Off.Prep. Decoctum Dulcamara?, U.S., Lond. W. 292 Elaterium. part i. ELATERIUM. U.S. Elaterium. " Momordica elaterium. Materia fructus succo demissa. The substance deposited by the juice of the fruit." U. S. Off. Syn. ELATERIUM. Momordica Elaterium. Pepones recentes.— EXTRACTUM ELATERII. Lond.; ELATERIUM. Ex Momordica Elaterio. Ed.; MOMORDICA ELATERIUM, Fructus. Faecula. Folia.— ELATERIUM.—EXTRACTUM ELATERII. Dub. Elaterion, Fr.; Elaterium, Germ.; Elaterio, Ital., Span. Momordica. Sex. Syst. Moncecia Monadelphia.—Nat. Ord. Cucurbi- taceae. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla five-parted. Filaments three. Female. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla five-parted. Style trifid. Gourd bursting elastically. Willd. Momordica Elaterium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 605; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 192. t. 72. The wild or squirting cucumber is a perennial plant, with a large fleshy root, from which proceed several round, thick, rough stems, branching and trailing like the common cucumber, but without tendrils. The leaves are petiolate, large, rough, irregularly cordate, and of a grayish- green colour. The flowers are yellow, and proceed from the axils of the leaves. The fruit has the shape of a small oval cucumber, about an inch and a half long, an inch thick, of a greenish or grayish colour, and covered with stiff* hairs or prickles. When fully ripe, it separates from the pedun- cle, and throws out its juice and seed with considerable force through an opening at the base, where it was attached to the footstalk. The name of squirting cucumber was derived from this circumstance, and the scientific and officinal title is supposed to have had a similar origin, though some authors maintain that the term elaterium was applied to the medicine, rather from the mode of its operation upon the bowels, than from the projectile property of the fruit.* This species of Momordica is a native of the South of Europe; and is cul- tivated in Great Britain, where, however, it perishes in the winter. Elate- rium is the substance spontaneously deposited by the juice of the fruit, when separated, and allowed to stand. Dr. Clutterbuck of London has proved that it is contained only in the free juice which surrounds the seeds, and which is obtained without expression. The body of the fruit itself, the seeds, as well as other parts of the plant, are nearly or quite inert. When the fruit is sliced and placed upon a sieve, a perfectly limpid and colourless juice flows out, which after a short time becomes turbid, and in the course of a few hours begins to deposite a sediment. This, when collected and carefully dried, is very light and pulverulent, of a yellowish-white colour, slightly tinged with green. It is the genuine elaterium, and was found by Clutter- buck to purge violently in the dose of one-eighth of a grain. But the quan- tity contained in the fruit is exceedingly small. Clutterbuck obtained only six grains from forty cucumbers. Commercial elaterium is a much weaker medicine, owing in part, perhaps, to adulteration, but much more to the mode in which it is prepared. In order to increase the product, the juice of the fruit is often expressed; and there is reason to believe that it is some- * From the Greek t\a.uva> I drive, or eXotjij driver. The word elaterium was used by Hippocrates to signify any active purge. Dioscorides applied it to the medicine of which we are treating. part i. Elaterium. 293 times evaporated so as to form an extract, instead of being allowed to depo- site the active matter. The French elaterium is prepared by expressing the juice, clarifying it by rest and filtration, and then evaporating it to a suitable consistence. As the liquid which remains after the deposition of the sedi- ment is comparatively inert, it will be readily perceived that the preparation of the French Codex must be very feeble. The following are the directions of the London College, with which those of the Dublin College essentially correspond. "Slice ripe wild cucumbers, express the juice very gently, and pass it through a very fine hair sieve; then set it aside for some hours until the thicker part has subsided. Reject the thinner, supernatant part, and dry the thicker part with a gentle heat." The product thus obtained is less pure than the elaterium of Clutterbuck; but is probably the pre- paration usually imported from England. It is incorrectly denominated by the London and Dublin Colleges Extractum Elaterii, as it is neither an extract, strictly speaking, nor an inspissated juice. In the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and Edinburgh, it is named simply Elaterium. As the plant is not cultivated in this country for medicinal purposes, our Phar- macopoeia very properly adopts as officinal, the medicine as it is found in commerce. Properties. The elaterium of the shops is in thin fiat cakes or fragments, often bearing the impression of the muslin upon which it was dried, of a greenish-gray colour, and a bitter, somewhat acrid taste. When good, it is light, pulverulent, and inflammable. As it is exceedingly variable in strength, in consequence either of adulteration or improper preparation, it is an object of some importance to ascertain in what principle its virtues reside, and to discover a mode of isolating that principle. Dr. Paris found that the alcoholic extract, treated with boiling distilled water, and afterwards dried, had the property of purging in very minute doses, while the remaining portion of the elaterium was inactive. Supposing this substance to be the active ingredient, he gave it the name of elatin; but from the very minute quantity of elaterium upon which he operated, his results are by no means satisfactory. The more recent experiments of Mr. Hennel of London, and Mr. Merries of Edinburgh, have demonstrated the existence of a crystalliza- ble matter in elaterium, which will probably be found to be the purgative principle; and the elatin of Dr. Paris, to be a mixture of this substance and chlorophylle, or the green colouring matter of vegetables.* Mr. Mor- ries proposed for the newly discovered principle the appropriate name of elaterin. From the analysis of Mr. Hennel, it appears that 100 parts of elaterium contain 44 of the crystallizable substance (elaterin), 17 of a green resin, 6 of starch, 27 of woody fibre, and 6 of saline matters. But the analysis cannot be considered as complete.\ Elaterin, according to Mr. Morries, crystallizes when pure in colourless microscopic rhombic prisms, which have a silky appearance when in mass. It is extremely bitter and rather styptic to the taste, insoluble in water and alkaline solutions, soluble in alcohol, ether, and hot olive oil, and sparingly soluble in dilute acids. At a temperature between 300° and 400° it melts, and at a higher temperature is dissipated in thick, whitish, pungent vapour, having an ammoniacal odour. It has no alkaline reaction. Mr. Morries * The substance to which Pelletier gave the name of chlorophylle, under the impression that it was a peculiar proximate principle, has been ascertained by that chemist to be a mixture of wax, and a green fixed oil. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 109.) t Six- a paper by Mr. Henry Hennel in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Muy 1831; also a paper by Mr. John D. Morries in the Ed. Med. and Surg. Journ. April 1831. 26* 294 Elalerium. part i. procures it by evaporatingan alcoholic tincture of elaterium to the consistence of thin oil, and throwing the residue while yet warm into boiling distilled water. A copious white precipitate immediately forms, and increases as the liquor cools. This, when separated and well washed with distilled water, is the elaterin sufficiently pure for medical use. It may be rendered quite pure by dissolving in alcohol, evaporating, and precipitating as before. Mr. Hennel obtained ft by treating with ether the alcoholic extract procured by the spontaneous evaporation of the tincture. This consists of elaterin and the green resin, the latter of which being much more soluble in ether than the former, is completely extracted by this fluid, leaving the elaterin pure. But as elaterin is also sliehtly soluble in ether, a portion of this principle is wasted by Mr. Hennei's~method. By evaporating the ethereal solution, the green resin is obtained in a separate state. Mr. Hennel states that this was found to possess the purgative property of the elaterium in a concentrated state, as it acted powerfully in a dose less than one-third of a grain. But this effect was probably owing to the presence of a portion of elaterin which had been dissolved by the ether. The late Dr. Duncan of Edinburgh ascer- tained that the crystalline principle or elaterin, which was not tried by Mr. Hennel, produced, in the quantity of -Jjth or Tyh of a grain, all the effects of a dose of elaterium. The quantity of elaterin varies exceedingly in dif- ferent parcels of the drug. Mr. Morries obtained 26 per cent, from the best British elaterium, 15 per cent, from the worst, and only 5 or 6 per cent, from the French; while a portion procured according to the directions of the Lon- don College, yielded to Mr. Hennel upwards of 40 per cent. This great diversity in the strength of the elaterium renders the substitution of its purgative principle highly desirable. Medical Properties and Uses. Elaterium is a powerful hydragogue cathartic, and in the full dose generally excites nausea and vomiting. If too freely administered, it operates with great violence both upon the stomach and bowels, producing inflammation of these organs, which has in some instances eventuated fatally. It also increases the flow of urine. The fruit was employed by the ancients, and is recommended in the writings of Dioscorides as a remedy in mania and melancholy. Sydenham and his cotemporaries considered elaterium highly useful in dropsy; but, in conse- quence of some fatal results from its incautious employment, it fell into dis- repute, and was generally neglected, till again brought into notice by Dr. Ferriar. It is now considered one of the most efficient hydragogue cathartics in the treatment of dropsical diseases, in which it has sometimes proved suc- cessful after all other remedies have failed. The full dose of the commercial elaterium is from one to two grains; but as in this quantity it generally vomits, if of ordinary strength, the best mode of administering it is in the dose of half a grain repeated every hour till it operates. The dose of Clut- terbuck's elaterium is |th of a grain. That of elaterin is from -Jg. to -Jyth of a grain, and is best given in solution. One grain may be dissolved in a fluidounce of alcohol with four drops of nitric acid, and from 30 to 40 minims may be given diluted with water. W. PART I. Elemi. 295 ELEMI. Lond., Dub. Elemi. " Amyris elemifera. Resina." Lond., Dub. R6sine elemi, Fr.; Oelbaumharz, Elemi, Germ.; Elemi, Ital.; Goma de limon, Span. Amyris. Sex. Syst. Octandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Terebintaceae, Juss.; Amyrideac, R. Brown, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx four-toothed. Petals four, oblong. Stigma four-cornered. Berry drupaceous. Willd. Some botanists separate from this genus the species which have their fruit in the form of a capsule instead of a nut, and associate them together in a distinct genus with the name of Idea. This is recognised by De Candolle. Most of the trees belonging to these two genera yield, when wounded, a resinous juice analogous to the turpentines, and differing little as procured from the different species. It is not improbable that the drug usually known by the name of elemi, though referred by the Colleges to one tree, is in fact derived from several. That known to the ancients is said to have been ob- tained from Ethiopia, and all the elemi of commerce was originally brought from the Levant. The tree which afforded it was not accurately known, but was supposed to be a species of Amyris. Geiger states that it was derived from the A. Zeilanica, growing in Ceylon. At present the drug is taken to Europe from Brazil, and is believed to be the product of a plant mentioned by Marcgrav under the name of icicariba, and considered by Linnaeus as the Amyris elemifera. It appears, however, to be properly an Idea, and De Candolle denominates it 1. Icicariba. We can find no detailed descrip- tion of the tree. It has a lofty trunk, with pinnate leaves, consisting of three or five pointed, perforated leaflets, which are smooth on their upper surface, and woolly beneath. It is erroneously stated in some works to be a native of Carolina. The elemi is obtained by incisions into the tree, through which the juice flows and concretes upon the bark. It is in masses of various consistence, sometimes solid and heavy like wax, sometimes light and porous; unctuous to the touch ; diaphanous ; of diversified colours, generally greenish with intermingled points of white or yellow, sometimes greenish-white with brown stains, sometimes yellow like sulphur; fragile and friable when cold ; softening by the heat of the hand; of a terebinthinate somewhat aromatic odour, diminishing with age, and said, in some varieties, to resemble that of fennel; of a warm, slightly bitter, dis- agreeable taste ; entirely soluble, with the exception of impurities, in boiling alcohol; and affording a volatile oil by distillation. It consists, according to M. Bonastre, of 60 parts of resin, 24 of a resinous matter soluble in boiling alcohol, but deposited when the liquid cools, 12.5 of volatile oil, 2 of ex- tractive, and 1.5 of acid and impurities. It is sometimes adulterated with colophony and turpentine. Medical Properties and Uses. Elemi has properties analogous to those of the turpentines ; but is exclusively applied to external use. In the United States it is rarely employed even in this way. In the pharmacy of Europe it enters into the composition of numerous plasters and ointments. We are told that it is occasionally brought to this country in small fragments mixed with the coarser kinds of gum Arabic from the Levant and India. Off. Prep. Unguent. Elemi, Lond,, Dub. W. 296 Erigeron Canadense. part i. ERIGERON CANADENSE. U.S. Secondary. Canada Fleabane. " Erigeron Canadense. Planta. The plant." U.S. Erigeron. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Corymbi ferae. Gen. Ch. Calyx imbricated, sub-hemispherical, in fruit often reflected. Florets of the ray linear, very narrow, numerous. Receptacle naked. Pap- pus double, exterior minute, interior pilose, of few rays. Nuttall. Erigeron Canadense. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1954. This is an indigenous annual plant, with a stem from two to six feet high, covered with stiff' hairs, and divided into numerous branches. The leaves are linear lanceolate, and edged with hairs ; those at the root are dentate. The flowers are very small, numerous, white, and arranged in terminal panicles. They differ from those of the other species of Erigeron in having an oblong calyx, the rays very minute and more numerous than the florets of the disk, and the seed down simple. Hence by some botanists the plant is placed in a sub-genus with the tide Csenotus. Another variety of the E. Canadense, which Mr. Nut- tall makes a distinct species, with the title E. pusilum, is not more than from four to six inches high, and has an erect smooth stem, less branched than the preceding, with all its leaves entire, and scabrous on the margin. The panicle is simple, and the peduncles filiform, nearly naked, divaricate, each bearing two or three flowers. The Canada fleabane is very common throughout the northern and mid- dle sections of the United States, and has become naturalized in many parts of Europe. It abounds in neglected fields, and blooms in July and August. The plant, all parts of which are medicinal, should be collected while in flower. The leaves and flowers are said to possess its peculiar virtues in greatest perfection. This species of Erigeron has an agreeable odour, and a bitterish, acrid, somewhat astringent taste. Among its constituents, according to Dr. De Puy, are bitter extractive, tannin, gallic acid, and volatile oil. Both alcohol and water extract its virtues. Its acrimony is diminished by decoction, pro- bably in consequence of the escape of the oil. Medical Properties and Uses. From the observations of Dr. De Puy, it appears to be diuretic, tonic, and astringent; and has been found useful in dropsical complaints and diarrhoea. It may be given in substance, infusion, tincture, or extract. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm; of an infusion prepared in the proportion of an ounce of the plant to a pint of boiling water, from two to four fluidounces; of the aqueous ex- tract from five to ten grains. In each case the dose should be repeated every two or three hours. \\T. part i. Erigeron Heterophyllum.—E. Philadelphicum. 297 ERIGERON HETEROPHYLLUM. U.S. Secondary. Various-leaved Fleabane. " Erigeron heterophyllum. Planta. The Plant." U. S. ERIGERON PHILADELPHICUM. U.S. Secondary. Philadelphia Fleabane. " Erigeron Philadelphicum. Planta. The Plant" U.S. Erigeron. See ERIGERON CANADENSE. 1. Erigeron heterophyllum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1956; Barton, Am. Med. Bot. i. 231. This is a biennial herbaceous plant, belonging both to North America and Europe. It has a branching root, from which proceed several erect, roundish, striated pubescent stems, much divided near the top, and rising two or three feet in height. The lower leaves are ovate, acute, deeply toothed, and supported upon long winged footstalks; the upper are lanceolate, acute, deeply serrate in the middle, and sessile; the floral leaves are lanceolate and entire; all, except those from the root, are ciliate at the base. The flowers are in terminal corymbs. The florets of the disk are yellow, those of the ray numerous, very slender, and of a white, pale blue, or pale purple colour. The flowering period is from June to Oc- tober. Erigeron Philadelphicum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1957; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 227. The Philadelphia fleabane is perennial and herbaceous, with. a branching yellowish root, and from one to five erect stems, which rise two or three feet in height, and are much branched at top. The whole plant is pubescent. The lower leaves are ovate lanceolate, nearly obtuse, ciliate on the margin, entire or marked with a few serratures, and supported on very long footstalks; the upper are narrow, oblong, somewhat wedge-shaped, obtuse, entire, sessile, and slightly embrace the stem; the floral leaves are small and lanceolate. The flowers are numerous, radiate, and disposed in a panicled corymb, with long peduncles bearing from one to three flowers. They resemble those of the preceding species in colour, and make their ap- pearance at about the same period. We include these two species under one head, because they grow together, possess identical medical properties, and are indiscriminately employed. They are found in various parts of the United States, and abound in the fields about Philadelphia, where they are known and used under the common though inaccurate name of scabious. The whole herb is used, and should be collected while the plants are in flower. It has an aromatic odour, and a slightly bitterish taste, and imparts its properties to boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. Fleabane is diuretic, without being offen- sive to the stomach. It is a favourite remedy with some highly respectable practitioners of Philadelphia in gravel and other nephritic diseases, and has been employed with advantage in dropsy. By the late Dr. Wistar it was recommended in hydrothorax complicated with gout. When the obstinate character and long continuance of certain dropsical affections are considered, the advantage must appear obvious, of having numerous remedies calculated to mitigate the symptoms without exhausting the strength of the patient; so that when one has lost its power from repetition, we may appeal to another 298 Eryngium.—Erythronium. part i. with some prospect of benefit. On this account it is, that fleabane is worthy of the notice of the profession. It cannot be relied on for the cure of dropsy. It is most conveniently administered in infusion or decoction, of which a pint, containing the virtues of an ounce of the herb, may be given in twenty- four hours. W. ERYNGIUM. U.S. Secondary. Button Snakeroot. " Eryngium aquaticum. Radix. The root." U. S. Eryngium. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Flowers capitate. Involucrum many-leaved. Proper Calyx five- parted, superior, persistent. Corolla of five petals. Receptacle foliaceous, segments acute or cuspidate. Fruit bipartile. Nuttall. Eryngium aquaticum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1357. The button snakeroot, or water eryngo, is an indigenous herbaceous plant, with a perennial tuberous root, and a stem two or three feet high, sometimes, according to Pursh, six feet, generally branching by forks, but trichotomous above. The leaves are very long, linear-lanceolate on the upper part of the stem, sword-shaped below, with bristly spines at distant intervals upon their margin. The floral leaves are lanceolate and dentate. The flowers are white or pale, and dis- posed in globose heads, with the leaflets of the involucrum shorter than the head, and, like the scales of the receptacle, entire. This plant is found in low wet places, from Virginia to Carolina. Its period of flowering is August. The root, which is the medicinal portion, has a bitter, pungent, aromatic taste, provoking, when chewed, a flow of saliva. It is diaphoretic, expecto- rant, in large doses occasionally emetic; and is used by some physicians in decoction as a substitute for seneka. (Bigelow.) We are told in Barton's " Collections," that it is nearly allied to the contrayerva of the shops. W. ERYTHRONIUM. U.S. Secondary. Erythronium. " Erythronium Americanum. Planta. The Plant." U. S. Erythronium. Sex. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Liliacese. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Corolla inferior, six-petalled; the three inner petals with a callous prominence on each edge near the base. Bigelow. Erythronium Americanum. Muhl. Catalogue 84; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 151.—E. lanceolatum. Pursh, p. 230. This is an indigenous pe- rennial bulbous plant, sometimes called, after the European species, dog's tooth violet. The bulb, which is brown externally, white and solid within, sends up a single naked slender flower-stem, and two smooth lanceolate nearly equal leaves, sheathing at their base, with an obtuse callous point, and of a brownish-green colour diversified by numerous irregular spots. The flower is solitary, nodding, yellow, with oblong lanceolate petals obtuse at the point, a club-shaped undivided style, and a three-lobed stigma. part i. Erythronium.—Eupatorium Perfoliatum. 299 The Erythronium grows in woods and other shady places throughout the Northern and Middle States. It flowers in the latter part of April or early in May. All parts of it are active. In the dose of twenty or thirty grains, the recent bulb acts as an emetic. The leaves are said to be more powerful. The activity of the plant is di- minished by drying. So far as we are at present acquainted uith'its virtues, it may be considered a useless addition to the Materia Medica. Having, however, been adopted in the original edition of the Pharmacopoeia, it was deemed best, upon the revision of that work, not to expunge it from the catalogue till it had undergone a longer period of trial. W. EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM. U.S. Thoroughwort. " Eupatorium perfoliatum. Herba. The herb." U. S. Eupatorium. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia iEqualis.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Calyx simple or imbricate, oblong. Style long and semi-bifid. Receptacle naked. Pappus pilose, or more commonly scabrous. Seed smooth and glandular, quinquestriate. Nuttall. Of this numerous genus, comprising not less than thirty species within the limits of the United States, most of which probably possess analogous medical properties, three have found a place in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States—the E. perfoliatum, E. teucrifolium, and E. purpureum— the first in the primary, the last two in the secondary list. The E. Canna- binum of Europe, the root of which was formerly used as a purgative; and the E. Aya-pana of Brazil, the leaves of which at one time enjoyed a very high reputation as a remedy in numerous diseases, have fallen into entire neglect. The Aya-pana is an aromatic bitter, with the medical properties of the E. perfoliatum in an inferior degree. Eupatorium perfoliatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1761; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 33; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 125. The thoroughwort, or, as it is perhaps more frequently called, boneset, is an indigenous perennial plant, with numerous herbaceous stems, which are erect, round, hairy, from two to five feet high, simple below, and trichotomously branched near the sum- mit. The character of the leaves is peculiar, and serves to distinguish the species at the first glance. They may be considered either as perforated by the stem, perfoliate, or as consisting each of two leaves joined at the base, connate. Considered in the latter point of view, they are opposite and in pairs, which decussate each other at regular distances upon the stem; in other words, the direction of each pair is at right angles with that of the pair immediately above or beneath it. They are narrow in proportion to their length, broadest at the base where they coalesce, gradually tapering to a point, serrate, much wrinkled, paler on the under than the upper surface, and beset with whitish hairs which give them a grayish-green colour. The uppermost pairs are sessile, not joined at the base. The flowers are white, numerous, supported on hairy peduncles, in dense corymbs, which form a flattened summit to the plant. The calyx, which is cylindrical and composed of imbricated, lanceolate, hairy scales, encloses from twelve to fifteen tubu- lar florets, having their border divided into five spreading segments. The 300 Eupatorium Perfoliatum.—E. Purpureum. part i. anthers are five in number, black, and united into a tube, through which the bifid filiform style projects above the flower. This species of Eupatorium inhabits meadows, the banks of streams, and other moist places, growing generally in bunches, and abounding in almost all parts of the United States. It flowers from the middle of summer to the latter end of October. All parts of it are active; but the herb only is officinal. It has a faint odour, and a strongly bitter somewhat peculiar taste. The bitterness and probably the medical virtues of the plant reside in an extrac- tive matter, which is readily taken up by water or alcohol. No accurate analysis of thoroughwort has been made since the recent improvements in vegetable chemistry. Medical Properties and Uses. Thoroughwort is tonic, diaphoretic, and in large doses emetic and aperient. It is said to have been employed by the Indians in intermittent fever, and has proved successful in the cure of the same complaint in the hands of several regular practitioners. The general experience, however, is not in its favour. We have seen it effectual in arresting intermittents when given freely in warm decoction, immediately before the expected recurrence of the paroxysm; but it operated in this instance by its emetic rather than its tonic power. The medicine has also been used as a tonic and diaphoretic in remittent and typhoid fevers, and is said to have been productive of advantage in yellow fever. Given in warm infusion, so as to produce vomiting or copious perspiration, in the com- mencement of catarrh, it will frequently arrest that complaint. It has even been recommended as a diaphoretic in inflammatory rheumatism; and may prove serviceable, if administered in the absence of general arterial excite- ment. As a tonic it has been given with advantage in dyspepsia, general debility, and other cases in which the simple bitters are employed. With a view to its tonic effect, it is best administered in substance, or in cold infusion. The dose of the powder is twenty or thirty grains, that of the infusion a fluidounce, frequently repeated. (See Infusum Eupatorii Perfoliati.) When the diaphoretic operation is required in addition to the tonic, the infusion should be administered warm, and the patient remain covered in bed. As an emetic and cathartic, a strong decoction, prepared by boiling an ounce with three half pints of water to a pint, may be given in doses of one or two gills, or more. Off.Prep. Infusum Eupatorii Perfoliati, U.S. W. EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM. U.S. Secondary. Gravel-root. " Eupatorium purpureum. Radix. The root." U.S. Eupatorium. See EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM. Eupatorium purpureum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1759. This species of Eupatorium is, like the preceding, a perennial herbaceous plant. Its stem is hollow, of a purple colour, five or six feet high, and furnished with ovate lanceolate, serrate, rugosely veined, slightly scabrous leaves, which are petiolate, and placed four or five together in the form of whorls. The flowers are purple, consisting of numerous florets contained in an eight- leaved calyx. It grows in swamps and other low grounds, from Canada to part i. Eupatorium Teucrifolium.—Euphorbia Corollata. 301 Virginia, and flowers in August and September. The root is the officinal portion. This, according to Dr. Bigelow, has a bitter, aromatic, and astringent taste, and is said to operate as a diuretic. Its vulgar name of gravel-root indicates the popular estimation of its virtues. W. EUPATORIUM TEUCRIFOLIUM. U.S. Secondary. Wild Horehound. " Eupatorium teucrifolium. Herba. The herb." U.S. Eupatorium. See EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM. Eupatorium teucrifolium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1753.—E. pilosum. Walt. Flor. Car. 199.—E. verbensefolium. Mich. Flor. Am. ii. 98. The wild horehound is an indigenous perennial, with an herbaceous stem about two feet high, supporting sessile, distinct, ovate, acute, scabrous leaves, of which the lower are coarsely serrate at the base, the uppermost entire. The flowers are small, white, consisting of five florets within each calyx, and disposed in the form of a corymb. The plant grows in low wet places, from New England to Georgia, and is very abundant in the Southern States. It is in flower from August to November. The whole herb is employed. In sensible properties it corresponds with the E. perfoliatum, though less bitter and disagreeable to the taste. It is said to be tonic, diaphoretic, diuretic, and aperient; and in the South is much employed as a domestic remedy in intermittents and other fevers, to which the country upon the seaboard is subject. Dr. Jones, formerly president of the Georgia Medi- cal Society, was the first to make its properties known to the profession. It is usually administered infused in water. One quart of the infusion, containing the virtues of an ounce of the plant, may be given in divided doses during the day. W. EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. U.S. Secondary. Large Flowering Spurge. " Euphorbia corollata. Radix. The root." U.S. Euphorbia. Sex. Syst. Dodecandria Trigynia, Linn.; Monoecia Mona- delphia, Michaux.—Nat. Ord. Euphorbiaceae. Gen. Ch. Involucrum caliciform, eight to ten toothed, exterior alternate dentures glanduloid or petaloid. Stamina indefinite, twelve or more, rarely less ; filaments articulated. Receptacle squamose. Female flower solitary, stipitate, naked. Capsule three-grained. Nuttall. In the flower of the Euphorbia?, the stamina are arranged two or more to- gether, in distinct parcels, which correspond in number with the inner seg- ments of the calyx. These parcels were considered by Michaux as distinct male florets; while the central stipitate germ, with its three bifid styles, was considered as a distinct female floret, and the calyx took the name of an involucre. He accordingly placed the genus in the class and order Monoecia Monadelphia, and in this respect has been followed by most 27 302 Euphorbia Corollata. part i. American botanists. The genus Euphorbia contains very numerous species, which have the common property of yielding a milky juice. They are herbaceous or shrubby, with or without leaves; and the leafless species, which are chiefly confined to the African deserts, have fleshy, naked, or spiny stems, resembling the genus Cactus. They nearly all afford pro- ducts which act powerfully as emetics and cathartics, and in over-doses give rise to dangerous if not fatal prostration, with symptoms of inflamed gastro intestinal mucous membrane. Their milky juice, which concretes on exposure to the air, usually possesses these properties in a high degree, and, in addition, that of powerfully irritating the skin when externally applied. Two species only are acknowledged in our national Pharmacopoeia, the E. corollata and E. Ipecacuanha, which are both indigenous. The E. hy- pericifolia, which is also indigenous, has been very highly commended as a remedy in dysentery after due depletion, diarrhoea, menorrhagia, and leu- corrhcea', by Dr. W. ZoUickoffer of Baltimore. He infuses half an ounce of the dried leaves in a pint of boiling water, and gives half a fluidounce every hour in dysentery till the symptoms begin to yield, the same quantity after every evacuation in diarrhoea, and two fluidounces morning, noon, and night in menorrhagia and fluor albus. The herb, according to Dr. ZoUic- koffer, is at first sweetish, afterwards harsh and astringent to the taste, and from his experiments appears to contain tannin. Its effects upon the svstem are those of an astringent and feeble narcotic. It differs, therefore, considerably, both in sensible and medicinal properties, from most of the other species of Euphorbia. (Am. Journ. of the Med. Sciences. xi. 22.) Euphorbia Corollata. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 916; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 119. The blooming or large flowering spurge, in common language frequently called milk-weed, is a tall erect plant, with a large, perennial, branching, yellowish root, which sends up several stems from two to five feet in height, round and generally simple. The leaves, which stand irregularly upon the stem, and without footstalks, are oblong, obovate, wedge-form or linear, flat or revolute at the margin, smooth in some plants, and hairy in others. The flowers are disposed upon a large terminal umbel, with a five- leaved involucrum, and five trifid and dichotomous rays, at each fork of which are two oblong bractes. The calyx is large, rotate, white, with five obtuse segments closely resembling a corolla, from which the species has been named. At the base of these divisions are five interior smaller seg- ments, which are described as nectaries by many systematic writers, while the larger are considered as belonging to a real corolla. The stamens are twelve, evolving gradually, with double anthers. Many flowers have only stamens. The pistil, when existing, is stipitate, nodding, rounded, with three bifid styles. The fruit is a smooth, three-celled, three-seeded capsule. The plant grows in various parts of the United States, from Canada to Florida, and abounds in Maryland and Virginia. It prefers a dry, barren, and sandy soil, seldom growing in woods or on the borders of streams. Its flowers appear in July and August. The root is the only part used. This, when full grown, is sometimes an inch in thickness, and two feet in length. It is without unpleasant taste, producing only a sense of heat a short time after it has been taken. The medical virtues are said to reside in the cortical portion, which is thick, and constitutes two-thirds of the whole root. They are taken up by water and alcohol, and remain in the extract formed by the evaporation of the decoction or tincture. Medical Properties and Uses. In a full dose, the root of the E. corollata PART I. Euphorbia Ipecacuanha. 303 operates actively and with sufficient certainty as an emetic, producing ordi- narily several discharges from the stomach, and not unfrequently acting with considerable energy upon the bowels. In quantities insufficient to vomit, it excites nausea, almost always followed by brisk purging. In still smaller doses it is diaphoretic and expectorant. It cannot, however, like ipecacu- anha, be given largely in cases of insensibility of stomach, without endan- gering hypercatharsis with inflammation of the mucous coat of the stomach and bowels. It is in fact greatly inferior to this emetic in mildness, while it is no less inferior to the tartarized antimony in certainty. It is objection- able as a purge, in consequence of the nausea which it occasions, when given in cathartic doses. Dr. ZoUickoffer of Baltimore was the first to in- troduce it to the particular notice of the medical profession. It is little pre- scribed, and seldom kept in the shops. The dose of the dried root as an emetic is from ten to twenty grains, as a cathartic from three to ten grains. The recent root, bruised and applied to the skin, produces vesication. W. EUPHORBIA IPECACUANHA. U.S. Secondary. Ipecacuanha Spurge. " Euphorbia ipecacuanha. Radix. The root." U. S. Euphorbia. See EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. Euphorbia Ipecacuanha. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii 900 ; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 211 ; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 108. The ipecacuanha spurge, or, as it is sometimes called, American ipecacuanha, is a singular plant, vary- ing so much in the shape and colour of its leaves, and in its whole aspect, that mere individual peculiarities might without care be attributed to a real specific difference. The root is perennial, of a yellowish colour, irregular, and very large, penetrating sometimes to the depth of six or seven feet in the sand, and in its thickest part measuring, when full grown, from three quar- ters of an inch to one inch and a half in diameter. The stems are numerous, herbaceous, erector procumbent, smooth, dichotomous, jointed at the forks, while under the ground, red, pale-green, or yellow above, sometimes almost buried in the sand, usually forming thick low bunches upon its surface. The leaves are opposite, sessile, entire, smooth, generally oval, but sometimes round, obovate, or even lanceolate, or linear. They are small early in the spring, and increase in size with the age of the plant. Their colour varies from green to crimson. The flowers are solitary, and stand on long axillary peduncles. The calyx is spreading, with five exterior obtuse segments, and the same number of inner, smaller segments or nectaries. The fertile flowers have a roundish, drooping, pedicelled germ, crowned with six revolute stigmas. The capsule is three-celled, and contains three seeds. The E. Ipecacuanha is indigenous, growing in pine barrens and other sandy places in the Middle and Southern States, especially along the sea- board, and abundant in New Jersey on the bank of the Delaware. It blooms from May to August. The root, which is the officinal portion, is, according to Dr. Barton, equally efficacious at whatever period collected. The dried root is light and brittle, of a grayish colour externally, white within, inodorous, and of a sweetish not unpleasant taste. Its active prin- ciple has not been isolated. Dr. Bigelow inferred from his experiments, that it contained caoutchouc, resin, gum, and probably starch. 304 Euphorbium. part i. Medical Properties and Uses. Ipecacuanha spurge is an energetic, tolerably certain emetic, rather milder than the E. corollata, but, like that, disposed to act upon the bowels, and liable, if given in overdoses, to pro- duce excessive nausea and vomiting, general prostration, and alarming hypercatharsis. It is therefore wholly unfit to supersede ipecacuanha. In small doses it is diaphoretic. The specific name of the plant indicates that the emetic property of the root has been long known. The late professor Barton alludes to it in his Collections; but it did not come into general notice till after the publication of Dr. W. P. C. Barton's Medical Botany. Dr. Hewson of Philadelphia informs us, that this emetic was the subject of an inaugural essay by Dr. Royal, and that experiments conducted with it in the State Prison in that city, proved it to be advantageously available for all the purposes of an emetic; while, in consequence of its want of nauseous taste, it seemed to answer even better than ipecacuanha as an expectorant and diaphoretic. The dose of the powdered root is from ten to fifteen grains. W. EUPHORBIUM. Lond. Euphorbium. " Euphorbia officinarum. Gummi-resina." Lond. Off. Syn. EUPHORBIA CANARIENSIS. Gummi-resina. Dub. Euphorbe, Fr.; Euphorbium, Germ.; Euforbio, Ital., Span. Euphorbia. See EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. Euphorbium is obtained from several species of Euphorbia, most abun- dantly from the E. officinarum, which grows in the North of Africa and at the Cape of Good Hope, the E. Canadensis, a native of the Canary Islands and Western Africa, and the E. antiquorum, inhabiting Egypt, Arabia, and the East Indies, and supposed to be the plant from which the ancients de- rived this resinous product. These species of Euphorbia bear a consider- able resemblance in their general form to the Cactus, having leafless, jointed, angular stems, divided into branches of a similar structure, and furnished with double prickles at the angles. When wounded, they give out an acrid milky juice, which concretes upon the surface of the plant, and being re- moved, constitutes the euphorbium of commerce. This occurs in the shape of tears, or in oblong or roundish masses, about the size of a pea or larger, often forked, and perforated with one or two small conical holes, produced by the prickles of the plant, around which the juice has concreted, and which sometimes remain in the holes. The masses are occasionally large and mixed with impurities. The surface is dull and smooth, bearing some resemblance to that of tragacanth; the consistence somewhat friable; the colour light yellowish or reddish; the odour scarcely perceptible; the taste at first slight, but afterwards excessively acrid and burn- ing. The colour of the powder is yellowish. The sp. gr. of euphorbium is 1.124. Triturated with water it renders the liquid milky, and is partially dissolved. Alcohol dissolves a larger portion, forming a yellowish tincture, which becomes milky on the addition of water. Its constituents, according to Pelletier, are resin, wax, malate of lime, malate of potassa, lignin, bas- sorin, volatile oil, and water. Brandes found caoutchouc. Euphorbium contains no gum, and is therefore incorrectly called a gum-resin. The pro- portions of the ingredients are variously stated by different chemists, and probably vary in different specimens. The most abundant is resin, and the part i. Euphorbium.—Extractum Glycyrrhizse. 305 remainder consists chiefly of wax and malate of lime. The resin is exces- sively acrid, is soluble in alcohol, and when exposed to heat, melts, inflames, and burns with a brilliant flame, diffusing an agreeable odour. It is upon this principle that the acrimony of euphorbium chiefly depends. Medical Properties and Uses. Euphorbium taken internally is emetic and cathartic, often acting with great violence, and in large doses producing severe gastric pain, excessive heat in the throat, and symptoms of great pros- tration. In consequence of the severity of its action, its internal use has been entirely abandoned. Applied to the mucous membrane of the nostrils, it excites violent irritation, attended with incessant sneezing, and sometimes bloody discharges. They who powder it are under the necessity of guard- ing their eyes, nostrils, and mouth against the fine dust which rises. Largely diluted with wheat flour or starch, it may be used as an errhine in amauro- sis, deafness, and other obstinate affections of the head. Externally applied, it inflames the skin, often producing vesication; and on the continent of Eu- rope is sometimes used as an ingredient of epispastic preparations. It is employed in veterinary practice, with a view to its vesicating power. As an article of the materia medica, however, it may well be dispensed with, and it has been very properly omitted in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. W. EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZSE. U.S., Lond., Dub. Liquorice. " Glycyrrhiza glabra. Radicis extractum. Extract of the root." U.S. Off. Syn. EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZiE GLABRAE, Ed. Extrait de reglisse, Fr.; Siissholzsaft, Germ.; Sugo di liquirizia, Ital; Regaliza en hol- los, Span. For an account of the Glycyrrhiza glabra, see article GLYCYRRHIZA. The London and Dublin Colleges give directions for the preparation of this extract; but, as it is never prepared in this country, it very properly oc- cupies, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, a place in the catalogue of the Materia Medica. Liquorice is an article of export from the North of Spain, particularly Catalonia, where it is obtained in the following manner. The roots of the G. glabra having been dug up, thoroughly cleansed, and half dried by exposure to the air, are cut into small pieces, and boiled in water till the liquid is saturated. The decoction is then allowed to rest, and after the dregs have subsided, is decanted, and evaporated to the proper consistence. The extract thus prepared is formed into rolls from five to six inches long by an inch in diameter, which are dried in the air, and wrapped in laurel leaves. Much liquorice is also prepared in Calabria, according to M. Fee, from the G. echinata which abounds in that country. The process is essentially the same with that just described, but conducted with greater care; and the Italian liquorice is purer and more valuable than the Spanish. We have been informed that most of the extract brought to this country comes from the ports of Leghorn and Messina. Crude liquorice is in cylindrical rolls, somewhat flattened and covered with bay leaves. When good, it is very black, dry, brittle, breaking with 27* 306 Extractum Glycyrrhizx.—Ferrum. part i. a shining fracture, of a very sweet, peculiar, slightly acrid or bitterish taste, and almost entirely soluble in water. It is frequently, however, very im- pure, either from adulteration or improper preparation. Starch, sand, the juice of prunes, &c, are sometimes added; and carbonaceous matter, and even particles of copper are found in it, the latter arising from the boilers in which the decoction is evaporated. Four pounds of the extract have yielded two drachms and a half of metallic copper. (Fee.) It is rarely quite soluble in water. Neumann obtained 460 parts of watery extract from 480 of Spanish liquorice. A bitter and empyreumatic taste are signs of inferior quality. Before being used internally it generally requires to be purified. The refined liquorice kept in the shops in small cylindrical pieces not thicker than a pipe stem, is prepared by dissolving the impure extract in water without boiling, straining the solution, and evaporating. The object of this process is to separate not only the insoluble impurities, but also the acrid oily substance, which is extracted by long boiling from the liquorice root, and is necessarily mixed with the unrefined extract. It is customary to add during the process a portion of sugar, and sometimes perhaps muci- lage or glue; and flour or starch is a frequent adulteration. Excellent liquorice is prepared in some parts of England from the root cultivated in that country. The Pontefract cakes are small lozenges of liquorice of a very superior quality, made in the vicinity of Pomfret. Medical Properties and Uses. Liquorice is a useful demulcent, much employed as an addition to cough mixtures, and frequently added to infu- sions or decoctions, in order to cover the taste or obtund the acrimony of the principal medicine. A piece of it held in the mouth and allowed slowly to dissolve, is often found to allay cough by sheathing the irritated mem- brane of the fauces. It is used in pharmacy to impart consistence to pills and troches, and to modify the taste of other medicines. Off. Prep. Decoctum Aloes Compositum, Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Opiatae, Ed.; Pilulae Scilliticae, Ed.; Tinctura Aloes, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Opii Camphorata, U.S.; Tinctura Rhei et Sennae, U.S.; Trochisci Glycyrrhizae Glabrae, Ed.; Trochisci Glycyrrhizae et Opii, U.S., Ed. W. FERRUM. Iron. Fer, Fr.; Eisen, Germ.; Ferro, Ital.; Hierro, Span. Iron is the most abundant and useful of the metals, and so interwoven with the wants of mankind, that the extent of its consumption by a nation may be taken as an index of its progress in civilization. It is universally diffused throughout nature, not only in the mineral kingdom, but also in vegetables and animals. There are very few minerals in which traces of it may not be found, and it is an essential constituent in many parts of animals, but particularly in the blood. It is one of the few metals which are devoid of deleterious action on the animal economy. Iron occurs, 1. native; 2. sulphuretted, forming magnetic and cubic pyrites; 3. oxidized, embracing the magnetic, specular, red, brown, and argillaceous oxides of iron; 4. in saline combination, forming the carbonate. PART I. Ferrum. 30" sulphate, phosphate, arseniate, and chromate of iron. Those minerals of iron which admit of being worked to advantage are called iron ores. These include the different native oxides, and the carbonate (sparry iron.) The best iron is obtained from those varieties of the native oxide, usually called magnetic iron ore and specular iron ore. These occur very abundantly in Sweden, and furnish the superior iron of that country. As a general rule, those ores yield the best iron which occur in primitive formations. Extraction. The mode of extracting iron from its ores varies somewhat with the nature of the ore; but the general principles of the operation are the same for all. The ore, previously roasted and coarsely pulverized, is exposed to the action of a strong heat in contact with carbonaceous matter, such as charcoal or coke, and in connexion with some flux, capable of fusing with the impurities of the ore. The flux varies with the nature of the ore, and is generally either lime or clay; lime being employed when the ore is argillaceous, clay when it is calcareous. The flux, whatever it may be, enters into fusion with the impurities, and forms what is called the slag; while the carbonaceous matter, acting on the oxide of iron, reduces it to the metallic state. The reduced metal, from its density, occupies the lower part of the furnace, and is protected from the action of the air by the melted slag which floats on its surface. When the reduction is completed, the slag is allowed to run out of a hole in the side of the furnace, and the melted metal, by an aperture at its bottom; the latter being received into oblong triangular moulds, where it solidifies in masses, known in commerce by the name of pig or cast iron. In this state the metal is brittle and far from being pure, as it is contaminated with a portion of charcoal, unreduced ore, and earthy impuri- ties. It is purified, and thus brought to the state of malleable iron, by being fused by a strong heat, and subjected to the action of a current of air on its surface. By these means the undecomposed ore is reduced, the earthy im- purities are made to rise to the surface as a slag, and the carbon is burnt out. As the metal approaches to purity, it becomes less and less fusible, and at last consolidates, though the temperature of the furnace continues the same. The metal is then taken out, and, by means of ponderous hammers, or rollers, its particles are beaten or pressed together so as to form one tena- cious mass. It is finally drawn out into bars of a convenient size, when it constitutes the malleable iron of commerce. Iron mines occur in most countries, but more particularly in northern ones. In Spain the principal mines furnish sparry iron, and the red and brown oxides. The chief iron ores of France are the sparry iron, and the specular, brown, and argillaceous oxides, and of Germany, the sparry iron and brown oxide. The island of Elba is celebrated for its rich and abundant specular oxide. The ores which furnish the celebrated Swedish iron have already been indicated. In the United States iron is abundant. The principal ores which are worked are the magnetic, brown, and argillaceous oxides. They occur in the greatest abundance in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The ores of the three last mentioned states rival the best Swedish in quality. Properties. Iron is a hard, malleable, very ductile and tenacious metal, of a grayish-white colour and fibrous texture, and having a slight styptic taste, and a sensible odour when rubbed. Its sp. gr. is about 7.7, and its fusing point very high. It possesses the magnetic and welding properties. It is combustible, and when heated to whiteness, burns in atmospheric air, and with brilliant scintillations in oxygen gas. At a red heat, its surface is 308 Ferrum. part !• converted into black oxide, and by the combined agency of air and moisture at common temperatures, it becomes covered with a reddish matter, called rust, which consists of the hydrated sesquioxide. It combines with all the non-metallic bodies, except hydrogen and nitrogen, and with most of the metals, its equivalent number "being 28. It forms two regular oxides, a pro- toxide and sesquioxide; and these by combining together produce a third, of a black colour, formerly erroneously considered to be the protoxide. This last is called in the peculiar nomenclature of Berzelius, the ferroso-ferric oxide; but it is, peihaps, more convenient to designate it as the black oxide. The protoxide of iron is of a dark blue colour, attracted by the magnet, and spon- taneously combustible in the air, being converted into sesquioxide. It is the base of green vitriol, and of the green salts of iron generally. It is very prone to absorb oxygen, and hence the salts which contain it are soon par- tially converted, when in solution, into salts of the sesquioxide. It consists of one equivalent of iron 28, and one equiv. of oxygen 8 = 36. The sesqui- oxide is readily obtained pure by dissolving iron in nitro-muriatic acid, adding ammonia, and ^igniting the precipitate obtained. It is of a red colour, not attracted by the magnet, and forms salts, which for the most part have a red- dish colour. It is composed of two equiv. of iron 56, and three of oxygen 24 = 80. The black oxide exists in the native magnetic oxide, and in cer- tain ferruginous salts after they have absorbed a certain definite proportion of oxygen. It consists of one equiv. of protoxide 36, and one of sesquioxide 80 = 116. Iron, combined with minute portions of carbon, and, perhaps, of the radicals of silica and alumina, forms steel, a modification of iron for- merly used in medicine, but now'very properly laid aside. It also unites, when oxidized, with various acids, giving rise to an important class of salts, several of which, as the muriate, carbonate, sulphate, phosphate, ferrocya- nate, tartrate, and acetate, are used in medicine. Iron is readily detected, even in minute quantities, by bringing it to the state of sesquioxide in solution, and testing it with ferrocyanate of potassa, or tincture of galls; the former of which will strike a deep blue, the latter a black colour. The object of bringing it to the state of sesquioxide is readily effected by boiling the solution containing it with a little nitric acid. Medical Properties. The preparations of iron arc powerfully tonic, raising the pulse, promoting the secretions, and increasing the colouring matter of the blood. They are useful in diseases characterized by debility and relaxation of fibre, and a languid circulation, more especially when the consequence of inordinate discharges. The diseases in which they are most usually employed are chlorosis, hysteria, fluor albus, gleet, scrofula, rickets, chorea, and all passive hemorrhages. Chalybeates are also proper in palsy after the inflammatory excitement has subsided, in dyspepsia dependent upon deficient energy of the digestive functions, and in neuralgia. They are contra-indicated in all inflammatory diseases, producing, when injudiciously prescribed, heat, thirst, headach, difficulty of breathing, and other symptoms of an excited circulation. The medical effects of iron, as modified in its different combinations will be noticed under the head of each preparation. The following table embraces all the preparations of iron to be found in the United States and British Pharmacopoeias, together with the synonymes. Besides these preparations some others will be noticed which are not offici- nal; viz. prototartrate of iron, under the head of " Ferri et Potassiu Tar- tras," in Part II.; and bromide of iron, the prolocarbonate of iron of Vallet, and the sesquinitrate, in the Appendix. PART I. Ferrum. 309 Iron is officinal,— I. In its metallic state. Ferri Filum, £/.£.; Ferri Fila, Ed.; Ferrum. Fila, Dub. Ferri Ramenta, U. S.; Ferrum, Lond.; Ferri Limatura, Ed.; Ferrum. Scobs, Dub. Limatura Ferri Purificata, Ed. Mistura Ferri Aromatica, Dub. II. Oxidized. Ferrum. Oxydi Squamae, Dub.; Oxidum Ferri Nigrum, Ed. Ferri Oxydum Nigrum, Dub.; Oxidum Ferri Nigrum Purifica- tion, Ed. Ferri Oxidum Rubrum, U.S.; Oxidum Ferri Rubrum, Ed.; Ferri Oxydum Rubrum, Dub. Emplastrum Ferri, U.S.; Emplastrum Oxidi Ferri Rubri, Ed.; Emplastrum Thuris, Dub. Ferrum Ammoniatum, U.S.; Ferri Ammonio-Chloridum, Lond.; Murias Ammonia; et Ferri, Ed. Tinctura Ferri Ammonio-Chloridi, Lond. III. Sulphuretted. Ferri Sulphuretum, U.S., Dub.; Sulphuretum Ferri, Ed. IV. In Saline Combination, &c. Ferri Iodidum, Lond. Ferri Ferrocyanas, U.S.; Ferri Percyanidum, Lond.; Ferri Cya- nuretum, Dub.; Anglice, Prussian blue. Ferri Acetas, Dub. Ferri Acetatis Tinctura, Dub. Tinctura Acetatis Ferri cum Alcohol, Dub. Ferri Carbonas Praecipitatus, U.S.; Ferri Sesquioxydum, Lond.; Carbonas Ferri Praecipitatus, Ed.; Ferri Carbonas, Dub. Mistura Ferri Composila, U.S., Lond., Dub. Pilulae Ferri Compositae, U.S., Lond., Dub. Ferri Carbonas Praeparatus, U.S.; Sub-Carbonas Ferri Praeparatus, Ed.; Ferri Rubigo, Dub. Ferri et Potassae Tartras, U.S.; Ferri Potassio-Tartras, Lond.; Tartras Potassae et Ferri, Ed.; Ferri Tartarum, Dub. Ferri Phosphas, U.S. Ferri Sulphas, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Sulphas Ferri, Ed.; Sulphas Ferri Exsiccatus, Ed. Pilulae Sulphatis Ferri Compositae, Ed. Tinctura Ferri Muriatis, U. S.; Tinctura Ferri Sesquichloridi, Lond.; Tinctura Muriatis Ferri, Ed.; Muriatis Ferri Liquor. Dub. In the foregoing table, the more complex preparations are arranged as sub- heads to the simpler ones from which they are derived, or with which they are most closely connected. B. 310 Ferri Filum.—Ferri Ramenta. part i. FERRI FILUM. U.S. Iron Wire. FERRI RAMENTA. U. S. Iron Filings. Off. Syn. FERRUM. Ferrum. Ramenta. Lond.; FERRI FILA. FER- RI LIMATURA. Ed.; FERRUM. Fila. Scobs. Dub. Fil de fer, Fr.; Eisendraht, Germ.; Fil di ferro, Ital; Hilo de hierro, Span. Limailles de fer, Fr.; Eisenfeilicht, Germ.; Limatura di ferro, Ital; Limadura de hi- erro, Span. Iron, when employed in pharmaceutical operations, should be of the purest kind; and hence the different Pharmacopoeias direct it, when wanted in small masses, to be in the form of iron wire, which is necessarily made from the softest and most malleable iron, and is readily cut into pieces of convenient size. The metal, however, for internal exhibition and for some preparations, requires to be finely subdivided, and hence it is officinal also in the form of filings. Medical Properties of Iron Filings. Iron, in its uncombined state, has no action on the animal economy ; and hence iron filings would prove inert, were it not that they met with acid in the stomach, or some other agent, whereby they become oxidized. That this change really takes place, is proved by the black stools to which they invariably give rise. During the solution of iron in the stomach, the oxygen furnished to the metal is derived from water, the hydrogen of which by being disengaged gives rise to unplea- sant eructations. Iron filings are generally obtained from the workshops of the blacksmith; but, as furnished from this source, they are generally very impure, and require, before exhibition, to undergo purification, for which a process is directed by the Edinburgh College. (See Limatura Ferri Purifcata.) The other Pharmacopoeias have no purified filings, and this is an omission of some importance; as the common filings are evidently too impure for inter- nal use. The dose is from five to twenty grains, given in molasses, or made up into an electuary with honey, or into pills with some bitter extract. Upon the whole, there is reason to believe that no medical effects can be ex- pected from iron exhibited in the metallic slate, which cannot be as well ob- tained, and with less inconvenience to the patient, from its different combi- nations. Off. Prep. Ferri Carbonas Praeparatus, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Ferri Iodidum, Lond.; Ferri Sulphas, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Ferri Sulphuretum, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Ferri Tartarum, Dub.; Limatura Ferri Purificata, Ed.; Mistura Ferri Aromatica, Dub. B. FERRUM. Oxydi Squamae. Dub. Scales of the Oxide of Iron. Off Syn. OXIDUM FERRI NIGRUM. Ed. Batitures de fer, Fr.; Eisenschlag, Germ.; Scaglia di ferro, Ital.; Escamas de hierro, Span. This form of oxidized iron is obtained when iron is heated to redness and PART I. Ferri Ferrocyanas. 311 subjected to the blows of a hammer on an anvil. The heat causes the iron to be covered with a thin crust of oxide, which is detached in scales during the hammering. These are formed abundantly in the operations of the black- smith, and collect around the anvil. Scales of iron consist of small, black, brittle masses, attracted by the mag- net, and without taste or smell. When reduced to powder, they have a dull grayish-white colour. Their precise compositionls not well settled; but it is certain that they do not consist of the regular black oxide. (See Ferrum.) The results of Mosander seem to show that they consist of two distinct layers; the inner, of uniform composition, consisting of six equiv. of pro- toxide to one of sesquioxide, and the outer, of a variable mixture of the two oxides, the sesquioxide predominating on the surface, and diminishing gradu- ally inwards. Medical Properties. These scales have the general medical properties of the ferruginous preparations, but are not fit for medicinal use until they, have undergone preparation. The Dublin and Edinburgh Colleges give formulae for this purpose, and designate the prepared substance by a distinct name. (See Ferri Oxydum Nigrum, Dub.) This is the only officinal preparation of the scales. B. FERRI FERROCYANAS. U.S. Ferrocyanate of Iron. Off. Syn. FERRI PERCYANIDUM. Lond.; FERRI CYANURE- TUM. Dub. Prussiate of iron, Cyanuret of iron, Prussian blue; Hydro-ferro-cyanate de peroxide de fer, Bleu de Prusse, Fr.; Berlinerblau, Pariserblau, Germ.; Azzuro di Berlino, Ital.; Azul de Prussia, Span. Prussian blue was included in the Materia Medica list of the first United States Pharmacopoeia, published in 1820, on account of its being connected indirectly with the preparation of hydrocyanic acid, and has been very pro- perly retained in the revised editon of 1830. It was made officinal by the Dublin College in their revised Pharmacopoeia of 1826, and has been in- troduced for the first time in the new London Pharmacopoeia of 1836. The Edinburgh College has not as yet adopted this substance, nor, indeed, any of the prussic compounds. Prussian blue was discovered by accident in 1710, by a preparer of colours at Berlin, named Diesbach. Being desirous of precipitating a lake from a mixed solution of cochineal, alum, and sulphate of iron, by means of car- bonate of potassa, he performed the experiment with an alkali which had been employed in connexion with animal matters, and unexpectedly obtained a blue precipitate. Following up the experiment, he was enabled to determine the precise ingredients necessary for its formation, and thus laid the founda- tion of the manufacture of this beautiful pigment, which came to be called, from the country of its discovery, Prussian blue. The mode of preparing it was kept secret until 1724, when Woodward published the process in the Philosophical Transactions of London. Since that time it has been exten- sively manufactured on a large scale for the purposes of the arts. Preparation. On a small scale, Prussian blue may be obtained perfectly pure, by double decomposition between ferrocyanate of potassa, and an acid solution of the sulphate or muriate of the sesquioxide of iron. In the arts the 312 Ferri Ferrocyanas. part i. process is as follows. A mixture made of equal parts of carbonate of potassa (pearlash of commerce), and animal matter, such as dried blood, hair, the shavings of horn, &c, is calcined at a red heat in an iron vessel, until it becomes pasty. The mass, when cold, is thrown, by portions at a time, into twelve or fifteen times its weight of water, with which it is stirred for half an hour. The whole is then put upon a linen filter; and the clear solu- tion obtained is precipitated by a mixed solution of two parts of alum and one of the sulphate of the protoxide of iron. An effervescence occurs, due principally to carbonic acid; and a very abundant precipitate takes place, of a blackish-brown colour. This precipitate is washed by decantation, by means of a large quantity of water, which is renewed every twelve hours. By these washings, which last from twenty to twenty-five days, the pre- cipitate becomes, successively, greenish-brown, bluish-brown, and finally deep blue. When of the latter colour, it is collected and allowed to drain upon a cloth, after which it is divided into cubical masses, dried, and thrown into commerce. Properties. Prussian blue is an insipid, inodorous substance, generally in the form of oblong rectangular cakes, of a rich deep blue colour. It is heavier than water, and its fracture has an appearance resembling bronze, which is distinguished from the similar appearance of indigo by its being removed when rubbed with the nail; whereas in indigo, it is increased by friction. It is completely insoluble in water or alcohol, as also in the mine- ral acids, except the sulphuric. In this acid in a concentrated state it dis- solves, forming a white compound, from which the Prussian blue is precipi- tated unchanged by water. Nitric acid decomposes it, and strong muriatic acid takes up a part of the iron, and gives rise to the formation of ferrocy- anic acid. Boiled with peroxide of mercury it generates bicyanuret of mercury. (See Hydrargyri Cyanuretum.) Exposed to destructive dis- tillation, it furnishes at first a little water and hydrocyanate of ammonia, and afterwards carbonate of ammonia; and there remains in the retort a black carbonaceous residue of tritocarburet of iron. Composition. Prussian blue, when pure, is, according to Berzelius, a double cyanuret, consisting of three eq. of the protocyanuret of iron, united with two eq. of the sesquicyanuret of the same metal. Its entire composi- tion is represented by nine eq. of cyanogen, combined with seven eq. of iron. The theory of its formation is complicated. By the calcination of the animal matters with pearlash, cyanuret of potassium is formed. This, by double decomposition with the protoxide of iron of the sulphate of iron, gives rise to the protocyanuret of iron, and potassa, the latter of which unites with the sulphuric acid, so as to form sulphate of potassa. Six eq. of protocyanuret of iron, thus formed, are acted on by the oxygen of the air, with the effect of detaching two eq. of iron, which, by uniting with three eq. of oxygen, become sesquioxide of iron. The six eq. of protocyanuret, by undergoing this change, are converted into a compound of six eq. of cyano- gen and four eq. of iron, corresponding with two eq. of the sesquicyanuret of iron. The two eq. of sesquicyanuret, thus generated, combine with three eq. of protocyanuret of iron, to form the pure Prussian blue. The sulphate of potassa formed is washed away; but the sesquioxide of iron re- mains in the Prussian blue of commerce as an impurity. Another impurity in the commercial pigment is alumina, which is precipitated from the alum, employed conjointly with the protosulphate of iron as a precipitant. This earth serves to give the pigment a body, which renders it useful in the arts. For an account of the properties and composition of cyanogen, see Acidum Hydrocyanicum. U.S. PART I. Ferri Ferrocyanas.—Ficus. 313 Medical Properties, fyc. Prussian blue is supposed to act as a tonic, febri- fuge, and alterative. Dr. ZoUickoffer of Maryland has recommended it as a remedy in intermittent and remittent fevers, and deems it to be particularly adapted to such cases occurring in children, on account of the smallness of the dose and its want of taste. He considers it more certain, prompt, and effica- cious than the bark; while it has the advantage of being admissible in the state of pyrexia, and of not disagreeing with the most irritable stomach.* It has also been used by Dr. Kirchoff of Ghent in epilepsy with good success. Dr. Bridges of Philadelphia exhibited it in a case of severe and protracted neuralgia of the face, with considerable relief, after the more usual remedies in this complaint had been tried with little or no benefit. In the course of two days, the violence of the disease was subdued, and in a short period afterwards a greater freedom from pain was occasioned than had been expe- rienced for many years. The medicine, in this case, produced no perceptible effect, besides relieving the disease, except that of a very mild tonic. The dose of Prussian blue for an adult is about five grains, repeated three times a day, and gradually increased according to its effects. It must be here recollected, however, that we allude to the commercial substance, which contains a considerable quantity of alumina and sesquioxide of iron, and not to the chemically pure cyanuret, of which the dose is necessarily smaller. The impurities mentioned may be detected by boiling the ferrocyanate with dilute muriatic acid, and then adding ammonia. If present they will be taken up by the acid and thrown down by the ammonia. Prussian blue is sometimes employed as an application to ill-conditioned ulcers, in the pro- portion of a drachm to an ounce of some simple ointment. Its only phar- maceutical use is to form bicyanuret of mercury, as a preliminary step to the preparation of hydrocyanic acid. Off. Prep. Hydrargyri Cyanuretum. U. S., Lond., Dub. B. FICUS. U.S. Figs. " Ficus carica. Fructus. The fruit." U. S. Off. Syn. FICI. Ficus Carica. Fructus siccus. Lond.; F1CI CARICiE FRUCTUS. Fructus siccatus. Ed.; FICUS CARICA. Fructus siccatus. Dub. Figues, Fr.; Feigen, Germ.; Fichi, Ital.; Higos, Span. Ficus. Sex. Syst. Polygamia Dicecia.—Nat. Ord. Urticae, Juss.; Atro- earpeae, R. Brown, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Common receptacle turbinate, fleshy, converging, concealing the florets either in the same or distinct individuals. Male. Calyx three- parted. Corolla none. Stamens three. Female. Calyx five-parted. Corolla none. Pistil one. Seed one, covered with the closed, persistent, somewhat fleshy calyx. Willd. Ficus Carica. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 1131; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 714. t. 244. The fig-tree, though usually not more than twelve feet in height, sometimes rises in warm climates to twenty-five or even thirty feet. Its trunk, which seldom exceeds seven inches in diameter, is divided into * See " A Treatise on the Use of Prussian Blue in Intermitting and Remitting Fevers, by William ZoUickoffer, M. D." Frederick, Maryland, 1822. * 28 314 Ficus. PART I. numerous spreading branches, covered with a brown or ash-coloured bark. Its large, palmate leaves, usually divided into five obtuse lobes, are deep green and shining upon their upper surface, pale gieen and downy beneath, and stand alternately on strong round footstalks. The flowers are situated within a common receptacle, placed solitarily upon a short peduncle in the axils of the upper leaves. This receptacle, the walls of which become thick and fleshy, constitutes what is commonly called the fruit; though this term is, strictly speaking, applicable to the small seeds found in great numbers on the internal surface of the receptacle, to which they are attached by fleshy pedicels. Cultivation has produced in the fig, as in the apple and peach, an almost infinite diversity in shape, size, colour, and taste. It is u?ually, however, turbinate or top-shaped, umbilicate at the large extremity, of the size of a small pear, of a whitish, yellowish, or reddish colour, and of a mild, mucilaginous, saccharine flavour. The fig-tree is supposed to have come originally from the Levant. It was introduced at a very early period into various parts of the South of Europe, and is now very common throughout the whole basin of the Mediterranean, particularly in Italy and France. To hasten the maturation of the fruit, it is customary to puncture it with a sharp pointed instrument covered with olive oil. The ancient process of caprijicalion is still practised in the Levant. It consists in attaching branches of the wild fig-tree to the cultivated plant. The fruit of the former contains great numbers of the eggs of an insect of the genus Cynips, the larvae of which, as soon as they are hatched, spread themselves over the cultivated fruit, and by conveying the pollen of the male organs over which they pass to the female florets, hasten the impregnation of the latter, and cause the fig to come quickly to perfection, which might otherwise ripen very slowly, or wither and drop off before maturity. Some authors attribute the effect to the piercing of the fruit by the young insects. The figs, when perfectly ripe, are dried by the heat of the sun or in ovens. Those brought to the United States come chiefly from Smyrna, packed in drums or boxes. They are more or less compressed, and are usually covered in cold weather with a whitish saccharine efflorescence, which melts in the middle of summer and renders them moist. The best are yellowish or brownish, somewhat translucent when held to the light, and filled with a sweet viscid pulp, in which are lodged numerous small yellow seeds. They are much more saccharine than the fresh fruit. Their chief constituents are mucilage and sugar. Medical Properties and Uses. Figs are nutritious, laxative, and demul- cent. In the fresh state, they are considered in the countries where they grow a wholesome and agreeable aliment. As we obtain them, they are apt, when eaten freely, to produce flatulence, pain in the bowels, and diarrhoea. Their chief medical use is as a laxative article of diet in cases of constipa- tion. They occasionally enter into demulcent decoctions; and when roasted or boiled, and split open, may be applied as a suppurative cataplasm to parts upon which an ordinary poultice cannot be conveniently retained. Off.Prep. Confectio Sennae, U.S., Lond.; Decoctum Hordei Composi- tum, Lond., Dub; Electuarium Sennae Compositum, Ed. W. PART r. Filix Mas. 315 FILIX MAS. U.S. Secondary. Male Fern. " Aspidium filix mas. The root." U.S. Off. Son. ASPIDIUM. Aspidium Filix mas. Radix. Lond.; ASPIDII FILICIS MARIS RADIX. Ed.; FILIX MAS. ASPIDIUM FILIX MAS. Radix. Dub. Fougere male, Fr.; Johanniswurzel, Germ.; Felce maschio, Ital.; Helceho, Span. Aspidium. Sex. Syst. Cryplogamia Filices.—Nat. Ord. Filices. Gen.Ch. Fructification in roundish points, scattered, not marginal. In- volucre umbilicated, open almost on every side. Smith. Aspidium Filix Mas. Willd. Sp. Plant, v. 259; Smith, Flor. Britan.— Polypodium Filix Mas. Linn.; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 795. t. 267. The male fern has a perennial, horizontal root, from which numerous annual fronds or leaves arise, forming tufts from a foot to four feet in height. The stipe or footstalk, and midrib, are thickly beset with brown, tough, transpa- rent scales; the frond itself is oval lanceolate, acute, pinnate, and of a bright green colour. The pinnae or leaflets are remote below, approach more nearly as they ascend, and run together at the summit of the leaf. They are deeply divided into lobes, which are of an oval shape, crenate at the edges, and gradually diminish from the base of the pinna to the apex. The fructification is in small dots on the back of each lobe, placed in two rows near the base, and distant from the edges. The male fern is indigenous, growing in shady pine forests from New Jersey to Virginia. (Pursh.) It is a native also of Europe, Asia, and the North of Africa. In the American plant, the leaflets are said by Pursh to be more obtuse, and oftener doubly serrated than in the European. The proper period for collecting the root is during the summer, when, according to M. Peschier of Geneva, it abounds more in the active principle than at any other season. The same gentleman informs us that it deterio- rates rapidly when kept, and in about two years becomes entirely inert. The roots of other species of fern are frequently substituted for the officinal; and in the dried state it is difficult to distinguish them. Properties, &rc. As taken from the ground, the root consists of a long cylindrical caudex, around which are closely arranged, overlapping each other like the shingles of a roof, the remains of the leafstalks or stipes, which are an inch or two in length, from two to four lines thick, somewhat curved and directed upwards, angular, brown, shining, and surrounded near their origin from the root with thin silky scales, of a light brown colour. From between these remains of the footstalks emerge numerous small radi- cal fibres. The whole root, thus constituted, presents a somewhat flexible, cylindrical mass, one or two inches thick, and a foot or more in length. In this form, however, it is not usually found in our shops. The whole is ordinarily broken up into fragments, consisting of the separated remains of the leafstalks before described, with a small portion of the substance of the root attached to their base, where they are surrounded by the silky scales. These fragments ordinarily present the appearance of having been long kept, and are probably, as a general rule, much deteriorated by time. The male fern root is brought to us from Europe, but might perhaps be more advan- tageously collected in this country. The following observations are made by Geiger in relation to its collection and preservation. The inner parts of the fresh root and of the portions of stalk attached to it, are fleshy and of a 316 Filix Mas. PART I. light yellowish-green colour. In collecting them, all the black discoloured portions should be cut away, the fibres and scales separated, and only the sound green parts preserved. These should be immediately but carefully dried, and then reduced to powder; and the powder should be kept in small well stopped glass bottles. The powder thus prepared has a pale yellowish colour with a greenish tinge. Dried fern root is externally of a brown colour, internally yellowish-white or reddish, with a peculiar but feeble odour, which is most obvious in the powder and decoction, and a sweetish, bitter, astringent, nauseous taste. From the analysis of M. Morin, an apothecary of Rouen, it appears to con- tain a volatile oil, a fixed oil, gallic and acetic acids, uncryslallizable sugar, tannin, starch, a gelatinous matter insoluble in water and alcohol, lignin, and various earthy and saline substances. M. Peschier found its active principle soluble in ether. According to this chemist, its constituents are adipocire, an aromatic volatile oil, an aromatic and virose fixed oil, a brown resin, a green colouring principle, a reddish-brown colouring principle, ex- tractive, acetic acid, and muriate of potassa. Ether extracts the adipocire along with the active ingredient, but deposites the former on standing. In powdering the root the internal parenchymatous portion only should be preserved. Medical Properties and Uses. Male fern is slightly tonic and astringent; but produces, when taken internally, no very obvious effects upon the sys- tem. It was used by the ancients as a vermifuge; and is mentioned in the works of Dioscorides, Theophrastus, Galen, and Pliny. Its anthelmintic powers were also noticed by some of the earlier modern writers, among whom was Hoffmann. But it does not appear to have been generally known to the profession, till attention was attracted to it, about the year 1775, by the publication of the mode of treating taenia employed by Madame Nouffer. This lady, who was the widow of a surgeon in Switzerland, had acquired great celebrity in the cure of tape-worm by a secret remedy. Her success was such as to attract the attention of the medical profession at Paris; and some of the most eminent physicians of that city, who were deputed to examine into the subject, having reported favourably of the remedy, the secret was purchased by the king of France, and published by his order. The outlines of her plan were to give a dose of the powdered root of the male fern, and two hours afterwards a powerful cathartic, to be followed, if it should not operate in due time, by some purging salt; and this process was to be repeated with proper intervals, till the worm should be evacuated. A German physician by the name of Herrenschwand, had used the male fern in a manner somewhat similar before Madame Nouffer's secret was known. The remedy became very popular for a time, and was found successful in numerous instances; but the profession has now generally settled down in the opinion that the good which resulted was owing more to the purgatives than to the fern. Instances, however, are recorded, in which cures were effected by the root without the use of cathartics; and amid the general scep- ticism on the subject, physicians are still found who warmly advocate the anthelmintic powers of the medicine. Dr. Peschier assures us that, in the course of nine months, one hundred and fifty tape-worms had been expelled by the ethereal extract of the male fern root. Dr. Ebers has found the same preparation completely successful in curing eight cases of taania. (Journ. de Chimie Medicate, Fev. 1829.^ He states that the medicine acts specifically against the worm, which it speedily destroys, and thus favours its expulsion from the body, without producing any severe or unpleasant symptoms. The testimony of Brera is also strongly in favour of the remedy, which he has PART I. Filix Mas.—Foeniculum. 317 found effectual even against the armed taenia. Perhaps the different results obtained by different practiiioners may in part be ascribed to the variable strength and character of the root, dependent upon the season at which it may have been collected, and the length of time it may have been kepi. The medicine may be given in powder, or, as recommended by Dr. Peschier, in ethereal extract. The dose of the powder is from one to three drachms, to be given in the form of electuary or emulsion, and repeated morning and evening for one or two days successively. The dose of the extract is from twelve to twenty-four grains. The decoction has also been employed in the proportion of an ounce of the root to a pint of water. It is customary to follow the medicine by some brisk cathartic, though Dr. Peschier does not consider this essential. Dr. Mayor of Geneva recom- mends very highly the oil of fern, in the dose of from thirty to fifty drops, one half to be taken at night, the other half in the morning, and followed at the interval of an hour, by an ounce and a half of castor oil. W. FCENICULUM. U.S., Lond. Fennel Seed. "Anethum foeniculum. Semina. The seeds." U.S. " Foeniculum vul- gare. Fructus." Lond. Off. Syn. FCENICULI SEMINA. Anethum Foeniculum. Semina. Lond.; ANETHI FCENICULl SEMINA. Ed.; FCENICULUM. ANE- THUM FCENICULUM. Semina. Dub. Fenouil, Fr.; Fenchel, Germ.; Finuocchio, Ital.; Hinojo, Span. Anethum. See ANETHI SEMINA. Anethum Foeniculum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1469; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 127. t. 49. Fennel has a perennial, tapering root, and an annual, erect, round, striated, smooth, green, and branching stem, which usually rises three or four feet in height. The leaves, which stand alternately at the joints of the stem, upon membranous striated sheathes, are many times pinnate, with long, linear, pointed, smooth, deep green leaflets. The flowers are yellow, and form large, many-rayed umbels, destitute both of general and partial in- volucres. The corolla consists of five ovate, pointed leaflets, with their ex- tremities turned inwards. The flower is succeeded by two ovate seeds. There are several varieties of this plant; but the sweet fennel, derived ori- ginally from the South of Europe, and cultivated in our gardens, is the one which furnishes the seeds of the shops. The whole plant has an aromatie odour and taste, dependent on a volatile oil by which it is pervaded. The roots were formerly employed in medicine, but are greatly inferior in virtue to the seeds, which are now the only officinal portion. These are some- times imported; but those produced in our own gardens are perhaps prefer- able on account of their greater freshness. Fennel seeds are oblong oval, from one to three or four lines in length, flat on one side, convex on the oiher, not unfrequently connected by their flat surfaces, straight or slightly curved, of a. grayish-green colour, with longitudinal yellowish ridges on the convex surface. Their odour is fragrant, their taste warm, sweet, and agreeably aromatic. The seeds of domestic growth are usu dlv smaller and darker, but sweeter than the imported. They impart their virtues to hot water, hut more abundantly to alcohol. Their essential oil may be separated by distillation with water. (See Oleum Fa- 318 Foeniculum.—Frasera. part i. nictdi.) They contain also fixed oil. Neumann obtained 20 parts of the former, and 120 of the latter, from 960 parts of the seeds. Medical Properties and Uses. Fennel-seed is among our most grateful aromatics, and in this country is much employed as a carminative, and as a corrigent of other less pleasant medicines, particularly senna and rhubarb. It is recommended for these purposes by the absence of any very highly excitant property. The infusion, prepared by introducing two or three drachms of the seeds into a pint of boiling water, is the form usually pre- ferred. The dose of the bruised or powdered seeds is from a scruple to half a drachm. In infantile cases, the infusion is frequently employed as an enema to produce the expulsion of flatus. Off. Prep. Aqua Foeniculi, Lond., Dub.; Confectio Piperis Nigri, Dub.; Decoctum Chamaemeli Comp., Dub.; Oleum Foeniculi, U.S., Dub.; Spi- ritus Juuiperi Comp., U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. FRASERA. U. S. Secondary. American Columbo. " Frasera Walteri. Radix. The root." U.S. Frasera. Sex. Syst. Tetrandna Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Gentianeae. Gen.Ch. Calyx deeply four-parted. Corolla four-parted, spreading; seg- ments oval, with a bearded, orbicular gland in the middle of each. Capsule compressed, partly marginated, one-celled. Seeds few, imbricated, large, elliptical, with a membranaceous margin. Nuttall. Frasera Walteri. Michaux, Flor. Bor. Americ. i. 96; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 103.—F. Carolinensis. Walter. This is one of our most elegant indi- genous plants, and the only one of its genus hitherto discovered. From the root, which is triennial, long, spindleshaped, horizontal, fleshy, and of a yellow colour, a strong, succulent, solid, smooth stem rises, from five to ten feet in height. The leaves are sessile, entire, glabrous, of a deep green colour, and disposed in whorls, which commence at the root, and ascend to the summit with successively diminishing intervals. The radical leaves, from five to twelve in number, are elliptical, obtuse, a foot or more in length by about four inches in breadth, and lie upon the ground in the form of a star. Those constituting the whorls upon the stem are successively smaller as they ascend—the lowest oblong lanceolate, the upper lanceolate and pointed. The flowers are numerous, large, of a yellowish-white colour, and disposed in a beautiful terminal pyramidal panicle, from one to five feet long, the branches of which spring from the axils of the upper leaves. The segments of the calyx are lanceolate, acute, and somewhat shorter than those of the corolla. The filaments are inserted into the base of the corolla between its segments, which they do not equal in length. The anthers are oblong and notched at the base. The germ is oblong ovate, compressed, and gradually tapers into the style, which terminates in a bifid stigma. The fruit is an oval, acuminate, compressed, two-valved, one-celled, yellow capsule, con- taining from eight to twelve flat, elliptical seeds. The Frasera flourishes in the southern and western portions of the United Stales, and in many situations is very abundant, especially in Arkansas and Missouri. It prefers rich woodlands and moist meadows. The period of flowering is from May to July; but the stem and flowers are produced only in the third year, the radical leaves being the only part of the plant which PART I. Frasera.—Galbanum. 319 previously appears above ground. From this manner of growth it is in- ferred, that the root should be collected in the autumn of the second or the spring of the third year. Before being dried, it should be cut into transverse slices. As formerly found in the market, frasera was in pieces irregularly circular, an eighth of an inch or more in thickness, about an inch in diameter, some- what shrunk in the middle, consisting of a central medullary matter and an exterior cortical portion, of a yellowish colour on the cut surfaces, with a light reddish-brown epidermis. In appearance these pieces bore some re- semblance to columbo, but were easily distinguishable by the greater uni- formity of their internal structure, the absence of concentric and radiating lines, and their purer yellow colour without a greenish tinge. The taste of frasera is bitter and sweetish. Water and diluted alcohol extracts its virtues, and the tincture throws down a precipitate upon the addition of water, but is not disturbed by tincture of galls; thus affording additional means of distin- guishing the root from columbo. Medical Properties and Uses. Frasera is a mild tonic, calculated to meet the same indications with the other simple bitters. It has been thought to resemble columbo in medical properties as well as in appearance, and hence has received the popular name of American Columbo; but experience has not confirmed the high estimate which was at one time formed of its virtues; and though, perhaps, still occasionally employed in some parts of the coun- try, it has failed to supplant the tonic of Mozambique. It may be given in powder or infusion. The dose of the former is from thirty grains to a drachm, that of an infusion, made in the proportion of an ounce of the bruised root to a pint of boiling water, is one or two fluidounces, to be repeated several times a day. The fresh root is said to operate as an emetic and cathartic, and is some- times given with a view to the latter effect. W. GALBANUM. U.S., Lond. Galbanum. " Bubon galbanum. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." SU.S. " Gal- banum officinale. Gummi-resina." Ix)nd. Off. Syn. BUBONIS GALBANI GUMMI-RESINA.^/.; GALBA- NUM. BUBON GALBANUM. Gummi-resina. Dub. Galbanum, Fr.; Mutterharz, Germ.; Galbano, Ital., Span. Galbanum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit ovate, striated, villose. Willd. Bubon Galbanum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1439; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 98. t. 40.—Selinum Galbanum. Sprengel. This species of Bubon is an undershrub, several feet in height, with a stem which is ligneous towards the base, but in the upper part, jointed, branching, leafy, and covered with a glaucous exudation. The lower leaves are nearly tripinnate, and stand upon footstalks which embrace the stem; the uppermost are almost simple, three- lobcd, irregularly serrated, but entire near the base, thickish, and of a sea- green colour. The flowers are yellow and arranged in terminal umbels, of which the principal is plano-convex, and surmounts the main stem. The involucres and involucels are composed of numerous simple, narrow, lance- shaped leaflets. Each flower is followed by two brownish, oval, striated 320 Galbanum. part i. seeds with membranous borders. The plant grows on the eastern coast of Africa, from i\ub:a to the Cape of Good Hope, and is said also to be a native of Syria. It is at present, however, denied that this is the true galbanum plant, which is considered by Mr. Don as forming a new genus allied to Siler, and for which he proposes the name of Galbanum officinale. (Trans. Lin. Soc. xvi. 603.) Galbanum is obtained from it by making incisions into the stem, or cutting it off a short distance above the root. A cream- coloured juice exudes, which concretes upon exposure to the air. A small portion of juice also exudes spontaneously from the joints, and hardens in the shape of tears. The drug is brought from the Levant. Properties. The form in which galbanum usually appears is that of masses, composed of whitish, reddish, or yellowish tears, irregularly agglu- tinated by a darker coloured substance, more or less translucent, and gene- rally mixed with pieces of stalk, seeds, or other foreign matters. It is also found, though very rarely, if at all, in our markets, in the state of separate tears, of a yellowish-white colour, shining externally as if varnished, and of an oily aspect. Galbanum has in cool weather the consistence of firm wax; but softens in summer, and by the heat of the hand is rendered duc- tile and adhesive. At the temperature of boiling water it is sufficiently liquid to admit of being strained. A dark brown or blackish colour, a con- sistence always soft, the absence of whitish grains, and the intermixture of earthy impurities, are signs of inferiority. The odour of galbanum is peculiar and disagreeable, but not alliaceous like that of sagapenum. Its taste is bitterish, warm, and acrid. Its specific gravity is 1.212. When triturated with water it forms an imperfect milky solution, which upon standing deposites the greater portion of what was taken up. Wine and vinegar act upon it in a similar manner. Alcohol dis- solves a considerable proportion, forming a yellow tincture, which has the smell and taste of galbanum, and becomes milky by the addition of water, but affords no precipitate. In dilute alcohol it is wholly soluble, with the exception of impurities. One hundred parts of it yielded to Pelletier 66.86 parts of resin, 19.28 of gum, 6.34 of volatile oil including the loss, 7.52 of wood and impurities, with traces of the supermalate of lime. It is, therefore, entitled to rank with the gum-resins. By distillation at the tem- perature of about 250° F., the essential oil is obtained of a fine indigo blue colour, which it imparts to alcohol. Procured by distillation with water, it is colourless, and becomes yellowish by age. It is lighter than water. Medical Properties and Uses. Galbanum is stimulant, expectorant, and antispasmodic; and may be considered as intermediate in power between ammoniac and assafetida. It is, however, much less employed than either of these gum-resins, and in the United States is seldom or never prescribed internally. The complaints to which it was formerly thought applicable, were chiefly chronic affections of the bronchial mucous membrane, amenor- rhcea, and chronic rheumatism. It is occasionally applied externally in the shape of plaster to indolent swellings, with the view of promoting resolution or suppuration. Galbanum was known to the ancients. The dose is from ten to twenty grains, and may be given in pill, or triturated with gum Arabic, sugar, and water, so as to form an emulsion. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Assaefoetidae, Ed.; Emplastrum Galbani, Dub.; Emplastrum Galbani Compositum, U.S. Lond,; Emplastrum Guminosum, Ed.; Pil. Assaefoetid. Comp., Ed.; Pil. Galban. Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinc- tura Galbani, Dub. \V. PART L Galla. 321 GALLA. U.S. Galls. " Quercus infectoria. Cyniphis nidus." The nest of the Cynips qaercus folii." U.S. Off. Syn. GALLiE. Quercus infectoria, Gemmae morbidae. L,ond. GALLA*. Ex variis quercus speciebus. Ed.; GALLiE. QUERCUS IN- FECTORIA. Dub. Noix de galle, Fr.; Gallapfel, Germ.; Galla, Ital.; Agallas de Levante, Span. Many vegetables when pierced by certain insects, particularly those of the genus Cynips, are affected at the points of puncture with a morbid action, resulting in the production of excrescences, which, as they are de- rived from the proper juices of the plant, partake more or less of its predo- minant chemical character. Most species of oak are susceptible of this kind of action; and the resulting excrescences, having in a high degree the astrin- gency of the plant on which they grow, have been employed for various practical purposes. They are known by the name of galls, a term which, as well as their employment in medicine, has been handed down to us from the ancients. The Quercus infectoria, Q. JEgilops, Q. excelsa, Q. Ilex, Q. Cerris, and Q. Robur, have all been particularized as occasionally afford- ing this product; but it is now generally admitted, upon the authority of Oli- vier, that the officinal galls are derived chiefly, if not exclusively, from the Q. infectoria, and this is recognised as their source in the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and of the London and Dublin Colleges. Quercus. See QUERCUS ALBA. Q. infectoria. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 436; Olivier, Voy. Or. t. 14 et 15. The dyers' oak is a small tree or shrub, with a crooked stem, seldom exceeding six feet in height. The leaves are obtusely toothed, smooth, of a bright green colour on both sides, and stand on short footstalks. The acorn is elongated, smooth, two or three times longer than the cup, which is sessile, somewhat downy, and scaly. This species of Quercus grows, according to Olivier, throughout Asia Minor, from the Archipelago to the confines of Persia. Captain M. Kinneir found it also in Armenia and Kurdistan; Geheral Harkwicke observed it growing in the neighbourhood of Adwanie; and it probably pervades the middle latitudes of Asia. The gall originates from the puncture of the Cynips querciisfolii of Lin- naeus, the Dioplepsis gallse tinctoriae of Geoffroy, a hymenopterous insect or fly, with a fawn-coloured body, dark antennae, and upper part of its abdomen shining brown. The insect pierces the shoots of the young boughs, and deposites its egg in the wound. This irritates the vessels of the part, and a small tumour very speedily rises, which appears to be the result of a morbid secretion, and upon examination by the microscope exhi- bits no signs of proper vegetable fibre. The egg grows with the gall, and is soon converted into a larva, which feeds upon the vegetable matter by which it is surrounded, and thus forms a cavity in the centre of the tumour. The insect at length assumes the form of a fly, and escapes by eating its way out of the nut. The galls are in perfection when they have attained their full size, and before the egg has been hatched, or the fly has escaped. Collected at this period, they are called, from their dark colour, blue, or green, or black galls, and are most highly esteemed. Those which are gathered later, and which have been injured by the insect, are called white 322 Galla. PART I. galls. They are usually larger, less heavy and compact, and of a lighter colour than the former; and are considered much inferior. The galls collected in Syria and Asia Minor are brought to this country chiefly from the ports of Smyrna and Trieste. As they are produced abun- dantly in the vicinity of Aleppo, it has been customary to designate them by the name of that city; though the designation, however correct it may for- merly have been, is now wholly inapplicable, as they are obtained from many other places; and the produce of different parts of Asiatic Turkey is not capable of being discriminated, at least in our markets. We have been informed, that, within a few years, great quantities of galls very closely resembling those from the Mediterranean have been brought to the United States from Calcutta. Whether they are the product of Hindostan, or taken thither from other countries, we are unable to decide with certainty. Ainslie is inclined to think that most of the galls found in the markets of India are imported from Persia by the Arab merchants. We are, nevertheless, informed that they are among the products of Moultan; and it is highly pro- bable that they grow upon some of the other astringent vegetables, besides the oak, which flourish in Hindostan. The galls of France and other southern countries of Europe have a smooth, shining, reddish surface, are little esteemed, and are seldom brought to the United States. A species of nut was not many years since commonly sold in our markets, under the name of white galls, to which, however, it bears not the slightest resemblance either in appearance or structure. It consists of an outer shell enclosing a hard kernel, is an inch or more in length, thick in the middle, somewhat pointed at both extremities, of a dull white or brownish colour, and is probably a species of myrobalans. To the taste it is powerfully astringent. Properties. Galls are nearly round, from the size of a pea to that of a very large cherry, with a surface usually studded with small tuberosities, in the intervals of which it is smooth. The best are externally of a bluish or lead colour, internally whitish or brownish, hard, solid, brittle, with a flinty fracture, a striated texture, and a small spot or cavity in the centre, indi- cating the presence of the undeveloped or decayed insect. Their powder has some shade of gray. Those of an inferior quality are of a lighter colour, sometimes reddish or nearly white, of a loose texture, with a large cavity in the centre, communicating externally by a small hole through which the fly has escaped. Galls are inodorous, and have a bitter very astringent taste. From 500 parts Sir H. Davy obtained 185 parts of matter soluble in water, of which, according to his analysis, 130 were tannin, 31 gallic acid with a little extractive, 12 mucilage and matter rendered insoluble by evaporation, and 12 saline matter and calcareous earth. Other chemists have found a larger proportion of tannin and gallic acid. Braconnot discovered the pre- sence of a small quantity of another acid, to which he gave the name ellagic, derived from galle, the French name for galls, by reversing the order of the letters. According to M. Pelouse, however, neither gallic nor ellagic acid pre-exists in galls, being formed by the reaction of atmospheric oxygen upon their tannin. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 359.) Galls also yielded to Pro- fessor Branchi, by distillation with water, a concrete volatile oil. All their soluble matter is taken up by forty times their weight of boiling water, and the residue is tasteless: alcohol dissolves seven parts in ten, ether five parts. (Thomson's Dispensatory.) A saturated decoction of galls deposites upon cooling a copious pale yellow precipitate. The infusion or tincture affords precipitates with sulphuric and muriatic acids, lime-water, carbonate of am- PART I. Galla.—Gambogia. 323 monia, and carbonate of potassa; with solutions of acetate and sub-acetate of lead, the sulphates of copper and iron, the nitrates of silver and mercury, and tartrate of antimony and potassa; with the infusions of Peruvian bark, columbo, opium, and many other vegetables, especially those containing proximate alkaline principles, with most of which tannin forms insoluble compounds. The solution of gelatin also produces a precipitate. The infusion of galls reddens litmus paper, is rendered orange by nitric acid, milky by the corrosive chloride of mercury, and has its own colour deepened by ammonia; but throws down no precipitate with either of these reagents. Sulphate of zinc is said by Dr. A. T. Thomson to occasion a slow precipi- tate, but this result was not obtained by Dr. Duncan. Medical Properties and Uses. As might be inferred from the quantity of tannin they contain, galls are powerfully astringent. They are little em- ployed as an internal remedy, though occasionally prescribed in chronic diarrhoea. In the form of infusion or decoction they may be advantageously used as an astringent gargle, lotion, or injection; and, mixed with simple ointment, in the proportion of one part of galls, in very fine powder, to eight-parts of the unguent, they are frequently applied to the anus and rec- tum in hemorrhoidal affections. The dose of powdered galls is from ten to twenty grains, to be repeated several times a day. Off.Prep. Tinctura Gallae, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Gallee, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Galloe Compositum, Lond. W. GAMBOGIA. U.S. Gamboge. " Stalagmitis cambogioides. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. Off. Syn. CAMBOGIA. Stalagmitis Cambogioides. Gummi-resina. Lond.; GAMBOGIA. Gummi resina ex Stalagmitide Cambogioide et qui- busdam aliis, Ed.; GAMBOGIA. STALAGMITIS CAMBOGIA. Dub. Gomme guttc, Fr.; Gummigutt, Germ.; Gomma-gotta, Ital.; Guta gamba, Span. Several plants belonging to the natural family of the Guttiferae, growing in the equatorial regions, yield on incision a yellow opaque juice, which hardens on exposure to the air, and bears a close resemblance to gamboge; but it is not certainly known from which of these plants the officinal gum- resin is procured. Persoon, De Candolle, Richard, and others refer it to the Garcinia Cambogia—the Cambogia Gutta of Linnaeus; while the majority of writers agree with Koenig, in considering it the product of the Stalagmitis Cambogioides of Murray; and the latter is recognised by the American and all the British Pharmacopoeias. Dr. White, who was well acquainted with the Garcinia Cambogia, asserts that its concrete^ juice is not the gamboge of commerce; and it was stated by the late Dr. Duncan, that a specimen of the yellow juice of the Stalagmitis which he received from India had not the properties of that drug. According to Ainslie, a forest tree has been found in Malabar and Canara, which yields a juice in all respects identical with gamboge; but it has not been botanically described; and its product has not been brought into the market. Drs. Christison and Gra- ham of Edinburgh have found a specimen of gamboge from Ceylon, said to have been derived from the Garcinia Morella, to be very similar in compo- sition to that from Shun; but this result is not sufficient to prove that the two products are obtained from the same plant. On the whole, it must be ad- 324 Gambogia. part i. mitted that we are uncertain, not only as to the precise tree which affords the officinal gamboge, but also whether it is derived from any one tree exclusively, or from several. In this uncertainty, it seems hardly necessary to crowd our pages with botanical descriptions, which may possibly have no relation to the subject. Gamboge is collected in Siam and Cochin-china. It is said also to be produced in Ceylon, where the Stalagmitis Cambogioides grows; but it is doubtful whether any of the drug, as found in commerce, is derived from that island. Milbum does not mention it among the exports. The tree from which it is obtained in Siam has not been examined by any botanist. The mode of procuring it is to break off the leaves and young shoots, from which the juice issues in drops, and being received in suitable vessels gradually thickens, and at length becomes solid. When it has attained the requisite consistence it is rolled into cylinders, and wrapped in leaves. The juice is sometimes received into the hollow joints of the bamboo, which give it a cylindrical form; and, as it contracts during the process of solidification, the cylinder is often hollow in the centre. The name gummi gutta, by which it is generally known on the continent of Europe, probably originated from the circumstance that the juice escapes from the plant by drops. The offi- cinal title was undoubtedly derived from the province of Cambodia, in which the gum-resin is collected. It was first brought to Europe by the Dutch about the middle of the seventeenth century. We import gamboge from Canton and Calcutta, whither it is carried by the native or resident merchants. There is no difference in the appearance or character of the drug as brought from these two ports—an evidence that it is originally derived from the same place. Properties. The best gamboge, and the kind most abundant in our market, is in cylindrical rolls, from one to two inches in diameter, sometimes hollow in the centre, often folded double, or agglutinated in masses in which the original form is not always readily distinguishable. The pieces are sometimes flattened. They are externally striated, and of a dull orange colour, which is occasionally displaced by greenish stains, or concealed by the bright yellow powder of the drug, which slightly adheres to the surface. In this form the drug is sometimes called pipe gamboge. Another variety is imported under the name of cake or lump gamboge. It is in irregular masses weighing two or three pounds or more, often mixed with sticks and other impurities, less dense, less uniform in texture, and less brittle, than the former variety, and breaking with a dull and splintery, instead of a shining and conchoidal fracture. The worst specimens of this variety are sometimes called by the London druggists coarse gamboge. They differ, however, from the preceding, only in containing a greater amount of impurities. In- deed, it would appear, from the experiments of Christison, that all the com- mercial varieties of this drug have a common origin, and that cake or lump gamboge differs from that which comes in the cylindrical form, only from the circumstance that the latter is the pure concrete juice of the plant, while, in the former, farinaceous matter and other impurities have been mixed with the pure juice for the purpose of adulteration. Gamboge, in its pure form, is brittle, with a smooth, conchoidal, shining fracture; and the fragments are slightly translucent at their edges. The colour of the mass when broken is a uniform deep orange-yellow, which becomes a beautiful bright yellow in the powder, or when the surface is rubbed with water. From the brilliancy of its colour, gamboge is highly esteemed as a pigment. In the inferior kinds the tint is duller and less uniform. It has no smell, and little taste; but after remaining a short time in the mouth produces an acrid sensatioa PART I. Gambogia.—Gaultheria. 325 in the fauces. Its sp. gr. is 1.221. Exposed to heat it burns with a white flame, emitting much smoke, and leaving a light spongy charcoal. It is a gum-resin, and, unlike most other substances of the same class, contains no essential oil. In 100 parts of it Braconnot found 19.5 parts of gum, 0.5 of impurities, and 80 of a red, insipid, transparent resinous substance, becoming yellow by pulverization, and supposed to consist of resin united with a yellow colouring principle. John obtained 10.5 per cent, of gum, 89 of resin, and 0.5 of impurities. Christison has shown that the proportion of gum and resin varies in different specimens even of the purest drug. His results approach nearly to those of Braconnot. In one experiment, out of 100.8 parts he obtained 74.2 of resin, 21.8 of gum, and 4.8 of water. The gum is quite soluble in water and of the variety denominated arabin. In a specimen of cake gamboge he found 11.2 per cent, of fecula and lignin, and in a very bad sample of coarse gamboge, no less than 41 per cent, of the same impurities. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 133.) Gamboge is readily and entirely diffusible in water, forming a yellow opaque emulsion, from which the resinous matter is very slowly deposited. It is almost entirely dissolved by alcohol; and a golden yellow tincture results, which is rendered opaque and bright yellow by the addition of water. Its solution in ammoniated alcohol is not disturbed by water. It is wholly taken up by alkaline solutions, from which it is partially precipitated by the acids. The strong acids dissolve it; but the solution when diluted with water deposites a yellow precipitate. The colour as well as the acrimony and medicinal powers of gamboge reside in the resinous portion; but, as pure resins are usually destitute of these properties, it is not improba- ble that they may belong to a distinct principle not yet separated from the resin. Medical Properties and Uses. Gamboge is a powerful, drastic, hydra- gogue cathartic, very apt to produce nausea and vomiting when given in the full dose. It is much employed in the treatment of dropsy attended with torpid bowels, generally in combination with the supertartrate of potassa or jalap. It is also prescribed in cases of obstinate constipation, and has fre- quently been found effectual in the expulsion of the tapeworm. It is often combined with other and milder cathartics, the action of which it promotes and accelerates, while its own is moderated. The full dose is from two to six grains, which in cases of taenia has been raised to ten or fifteen grains. As it is apt to occasion much sickness and griping, the best plan, under ordinary circumstances, is to give it in small doses repeated at short intervals till it operates. It may be given in pill or emulsion, or dissolved in an alka- line solution. The last method of administration has been recommended in dropsical complaints. |r Off.Prep. Pilulae Catharticae Compositae, U.S.; Pilulae Cambogiae Compositae, Lond., Ed., Dub. W. GAULTHERIA. U.S. Partridge-berry. " Gaultheria procumbens. Folia. The leaves." U. S. Gaultheria. Sex. Syst. Deeandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Ericeae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft, bibracteate at the base. Corolla ovate. Cap- sule five-celled, invested with the berried calyx. Pursh. 29 326 Gaultheria. PART I. Gaultheria procumbens. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 616; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 27; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 171. This is a small, indigenous, shrub- by, evergreen plant, with a long, creeping, horizontal root, which sends up at intervals one and sometimes two erect, slender, round, reddish stems. These are naked below, leafy at the summit, and usually less than a span in height. The leaves are ovate or obovate, acute, revolute at the edges with a few mucronate serratures, coriaceous, shining, bright green upon the upper surface, paler beneath, of unequal size, and supported irregularly on short red petioles. The flowers, of which not more than from three to five are usually found upon each stem, stand on curved, drooping, axillary pe- duncles. The calyx is white, five-toothed, and furnished at its base with two concave cordate bractes, which are by some authors described as an outer calyx. The corolla is white, ovate or urceolate, contracted at its mouth, and divided at its border into five small acute segments. The sta- mens consist of curved, plumose filaments, and oblong orange-coloured anthers, opening on the outside. The germ, which rests upon a ring hav- ing ten teeth alternating with the ten stamens, is roundish, depressed, and surmounted by an erect filiform style, terminating in an obtuse stigma. The fruit is a small, five-celled, many-seeded capsule, enclosed in a fleshy cover- ing, formed by the enlarged calyx, and presenting the appearance of a bright scarlet berry. The plant extends from Canada to Georgia, growing in large beds in mountainous tracts, or in dry barrens and sandy plains, beneath the shade of shrubs and trees, particularly of other evergreens, as the Kalmiae and Rho- dodendra. It is abundant in the pine barrens of New Jersey. In different parts of the country it is known by the various names of partridge-berry, deer-berry, tea-berry, winter-green, and mountain-tea. The flowers appear from May to September, and the fruit ripens at corresponding periods. Though the leaves only are officinal, all parts of the plant are endowed with the peculiar flavour for which these are employed, and which is found in several other plants, particularly in the bark of the Betula lenta, or sweet birch. The fruit possesses it in a high degree, and, being at the same time sweetish, is much relished by some persons, and forms a favourite article of food with partridges, deer, and other wild animals. To the very peculiar and agreeably aromatic odour and taste which belong to the whole plant, the leaves add a marked astringency, dependent on the presence of tannin. The aromatic properties reside in a volatile oil, which may be separated by distillation. (See Oleum Gaultherise.) Medical Properties and Uses. Gaultheria has the usual stimulant ope- ration of the aromatics, united with astringency; and may, therefore, be used with advantage in some forms of chronic diarrhcea. Like other sub- stances of the same class, it has been employed as an emmenagogue, and with the view of increasing the secretion of milk; hut its chief use is to impart an agreeable flavour to mixtures and other preparations. It may be conveniently administered in the form of infusion, which in some parts of the country is not unfrequently used at the table as a substitute for common tea. The oil, however, is more used in regular practice than the leaves. Instances of death are on record, resulting from the use of the oil, by mis- take, in the quantity of about a fluidounce. On examination after death, strong marks of inflammation of the stomach were discovered. (Journ. of Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 290.) Off. Prep. Oleum Gaultheriae. U. S. W. PART I. Gentiana. 327 GENTIANA. U.S., Lond. Gentian. " Gentiana lutea. Radix. The root." U.S. Off. Syn. GENTIANS LUTEtE RADIX. Ed.; GENTIANA LU- TEA. Radix. Dub. Gentiane jaune, Fr.; Rother Enzian, Germ.; Genziana, Ital.; Genciana, Span. Gentiana. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Gentianeae. Gen. Ch. Corolla one-petalled.- Capsule two-valved, one-celled, with two longitudinal receptacles. Willd. This genus is not constant in the number of the stamens. Some spe- cies have five stamens and a five-cleft corolla; others have only four sta- mens and a four-cleft corolla; others again have more than five. But the plants have so strong an affinity in their general characters, and are so uni- form in the structure of the fruit, that they continue to be associated together by botanists, notwithstanding the discrepancies alluded to. Gentiana lutea. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1331; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 273. t. 95. Yellow gentian is among the most remarkable of the species which compose this genus both for its beauty and great comparative size. From its thick, long, branching, perennial root, an erect, round stem rises to the height of three or four feet, bearing opposite, sessile, oval, acute, five- nerved leaves, of a bright green colour, and somewhat glaucous. The lower leaves, which spring from the root, are narrowed at their base into the form of a petiole. The flowers are large and beautiful, of a yellow co- lour, peduncled, and placed in whorls at the axils of the upper leaves. The calyx is a membranous deciduous spathe; the corolla is rotate, and deeply divided into five lanceolate, acute segments. This plant grows among the Appenines, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and in other mountainous or elevated regions of Europe. Its root is the only part used in medicine. Several other species of the genus possess analogous medicinal properties, and are used for similar purposes. The roots of the G. biloba of De Can- dolle, and G. punctata of Linnaeus, are said to be frequently mingled with the officinal gentian, from which they are scarcely distinguishable. The G. purpurea of Linnaeus is much used in Norway and Germany, where it grows, and is considered quite equal to the G. lutea. The G. macrophylla of Pallas is used in Siberia; the G. Chirayita of Roxburgh in Bengal; and one indigenous species, the G. Catesbxi, has found a place in the secondary catalogue of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. Gentian is imported from Germany. Properties. As found in our shops, it is in pieces of various dimensions and shape, usually of considerable length, consisting sometimes of longi- tudinal slices, sometimes of the root cut transversely, twisted, wrinkled ex- ternally, of a grayish-brown colour on the outside, yellowish or reddish within, and of a soft spongy texture. The odour is feeble, but decided and peculiar. The taste is slightly sweetish, and intensely bitter, without being nauseous. The powder is of a yellowish colour. Water and alcohol extract the tasie and medical virtues of the root. Examined by MM. Henry and Caventou, it was found to contain, 1. a peculiar crystallizable principle which they supposed to be the chief active ingredient of the root and, there- fore, named gentianin, 2. a volatile odorous principle, 3. a substance identi- cal with bird-lime (glu), 4. a greenish fixed oil, 5. a free organic acid, 6. 328 Gentiana.—Gentiana Catesbsei. part i. uncrystallizable sugar, 7. gum, 8. yellow colouring matter, and 9. lignin. Mr. Denis has since detected in the root the existence of pectic acid; and the gentianin of Henry and Caventou has been proved by Trommsdorff and by M. Leconte to be, when quite pure, wholly destitute both of bitter- ness and of medicinal power; so that it would appear no longer to merit the name which it bears. M. Leconte proposes, accordingly, to call it gentisin. The same chemist believes that he has ascertained the bird-lime or glu of Henry and Caventou to be a mixture of wax, oil, and caoutchouc. In this unsatisfactory state is at present our knowledge in relation to the composition of gentian. Its active bitter principle is yet to be isolated. (See Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 465, and Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 333.) When gentian is macerated in cold water, it undergoes the vinous fermentation, in conse- quence, probably, of the presence of its saccharine and mucilaginous princi- ples. From the fermented infusion a spirituous liquor is obtained by distil- lation, which, though bitter, and unpleasant to the smell, is much relished by the Swiss and Tyrolese. Medical Properties and Uses. Gentian possesses, in a high degree, the tonic powers which characterize the simple bitters. It excites the appetite, invigorates the powers of digestion, moderately increases the temperature of the body and the force of the circulation, and acts in fact as a general corroborant of the system. In very large doses, however, it is apt to load and oppress the stomach, to irritate the bowels, and even to occasion nausea and vomiting. It has been known as a medicine from the highest antiquity, and is said to have derived its name from Gentius, a king of Illyria. Many of the complex preparations handed down from the Greeks and Arabians contain it among their ingredients; and it enters into most of the stomachic combinations employed in modern practice. It may be used in all cases of disease dependent on pure debility of the digestive organs, or requiring a general tonic impression. Dyspepsia, gout, amenorrhcea, hysteria, scrofula, in- termittentfever, diarrhoea, and worms, are among the many forms of disease in which it has proved useful; but it is the condition of the stomach and of the system generally, not the name of the disease, which must be taken into consideration in prescribing it, and there is scarcely a single complaint in which it can be advantageously administered under all circumstances. Its powder has been applied externally to malignant and sloughing ulcers. It is usually given in the form of infusion or tincture. ,The dose of the powder is from ten to forty grains. Off. Prep. Extractum Gentianae, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Infusum Gentianae Compositum, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Gentianae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Rhei et Gentianae, U. S.; Vinum Genti- anae Compositum, U.S., Ed. W. GENTIANA CATESBiEI. U.S. Secondary. Blue Gentian. " Gentiana Catesbsei. Radix. The root." U. S. Gentiana. See GENTIANA. Several indigenous species of gentian approach more or less nearly to the Gentiana lutea in the bitterness and medicinal virtues of their roots; but the G. Catesbaei, which resembles it most closely in these respects, is part i. Gentiana Calesbsei.—Geoffrsese Inermis Cortex. 329 the only one which has attracted the particular attention of the medical pro- fession. Gentiana Catesbsei. Walter, Flor. Car. 109; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 137; Nuttall, Gen. of Am. Plants, i. 172. The blue gentian has a peren- nial, branching, somewhat fleshy root, and a simple, erect, rough stem, rising eight or ten inches in height, and bearing opposite leaves, which are ovate lanceolate, acute, and rough on their margin. The flowers, which are of a palish-blue colour, are crowded, nearly sessile, axillary and terminal. The divisions of the calyx are linear lanceolate, and longer than the tube. The corolla is large, ventricose, plaited, and divided at its border into ten segments, of which the five outer are more or less acute, the five inner bifid and fringed. The number of stamens is five, and the two stigmas are seated on the germ. The capsule is oblong, acuminate, with two valves, and a single cell. The G. Catesbaei grows in the grassy swamps of North and South Caro- lina, where it flowers from September to December. It was named by Walter and Elliott in honour of Catesby, by whom it was imperfectly de- lineated upwards of seventy years ago. Pursh confounds it with the G. saponaria, to which it is nearly allied. Properties. By Dr. Bigelow we are told that the dried root of this plant has at first a mucilaginous and sweetish taste, which is soon succeeded by an intense bitterness, approaching nearly to that of the officinal gentian. Alcohol and boiling water extract its virtues, and the tincture and decoction are even more bitter than the root in substance. Blue gentian has not been satisfactorily analyzed. Medical Properties.—As a medicine it is little inferior to the European gentian, and may be employed for similar purposes. In the Northern and Middle States it is not used; but it is said to be occasionally prescribed by the practitioners of the South in dyspepsia, and other cases of stomachic and general debility. It may be given in powder in the dose of fifteen or thirty grains, and may be substituted for the foreign gentian in the preparation of the officinal extract, infusion, wine, and tincture. W. GEOFFR^EiE INERMIS CORTEX. Ed. Cabbage-tree Bark. Off. Syn. GEOFFROYA INERMIS. Cortex. Dub. Geoffroya de Jamaique, Fr.; Jamaicanische Wurmrinde, Germ.; Geoffroea, Ital. Geoffroya. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Legumi- nosae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Drupe ovate. Nucleus compressed. Willd. Several species have by some botanists been separated from the Geoffroya, and erected into a new genus with the title Andira. The distinctive charac- ter of the latter is a papilionaceous corolla and leguminous fruit, while in the true Geoffroya the corolla is not papilionaceous, and the fruit is a kind of drupe. The cabbage-tree is ranked among the Andirae. Geoffroya inermis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1130; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 416. t. 151.—Andira inermis, Humb. and Bonp. Nov. Gen. Amer. The stem of this tree, which rises to a considerable height is branched towards the top, and covered with a smooth gray bark. The leaves are pinnate, consisting of several pairs of lanceolate, pointed, veined, smooth, petiolate 330 Geoffraeae Inermis Cortex.—Geranium. part i. leaflets, with an odd one at the end. The flowers are rose-coloured, and appear in clusters upon large branched spikes. The cabbage-tree is a native of Jamaica and other West India islands. The bark is the part used. On the continent of Europe the bark of the G. Surinamensis, the Andira retusa of Humb. and Bonp., which grows in Surinam, is also officinal. It is considered more powerfully vermifuge, without being equally liable to produce injurious effects. Cabbage-tree bark is in long pieces, thick, fibrous, externally of a brown- ish-ash colour, scaly and covered with lichens, internally yellowish, of a re- sinous fracture, a disagreeable smell, a sweetish, mucilaginous, bitterish taste, and affording a powder resembling that of jalap. The bark of the G. Surinamensis has a grayish epidermis, beneath which it is reddish-brown, laminated, compact, very tenacious, and when cut trans- versely exhibits a shining and variegated surface. In the dried state it is in- odorous, but has an austere bitter taste. The powder is of a pale cinnamon colour. Medical Properties and Uses. Cabbage-tree bark is cathartic, and in large doses is apt to occasion vomiting, fever, and delirium. It is said that these effects are more liable to result if cold water is drunk during its operation, and are relieved by the use of warm water, castor oil, or a vegetable acid. In the West Indies the bark is esteemed a powerful vermifuge, and is much employed for expelling lumbrici; but it is dangerous if incautiously adminis- tered, and instances of death from its use have occurred. It is almost un- known in this country, and does not enter into our officinal catalogues. The usual form of administration is that of decoction, though the medicine is also given in powder, syrup, and extract. The dose of the powder is from a scruple to half a drachm, of the extract three grains, of the decoction two fluidounces. Off. Prep. Decoctum Gcoffraeae Inermis, Ed., Dub. W. GERANIUM. U. S. Cranesbill. " Geranium maculatum. Radix. The root." U.S. Geranium. Sex. Syst. Monadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Gerani- aceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved. Corolla five-petaled, regular. Nectary five, melliferous glands united to the base of the longer filaments. Arilli five, one-seeded, awned, at the base of a beaked receptacle; awns simple, naked, neither spiral nor bearded, Willd. Geranium maculatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 705; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 84; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 149. This plant has a perennial, horizon- tal, fleshy root, which is furnished with short fibres, and sends up annually an herbaceous stem, with several radical leaves. The stem is erect, round dichotomously branched, from one to two feet high, of a grayish-green colour, and thickly covered, in common with the petioles and peduncles, with reflexed hairs. The leaves are deeply divided into three, five, or seven lobes, which are variously incised at their extremities, hairy, and of a pale green colour, mottled with still paler spots. Those which rise immediately from the root are supported on footstalks eight or ten inches long; those of PART L Geranium..—Geum. 331 the stem are opposite, the lower petiolate, the upper nearly sessile, with lan- ceolate or linear stipules. The flowers are large, and usually of a purple colour. The peduncles spring from the forks of the stem, and severally support two flowers upon short pedicels. The calyx is composed of five oblong, ribbed, cuspidate leaves; the petals are five, obovate, and entire; the stamens ten, with oblong deciduous anthers, the five alternate filaments being longer than the others, and having glands at their base; the germ is ovate,. supporting a straight style as long as the stamens, and surmounted by five stigmas. The fruit consists of five aggregate, one-seeded capsules, attached by a beak to the persistent style, curling up and scattering the seeds when ripe. The cranesbill is indigenous, growing throughout the United States, in moist woods, thickets and hedges, and generally in low grounds. It flowers from May to July. The root should be collected in autumn. This, when dried, is in pieces from one to three inches long, from a quar- ter to half an inch in thickness, somewhat flattened, contorted, wrinkled, tuberculated, and beset with slender fibres. It is externally of an umber- brown colour, internally reddish-gray, compact, inodorous, and of an astrin- gent taste, without bitterness or other unpleasant flavour. Water and alcohol extract its virtues. Tannin is an abundant constituent. Medical Properties and Uses. Geranium is one of our most powerful indigenous astringents, and may be employed for all the purposes to which these medicines are applicable. The absence of unpleasant taste and all other offensive qualities, renders it peculiarly serviceable in the cases of in- fants, or of persons with very delicate stomachs. Diarrhoea, chronic dys- entery, cholera infantum in the latter stages, and the various hemorrhages, are the forms of disease in which it is most commonly used and with greatest ad- vantage; but care should be taken, before it is administered, that the condition of the system and of the part affected is such as not to contra-indicate the use of astringents. As an application to indolent ulcers, an injection in gleet and leucorrhcea, a gargle in relaxation of the uvula and aphthous ulcerations of the throat, it answers the same purpose with kino, catechu, and other foreign remedies of similar character. It is a popular domestic remedy in various parts of the United States, and is said to be employed by the Indians in numerous disorders. It may be given in substance, decoction, tincture, or extract. The dose of the powder is twenty or thirty grains, that of a decoction made by boiling an ounce of the root in a pint and a half of water to a pint, from one to two fluidounces. The medicine is sometimes given to children boiled in milk. W. GEUM. U.S. Secondary. Water Avens. " Geum rivale. Radix. The root." U.S. Benoite aquatique, Fr.; Wiesen-Benediktenwurzel, Germ. Geum. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Polygynia.—j\at. Ord. Rosaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx ten-cleft. Petals five. Seeds with a bent awn. Willd. Several species belonging to this genus have been medicinally employed; but two only are deserving of particular notice—the Geum rivale, which has a place in the secondary list of the United States Pharmacopoeia, and the G. urbanum, recognised by the Dublin College. 332 Geum.—Geum Urbanum. part i. Geum rivale. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1115; Engl. Bot. 106. The water avens has a perennial, horizontal, jointed, scaly, tapering root, about six inches long, of a reddish-brown colour externally, white internally, and fur- nished with numerous descending yellowish fibres. Sometimes one, some- times several stems rise from the same root, which also sends up numerous leaves. The stems are about a foot and a half high, simple, erect, pubescent, and of a purplish colour. The radical leaves are interruptedly pinnate, with large terminal leaflets, and stand on long, hairy footstalks; those of the stem are petiolate, and divided into three serrate, pointed segments. The flowers are few, solitary, nodding, yellowish-purple, and supported on axillary and terminal peduncles. The colour of the stems and flowers has given rise to the name of purple avens, by which the plant is sometimes called. The calyx is inferior, with ten lanceolate pointed segments, of which the five alternate are smaller than the others. The petals are five, and of the same length as the calyx. The seeds are oval, and furnished with plumose awns, minutely uncinate, and nearly naked at the summit. This species of Geum is common to Europe and the United States; though the plant of this country has smaller flowers, with petals more rounded on the top, and leaves more deeply incised than the European. It delights in wet boggy meadows, and extends from Canada into New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. Its flowers appear in June and July. The dried root is hard, brittle, easily pulverized, of a reddish or purplish colour, without smell, and of an astringent, bitterish taste. Boiling water extracts its virtues. Medical Properties and Uses. Water avens is tonic and powerfully astringent. It may be used with advantage in chronic or passive hemor- rhages, leucorrhcea, and diarrhoea; and is said to be beneficially employed, in the Eastern States, as a popular remedy in the debility of phthisis pulmo- nalis, in simple dyspepsia, and in visceral diseases consequent on disorder of the stomach. In Europe it is sometimes substituted for the root of the common avens, or Geum urbanum, but is less esteemed. The dose of the powdered root is from a scruple to a drachm, to be repeated three times a day. The decoction, which is usually preferred, may be made by boiling an ounce of the root in a pint of water, and given in the quantity of one or two fluidounces. A weak decoction is sometimes used by invalids in New England as a substitute for tea and coffee. W. GEUM URBANUM. Radix. Dub. Root of Avens. Benoite Fr.; Benediktenwurzel, Germ.; Cariofillata, Ital.; Cariofilata, Span. Geum. See GEUM. Geum urbanum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1113; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 502. t. 181. Avens is an herbaceous perennial plant, with slender, erect, branch- ing, hairy stems, about two feet in height. The leaves are petiolate, serrate, hairy; those on the upper part of the stem, simple, trifid, and pointed; those nearest the root, pinnate and lyrate, with two pairs of unequal leaflets, and a larger terminal leaflet, which is usually three-lobed. The flowers are small, of a bright yellow colour, and solitary upon erect terminal peduncles. The seeds, which are hairy and collected in a roundish head, have at their summit a naked awn, bent like a hook at the apex. PART I. Geum Urbanum.—Gillenia. 333 This species of Geum is a native of Europe, where it grows in woods and shady uncultivated places. The flowers appear in June and July. The root, which is the part employed, should be dug up in March, when its sen- sible properties are in greatest perfection, and should be dried by a moderate heat. The large roots are preferred to those which are very small, and the cultivated to the wild. The avens root consists of a short oblong body or caudex, from a quarter to half an inch in thickness, externally brown, internally white towards the circumference, and reddish at the centre, and sending forth numerous long brown descending fibres. When quite dry it is nearly inodorous, but in the recent state has a smell resembling that of cloves, whence it is some- times called radix caryophyllatse. Its taste is bitterish and astringent. It imparts its medicinal virtues to water and alcohol, which it tinges red. Dis- tilled with water it yields a thick, greenish-yellow volatile oil, and gives a pleasant flavour to the liquid. Tannin is an abundant constituent. It con- tains, moreover, according to Trommsdorff, an insipid resin, gum, bassorin, and lignin. Medical Properties and Uses. This root has been largely used on the continent of Europe as a tonic and astringent in numerous diseases. Among these are chronic and passive hemorrhages, chronic dysentery and diarrhoea, leucorrhoea, congestions of the abdominal viscera, and intermittent fever. The dose of the powdered root is from thirty grains to a drachm three or four times a day, and the same quantity may be given at a dose in the form of decoction. The medicine is scarcely used in the United States. W. GILLENIA. U.S. Gillenia. " Gillenia trifoliata, Bigelow and Barton. Spiraea trifoliata. Willd. Ra- dix. The root." U.S. Indian physic, American ipecacuanha. Gillenia. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Rosaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx tubular campanulate, border five-toothed. Corolla partly unequal. Petals five, lanceolate, attenuated at the base. Stamens few, in- cluded. Styles five. Capsules five, connateat the base, opening on the inner side, each two-seeded. Torrey. This genus was separated by Moench from the Spiraea, but was not generally acknowledged till after the publication of Barton's Medical Botany. It is exclusively North American, and includes only two discovered spe- cies—the G. trifoliata and G. slipulacea—of which the former only has been adopted in our Pharmacopoeia, though the two are identical in medical character. 1. Gillenia trifoliata. Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 10; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 65. This is an herbaceous plant with a perennial root, consisting of numerous long, slender, brown branches, proceeding from a thick tuber-like head or caudex. The stems, several of which usually rise from the same root, are two or three feet in height, erect, slender, smooth, flexuose, branched, and commonly of a reddish colour. The leaves are ternate, with very short petioles, and small linear lanceolate stipules. The leaflets are ovate lanceolate, sharply serrate, and acuminate. The flowers grow in a 334 Gillenia. PART i. loose terminal nodding panicle, with long peduncles. The calyx is tubular campanulate, ventricose, and terminates in five pointed segments. The corolla is composed of five linear lanceolate, recurved petals, the two upper separated from the three lower, white, with a reddish tinge on their border, and of three times the length of the calyx. The stamens are twenty, the filaments short, the anthers^small and yellow. Each flower is succeeded by five capsules, connate at their base, "oblong, acuminate, gibbous without, acute within, two-valved, one-celled, opening inward, and containing each one or two oblong seeds. This species of Gillenia grows throughout the United States, east of the Alleghany ridge, and in Pennsylvania may also be found abundantly west of these mountains. Pursh found it in Florida, and it extends as far north as Canada. It frequents light soils, in shady and moist situations, and flowers in June and July. The root should be gathered in September. 2. G. stipulacea. Barton, Med. Bot. i. 71. This species is also herba- ceous and perennial, though much taller, and more bushy than the preceding. The stems are brownish and branched. The upper leaves are ternate, lanceolate, serrate; the lower more deeply incised, becoming towards the root pinnatifid, and of a reddish-brown colour at the margin. The stipules are ovate, acuminate, deeply serrate, resembling leaves, and marking the species at the first glance. The flowers are smaller than those of the G. trifoliata, and grow on long slender peduncles in a lax corymb. In the valley of the Mississippi this plant occupies the place of the G. trifoliata, which is not found beyond the Muskingum. It grows as far north as the state of New York, extends through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Mis- souri, and probably into the states south of the Ohio, as it has been found in Western Virginia. Its root is precisely similar to that of the eastern species, and is reputed to possess the same properties. The dried root of gillenia is not thicker than a small quill, wrinkled longitudinally, with occasional transverse fissures, and in the thicker pieces presenting in some places an irregular undulated somewhat knotty appear- ance, arising from indentations on one side corresponding with prominences on the other. It is externally of a light brown colour, and consists of a thick, somewhat reddish, brittle, cortical portion, with an interior slender, tougher, whitish* ligneous cord. The bark, which is easily separable, has a bitter, not disagreeable taste; the wood is nearly insipid and comparatively inert, and should be rejected. The powder is of a light brownish colour, and possesses a feeble odour which is scarcely perceptible in the root. The bitterness is extracted by boiling water, which acquires the red colour of wine. The root has not been accurately analyzed. Medical Properties and Uses. Gillenia is a mild and efficient emetic, and, like most other substances belonging to the same class, occasionally acts upon the bowels. In very small doses it has been thought to exert a tonic influence. It is much used by some practitioners in the country, as a sub- stitute for ipecacuanha, which it is said to resemble in its mode of operation. It was employed by the Indians, and became known as an emetic to the colonists at an early period. Linnaeus was aware of its reputed virtues. The dose of the powdered root is from twenty to thirty grains, repealed at intervals of twenty minutes till it vomits. W. PART I. Glycyrrhiza. 335 GLYCYRRHIZA. U.S., Lond. Liquorice Root. "Glycyrrhiza glabra. Radix. The root." U.S. "Glycyrrhiza glabra. ff/ffft f TPCPt) 9 / 071(1 Off. Syn. GLYCYRRHIZAE GLABRiE RADIX. Ed.; GLYCYR- RHIZA GLABRA. Radix. Dub. Bois de reglissc, Fr.; Sussholzwurzel, Germ.; Liquirizia, Ital.; Regaliza, Span. Glycyrrhiza. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Legumi- nosae. Gen.Ch. Calyx bilabiate; upper lip three-cleft, lower undivided. Le- gume ovate, compressed. Willtf,. Glycyrrhiza glabra. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1144; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 420. t. 152. The liquorice plant has a perennial root, which is round, suc- culent, tough, and pliable, furnished with sparse fibres, rapid in its growth, and in a sandy soil penetrates deeply into the ground. The stems are her- baceous, erect, and usually four or five feet in height; have few branches; and are garnished with alternate, pinnate leaves, consisting of several pairs of ovate, blunt, petiolate leaflets, with a single leaflet at the end, of a pale green colour, and clammy on their under surface. The flowers are violet or purple, formed like those of the pea, and arranged in axillary spikes sup- ported on long peduncles. The calyx is tubular and persistent. The fruit is a compressed, smooth, acute, one-celled legume, containing from one to four small kidney-shaped seeds. The plant is a native of the South of Europe, Barbary, Syria, and Persia; and is cultivated in England, the North of France, and Germany. Much of the root imported into this country comes from the ports of Messina and Palermo in Sicily. It is also largely produced in the northern provinces of Spain, where it forms an important article of commerce. It is not improba- ble that a portion of the liquorice root from Italy and Sicily is the product of the G. echinata, which grows wild in Apulia. This species is also abun- dantly produced in the South of Russia, where, according to Hayne, suffi- cient extract is prepared from it to supply the whole Russian empire. A species of Glycyrrhiza, the G. lepidota, grows abundantly about St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, and flourishes along the banks of the Mis- souri river to its source in the mountains. It is probably the same with the liquorice plant mentioned by Mackenzie as growing on the northern coast of this continent. Mr. Nuttall states that its root possesses in no inconsider- able degree the taste of liquorice; and it is not improbable that it may be found a fit substitute for that of the G. glabra. Properties. The liquorice root of the shops is in long pieces, varying in thickness from a few lines to more than an inch, fibrous, externally gray- ish-brown, and wrinkled by desiccation, internally yellowish, without smell, and of a sweet mucilaginous taste, which is sometimes mingled with a slight degree of acrimony. It is often worm-eaten and more or less decayed. The best pieces are those which have the brightest yellow colour internally, and of which the layers are distinct. The powder is of a grayish-yellow colour when the root is pulverized without being deprived of its epidermis, of a pale sulphur yellow, when the epidermis has been removed. Robiquet found the following ingredients in liquorice root:—1. A peculiar transparent yellow substance, called glycyrrhizin, of a sweet saccharine taste, scarcely soluble in cold water, very soluble in boiling water with which it gelatinizes 336 Glycyrrhiza.—Granatum. part i. on cooling, thrown down from its aqueous solution by acids, readily soluble in cold alcohol, insusceptible of the vinous fermentation, yielding no oxalic acid by the action of the nitric, and therefore wholly distinct from sugar; 2. a crystallizable principle, named agedoite by Robiquet, but subsequently proved to be identical with asparagin; 3. starch; 4. albumen; 5. a brown, acrid resin; 6. a brown, azotized extractive matter; 7. lignin; 8. salts of lime and magnesia with phosphoric, sulphuric, and malic acids. Robiquet prepared glycyrrhizin by subjecting a strong cold infusion of the root to ebullition, in order to separate the albumen; then filtering, precipitating with acetic acid, and washing the precipitate with cold water to remove any ad- hering acid. Berzelius considers the matter thus obtained as a compound of glycyrrhizin with acetic acid. He procures the principle in a pure state by precipitating with sulphuric acid an infusion of the root previously concen- trated by a gentle heat, washing the precipitated sulphate to remove the free acid which adheres to it, then dissolving it in alcohol, which leaves the al- bumen, and adding carbonate of potassa to the alcoholic solution to perfect neutralization. The sulphate of potassa is precipitated, and the glycyr- rhizin is obtained by evaporating the alcohol. The sweetness of this prin- ciple is retained in the compounds which it forms both with acids and al- kalies. An extract of liquorice root is brought from Spain and Italy, and much used under the name of liquorice. (See Extractum Glycyrrhizae.) Medical Properties and Uses. Liquorice root is an excellent demulcent, well adapted to catarrhal affections, and to irritations of the mucous mem- brane of the bowels and urinary passages. It is best given in the form of decoction, either alone, or combined with other demulcents. It is frequently employed as an addition to the decoctions of acrid or irritating vegetable substances, such for example as seneka and mezereon, the acrimony of which it covers and conceals, while it renders them more acceptable to the stomach. Before being used, it should always be deprived of its epidermis, which is somewhat acrid, without possessing any of the virtues of the root. The decoction may be prepared by boiling an ounce of the bruised root for a few minutes in a pint of water. By long boiling, the acrid principle is extracted. The powder is used in the preparation of pills, either to give them due consistence, or to cover their surface and prevent them from adhering to- gether. Off. Prep. Aqua Calcis Composita, Dub.; Confectio Sennae, U. S., Lond., Ed.; Decoctum Glycyrrhizae, Dub.; Decoctum Guaiaci Composi- tum, Ed., Dub.; Decoctum Hordei Compositum, Lond., Dub.; Decoctum Mezerei, Dub., Ed.; Decoctum Sarsaparillae Compositum, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Extractum Glycyrrhizae, Lond., Dub.; Infusum Lini, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Hydrargyri, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Syrupus Sarsaparillae, U. S.; Tinctura Rhei Composita, Lond., Dub. W. GRANATUM. U.S., Lond. Pomegranate. " Punica granatum. FructOs cortex. The rind of the fruit." U. S. Off. Syn. PUNICA GRANATUM. Baccse tunica exterior. Radicis cortex. Flores. Dub. PART I. Granatum. 337 Ecorce de grenade, Fr.; Grnnatapfel-Echalin. Germ.; Malicorio, Scorza del melogra- nati, Ital.; Corteza de granada, Span. Punica. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Myrtaceaa. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft, superior. Petals five. Pome many-celled, many-seeded. Willd. Punica Granatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 981; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 531. t. 190. The pomegranate is a small shrubby tree, attaining in favour- able situations the height of twenty feet, with a very unequal trunk, and nu- merous branches, which sometimes bear thorns. The leaves are opposite, entire, oblong or lance-shaped, pointed at each end, smooth, shining, of a bright green colour, and placed on short footstalks. The flowers are large, of a rich scarlet colour, and stand at the end of the young branches. The petals are roundish and wrinkled, and are inserted into the upper part of the tube of the calyx, which is red, thick, and fleshy. The fruit is a globular berry, about the size of an orange, crowned with the calyx, covered with a reddish-yellow, thick, coriaceous rind, and divided internally into many cells, which contain an acidulous pulp, and numerous oblong, angular seeds. This tree grows wild upon both shores of the Mediterranean, in Arabia, Persia, and Japan, has been introduced into the East and West Indies, and is cultivated in all civilized countries where the climate is sufficiently warm to allow the fruit to ripen. In higher latitudes, where it does not bear fruit, it is raised in gardens and hot-houses for the beauty of its flowers, which become double, and acquire increased splendour of colouring by cultivation. Doubts have been entertained as to its original country. The name of " Punicum malum," applied by the ancients to its fruit, implies that it was abundant at an early age in the neighbourhood of Carthage. The fruit of the pomegranate, for which the plant is cultivated in tropical climates, varies much in size and flavour. It is said to attain greater perfection in both these respects in the West Indies, than in its native country. The pulp is red, succulent, pleasantly acid, and sweetish; and is used for the same purpose as the orange, though not officinal. It is the rind of the fruit which is indi- cated in the United States Pharmacopoeia. Other parts of the plant, however, are used in medicine. The flowers, and the bark of the root have been adopted by the Dublin College, and the seeds are officinal in France. Rind of the Fruit. This, which is the granatum or pomegranate of our Pharmacopoeia, is presented in commerce under the form of irregular fragments, hard, dry, brittle, of a yellowish-brown colour, without smell, and of an astringent slightly bitter taste. It contains a large proportion of tannin, and in countries where the tree abounds, has been employed for tanning leather. Flowers. The flowers, which are sometimes called balaustines, are ino- dorous, have a bitterish strongly astringent taste, and impart a violet-red colour to the saliva. They contain tannin and gallic acid, and were used by the ancients in dyeing. Bark of the Root. The roots of the pomegranate are hard, heavy, knotty, ligneous, and covered with a bark which is yellowish-gray, or ash- gray on the outer surface, and yellow on the inner. It has no smell, when chewed colours the saliva yellow, and leaves in the mouth an astringent taste, without any disagreeable bitterness. It contains, according to M. Mitouart, tannin, gallic acid, a substance analogous to wax, and a sweet substance of which one portion is soluble in alcohol and crystallizable, and another soluble in water with the characters of mannite. When used it 30 338 Granatum.—Graiiolse Officinalis Herba. part i. should be entirely separated from the ligneous portion of the root, as the latter is inert. Medical Properties and Uses. The rind of the fruit is astringent; and in the form of decoction may be given in diarrhoea from weakness of the secreting vessels, and in the'colliquative sweats of hectic fever or simple debility. But the decoction is more frequently used as an injection in leu- corrhcea, and as a gargle in sorethroat in the earliest stages, or after the in- flammatory action has in some measure subsided. The powdered rind has also been recommended in intermittent fever. The flowers have the same medical properties, and are used for the same purposes as the rind. The bark of the root was used by the ancients as a vermifuge, and is recommend- ed in the writings of Avicenna; but it was unknown in modern practice till brought into notice by Dr. F. Buchanan, who obtained his knowledge of its powers in India. The Mahometan physicians of Hindostan consider it a perfect specific in cases of tape-worm. One of these practitioners having speedily relieved an English gentleman in 1804, was induced to disclose his secret, which was then made public. Numerous cures have been subse- quently effected in Europe; and there can be no doubt of the occasional effi- cacy of the remedy. The French medical writers prefer the bark of the root of the wild pomegranate, or that which grows on the borders of the Mediterranean, to the product of the imperfect tree cultivated for ornamental purposes in the gardens of colder countries. It may be administered in powder or decoction; but the latter form is usually preferred. M. Cheval- lier recommends the following mode of employing it. The patient is pre- pared by a dose of castor oil and a very strict regimen on the day preceding that on which the remedy is administered. A decoction is prepared by macerating two ounces of the bruised bark in two pints of water for twenty- four hours, and then boiling down to a pint. Of this, one third is given every half hour. The first and second doses generally vomit, but the third remains. Within an hour after the administration of the last dose, the pa- tient usually has three or four stools, in which the taenia is discharged. Should the bowels not be opened, an injection should be administered. Mr. Breton, who had great success with the remedy, administered it in a similar manner, and if he did not succeed on the first day, repeated the plan for four or five days successively, taking care, however, to omit the medicine when it produced vertigo, or pain in the bowels. He followed the decoction with a dose of castor oil. The remedy appears to have been used by the negroes of St. Domingo before it was introduced into Europe. Taenia is compara- tively rare in this country; and the pomegranate root has been little used. The dose of the rind and flowers in powder is from twenty to thirty grains. A decoction may be prepared in the proportion of one ounce of the medicine to a pint of water, and given in the dose of a fluidounce. Off. Prep. Decoctum Granati, Lond. W. GRATIOL.E OFFICINALIS HERBA. Ed. Hedge-hyssop. Gratiole, Fr.; Wilder Aurin, Germ.; Graziolii, Ital.; Graciola, Span. Gratiola. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Scrophnla- rineae. PART I. Guaiaci Lignum. 339 Gen. Ch. Corolla irregular, reversed. Stamens, two sterile. Capsule two-celled. Calyx seven-leaved; the two exterior leaves spreading. Willd. Gratiola officinalis. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 102; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 360. t. 131. The hedge-hyssop is a perennial herb, with an erect quadrangular stem, about a foot in height, furnished with opposite, sessile, lanceolate, somewhat serrate leaves, and solitary, peduncled, axillary flowers. It is a native of the South of Europe, where it flourishes in meadows and other moist grounds. The whole herb is used. It is nearly inodorous, but has a bitter nauseous taste. Both water and alcohol extract its active properties. Medical Properties and Uses. Hedge-hyssop is a drastic cathartic and emetic, possessing also diuretic properiies, and employed on the continent of Europe in dropsy, jaundice, worms, chronic hepatic affections, scrofula, and various other complaints. With us it is almost unknown as a remedy. The dose of the powdered herb is from fifteen to thirty grains; of the-infu- sion, made in the proportion of half an ounce to the pint of boiling water, half a fluidounce. W. GUAIACI LIGNUM. U.S., Lond. Guaiacum Wood. " Guaiacum officinale. Lignum. The wood." U.S. Off. Syn. GUAIACI OFFICINALIS LIGNUM. Ed.; GUAIACUM OFFICINALE. Lignum. Dub. Bois de gayac, Fr.; Pockenholz, Germ.; Legno guaiaco, Ital.; Guayaco, Span. Guaiacum. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Rutaceae, Juss.; Zygophylleae, R. Brown, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft, unequal. Petals five, inserted into the calyx. Capsule angular, three or five-celled. Willd. Guaiacum officinale. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 538; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 557. t. 200. This is a large tree of very slow growth. When of full size it is from forty to sixty feet high, with a trunk four or five feet in circumference. The branches are knotted, and covered with an ash-coloured striated bark. That of the stem is of a dark gray colour, variegated with greenish or pur- plish spots. The leaves are opposite, and abruptly pinnate, consisting of two, three, and sometimes four pairs of leaflets, which are obovate, veined, smooth, shining, dark green, from an inch to an inch and a half long, and almost sessile. The flowers are of a rich blue colour, stand on long pedun- cles, and grow to the number of eight or ten at the axils of the upper leaves. The seeds are solitary, hard, and of an oblong shape. The G. officinale grows in the West Indies, particularly in Hayti and Jamaica, and is found also in the warmer parts of the neighbouring conti- nent. All parts of the tree are possessed of medicinal properties, but the wood and the concrete juice only are officinal. The bark, though much more efficacious than the wood, is not kept in the shops. It is said that other species of Guaiacum contribute to the supplies brought into the mar- ket. The G. sanctum of Linnaeus, and the G. arborcum of De Candolle, are particularly specified. The former, however, is said by Woodville not to be sufficiently characterized as a distinct species from the G. officinale. Fee states that the wood of the G. sanctum is paler, and less heavy and hard than the officinal. 340 Guaiaci Lignum. part I. Guaiacum wood is imported from Hayti and other West India islands, in the shape of logs or billets, covered with a thick gray bark, which presents on its inner surface, and upon its edges when broken, numerous shining crystalline points. These are supposed by M. Guibourt to be benzoic acid, by others a resinous exudation from the vessels of the plant. These billets are used by the turners for the fabrication of various instruments and utensils, for which the wood is well adapted by its extreme hardness and density. It is kept by the druggists and apothecaries only in the state of shavings or raspings, which they obtain from the turners. It is commonly called lignum vitae, a name which obviously originated from the supposition that the wood was possessed of extraordinary remedial powers. Properties. The colour of the alburnum or sap-wood is yellow, that of the older and central layers greenish-brown, that of the shavings a mixture of the two. It is said that when the wood is brought into a state of minute division, the colour is rendered green by exposure to the air, (Richard,) and blueish-green by the action of nitric acid fumes; and the latter change may be considered as a test of the genuineness of the drug. (Duncan.) Guaia- cum wood is almost without smell unless rubbed or heated, when it becomes odorous. When burnt it emits an agreeable aromatic odour. It is bitterish and slightly pungent; but requires to be chewed for some time before the taste is developed. Its medicinal properties are probably dependent on the guaiac with which it is impregnated. (See Guaiacum.) It yields its virtues but partially to water. One pound of the wood afforded to Geiger two ounces of extract. Medical Properties and Uses. Guaiacum wood ranks among the stimu- lant diaphoretics. It is said to have been introduced to the notice of Euro- pean practitioners by the natives of Hispaniola soon after the discovery of America. It was used in Europe so early as 1508, and attained great cele- brity as a remedy for lues venerea, in which it was long considered a spe- cific. More extended experience, however, has proved it to be wholly inadequate to the cure of that disease; and it is now employed simply to palliate the secondary symptoms, to assist the operation of other and more efficient remedies, or to obviate the unpleasant effects sometimes resulting from a mereurial course in syphilitic cases. It is thought to be useful also in chronic rheumatism, scrofulous affections, certain cutaneous eruptions, ozaena, and other protracted diseases dependent on a depraved or vitiated condition of the system. It is always exhibited in decoction, and generally in combination with other medicines, as in the compound decoction of sarsa- parilla. As but a small proportion of the guaiac which it contains is soluble in water, the probability is that its virtues have been greatly overrated; and that the good which has in many instances followed its employment, resulted rather from the more active medicines with which it was associated, or from the attendant regimen, than from the wood itself. The simple decoction may be prepared by boiling an ounce in a pint and a half of water down to a pint, the whole of which may be administered in divided doses during the twenty-four hours. Off. Prep. Aqua Calcis Composita, Dub.; Decoctum Guaiaci Compo- situm, Ed., Dub.; Decoctum Sarsaparillae Compositum, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Syrupus Sarsaparillae, U.S. W. PART I. Guaiacum. 341 GUAIACUM. US. Guaiac. " Guaiacum officinale. Succus concretus. The concrete1 juice." U.S. Off. Syn. GUAIACI RESINA. Guaiacum officinale. Resina. Lond.; GUAIACI OFFICINALIS RESINA. Ed.; GUAIACUM OFFICI- NALE. Resina. Dub. Resine de gayac, Fr.; Guajakharz, Germ.; Resina de guajaco, Ital.; Resina de guayaco, Span. For a description of the Guaiacum officinale, see GUAIACI LIGNUM. Guaiac is the concrete juice of this tree, obtained either by spontaneous exudation, or by incisions made into the trunk. It is also procured by saw- ing the wood into billets about three feet long, boring them longitudinally with an auger, then placing one end of the billet in the fire, and receiving in a calabash the melted guaiac, which flows out through the hole at the op- posite extremity. Another mode, occasionally practised, is to boil the wood in the state of chips or saw-dust, in a solution of common salt, and skim off the matter which rises to the surface. Guaiac is brought to this market from the West Indies. It is usually in large irregular pieces of various size, in which small fragments of bark, sand, and other earthy impurities are mixed with the genuine guaiac, so as to give to the mass a diversified appear- ance. Sometimes we find it in small roundish portions, separate, or agglu- tinated together, and evidently the result of exudation; sometimes in homo- geneous masses, prepared by melting and straining the drug in its impure state. It is probable that the guaiac, obtained from the billets of wood in the manner above described, is also of uniform consistence. Properties. The pieces are of a deep greenish-brown or dark olive colour on their external surface, and internally wherever the air has been able to penetrate. The predominant hue of those parts not exposed to the air is reddish-brown or hyacinthine, diversified, however, with shades of various colours. The odour is feeble but fragrant, and is rendered stronger by heat. The taste, which is at first scarcely perceptible, becomes acrid after a short period, and a permanent sense of heat and pungency is left in the mouth and fauces. Guaiac is brittle, and when broken presents a shining glass- like surface, conchoidal or splintery, with the smaller fragments more or less translucent. It is readily pulverized; and the powder, which is at first of a light gray colour, becomes green on exposure to the light. Its specific gravity varies from 1.2 to* 1.23. It softens in the mouth, and melts with a moderate heat. Though commonly called gum guaiac, and till recently considered a gum-resin, it has been ascertained by Mr. Brande to be a sub- stance sui generis, neither containing nor consisting of gum nor resin. In the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, therefore, it is very properly designated by the simple title guaiacum. Water dissolves 9 parts in 100, forming an infusion of a greenish-brown colour and sweetish taste, which upon evapo- ration yields a brown substance soluble in hot water and alcohol, but scarcely so in ether. Alcohol takes up 95 parts out of 100, leaving only impurities. The tincture is of a deep brown colour, is decomposed by water, and af- fords, blue, green, and brown precipitates with the acids. Guaiac is soluble also in ether, in alkaline solutions, and in sulphuric acid. The solution in sulphuric acid is oi a rich claret colour, deposites, when diluted with water, a lilac precipitate, and when heated evolves charcoal. Nitric acid converts it into oxalic acid. Exposed to air and light it absorbs oxygen and becomes 342 Guaiacum. part I. green, and the change of colour takes place rapidly in the sunshine. It im- parts a blue colour to gluten and substances containing it, to mucilage of gum Arabic, and to milk. It has been stated that guaiac is a substance sui ge- neris; but as a part of it is soluble in water, aud another part insoluble, it must consist of at least two proximate principles. The portion soluble in water, amounting to about one-tenth of the whole, is a kind of extractive; the remainder is a peculiar principle, which, though analogous to the resins, differs from this class of bodies in several particulars. It yields thirty per cent, of carbon, while the true resins yield only fifteen per cent.; is con- verted into oxalic acid, instead of artificial tannin, by nitric acid; and by the action of the same acid is made to pass through shades of green, blue, and brown, in this respect resembling indigo. These changes of colour are sup- posed to be owing to the absorption of different proportions of oxygen. The term guaiacin, which is applied by some writers to the whole concrete juice, and is therefore synonymous with the officinal title guaiacum, should be restricted to the peculiar resin-like principle which constitutes by far the largest portion. It will be inferred from what has been said, that the mineral acids are in- compatible with the solutions of guaiac. This drug is sometimes adulterated with the resin of the pine. The fraud may be detected by the terebinthinate odour exhaled when the sophisticated guaiac is thrown upon burning coals, as well as by its partial solubility in hot oil of turpentine. This liquid dissolves resin, but leaves pure guaiac untouched. Amber is said to be another adulteration. Nitric acid affords an excellent test of guaiac. If paper moistened with the tincture be exposed to the fumes of this acid, it speedily becomes blue. Medical Properties and Uses. Guaiac is stimulant and alterative, pro- ducing, when swallowed, a sense of warmth in the stomach, with dryness of the mouth and thirst, and promoting various secretions. If given to a patient when covered warm in bed, especially if accompanied with opium and ipecacuanha or the antimonials, and assisted by warm drinks, it often excites profuse perspiration; and hence has been usually ranked among the diaphoretics. If the patient be kept cool during its administration, it is sometimes directed to the kidneys, the action of which it promotes. In large doses it purges; and it is thought by some practitioners to be possessed of emmenagogue powers. The complaint in which it has been found most beneficial is rheumatism. In the declining stages of the acute form of this disease, after due depletion, it is very often given in combination with opium, ipecacuanha, nitre, and the antimonials; and in the chronic form is frequently useful without accompaniment. It is also advantageously prescribed in gouty affections; and is occasionally used in secondary syphilis, scrofulous diseases, and cutaneous eruptions, though the guaiacum wood is more frequently re- sorted to in these latter complaints. Dr. Dewees places very great reliance upon it in the cure of amenorrhcea. It is given in substance or tincture. The dose of the powder is from ten to thirty grains, which may be exhibited in pill or bolus, or in the shape of an emulsion formed with gum Arabic, sugar, and water. An objection to the form of powder is that it quickly aggregates. Guaiac is sometimes admi- nistered in combination with alkalies, with which it readily unites. Several of the European Pharmacopoeias direct a soap of guaiac, under the name of sapo guaiacinus, to be prepared by diluting the Liquor Potassie with twice its weight of water, boiling lightly, then adding guaiac gradually, with con- tinued agitation, so long as it continues to be dissolved, and finally filtering, part i. Guaiacum.—Haematoxylon. 343 and evaporating to the pilular consistence. Of this preparation one scruple may be taken daily in divided doses. Off. Prep. Mistura Guaiaci, Lond.; Pilulae Hydrargyri Chloridi Comp., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Aloes Comp., Lond. Dub.; Tinctura Guaiaci, U. S., Lond. Ed. Dub.; Tinctura Guaiaci Ammoniata, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. HAEMATOXYLON. U.S. Logwood. " Haematox}don Campechianum. Lignum. The wood." U. S. Off. Syn. UtEMATOXYLUM. Haematoxylon campechianum. Lignum. Lond.; HiEMATOXYLI CAMPECHIANI LIGNUM. Ed.; H.EMA- TOXYLUM CAMPECHIANUM. Lignum. Dub. Hois de Camp6che, Fr.; Blutholz, Kampeschenholz, Germ.; Legno di Campeggio, Ital.; Palo de Carnpeche, Span. I1.EMATOXYLON. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Legu- minosae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Petals five. Capsule lanceolate, one-celled, two-valved, with the valves boat-form. Willd. Haematoxylon Campechianum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 547; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 455. t. 163. This is a tree of middle size, usually not more than twenty-four feet high, though under favourable circumstances it sometimes attains an elevation of forty or fifty feet. The trunk, which seldom exceeds twenty inches in diameter, is often very crooked, and is covered with a dark rough bark. The branches are also crooked, with numerous smaller rami- fications, which are beset with sharp spines. The sap-wood is yellowish; but the interior layers are of a deep red colour. The leaves are alternate, abruptly pinnate, and composed of three or four pairs of sessile, nearly ob- cordate, obliquely nerved leaflets. The flowers, which are in axillary spikes or racemes near the ends of the branches, have a brownish-purple calyx, and lemon-yellow petals. They exhale an agreeable odour, said to resemble that of the jonquil. The tree is a native of Campeachy, the shores of Honduras Bay, and other parts of tropical America; and has been introduced into Jamaica, where it has become naturalized. The wood, which is the part used in medicine, is a valuable article of commerce, and largely employed in dyeing. It comes to us in logs, deprived of the sapwood, and having a blackish- brown colour externally. For medical use it is cut into chips, or rasped into coarse powder, and in these states is kept in the shops. Properties. Logwood is hard, compact, heavy, of a deep red colour be- coming dark by exposure, of a slight peculiar odour, and a sweet somewhat astringent taste. It imparts its colour to water and to alcohol. The infusion made with cold water, though red, is less so than that with boiling water. It affords precipitates with sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, and acetic acids, with alum, sulphate of copper, acetate of lead, and sulphate of iron, striking a bluish-black colour with the last mentioned salt. (Thomson's Dispensatory.) Gelatin throws down a precipitate, which is redissolved by an excess of that principle. (Duncan.) Among the constituents of logwood, according to Chovreul, are a volatile oil, an oleaginous or resinous matter, a brown sub- stance the solution of which is precipitated by gelatin, another brown sub- 314 Hxmutoxylon.—Hedeoma. part i. stance soluble in alcohol but insoluble in water or ether, an azotized sub- stance resembling gluten, free acetic acid, various saline matters, and a peculiar azotized principle, called hematin, on which the colouring proper- ties of the wood depend. This is obtained by digesting the aqueous extract in alcohol, evaporating the tincture till it becomes thick, then adding a little water, and submitting the liquid to a new but gentle evaporation. Upon allowing it to rest, hematin is deposited in the state of crystals, which may be purified by washing with alcohol and drying. They are shining, of a yellowish rose colour, bitterish, acrid, and slightly astringent to the taste, readily soluble in boiling water, forming an orange-red solution which be- comes yellow on cooling, and soluble also in alcohol and ether. Acids added gradually to the infusion render it at first yellow and afterwards red. Alkalies render it purple-red, but in great excess produce a violet-blue colour. Hematin unites with various metallic oxides, forming blueish com- pounds, and yields a ffocculent reddish precipitate with a strong solution of glue. Medical Properties and Uses. Logwood is a mild astringent, devoid of irritating properties, and well adapted to the treatment of that relaxed condi- tion of bowels which is apt to succeed cholera infantum. In this disease it is much used in the United States, and is occasionally employed with advan- tage in ordinary chronic diarrhcea, and in chronic dysentery. It may be given in decoction or extract, both of which are officinal. Off. Prep. Decoctum Haematoxyli, U.S.; Extractum Haematoxyli, U.S., Lond., Dub. W. HEDEOMA. U.S. Pennyroyal. " Hedeoma pulegioides. Herba. The herb." U.S. This herb, first attached to the genus Melissa, and afterwards to Cunila, is at present universally considered by botanists as belonging to the Hedeoma of Persoon. It has been very erroneously confounded by some with the Mentha Pulegium, or European pennyroyal. Hedeoma. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Labiatae. Gen. Ch. Calyx bilabiate, gibbous at the base, upper lip three toothed, lower two; dentures all subulate. Corolla ringent. Stamens, two sterile; the two fertile stamens about the length of the corolla. Nuttall. Hedeoma Pulegioides. Barton, Med. Bot.'u. 165:—Cunila Pulegioides. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 122. This is an indigenous annual plant, from nine to fifteen inches high, with a small, branching, fibrous, yellowish root, and a pubescent stem, which sends off numerous slender erect branches. The leaves are opposite, oblong lanceolate or oval, nearly acute, attenuated at the base, remotely serrate, rough or pubescent, and prominently veined on the under surface. The flowers are very small, of a pale blue colour, supported on short peduncles, and arranged in axillary whorls, along the whole length of the branches. The plant is common in all parts of the United States, preferring dry grounds and pastures, and, where it is abundant, scenting the air for a con- siderable distance with its grateful odour. Both in the recent and dried state it has a pleasant aromatic smell, and a part i. Hedeoma.—Helleborus Foetidus. 345 warm, pungent, mint-like taste. It readily imparts its virtues to boiling water. The volatile oil upon which they depend may be separated by dis- tillation, and employed instead of the herb itself. Medical Properties and Uses. Pennyroyal is a gently stimulant aromatic, and may be given in flatulent colic and sick stomach, or to qualify the action of other medicines. Like most of the aromatic herbs, it possesses the pro- perty, when administered in warm infusion, of promoting perspiration, and of exciting the menstrual flux when the system is predisposed to the effort. Hence it is much used as an emmenagogue in popular practice, and fre- quently with success. A large draught of the warm tea is given at bed-time, in recent cases of suppression of the menses, the feet having been previously bathed in warm water. Off. Prep. Oleum Hedeoma?, U.S. W. HELLEBORUS FCETIDUS. U.S. Secondary. Bears'-foot. " Helleborus foetidus. Folia. The leaves." U.S. Ellebore foatide, Pied de griffon, Fr.; Stinkende Niesswurzel, Germ.; Ellebore fetido, Ital.; Iklcboro hediondo, Span. Hi:lleborus. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Polygnia.—Nat. Ord. Ranuncu- laceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Petals five or more. Nectaries bilabiate, tubu- lar. Capsules many-seeded, nearly erect. Willd. Helleborus foetidus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1337; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 477. t. 170. This is a perennial European plant, with a stem about eighteen inches in height, naked and attenuated below, dividing into branches near the summit, and surrounded in the middle by numerous pedate leaves of a lurid green colour. Each leaf stands on a long footstalk, and usually con- sists of nine lance-shaped, serrated leaflets, four on each side joined together at their base, and one terminal. At each divison of the flower-stem is a scaly leaf, three-cleft at the first ramification, then bifid, and at the last sub- divisions, entire and pointed. The flowers are numerous, terminal, pedun- cled, and pendent; of a roundish form; with five pale green petals, tinged with purple at their margins. The whole plant, with the exception of the larger leaves, has a pale yellowish-green colour by which it may be distin- guished at a distance. The bear's foot grows in England under hedges and in shady places, and flowers in March and April. It derived its botanical designation from the offensive odour which it exhales. The leaves are the part used. Their taste is bitterish, pungent, and acrid; and when chewed they excoriate the mouth. The footstalks are even more acrid than the leaves themselves. The plant has not been analyzed. Medical Properties and Uses. This species of hellebore is said by Allioni to be the most acrid and energetic of all the plants belonging to the genus. It is powerfully emetic and cathartic, and in very large doses produces dan- gerous effects. It has long been used in Great Britain as a domestic remedy for worms, and was brought before the notice of the profession by Dr. Bisset. This gentleman found it a very efficacious anthelmintic, and prescribed it also in asthma, hysteria, and hypochondriasis. M. Decerfs has known it to cause the expulsion of taenia. It is given in powder or decoction. The 346 Helleborus Niger. part i. dose for a child from two to six years old is from five grains to a scruple of the dried leaves, or a fluidounce of the decoction made by boiling a drachm of the dried leaves in half a pint of water. This quantity should be repeated morning and night for two or three days in succession. A syrup made from the juice of the green leaves is also used in England. The remedy is scarcely known in the United States. W. HELLEBORUS NIGER. US. Black Hellebore. " Helleborus niger. Radix. The root." U.S. Off. Syn. HELLEBORUS. Helleborus Officinalis. Radix. Lond.; RA- DIX HELLEBORI NIGRI. Ed.; HELLEBORUS NIGER. Radix. Dub. Ellebore noire, Fr.; Schwarze Niesswurzel, Germ.; Elleboro nero, Ital.; Heleboro negro, Span. Helleborus. See HELLEBORUS FffiTIDUS. Helleborus niger. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1336; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 473. t. 169. The root of the black hellebore is perennial, knotted, blackish on the outside, white within, and sends off numerous long, simple, depending fibres, which are brownish-yellow when fresh, but become dark brown upon drying. The leaves are pedate, of a deep green colour, and stand on long footstalks which spring immediately from the root. Each leaf is composed of five or more leaflets, one terminal, and two, three, or four on each side supported on a single partial petiole. The leaflets are ovate lanceolate, smooth, shining, coriaceous, and serrated in their upper portion. The flower-stem, which also rises from the root, is six or eight inches high, round, tapering, reddish towards the base, and bears one or two large, pen- dent, rose-like flowers, accompanied with floral leaves, which supply the place of the calyx. The petals, five in number, are large, roundish, con- cave, spreading, and of a white or pale rose colour, with occasionally a greenish tinge. There are two varieties of the plant—the Helleborus niger humilifolius, and Helleborus niger altifolius—in the former of which the leaves are shorter than the flower stem, in the latter longer. This, plant is a native of the mountainous regions of southern and tem- perate Europe. It is found in Greece, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Spain. It is cultivated in gardens for the beauty of its flowers, which expand in the middle of winter, and have, from this circumstance, given rise to the name of Christmas rose, by which the black hellebore is sometimes called. Till the publication of Tournefort's travels in the Levant, this species of hellebore was regarded as identical with that so well known, under the same title, to the ancient Greeks and Romans. But in the island of Anticyra, and various parts of continental Greece, in which it appears from the testimony of ancient writers that the hellebore abounded, this traveller discovered a species entirely distinct from those before described, and particularly from the H. niger. He called it H. orientalis, and reasonably inferred that it was the true hellebore of the ancients; and botanists at present generally coincide with this opinion. But as the H. niger is also found in some parts of Greeee, it is not impossible that the two species were indiscriminately employed. It is, indeed, highly probable that they possess similar proper- PART I. Helleborus Niger. 347 ties; and a third—the H. viridis—which grows in the west of Europe, is said to be frequently substituted for the H. niger, which it closely resembles, if it does not equal in medicinal power. All three are recognised as officinal in the French Codex. The London College has adopted the H. orientals, under Sallisbury's name of H. officinalis. The roots of various other plants not belonging to the same genus are said to be frequently substituted for the black hellebore. They may usually be readily distinguished by at- tending to the characters of the genuine root.* The medicine of which we are treating is sometimes called melampodium, in honour of Melampus, an ancient shepherd or physician, who is said to have cured the daughters of king Praetus by giving them the milk of goats which had been fed on hellebore. Properties. Though the whole root is kept in the shops, the fibres are the portion usually recommended. They are about as thick as a straw, when not broken from four inches to a foot in length, smooth, brittle, exter- nally black or deep brown, internally white or yellowish-white, with little smell, and a bitterish, nauseous, acrid taste. In their recent state they are extremely acrimonious, producing on the tongue a burning and benumbing impression like that which results from taking hot liquids into the mouth. This acrimony is diminished by drying, and still further impaired by age. MM. Feneulle and Capron obtained from black hellebore, a volatile oil, an acrid fixed oil, a resinous substance, wax, a volatile acid, bitter extractive, gum, albumen, gallate of potassa, supergallate of lime, a salt of ammonia, and woody fibre. Water and alcohol extract its virtues, which are impaired by long boiling. Medical Properties and Uses. Black hellebore is a drastic hydrogogue cathartic, possessed also of emmenagogue powers, which, by some are ascribed to a specific tendency to the uterus, by others are supposed to depend solely on the purgative property. In overdoses it produces inflam- mation of the gastric and intestinal mucous membrane, with violent vomit- ing, hypercatharsis, vertigo, cramp, and convulsions, which sometimes end in death. The fresh root applied to the skin produces inflammation and even vesication. The medicine was very highly esteemed by the ancients, who employed it in mania, melancholy, amenorrhcea, dropsy, epilepsy, various cutaneous affections, and verminose diseases. By the earlier modern physicians it was also much used. Bacher's pills, celebrated for the cure of dropsy, consisted chiefly of black hellebore. It is at present little * The following minute description of the root, which we copy from Geiger's Hand- buch der Pharmacie, may perhaps be useful in enabling the druggist to distinguish this from other analogous roots mingled with or substituted tor it in commerce. " It is usually a many-headed root, with a caudex or body half an inch thick or less, seldom thicker, and several inches long, horizontal, sometimes variously contorted, uneven, knotty, with trans- verse ridges, slightly striated longitudinally, presenting on its upper surface the short remains of the leaf and flower-stalks, and thickly beset upon the sides and under surface with fibres of the thickness of a straw and from six to twelve inches long. These are undivided above, but at the distance of from two to six inches from their origin, are furnished with small, slender branches. The colour of the root is dark-brown, sometimes rather light-brown, dull, and for the most part exhibiting a gray, earthy tinge. Inter- nally, it is whitish, with a somewhat darker pith, which when cut transversely, shows ligiiter converging rays. Sometimes it is porous. It has a medullary or fleshy not a ligneous consistence. The fibres, when dried, are wrinkled, very brittle, sometimes grayish internally, horny, with a white point in the centre. The odour of ihe dried root is feeble, somewhat like that of seneka but more nauseous, especially when the root is rubbed with water. The taste is at first sweetish, then nauseously acrid and biting, but not very durable, and slightly bitterish." Band. ii. s. 1181. 348 Helleborus Niger.—Hepatica. part t. employed, except as an emmenagogue, in which capacity it is very highly esteemed by some practitioners. Dr. Mead considered -it superior to all other medicines belonging to this class. It may be given in substance, extract, decoction, or tincture. The dose of the powdered root is from ten to twenty grains as a drastic purge, two or three grains as an alterative. The decoction is prepared by boiling two drachms in a pint of watei\ of which a fluidounce may be given every four hours till it operates. The extract and tincture are officinal. Off. Prep. Extractum Hellebori Nigri, Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Hellebori Nigri, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. HEPATICA. U.S. Secondary. Liverwort. "Hepatica Americana. Planta. The plant." U.S. Hepatica. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Polygynia.—Nat. Ord. Ranunculaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx three-leaved. Petals six to nine. Seeds naked. Nuttall. Hepatica Americana. De Cand.; Eaton, Man. of Bot. p. 241.—H. tri- loba. Willd. Enum.; Figured in Rafinesque's Med. Flor. i. 238. Botanists generally admit but one species of Hepatica, the H. triloba; and consider as accidental the differences of structure and colour observable in the plant. Pursh speaks of two varieties, one with the lobes of the leaf oval and acute, the other with the lobes rounded and obtuse. These are considered as dis- tinct species by De Candolle, and the latter is the one which has been adopted by the Pharmacopoeia, and is popularly employed as a medicine in this country, under the name of liverwort. Both have a perennial fibrous root, with three-lobed leaves, cordate at their base, coriaceous, nearly smooth, glaucous and purplish beneath, and supported upon hairy footstalks from four to eight inches long, which spring directly from the root. The scapes or flower-stems are several in number, of the same length with the petioles, round, hairy, and terminating in a single white, bluish, or purplish flower. The calyx is at a little distance below the corolla, and is considered by some an involucre, while the corolla takes the name of the calyx. In the H. acutiloba the leaves are cordate, with from three to five entire, acute lobes; and the leaflets of the calyx are acute. In the H. Americana the leaves are cordate-reniform, with three entire, roundish, obtuse lobes; and the leaflets of the calyx are obtuse. Both are indigenous, growing in woods upon the sides of hills and mountains, the former, according to Eaton, pre- ferring the northern, the latter the southern exposure. The leaves resist the cold of the winter, and the flowers make their appearance early in spring. The whole plant is used. It is without smell, and has a mucilaginous, somewhat astringent, slightly bitterish taste. Water extracts all its active properties. Medical Properties and Uses. Liverwort is a very mild, demulcent tonic and astringent, supposed by some to possess diuretic and deobstruent virtues. It was formerly used to some extent in Europe in various com- plaints, especially in chronic hepatic affections; but has fallen into entire neglect. In this country, some years since, it attracted much attention as a remedy in haemoptysis and chronic coughs, and acquired for a time great popular confidence. Its credit, however, has already begun to decline, and PART I. Heracleum.—Heuchera. 349 it will probably ere long be forgotten. It may be used in infusion and taken ad libitum. The term liverwort properly belongs to the cryptogamous genus Marchantia. W. HERACLEUM. U.S. Secondary. Masterwort. " Heracleum lanatum. Radix. The root." U.S. Heracleum. Sex. Syst. Penlandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbelliferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit elliptical, emarginate, compressed, striated, margined. Corolla difform, inflexed, emarginate. Involucre caducous. Willd. Heracleum lanatum. Michaux, Flor. Boreal. Am. i. 166. This is one of our largest indigenous umbelliferous plants. The root is perennial, send- ing up annually a hollow pubescent stem, from three to five feet high, and often more than an inch in thickness. The leaves are ternate, downy on their under surface, and supported on downy footstalks; the leaflets petiolate, roundish, cordate, and lobed. The flowers are white, in large umbels, and followed by orbicular seeds. Like the European species this is sometimes called cow-parsnip. It grows in meadows and along fences or hedges, from Canada to Pennsylva- nia, and flowers in June. The root, which is the officinal part, bears some resemblance to that of common parsley in appearance. It has a strong disagreeable odour, and a very acrid taste. Both the leaves and root excite redness and inflammation when applied to the skin. Dr. Bigelow considers the plant poisonous, and advises caution in its use, especially when it is gathered from a damp situa- tion. Medical Properties, <^c. Masterwort appears to be somewhat stimulant and carminative, and was used successfully by Dr. Orne, of Salem, Massa- chusetts, in cases of epilepsy, attended with flatulence and gastric disorder. He directed two or three drachms of the pulverized root to be taken daily, for a long time, and a strong infusion of the leaves to be drunk at bed-time. (Thatcher's Dispensatory.) W. HEUCHERA. U.S. Secondary. Alum-root. " Heuchera cortusa, Michaux. Heuchera Americana, Willd. Radix. The root." U.S. Heuchera. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Saxifrageae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Petals five, small. Capsule bi-rostrate, bi- locular, many-seeded. Nuttall. Heuchera Americana. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1328; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 159.—H. cortusa. Michaux, Flor. Boreal. Am. i. 171.—H. viscida. Pursh, Flor. Am. Sept. p. 187. The alum-root or American sanicle is a peren- nial, herbaceous plant, the leaves of which are all radical, petiolate, cordate, with rounded lobes, furnished with obtuse mucronate teeth. There is no proper stem; but numerous scapes or flower-stems are sent up by the same 31 350 Heuchera.—Hirudo. part . root, from one to three feet in height, very hairy in their upper part, and terminating in long, loose, pyramidal, dichotomous panicles. The calyx is small, with obtuse segments; the petals lanceolate, rose-coloured, and of the same length with the calyx; the filaments much longer, yellowish, and sur- mounted by small, red, globose anthers. The whole plant is covered with a viscid pubescence. It is found in shady, rocky situations, from New England to Carolina, and flowers in June and July. The root is the medicinal portion. It is horizontal, somewhat compressed, knotty, irregular, yellowish, and of a strongly styptic taste. Medical Properties. Alum-root is powerfully astringent, and may be em- ployed in similar cases with other medicines belonging to the same class. It has hitherto, however, been little used. We are informed in Dr. Barton's " Collections," that it is applied by the Indians to wounds and obstinate ulcers, and that it is the basis of a powder which, when the author wrote, enjoyed some reputation as a cure for cancer. W. HIRUDO. Lond. The Leech. Off. Syn. HIRUDO MEDICINALIS. Dub. Sangsue, Fr.; Blutegel, Germ.; Mignatta, Ital.; Sauguijuela, Span. Hirudo. Class 1, Annelides. Order 3, Abranchiatee. Family 2, Aseti- gerae. Cuvier. The leech belongs to that class of invertebrated articulated animals called Annelides. This class contains the worms with red blood, having soft retractile bodies composed of numerous segments or rings, breathing gene- rally by means of branchiae, with a nervous system consisting in a double knotted cord, destitute of feet, and supplying their place by the contractile power of their segments or rings. The third order of this class—Abran- chiate—comprehends those worms which have no apparent external organ of respiration. This order is again divided into two families, to the second of which—the Asetigerse, or those not having setae to enable them to crawl— the leech belongs. It is an aquatic worm with a flattened body, tapering towards each end, and terminating in circular flattened discs, the hinder one being the larger of the two. It swims with a vertical undulating motion, and moves when out of the water by means of these discs or suckers, fastening itself first by one and then by the other, and alternately stretching out and contracting its body. The mouth is placed in the centre of the anterior disc, and is furnished with three cartilaginous lens-shaped jaws at the entrance of the alimentary canal. These jaws are lined at their edges with fine sharp teeth, and meet so as to make a triangular incision in the flesh. The head is furnished with small raised points, supposed by some to be eyes. Respiration is carried on through small apertures ranged along the inferior surface. The nervous system consists of a cord extending the whole length, furnished with nume- rous ganglions. The intestinal canal is straight and terminates in the anus, near the posterior disc. Although hermaphrodite, leeches mutually impreg- nate each other. They are oviparous, and the eggs, varying from six to fifteen, are contained in a sort of spongy, slimy coccoon, from half an inch to an inch in diameter. These are deposited near the e(.\ge of the water, part i. Hirudo. 351 and hatched by the heat of the sun. The leech is torpid during the winter, and casts off from time to time a thick slimy coating from its skin. It can live a considerable time in sphagnous moss, or in moistened earth, and is frequently transported in this manner to great distances by the dealers. Savigny has divided the genus Ilirudo of Linnaeus into several genera. The true leech is the Sanguisuga of this author, and is characterized by its three lenticular jaws, each armed with two rows of teeth, and by having ten ocular points. Several species are used for medicinal purposes, of which the most com- mon are the gray and the green leech of Europe, both of which are varieties of the Hirudo medicinalis of Linnaeus; and the Hirudo decora of this country. 1. Hirudo medicinalis. Linn. ed. Gmel. I. 3095.—Sanguisuga officinalis. Savigny, Mon. Hir. p. 112. t. b.f. 1. The green leech.—Sanguisuga medi- cinalis. Savigny, Mon. Hir. p. 114, t. 5./. 2. The gray leech. Many of the best zoologists regard the Sanguisuga officinalis and S. medicinalis of Savigny as mere varieties. They are both marked with six longitudinal dorsal ferruginous stripes, the four lateral ones being interrupted or tesse- lated with black spots. The colour of the back varies from a blackish to a grayish-green. The belly in the first variety is of a yellowish-green colour, free from spots, and bordered with longitudinal black stripes. In the second it is of a green colour, bordered and maculated with black. This leech varies from two to three or four inches in length. It inhabits marshes and running streams, and is found abundantly throughout Europe. The great use made of leeches in the modern practice of medicine has occasioned them to become a considerable article of commerce. They are collected in Spain, France, Italy, and Germany, and carried in large numbers to London and Paris. They are also frequently brought to this country, as the practitioners in some of our large cities use only the foreign leech, al- though our own waters furnish an inexhaustible supply of this useful worm. 2. Himdo decora. Say, Major Long's Second Expedition, ii. 268. The medicinal leech of America has been described by Say under the name of Hirudo decora, in the Appendix to the Second Expedition of Major Long. Its back is of a deep pistachio green colour, with three longitudinal rows of square spots. These spots are placed on every fifth ring, and are twenty- two in number. The lateral rows of spots are black, and the middle range of a light brownish-orange colour. The belly is of the same colour, vari- ously and irregularly spotted with black. The American leech sometimes attains the length of four or five inches, although its usual length is from two to three. It does not make so large and deep an incision as the European leech, and draws less blood. The use of the indigenous leech is nearly restricted to the city of Phila- delphia. The practitioners of New York and Boston depend for their sup- plies upon foreign countries, and leeching is seldom resorted to in the south- ern or western states. Those which are used in Philadelphia are generally bro1 ght from Bucks and Berks county in Pennsylvania, and occasionally from other parts of the Slate. It is estimated that from 200,000 to 250,000 are annually consumed. The proper preservation of leeches is an object of importance to the prac- titioner, as they are liable to great and sudden mortality. They are usually kept in jars in clear water, which should be changed twice or three times a week. The jar must be covered with a linen cloth, and placed in a situa- tion not liable to sudden changes of temperature. They will live a long time, and continue active and healthy, without any other attention than that 352 Hirudo. part i. of frequently changing the water in which they are kept. M. Derheims has proposed the following excellent method of preserving them. In the bottom of a large basin or trough of marble he places a bed, six or seven inches deep, of a mixture of moss, turf, and fragments of wood. He strews pebbles above, so as to retain them in their place without com- pressing them too much, or preventing the water from freely penetrating them. At one end of the trough, and about mid-way of its height, is placed a thin slab of marble or earthenware, pierced with numerous holes and covered with a bed of moss, which is compressed by a thick layer of peb- bles. The reservoir being thus disposed is half filled with water, so that the moss and pebbles on the shelf shall be kept constantly moist. The basin is protected from the light by a linen cover stretched over it. By this arrangement the natural habits of the leech are not counteracted. One of these habits, essential to its health, is that of drawing itself through the moss and roots to clear its body from the slimy coat which forms on its skin, and is a principal cause of its disease and death. Medical Uses.—Leeches afford the least painful, and in many instances the most effectual means for the local abstraction of blood. They are often applicable to parts which, either from their situation, or their great tender- ness when inflamed, do not admit of the use of cups; and in the cases of infants, are, under all circumstances, preferable to this instrument. They are indeed a powerful therapeutic agent, and give to the physician in many instances, a control over disease which he could obtain in no other way. Their use is in great measure restricted to the treatment of local inflamma- tions; and, as a general rule, they should not be resorted to until the force of the circulation has been diminished by bleeding from the arm, or in the natu- ral progress of the complaint. In applying leeches to the skin, care should be taken to shave off the hair, if there be any, and to have the part well cleansed with soap and water, and afterwards with pure water. If the leech does not bite readily, the skin should be moistened with a little blood, or milk and water. Sometimes the leech is put into a large quill open at both ends, and applied with the head to the skin until it fastens itself, when the quill is withdrawn. If it be de- sirable that the leech shall bite in a particular spot, this end may be attained by cutting a small hole in a piece of blotting paper, and then applying this moistened to the skin, so that the hole shall be immediately over the spot from which the blood is to be taken. Leeches continue to draw blood until they are gorged, when they drop off. The quantity of blood which they will draw varies according to the part to which they are applied, and the degree of inflammation existing in it. In the loose and vascular textures they will abstract more than in those which are firm and compact, and more from an inflamed than a healthy part. As a general rule, our leechers apply six for every fluidounce of blood. A single European leech will draw from half an ounce to an ounce. The quantity may often be much increased by bathing the wound with warm water. Leeches will continue to suck after their tails are cut off, which is sometimes done, although it is a barbarous practice. They may be separated from the skin at any time by sprinkling a little salt upon them. After they drop off the same application will make them disgorge the blood they have swallowed. Some leechers draw the leeches from the tail to the head through their fingers, and thus squeeze out the blood, after which all that is necessary is to put them in clean water and change it frequently. Leeches which are gorged with blood should be kept in a vessel by themselves, as they are more subject to disease, and often PART I. Hirudo—Hordeum. 353 occasion a great mortality among the others. They should not be again used until they have recovered their activity. In cases where the bleeding from leech-bites continues longer than is de- sirable, it may be stopped by continued pressure, with the application of lint, or by touching the wounds with lunar caustic* It may sometimes be necessary, in the case of a deep bite, to sew the wound, which is readily done with a single stitch of the needle that need not penetrate deeper than the cutis. D. B. S. HORDEUM. U.S., Lond. Barley. " Hordeum distichon. Semina decorticata. The seeds decorticated." U.S. " Hordeum distichon. Semina intezumentis nudata." Lond. Off. Syn. HORDEI DISTICHI SEMINA. Semina decorticata. Ed.; HORDEUM DISTICHON. Semina decorticata. Dub. Orge, Fr.; Gerstengraupen, Germ; Orzo, Ital.; Cebada, Span. Hordeum. Sex. Syst. Triandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Gramineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx lateral, two-valved, one-flowered, three-fold. Willd. Several species of Hordeum are cultivated in different parts of the world. The most common are the H. vulgare, and the H. distichon, both of which have been introduced into the United States. 1. Hordeum vulgare. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 472; Loudon's Encyc. of ' Plants, p. 73. The culm or stalk of common barley is from two to four feet in height, fistular, and furnished with alternate, sheathing, lanceolate, roughish, and pointed leaves. The flowers are all perfect, and arranged in a close terminal spike, the axis of which is dentate, and on each tooth sup- ports three sessile flowers. The calyx or outer chaff has two valves. The corolla or inner chaff is also composed of two valves, of which the exterior is larger than the other, and terminates in a long rough, serrated awn or beard. The seeds are arranged in four rows. 2. H. distichon. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 473; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 73. This species is distinguished by its flat spike or ear, which on each flat side has a double row of imperfect or male florets without beards, and on each edge, a single row of bearded perfect or hermaphrodite florets. The seeds therefore are in two rows, as indicated by the specific name of the plant. The original country of the cultivated barley is unknown. The plant . has been found growing wild in Sicily, and various parts of the interior of Asia; but it may have been introduced into these places. The H. vulgare is said by Pursh to grow in some parts of the United States, apparently in a wild state. The seeds are used in various forms. 1. In their natural state they are oval, oblong, pointed at one end, obtuse at the other, marked with a longitudinal furrow, of a yellowish colour exter- nally, white within, having a faint odour when in mass, and a mild sweetish taste. They contain, according to Proust, in 100 parts, 32 of starch, 3 of gluten, 5 of sugar, 4 of gum, 1 of yellow resin, and 55 of hordein, a prin- ciple closely analogous to lignin. Berzelius suggests that hordein may be * A little cotton, impregnated with a saturated solution of alum, will sometimes be found an effectual application. 31» 354 Hordeum. part i. an intimate mixture of vegetable fibre with gluten and starch, which are very difficultly separable as they exist in this grain. Einhoff found in 100 parts, 67.18 of starch, 5.21 of uncrystallizable sugar, 4.62 of gum, 3.52 of gluten, 1.15 of albumen, 0.24 of phosphate of lime, and 7.29 of vegetable fibre; the remainder being water and loss. 2. Malt consists of the seeds made to germinate by warmth and moisture, and then baked so as to deprive them of vitality. By this process the sugar, starch, and gum are increased at the expense of the hordein, as shown by the analysis of Proust, who found in 100 parts of malt, 56 of starch, 1 of gluten, 15 of sugar, 15 of gum, 1 of yellow resin, and only 12 of hordein. Berzelius attributes the diminution of the hordein to the separation, during germination, of the gluten or starch from the fibrous matter with which he supposes them to be associated in that substance. It is in the form of malt that barley is so largely consumed in the manufacture of malt liquors. An interesting substance called diastase has been discovered by MM. Payen and Persoz in the seeds of barley, oats, and wheat, and in the potato. It is found, however, only after these have undergone germination, of which process it appears to be a product. Germinated barley seldom contains it in larger proportion than two parts in a thousand. It is obtained by bruising freshly germinated barley, adding about half its weight of water, expressing strongly, treating the viscid liquid thus obtained with sufficient alcohol to destroy its viscidity, then separating the coagulated albumen, and adding a fresh portion of alcohol, which precipitates the diastaste in an im- pure state. To render it pure, it must be redissolved as often as three times in water, and precipitated by alcohol. It is solid, white, tasteless, soluble in water and weak alcohol, but insoluble in the latter fluid in a concentrated state. Though without action upon gum and sugar, it has the extraordinary property, when mixed, in the proportion of only one part to 200, with starch suspended in water, and maintained at a temperature of about 160°, of con- verting this principle into dextrine and the sugar of grapes. The whole of the starch undergoes this change, with the exception of the teguments of the granules, amounting to about 4 parts in 1000. (Thenard, Traite de Chim. 6me ed. iv. 603.) 3. Hulled barley is merely the grain deprived of its husk, which, accord- ing to Einhoff, amounts to 18.75 parts in the hundred. 4. Barley meal is formed by grinding the seeds previously deprived of their husk. It has a grayish-white colour, and contains, according to Four- croy and Vauquelin, an oleaginous substance, sugar, starch, azotized matter, acetic acid, phosphate of lime and magnesia, silica, and iron. It may be made into a coarse, heavy, hard bread, which in some countries is much used for food. 5. Pearl barley—hordeum perlatum—is the seed deprived of all its in- vesunents, and afterwards rounded and polished in a mill. It is in small round or oval grains, having the remains of the longitudinal furrow of the seeds, and of a pearly whiteness. It is wholly destitute of hordein, and abounds in starch, with some gluten, sugar, and gum. This is the proper officinal form of barley, and is kept in the shops almost to the exclusion of the others. Medical Properties. Barley is one of the mildest and least irritating of farinaceous substances; and, though not medically used in its solid state, forms by decoction with water, a drink admirably adapted to febrile and in- flammatory complaints, and much employed from the limes of Hippocrates and Galen to the present. Pearl barley is the form usually preferred for the preparation of the decoction, though the hulled grain is sometimes used, and part i. Humulus. 355 malt affords a liquor more demulcent and nutritious, and therefore better adapted to cases of disease which require a supporting treatment. (See Decoctum Hordei.) The decoction of malt may be prepared by boiling from two to four ounces in a quart of water and straining the liquor. When hops are added, the decoction takes the name of wort, and acquires tonic properties, which render it useful in debilitated conditions of the system, especially those which attend the suppurative process. Off. Prep. Decoctum Hordei, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Decoctum Hor- dei Compositum, Lond., Dub. W. HUMULUS. U.S. Hops. " Humulus lupulus. Strobili. The strobiles." U.S. Off. Syn. LUPULUS. Humulus Lupulus. Strobili exsiccati. Lond.; HUMULI LUPULI STROBILI, Ed.; HUMULUS LUPULUS. Stro- bili siccati. Dub. Houblon, Fr.; Hopfen, Germ.; Luppolo, Ital.; Lupulo, Hombrecillo, Span. Humulus. Sex. Syst. Dioecia Pentandria.—Nat. Ord. Urticeae. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx five-leaved. Corolla none. Female. Calyx one- leafed, obliquely spreading, entire. Corolla none. Styles two. Seed one, within a leafy calyx. PPil/d. Humulus Lupulus. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 769; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 163. The root of the hop is perennial, and sends up numerous annual, angular, rough, flexible stems, which twine around neighbouring objects in a spiral direction, from left to right, and climb to a great height. The leaves are opposite, and stand upon long footstalks. The smaller are sometimes cordate; the larger have three or five lobes; all are serrate, of a deep green colour on the upper surface, and, together with the petioles, extremely rough, with minute prickles. At the base of the footstalks are two or four smooth, ovate, reflexed stipules. The flowers are numerous, axillary, and furnished with bractes. The male flowers are yellowish-white, and arranged in pani- cles; the female, which grow on a separate plant, are pale green, and dis- posed in solitary, peduncled aments, composed of membranous scales, ovate, acute, and tubular at the base. Each scale bears near its base, on its inner surface, two flowers, consisting of a roundish compressed germ, and two styles, with long filiform stigmas. The aments are converted into ovate membranous cones or strobiles, the scales of which contain each at their base two small seeds, surrounded by a yellow, granular, resinous powder. The hop is a native of North America and Europe. It is occasionally found growing wild in the Eastern States, and, according to Mr. Nuttall, is abundant on the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri. In New England it is extensively cultivated, and most of the hops consumed in the United States, are supplied by that district of country. The part of the plant used, as well in the preparation of malt liquors as in medicine, is the fruit or stro- biles. These when fully ripe are picked from the vine, dried by artificial heat, packed in bales, and sent into the market, under the name of hops. They consist of numerous thin, translucent, veined, leaf-like scales, which are of a pale greenish-yellow colour, and contain near their base two small, round, black seeds. Though brittle when quite dry, they are pulverized with great difficulty. Their odour is strong, peculiar, somewhat narcotic, S56 Humulus. PART I. and fragrant; their taste very bitter, aromatic, and slightly astringent. Their aroma, bitterness, and astringency are imparted to water by decoction; but the first mentioned property is dissipated by long boiling. The most active part of hops is a substance secreted by the scales, and in the dried fruit existing upon their surface in the form of a fine powder. This substance was called lupulin by the late Dr. A. W. Ives, of New York, by whom its proper- ties were first investigated, and made generally known; though it appears to have been previously noticed by Sir J. E. Smith of England, and M. Planche of France. It enters into the officinal catalogue of the United States Pharmacopoeia. The scales themselves, however, are not destitute of virtues, and contain, as shown by MM. Payen and Chevallier, the same active principles as the powder upon their surface, though in smaller pro- portion. Lupulina. Lupulin, U. S. This is obtained separate by rubbing or threshing and sifting the strobiles, of which it constitutes from one-sixth to one-tenth by weight. It is in the state of a yellowish powder, mixed with minute particles of the scales, from which it cannot be entirely freed when procured by a mechanical process. It has the peculiar flavour of hops, and appeared to MM. Lebaillif and Raspail, when examined by the micro- scope, to consist of globules filled with a yellow matter, resembling in this respect the pollen of vegetables. It is inflammable, and when moderately heated becomes somewhat adhesive. MM. Chevallier and Payen obtained from 200 parts, 105 of resin, and 25 of a peculiar bitter principle, besides volatile oil, gum, traces of fixed oil, a small quantity of an azotized sub- stance, and various salts. Dr. Ives found in 120 grains, 5 of tannin, 10 of extractive, 11 of bitter principle, 12 of wax, 36 of resin, and 46 of lignin. The virtues of the powder probably reside in the volatile oil and bitter, prin- ciple, and are readily imparted to alcohol. By boiling in water the bitter- ness is extracted, but the aroma is partially driven off. It has been proposed, with reason, to restrict the name lupulin to the bit- ter substance discovered both in the powder and the scales, as this is in all probability the peculiar active principle of the plant. In a state of purity, it is yellowish or orange-yellow, inodorous at common temperatures, but of the smell of hops when heated, of the peculiar bitter taste of hops, slightly soluble in water which takes up five per cent, of its weight, readily soluble in alcohol, almost insoluble in ether, neither acid nor alkaline in its reaction, and without nitrogen in its composition. It is scarcely affected by the weak acids or alkaline solutions, or by the metallic salts. Medical Properties and Uses. Hops are tonic and moderately narcotic, and have been highly recommended in diseases of general or local debility, associated with morbid vigilance, or other nervous derangement. They have some tendency to produce sleep and relieve pain, and may be used for these purposes in cases where opiates, from their tendency to constipate, or other cause, are inadmissible. Diuretic properties have also been ascribed to them, but are by no means very obvious. The complaints in which they have been found most useful are dyspepsia, and the nervous tremors, wake- fulness, and delirium of drunkards. Dr. Maton found the extract advan- tageous in allaying the pain of articular rheumatism. The medicine may be given in substance, infusion, tincture, or extract. From three to twenty grains are mentioned as the dose of the powder; but the quantity is too small to produce any decided effect; and this mode of administration is in fact scarcely ever resorted to. An infusion prepared from half an ounce of hops and a pint of boiling water, may be given in the dose of two fluidounces three or four times a day. The extract and tincture PART I. Humulus.—Hydrargyrum. 357 are officinal. (See Extractum Humuli Lupuli and Tinctura Humuli.) A pillow ot hops has been found useful in allaying restlessness and pro- ducing sleep, in cases of nervous derangement. They should be moistened witti some spirituous liquor previously to being placed under the head of the patient, in order to prevent their rustling noise. Fomentations with hops and cataplasms made by mixing them with some emollient adhesive sub- stance, are often beneficial in local pains and tumefaction. An ointment of the powder with lard is recommended by Mr. Freake as an application to cancerous sores, the pain of which it has relieved when other means have failed. All the effects of the preparations of hops may be obtained with greater certainty and convenience by the use of lupulin. The dose of this in sub- stance is from six to twelve grains, given in the form of pills, which may be made by simply rubbing the powder in a warm mortar till it acquires the consistence of a ductile mass, and then moulding it into the proper shape A tincture is directed by the United States Pharmacopoeia. (See Tinctura L,upulmae.) Lupulin may be incorporated with poultices, or formed into an AemselveB ' ^ ""^ eXlernally for the same PurPoses as the hops Off Prep Extractum Humuli Lupuli, Dub., Lond., Ed.y Infusum u2 us ura Humuli' u's" Lond" Ed" Dub-; Tinctura LuPu" ' ' " W. HYDRARGYRUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Mercury. Off. Syn. HYDRARGYRUS. Ed. noQsfASgutriur;ndakrfrcure'Vif argent' Fr>- auecksiiber> ""* M— This metal is found native, Combined with sulphur, united with silver, and in the form of chloride; but of all its combinations, the most abundan is the sulphuret, or native cinnabar. Its most important mines are found at Almaden m Spain, at Idna in Austria, in the Duchy of Deux Ponts, at Du- rasno in Mexico, near Azogue in New Granada, and near Huancavelica in Peru. It also occurs in the Philippine Islands and China. The most ancient and productive mine of mercury is that of Almaden, which is estimated to furnish six thousand quintals annually to commerce. Extraction. Nearly all the mercury consumed in medicine and the arts is obtained from the sulphuret or native cinnabar. It is extracted by two principal processes. According to one process the mineral is picked, pound- ed, and mixed with slaked lime. The mixture is then introduced into cast iron retorts which are placed in rows, one above the other, in an oblono- furnace, and connected with earthenware receivers, one-third full of water Heat bemg applied, the lime combines with the sulphur, forming sulphuret of calcium and sulphate of hme, while the mercury distils over, and is con- densed in the receivers. The other process is practised at Almaden in Spain. Here a square furnace is employed, the floor of which is pierced with many holes, tor the passage of the flame from the fireplace underneath At the upper and lateral part of the furnace, holes are made, which commu- nicate with several rows of aludels* which terminate in a small chamber J ^'"t1! arC a )inf °f P0t* Tr.aub°th 6nds' aDd Which admit °f being adjusted to one another, so as to form a sort of tube. s J 358 Hydrargyrum. part i. that serves both as condenser and receiver. The mineral having been picked by hand and pulverized, is kneaded with clay and formed into small masses which are placed on the floor of the furnace. The heat being ap- plied, the sulphur undergoes combustion, while the mercury, being volatil- ized, passes through the aludels to be condensed in the chamber. This process economizes fuel, but is wasteful of the mercury. A quintal ot mineral yields from six to ten ounces of the metal. Commercial History. Mercury is imported into this country generally in cylindrical iron bottles, called flasks, each containing 76£ pounds, and comes principally from the Atlantic ports of Spain, particularly Cadiz. A considerable portion also is received from the Austrian port of Trieste, from which it generally comes tied up in whole skins of white leather, forming bags, each containing 31 pounds, and four of which are usually packed to- gether with straw in a rough flattened keg. In both Spain and Austria, the produce of the quicksilver mines is a government monopoly. In Spain all the metal is brought from the mines to Seville, whence, after paying an export duty, it is carried by small vessels down the river Guadalquivir to Cadiz and Gibraltar, which are the chief places of its depot for foreign com- merce. The quantity imported into the United States varies in different years; but it appears by the Treasury returns that its value for the year ending in Sept. 1832, exceeded two hundred and sixty-three thousand dol- lars. A small portion of this only is consumed with us, the rest being ex* ported principally to Mexico, Chili, and China. Its principal consumption is caused by its employment in the extraction of silver and gold from its ores, and in the preparation of vermilion. In the United States it is con- sumed for making thermometers and barometers, for silvering looking-glasses, and for preparing various pharmaceutical compounds. Of late the home consumption has increased in consequence of its employment in the mining operations of the gold region of the Southern States. Properties. Mercury is a very brilliant liquid, of a silver-white colour, and without taste or smell. When perfectly pure it undergoes no alteration by the action of air or water, but, in its ordinary state, suffers a slight tar- nish. When heated to near the boiling point, it gradually combines with oxygen, and becomes converted into peroxide; but at the temperature of ebullition, it parts with the oxygen which it had absorbed, and is reduced again to the metallic state. Its sp. gr. is 13.5, and its equivalent number 202. Liquid at ordinary temperatures, it freezes at 39° below zero, and boils at 656°. When frozen, it forms a soft malleable solid. It is a good conductor of caloric and its specific heat is small. It is not attacked by muriatic acid, nor by cold sulphuric acid; but boiling sulphuric acid, or cold nitric acid dissolves it, generating either a persulphate or pernitrate, with the extrication, in the former case, of sulphurous acid, in the latter of nitric oxide becoming nitrous acid red fumes. Its combinations are numerous, and several of them constitute important medicines. It forms two oxides, two sulphurets, two chlorides, two iodides, and one cyanuret, all of which are officinal, and will be noticed elsewhere under separate heads. Both the oxides are capable of uniting with acids so as to form salts, of which the nitrate, sulphate, bisulphate, and acetate of the peroxide are officinal, or enter into officinal combinations. Mercury, as it occurs in commerce, is generally very pure; though occa- sionally it contains foreign metals, such as lead, bismuth, and tin. Mr. Brande informs us that in examining large quantities of this metal in the London market, he found it only in one instance intentionally adulterated. That which comes to the United States is also very pure. When impure, PART I. Hydrargyrum. 359 the metal has a dull appearance, easily tarnishes, is deficient in due fluidity and mobility, is not totally dissipated by heat, and when shaken in a phial soils or adheres to the glass. If agitated with dilute sulphuric acid, the adulterating metals become rapidly oxidized, and in this manner the mercury may in part be purified. Lead is detected by shaking the suspected metal with equal parts of acetic acid and water, and then testing the acid by sul- phate of soda, or iodide of potassium. The former will produce a white, the latter a yellow precipitate, if lead be present. Bismuth is discovered by dropping a nitric solution of the mercury, prepared without heat, into dis- tilled water, when the subnitrate of bismuth will precipitate. The solubility of the metal in nitric acid shows that tin is not present; and if sulphuretted hydrogen does not act upon muriatic acid previously boiled upon the metal, the absence of most other metals is indicated. Mercury may be purified, according to Berzelius, by digesting it with a small portion of nitric acid, or with a solution of bichloride of mercury (cor- rosive sublimate); whereby all the ordinary contaminating metals will be removed. This metal, however, is usually purified by distillation; and it is directed in the United States, Edinburgh, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias to be distilled for pharmaceutical use. (See Hydrargyrum Purificatum.) Medical Properties. Mercury, in its uncombined state, is deemed inert; but in a state of combination, it acts on the living system as a peculiar and universal stimulant. Its combinations exhibit certain general medical pro- perties and effects, which belong to the whole as a class; while each indi- vidual preparation is characterized by some peculiarity in its operation. Our business, in the present place, is to consider generally the physiological action of mercury, and the principles by which its administration should be regulated; while its effects, as modified in its different combinations, will more properly be noticed under the head of each preparation individually. Of the modus operandi of mercury, we know nothing except that it probably acts through the medium of the circulation, and that it possesses a peculiar alterative power over the vital functions, which enables it in many cases to subvert diseased actions by substituting its own in their stead. This alterative power is sometimes exerted, without being attended with any other vital phenomenon than the removal of the disease; while at other times it is attended with certain obvious effects, indicative of the agency of a potent stimulus. In the latter case, its operation is marked by a quickened circu- lation, with a frequent, jerking pulse, by an increased activity imparted to all the secretory functions, particularly those of the salivary glands and the liver, by an exaltation of nervous sensibility, and, in short, by a general excitement of the organic actions of the system. When its effects are no otherwise obvious than in the subversion of disease, its operation, though so slight and imperceptible as altogether to escape notice, may be presumed to be the same as when it produces obviously stimulating effects. When mercury acts insensibly as an alterative, there is not the least ap- parent disturbance of the circulation; but when it operates decidedly and obviously, it is very prone to let the brunt of its action fall upon the salivary glands, causing, in many instances, an immoderate flow of saliva, and con- stitutino* the condition denominated ptyalism or salivation. Under these circumstances, to the alterative effects of the mineral are added those of depletion and revulsion. In the saliva, discharged as a consequence of its action, mercury has been detected by chemical tests. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 625.) Occasionally its depletory action is exhibited in an increased se- cretion of urine, or an immoderate flow of the bile; and where ptyalism cannot be induced, and either of these secretions becomes considerably augmented, 360 Hydrargyrum. part i. he circumstance may be held as equally conclusive of the constitutional impression of the mercury, as if the mouth had been affected. Mercury has been used in almost all diseases, but too often empyrically, and without the guidance of any recognised therapeutic principle. Never- theless, its efficacy in certain classes of diseases is universally acknowledged. In functional derangement of the digestive organs, mercurials in minute doses exert a salutary operation, subverting the morbid action, and that too by its insensible alterative effect, without affecting the mouth. In these cases no decided disturbance of the vital functions takes place; but the alvine dis- charges, if clay-coloured, are generally restored to their natural hue, a certain proof that the remedy is stimulating the liver, and promoting the secretion of the bile. Indeed there is no fact better established in medicine, than that of the influence of the mercurial preparations over the hepatic system; and whether the liver be torpid and obstructed as in jaundice, or pouring out a redundancy of morbid bile as in melaena, its judicious use seems equally efficacious in unloading the viscus, and restoring its secretion to a healthy state. In the acute and chronic hepatitis of India it is considered almost a specific; but here its use must be generally preceded by bleeding, and car- ried to the extent of exciting ptyalism. In chronic inflammation of the mucous and serous membranes, when accompanied by a feeble condition of the system, the alterative effects of mercury are sometimes attended with much benefit. In many of these cases effusion has taken place; and under these circumstances the mercury often proves useful, by promoting the ab- sorption of the effused fluid, as well as by removing the chronic inflamma- tion on which the effusion depends. Hence it is that the remedy is often given with advantage in chronic forms of meningitis, bronchitis, pleuritis, pneumonia, dysentery, rheumatism, &c, and in hydrocephalus, hydrolhorax, ascites, and general dropsy. Mercury may also be advantageously resorted to in certain states of febrile disease. In some forms of the remittent fever of our own country, a par- ticular stage of its course is marked by a dry tongue, torpor of the bowels, scanty urine, and an arid slate of the surface. Here depletion by the lancet or leeches is often inadmissible, and the remedial measure most to be de- pended on is the judicious employment of mercury. It acts in such cases by increasing the-secretions, and promoting the action of the exhalent capil- laries, and, perhaps, by producing a new impression, incompatible with the action of the disease. In syphilitic affections, mercury has been held to be, until of late years, an indispensable specific. Of its mode of action in these affections we know nothing, except that it operates by substituting its own peculiar action for that of the disease. Without entering upon the question of the necessity or non-necessity of mercury in venereal complaints, as out of place in this work, we are free to admit that the discussion which has grown out of it has shown that this remedy has sometimes been unnecessarily resorted to in affections resembling syphilis, though of a different character; and that the disease in question ought to be treated less empyrically, and more on the general principles of combating morbid action occurring in other parts. Mercury also appears to exert a peculiar control over the morbid effects of lead; and hence in colica pictonum, it is accounted by some writers to act almost as a specific. For inducing the specific effects of mercury on the constitution, blue pill ot calomel is generally resorted to. In order to produce what we have called the insensible alterative effects of the metal, a grain or two of blue pill may be given in the twenty-four hours, or from a sixth to a fourth of a grain of PART I. Hydrargyrum. 361 calomel; or if a gentle ptyalism be our object, from three to five grains of the former, or a grain of the latter, two or three times a day. Where the bowels are peculiarly irritable, it is often necessary to introduce the metal by means of frictions with mercurial ointment; and where a speedy effect is desired, the internal and external use of the remedy may be simultaneously resorted to. The first observable effects of mercury in inducing ptyalism are a coppery taste in the mouth, a slight soreness of the gums, and an unpleasant sensa- tion in the sockets of the teeth when the jaws are firmly closed. Shortly afterwards the gums begin to swell, a line of whitish matter is seen along their edges, and the breath is infected with a peculiar and very disagreeable smell, called the mercurial fetor. The saliva at the same time begins to flow; and, if the affection proceeds, the gums, tongue, throat, and face are much swollen; ulcerations attack the lining membrane of the mouth and fauces; the jaws become excessively painful; the tongue is coated with a thick whitish fur; and the saliva flows in streams from the mouth. It occa- sionally happens, that the affection thus induced in the mouth proceeds to a dangerous extent, inducing extensive ulceration, gangrene, and even hemor- rhage; when it will demand the particular attention of the practitioner. The best remedies are the various astringent and detergent gargles, used suffi- ciently weak; as the parts are in a state of extreme susceptibility. In cases attended with swelling and protrusion of the tongue, the wash is best applied by injection, by means of a large syringe. We have found- lead-water among the best local applications in these cases; and dilute solutions of chloride of soda or of lime, while they correct the fetor and add to the com- fort of the patient, will be found to exert a curative influence on the ulcerated surfaces. In the foregoing observations we have described the ordinary effects of mercury; but occasionally, in peculiar constitutions, its operation is quite different, being productive of a dangerous disturbance of the vital functions. Mr. Pearson of London has given a detailed account of this occasional pecu- liarity in the operation of mercury in his work on the venereal disease. The symptoms which characterize it are a small frequent pulse, anxiety about the praecordia, pale and contracted countenance, great nervous agitation, and alarming general debility. Their appearance is the signal for discontinuing the mercury; as a further perseverance with it might be attended with fatal consequences. Mercury is also productive of a peculiar eruption on the skin, which will be found described by the systematic writers under the various names of hydrargyria, eczema mercuriale, and lepra mercurialis. Pharmaceutical Preparations. We shall close our account of mercury by presenting a tabular view of all the preparations containing this metal, to be found in the United States and British Pharmacopoeias. Mercury is officinal,— I. In the metallic state. Hydrargyrum Purificatum, U.S., Dub.; Hydrargyrus Purifi- catus, Ed. Emplastrum Hydrargyri, U.S., Lond., Ed. Emplastrum Ammoniaci cum Hydrargyro, Lond., Dub. Hydrargyrum, cum Calcis Carbonate, U.S.; Hydrargyrum cum Creta, Lond., Dub. Hydrargyrum cum Magnesia, Dub. Pilulae Hydrargyri, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Anglice, Blue pill. 32 362 Hydrargyrum. part i. Unguentum Hydrargyri, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Hy- drargyri Fortius, Lond.: Anglice, Mercurial ointment. Unguentum Hydrargyri Mitius, Lond., Dub. Ceratum Hydrargyri Compositum, Lond. Linimentum Hydrargyri Compositum, Lond. II. Protoxidized. (By the action of solution of potassa on calomel.) Hydrargyri Oxidum Nigrum, U.S.; Hydrargyri Oxydum Ni- grum, Dub'. (By the action of lime-water on calomel.) Hydrargyri Oxydum, Lond.; Oxidum Hydrargyri Cinereum, Ed. Unguentum Oxidi Hydrargyri Cinerei, Ed. III. Peroxidized. (By the action of heat and air.) Hydrargyri Oxydum Rubrum, Dub.; Anglice, Red precipitate per se. (By the action of nitric acid.) Hydrargyri Oxidum Rubrum, U.S.; Hydrargyri Nitrico-Oxy- dum, Lond.; Oxidum Hydrargyri Rubrum per Acidum Nitricum, Ed.; Hydrargyri Oxydum Nitricum, Dub.; Anglice, Red precipitate. Unguentum Hydrargyri Oxidi Rubri, U.S.; Unguentum Hy- drargyri Nitrico-Oxydi, Lond.; Unguentum Oxidi Hy- drargyri Rubri, Ed.; Unguentum Hydrargyri Oxydi Nitrici, Dub. (Obtained by precipitation.) Hydrargyri Binoxydum, Lond. IV. Sulphuretted. Hydrargyri Sulphuretum Nigrum, U.S., Dub.; Hydrargyri Sulphuretum cum Sulphure, Lond.; Sulphuretum Hy- drargyri Nigrum, Ed. Hydrargyri Sulphuretum Rubrum, U.S., Dub.; Hydrargyri Bisulphuretum, Lond.; Sulphuretum Hydrargyri Ru- brum, Ed. V. As a protochloride. (Obtained by sublimation.) Hydrargyri Chloridum Mite, U.S.; Hydrargyri Chloridum, Lond.; Sub-Murias Hydrargyri-Mitis, sive Calomelas, Ed.; Calomelas Sublimatum, Dub.; Anglice, Calomel. Pilulae Catharlicae Compositae, U.S. Pilulae Hydrargyri Chloridi Mitis, U.S. Pilulae Hydrargyri Chloridi Compositae, Lond.; Pilulae Sub-Muriatis Hydrargyri Compositae, Ed.; Pilulae Ca- lomelanos Compositae, Dub. (Obtained by precipitation.) Calomelas Praeeipitatum, Dub.; Sub-Murias Hydrargyri Praeci- pitatus, Ed. VI. As a bichloride. Hydrargyri Chloridum Corrosivum, U.S.; Hydrargyri Bichlo- ridum, Lond.; Murias Hydrargyri Corros'ivus, Ed.; Hydrargyri Murias Corrosivum, Dub.; Anglice, (cor- rosive sublimate. Liquor Hydrargyri Bichloridi, Lond. Hydrargyrum.—Hyoscyamus. 363 Hydrargyrum Ammoniatum," U.S.; Hydrargyri Ammonio- Chloridum, Lond.; Hydrargyri Submurias Ammonia- turn, Dub.; Anglice, White precipitate. Unguentum Hydrargyri Ammoniati, U.S.; Unguentum Hydrargyri Ammonio-Chloridi, Lond.; Unguentum Hy- drargyri Submuriatis Ammoniati, Dub. VII. Combined with iodine. Hydrargyri Iodidum, Lond. Pilulae Hydrargyri Iodidi, Lond. Unguentum Hydrargyri Iodidi, Lond. Hydrargyri Biniodidum, Lond. Unguentura Hydrargy« Biniodidi, Lond. VIII. Combined with cyanogen. Hydrargyri Cyanuretum, U.S., Dub.; Hydrargyri Bicyanidum, IX. Oxidized and combined with Acids. Hydrargyri Acetas, Dub.; Acetas Hydrargyri, Ed. Hydrargyri Persulphas, Dub. Hydrargyri Sulphas Flavus, U.S.; Sub-Sulphas Hydrargyri Fla- ™S\E?A; Hydrargyri Oxydum Sulphuricum, Dub.; An- glice, Purpeth mineral. Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitratis, U.S., Lond.; Unguentum Ni- tratis Hydrargyri Fortius, Ed.; Unguentum Hydrargy- ri Nitratis, vel Unguentum Citrinum, Dub.; Anglice, Citrine ointment. Unguentum Nitratis Hydrargyri Mitius, Ed. B —~"*©@©4«.— HYOSCYAMUS. U.S. Henbane. " Hyoscyamus niger. Folia. The leaves." U S Off Syn. HYOSCYAMI FOLIA. HYOSCYAMI SEMINA Hyos cyamus niger. Folia. Semina. Lond.; HYOSCYAMI NIGRI HFRRA Ed.; HYOSCYAMUS NIGER. Folia. Dub. "UKBA. Jusquiame noire, Fr.; Schwarzes Bilsenkraut, Germ.; Giusquiamo nero, Ital; Beleno, Hyoscyamus. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Solaneae Gen. Ch. Corolla funnel-form, obtuse. Stamens inclined. ' Camules covered with a lid, two-celled. Willd. F Hyoscyamus niger. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1010; Woodv Med Bot 204. t. 76; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 161. Henbane is a biennial plant with a long, tapering, whitish, fleshy, somewhat branching root, bearine considerable resemblance to that of parsley, for which it has been eaten bv mistake. The stem is erect, round, branching, from one to three feet in height, and thickly furnished with leaves. These are large, oblong ovate deeply sinuated, with pointed segments, undulated, soft to the touch and at their base embrace the stem. The upper leaves are generally entire Both the stem and leaves are hairy, viscid, and of a sea-green colour The flowers form long, one-sided, leafy spikes, which terminate the branches and hang downwards. They are composed of a calyx with five pointed di- 364 Hyoscyamus. part I. visions, a funnel-shaped corolla, with five unequal, obtuse segments at the border, five stamens inserted into the tube of the corolla, and a pistil with a blunt, round stigma. Their colour is an obscure yellow, beautifully varie- gated with purple veins. The fruit is a globular two-celled capsule, covered with a lid, invested with the persistent calyx, and containing numerous small, irregular, brown or ash-coloured seeds, which are discharged by the horizontal separation of the lid. The whole plant has a rank offensive smell. This species of Hyoscyamus is found in the northern and eastern sec- tions of the United States, occupying waste grounds in the vicinity of the older settlements, particularly graveyards, old gardens, and the foundations of ruined houses. We have seen a specimen brought from the ruins of Ticonderoga. It is rare, however, in this country, of which it is not a native, having been introduced from Europe. In Great Britain, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe, it grows abundantly along the roads, around villages, amidst rubbish, and in uncultivated places. It flowers in June and July. The H. albus, so named from the whiteness of its flowers, is used in France indiscriminately with the former species, which it resembles exactly in medicinal properties. All parts of the Hyoscyamus niger are possessed of activity. The leaves only are considered officinal in the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and Dublin; the leaves and seed have been adopted by the London College; and the whole herb by the College of Edinburgh. Much of the efficacy of henbane depends upon the time at which it is gathered. The leaves should be collected soon after the plant has flowered. Those of the second year are asserted by Mr. Houlton to be greatly preferable to those of the first. The latter, he informs us, are less clammy and fetid, yield less extractive matter, and are medicinally much less efficient. As the plant is sometimes destroyed by the severe winters in England, no leaves of the second year's growth are obtainable, and the market is on these occasions supplied with the medicine of inferior quality. This is, perhaps, one of the causes of its great inequality of strength, and uncertainty of operation. (See N. Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. ii. p. 484.) The root also is said to be much more poisonous in the second year than the first. Properties. The recent leaves have, when bruised, a strong, disagreeable, narcotic odour, somewhat like that of tobacco. Their taste is mucilaginous, and very slightly acrid. When dried, they have little smell or taste. Thrown upon the fire, they burn with a crackling noise, as if they contained a nitrate, and at the same time emit a strong odour. Their virtues are completely extracted by diluted alcohol. The watery infusion is of a pale yellow colour, insipid, with the narcotic odour of the plant. The leaves have been analyzed by Lindbergsen, who obtained from them a narcotic principle. The seeds, analyzed by Brandes, yielded 24.2 per cent, of fixed oil, 1.4 of a solid fatty substance, traces of sugar, 1.2 of gum, 2.4 of bassorin, 1.5 of starch, 3.4 of a substance soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol, and precipitated by infusion of galls (phyteumacolla, Brandes), 4.5 of albumen soluble or coagu- lated, 26.0 of vegetable fibre, 24.1 of water, and 9.7 of saline matters, including an alkaline principle called hyoscyamin or hyoscyamia, combined with malic acid. But the process employed by Brandes for separating this principle, has not succeeded in other hands; and it is doubtful whether the substance obtained by that experimentalist was really what he supposed it to be. Geiger and Hesse were the first to demonstrate the existence of an organic alkali in hyoscyamus. Its extraction from the plant is somewhat PART I. Hyoscyamus. 365 difficult, in consequence of its strong tendency to undergo a change by the contact of alkaline solutions, which render it very soluble in water. The following is the process of the last mentioned chemists. The seeds of the plant are macerated in alcohol; the tincture thus obtained is evaporated by a very gentle heat, decolorized by repeated additions of lime and sulphuric acid, with filtration after each addition, and then still further concentrated by evaporation; an excess of powdered carbonate of soda is added, and the precipitate produced is separated, as speedily as possible, from the alkaline carbonate by expressing and treating it with absolute alcohol, while ihe mother waters are at the same time treated with ether; the alcoholic and ethereal liquors are united, again treated with lime, filtered, decolorized with animal charcoal, and evaporated by a very gentle heat. If the hyoscyamia now deposited should stiff be coloured, it will be necessary to combine it anew with an acid, and to treat as before, in order to obtain it quite pure. The product is very small. Hyoscyamia crystallizes in colourless, transparent, silky needles, which are without odour, of an acrid disagreeable taste, slightly soluble in water, very soluble in alcohol and ether, and volatilizable with little change if care- fully distilled. It is quickly altered by contact with water and an alkali, and when heated with potassa or soda is completely decomposed, with the disengagement of ammonia. It neutralizes the alkalies, forming with them cryslallizable salts. The infusion of galls precipitates it from its aqueous solution. Both the alkali and its salts are very poisonous; and the smallest quantity, introduced into the eye, produces a dilatation of the pupil, which continues for a long time. Medical Properties and Uses. Hyoscyamus ranks among the narcotics. In moderate quantities it gently accelerates the circulation, increases the general warmth, occasions a sense of heat in the throat, and after a short period induces sleep. This action is sometimes attended with vertigo, pain in the head, and dilated pupils; and the medicine occasionally acts as a diaphoretic or diuretic, and even produces a pustular eruption. It does not constipate like opium, but, on the contrary, often proves laxative. In over doses it powerfully irritates the alimentary canal and brain, giving rise to pain in the bowels, diarrhcea, delirium or stupor, convulsions, great arterial prostration, petechiae, and other alarming symptoms, which sometimes end in death. Dissection exhibits marks of inflammation of the stomach and bowels. The poisonous effects are best counteracted by emetics, and the subsequent use of acid drinks, such as lemon-juice and vinegar. Numerous instances might be adduced from authors to prove the deleterious influence of all parts of the H. niger, when taken in large quantities. Upon inferior animals its effects are not always the same. While it proves fatal to birds and dogs, the leaves are eaten with entire impunity by horses, cows, sheep, goats, and swine. It is not impossible that injury has in some cases resulted from the use of milk derived from cows or goats which had been feeding on henbane. The remedial operation of hyoscyamus is anodyne and soporific. The medicine was known to the ancients, and was employed by some of the earlier modern practitioners; but had fallen into disuse, and was almost for- gotten when Baron Storck again introduced it into notice. By this cele- brated physician and some of his successors it was prescribed in numerous diseases, and, if we may credit their testimony, with the happiest effects; but subsequent experience of its operation has been such as very much to narrow the extent of its application. It is at present used almost exclusively to relieve pain, procure sleep, or quiet irregular nervous action; and is not 32* 366 Hyoscyamus. part i. supposed to exercise any specific curative influence over particular diseases. Even for the purposes which it is calculated to answer, it is infinitely inferior to opium or its preparations; and is generally resorted to only in cases in which the latter remedy is from peculiar circumstances deemed inadmissible Hyoscyamus has one great advantage over opium in certain cases, that it has no tendency to produce constipation. The diseases to which it is appli- cable it would be useless to enumerate, as there are few complaints in which circumstances might not be such as to call for its employment. Neuralgic and spasmodic affections, rheumatism, gout, hysteria, and various pectoral diseases, as catarrh, pertussis, asthma, phthisis, &c. are among those in which it is most frequently prescribed. In Europe, where the fresh leaves are readily obtained, it is often applied externally in the shape of lotion, cataplasm, or fomentation to allay pain and irritation, in scrofulous or can- cerous ulcers, scirrhous, hemorrhoidal, or other painful tumours, gouty and rheumatic swellings, and nervous headach. The smoke of the leaves or seeds has also been used in toothach; but the practice is deemed hazardous. The effect of henbane in dilating the pupil, when applied to the conjunctiva, has already been noticed. For this purpose it is used by European oculists, pre- viously to the operation for cataract. An infusion of the leaves, or a solu- tion of the extract is dropped into the eye. The effect is usually greatest at the end of four hours from the time of application, and in twelve hours ceases entirely. Vision is not impaired during its continuance. Reisinger recommends for this purpose a solution of hyoscyamia in the proportion of one grain to twenty-four of water, of which one drop is to be applied to the eye. Henbane may be given in substance, extract, or tincture. The dose of ihe powdered leaves is from five to ten grains. The extract is exceedingly variable and precarious in its operation, being sometimes active, sometimes almost inert. The usual dose is one or two grains, repeated and gradually increased till the desired effect is obtained. CuUen rarely procured the ano- dyne operation of the medicine till he had carried the dose to eight, ten, or even fifteen or twenty grains. Collin pushed it to thirty-six grains; and Professor Fouquier, who experimented largely with hyoscyamus in the H6- pital de la Charite, gave two hundred and fifty grains of the extract during twenty-four hours, without any specific or curative impression. (Richard, Elem. Hist. Nat. Med.) The extract here alluded to is the inspissated juice, prepared as directed by the Pharmacopoeias. (See Extractum Hy- oscyami.) , It is said by the French writers that the alcoholic extract, as prepared by M. Planche, is more certain and effectual. He directs one part of the plant to be macerated with four parts of alcohol for four days; three-fourths of the alcohol is then to be distilled, and the remaining fourth evaporated by a salt- water bath till the residue assumes the consistence of an extract. The pre- paration thus made has a fine green colour, and preserves the odour of the plant. The dose to begin with is one or two grains, which may be increased gradually to twenty or even thirty grains. The dose of the tincture is one or two fluidrachms. A good plan in ad- ministering any of the preparations of hyoscyamus is to repeat the dose every hour or two till its influence is felt. Off. Prep. Extractum Hyoscyami, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Hyoscyami, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. Hyssopi Officinalis Herba.—IchthygcoUa. 367 HYSSOPI OFFICINALIS HERBA. Ed. Common Hyssop. Hyssope, Fr.; Gemeiner Isop, Germ.; Issopo, Ital; Hisopo, Span. Hvssopus Sex Syst. Didynamia Gymnospermia.-iV«f. Ord. Labiataa. Gen. Ch. Corolla lower lip three-parted, with a small intermediate sub- crenate segment. Stamens straight, distant. Willd topics officinalis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 47; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. u u \ 1S a Perennial Plant> with numerous erect, quadranaular, somewhat branching stems which are woody in their inferior portion, aboul two feet high, and furnished with opposite, sessile, lanceolate linear, pointed, punctate leaves. The flowers are violet coloured or blue, sometimes white turned chiefly to one side, and arranged in half verticillated, terminal, leafy spikes. The upper lip of the corolla is roundish and notched at the apex, the lower is divided into three segments, of which the undermost is obovate. Common hyssop is a native of the continent of Europe, where, as well as in this country, it is also cultivated in gardens. The flowering summits and leaves are the officinal parts. They have an agreeable aromatic odour, and a warm, pungent, bitterish. taste. These properties they owe to an essential oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation with water, and rises also with alcohol. Medical Properties, %c. Hyssop is a warm gently stimulant aromatic, applicable to the same cases with the other labiate plants. Its infusion has been much employed in chronic catarrhs, especially in old people, and those of debilitated habit of body. It acts by facilitating the expectoration of the mucus which is too abundantly secreted. In this country, however, it is very seldom used by regular practitioners. W ICHTHYOCOLLA. U.S. lass. Isinglc " Acipenser huso, et Acipenser Ruthenus. Vesica natatoria. The swim- ming bladder." U.S. Fish-glue; Ichthyocolle, colle de poisson, Fr.; Hausenblase, Fischleim, Germ.; Colla di pesce, Ital.; Cola de pescado, Span. Isinglass is a gelatinous substance, prepared chiefly from the sounds or swimming bladders of fishes, especially those of different species of stur- geon. Though no longer retained by any of the British Colleges in their officinal catalogues, it still has a place in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, and being universally kept in the shops, requires at least a brief notice in the present work. In most fishes there is a membranous bag, placed in the anterior part of the abdomen, communicating frequently, though not always, by means of a duct, with the oesophagus or stomach, and containing usually a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen gases in various proportions. From the supposition that it was intended by its expansion or contraction to enable the fish to rise or sink in the water, it has been denominated swimming bladder. It is of different shape in different fishes, and consists of three coats, of which the two interior are thin and delicate, the outer tough and of a silvery whiteness. 363 Ichthyocolla. part i. The Acipenser Huso or beluga of the Russians, and the A. Ruthenus or sterlet, are designated by the Pharmacopoeia as the species of sturgeon from which isinglass is procured; but two others, the A. Sturio or common stur- geon, and A. stellatus, or starred sturgeon, also furnish large quantities to commerce. All these fish inhabit the interior waters of Russia, especially the Wolga, and other streams which empty into the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities are annually taken and consumed as food by the Russians. The air-bags are removed from the fish, and having been slit open and washed in water in order to separate the blood, fat, and adhering extraneous mem- branes, are spread out, and when sufficiently stiffened, are formed into cylin- drical rolls, the ends of which are brought together and secured by pegs. The shape given to the roll is that of a staple, or more accurately that of a lyre, which it firmly retains when dried. Thus prepared it is known in commerce by the name of staple isinglass, and is distinguished into the long and short staple. Sometimes the membranes are dried in a flat state, or simply folded, and then receive the name of leaf ox book isinglass. The scraps or fragments of these varieties, with various other parts of the fish, are boiled in water, which dissolves the gelatin, and upon evaporation leaves it in a solid state. This is called cake isinglass, from the shape which it is made to assume. It is sometimes, however, in globular masses. Of these varieties the long staple is said to be the best; but the finest book isinglass is not surpassed by any brought to this country. That in cakes is brownish, of an unpleasant odour, and employed only in the arts. Inferior kinds, with the same commercial titles, are said to be prepared from the peritoneum and intestines of the fish. Isinglass little inferior to the Russian is made in Iceland from the sounds of the cod and ling. We receive from Brazil the air-bladders of a large fish, prepared by dry- ing them in their distended state. They are oblong, tapering and pointed at one end, bifid with the remains of their pneumatic duct at the other, and of a firm consistence. Isinglass of good quality is now obtained in New York from the weak fish—Labrus Squetague of Mitchell—and perhaps others caught in the neighbourhood. The sounds are dried whole, or merely slit open, and vary much in size and texture, weighing from a drachm up to an ounce. Another kind, of inferior quality, is prepared in New-England, from the intestines of the Gadus Morrhua or cod-fish. It is in the form of thin rib- bands, several feet in length, and from an inch and a half to two inches in width. It has been used to a considerable extent in this country; but is less soluble than the Russian, and affords a dark coloured solution.* Isinglass is sometimes kept in the shops cut into fine shreds, and is thus more easily acted on by boiling water. In its purest form it is whitish, semi-transparent, of a shining, pearly ap- pearance, and destitute of smell and taste. The inferior kinds are yellowish and more opaque. In cold water it softens, swells up, and becomes opales- cent. Boiling water entirely dissolves it, with the exception of a minute proportion of earthy impurities, amounting, according to" Mr. Hatchet, to less than two parts in the hundred. The solution on cooling assumes the form of a jelly, which consists of pure gelatin and water. Isinglass is in * See a paper on Ichthyocolla by Daniel B. Smith in the Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. III. 17 and 92, from which we have derived the facts in relation to American kinglass; also a communication from Dr. J. V. C. Smith of Boston, in the same Journal, VI. 12. PART I. Ichthyocolla.—Inula. 369 fact the purest form of gelatin with which we are acquainted, and may be used whenever this principle is required as a test. It is insoluble in alcohol, but is dissolved readily by most of the diluted acids, and by the liquid alka- lies. It has a strong affinity for tannin, with which it forms an insoluble compound. Boiled with concentrated sulphuric acid, it is converted into a peculiar saccharine matter. Its aqueous solution speedily putrefies. Medical Properties and Uses. Isinglass has no peculiar medical proper- ties. It may be given internally, in the form of jelly, as a highly nutritious article of diet; but it has no advantages over the jelly prepared from calves- feet. Three drachms impart sufficient consistency to a pint of water. It is employed in the arts for clarifying liquors, and imparting lustre to various woven fabrics. Added in small quantities to vegetable jellies, it gives them a tremulous appearance, which they want when unmixed. As a test of tan- nin it is used in solution, in the proportion of a drachm to ten fluidounces of distilled water. It forms the basis of the English court-plaster. W. INULA. U.S. Secondary, Lond. Elecampane. " Inula helenium. Radix. The root." U.S. Off. Syn. INULA HELENIUM. Radix. Dub. Aunee, Fr.; Alantwurzel, Germ.; Enula campana. Ital, Span. Inula. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Co- rymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle naked. Seed-down simple. Anthers ending in two bristles at the base. Willd. Inula Helenium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 2089; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 64. t. 26. Elecampane has a perennial root, and an annual stem which is round, furrowed, villous, leafy, from three to six feet high, and branched near the top. The leaves are large, ovate, serrate, crowded with reticular veins, smooth and deep green upon the upper surface, downy on the under, and furnished with a fleshy midrib. Those which spring directly from the root are petiolate, those of the stem sessile and embracing. The flowers are large, of a golden yellow colour, and stand singly at the ends of the stem and branches. The calyx exhibits several rows of imbricated ovate scales. The florets of the ray are numerous, spreading, linear, and tridentate at the apex. The seeds are striated, quadrangular, and furnished with a simple somewhat chaffy pappus. This large and handsome plant is a native of Europe, where it is also cultivated for medical use. It has been introduced into our gardens, and has become naturalized in some parts of the country, growing in low mea- dows, and on the road sides, from New England to Pennsylvania. It flowers in July and August. The roots, which are the officinal part, should be dug up in autumn, and in the second year of their growth. When older they are apt to be stringy and woody. The fresh root of elecampane is very thick and branched, having whitish cylindrical ramifications which are furnished with thread-like fibres. It is externally brown, internally whitish and fleshy ; and the transverse sections present radiating lines. The dried root, as found in the shops, is usually in longitudinal or transverse slices, and of a grayish colour internally. The 370 Inula.—Iodinum. part i. smell is slightly camphorous, and, especially in the dried root, agreeably aromatic. The taste, at first glutinous and said to resemble that of rancid soap, becomes, upon chewing, warm, aromatic, and bitter. Its medical vir- tues are extracted by alcohol and water, the former becoming most strongly impregnated with its bitterness and pungency. A peculiar principle resem- bling starch was discovered in elecampane by Rose, a chemist of Berlin, who named it alantin; but the title inulin, proposed by Dr. Thomson, has been generally adopted. It differs from starch in being precipitated un- changed from its solution in boiling water when the liquor cools, and in not affording a blue colour with iodine. It has been found in the roots of several other plants. Besides this principle, elecampane contains, according to John, a white, concrete substance, called helenin, intermediate in its properties be- tween the essential oils and camphor, and separable by distillation with water; a bitter extractive, soluble in water and alcohol; a soft, acrid, bitter resin, having an aromatic odour when heated; gum; albumen; lignin; traces of volatile oil; a little wax; and various saline substances. Medical Properties and Uses. Elecampane is tonic and gently stimulant, and has been supposed to possess diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, and emmenagogue properties. By the ancients it was much employed, espe- cially in the complaints peculiar to females; and it is still occasionally resorted to in cases of retained or suppressed menstruation. In this country it is chiefly used in chronic diseases of the lungs, and is sometimes beneficial when the affection of the chest is attended with weakness of the digestive organs, or with general debility. From a belief in its deobstruent and diuretic virtues, it was formerly prescribed in chronic engorgements of the abdominal viscera, and the dropsy to which they so often give rise. It has also been highly recommended both as an internal and external remedy in tetter, psora, and other diseases of the skin. The usual modes of administration are in pow- der and decoction. The dose of the former is from a scruple to a drachm. The decoction may be prepared by boiling half an ounce of the root in a pint of water, and given in the dose of one or two fluidounces. Off. Prep. Confectio Piperis Nigri, Lond., Dub. W. IODINUM. U.S. Iodine. Off. Syn. IODINIUM. Lond., Dub. lode, Fr.; Iod, Germ.; Iodina, Ital, Span. Iodine was discovered in 1812 by Courtois, a soda manufacturer of Paris. Its nature was immediately investigated by Sir H. Davy and Gay-Lussac; but particularly by the latter, who presented to the scientific world a very complete chemical history of it, pointed out its analogy to chlorine, and showed the great probability of its simple nature. Its powers as a therapeu- tic agent were shortly afterwards tried; and these having been found valuable, it came into use with many practitioners. In 1826 it was introduced into the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, in 1830 into that of the United States, and in 1836 into that of the London College. As yet it has not been recognised as officinal by the Edinburgh College. v Natural State and Preparation. Iodine exists naturally in certain ma- rine vegetables, particularly the fuci or common sea-weeds; in the animal kingdom, in sponge, the oyster, various polypi, and other sea animals; and PART I. Iodinum. 371 in the mineral kingdom, in sea water in minute quantity, in certain salt springs, and united with silver in a rare Mexican mineral. It was first dis- covered in the United States in the water of the Congress Spring, at Sara- toga, by Dr. William Usher; and afterwards in the same water by Dr. J. II. Steel, who ascertained it to be in the state of iodide of sodium (hydrio- date of soda). (See p. 105, under Aqua.) It has also been detected in small quantity in the Kenhawa saline waters, by Professor Emmet of the Univer- sity of Virginia. In sea-weeds, according to Gaultier de Claubry, it exists in the state of iodide of potassium; and it is from the ashes of these that iodine is most readily obtained. Berzelius conceives the iodine to exist in these ashes as an iodide of sodium. In both England and France, sea-weeds are burnt for the sake of the carbonate of soda contained in their ashes. In England the incinerated product is called kelp, in France vareck; and it con- tains, besides carbonate of soda, the iodine which pre-existed in the weeds. The manner in which kelp is treated in order to obtain the iodine, is to act upon it with cold water, and to concentrate the solution obtained till a pellicle is formed, when it is allowed to crystallize. By this treatment, nearly all the carbonate of soda and chloride of sodium (common salt) are separated, and the uncrystallizable residue consists almost exclusively of a solution of iodide of potassium. This is then mixed in a retort with an excess of strong sulphuric acid, and, when the effervescence has ceased, with a portion of peroxide of manganese in fine powder. A receiver is now adapted to the retort, and heat applied. The sulphuric acid unites with the potassium, pre- viously converted into potassa by oxygen from the peroxide of manganese, and the iodine is disengaged, which, being driven over by the heat, is con- densed in the receiver. The process may be conducted without the manga- nese, in which case the potassium is oxidized at the expense of part of the sulphuric acid, which in consequence becomes converted into sulphurous acid; but the process conducted in this manner is less eligible than the other. The iodine as thus obtained is contaminated with some acid, and may be purified by washing it, and afterwards redistilling it from a weak solution of potassa. It may then be dried by pressing it between folds of bibulous paper, and must be kept in glass stoppered bottles, as corks are quickly corroded. Another process, lately reported by Bussy, is that of Barruel. In consists in precipitating the iodine from the mother waters of kelp by means of a stream of chlorine. The waters are evaporated to dryness, and the dry residue, previously intimately mixed with a tenth of its weight of peroxide of manganese, is calcined in an iron vessel at a low red heat, not sufficient to drive off the iodine, being at the same time frequently stirred. The sul- phurets and hyposulphites present are thus converted into sulphates, a change known to be complete, when a small portion of the calcined matter, tested by sulphuric acid, neither disengages sulphuretted hydrogen nor deposites sulphur. The calcined matter is now dissolved in water, and the solution, of a strength to mark 36° of the areometer, is subjected to a stream of chlo- rine, carefully avoiding an excess. The iodine is deposited as a black pow- der, which must be collected, and distilled from a glass retort, in order to obtain it in the crystalline slate, as found in commerce. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 233, from the Journ. de Pharm.) Properties. Iodine is a soft, friable, opaque, elementary solid, in the form of crystalline scale| of a blueish-black colour and metallic lustre. It possesses a strong and peculiar odour, analogous to that of chlorine, and an acrid taste. Applied to the skin, it produces an evanescent yellow stain. Its sp. gr. is a little less than 5; its fusing point, 225°; and boiling point, 347°. It is a vola- 372 lodinum. part i. tile substance, and evaporates even at common temperatures, provided it be in a moist state. As it occurs in commerce, it generally contains twelve per cent, of water. Its vapour his a rich purple colour, a property which sug- gested its name, and a sp. gr. of 8.7, being the heaviest aeriform substance known. When it comes in contact with cool surfaces, it condenses in bril- liant steel-gray crystals. Iodine is soluble in 7000 times its weight of water, and in a much smaller quantity of alcohol or ether. Its solution in the former has no taste, a feeble odour, and a light brown colour; in the latter, possesses a deep brown hue. Its solubility in water is very much increased by the addition of certain salts, as the chloride of sodium, nitrate of ammonia, or iodide of potassium. In chemical habitudes, it resembles chlorine; but its affinities are much weaker. Its equivalent number is 126.3. It combines with most of the non-metallic, and nearly all the metallic bodies, forming, when the combination is not acid, the class of compounds called iodides. Some of these, as the iodides of iron, mercury, lead, and potassium, are offi- cinal. It forms with oxygen, one oxide, and three acids, the iodous, iodic and periodic acid, and with hydrogen, a gaseous acid, analogous in proper- ties and constitution to the muriatic, called hydriodic acid. Iodine may, in most cases, be recognised by its characteristic pur*ple vapour; but where this cannot be made evident, it is detected unerringly by starch, which produces with it an insoluble combination of a deep blue colour. This test was discovered by Colin and Gaullier de Claubry, and, according to Stromeyer, is so delicate, that it will indicate the presence of iodine contained in 450,000 times its weight of water. In order that the test may succeed, the iodine must be in a free state, and the solutions cold. To render it free where it happens to be in saline combination, a little nitric acid must be added to the solution suspected to contain it. Iodine has been occasionally adulterated with mineral charcoal and perox- ide of manganese. The presence of these substances is easily discovered by exposing the suspected iodine to heat, when they will remain behind. Ano- ther impurity, seldom wanting in British iodine, is water, which, according to Dr. Christison, sometimes amounts to fifteen and even twenty per cent. The presence of some water can hardly be prevented; but when it consti- tutes so large a proportion as that just mentioned, its introduction must be the result either of carelessness or design. The water, indeed, does not change the medicinal qualities of the iodine; but its presence renders it of less value in commerce, and of variable activity under a given dose. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 119,/rww the Ed. Med. and Surg. Journ.) Medical Properties and Uses. Iodine was first employed as a medicine, for the cure of goitre, by Dr. Coindet of Geneva. It operates as a general excitant of the living actions, but particularly of the absorbent' and glandular systems; and is capable of producing very important alterative effects. It probably acts by entering into the circulation; at least it has been proved by Dr. A. Buchanan, of Glasgow, that it may enter a number of the secretions, and particularly the urine and saliva; not, however, as he believes, in an un- combined state, but in that of hydriodic acid. Its most constant effect is to excite the digestive organs, as shown by its increasing the appetite; and in some instances it proves powerfully diuretic. Salivation is occasionally in- duced by it, and this effect is more apt to occur in males than in females. Notwithstanding, it has been recommended as a remedy in cases of severe salivation, given in doses of two grains daily increased 1% four, in a vehicle composed of cinnamon water and simple syrup. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci., from Hufeland, xiii. 533.) When taken in an overdose it acts as an irri- tant poison. In doses of two drachms administered to dogs, it produced part i. lodmum. 373 irritation of the stomach, and death in seven days; and the stomach on dis- section was found studded with numerous little ulcers of a yellow colour. In a dose of from four to six grains in man, it produces a sense of constric- tion in the throat, sickness and pain at the stomach, and at length vomiting and colic. These facts demonstrate the activity of iodine, and show the necessity of caution in its exhibition. When given in incautious doses, or too long continued, it sometimes produces unpleasant and even dangerous symptoms; such as restlessness, palpitation, a sense of burning along the gullet, excessive thirst, acute pain in the stomach, vomiting and purging, violent cramps, rapid and extreme emaciation, and frequent pulse. But these results can only take place from great and culpable negligence on the part of the practitioner; for upon the appearance of the first symptoms of fever or general nervous disturbance, the remedy should be instantly laid aside. Dr. Lugol of Paris, who has used iodine more extensively and me- thodically than any other practitioner, has never observed any alarming effects to arise from its exhibition in the small doses in which he is in the habit of giving it. He has not found it to cause emaciation, haemoptysis, pulmonary tubercles, or the other bad effects so frequently attributed to it. On the contrary, in the hospital of Saint Louis, the theatre of his extensive experience, many of the patients gained flesh and improved in health. Iodine has been principally employed in diseases of the absorbent and glandular systems. In ascites it has been used with success by Dr. Baron, an English practitioner. It is said not to act efficaciously while the abdo- men is tense, and the absorbents consequently compressed; but operates after this state of things is removed by tapping. It has also been recom- mended in ovarian dropsy. In glandular enlargements its use has proved more efficacious than perhaps in any other class of diseases. Dr. Coindet discovered its extraordinary power in promoting the absorption of the thy- roid gland, in the disease called bronchocele; and it has also been used with more or less success in enlargements of the liver, spleen, mammae, testes, and uterus. Its emmenagogue power has been noticed by several practi- tioners; and Dr. Lugol mentions instances, among his scrofulous patients, in which it cured obstructed and painful menstruation. It has been recom- mended in leucorrhcea"(iV. Am. Arch. I. 218), and has been found useful in gonorrhoea and gleet. In certain diseases of the nervous system also, iodine has proved useful in the hands of some practitioners. Dr. Manson of Nottingham, England, in his work, published in 1825, on the medical effects of iodine, has recorded cases of its efficacy in chorea, paralysis, and deafness. It is, however, in scrofulous diseases that the most interesting trials have been made with this remedy; and there is not wanting authentic testimony of its efficacy in these affections. Dr. Coindet and Sir Andrew Halliday have both prescribed it with benefit; and Dr. Manson reports a number of cases of scrofulous disease, in the form of enlarged glands, ulcers, and ophthalmia, occurring in his practice between 1821 and 1824, in a large proportion of which the disease was either cured or meliorated, and the general health very much improved. We are indebted, however, to Dr. Lugol for the most extended and valuable researches on the use of iodine in the different forms of scrofula. This physician began his trials with the remedy in the hospital Saint Louis in 1827, and made known his results in three Memoirs published in 1829-30 and 31. These memoirs give the details of a success which would stagger belief, were the cases not substan- tiated by two committees of distinguished physicians of the French Royal Academy of Sciences. The scrofulous affections in which Dr. Lugol suc- ceeded by the administration of iodine were glandular tubercles, especially 33 374 lodinum. PART I. of the neck, ophthalmia, ozaena, noli me tangere (dartre rongeante scrophu- leus ), and fistulous and carious ulcers. He also obtained favourable results in some cases of scrofulous syphilis by the use of the iodide of mercury. In connexion with Dr. LugoVs results in scrofulous affections, it may be proper to mention that Dr. Manson derived benefit from the use of iodine in white swelling, hip-joint disease, and distortions of the spine, diseases gen- erally admitted to be more or less dependent on the scrofulous taint. Iodine is employed both internally and externally. Internally it is some- times used in the form of tincture; but Dr. Lugol objects to this prepara- tion as of unequal strength, and as being liable to have the iodine precipita- ted by water on the surface of the stomach, where it is apt to produce too irritating an action. This physician prefers a mixed solution of iodine and iodide of potassium in distilled water; the iodide being employed merely for the purpose of dissolving the iodine more completely. , He employs three strengths, namely, three-fourths of a grain, one grain, and a grain and a quarter of iodine to half a pint of distilled water; the quantity of iodide of potassium being in each solution double the quantity of the iodine.* These solutions are permanent, perfectly transparent, and of an orange colour. The London College has imitated this combination in a new officinal, introduced into their revised Pharmacopoeia. (See Liquor Potassii Iodidi Compositus.) The mode of administration employed by Dr. Lugol for his solutions, is to give at first two-thirds of the weakest solution, or half a grain of iodine daily for the first fortnight; the weakest solution entire for another fortnight; the medium solution during the fourth and fifth fortnight; and lastly, in some cases, the strongest solution for the remainder of the treatment. In the majority of cases, however, he had not occasion to resort to the strongest solution. He gives half the daily quantity in the morning fasting, and the other half, an hour before dinner; each portion being slightly sweetened at the moment of taking it. For the convenience of making the weak iodine solution, or of administering the remedy by drops, Dr. Lugol prepares a concentrated solution, consisting of a scruple of iodine, and two scruples of iodide of potassium dissolved in seven fluidrachms of waler.t Of this solu- tion the dose is six drops twice a day, (in the morning fasting, and an hour before dinner,) in a glass of sweetened water, gradually increased weekly by two drops at a time, until the dose reaches to thirty or thirty-six drops. For children under seven years, the dose is two drops twice a day, gradually increased to five. It will be observed that these doses are considerably smaller than those usually employed on the recommendation of Dr. Coindet. The external treatment by iodine may be divided into local and general. By its use in this way it does not create a mere topical effect on the skin; but by its absorption produces its peculiar constitutional impression. Dr. Lugol has given a number of formulae for preparations for the local use of iodine, a short account of which will be presented in this place. His iodine ointment varies in strength from six to twelve grains of iodine, mixed with from two to four scruples of iodide of potassium, to the ounce of lard. (See Unguentum lodinii Compositum, Lond.) It has a mahogany colour, and is employed in frictions to scrofulous tumours, and as a dressing to scrofulous ulcers. The ointment of protiodide of mercury which he recommends, * In the original Memoir of Dr. Lugol, the grains arc French, and the quantity of water eight French ouncet; but to facilitate prescription we have supposed them English grains, and have substituted half a pint for the (ight French ounces of water; change* which will not make the solutions materially stronger. t In the original it is seven ounces; but from the context of the author, this is evidently a misprint for seven drachms. PART I. Iodinum. 375 consists of from one to two scruples of the mercurial iodide to the ounce of lard. (See Unguentum Hydrargyri Iodidi, Lond.) Its proper colour is canary yellow; but occasionally it has a decided greenish tint, derived from the presence of protoxide of mercury, or an orange colour, when it contains the biniodide. This ointment, which has the advantage of producing very little pain, is used by Dr. Lugol in noli me tangere, and in scrofulous ulcers which have a syphilitic aspect. The ointment of biniodide of mercury has also been used with apparent advantage in similar cases. (See Un- guentum Hydrargyri Biniodidi, Lond.) Dr. Lugol's iodine lotion con- sists of from two to four grains of iodine to a pint of distilled water, the solution being rendered complete by the addition of double the quantity of iodide of potassium. This is used by injection, principally in scrofulous ophthalmia, ozaena, and fistulous ulcers. His rubefacient solution is formed by dissolving half an ounce of iodine and an ounce of iodide of potassium in six fluidounces of distilled water. This is useful for exciting scrofulous ulcers, for touching the eye-lids, and as an application to recent scrofulous cicatrices, to render them smooth and less prominent. A certain quantity of the rubefacient solution added to warm water, makes a convenient local bath for the arms, legs, feet, or hands; and mixed with linseed meal, or some similar substance, it forms a cataplasm, useful in particular cases, especially where the object is to promote the falling off of scabs. The only remaining local application to be mentioned, is what Dr. Lugol calls iodine caustic. It consists of iodine and iodide of potassium, each an ounce, dissolved in two ounces of distilled water, and is used to stimulate or destroy soft and fungous granulations. Its employment in this way has been attended with particularly good effects in noli me tangere. The external application of iodine when general, consists in the use of iodine baths, a mode of applying the remedy which originated with Dr. Lugol. This mode is considered very valuable by this physician, on ac- count of the great extent of the skin, which furnishes the means of intro- ducing a considerable quantity of iodine into the circulation, without de- ranging the digestive functions, an object of great importance, where the medicine produces irritation of the stomach. The iodine bath for adults, according to the formula of Dr. Lugol, should contain from two to four drachms of iodine, with double that quantity of iodide of potassium, dissolved in water, in a wooden bath tub, the proportion of the water being about a gallon for every three grains of iodine employed. The quantity of ingre- dients for the baths of children is one-third as much as for adults, bnt dissolved in about the same proportional quantity of water. The quantity of iodine and iodide for a bath being determined on, it is best to dissolve them in a small quantity of water, (half a pint for example,) before they are added to the water of the bath; as this mode of proceeding facilitates their thorough diffusion. In the composition of these baths, the iodide of potassium is used by Dr. Lugol merely to promote the solubility of the iodine, and not as a medicinal agent; as, upon trial, a bath containing the iodide alone proved nearly inert. The iodine baths, which may be directed three or four times a week, usually produce a slight rubefacient effect; but occasionally, a stronger im- pression, causing the epidermis to peel off, particularly of the arms and legs. The skin at the same time contracts a deep yellow tinge, which usually dis- appears in the interval between the baths. Since the publication of Dr. Lugol's memoirs, detailing his success with iodine in the treatment of scrofulous affections, even of the most unpromis- ing aspect, his practice has been imitated and extended by several practi- 376 Iodinum. part i. tioners, and generally with encouraging results. Dr. Bermond, of Bordeaux, has succeeded, with the iodine treatment in enlarged testicle from a venereal cause, scrofulous ophthalmia of six years' duration, and scrofulous ulcers and abscesses of the cervical and submaxillary glands. In numerous other cases of scrofula under his care, the iodine treatment proved beneficial, though, before its commencement, the cases underwent no improvement. The only peculiarity in Dr. Bermond's treatment, was that, in some cases, he associated opiate preparations with the iodine. In the case of ophthalmia which he treated, the collyrium employed consisted of tincture of iodine thirty drops, laudanum thirty-six drops, to four fluidounces of distilled water. When the local application of the iodine created much pain or rubefaction, he found advantage from combining extract of opium with it. A plaster which proved efficacious as an application to an enlarged parotid, in one of his cases, consisted of lead plaster (diachylon) and iodide of potassium, each, four parts; iodine and extract of opium, each, three parts. In con- firmation of Dr. Bermond's views, M. Lemasson, one of the house pupils of the hospital St. Louis, has published a number of cases proving the efficacy of a combination of iodine and opium, in the local treatment of scrofulous ulcerations. He concludes from his experience that the union of opiate preparations with iodine imparts to the latter, in many cases, new and valua- ble powers. One of the combinations which he employed consisted of fifteen grains of iodine, a drachm of iodide of potassium, and two drachms of Rousseau's laudanum, made up into an ointment with two ounces of fresh lard. The iodides of mercury, besides being used in the fornf of ointment as already mentioned, are also employed internally, especially in the treatment of scrofulous syphilis. They are both recognised as officinal in the late revision of the London Pharmacopoeia. (See Hydrargyri lodidum, Hy- drargyri Biniodidum, and Pilulae Hydrargyri Iodidi?) For the iodides of iron, lead, and potassium, see Ferri lodidum, Plumbi lodidum, and Potassii lodidum. The results obtained by Dr. Lugol and others in the treatment of scrofu- lous diseases by the iodine preparations are now so diversified, as to leave no doubt of their superiority over all other remedies in the same class of affections. A considerable number of practitioners in the United States have employed them in the same diseases with encouraging success; but at the same time, there have been, as was to be expected in the treatment of so obstinate a disease, a number of failures. To judge fairly, however, of Dr. Lugol's remarkable results, it is not sufficient for our practitioners to give iodine; but they should use it in the peculiar manner, and with the ob- servance of all the rules, which are so fully laid down in the published me- moirs of that physician. Reasoning on the subject, we can readily conceive that a dilute aqueous solution of iodine may act differently from the tincture; and that a therapeutical agent may be introduced gradually and imperceptibly into the current of the circulation in one form of administration, and thus be capable of producing important alterative effects; while in another, it may create irritation and even ulceration of the stomach, without being absorbed, and thus prove mischievous. A case in point is furnished by mineral waters, which, though generally containing a minute portion of saline matter, often produce remedial effects which cannot be obtained by their constituents given in larger doses. The views here presented are supported and extended by the observations and experiments of Dr. A. Buchanan, of Glasgow, who contends that iodine is divested of its irritant qualities in certain stales of combination, in which it may be given in large doses without risk, and with the effect of pervading PART I. Iodinum.—Ipecacuanha. 377 nearly all the secretions, and, under certain circumstances, even the blood. The combinations which he prefers, enumerated in the order of their rela- tive efficacy, are iodide of starch, hydriodic acid, and iodide of potassium, the first and last of which he supposes to act as hydriodic acid, the iodine in them being, agreeably to his view, converted into that acid in the stomach and bowels. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xx. 210 et seq. See Potassii lodi- dum in Part II., and hydriodic acid and iodide of starch in the Appendix.*) Off. Prep. Ferri lodidum, Lond.; Hydrargyri lodidum, Lond.; Hydrar- gyri Biniodidum, Lond.; Potassii lodidum, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Liquor Po- tassii Iodidi Compositus, Lond.; Tinctura Iodini, U.S., Dub.; Tinctura lodinii Composita, Lond.; Unguentum lodinii, Dub.; Unguentum lodinii Compositum, Lond. B. IPECACUANHA. U.S., Lond. Ipecacuanha. " Cephaelis ipecacuanha. Richard. Callicocca ipecacuanha. Brotero. Radix. The root." U. S. " Cephaelis Ipecacuanha. Radix." Lond. Off Syn. IPECACUANHiE RADIX. Ed.; CEPHAELIS IPECA- CUANHA. Radix. Dub. Ipecacuanha, Fr.; Brechwurzel, Ipecacuanha, Germ.; Ipecacuana, Ital, Span. The term ipecacuanha, derived from the language of the South American Indians, has been applied to various emetic roots of American origin. The British Colleges and our national Pharmacopoeia recognise only that of the Cephaelis Ipecacuanha; and no other is known by the name in the shops of this country. Our chief attention will, therefore, be confined to this root, and the plant which yields it; but as others are employed in South America, are occasionally exported, and may possibly reach our markets mingled with the genuine drug, we shall, after treating of the true ipecacuanha, give a succinct account of the different varieties, as described by the authors who have most recently written on the subject. The botanical character of the plant which yields genuine ipecacuanha was long unknown. Pison and Marcgrav, who were the first to notice this medicine, in their work on the natural history of Brazil, published at Am- sterdam, A.D. 1648, describe in general terms two plants, one producing a whitish root, distinguished by the name of white ipecacuanha, the other a brown root which answers in their description precisely to the officinal drug. But their account was not sufficiently definite to enable botanists to decide upon the character of the plants; and much uncertainty existed on the sub- ject. The medicine was generally thought to be derived from a species of Viola, which Linnaeus designated by the title of V. Ipecacuanha. Opinion afterwards turned in favour of a plant sent to Linnaeus by the celebrated Mutis from New Granada, as affording the ipecacuanha of that country and of Peru. This was described in the Supplementum of the younger Lin- naeus, A.D. 1781, under the name of Psychotria emetica, and was long erroneously considered as the source of the true ipecacuanha. Dr. Gomez of Lisbon was the first who accurately described and figured the genuine * For further details the reader is referred to the work of Dr. Lugol, " Sur PEmploi de l'lode dans les Maladies Scrofuleuses," or its Translation, with valuable additions, by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, formerly of London, now of Calcutta. For notices of the iodides ot ammonium, sulphur, and zinc, and of the iodohydrargyrate of potassium, see Appendix. 33* 378 Ipecacuanha. part i. plant, which he had seen in Brazil, and specimens of which he took with him to Portugal; but Brotero, professor of botany at Coimbra, with whom he had left specimens, having drawn up a description, and had it inserted with a figure in the Linnean Transactions, without acknowledgment, has generally enjoyed the credit due to his fellow countryman.* In the paper of Brotero the plant is named Callicocca Ipecacuanha; but the term Callicocca, having been applied by Schreber, without sufficient reason, to a genus previously established and named, has been universally abandoned by botanists for the Cephaelis of Swartz, though this also, it appears, is a usurpation upon the previous rights of Aublet. Cephaelis. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Rubiaceee, Juss.; Cinchonaceae, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Floivers in an involucred head. Corolla tubular. Stigma two- parted. Berry two-seeded. Receptacle chaffy. Willd. Cephaelis Ipecacuanha. Richard, Hist. Ipecac, p. 21. t. i.; Martius, Spec. Mat. Med. Brazil, p. 4. t. i.—Callicocca Ipecacuanha. Brotero, Linn. Trans, vi. 137. This is a small shrubby plant, with a root from four to six inches long, about as thick as a goose-quill, marked with annular rugae, simple or somewhat branched, descending obliquely into the ground, and here and there sending forth slender fibrils. The stem is two or three feet long; but being partly under ground, and often procumbent at the base, usually rises less than a foot in height. It is slender; in the lower portion leafless, smooth, brown or ash-coloured, and knotted, with radicles fre- quently proceeding from the knots; near the summit, pubescent, green, and furnished with leaves seldom exceeding six in number. These are opposite, petiolate, oblong obovate, acute, entire, from three to four inches long, from one to two broad, obscurely green and somewhat rough on their upper sur- face, pale, downy, and veined on the under. At the base of each pair of leaves are deciduous stipules, embracing the stem, membranous at their base, and separated above into numerous bristle-like divisions. The flowers are very small, white, and collected to the number of eight, twelve, or more, each accompanied with a green bracte, into a semi-globular head, supported upon a round, solitary, axillary footstalk, and embraced by a monophyllous involucre deeply divided into four, sometimes five or six obovate, pointed segments. The fruit is an ovate, obtuse berry, which is at first purple, but becomes almost black when ripe, and contains two small plano-convex seeds. The plant is a native of Brazil, flourishing in moist, thick, and shady woods, and abounding most within the limits of the eighth and twentieth degrees of south latitude. According to Humboldt, it grows also in New Granada. It flowers in January and February, and ripens its fruit in May. The root is usually collected during the period of flowering, though equally good at other seasons. By this practice the plant is speedily extirpated in places where it is most eagerly sought. Were the seeds allowed to ripen, it would propagate itself rapidly, and thus maintain a constant supply. The root is collected chiefly by the Indians, who prepare it by separating it from the stem, cleaning it, and hanging it up in bundles to dry in the sun. The Brazilian merchants carry on a very brisk trade in this drug. The chief places of export are Rio Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco. It is brought to the United States in large bags or bales. « The memoir of Gomez appeared in Lisbon A.D. 1801; the paper of Brotero was pub- lished in the sixth volume of the Linnean Transactions of London, which did not appear till the year 1802. PART I. Ipecacuanha. 379 Genuine ipecacuanha is in pieces two or three lines in thickness, variously bent and contorted, simple or branched, consisting of an interior slender, light straw-coloured, ligneous cord, with a thick cortical covering, which presents on its surface a succession of circular, unequal, prominent rings or rugae, separated by very narrow fissures frequently extending nearly down to the central fibre. This appearance of the surface has given rise to the term annele or annular, by which the true ipecacuanha is designated in the French works on pharmacy. The cortical part is hard, horny, and semi- transparent, breaks with a resinous fracture, and easily separates from the tougher ligneous fibre, which possesses the medicinal virtues of the root in a much inferior degree. Attached to the root is frequently a smoother and more slender portion, which is the base of the stem, and should be sepa- rated before pulverization. Much stress has been laid in works on the materia medica upon the colour of the external surface of the ipecacuanha root, and diversity in this respect has" even led to the formation of distinct varieties. Thus the epidermis is sometimes deep brown or even blackish, sometimes reddish-brown or reddish-gray, and sometimes light gray or ash- coloured. Hence the distinction into brown, red, and gray ipecacuanha. But these are all derived from the same plant, are essentially the same in properties and composition, and probably differ only in consequence of dif- ference in age, or place of growth, or mode of desiccation. The colours in fact are often so intermingled, that it would be impossible to decide in which variety a particular specimen should be placed. The brown is the most abundant in the packages which reach our market. The red, besides the colour of its epidermis, presents p rosy tint when broken, and is said to be somewhat more bitter than the preceding variety. The gray is much lighter coloured externally, usually rather larger, with less prominent rings and wider fissures, and is still more decidedly bitter. When the bark in either variety is opaque, with a dull amylaceous aspect, the root is less active as a medicine. As the woody part is nearly inert, and much more difficult of pulverization than the cortical, it often happens that when a particular parcel of the root is powdered, the portion which remains last in the mortar pos- sesses scarcely any emetic power; and care should be taken to provide against any defect from this cause. The colour of the powder is a light grayish fawn. Ipecacuanha has little smell in the aggregate state, but when powdered has a peculiar nauseous odour, which in some persons excites violent sneez- ing, in others dyspnoea resembling an attack of asthma. The taste is bitter, acrid, and very nauseous. Water and alcohol extract its virtues, which are injured by decoction. Its emetic property resides in a peculiar alkaline principle called emetin, or more properly emetia, discovered by Pelletier in the year 1817. The cortical portion of the brown ipecacuanha, analyzed by this chemist under the erroneous name of Psychotria emetica, yielded in the hundred parts, 16 of an impure salt of emetia, which was at first con- sidered the pure emetic principle, 2 of an odorous fatty matter, 6 of wax, 10 of gum, 42 of starch, 20 of lignin, with 4 parts loss. The woody fibrft was found to contain only 1.15 per cent, of the impure emetia. M. A. Richard obtained from the cortical part, the same proportion of emetia as found by Pelletier, but detected some principles not noticed by that chemist, among which were traces of gallic acid. The bark of the red ipecacuanha was found by Pelletier to contain but fourteen percent, of the impure emetia. The gray variety has not been analyzed. One hundred parts of good ipeca- cuanha contain about 80 of cortical and 20 of ligneous matter. Emetia when perfectly pure is whitish, inodorous, slightly bitter, pul- 380 Ipecacuanha. PART I. verulent, unalterable in the air, very fusible, sparingly soluble in cold water and ether, very soluble in alcohol, is not reddened by nitric acid, forms crys- tallizable salts'with the mineral acids and acetic acid, is precipitated by gallic acid from its solutions, and contains nitrogen among its ingredients. It is, however, very difficult to procure it in this state of purity, and the propor- tion afforded'by the root is exceedingly small. As originally obtained it was very impure, probably in the condition of a salt, and in this state is directed by the French Codex. Impure emetia is in transparent scales of a brownish-red colour, almost inodorous, of a bitterish acrid taste, deliques- cent, very soluble in water and alcohol, insoluble in ether, precipitated from its solutions by gallic acid and the acetates of lead, but not by tartar emetic or the salts of iron. It is obtained by treating powdered ipecacuanha with ether to remove the fatty matter, exhausting the residue with alcohol, evapo- rating the alcoholic solution to dryness, and subjecting the extract to the action of cold water, which dissolves the emetia with some free acid, and leaves the wax and other matters. To separate the acid, the watery solution is treated with carbonate of magnesia, filtered, and then evaporated. If pure emetia is required, magnesia is used instead of the carbonate. The salt is thus decomposed, and the organic alkali, being insoluble, is precipitated with the excess of the earth. The precipitate is washed with cold water, and digested in alcohol, which dissolves the emetia; the alcoholic solution is then evaporated, the residue redissolved in a dilute acid, and the alkali again precipitated by a salifiable base. To deprive it of colour it is necessary to employ animal charcoal. Berzelius has obtained emetia by treating the powdered root w ith very dilute sulphuric acid, precipitating with magnesia, and treating the precipitate in the manner above directed. Pure emetia has at least three times the strength of the impure. Medical Properties and Uses. Ipecacuanha is in large doses emetic, in smaller, diaphoretic and expectorant, and in still smaller, stimulant to the stomach, exciting appetite and facilitating digestion. In quantities insuffi- cient to vomit, it produces nausea and frequently acts upon the bowels. As an emetic it is mild but tolerably certain in its operation, and being usually thrown from the stomach by one or two efforts, is less apt to produce dan- gerous effects when taken in an overdose than some other substances of the same class. It is also recommended by the absence of corrosive and narco- tic properties. It was employed as an emetic by the natives of Brazil, when that country was first settled by the Portuguese; but, though described in the work of Pison, it was not known in Europe till the year 1672, and did not come into use till some years afterwards. John Helvetius, grandfather of the celebrated author of that name, having been associated with a merchant who had imported a large quantity of ipecacuanha into Paris, employed it as a secret remedy, and with so much success in dysentery and other bowel af- fections, that general attention was attracted to it; and the fortunate physician received from Louis XIV. a large sum of money, and public honours, on the sole condition that he should make the remedy public. From this period it has maintained its standing among the most useful articles of the materia medica. As an emetic it is peculiarly adapted by its mildness and efficiency to all cases in which the object is merely to evacuate the stomach, or a gentle im- pression only is desired; and in most other cases in which emetics are indi- cated, it may be advantageously combined with the more energetic medi- cines, the action of which it renders safer by insuring their discharge. It is especially useful where narcotic poisons have been swallowed, as under PART I. Ipecacuanha. 381 these circumstances it may be given in almost indefinite doses, with little comparative risk of injury to the patient. In dysentery it has been supposed to exercise peculiar powers; but is at present less used than formerly in doses sufficient to excite vomiting. As a nauseating remedy it is used in asthma, hooping cough, and the hemorrhages; as a diaphoretic, combined with opium, in a wide circle of diseases. (See Pulvis Ipecacuanhse et Opii.) Its expectorant properties render it beneficial in catarrhal and other pulmonary affections. It has been given also, with supposed advantage, in very minute doses, in dyspeptic cases, and in chronic disease of the gastro-intestinal mu- cous membrane. Ipecacuanha is most conveniently administered as an emetic in the form of powder suspended in water. The dose is about twenty grains, repeated if necessary at intervals of twenty minutes till it operates. Its operation may be facilitated and rendered milder by copious draughts of warm water or warm chamomile tea. An infusion in boiling water in the proportion of two drachms of the powder to six fluidounces of menstruum, may be given in the dose of a fluidounce repeated as in the former case. With a view to the production of nausea, the dose in substance may be two grains, given more or less frequently according to circumstances. As a diaphoretic it may be given in the quantity of a grain; as an alterative, in diseases of the stomach and bowels, of a quarter or half a grain two or three times aday- Emetia has been used on the continent of Europe as a substitute, but with no great advantage. Its operation on the stomach is apt to be more violent and continued than that of ipecacuanha itself; and if given in over- doses, it may produce dangerous and even fatal consequences. From the experiments of Magendie, it appears to have a peculiar direction to the mu- cous membranes of the alimentary canal and the bronchial tubes. Ten grains of the impure alkali, administered to dogs, were generally found to de- stroy life in twenty-four hours, and the mucous membranes mentioned were observed to be inflamed throughout their whole extent. The same result. took place when emetia was injected into the veins, or absorbed from any part of the body. The dose of impure emetia is about a grain and a half, of the pure not more than half a grain, repeated at proper intervals till it vomits. In proportional doses it may be applied to the other purposes for which ipecacuanha is used. It will excite vomiting when applied to a blis- tered surface after the removal of the cuticle. Magendie found that dogs slept much after being vomited with emetia, and concluded that the medicine was narcotic; but other emetic medicines produce the same effect, which is to be ascribed rather to exhaustion than to any direct operation on the brain. Off. Prep. Pilulae Ipecacuanha? Composita?, Lond.; Pulvia Ipecacuanhas et Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Vinum Ipecacuanhae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Ipecacuanhas not officinal. When ipecacuanha began to be popular in Europe, the roots of several other plants were imported and confounded with the genuine, and the name came at length to be applied to almost all emetic roots derived from the American continent. Several of these are still occasionally found in com- merce, and retain the name originally applied to them. The two most worthy of notice are the ipecacuanha of New Grenada and Peru, and the white ipecacuanha of Brazil. On each of these we shall offer a few re- marks. 1. Peruvian Ipecacuanha.—This is the root of the Psychotria emetica, 382 Ipecacuanha. part i. formerly supposed to produce the genuine Brazilian ipecacuanha. The plant, like the Cephaelis, belongs to the class and order Pentandria Monogy- nia, and to the natural order Kubiaceae of Jussieu. A description of it sent by Mutis was published by Linnaeus the younger in his supplement. It has since been described in the Plant. ^Equinox.; and has been figured by A. Richard in his History of the Ipecacuanhas, and by Hayne in the eighth volume of his Medical Botany published at Berlin. It is a small shrub, with a stem twelve or eighteen inches high, simple, erect, round, slightly pubescent, and furnished with opposite, oblong lanceolate, pointed leaves, narrowed at their base into a short petiole, and accompanied with pointed stipules. The flowers are small, white, and supported in small clusters towards the end of an axillary peduncle. The plant flourishes in Peru and New Granada, and was seen by Humboldt and Bonpland growing in abun- dance near the river Magdalena. The dried root is said to be exported from Carthagena. It is cylindrical, somewhat thicker than the root of Cephaelis, usually simple, but sometimes branched, not much contorted, wrinkled longitudi- nally, presenting here and there deep circular intersections, but without the annular rugye of the true ipecacuanha. The longitudinal direction of the wrinkles has given origin to the name of striated ipecacuanha, by which it is known in French Pharmacy. It consists of an internal woody chord and an external cortical portion; but the former is usually larger in proportion to the latter than in the root of the Cephaelis. The bark is soft and easily cut with a knife, and when broken exhibits a brown slightly resinous fracture. The epidermis is of a dull reddish-gray colour, which darkens with age and exposure, and ultimately becomes almost black. Hence the root has some- times been called black ipecacuanha. The ligneous portion is yellowish, and perforated with numerous small holes visible by the microscope. The Peruvian ipecacuanha is nearly inodorous, and has a flat taste, neither bitter nor acrid. Out of 100 parts Pelletier obtained 9 of impure emetia, 12 of fatty matter, with an abundance of starch, besides gum and lignin. The dose, as an emetic, is from two scruples to a drachm. 2. White Ipecacuanha.—This variety was noticed in the work of Pison, but the vegetable which produced it was not satisfactorily ascertained till a recent date. Gomez, indeed, in the memoir which he published at Lisbon, A.D. 1801, gave a figure and description of the plant; but the memoir was not generally known, and botanists remained uncertain upon the subject. By the travels of M. Saint-Hilaire and Dr. Martins in Brazil, more precise in- formation has been obtained; and the white ipecacuanha is now confidently referred to different species of Richardsonia, the Richardia of Linnaeus. The R. scabra, or R. Braziliensis of Gomez, and the R. emetica are particularly indicated by Martins, who also states that different species of Ionidium (Ventinat), Viola (Linn.), produce what is called white ipecacuanha. The roots of all the species of Ionidium possess emetic or purgative properties; and some of them are said to be equal to the genuine ipecacuanha. The root of the I. Marcucci has recently been favourably spoken of as a remedy in elephantiasis; in which disease, however, it probably acts merely as an emeto-purgative. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. vii. 186.) For the root usu- ally called white ipecacuanha, Guibourt has proposed the name of undu- lated ipecacuanha, derived from the peculiar character of the surface, which presents indentations or concavities on one side, corresponding with promi- nences or convexities on the other, so as to give a wavy appearance to the root. It differs little in size from the genuine; is of a whitish-gray colour externally; and when broken presents a dull white farinaceous fracture, offer- Ipecacuanha.—Iris Florentina. 383 small^ aL gf f h6 T,' Sh,'mn^uP°mtS' Which are nothi"g more than small grams of fecula. L.ke the other varieties it has a woody centre It is inodorous and insipid, ^nd contains, according to Pelletier a vervJarae FaTmatter Rieh"' XT °t\", T ^ ,°f ^ ^ »<^ tatty matter. R.chard found only 3.5 parts of emetia in the hundred It is said to be sometimes m.xed with the genuine ipecacuanha; but we have dis- covered none in the bales which we have examined.* w IRIS FLORENTINA. U.S. Florentine Orris. " Iris Florentina. Radix. The root." U S Off. Syn. IRIDIS FLORENTINE RADIX Ed tinlX^10^06' ^ F1°rentinisChe V'^™urzel, Germ.; Ireos, Ital,; Lirio Floren- Iris. Sex. Syst. Triandria Monogynia— Nat. Ord. Irideae. Peta,-:ha;ed.^SiX"Parled; ^ ***** Segment refleCted' StiS™° In all the species belonging to this genus, so far as examined, the roots are more or less acrid, and possessed of cathartic and emetic properties. In Europe the l.fcehdissima, I. Florentina, I. Germanica, I. pseudo-acorus, and 1. tuberosa have at various times been admitted into use. Of these the I. Florentina is the only one acknowledged by the British or American rnarmacopoeias. *™ florentina Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 226; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 776 t 262 The root of the Florentine Iris is perennial, horizontal, tuberous! fleshy fibrous, and covered with a brown epidermis. The leaves spring directly from the root are sword-shaped, pointed, nerved, and shorter than the stem, which rises from the midst of them more than a foot in height round, smooth, jointed, and bearing commonly two large white or bluish- white terminal flowers. The calyx is a spathe with two valves. The corolla divides into six segments or petals, of which three stand erect and the remaining three are bent backward, and bearded within at their base with yellow-tipped white hairs. The fruit is a three-celled capsule, con- taining numerous seeds. This plant is a native of Italy, and other parts of the South of Europe rhe root, which is the officinal portion, is dug up in spring, and prepared for the market by the removal of its cuticle and fibres. It is brought from Leghorn in large casks. 5 Properties. Florentine orris is in pieces of various form and size often branched, usually about as thick as the thumb, knotty, flattened white' heavy of a rough though not fibrous fracture, a pleasant odour resembling that of the violet, and a bitterish acrid taste. The acrimony is greater in the recent than in the dried root; but the peculiar smell is more decidedly deve loped in the latter. The pieces are brittle and easily powdered, and the powder is of a dirty white colour. Vogel obtained from Florentine orris gum, a brown extractive, fecula, a bitter and acrid fixed oil or soft resin a volatile crystallizable oil, and vegetable fibre. • See a paper on ipecacuanha by RE Griffith, M. D., in the Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. Vol. 3 p. 181, for a more extended account of the roots which have been used under the name of ipecacuanha. 384 Iris Florentina.—Iris Versicolor. part i. Medical Properties. This medicine is cathartic, and in large doses emetic, and was formerly employed to a considerable extent on the conti- nent of Europe. It is said also to be diuretic, and to have proved useful in dropsies. At present it is chiefly valued for its pleasant odour. It is occasionally chewed to conceal an offensive breath, and enters into the com- position of numerous tooth-powders. It is one of the ingredients of the Emplastrum Plumbi Carbonatis of the United States Pharmacopoeia. In the form of small round balls, about the size of a pea, it is much U6ed by the French for maintaining the discharge from issues, a purpose to which it is adapted not only by its odour, but also by the slight degree of acrimony which it retains in its dried state, and by the property of swelling very much by the absorption of moisture. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S. W. IRIS VERSICOLOR. U.S. Secondary. Blue Flag. " Iris versicolor. Radix. The root." U.S. Iris. See IRIS FLORENTINA. Iris versicolor. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 233; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 155. This indigenous species of Iris has a perennial, fleshy, horizontal, fibrous root, and a stem two or three feet high, round on one side, acute on the other, and frequently branching. The leaves are sheathing at the base, sword-shaped, and striated. The flowers are from two to six in number, and are usually blue or purple, though varying much in colour. The cap- sule has three valves, is divided into three eells, and when mature is oblong, three-sided, with obtuse angles, and contains numerous flat seeds. The blue flag is found in all parts of the United States, flourishing in low wet places, in meadows, and on the borders of swamps, which it serves to adorn with its large and beautiful flowers. These make their appearance in June. The root is the medicinal portion. The flowers afford a fine blue infusion, which serves as a test of acids and alkalies. The recent root is without odour, and has a nauseous, extremely acrid taste, which is imparted to water by decoction, and still more perfectly to alcohol. The acrimony as well as medicinal activity is impaired by age. The blue flag possesses the cathartic, emetic, and diuretic properties com- mon to most of the species of this genus. It is said by Mr. Bartram to be held in much esteem by the Southern Indians; and Dr. Bigelow informs us that he has found it efficacious as a purgative, though inconvenient from the distressing nausea and prostration which it is apt to occasion. Dr. Macbride of Carolina found it useful in dropsy. It is, however, very little employed by the profession at large, and is seldom if ever kept in the shops. It may be given in substance, decoction, or tincture. The dose of the dried root is from ten to twenty grains. W. PART I. Jalapa. 385 JALAPA. U.S., Lond. " Ipomoea Jalapa, Coxe; Convolvulus Jalapa, Willdenow. Radix. The root." U.S. " Ipomoea Jalapa. Radix." Lond. Off. Syn. CONVOLVULI JALAPtE RADIX. Ed.; JALAPA. CON- VOLVULUS JALAPA. Radix. Dub. Jalap, Fr.; Jalappen-Wurzel, Germ.; Sciarappa, Ital; Jalapa, Span. The precise botanical character of the jalap plant has long been a matter of much uncertainty. Linnaeus, following Clusius, Plunder, Tournefort, and others, at first referred it to the Mirabilis, but subsequently adopting the opinion of Ray and Miller, was led to consider it a Convolvulus, and named it accordingly C. Jalapa, a title by which it has since been generally described in botanical and medical works. Thierry de Menonville, who in 1777 was in that part of Mexico where the plant flourishes, soon afterwards described a vegetable which he found in the neighbourhood of the city of Vera Cruz, and which he supposed to be identical with that which yields jalap. His description was found to correspond exactly with the character of a plant which Michaux the elder had sent from Charleston, South Caro- lina, to the Botanical Garden at Paris, and which he had described under the name of Ipomoea macrorhiza. This was figured by Desfontaines, and thought by many to be the true jalap plant; and as the I. macrorhiza grows in Georgia and Florida, it was inferred that this valuable drug was produced within the limits of the United States. Pursh was so convinced of the identity of the jalap of Mexico with the I. macrorhiza of Michaux, that he conferred upon the latter the title of Ipomoea Jalapa. But there are several circum- stances which tend to prove that the two plants have been improperly con- founded. The simple fact that the I. macrorhiza has a root which weighs from fifty to sixty pounds, is sufficient to prove that it cannot be the source of the officinal jalap, of which the dried tubers as they reach us are very seldom larger than the fist, and the slices could by no possibility be derived from a root of very great magnitude. Besides, the root of the /. macrorhiza was ascertained by Dr. Baldwin to possess little or no purgative power; and another striking dissimilarity between this plant and the true jalap, is that the leaves of the former are downy on their under surface, while there is every reason to believe that those of the latter are perfectly smooth; for a plant raised by Miller from seeds sent from Mexico by Dr. Houston, who was well acquainted with the true jalap, is described in the sixth edition of the Gardner's Dictionary as having smooth leaves; and the same fact is stated of the plant by M. Ledanois in a recent communication transmitted from Mexico to Paris. Thierry de Menonville was, therefore, in all pro- bability mistaken in considering as the jalap plant, that found by him in the vicinity of Vera Cruz; and his mistake has been the source of numerous errors in subsequent writers. It is thought by some that his plant, and con- sequently the /. macrorhiza, is the source of the mechoacan, a purgative root also brought from Mexico, and sometimes mixed with the jalap; but the fact has not been well ascertained. The question now recurs, what is the jalap plant? Is it a Convolvulus as generally supposed, or is it an Ipo- moea? These two genera are closely allied, the most striking difference beinu1 in the character of the stigma, which in the Convolvulus is double, in the Ipomoea, according to Elliot, simple and capitate. Some botanists place in the latter genus those Convolvuli which have divided but capitate 34 386 Jalapa. PART I. stigmas, retaining in the former those only in which this organ is filiform. Nuttall, however, follows Elliot, and on this side of the Atlantic, the autho- rity of these two botanists may be considered as decisive. According to this arrangement the plant of Michaux is a Convolvulus. There is good reason to believe that the jalap plant is an Ipomoea. That figured and described by Woodville under the name of Convolvulus Jalapa, the descrip- tion of which was copied by Dr. Thomson in his Dispensatory, was intro- duced into the royal garden at Kew, in 1778, by M. Thouin; but we have no evidence that it is the true jalap, and Nuttall thinks it resembles more closely the Convolvulus panduratus. In the year 1827, Dr. John R. Coxe, Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Pennsylvania, received directly from Xalappa several small jalap plants in a growing state; and having placed them in his garden, succeeded in raising one with all the parts necessary for a decision upon its botanical character. Mr. Nuttall, to whom it was exhibited, had no hesitation in pronouncing it an Ipomoea, and described it with the title of Ipomoea Jalapa. This title is recognised in the United States and London Pharmacopoeias. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges still refer the drug to the Convolvulus Jalapa.* Ipomoea. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.— Xat. Ord. Convolvulaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla funnel-form or campanulate, five- plaited. Stigma capitate, globose. Capsule two or three-celled, many- seeded. Nuttall. Ipomoea Jcdapa. Nuttall, Am. Journ. Med. Sciences, v. 300. The root of this plant is a roundish somewhat pearshaped tuber, externally blackish, internally white, with long fibres proceeding from its lower part as well as from the upper root-stalks. A tuber raised by Dr. Coxe was in its third year, between two and three inches in diameter. The stem is round, smooth, much disposed to twist, and rises to a considerable height upon neighbouring objects, about which it twines. The leaves are heart-shaped, entire, smooth, pointed, deeply sinuated at the base, prominently veined on their under sur- face, and supported upon long footstalks. The lower leaves are nearly hastate, or with diverging angular points. The flowers, which are large and of a lilac-purple colour, stand upon peduncles about as long as the peti- oles. Each peduncle supports two, or more rarely three flowers. The calyx is without bractes, five-leaved, obtuse, with two of the divisions ex- ternal. The corolla is funnel-form. The stamens are five in number, with oblong, white, somewhat exserted anthers. The stigma is simple and capi- tate. The above description is taken from that drawn up by Mr. Nuttall, and published in Dr. Coxe's paper in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences. The jalap plant is a native of Mexico, and derived its name from the city of Xalapa, in the state of Vera Cruz. It might probably be cultivated in the southern section of the United States. The drug is brought from the port of \ era Cruz in bags containing usually betweeen one hundred and two hundred pounds. Properties. The tuber comes either whole, or divided longitudinally into two parts, or in transverse circular slices. The entire tubers are irregularly roundish, or ovate and pointed, or pear-shaped, usually much smaller than the fist, and marked with circular or vertical incisions, made to facilitate * From a tuber of the genuine jalap plant, obtained from the neighbourhood of Xalapa by Dr. Burrows, U. S. consul at Vrera Cruz, the author has succeeded in raising a fine plant, which has flowered luxuriantly, and presented all the characters of the Ipomoea Jalapa of Dr. Coxe; so that no reasonable doubt can now be entertained of the true origin of this drug. PART I. Jalapa. 387 feetiv \ f- thlS S!ate,' thG r°0t 1S Preferred' »» it is less apt to be de- sliceda S r^ eaSUy d,sting«ished from the adulterations than when siiceci. A much larger proportion comes in this shape than formerlv indi- cating a greater scarcity of the older roots, which it is necessary to she in w b' h ^ ther," ,Pr°f;ly- The tUber iS heaV^ C™P»<*> hard tie" with a shining undulated fracture, exhibiting numerous resinous points, d s- mctly visibe with the microscope. It is externally brown an DmPe coria«eous, with a furrowed nut. Juglans cinerea. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 456; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot 11. 115.—/. Cathartica. Michaux, N. Am. Sylva. i. 160. This is an in- digenous forest tree, known in different sections of the country by the various names of butternut, oilnut, and white walnut, ln favourable situa- tions it attains a great size, rising sometimes fifty feet in height, with a trunk three or four feet in diameter at the distance of five feet from the ground. The stem divides, at a small distance from the ground, into nu- merous nearly horizontal branches, which spread widely, and form a large tufted head, giving to the tree a peculiar aspect. The young branches are smooth and of a grayish colour, which has given origin to the specific name of the plant. The leaves are very long, and consist of seven or eio-ht pairs of sessile leaflets, and a single petiolate leaflet at the extremity. These are two or three inches in length, oblong-lanceolate, rounded at the base acu- minate, finely serrate, and somewhat downy. The male and female flowers are distinct upon the same tree. The former are in large aments four or five inches long, hanging down from the sides of the shoots of the preceding year's growth near their extremity. The fertile flowers are at the end of the shoots of the same spring. The germ is surmounted by two large feathery, rose-coloured stigmas. The fruit is sometimes single, suspended by a thin pliable peduncle; sometimes several are attached to the sides and extremity of the same peduncle. The drupe is oblong-oval, with a terminal projection, hairy, viscid, green in the immature state, but brown when rine 34* v ' 390 Juglans.—Juniperus. part i. It contains a hard, dark-coloured, oblong, pointed nut, with a rough deeply and irregularly furrowed surface. The kernel is thick, oily, and pleasant to the taste. The butternut grows in Upper and Lower Canada, and throughout the whole northern, eastern, and western sections of the United States. In the Middle States, the flowers appear in May, and the fruit ripens in September. The tree, if pierced immediately before the leaves unfold, yields a richly saccharine juice, from which sugar may be obtained nearly if not quite equal to that from the sugar-maple. The wood, though neither strong nor compact, is useful for some purposes on account of its durability, and ex- emption from the attacks of worms. The fruit, when half grown, is some- times made into pickles, and when ripe, affords, in its kernel, a grateful ar- ticle of food. The bark is used for dyeing wool a dark brown colour, though inferior for this purpose to that of the black walnut. It is said, when ap- plied to the skin, to have a rubefacient effect. The inner bark is the medi- cinal portion, and that of the root, being considered most efficient, is directed by the national Pharmacopoeia. It should be collected in May or June. On the living tree, the inner bark when first uncovered is of a pure white, which becomes immediately on exposure a beautiful lemon colour, and ulti- mately changes to deep brown. It has a fibrous texture, a feeble odour, and a peculiar, bitter, somewhat acrid taste. Its medical virtues are entirely ex- tracted by boiling water. Dr. Bigelow could detect no resin among its con- stituents; and the presence of tannin was not evinced by the test of gelatin, though a brownish-black colour was produced by the sulphate of iron. Medical Properties and Uses. Butternut is a mild cathartic, operating without pain or irritation, and resembling rhubarb in the property of evacu- ating without debilitating the alimentary canal. It was much employed during our revolutionary war by Dr. Rush and other physicians attached to the army, and was highly esteemed. It is especially applicable to cases of habitual costiveness and other bowel affections, particularly dysentery, in which it has acquired considerable reputation. In connexion with calomel it becomes more active, and is sometimes used in our intermittent and remit- tent fevers, and other complaints attended with congestion of the abdominal viscera. It is given in the form of decoction or extract, never in substance. The extract is officinal, and is almost always preferred. The dose of it is from twenty to thirty grains as a purge, from five to ten grains as a laxative. Off. Prep. Extractum Juglandis, U.S. W. JUNIPERUS. US. Juniper. " Juniperus communis. Baccae. The berries." U.S. Off. Syn. JUNIPER! CACUMINA. JUNIPERI FRUCTUS. Juni- perus communis. Gacumina. Fructus. Lond.; JUNIPERI COMMUNIS BACCE. Ed.; JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS. Baccfe. Cacumina. Dub. Genevrier commun, Bales de Genievre, Fr.; Gemeiner Wachholder, Wachholder- beeren, Germ.; Ginepro, Ital; Encbro, Bayas de enebro, Span. Juniperus. Sex. Syst. Dioecia Monadelphia. Nat. Ord. Coniferae. Gen. Ch. Male. Amentum ovale. Calyx a scale. Corolla none. Sta- mens three. Female. Calyx three parted. Petals three. Styles three. Berry three seeded, irregular, with the three tubercles of the calyx. Willd. PART I. Juniperus. 391 Juniperus communis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 853; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 13. t. 6. This is an erect evergreen shrub, usually small, but sometimes attaining a height of twelve or fifteen feet, with numerous very close branches. The leaves are narrow, longer than the fruit, entire, sharply pointed, channeled, of a deep green colour, somewhat glaucous on their up- per surface, spreading, and attached to the stem or branches in threes, in a verticillate manner. The flowers are dioecious and disposed in small, ovate, axillary, sessile, solitary aments. The fruit is a globular berry, formed of the fleshy coalescing scales of the ament, and containing three angular seeds. The common juniper is a native of Europe; but has been introduced into this country, in some parts of which it has become naturalized. It is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. The plant described in Bigelow's American Medical Botany under the title of /. communis, and very common in some parts of New England, deserves, perhaps, to be considered a distinct species. It is a trailing shrub, seldom rising more than two or three feet in height, spreading in all directions, throwing out roots from its branches, and forming beds which are often many rods in circumference. The name of J. depressa has been proposed for it. The common juniper flowers in May; but does not ripen its fruit till late in the following year. All parts of the plant contain a volatile oil, which imparts to them a peculiar flavour. The wood has a slight aromatic odour, and was formerly used for fumigation. A terebinthinate juice exudes from the tree and hardens on the bark. This has been erroneously considered as identical with sandarach, which is in fact the product of the Thuya articulata. The fruit and tops of juniper are the only officinal parts. The berries are sometimes collected in this country, and parcels are occa- sionally brought to the Philadelphia market from New Jersey. But, though equal to the European in appearance, they are inferior in strength, and are not much used. The best come from the South of Europe, particularly from Trieste and the Italian ports. They are globular; more or less shrivelled; about as large as a pea; marked with three furrows at the summit, and with tubercles from the persistent calyx at the base; covered with a glaucous bloom, beneath which they are of a shining blackish purple colour; and con- taining a brownish-yellow pulp and three angular seeds. They have an agreeable somewhat aromatic odour, and a sweetish, warm, bitterish, slightly terebinthinate taste. These properties, as well as their medical virtues, they owe chiefly to an essential oil which may be separated by distillation. (See Oleum Juniperi.) The other ingredients, according to Trommsdorff, are resin, sugar, gum, wax, lignin, water, and various saline substances. The proportion of these ingredients varies according to the greater or less ma- turity of the berries. The volatile oil is most abundant in those which have attained their full growth and are still green, or in those which are on the point of ripening. In the latter, Trommsdorff found one per cent, of the oil. In those which are perfectly ripe it has been partly changed into resin, and in those quite black, completely so. The berries impart their virtues to water and alcohol. They are very largely consumed in the preparation of gin. The tops of juniper are directed by the London and Dublin Colleges. Their odour is balsamic, their taste resinous and bitterish; and they possess similar virtues with the berries. Medical Properties and Uses. Juniper berries are gently stimulant and diuretic, imparting to the urine the smell of violets; and producing occasion- ally, when very largely taken, disagreeable irritation in the urinary passages. 392 Juniperus.—Juniperus Virginiana. part i. They are chiefly used as an adjuvant to more powerful diuretics in dropsical complaints; but have been recommended also iii scorbutic and cutaneous dis- eases, catarrh of the bladder, and atonic conditions of the alimentary canal and uterus. They may be given in substance triturated with sugar, in the dose of one or two drachms repeated three or four times a day. But the in- fusion is a more convenient form. It is prepared by macerating an ounce of the bruised berries in a pint of boiling water, the whole of which may be taken in the course of twenty-four hours. Extracts are prepared from the berries, both bruised and unbruised, and given in the dose of one or two drachms; but in consequence of the evaporation of the essential oil, they are probably not stronger than the berries in substance. Off. Prep. Decoctum Scoparii Compositum, Lond.; Oleum Juniperi, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Juniperi Compositus, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. JUNIPERUS VIRGINIANA. U.S. Secondary. Red Cedar. " Juniperus Virginiana. Folia. The leaves." U.S. "Juniperus. See JUNIPERUS. Juniperus Virginiana. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 853; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 49; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. iii. 221. This species of juniper, known commonly by the name of red cedar, is an evergreen tree of slow growth, seldom attaining a very large size, though sometimes rising forty or fifty feet in height, with a stem twelve or thirteen inches in diameter. It has numerous very close branches, which, in the young tree, spread out horizontally near the ground; but as the tree advances, the lower branches slowly decay, leaving the trunk irregular with knots and crevices. The leaves are very small, fleshy, ovate, concave, pointed, glandular on their outer surface, either ternate or in pairs, and closely imbricated. Those of the young shoots are often much longer, and spreading. The leaves closely invest the extreme twigs, increasing with their growth, till ultimately lost in the encroachments of the bark. " The barren flowers are in oblong aments, formed by peltate scales with the anthers concealed within them. The fertile flowers have a proper perianth, which coalesces with the germ, and forms a small, roundish berry, with two or three seeds, covered on its outer surface with a bright blue powder." (Bigelow.) The red cedar grows in all latitudes of the United States, from that of Burlington in Vermont, to the Gulf of Mexico; but is most abundant and of most vigorous growth in the southern section, and within a short distance of the ocean. The interior wood is of a reddish colour, and highly valuable on account of its great durability. Small excrescences which are sometimes found on the branches of the tree, are popularly used as an anthelmintic under the name of cedar apples. The leaves only are officinal. They have a peculiar not unpleasant odour, and a strong, bitterish, some- what pungent taste. These properties reside chiefly in an essential oil, and are readily imparled to alcohol. The tincture is rendered turbid by the addition of water; and the presence of tannin in the leaves is indicated by the usual tests. The leaves of the /. Virginiana bear a close resemblance to those of the J. Sabina, from which they can be certainly distinguished only by the dif- ference of odour. part i. Juniperus Virginiana.—Kino. 393 Medical Properties and Uses. The resemblance of red cedar to savine is said also to extend to their medical properties; the former being considered, like the latter, stimulant, emmenagogue, diuretic, and, under certain cir- cumstances, diaphoretic. It is, however, much less energetic; and though advantage may, as has been asserted, have accrued from its use in amenor- rhcea, chronic rheumatism, and dropsy, it has not acquired the confidence of the profession generally. Externally applied it acts as an irritant; and an ointment prepared by boiling the fresh leaves for a short time in twice their weight of lard, with the addition of a little wax, is employed as a substitute for savine cerate in maintaining a purulent discharge from blistered surfaces. Sometimes the dried leaves in powder are mixed with six times their weight of resin cerate, and used for a similar purpose. But neither of these prepa- rations is as effectual as the analogous preparations of savine. W. KINO. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Kino. " Nauclea gambir, et Pterocarpus erinacea. Extractum. The extract." U.S. " Pterocarpus erinaceus. Extractum." Lond. Kino, Fr., Germ., Ital; Quino, Span. The term kino was originally applied to a vegetable extract or inspissated juice taken to London from the western coast of Africa, and introduced to the notice of the profession by Dr. Fothergill. Vegetable products obtained from various other parts of the world, resembling kino in their appearance and properties, have subsequently received the same name; and at present a confusion prevails in relation to the botanical and commercial history of the drug, which, in this country, cannot be satisfactorily settled. We shall present a view of the different varieties, as described in the works of highest authority on the materia medica. 1. East India or Amboyna Kino.—This is the kind which is said to be at present in most general use. It is thought to be the produce of the Nau- clea Gambir, a twining East India shrub, belonging to the class and order Pentandria ISIonogynia, and the natural order Rubiacese of Jussieu; and described minutely by Mr. Hunter in the ninth volume of the London Lin- nean Transactions. This plant is a native of Malacca and the island of Sumatra, where an extract is prepared from the young twigs and leaves, which is called gutta gambeer in the East, and is supposed by authors generally to be the same with kino. But any one who will compare Mr. Hunter's account of this extract with the characters of the kino of com- merce, will be led at least to doubt their identity; and if the latter be pro- cured from the same plant, it must be by a different process. The name of Amboyna, conferred on the East India kino, implies that it is prepared in that island also. It is this variety with which our market is chiefly supplied. We obtain it either directly from India, or more commonly from London, where it is bought at the East India Company's sales. It is in small, angular, deep brown, shining, brittle fragments, of a uniform consistence, appearing as though formed by the breaking down of larger masses of a dried extract. These fragments are easily pulverized, affording a lighter brown somewhat reddish powder, a portion of which resulting from their mutual attrition, is usually found interspersed among them. They are without smell. The taste is very rough and astringent, and at first bitter; 394 Kino. part i. but ultimately leaves an impression of sweetness upon the tongue. Water at 60° dissolves two-thirds of this variety of kino, forming a deep brown dear solution. Alcohol also dissolves the greater portion, and the resulting tincture, which is of a deep claret colour, is not rendered turbid by the addi- tion of water. The aqueous infusion affords a brick-red precipitate with a solution of isinglass, and an olive-black precipitate with the persulphate of iron. (Thomson's Dispensatory.) 2. West India or Jamaica Kino. The source of this variety is not known with certainty. Dr. Duncan was informed by Dr. Wright that it was obtained from the Coccoloba uvifera, or seaside grape. The late Dr. Murray of Edinburgh was told, as we are informed in his work on Materia Medica, that it was the extract of the mahogany wood. Dr. Thomson states in his Dispensatory that none of it is now to be procured. Some years since a thick reddish-brown liquid was imported into Philadelphia from the West Indies, which, when dried by exposure to the air in shallow vessels, or by heat, afforded an extract having all the properties of kino, for which it was sold by our druggists. The supply, however, is now nearly or quite exhausted. We are unable to say what was its precise source, or whether it was identical with the variety described as Jamaica kino in the British pharmaceutical works. The Jamaica kino, from whatever plant it may be derived, is evidently an extract. According to Dr. Duncan, it is in large fragments, sometimes retain- ing the impression of the vessel in which it was dried; of a homogeneous appearance; of a resinous fracture, exhibiting small air bubbles; of a dark brown almost black colour, but in very thin splinters transparent, and of a ruby redness; affording when pulverized a reddish-brown powder; crackling under the teeth when chewed; of a taste somewhat acid at first, afterwards bitter and astringent, and ultimately sweetish. The greater part of it is soluble both in water and alcohol. 3. African Kino. The original kino employed by Dr. Fothergill was known to be the produce of a tree growing in Senegal and the neighbouring countries on the western coast of Africa; but the precise character of the tree was not ascertained, until a specimen sent home by Mungo Park, during his last journey, enabled the English botanists to decide that it was the Ptero- carpus erinacea of Lamarck and Poiret. The London College accordingly refers kino to this plant; but in so doing have overlooked the fact, that the drug now used is seldom or never brought from Africa. This variety of kino " is in very small, irregularly shaped, shining, deep ruby-brown coloured fragments, and intermixed with small twigs and minute bits of wood, which are whitish on the inside. It is pulverulent, affording a dark chocolate or reddish-brown powder. It is inodorous, and insipid when first taken into the mouth; but after some time it imparts a slight de- gree of roughness, with a scarcely perceptible sweetness, to the palate, feels gritty between the teeth when chewed, and does not colour the saliva." (Thomson's Dispensatory.) According to Dr. Thomson, water at 60° dis- solves more than half of it, forming a brick-red, rather turbid infusion, which is not clear at the end of twenty-four hours. Alcohol dissolves nearly two- thirds, forming a very deep-brown coloured tincture, and leaving a nearly colourless residuum. The African kino is thought to be the concrete juice of the tree, and not an extract. 4. Botany Bay Kino. This is the concrete juice of the Eucalyptus re- sinifera, or brown gum tree of New Holland, a lofty tree, belonging to the class and order Icosandria Monogynia, and the natural order Myrtaceie. When the bark is wounded the juice flows very freely, and hardens in the PART I. Kino. 395 air. According to Mr. White, a single tree is capable of furnishing five hun- dred pounds of kino in one year. (White's Voyage.) Duncan states that specimens of the juice have reached Great Britamin the fluid state. The Edinburgh College erroneously adopts the inspissated juice of the Eucalyp- tus resinifera as the officinal kino. In relation to this variety Dr. Duncan states that when he first examined kino in 1802, it was common, and was the finest kind in commerce. According to information received by Dr. Thomson, its importation into Great Britain must have ceased soon after that period. (Thomson's Dispensatory, Edit. 1826, p. 506.) Ainslie informs us that he has met with it in the markets of Hindostan. Parcels may occa- sionally reach this country; but by such complicated routes that their origin is unknown. Dr. Duncan thus describes it. " It occurs in dark brown masses of vari- ous sizes, either smooth or rounded on the surface, or in fragments often covered with a reddish-brown powder, fracture resinous and very unequal, appearance sometimes homogeneous but sometimes heterogeneous, mixed with bits of twigs, leaves, &c; splinters transparent, ruby red; no smell, scarcely crackling under the teeth, but sometimes gritty from the accidental mixture of sand; taste simply astringent, succeeded by sweetness, and, when long chewed a portion adheres to the teeth; infusible and friable, powder reddish-brown." White states that only one-sixth of this kino is soluble in water; Guibourt found it wholly soluble with the exception of foreign mat- ters; and Dr. Thomson informs us that water at 60° dissolves more than one-half. These gentlemen must have experimented with different substan- ces. According to Dr. Duncan, alcohol dissolves the whole except impuri- ties, and the tincture, with a certain proportion of water, lets fall a copious red precipitate, but with a large portion only becomes slightly turbid.* General Properties. Kino is in small, irregular, somewhat angular, shin- ing fragments, of a dark brown or reddish-brown colour, brittle, pulveriza- ble, and affording a powder which is lighter coloured than the masses. It is without odour, and has a bitterish, highly astringent, and ultimately sweetish taste. It is not softened by heat. Cold water dissolves it partially, boiling water more largely, and the saturated decoction becomes turbid on cooling, and deposites a reddish sediment. Alcohol dissolves the greater portion. It consists chiefly of a peculiar modification of tannin, with ex- tractive matter, and, in some of the varieties, a minute proportion of resin. According to Vauquelin it contains no gallic acid. Its aqueous solution is precipitated by gelatin, by soluble salts of iron, silver, lead, and antimony, by the permuriate of mercury, and by the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids. The alkalies favour its solubility in water, but essentially change its nature, and destroy its astringent property. Reference should be had to these relations of kino in prescribing it. It is said that catechu, broken into small fragments, has sometimes been sold as kino. Fortunately little injury can result from the substitution, as the medical virtues of the two extracts are very nearly the same. * A drug has lately been brought into the market at Philadelphia, and sold in consi- derable quantities, under ihe name of kino, imported, as we are informed from Caraccas, but of unknown origin. It is in large masses, of a very dark colour externally, of a deep reddish-brown internally, brittle, with an irregular but shining fracture, and readily break- ing into small fragments, bearing some resemblance to those of the kino ordinarily found in the shops but perhaps less angular, It is much mixed with impurities, but has a very astringent taste, and will probably be found to answer in practice the purposes of the medi- cine the name of which it has assumed. It is broken, for sale, by means of a mill, into small irregular pieces.—Note to 3rd Edition. 396 Kino.—Krameria. part r. Medical Properties and Uses. Kino is powerfully astringent, and in this country is much used for the suppression of morbid discharges. In diarrhcea not attended with febrile excitement or inflammation, it is often an excellent adjunct to opium and the absorbent medicines, and is a favourite addition to the chalk mixture. It is also used in chronic dysentery when astringents are admissible; in leucorrhcea and diabetes; and in passive hemor- rhages, particularly that from the uterus. It was formerly used in intermit- tent fever, but has given way to more efficient remedies. It may be given in powder, infusion, or dissolved in diluted alcohol. The dose of the powder is from ten to thirty grains. The infusion, which is a very convenient form of administration, may be made by pouring eight fluid- ounces of boiling water on two drachms of the extract, and straining when cool. Aromatics may be added if deemed advisable. The dose is a fluid- ounce. The proportion of alcohol in a dose of the tincture, renders it fre- quently an unsuitable preparation. Locally applied, kino is often productive of benefit. Its infusion is useful as an injection in leucorrhcea and obstinate gonorrhoea, and thrown up the nostrils we have found it very efficacious in suppressing hemorrhage from the Schneiderian membrane. A case of obstinate hemorrhage from a wound in the palate, after resisting various means, yielded to the application of pow- dered kino, which was spread thickly on lint, and pressed against the wound by the tongue. The powder is also a very useful application to indolent and flabby ulcers. Off Prep. Electuarium Catechu Compositum, Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Kino Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Kino, Lond., Ed., Dub. W. KRAMERIA. U.S., Lond. Rhatany. 14 Krameria triandra. Radix. The root." U.S. Off. Syn. RHATANIA. KRAMERIA TRIANDRA. Radix et extrac- tum. Dub. Ratanhie, Fr.; Ratanhiawurzel, Germ.; Ratania, Ital; Span. Krameria. Sex. Syst. Tetrandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Polygaleae. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Corolla four petalled; the superior nectary three- parted, and inferior two leaved. Berry dry, echinated, one-seeded. Willd. Krameria triandra. Ruiz and Pavon, Flor. Peruv. i. 61. The rhatany plant is a shrub having a long, much branched, and spreading root, of a blackish-red colour, with a round, procumbent, very dark coloured stem, di- vided into numerous branches, of which the younger are leafy and thickly covered with soft hairs, giving them a while, silky appearance. The leaves are few, sessile, oblong-ovate, pointed, entire, presenting on both surfaces the same silky whiteness with the young branches, on the sides of which they are placed. The flowers are lake-coloured, and stand singly on short peduncles at the axils of the upper leaves. There are only three stamens. The nectary cons;sts of four leaflets, of which the two upper are spatulate, the lower roundish and much shorter: it does not correspond with the gene- ric character of Willdenow, which was dtawn from the Krameria Ixina. The fruit is globular, of the size of a pea, surrounded by stiff reddish-brown prickles, and furnished with one or two seeds. PART r. Krameria. 397 This species of Krameria is a native of Peru, growing in dry argillaceous and sandy places, and abundant about the city of Huanuco. It flowers at all seasons, but is in the height of its bloom in October and November. The root is dug up after the rains. The K. Ixina, growing in Hayti, and in Cumana on the South American continent, is said to afford a root closely analogous in appearance and pro- perties to that of the Peruvian species; but the latter only is officinal. The name rhatany is said to express, in the language of the Peruvian In- dians, the creeping character of the plant. We receive rhatany in pieces of various shapes and dimensions, some being simple, some more or less branched, the largest as much as an inch in thickness, being derived from the main body of the root, the small- est not thicker than a small quill, consisting of the minute ramifications. They are composed of a dark reddish-brown, slightly fibrous, easily separa- ble bark, and a central woody portion, less coloured, but still reddish, or red- dish yellow. The root is without smell, but has a bitter, very astringent, slightly sweetish taste, which is connected with its medical virtues, and is much stronger in the cortical than the ligneous part. The smallest pieces are therefore preferable, as they contain the largest proportion of the bark. The powder is of a reddish colour. The virtues of the root are extracted by boiling water, which forms a dark brown infusion. By digestion in alcohol a deep reddish-brown tincture is obtained, from which a pink coloured pre- cipitate separates upon the addition of water. From the researches of Vogel, Gmelin, Peschier, and Trommsdorff, the root appears to contain tannin, lig- nin, and minute quantities of gum, starch, saccharine matter, and an acid not well determined. The tannin is in three states; 1st. in that of purity, in which it is without colour, 2nd. that of apotheme, in which it has lost its astringency and been rendered insoluble by the action of the air, and 3rd. that of extractive, which is a soluble combination of tannin with its apo- theme, and is the substance which imparts their characteristic reddish-brown colour to the infusion and tincture of rhatany. (Soubeiran, Journ. de Pharm. xix. 596.) The proportion of red astringent matter obtained by Vo- gel was 40 per cent. The mineral acids and most of the metallic salts throw down precipitates with the infusion, decoction, and tincture of rhatany, and are incompatible in prescription. By evaporating the decoction an extract is obtained, which when dried has a reddish-brown colour, a vitreous and shining fracture, and yields a blood-red powder. It has the bitterness and astringency of the root, and bears a close resemblance to kino. But the extract of rhatany is better pre- pared with officinal alcohol than by decoction; as, during the boiling process, a considerable quantity of the pure tannin is converted into insoluble and inert apotheme, and another portion unites with the starch to form a com- pound insoluble in cold water, and of no medical efficacy. An extract prepared from the cold infusion, though smaller in amount, is proportionably even richer in active matter than the alcoholic, as the latter necessarily con- tains the inert apotheme of the root, which, though insoluble in water, is dissolved by alcohol. The extract imported from South America is much inferior to that prepared in our shops. Medical Properties and Uses. Rhatany is gently tonic and powerfully astringent; and may be advantageously given in chronic diarrhoea, passive hemorrhages, some forms of leucorrhoea, and in all those cases in which kino and catechu are beneficial. It has long been used in Peru as a remedy in bowel complaints, as a corroborant in cases of enfeebled stomach, and as a local application to spongy gums. Ruiz, one of the authors of the Peru- 35 398 Krameria.—Lactuca Elongata. part i. vian Flora, first made it known in Europe. It has but recently been in- troduced into this country, where it is acquiring increased reputation. It has the advantage over the astringent extracts imported, that being brought in the state of the root, it is free from adulteration, and may be prescribed with confidence. The dose of the powder is from twenty to thirty grains; but in this form the root is little used. The decoction is more convenient, and is usually preferred. It may be prepared by boiling an ounce of the bruised root in a pint of water, and taken in the dose of one or two fluidounces. The extract, when carefully made, is perhaps preferable to any other form, as it is of uniform strength. The dose is ten or fifteen grains. A tincture may be prepared by macerating three ounces of the bruised or powdered root in a pint of diluted alcohol for two weeks. Half an ounce of cinna- mon or an ounce of orange-peel may be added to the other ingredients, to improve the flavour, and render the tincture more pleasant to the stomach. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. A syrup of rhatany is prepared by making a saturated cold infusion, and adding a sufficient quantity of sugar. It may be given to children in the dose of a teaspoonful. Off. Prep. Infusum Krameriae, Lond. W. LACTUCA ELONGATA. U.S. Secondary. Wild Lettuce. " Lactuca elongata. Planta. The Plant." U. S. Lactuca. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia iEqualis.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Ci- choracese. Gen. Ch. Receptacle naked. Calyx imbricated, cylindrical, with a mem- branous margin. Pappus simple, stipitate. Seed smooth. Willd. Lactuca elongata. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1525. This indigenous spe- cies of lettuce is biennial, with a stem from three to six feet in height, and leaves of which the lower are runcinate, entire, and clasping, the lowest toothed, and the highest lanceolate. They are all smooth on their under surface. The flowers are in corymbose panicles, small, and of a pale yel- low colour. The stem and leaves yield, when wounded, a milky juice in which the virtues of the plant reside. The wild lettuce grows in all latitudes of the United States, from Canada to the Ca'rolinas. It is found in woods, along roads, and in fertile soils, and flowers in June and July. It was introduced into the secondary list of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia as a substitute for the Lactuca virosa of Europe, which it is said to resemble somewhat in medical properties. Dr. Bigelow \yas informed by physicians who had employed it, that it acts as an anodyne, and promotes the secretion from the skin and kidneys. It is seldom used in regular practice. An extract prepared by expressing and inspissating the juice of the fresh plant may be given in doses of from five to fifteen grains. (Bigeloio's Se- quel.) w. part i. Lactuca Virosa.—Lactucarium.—Lactuca. 399 LACTUCA VIROSA. Folia. Dub. Strong-scented Lettuce. Off Syn. LACTUC^E VIROSiE HERBA. Ed. Laitue vireuse, Fr.; Gift-Lattig, Germ.; Lattuga salvatica, Ital. Lactuca. See LACTUCA ELONGATA. Lactuca] virosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1526; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 75. t. 31. The strong-scented lettuce is biennial, with a stem from two to four feet high, erect, prickly near the base, above smooth and divided into branches. The lower leaves are large, oblong, obovate, undivided, toothed, commonly prickly on the under side of the midrib, sessile, and horizontal; the upper are smaller, clasping, and often lobed; the bractes are cordate and pointed. The flowers are numerous, of a sulphur-yellow colour, and dis- posed in a panicle. The plant is lactescent, and has a strong disagreeable smell like that of opium, and a bitterish acrid taste. The inspissated expressed juice is the only part used in medicine. It should be prepared while the plant is in flower, as the milky fluid, upon which its virtues depend, is then most abundant. The strong-scented lettuce is a native of Europe. Medical Properties and Uses. The extract or inspissated juice is a seda- tive narcotic, said also to be gently laxative, powerfully diuretic, and some- what diaphoretic. It is employed in Europe, particularly in Germany, in the treatment of dropsy, and is especially recommended in cases attended with visceral obstruction. Dr. Collin of Vienna was very successful with it in the cure of that disease. It is usually, however, combined with squill, digitalis, or some other diuretic; and it is not easy to decide how much of the effect obtained is justly ascribable to the lettuce. The medicine is never used in this country. The dose is eight or ten grains, which may be gradually increased to a scruple or more. The Lactuca Scariola, another European species, possesses similar properties, and is used for the same purposes. Off. Prep. Succus Spissatus Lactucee Virosae. Ed. W. LACTUCARIUM. U. S. Secondary, Lond., Ed. Lactucarium. " Lactuca sativa. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. LACTUCA. Lond. Lettuce. " Lactuca sativa." Lond. Off. Syn. LACTUCtE SATIVtE HERBA. Ed.; LACTUCA SA- TIVA. Herba. Dub. Laitue, Fr.; Garten-Latlig, Germ.; Lattuga, Ital; Lechuga, Span. Lactuca. See LACTUCA ELONGATA. Lactuca saliva. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1523. The garden lettuce is an annual plant. The stem, which rises above two feet in height, is erect round, simple below, and branching in its upper part. The lower leaves 400 Lactucarium.—Lactuca. PART I. are obovate, rounded at the end, and undulating; the upper are smaller, ses- sile, cordate, and toothed; both are shining, and of a yellowish-green colour. The flowers are pale yellow, small, and disposed in an irregular terminal corymb. Before the flower-stem begins to shoot, the plant contains a bland, pellucid juice, has little taste or smell, and is much used as a salad for the table; but during the period of inflorescence it abounds in a peculiar milky juice, which readily escapes from incisions in the stem, and has been found to possess decided medicinal as well as sensible properties. A similar juice is produced by all the other species of lettuce, and has in fact served as the origin of the title by which the genus is designated. This juice is more abundant in the wild than in the cultivated plants. That of the L. sativa, inspissated by exposure to the air, has been adopted as officinal by the Lon- don and Edinburgh Colleges, and has found a place in the secondary cata- logue of the United States Pharmacopoeia, under the name of Lactucarium. In the edition of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, lettuce has been omitted from the Materia Medica; but we have retained it here; as an extract of lettuce is directed in the same edition, among the Preparations. The original native country of the garden lettuce is unknown. The plant has been cultivated from time immemorial, and is now employed in all parts of the civilized world. It flourishes equally well in hot and temperate latitudes. Some botanists suppose that the L. virosa of the old continent is the parent of all the varieties of the cultivated plant. The milky juice undergoes little alteration, if confined in closely stopped bottles from which the air is excluded. But when exposed to the air, it concretes and assumes a brownish colour somewhat like that of opium. Mr. Young, of Edinburgh, recommends the following mode of collecting it. When the stem is about a foot high, the top is cut off, and the juice which exudes, being absorbed by cotton or a piece of sponge, is pressed out into a cup or other small vessel, and exposed till it concretes. In order to obtain all the juice which the plant is capable of affording, it is necessary to cut off five or six successive slices of the stem at short intervals, and to repeat the process two or three times a day. The juice may also be collected by the finger as it flows from the incisions. Procured in the manner above indi- cated, it is very expensive; and other modes have been proposed with a view to obviate this disadvantage. A plan proposed by Mr. Probart of London, is to collect the milky juice on pieces of woven cotton about half a yard square, to throw these when fully charged into a vessel containing a small quantity of water, and allow the water thus impregnated to evaporate in shallow dishes at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. The lactucarium is left in the form of an extract, differing from the concrete juice chiefly in being destitute of caout- chouc. But prepared in this way also it is very expensive, in consequence of the smallness of the product. Another method of extracting the virtues of the lettuce has been recom- mended by Mr. Probart. When the plant begins to assume a yellow hue, , the white juice concretes in the bark of the stem, and in the old leaves, which become very bitter. These parts being separated, are macerated for twenty-four hours in water, then boiled for two hours; and the clear decoc- tion, after having been allowed to drain off through a sieve without pressure, is evaporated in shallow vessels by simple exposure. The resulting extract, according to Mr. Probart, has half the strength of lactucarium, and may be obtained at one-sixth of the cost. The London and Edinburgh Colleges direct an extract to be prepared by inspissating the expressed juice of the leaves; but this must be exceedingly PART I. Lactucarium.—Lactuca. 401 uncertain, from the variable quantity of the milky juice contained in the plant; and as the young leaves, which contain little or none of it, are often employed, the preparation is liable to be quite inert. The proper lactuca- rium is greatly preferable. It has been asserted that the thridace of Dr. Frangois is the inspissated milky juice of lettuce, and therefore identical with lactucarium; and a state- ment to this effect was made in the former editions of this work, upon what was deemed sufficient authority. In an article, however, in the Journal de Pharmacie for December 1836, it is asserted that thridace strongly attracts moisture from the air, is without narcotic odour, and instead of being bitter, like lactucarium, has a saline and extractive taste. The late Dr. Duncan was, therefore, probably correct in considering it the inspissated expressed juice. Lactucarium is in small irregular lumps, of a reddish-brown colour exter- nally, and of a narcotic odour and bitter taste. In colour, taste, and smell, it bears considerable resemblance to opium, and has sometimes been called lettuce opium. It does not attract moisture from the air. It yields nearly half its weight to water, with which it forms a deep-brown infusion. From experiments made by Dr. Klink, assisted by professor Pfaff of Kiel, the un- dissolved portion appears to consist of wax, resin, and caoutchouc. From its resemblance in sensible properties and therapeutical effects to opium, it was conjectured to contain morphia, or some analogous principle; but none such has been discovered. An analysis, published without a name, in the Journal de Pharmacie, (torn. xx. p. 653,) gives the following constituents: 1. a bitter principle, soluble in water and alcohol, insoluble in ether, and not precipitated by *the salts of lead; 2. albumen; 3. caoutchouc; 4. wax; 5. an acid, the nature of which was not determined; 6. chloride of calcium; l! phosphate of lime; and 8. potassa. Medical Properties and Uses. That lettuce possesses soporific proper- ties, is a fact which was known to the ancients; but Professor Coxe, of Phila- delphia, enjoys the credit of having first proposed the employment of its in- spissated juice as a medicine. From experiments with a tincture prepared from lactucarium, or lettuce opium, as it has been called, Dr. Coxe obtained the same results as usually follow the administration of common laudanum. Dr. Duncan, senior, of Edinburgh, afterwards paid particular attention to the subject, and, in his treatise on pulmonary consumption, recommended lactu- carium as a substitute for opium, the anodyne properties of which it pos- sesses, without being followed by the same injurious effects. In consequence of this recommendation the medicine came into extensive use, and was adopted as officinal in several of the Pharmacopoeias. Dr. Frangois, a French physician, has also investigated, with great care, the medicinal properties of the inspissated juice of lettuce. According to this author, it is sedative in its action, diminishing the rapidity of the circulation, and consequently the temperature of the body, without producing that disturbance of the functions which often follows the use of opium. In this country the medicine is habitually employed by some practitioners to allay cough, and quiet nervous irritation. The dose of lactucarium is two grains to be repeated if necessary. Water distilled from lettuce (eau de laitue) is used in France as a mild sedative, in the quantity of from two to four ounces. The fresh leaves boil- ed in water are sometimes employed in the shape of cataplasms. It is said that in Egypt a mild oil is derived from the seeds, fit for culinary use. (Fee.) Off. Syn. Extractum Lactucae, Lond. \y 35* 402 Lauri Baccx et Folia.—Lavandula. LAURI BACC^E. LAURI FOLIA. Lond. Berries and Leaves of the Bay Tree. " Laurus nobilis. Baccse. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. LAURI NOBILIS BACCtE. LAURI NOBILIS OLEUM EXPRESSUM. Ex Baccis. Ed.; LAURUS NOBILIS. Folia. Baccae. Dub. Laurier, Fr.; Lorbeer, Germ.; Allorg, Ital; Laurel, Span. Laurus. See CAMPHORA. Laurus nobilis. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 479; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 678. t. 235. This species of laurel is an evergreen tree, attaining in its native climate the height of twenty or thirty feet. Its leaves are alternate, on short petioles, oval lanceolate, entire, sometimes wavy, veined, of a firm texture, smooth, shining, deep green upon their upper surface, paler beneath. The flowers are dioecious, of a yellowish-white colour, and placed in small clus- ters of three or four together upon a common peduncle in the axils of the leaves. The corolla is divided into four oval segments. The fruit is an oval berry, of the size of a small cherry, and when ripe of a dark purple, nearly black colour. The bay tree, so famous among the ancients, is a native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Its leaves and fruit, and an oil expressed from the latter, are the officinal parts. The leaves have a fragrant odour, especially when bruised, and a bitter, aromatic, somewhat astringent taste. They yield by distillation a greenish- yellow volatile oil, upon which their properties chiefly depend. Water dis- tilled from them has their peculiar odour. The berries when dried are black and wrinkled, and contain two oval, fatty seeds within a thin, friable envelope; or they may be considered as drupes, with a kernel divisible into two lobes. They have the same aroma- tic odour and taste as the leaves, but are more pungent. Besides an essen- tial oil, they contain also a fixed oil, which may be separated by expression or decoction. The expressed oil, which is obtained from the fresh fruit, is concrete, of a greenish colour, and retains a portion of the volatile oil, which renders it agreeably aromatic. Lard impregnated with the odorous principle of the berries, and coloured green, is said to be often substituted for the genuine expressed oil. Medical Properties and Uses. The leaves, berries, and oil of the bay tree possess excitant and narcotic properties; but at present are never used internally as medicines, and in this country are scarcely employed in any manner. Their chief use is to communicate a pleasant odour to external stimulant remedies. Dr. A. T. Thomson says that he has found an infusion of the berries useful in impetigo. W. LAVANDULA. U.S., Lond. Lavender. " Lavandula spica. Flores. The flowers." U.S. Off. Syn. LAVANDULAE SPIC^E FLORES. Ed.; LAVANDULA SPICA. Flores. Dub. PART I. Lavandula.—Lichen. 403 Lavande, Fr.; Lavendelblumen, Germ.; Lavandola, Ital; Espliego alhucema, Span. Lavandula. Sex. Syst. Didynamia Gymnospermia.—Nat. Ord. La- biatae. Gen. Ch. Calyx ovate, somewhat toothed, supported by a bracte. Co- rolla resupine. Stamens within the tube. Willd. Lavandula Spica. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 60; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 321. t. 114.—L. vera. De Cand. Flor. Fr. Sup. p. 398. The Lavandula Spi- ca of Linnaeus includes two distinct species, which were considered by him merely as varieties of the same plant, but have been separated by subse- quent botanists. Of these, the officinal plant, the narrow-leaved variety of Linnaeus, has been denominated by De Candolle L. vera, while the broad- leaved variety still retains the title of L. Spica. It is the former which is intended by the Pharmacopoeias, as the latter is scarcely cultivated in Great Britain or the United States. The common lavender is a small shrub, usually rising not more than two or three feet, but sometimes attaining an elevation of six feet. The stem is woody below, and covered with a brown bark; above, is divided into nu- merous slender, straight, herbaceous, pubescent, quadrangular branches, fur- nished with opposite, sessile, narrow, nearly linear, entire, and green or glaucous leaves. The flowers are small, blue, and disposed in interrupted whorls around the young shoots, forming terminal cylindrical spikes. Each whorl is accompanied with two bractes. The corolla is tubular and labiate, with the lower lip divided into three segments, the upper larger and bifid. The filaments are within the tube. The plant is a native of Southern Europe, and covers vast tracts of dry and barren land in Spain, Italy, and the South of France. It is cultivated abundantly in our gardens, and in this country flowers in August. All parts of it are endowed with properties similar to those for which the flowers are used; but these only are officinal. The spikes should be cut when they be- gin to bloom. Lavender flowers have a strong fragrant odour, and an aromatic, warm, bitterish taste. They retain their fragrance a long time after drying. Alco- hol extracts their virtues; and a volatile oil upon which their odour depends rises with that liquid in distillation. The oil may be procured separate by distilling the flowers with water. (See Oleum Lavandulae.) Hagen obtained from a pound of the fresh flowers sometimes two drachms, sometimes only half a drachm of the oil. Medical Properties and Uses. Lavender is an aromatic stimulant and tonic, esteemed useful in certain conditions of nervous debility, but very sel- dom given in its crude state. The products obtained by its distillation are much used in perfumery, and as grateful additions to other medicines, which they render at the same time more acceptable to the palate and cordial to the stomach. Off. Prep. Oleum Lavandulae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Asari Compositus, Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Lavandulae, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Lavandulae Compositus, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. LICHEN. U.S. Iceland Moss. " Cetraria Islandica. Acharius. Lichen Islandicus. Linn. Planta. The Plant." U.S. 404 Lichen. part i. Off. Syn. CETRARIA. Cetraria islandica. Lond.; LICHEN 1SLAND- ICUS. Ed.; LICHEN ISLANDICUS. CETRARIA ISLANDICA. Planta. Dub. Lichen d'lslande, Fr.; Islandiches Moos, Germ.; Lichene Islandico, Ital; Liqucn Is- landico, Span. Cetraria. Sex. Syst. Cryptogamia Lichenes.—Nat. Ord. Lichenes. Gen. Ch. Plant cartilagino-membranous, ascending or spreading, lobed, smooth, and naked on both sides. Apothecia shield-like, obliquely adnate with the margin, the disk coloured, plano-concave; border inflexed, derived from the frond. Loudon's Encyc. The genus Lichen of Linnaeus has been divided by subsequent botanists into numerous genera, which have been raised to the dignity of a distinct order, both in the natural and artificial systems of arrangement; The name Cetraria was conferred by Acharius on the genus to which the Iceland moss belongs. Cetraria Islandica. Acharius, Lichenog. Univ. 512.—Lichen Islandi- cus. Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 803. t. 271. Iceland moss is foliaceous, erect, from two to four inches high, with a dry, coriaceous, smooth, shining, la- ciniated frond or leaf, the lobes of which are irregularly subdivided, chan- neled, and fringed at their edges with rigid hairs. Those divisions upon which the fruit is borne are dilated. The colour is olive-brown or green- ish-gray above, reddish at the base, and lighter on the under than the upper surface. The fructification is in flat, shield-like, reddish-brown receptacles, with elevated entire edges, placed upon the surface of the frond near its border. The plant is found in the northern latitudes of the old and new conti- nents; and on the elevated mountains further south. It received its name from the abundance in which it prevails in Iceland. It is also abundant on the mountains and in the sandy plains of New England. The dried moss is of diversified colour, grayish-white, brown, and red in its different parts, with less of the green tint than in the recent state. It is inodorous, and has a mucilaginous, bitter taste. Macerated in water it ab- sorbs rather more than its own weight of the fluid, and, if the water be warm, renders it bitter. Boiling water extracts all its soluble principles. The decoction thickens upon cooling, and acquires a gelatinous consistence, resembling that of starch in appearance, but without its viscidity. After some time the dissolved matter separates, and when dried forms semitrans- parent masses, insoluble in cold, but soluble in boiling water, from which it is precipitated by gallic acid. This principle resembles slarch in its general characters, but differs from it in some respects, particularly in not being co- loured blue by iodine. John considers it a modification of inulin. The most accurate analysis of Iceland moss is that by Berzelius. By this chemist 100 parts were found to afford 1.6 of chlorophylle, 3.0 of a peculiar bitter principle, 3.6 of uncrystallizable sugar, 3.7 of gum, 7.0 of the apotheme of extractive, 44.6 of the peculiar starch-like principle, 1.9 of the bilichenates of potassa and lime mixed with phosphate of lime, and 36.2 of amylaceous fibrin—the excess being 1.6 parts. (Traite de Chim. vi. 251.) The name of cetrarin has been conferred on the bitter principle of Iceland moss. The following process for obtaining it is that of Dr. Herberger, who is said to have been the first to procure it in a pure state. The moss, coarsely powdered, is boiled for half an hour in four times its weight of alcohol of .883. The liquid, when cool, is expressed and filtered, and treated with di- luted muriatic acid in the proportion of three drachms to every pound of moss employed. Water is then added in the quantity of about four times PART I. Lichen. 405 the bulk of the liquid, and the mixture left for a night in a closed matrass. The deposite which forms is collected on a filter, allowed to drain as much as possible, and submitted to the press. To purify it, the mass, while still moist, is broken into small pieces, washed with alcohol or ether, and treated with two hundred times its weight of boiling alcohol, which dissolves the cetrarin, leaving the other organic principles by which it has been hitherto accompanied. The greater part is deposited as the liquor cools, and the remainder may be obtained by evaporation. By this process one pound of moss yielded'to Dr. Herberger 133 grains of cetrarin. This principle is white, not crystalline, light, unalterable in the air, inodorous, and exceed- ingly bitter, especially in alcoholic solution. Its best solvent is absolute alcohol, of which 100 parts dissolve 1.7 of cetrarin at the boiling tempera- ture. Ether also dissolves it, and it is slightly soluble in water. Its solu- tions are quite neutral to test paper. It is precipitated by the acids, and rendered much more soluble by the alkalies. Concentrated muriatic acid changes its colour to a bright blue. It precipitates the salts of iron, copper, lead and silver. In the dose of two grains repeated every two hours it has been used successfully in intermittent fever. (See Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 505, and Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 54.) The gum and starch contained in the moss render it sufficiently nutritive to serve as food for the inhabitants of Iceland and Lapland, who employ it powdered and made into bread, or boiled with milk, having first partially freed it from the bitter principle by repeated maceration in water. The bitterness may be entirely extracted by macerating the powdered moss, for twenty-four hours, in twenty-four times its weight of a solution formed with 1 part of an alkaline carbonate and 375 parts of water, decanting the liquid at the end of this time, and repeating the process with an equal quantity of the solution. The powder being now dried is perfectly sweet and highly nutritive. This process was suggested by Berzelius. Medical Properties and Uses. Iceland moss is at the same time demul- cent, nutritious, and tonic; and therefore well calculated for affections of the mucous membrane of the lungs and bowels, in which the local disease is associated with a debilitated condition of the digestive organs, or of the system generally. Hence it has been found useful in chronic catarrhs, and other pulmonary affections attended with copious and debilitating expectora- tion, especially when the matter discharged is of a purulent character; as also in dyspepsia, chronic dysentery, and diarrhoea. It has, moreover, been given in cases of debility succeeding acute disease, or dependent on copious purulent discharge from external ulcers. But the complaint in the treat- ment of which it has acquired most reputation is pulmonary consumption. It had long been employed in this disease, and in haemoptysis, by the Danish physicians, before it became known to the profession at large. In the latter half of the last century it was introduced into extensive use; and numerous cases of cures supposed to have been effected by it are on record. But now that the pathology of consumption is understood, physicians have ceased to expect material advantage from it in the genuine tuberculous form of the disease; and there is reason to believe that the cases which have recovered under its use, were nothing more than chronic bronchitis or catarrh, or possibly ulceration dependent on ordinary inflammation of the pulmonary tissue. It can act only as a mild, nutritious, demulcent tonic; and certainly exercises no specific influence over tuberculous disease. It is usually employed in the form of decoction. (See Decoctum Liche- nis.) By some writers it is recommended to deprive it of the bitter prin- ciple by maceration in water, or a weak alkaline solution, before preparing 406 Lichen.—Limon. PART I. the decoction; but we thus reduce it to the state of a simple demulcent, or mild article of diet, in which respect it is not superior to the ordinary fari- naceous or gummy substances used in medicine. The powder is some- times given in the dose of thirty grains or a drachm; and a preparation has obtained some repute, in which the ground moss is incorporated with choco- late, and used at the morning and evening meal as an ordinary beverage. Off.Prep. Decoctum Lichenis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. LIMON. U.S. Lemons. "Citrus medica. Fructus. The fruit." U.S. Off. Syn. LIMONES. Citrus Limonum. Fructus. LIMONUM COR- TEX. Fructus Cortex exterior. Lond.; CITRI MEDIC^E CORTEX. Cortex exterior Fructus. CITRI MEDICtE SUCCUS. Succus Fructus. Ed.; LIMONES. CITRUS MEDICA. Fructus succus, et tunica exterior. Dub. Limons, Citrons, Fr.; Limonen, Citronen, Germ.; Limoni, Ital; Limones, Span. For some general remarks on the genus Citrus, see the article Aurantii Cortex. Citrus medica. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1426; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 582. t. 189. This tree closely resembles in its general aspect the C. Aurantium before described. The leaves, however, are larger, slightly indented at the edges, and stand upon footstalks which are destitute of the winged appen- dages that characterize the other species. The flowers, moreover, have a purplish tinge on their outer surface; and the fruit is entirely different in appearance from the orange. There are several varieties of the Citrus me- dica, which some botanists consider entitled to the rank of species, but which are scarcely distinguishable, except by the character of their fruit. Those which are particularly deserving of notice are the citron, lemon, and lime. 1. In the citron, C. medica of Risso, the fruit is very large, some- times six inches in length, ovoidal with a double rind, of which the outer layer is yellowish, thin, unequal, rugged, with innumerable vesicles filled with essential oil; the inner is white, very thick, and spongy. It is divided in the interior into nine or ten cells, filled with oblong vesicles, which contain an acid juice precisely like that of the lemon, and used for the same purposes. The rind is applied to the preparation of conserves, to which it is adapted by its great thickness. This fruit is called cedrat by the French. 2. The lemon— C. medica, variety limon of Linnaeus—the Citrus Limonium of Risso—is smaller than the preceding variety, with a smoother and thinner rind, a pointed nipple-shaped summit, and a very juicy and acid pulp. In other respects it bears a close resemblance to the citron, to which, however, it is usually preferred in consequence of the greater abundance of its juice. 3. The lime is still smaller than the lemon, with a smoother and thinner rind, of an oval shape, rounded at the extremi- ties, of a pale yellow or greenish-yellow colour, and abounding in a very aeid juice, which renders it highly useful for all the purposes to which the lemon is applied. It is the product of the variety C. acris of Miller. The Citrus medica, like the orange-tree, is a native of Asia. It was introduced into Europe from Persia or Media, was first cultivated in Greece, afterwards in Italy, so early as the second century, and has now spread over PART I. Limon. 407 the whole civilized world, being raised by artificial heat, where the climate is too cold to admit of its exposure with safety during winter to the open air. We are supplied with lemons and limes chiefly from the West Indies and the Mediterranean. Though the former of these fruits only is directed by the United States Pharmacopoeia, both kinds are employed indiscriminately for most medicinal purposes; and the lime affords a juice at least equal in proportional quantity, and in acidity, to that obtained from the lemon. Properties. The exterior rind of the lemon has a fragrant odour, and a warm, aromatic, bitter taste, somewhat similar to that of the orange, though less agreeable. It yields, by expression or distillation, an essential oil which is much used for its flavour, and is recognised as officinal in all the Pharmacopoeias. (See Oleum Limonis.) The British Colleges also adopt the rind itself, and that of Edinburgh directs a distilled water to be prepared from it. Lemon-peel yields its virtues to water, wine, and alcohol. But the juice is the part for which this fruit is most esteemed. It is very sharply acid, with a peculiar grateful flavour, and consists chiefly of citric acid, mucilage, and extractive, dissolved in water. As lemons cannot always be obtained, the juice is often kept in a separate state; but from its liability to spontaneous decomposition, it speedily becomes unfit for medical use; and though various means have been resorted to for its preservation, it can never be made to retain for any length of time its original flavour unaltered. The best medicinal substitute for lemon-juice, when the fresh fruit is not attainable, is a solution of crystallized citric acid in water, in the proportion of about an ounce to the pint, with the addition of a little oil of lemons.* One of the most effectual methods of preserving the juice is to allow it to stand for a short time after expression till a coagulable matter separates, then to filter, and introduce it into glass bottles, with a stratum of almond oil or other sweet oil upon its surface. It may also be preserved by concentrating it either by means of evaporation with a gentle heat, or by exposure to a freezing temperature, which congeals the watery portion, and leaves the acid much stronger than before. When wanted for use it may be diluted to the former strength; but though the acid properties are retained, the flavour of the juice is found to have been deteriorated. Medical Properties and Uses. The rind of the lemon is sometimes used to qualify the taste and increase the power of stomachic infusions and tinc- tures. The juice is refrigerant, and properly diluted forms a refreshing and very agreeable beverage in febrile and inflammatory affections. It may be given with sweetened water in the shape of lemonade, or may be added to the mildly nutritive drinks, such as gum-water, barley-water, &c, which are usually administered in fevers. It is also much employed in the forma- tion of those diaphoretic preparations known generally by the names of neutral mixture, and effervescing draught—the former made by saturating the juice with carbonate of potassa, and given in the dose of half a fluid- ounce diluted with an equal quantity of water every hour, two, or three hours; the latter consisting of the same ingredients administered in the state of effervescence. No preparation with which we are acquainted is equally effectual with the effervescing draught, in allaying irritability of stomach and producing diaphoresis in our remittent fevers. The most convenient mode of exhibition, is to add to a fluidounce of a mixture consisting of equal * Nine drachms and a half dissolved in a pint of water, forms a solution of the average strength of lime-juice; but where precision is not requisite, the proportion mentioned in the text is most convenient 408 Limon.—Linum. part i. parts of lemon-juice and water, half a fluidounce of a solution of carbonate of potassa, containing fifteen grains of the salt. Should effervescence not occur, as sometimes happens in consequence of the weakness of the lemon- juice, more of this should be added; as, unless sufficient acid is present to neutralize the potassa, part of the carbonate passes into the state of bicar- bonate, and the gas is thus prevented from escaping. One of the most beneficial applications of lemon-juice is to the prevention and cure of scurvy, for which it may be considered almost a specific. For this purpose, ships destined for long voyages should always be provided with a supply of the concentrated juice, or of crystallized citric acid with the oil of lemons. Lemon-juice is sometimes prescribed in connexion with opium and Peru- vian bark, the effects of which it is thought in some instances to modify favourably, by substituting the citrate of their respective alkalies for the native salts. Off. Prep. Of the rind, Aqua Citri Medicae, Ed.; Infusum Aurantii Comp., Lond., Dub.; Infusum Gentianae Comp., Lond., Dub.:—Of the juice, Acidum Citricum, Lond. Dub.; Syrupus Limonis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. LINUM. U.S. Flaxseed. " Linum usitatissimum. Semina. The seeds." U.S. Off. Syn. LINI SEMINA. Linum usitatissimum. Semina. Lond.; LINI US1TATISSIMI SEMINA. Ed; LINUM USITATISSIMUM. Semina. Dub. Linseed; Grains de lin, Fr.; Leinsame, Germ.; Semi di lino, Ital; Linaza, Span. Linum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Lineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved. Petals five. Capsule five-valved, ten-celled. Seeds solitary. Willd. Linum usitatissimum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1533; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 566. t. 202. Common flax is an annual plant with an erect, slender, round stem, about two feet in height, branching at top, and, like all other parts of the plant, entirely smooth. The leaves are small, lanceolate, acute, entire, of a pale-green colour, sessile, and scattered alternately over the stem and branches. The flowers are terminal and of a delicate blue colour. The calyx is persistent, and composed of five ovate, sharp-pointed, three-nerved leaflets, which are membranous on their border. The petals are five, obo- vate, striated, minutely scolloped at their extremities, and spread into funnel- shaped blossoms. The filaments are also five, united at the base; and the germ, which is ovate, supports five slender styles, terminating in obtuse stigmas. The fruit is a globular capsule, about the size of a small pea, having the persistent calyx at the base, crowned with a sharp spine, and containing ten seeds in distinct cells. This highly valuable plant, now almost everywhere cultivated, is said by some to have been originally derived from Egypt, by others from the great elevated plain of central Asia. It flowers in June and July, and ripens its seeds in August. Both the seeds, and an oil expressed from them, are offi- cinal. The seeds are oval, oblong, flattened on the sides with acute edges, some- what pointed at one end, about a line in length, smooth, glossy, of a brown PART I. Linum. 409 colour externally, and yellowish-white within. They are without smell, and have an oily mucilaginous taste. Their cuticle abounds in a peculiar gummy matter, which is readily imparted to hot water, forming a thick viscid mucilaginous fluid, bearing some resemblance to the solution of gum Arabic, but differing from it in several respects. It ranks among the muci- lages of Berzelius. By this chemist the term mucilageis appled to a proxi- mate vegetable principle, distinguished from gum by being insoluble in cold, and but slightly soluble in boiling water, in which it swells up and forms a mucilaginous, viscid body, which loses its water when placed upon filtering paper, or other porous substance, and contracts like starch in the gelatinous 6tate. The name, however, is unfortunate, as it is generally applied to the solution of gum, and must inevitably lead to confusion. This principle is found in tragacanth, Bassora gum, cherry gum, quince seeds, and various other vegetable products. The mucilaginous fluid formed by treating it with a large proportion of cold water, is not considered by Berzelius as a proper solution, but as constituting an intermediate state between solution and mere swelling up (gonflement); for if a small proportion of water be used, a viscid mass is formed, which imparts to blotting paper on which it may be placed, a liquid in no degree mucilaginous. The mucilage of flaxseed lets fall white flakes upon the addition of alcohol, and affords a copious dense precipitate with the acetate and subacetate of lead. Like gum it yields much mucic (saclactic) acid, when treated with nitric acid. By destructive distillation it affords considerable ammonia, and therefore contains nitrogen. Vauquelin found among its constituents free acetic acid, silica, and various salts of po- tassa and lime. According to Guerin, the mucilage of flaxseed, obtained at a temperature of from 120° to 140°, and evaporated to dryness by means of a salt bath. contains in 100 parts, 52.70 of a principle soluble in cold water, 29.89 of a principle insoluble in that liquid, and 10.30 of water, and yields 7.11 per cent, of ashes. The soluble part he believes to be arabin or pure gum; the insoluble he found not to afford mucic acid with the nitric, and therefore to differ from both bassorin and cerasin. There was also a small proportion of azotized matter which he did not succeed in isolating. (An. de. Chim. et Phys. xlix. 263.) The interior or parenchymatous part of the seeds is rich in a peculiar oil, which is separated by expression, and very extensively employed in the arts. (See Oleum Lini.) The ground seeds are kept in the shops under the name of flaxseed meal. This is of a dark gray colour, highly oleaginous, and when mixed with hot water forms a soft adhesive mass, which is much employed for luting by practical chemists. The cake which remains after the expression of the oil still retains the mucilaginous matter of the envelope, and affords a highly nutritious food for cattle. Medical Properties and Uses. Flaxseed is demulcent and emollient. The mucilage obtained by infusing the entire seeds in boiling water, in the pro- portion of half an ounce to the pint, is much and very advantageously em- ployed in catarrh, dysentery, nephritic and calculous complaints, strangury, and other inflammatory affections of the mucous membranes of the lungs, intestines, and urinary passages. By decoction water extracts also a por- tion of the oleaginous matter, which renders the mucilage less fit for admin- istration by the mouth, but superior as a laxative enema. The meal mixed with hot water forms an excellent emollient poultice. Off.Prep. Cataplasma Lini, Lond.; Cataplasma Sinapis, Lond., Dub.: Infusum Lini, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Oleum Lini, Dub., Ed.; Pulvis pro Cataplasmate, Dub. W. 36 410 Liriodendron. part i. LIRIODENDRON. U.S. Secondary. Tulip-tree Bark. •'Liriodendron tulipifera. Cortex. The bark." U.S. Liriodendron. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Polygynia.—Nat. Ord. Magno- liaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx three-leaved. Petals six. Samarse sublanceolate, one or two-seeded, imbricated in a cone. Nuttall. Liriodendron tulipifera. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1254; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 107; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 92. This noble tree is both from its magnitude and beauty the pride and boast of American landscape. Rising on an erect, straight, cylindrical stem, which is often of nearly equal thick- ness for the distance of forty feet, it attains, in favourable situations, an ele- vation seldom less than fifty and sometimes more than one hundred feet, with a diameter of trunk varying from eighteen inches to three feet; and individuals are occasionally met with which greatly exceed these dimen- sions. The branches, though not very numerous, are thrown out in a some- what regular order, and give the tree a symmetrical aspect. The bark of the stem and branches is smooth in the young trees, but in those of older growth is indented with longitudinal cracks or furrows of a depth propor- tioned to the age. It is of a brown or grayish-brown colour, except in the young branches, on which it is bluish or of a reddish tinge. The leaves, which stand on long footstalks, are alternate, somewhat fleshy, smooth, of a beautiful shining green colour, and divided into three lobes, of which the upper one is truncated and horizontally notched at its summit, so as to pre- sent a two-lobed appearance, and the two lower are rounded at the base and usually pointed. In the larger leaves, the lateral lobes have each a tooth- like projection at some distance below their apex. This peculiar form of the leaf serves to distinguish the tree from all others inhabiting the American forests. On isolated trees the flowers are very numerous. They are large, beautifully variegated with different colours, among which the yellow pre- dominates, and in their general appearance bear no inconsiderable resem- blance to the tulip, which has given a name to the species. Each flower stands on a distinct terminal peduncle. The calyx is double, the outer being two-leaved and deciduous, the inner consisting of three large, oval, concave leaves, of a pale green colour. The corolla is composed of six, seven, or more, obtuse, concave petals. The stamens are numerous, with short filaments, and long linear anthers. The pistils are collected into the form of a cone, the upper part of which is covered with minute stigmas. The fruit consists of numerous long, narrow scales, attached to a common axis, imbricated in a conical form, and containing each two seeds, one or both of which are often abortive. The tulip-tree extends from New England to the borders of Florida, but is most abundant and attains the greatest magnitude in the Middle and Western States. It delights in a rich strong soil, and luxuriates in the ex- haustless fertility of the banks of the Ohio and its tributary streams. Through- out the United States it is known by the inappropriate name of poplar, for which that of tulip-tree is beginning to be substituted. When in full bloom, about the middle of May, it presents in its profusion of flowers, its rich, shining, luxuriant foliage, its elevated stature, and elegant outline, one of the most magnificent objects which the vegetable kingdom affords. part i. Liriodendron.—Lacmus. 411 The interior or heart wood, which is yellowish, of a fine grain, and compact without being heavy, is much employed in the making of furniture, car- riages, door-pannels, and for other useful purposes. It is recommended by its property of resisting the influence of atmospheric moisture; and the attacks of worms. The bark is the officinal portion. It is taken for use indiscriminately from the root, trunk, and branches, though that derived from the root is thought to be most active. It is brought to the druggists in pieces of various sizes, usually five or six inches long by one or two in breadth, partially deprived of epidermis, of a yellowish-white colour, very light, and easily broken. The bark of the root is of a somewhat darker colour than that of the stem or branches. It has a feeble, but heavy and rather disagreeable odour, which is stronger in the fresh bark. The taste is bitter, pungent, and aromatic. These properties are weakened by age, and we have found specimens of the bark which have been long kept in the shops, almost insipid. The peculiar properties of liriodendron appear to reside in a volatile principle, which partially escapes during decoction. This principle has been isolated by Professor Emmet of the University of Virginia, from whom it has received the name of lirioden- drin. In the pure state it is solid, white, crystallizable, brittle, insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether, fusible at 180°, volatilizable and partly decomposed at 270°, of a slightly aromatic odour, and a bitter warm pun- gent taste. It appears, like camphor, to hold a place between the resins and essential oils. It is incapable of uniting with alkalies, which precipitate it from the infusion or decoction of the bark, by combining with the matter which renders it soluble in the water. Neither does it unite with acids. Water precipitates it from its alcoholic solution. It is obtained by mace- rating the root in alcohol, boiling the tincture with magnesia till it assumes an olive-green colour, then filtering, concentrating by distillation till the liquid becomes turbid, and finally precipitating the liriodendrin by the addi- tion of cold water. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. 5.) The vir- tues of the bark are extracted by water and alcohol, but are injured by long boiling. Medical Properties. Liriodendron is a stimulant tonic with diaphoretic properties. It has been used as a substitute for Peruvian bark in intermit- tent fevers, and has proved serviceable in chronic rheumatism, dyspepsia, and other complaints, in which a gently stimulant and tonic impression is desirable. The dose of the bark in powder is from half a drachm to two drachms. The infusion and decoction are also used, but are less efficient. They may be prepared in the proportion of an ounce of the bark to a pint of water, and given in the quantity of one or two fluidounces. The dose of the saturated tincture is a fluidrachm. W. ■ ■>»& © o<«». LACMUS. Lond. Litmus. " Roccella tinctoria." Thallus praeparatus." Lond. Off. Syn. LITMUS. Roccella tinctoria. Dub. Turnsol, Orchill; Tournesol, Fr.; Lakmus, Germ.; Oricello, Ital; Orchilla, Span. Various species of lichens afford, when macerated with alkaline liquors, a purple colouring matter much esteemed in dyeing. That most used at pre- sent is the cudbear, prepared from the Lichen tartareus, which grows on 412 Lacmus.—Lobelia. part i. limestone rocks in the North of Europe. The orchill or litmus is a similar dye-stuff', prepared from the Roccella tinctoria of Acharius, a lichen which grows on maritime rocks, and is especially abundant in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands. Litmus is prepared by coarsely powdering the lichen, and macerating and fermenting it in close wooden vessels, for several weeks, with urine and either potash or soda. The colouring matter is thus evolved, and the pre- pared mass is taken out, dried, and cut into small squares for use. Litmus, as thus prepared, is in friable, violet-coloured, finely granular pieces, from a quarter of an inch to an inch in diameter, scattered oyer with white saline points. It has an alkaline smell, tinges the saliva of a deep blue, and is somewhat pungent and saline to the taste. It is much used as one of the most delicate tests of uncombined acids, which change^ its blue colour to red; and of alkalies, which restore the original hue. The most convenient mode of preparing litmus for use as a test, is to stain paper with it. For this purpose the watery infusion made with one part of powdered litmus and four of water, is applied by means of a brush to white unsized paper. The sheets when dried must be kept in close vessels in the dark. D. B. S. LOBELIA. U.S., Lond. India?! Tobacco. " Lobelia inflata. Herba. The herb." U.S. " Lobelia inflata." Lond. Lobelia. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Lobeliaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla irregular, five parted, cleft on the upper side nearly to the base. Anthers united into a tube. Stigma two lobed. Capsule inferior or semi-superior, two or three-celled, two-valved at the apex. Torrey. Lobelia inflata. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 946; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 177; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 181. The Indian tobacco is an annual or bien- nial indigenous plant, usually a foot or more in height, with a fibrous root, and a solitary, erect, angular, very hairy stem, much branched about mid- way, but rising considerably above the summits of the highest branches. The leaves are scattered, sessile, oval, acute, serrate, and hairy. The flowers are numerous, disposed in leafy terminal racemes, and supported on short axillary footstalks. The segments of the calyx are linear and pointed. The corolla, which is of a delicate blue colour, has a labiate border, with the upper lip divided into two, the lower into three acute segments. The united anthers are curved, and enclose the stigma. The fruit is an oval, striated, inflated capsule, crowned with the persistent calyx, and containing, in two cells, numerous very small, brown seeds. This species of lobelia is a very common weed, growing on the road- sides, and in neglected fields, throughout the United States. Its flowers begin to appear towards the end of July, and continue to expand in succes- sion till the occurrence of frost. The plant when wounded or broken exudes a milky juice. All parts of it are possessed of medicinal activity; but, according to Dr. Eberle, the root and inflated capsules are most power- ful. The plant should be collected in August or September, when the cap- sules are numerous, and should be carefully dried. It may be kept whole, or in the state of powder. PART I. Lobelia. 413 Dried lobelia has a slight irritating odour, and when chewed, though at first without much taste, soon produces a burning acrid impression upon the posterior parts of the tongue and palate, very closely resembling that occa- sioned by tobacco, and attended, in like manner, with a flow of saliva and a nauseating effect upon the stomach. The powder is of a greenish colour. The plant yields its active properties readily to water and alcohol; and water distilled from it retains its acrid taste. From the experiments of Mr. William Proctor of Philadelphia, it would appear to contain, among other ingredients, a volatile oil upon which its odour depends, and an acrid alkaline principle, to which its effects upon the system are probably ascribable. The seeds were found to contain at least twice as much of this principle in propor- tion as the whole plant, which yielded only one part in five hundred. Mr. Proctor obtained it by digesting the plant in water acidulated with acetic acid, filtering, saturating with pure magnesia, again filtering, then treating the liquor, which was very acrid, with successive portions of ether till its acrimony was entirely removed, agitating the ethereal solution with carbo- nate of potassa to remove any aqueous fluid which might be present, and finally evaporating. The product was a brown fluid, of the consistence of honey, of a strong odour, and very acrid durable taste, soluble in water, ether, and alcohol, and of an alkaline reaction. It formed soluble and crys- tallizable salts with sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, and a very soluble but not crystallizable salt with acetic acid. All its salts were found to be des- titute of odour. Mr. Proctor proposes the name of lobelina for this acrid principle. It may be doubted whether it was obtained in a state of purity. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 105.) Medical Properties and Uses. Lobelia is emetic, and like other medi- cines of the same class is occasionally cathartic, and in small doses diapho- retic and expectorant. It is also possessed of narcotic properties. The leaves or capsules, chewed for a short time, occasion giddiness, headach, general tremors, and ultimately nausea and vomiting. When swallowed in the full dose, the medicine produces speedy and severe vomiting, attended with continued and distressing nausea, copious sweating, and great general relaxation. Its effects in doses too large or too frequently repeated, are extreme prostration, great anxiety and distress, and ultimately death pre- ceded by convulsions. Fatal results have been experienced from its empy- rical use. These are more apt to occur when the poison, as sometimes happens, is not rejected by vomiting. In its operation upon the system, therefore, as well as in its sensible properties, lobelia bears a close resem- blance to tobacco. It is among the medicines which were employed by the aborigines of this country; and was long in the hands of empyrics before it was introduced into regular practice. The Rev. Dr. Cutler of Massachusetts first attracted to it the attention of the profession. As an emetic it is too powerful, and too distressing as well as hazardous in its operation for ordinary use. The disease in which it has proved most useful is spasmodic asthma, the paroxysms of which it often greatly miti- gates, and sometimes wholly relieves, even when not given in doses suffi- ciently large to produce active vomiting. It was from the relief obtained from an attack of this complaint in his own person, that Dr. Cutler was induced to recommend the medicine. It has also been used in catarrh, croup, pertussis, and other pectoral affections, but generally with no better effect than may be obtained from less unpleasant and safer remedies. Ad- ministered by injection it produces the same distressing sickness of stomach, profuse perspiration, and universal relaxation as result from a similar use of tobacco. Dr. Eberle administered a strong decoction of it successfully by 36* 414 Lobelia.—Lupulina.—Lycopus. part i. the rectum, as a substitute for this narcotic in a case of strangulated hernia. It has been employed effectually, in small doses repeated so as to sustain a slight nausea, for producing relaxation of the os uteri. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xvii. 248.) It may be given in substance, tincture, or infusion. The dose of the powder as an emetic is from five to twenty grains, to be repeated if neces- sary. The tincture is most frequently administered. The full dose of this preparation for an adult is half a fluidounce, though in asthmatic cases it is better administered in the quantity of one or two fluidrachms, repeated every two or three hours till its effects are experienced. Two other species of Lobelia have attracted some attention from medical writers. The L. cardinalis or cardinal flower, distinguished for its showy red flowers, is supposed to possess anthelmintic properties; but is seldom or never used. The L. syphilitica is said to have been used by the Indians in the cure of the venereal disease, but has upon trial been found wholly inefficacious in that complaint. It is emetic and cathartic, and appears also to possess diuretic properties, whence it has been conjectured that it might have proved serviceable in gonorrhoea. Dr. Chapman states that it has been employed, as he has been informed, by some practitioners of the western country in dropsy, and not without success. The root is the part used. Both these species of Lobelia are indigenous. For a more detailed account of them the reader is referred to Dr. W. P. C. Barton's Medical Botany. Off. Prep. Tinctura Lobelias, U.S. W. LUPULINA. US. Lupulin. " Humulus lupulus. Strobilorum pollen. The powder attached to the strobiles." U.S. See HUMULUS. LYCOPUS. U.S. Secondary. Bugle-weed. " Lycopus Virginicus. Herba. The Herb." U.S. Lycopus. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Labiatae,, Gen. Ch. Calyx tubular, five-cleft or five-toothed. Corolla tubular, four- lobed, nearly equal; the upper segment broader, and emarginate. Stamens distant. Seeds four, naked, retuse. Nuttall. Lycopus Virginicus. Michaux, Flor. Boreal. Americ, i. 14; Rafi- nesque, Med. Flor. vol. ii. The bugle-weed is an indigenous herb, with a perennial creeping root, which sends up an erect, nearly simple, obtusely quadrangular stem, from twelve to eighteen inches high, and furnished with opposite, sessile leaves. These are broad lanceolate, attenuated and entire at both extremities, remotely serrate in the middle, somewhat rough, pur- plish, and beset with glandular dots on their under surface. The flowers are minute, in small axillary whorls, with two small subulate bractes to each part i. Lycopus.—Lythrum Salicaria. 415 flower, and a white corolla. The seeds are longer than the calyx, which is spineless. This plant grows in shady and wet places throughout the greater part of the United States. Its flowering period is August. The whole herb is used. It has a peculiar odour, and a nauseous slightly bitter taste, and im- parts these properties, as well as its medical virtues, to boiling water. The L. Europaeus is said to be frequently collected and sold for the L. Virginicus. The former may be distinguished by its acutely quadrangular stem, its narrow-lanceolate leaves of which the lower are somewhat pinna- tifid, its more crowded flowers, and the acute segments of its calyx, armed with short spines. Medical Properties and Uses. According to Dr. A. W. Ives, the bugle- weed is a very mild narcotic. It was introduced into notice by Drs. Pen- dleton and Rogers, of New York, who obtained favourable effects from its use in incipient phthisis and hemorrhage from the lungs. (N. Y. Med. and Phys. Journ. i. 179.) In these complaints it is useful by diminishing the frequency of the pulse, quieting irritation, and allaying cough. It is most conveniently taken in the form of infusion, which may be prepared by macerating an ounce of the herb in a pint of boiling water, and drunk ad libitum. W. LYTHRUM SALICARIA. Herba. Dub. Loosestrife. Purple Willow-herb. Salicaire, Fr.; Rother Weiderich, Germ.; Salicaria, Ital. Lythrum. Sex. Syst. Dodecandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Salicareae. Gen. Ch. Calyx twelve toothed. Petals six, inserted into the calyx. Capside two-celled, many-seeded. Willd. Lythrum Salicaria. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 865. Loosestrife is an elegant perennial plant, two or three feet high, with an erect, quadrangular or hexagonal, downy, herbaceous stem, bearing opposite, ternate, sessile, lan- ceolate leaves, cordate at the base, and downy on the under surface and at the margin. The flowers are axillary, forming a leafy verticillate spike. The calyx is red, with unequal segments, the petals purple and undulate, the fruit a small elliptical capsule. The plant grows wild in all parts of Europe, and is found in New Eng- land and Canada. It prefers meadows, swamps, and the banks of streams, which it adorns in July and August with its showy purple flowers. The whole herbaceous part is medicinal, and is dried for use. In this state it is inodorous, and has an herbaceous somewhat astringent taste. It renders boiling water very mucilaginous, and its decoction is blackened by the sulphate of iron. Medical Properties and Uses. Loosestrife is demulcent and astringent; and may be advantageously given in diarrhcea and chronic dysentery after due preparation by evacuating.treatment. It has long been used in Ireland in these complaints, and is said to be a popular remedy in Sweden. The dose of the powdered herb is about a drachm two or three times a day. A decoction of the root prepared by boiling an ounce in a pint of water may be given in the dose of two fluidounces. W. 416 Magnesiae Carbonas. part i. MAGNESIA CARBONAS. U. S., Lond., Dub. Carbonate of Magnesia. Off. Syn. CARBONAS MAGNESLE. Ed. Carbonate de magnesie, Fr.; Kohlensaure Magnesia, Germ.; Carbonato di magnesia, Ital; Carbonato de magnesia, Span. Carbonate of magnesia sometimes though rarely occurs as a native mine- ral. That which is sold in the shops is prepared on a large scale by the manufacturer, and the article is therefore very properly placed in the list of Materia Medica of the United States Pharmacopoeia. The British Colleges still retain it among the preparations, and the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges direct it to be prepared by decomposing the sulphate of magnesia with car- bonate of potassa; the former using nine parts of the carbonate to twelve of the sulphate, and the latter seven parts to twelve. The Edinburgh process is as follows. The salts are separately dissolved in twice their weight of water, the clear solutions mixed, and eight times their weight of boiling water instantly added. The liquor is boiled a short time, with constant agitation, and the precipitated carbonate well washed and dried. The London College, employing the carbonate of soda instead of the carbonate of potassa, dissolves four pounds eight ounces of the former salts and four pounds of the sulphate of magnesia, separately, in two gallons of water; then mixes the solutions, boils for fifteen minutes, constantly stirring with a spatula; and lastly, pours off the liquor, washes the precipitated powder with boiling distilled water, and dries it. The Dublin College dissolves twenty-four parts of sulphate and fourteen parts of carbonate, each in two hundred parts of water, mixes the solutions, boils, filters, and washes the precipitate well with boiling water. The carbonate of potassa is not as advantageously used as the carbonate of soda for the preparation of carbonate of magnesia. It is difficult to sepa- rate the last portions of sulphate of potassa from the precipitate, and the carbonate of potassa usually contains silica, which is thrown down with the magnesia. The consequence is, that when prepared with that salt, the car- bonate of magnesia is liable to be gritty to the touch and to have a saline taste. The following is said to be the method pursued by some of the best manufacturers. To a saturated solution of one hundred parts of sulphate of magnesia, a solution of one hundred and twenty-five parts of crystallized carbonate of soda is gradually added, the solutions being constantly stirred. The mixture is then heated to ebullition, to complete the precipitation of the magnesia, which is then washed with tepid and finally with cold water, until the washings no longer give a precipitate with the barytic salts. When it is sufficiently washed, the carbonate is allowed to drain for one or two days on large linen filters, and is then placed in wooden moulds with a porous bottom of brick or gypsum, and subjected to pressure in order to give it the square and compact form into which it is usually wrought. The density of carbonate of magnesia is said to depend upon the strength of the solutions from which it is first precipitated, and its fineness and soft- ness to the touch, upon the use of carbonate of soda in its preparation. The principal part of the carbonate of magnesia used in this country is imported from Scotland. In the New England States it is prepared from the bittern of the salt works, which consists chiefly of sulphate and muriate of magnesia; and it is manufactured in Baltimore from the sulphate of mag- nesia prepared in that city. The Scotch magnesia is generally put up in PART I. Magnesias Carbonas. 417 cases of one hundred and twenty pounds each, the American in boxes con- taining fifty pounds. We have spoken of the impurities which carbonate of magnesia prepared by the officinal process is apt to contain. When made from the bittern of the salt works, it is contaminated with carbonate of lime, salts of that earth being contained in sea-water; and when it is prepared from magnesite, or from magnesian schist, iron is almost always present. The only way in which these impurities can be avoided, is to prepare pure sulphate of mag- nesia by repeated crystallization, and to use a pure carbonate of soda. It is also necessary that the water with which the precipitate is washed should be free from earthy salts, which would be decomposed and contaminate the magnesia. Berzelius takes the following view of the composition of this salt. When a current of carbonic acid is passed through water in which carbonate of magnesia is suspended, it is converted into a soluble bicarbonate. This salt cannot be obtained in a solid form; for if the solution is evaporated, one equivalent of the acid escapes with the water, and the carbonate crystallizes in small hexagonal prisms with plain summits. These crystals contain one equivalent of acid, one of base, and three of water. Cold water decomposes them, forming a soluble bicarbonate and an insoluble salt, containing less acid. Boiling water also decomposes them, and reduces them wholly to the state of the subsalt. The precipitate thus formed is the magnesia alba of the shops. It is a combination of three equivalents of carbonate of mag- nesia with one of hydrate of magnesia. Each eq. of carbonate contains an eq. of water, and the composition of the salt may be thus stated;—three equiva- lents of carbonate (acid 66.36, magnesia 62.1, water 27) = 155.46 + one equivalent of hydrate (magnesia 20.7 water 9) = 29.7 = 185.16. This theoretic composition agrees very nearly with the analysis of Berzelius, who fixes it at 44.75 magnesia, 35.77 acid, and 19.48 water. The composition of this salt varies with the mode of preparation. Thus Buchholz, by decomposing the sulphate of magnesia with 170 per cent, of carbonate of soda, and using only cold water throughout, obtained a very light, spongy, somewhat coherent magnesia, containing 32 acid, 33 base, and 35 water. By using 120 per cent, of the carbonate, and boiling the water for fifteen minutes, he obtained a heavy granular precipitate containing 35 acid, 42 base, and 23 water. Carbonate of magnesia is inodorous, nearly insipid, perfectly white, very light, smooth to the touch, and nearly insoluble in water, requiring 2493 parts of cold, and 9000 parts of hot water for solution. (Turner's Che- mistry.) It is decomposed by a strong heat, by all the acids, by potassa, soda, lime, baryta, and strontia, by the sulphate, phosphate, nitrate, and muriate of alumina, and by acidulous and metallic salts. A solution in carbonic acid water, prepared by passing carbonic acid gas into a reservoir containing the carbonate of magnesia suspended in water, has been introduced into use as a cathartic and antacid; but is in no respect preferable to the undissolved carbonate, while it is more unpleasant to the taste. Medical Properties and Uses. The carbonate of magnesia is antacid, and by combining with acid in the stomach, becomes gently cathartic. When itundergoes no change in the alimentary canal, it produces no pur- gative effect. Under these circumstances, it may usually be made to operate by following it with draughts of lemonade. It is useful in all cases which require a laxative antacid; and, though apt to produce flatulence in conse- quence of the extrication of its carbonic 'acid in the stomach and bowels, 413 Magnesias Sulphas. PART I. and therefore in ordinary cases inferior to the calcined magnesia, it some- times operates favourably, in consequence of this very property, in sick stomach attended with acidity. The carbonate of magnesia is also an ex- cellent antilithic in those cases in which uric acid is secreted in too great abundance. The dose is from half a drachm to two drachms, which may be given suspended in water or milk. In order that it may be accurately diffused through water, it should be previously rubbed down with simple syrup or ginger syrup.* Off Prep. Magnesia, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. D. B. S. iMAGNESLE SULPHAS. U.S.,Lond.,Dub. Sulphate of Magnesia. Off. Syn. SULPHAS MAGNESIA. Ed. Epsom salt; Sulfate de magnesie, Fr.; Schwefelsaure Magnesia, Germ.; Solfato di magnesia, Ital; Sulfato de magnesia, Span. Sulphate of magnesia is one of the constituents of sea-water, and of some saline springs. It also occurs native, either crystallized in long, slender, prismatic, adhering crystals, or as an efflorescence on certain rocks and soils, which contain magnesia and a sulphate or sulphuret. In the United States it is found abundantly in the great caverns, so numerous to the west of the Alleghany mountains. In one of these caves, near Corydon in Indiana, it forms a stratum on the bottom several inches deep; or appears in masses sometimes weighing ten pounds; or is disseminated in the earth of the ca- vern, one bushel of which yields from four to twenty-five pounds of this sul- phate. It also appears on the walls of the cavern, and if it be removed, acicular crystals again appear in a few weeks. (Cleaveland.) The sulphate of magnesia was originally procured by evaporating the waters of some saline springs at Epsom in England. Dr. Grew prepared it in this manner in 1675. It was afterwards discovered that the brine remain- ing after the crystallization of common salt from sea-water, furnished by care- ful evaporation precisely the same salt; and as this was a much cheaper pro- duct it superseded the former. This residual brine or bittern consists of sulphate of magnesia and the muriates of magnesia and lime. As the sul- phate of magnesia crystallizes first, it may with proper care be obtained nearly pure, although most frequently the salt prepared in this way is deli- quescent from being contaminated with the muriate of magnesia. It may be purified from this mixture by washing the crystals with its own saturated solution. It was from this source that the greater part of the Epsom salt of commerce was long obtained in Europe. The salt works of New-England supplied our own markets with an impure and deliquescent sulphate. With the improvements in chemistry, other and better processes have latterly been adopted. In the neighbourhood of Genoa and of Nice, in Italy, sulphate of magnesia is prepared in large quantities from a schistose rock, which con- tains magnesia and sulphuret of iron. The mineral is roasted and exposed * Dalby^s Carminative consists of carbonate of magnesia 9ij; oil of peppermint Tt|j, oil of nutmeg Tf1_ij, oil of aniseed TT[iij, tincture of castor TT^xxx, tincture of assafetida Tt|xv, tincture of opium TTjy, spirit of pennyroyal 7T[xv, compound tincture of cardamom Tl^xxx, peppermint water f^ij. PART I. Magnesias Sulphas. 419 in heaps for some months to the combined action of air and water. It is then lixiviated, the sulphate of iron decomposed by lime-water, and the salt is obtained pure by repeated solution and crystallization. William Henry of Manchester, whose calcined magnesia has become fa- mous throughout the world, took out a patent for a mode of preparing mag- nesia and its salts from the double carbonate of magnesia and lime—the do- lomite of mineralogists. His process was to drive off the carbonic acid by heat, and to convert the remaining earths into hydrates. He treated these with a sufficient quantity of muriatic acid to dissolve out the lime, and then converted the magnesia into a sulphate either by sulphuric acid or sulphate of iron. Within a few years this salt has been extensively manufactured at Balti- more from the siliceous hydrate of magnesia, or magnesite. This mineral occurs in veins in the serpentine and other magnesian rocks which abound in the neighbourhood of that city, and in the southern counties of Pennsyl- vania. The advantage which it possesses over the dolomite, in the prepa- ration of this salt, is the almost entire absence of lime, owing to which cir- cumstance there is little or no waste of acid, and the operation is much simplified. The mineral is reduced to a fine powder, and saturated with sulphuric acid. The mass is then dried and calcined at a red heat, in order to convert the sulphate of iron which may be present into red oxide. It is then dissolved in water, and sulphuret of lime added to separate any remain- ing portion of iron. The salt is crystallized and dissolved a third time, in order to purify it. The sulphate prepared at the Baltimore works by this process is generally very pure and clean, although it sometimes contains sulphate of iron. Sulphate of magnesia is a colourless transparent salt, without smell, and of a bitter, nauseous, saline taste. It crystallizes in quadrangular prisms, terminating in a four-sided pyramid or in a dihedral summit. It usually occurs in small acicular crystals. It slowly effloresces in the air. At 32° of Fahrenheit, 100 parts of water dissolve 25.76 parts of the anhydrous salt, and for every increased degree of heat 0.8597 parts additional are taken up. The crystals contain 51.22 per cent, of water of crystallization, and dissolve in their own weight of water at 60°, and in three-fourths of their weight of boiling water; they melt in their water of crystallization, and at a high tem- perature fuse into an enamel. (Berzelius.) This salt consists of one equiva- lent of acid = 40.1, one of base = 20.7, and seven of water = 63; and its combining number is 123.8. Sulphate of magnesia is completely decomposed by potassa, soda, and their carbonates; by lime, baryta, and strontia, and their soluble salts. Am- monia partially decomposes it, and forms with the remaining salt a double sulphate. The bicarbonates of potassa and soda do not decompose the sul- phate of magnesia, except by the aid of heat. Sulphate of magnesia is liable to contain iron and muriate of magnesia, the former of which may be detected by ferrocyanate of potassa, and the latter by its occasioning the salt to deliquesce. Sulphate of soda, made to crystallize in small needle-shaped crystals by constant stirring while it is cooling, was formerly substituted for this salt; but the fraud is no longer profitable, on account of the cheapness of the magnesian sulphate. The Baltimore works supply the whole United States with sulphate of mag- nesia. DIcdical Properties and Uses. Sulphate of magnesia is a mild and safe cathartic, operating with little pain or nausea, and producing watery stools. It is more acceptable to the stomach than most medicines of its class, and 420 Magnesias Sulphas.—Magnolia. part i. will often be retained when others are rejected. Like many of the other neutral salts it is refrigerant, and may be made to act as a diuretic, by keep- ing the skin cool and walking about after it has been taken. It is well adapted to the treatment of fevers and inflammatory affections, especially after a previous thorough evacuation of the bowels by a more energetic cathartic. It is also useful in colic and obstinate constipation, and may be employed in most cases which require the use of a cathartic, without being attended with debility or relaxation of the stomach and bowels. The medium dose is an ounce; but advantage often results from its administration in divided doses frequently repeated. It is frequently given in combination with other medicines, especially with senna, the griping effect of which it tends to obviate. The pleasantest form for administering the salt, and that in which it usually agrees best with the stomach, is a solution in carbonic acid water with lemon syrup. By Dr. Henry of Dublin it is highly recom- mended in connexion with sulphuric acid. To seven ounces of the saturated aqueous solution of the salt he adds an ounce of the diluted sulphuric acid of the Pharmacopoeias, and gives a tablespoonful of the mixture for a dose, in a wineglassful of water. Off. Prep. Enema Catharticum, Dub.; Magnesise Carbonas, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Magnesias Sulphas Purum, Dub.; Pulvis Salinus Compositus, Ed., Dub. D. B. S. —•••»*©*««•— MAGNOLIA. U.S. Secondary. Magnolia. " Magnolia glauca, Magnolia acuminata, et Magnolia tripetala. Cortex. The bark." U.S. Magnolia. Sex. Syst. PolyandriaPolygynia.—Nat. Ord. Magnoliaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx three-leaved. Petals six or more. Capsules two-valved, one-seeded, imbricated in a cone. Seeds berried, pendulous. Bigelow. The medicinal properties which have rendered the bark of the Magnolia officinal, are common to most, if not all of the species composing this splen- did genus. Among the numerous trees which adorn the American landscape, these are most conspicuous for the beautiful richness of their foliage, and the magnificence as well as delicious odour of their flowers; and the M. grandi- flora of the Southern States rivals in magnitude the largest inhabitants of our forests. The Pharmacopoeia designates the M. glauca, M. acuminata, and M. tripetala, each of which we shall briefly describe. 1. Magnolia glauca. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1256; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 67; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 77; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. ii. 8. This species of Magnolia, which in the Northern States is often nothing more than a shrub, sometimes attains in the South the height of forty feet. The leaves are scattered, petiolate, oval, obtuse, entire, glabrous, thick, opaque, yellowish-green on their upper surface, and of a beautiful pale glaucous colour beneath. The flowers are large, terminal, solitary, cream-coloured, strongly and gratefully odorous, often scenting the air to a considerable dis- tance. The calyx is composed of three leaves; the petals, from eight to fourteen in number, are obovate, obtuse, concave, and contracted at the base; the stamens are very numerous, and inserted on a conical receptacle; the germs are collected into a cone, and each is surmounted by a linear recurved style. The fruit is conical, about an inch in length, consisting of numerous PART I. Magnolia. 421 imbricated cells, each containing a single scarlet seed. This escapes through a longitudinal opening in the cell, but remains for some time suspended from the cone by a slender thread to which it is attached. The M. glauca extends along the seaboard of the United States, from Cape Ann in Massachusetts to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. It is abun- dant in the Middle and Southern States, usually growing in swamps and morasses; and is seldom met with in the interior of the country west of the mountains. It begins to flower in May, June, or July, according to the latitude. It is known by the name of magnolia simply in the Northern and Middle States; by that of white bay or sweet bay in the South, and is occa- sionally called swamp sassafras, beaver tree, <$*c. 2. M. acuminata. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1257; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. ii. 12. This species is much larger than the preceding, often growing to the height of seventy or eighty feet. The leaves are six or seven inches long, by three or four in breadth, oval, acuminate, and pubescent on their under surface. The flowers are five or six inches in diameter, bluish or cream-coloured, slightly odorous, with obovate rather obtuse petals from six to nine in number. Mingled with the splendid foliage, they give a magni- ficent aspect to the tree when large and in full bloom. The tree grows in the mountainous regions in the interior of the United States, extending along the Alleghanies from the state of New York to their termination in Georgia, and seldom existing in the low country far either to the east or the west of this range. Wherever it is found, it is called cucumber tree, from the resem- blance of its fruit in shape and size to this product of the gardens. 3. M. tripetala. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1258; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. ii. 18. This is a small tree, sometimes though rarely reaching an elevation of thirty feet, and almost always having an inclined trunk. It is remarkable for the size of its leaves and flowers. The former are eighteen or twenty inches long by seven or eight in breadth, thin, obovate, somewhat wedge- shaped, entire, acute at both extremities, pubescent when young, and often disposed in rays at the extremity of the shoots, displaying a surface thirty inches in diameter. Hence has arisen the name of umbrella tree, by which this species is distinguished. The flowers are terminal, seven'or eight inches in diameter, white, with from five to twelve oval acute petals, of which the three outer are reflexed. This species extends from the northern parts of New York to the southern limits of the United States. It is found only in situations which are shady, with a strong, deep, and fertile soil. It is common in some of the islands of the Susquehanna, and still more so in the Southern and South Western States. (Michaux.) The bark and fruit of all the species of Magnolia are possessed of similar medicinal properties; but the bark only is officinal; and that of the root is thought to be most efficient. It has an aromatic odour, and a bitter, pun- gent, spicy taste. The aromatic property, which resides in a volatile principle, is diminished by desiccation, and entirely lost when the bark is long kept. The bitterness, however, remains. The bark is destitute of astringency. Medical Properties and Uses. Magnolia is a gentry stimulant aromatic tonic and diaphoretic, useful in chronic rheumatism, and capable, if freely given, of arresting the paroxysms of intermittent fever. It has been used advantageously in these complaints, and in remittents, especially of a ty- phoid character. The dose of the recently dried bark in powder, is from half a drachm to a drachm, frequently repeated. The infusion may also be used, but is less efficient. Diluted alcohol extracts all, the virtues of the medi- 37 422 Malva. part I cine; and a tincture made by macerating the fresh bark or cones in brandy is a popular remedy in chronic rheumatism. W. MALVA. Lond. Mallows. " Malva sylvestris." Lond. Off. Syn. MALV.E SYLVESTRIS HERBA. MALViE SYLVES- TRIS FLORES. Ed. Mauve sauvage, Fr.; Waldmalve, Germ.; Malva, Ital, Span. Malva. Sex. Syst. Monadelphia Polyandria.—Nat. Ord. Malvaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx double, the exterior three-leaved. Capsules very many, one-seeded. Willd. Malva sylvestris. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 787; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 554. t. 197. This is a perennial, herbaceous plant, with a round, hairy, branch- ing, usually erect stem, from one to three feet high, bearing alternate, petio- late, cordate, roughish leaves, which are divided into five or seven crenate lobes, and on the upper part of the stem are almost palmate. The flowers are large, purplish, and placed from three to five together at the axils of the leaves, upon long slender peduncles, which, as well as the petioles, are pu- bescent. The petals are five in number, inversely cordate, and three times as long as the calyx. The capsules are disposed compactly in a circular form. This species of mallow is a native of Europe, where it grows abun- dantly on waste grounds and by the way-sides, flowering from May to Au- gust. It is sometimes cultivated in our gardens. Other species, indige- nous or naturalized in this country, are possessed of the same properties, which are in fact common to the whole genus. The M. rotundifolia is one of the most common, and may be substituted for the sylvestris without disadvantage. The herb and flowers, which are the officinal parts, have a weak, her- baceous, slimy taste, without any odour. They abound in mucilage, which they readily impart to water; and the solution is precipitated by acetate of lead. The infusion and tincture of the flowers are blue, and serve as an excellent test of acids and alkalies, being reddened by the former, and ren- dered green by the latter. The roots and seeds are also mucilaginous, but are less used. Medical Properties and Uses. Mallows are emollient and demulcent. The infusion and decoction are sometimes employed in catarrhal, dysen- teric, and nephritic complaints; and are applicable to all other cases which call for the use of mucilaginous'^ liquids. They are also used as an emol- lient injection; and the fresh plant forms a good suppurative or relaxing cata- plasm in external inflammation. Mallows were formerly among the culi- nary herbs. W. part i. Manganesii Binoxydum. 423 MANGANESII BINOXYDUM. Lond. Binoxide of Manganese. Off. Syn. MANGANESII OXYDUM. Dub. Manganese, Peroxide of manganese, Black oxide of manganese; Oxide noir de man- ganese, Fr.; Braunstein, Germ.; Manganese, Ital, Span. Of the Pharmacopoeias noticed in this work, black oxide of manganese is officinal only in those of the London and Dublin Colleges. It is the per- oxide or binoxide of a peculiar metal properly called manganese; though this name is commonly applied to the oxide under consideration. Metallic manganese was discovered by Scheele and Gahn in 1774, and is obtained from the native black oxide by intense ignition with charcoal. It is hard, brittle, granular, of a grayish-white colour, and emits a disagreeable odour in a moist atmosphere. It oxidizes readily by the action of the air, first tarnishing, then assuming a yellowish or violet colour, and finally becoming converted into a black powder. Its sp. gr. is 8, melting point 160° of Wedg- wood, and equivalent number 27.7. With oxygen it forms five combina- tions, three regular oxides and two acids. The protoxide is of a light green colour, and is the oxide present in the salts of manganese. The sesquiox- ide is black or dark brown, and the peroxide black. The two acids are formed by the action of potassa on the peroxide, and are called manganic and permanganic acid. Assuming one equiv. of manganese in each of these combinations, the protoxide is found to contain one, the sesquioxide one and a half,* the peroxide two, manganic acid three, and permanganic acid three and a half equivalents of oxygen. (Berzelius.) Besides these, there exist a double oxide, of a brownish-red colour, called the red oxide, consisting of one equiv. of protoxide and one of sesquioxide, and invaria- bly formed when any one of the other oxides of manganese is exposed to a white heat; and a native oxide, called Varvicite, composed of two equiv. of peroxide, and one of sesquioxide. Metallic manganese is an occasional con- stituent of organic matter. It was detected in minute quantity in bones by Fourcroy and Vauquelin, and is often present in the ashes of plants. In the mineral kingdom, it occurs sometimes as a sulphuret, rarely as a phosphate, but very abundantly as the black or peroxide. It is this latter mineral which constitutes the officinal oxide. Properties. Peroxide of manganese, as it occurs in nature, is very varia- ble in its appearance. It is found sometimes in brilliant needle-shaped crystals, often in compact masses having the metallic lustre, but far more frequently in the form of a dull earthy looking substance of a black or brown colour. When crystallized it is the purest. As it occurs in commerce it is usually in the form of powder, of a black colour, insoluble in water, and containing as impurities more or less oxide of iron, carbonate of lime, and earthy matter. Iron, which is rarely absent, is detected by the production of a greenish or blue tint on the addition of ferrocyanate of potassa. When exposed to a red heat it yields a considerable quantity of oxygen, and is re- duced to the state of sesquioxide. It is distinguished from the sulphuret of antimony by its infusibility, and by its causing the evolution of chlorine on * In order to avoid fractional equivalents, the sesquioxide is generally stated to consist of two equiv. of metal, and three of oxygen, which is the same proportion as that given in the text. • 424 Manganesii Binaxydum—Manna. part i. the addition of muriatic acid. When of a brown colour, it is not of good quality. Its composition has been given above. But few mines of peroxide of manganese exist, though the metal itself is very generally diffused throughout the mineral kingdom. It occurs most abundantly in Bohemia, Saxony, the Hartz, France, and Great Britain. In England the most abundant mine is that of Upton Pine, near Exeter, which furnishes the best oxide of manganese found in Great Britain. In the United States no mines have been opened, except in Vermont, from which state an inferior brown ferruginous manganese is supplied through Boston. Besides this source of supply, the mineral is received from Nova Scotia, France, Germany, England, and occasionally Scotland. It comes packed in casks or barrels, genersCiy in lumps and coarse powder, just as it is dug out of the mines; though occasionally it is received from England ready pulverized. It is a good general rule to buy it unpowdered, as its quality can be better judged of in that state. A dark shining crystalline appearance may be taken as an indication of good quality. The Nova Scotia manganese is better than the Vermont; but that received from Germany and England is the best, and commands the highest price in the market. The Scotch manganese is also of good quality. Medical Properties and Uses. The therapeutic effects of this oxide have not been regularly investigated. The only notice we have seen of its medi- cal use is its employment in the form of ointment, in the proportion of one or two drachms to the ounce of lard, for the cure of porrigo, in which dis- ease it is said to succeed well. The sulphate of the protoxide has a taste similar to that of sulphate of soda and may be substituted for that salt as a purgative. (Thomson's first Prin. of Chem. ii. 348.) Peroxide of manganese is used in the arts for obtaining chlorine for the purpose of bleaching, to give a black glazing to pottery, and for freeing glass from the colour which it derives from the peroxide of iron. According to Berzelius, a few pounds of it added to each cask of water intended for sea- voyages, will preserve it sweet. In the laboratory, it is employed to obtain oxygen and chlorine, and to form the salts of manganese. Off. Prep. Calx Chlorinata, Lond.; Aqua Chlorinii, Dub. B. MANNA. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Manna. " Fraxinus ornus. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. Manne, Fr.; Manna, Germ., Ital; Mana, Span. Manna is not the product of one plant exclusively. Besides the Fraxinus Ornus indicated by the Pharmacopoeias, it is afforded by several other spe- cies of the same genus, among which the F. rotundifolia, F. excelsior, and F. parviflora are particularly mentioned. Burkhardt states that a species of manna, which exudes from the tamarisk of the North of Africa, is used by the Bedouin Arabs of the neighbourhood of Mount Sanai with their food. It is, however, chemically different from common manna, as, according to M. Mitscherlich, it contains no mannite, but consists wholly of mucilaginous sugar. Dr. Ehrenbergh found the tree which produces it to be a variety of the Tamarix Gallica. The manna used in India is said to be the product of the Hedysarum Alhagi of Linn., the Alhagi Maurorumoi De Candolle, a • part i. Manna. 425 thorny shrub which grows abundantly in the deserts of Persia and Arabia. It is, however, much inferior to that obtained from the different species of ash. We are told by Dr. Richardson, that a substance exactly resembling manna, is procured by exudation from a species of Eucalyptus called the E. manifera, growing in New South Wales. The substance known in France by the name of Briangon Manna, is an exudation upon the surface of the common European larch—Pinus Larix or Larix Europsea—and differs chemically from the product of the Fraxinus, in containing no man- nite. Fraxinus. Sex. Syst. Polygamia Dicecia.—Nat. Ord. Jasmineae, Juss; Oleaceae, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Hermaphrodite. Calyx none, or four-parted. Corolla none, or four-petaled. Stamens two. Pistil one. Samarra one-seeded, terminated by a lanceolate wing. Female. Calyx none, or four-parted. Corolla none, or four-petaled. Pistil one. Samarra one-seeded, terminated by a lanceo- late wing. Willd. Fraxinus Ornus. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 1104; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 589. t. 209. The flowering ash is a tree of moderate height, usually from twenty to twenty-five feet, very branching, with opposite, petiolate, pinnate leaves, composed of three or four pairs of leaflets, and an odd one at the ex- tremity. The leaflets are oval, acuminate, obtusely serrate, about an inch and a half in length, smooth, of a bright green colour, and stand on short footstalks. The flowers are white, and usually expand at the same time with the leaves. They grow in close panicles at the extremity of the young branches, and have a very short calyx with four teeth, and a corolla composed of four linear lanceolate petals. Both this species of Fraxinus, and the F. rotundifolia, are natives of Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia; and both contribute to supply the manna of commerce. During the hot months, the juice exudes spontaneously from the bark, and concretes upon its surface; but as the exudation is slow, it is cus- tomary to facilitate the process by making deep longitudinal incisions on one side of the trunk. In the following season these are repeated on the other side, and thus alternately for thirty or forty years, during which the trees are said to yield manna. Straws or clean chips are frequently placed so as to receive the juice, which concretes upon them. The manna varies much in its character, according to the mode of collection and nature of the season, and the period of the year in which the exudation takes place. That pro- cured in Sicily is said to be the best. Three varieties are distinguishable in commerce. 1. The purest is that usually known by the name of flake manna. It exudes spontaneously, or by incisions, during the hottest and dryest weather in the months of July and August. It is in irregular, unequal pieces, some- what similar in appearance to stalactites, rough, light, porous, brittle, of a whitish or yellowish-white colour, and frequently concave on the surface by which they were attached to the trunk, and which is often soiled by im- purities, sometimes by adherent fragments of the bark. When broken, these pieces present a crystalline or granular structure. 2. Common manna—manne en sorte of French pharmacy—is next in quality, and is collected in September and the beginning of October, when the heat of the weather has begun to moderate. The juice does not now concrete so readily, and a portion, falling on the ground at the root of the tree, becomes more or less mixed with impurities, and forms imperfectly solid masses, which require to be further dried in the sun. The common manna consists of whitish or yellowish fragments similar to the pieces of flake 37* 426 Manna. part i. manna, but much smaller, mixed with a soft, viscid, uncrystallized, brown- ish mass, identical with that which constitutes the following variety. 3. Fat manna is collected in the latter part of October and November, when the weather is cooler and rains more common. The juice is now still less disposed to concrete, and flowing down the trunk is received in a small excavation at its base. As found in commerce it is in the form of a soft, viscous mass, containing few crystalline fragments, of a brown or yellowish- brown colour, and full of impurities. Manna may be found in the shops of every grade, from the most impure of the third variety to the purest of the first. Attempts have sometimes been made to counterfeit it; but the facility of detection renders frauds of this kind unprofitable, and they are not often practised. Baume describes a method in which common manna is purified so as to resemble flake manna. It consists in dissolving common manna in a little water, allowing the liquid to settle, decanting it in order to separate the impurities, then inspissating it so that it will congeal on cooling, and immersing threads in the inspissated liquid several times successively in the manner practised by the candle-makers. It may be still further purified by the use of animal charcoal. Thus prepared it contains less mannite than flake manna, and less of the nauseous principle; but is said not to operate less effectively as a laxative. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 45.) Properties. Manna has a slight, peculiar odour, and a sweet taste, which in the impure kinds is also very nauseous, but in the finest flake manna, scarcely so much so as to be disagreeable. It melts with heat, and takes fire, burning with a blue flame. When pure it is soluble in three parts of cold, and in its own weight of boiling water. From a boiling saturated aqueous solution, it separates in partially crystalline masses. Alcohol also dissolves it, and if saturated by means of heat, deposites upon cooling a large proportion of the manna in a beautifully crystalline form. Analyzed by Fourcroy and Vauquelin, manna was found to consist of, 1. a peculiar crystallizable saccharine principle, called mannite, which constitutes seventy- five per cent.; 2. true sugar; 3. a yellow nauseous matter, upon which the purgative property chiefly depends; and 4. a small quantity of mucilage. It is owing to the presence of true sugar that manna is capable of fermenting. Mannite is white, inodorous, crystallizable in semi-transparent needles, of a sweetish taste, soluble in five parts of cold water, scarcely soluble in cold alcohol, but readily dissolved by that liquid when hot, and precipitated when it cools. Unlike sugar, it is incapable of undergoing the vinous fermenta- tion. It may be obtained by boiling manna in alcohol, allowing the solution to cool, and redissolving the crystalline precipitate. It is the pure mannite which is now thrown down. This principle has been found in numerous vegetables. It is said to act as a gentle laxative, in the dose of one or two ounces. Manna, when long kept, acquires a deeper colour, softens, and ferments. That which is dryest resists this change the longest. We are told that when recently gathered it is less purgative than it afterwards becomes. Medical Properties and Uses. Manna is a gentle laxative, usually operating pleasantly, but in some cases, producing flatulence and pain. Though peculiarly adapted to children and pregnant women, it may be given with advantage in ordinary cases of piles from constipation, unattended with dyspeptic symptoms. It is usually, however, prescribed with other purga- tives, particularly senna, rhubarb, magnesia, and the neutral salts, the taste of which it conceals, while it adds to the purgative effect. The dose for an adult is from one to two ounces; for children, from one PART I. Manna.—Maranta. 427 to four drachms. It is usually given dissolved in water or some aromatic infusion; but the best flake manna may be conveniently administered in substance. Off. Prep. Confectio Cassias, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Enema Catharticum, Dub.; Syrupus Senna?, Lond. W. MARANTA. U.S., Lond. Arrow-root. " Maranta arundinacea. Radicis faecula. The fecula of the root." U.S. " Maranta arundinacea. Rhizomatis Faecula." Lond. Arrow-root, Fr.; Amerikanisches Starkmehl, Arrowmehl, Germ. Maranta. Sex. Syst. Monandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Cannse, Juss.; Marantaceae, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Anther attached to the petal-like filament. Style petal-shaped. Stigma three-sided. Flowers panicled. Loudon's Encyc. Maranta arundinacea. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 13; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 2. The root of this plant is perennial, tuberous, fleshy, hori- zontal, nearly cylindrical, scaly, from six inches to a foot or more in length, and furnished with numerous long white fibres. The stems, of which seve- ral rise from the same root, are annual, slender, branched, jointed, leafy, and about three feet in height. The leaves are ovate lanceolate, about four inches long, alternate, and supported solitarily at the joints of the stem upon long, sheathing footstalks. The flowers are in a long, loose, spreading, terminal panicle, at each ramification of which is a solitary linear bracte. The calyx consists of three small lanceolate leaves. The corolla is white and monope- talous, with a tube longer than the calyx, and a double border, of which the three ouiermost segments are smallest, and the two inner obovate, and slightly emarginate. The arrow-root plant is a native of South America and of the West Indies, where it is largely cultivated. It grows also in Florida, and has been culti- vated in our Southern Slates, but not very extensively, as we still derive our supplies of its product from abroad. The plant is easily propagated by cut- tings of the root. In the West Indies, the fecula, so well known by the name of arrow-root, is prepared in the following manner. The roots are dug up when a year old, washed, and then beat into a pulp, which is thrown into water, and agitated so as to separate the amylaceous from the fibrous portion. The fibres are removed by the hand, and the starch remains sus- pended in the water, to which it gives a milky colour. This milky fluid is strained through coarse linen, and allowed to stand that the fecula may sub- side, which is then washed with a fresh portion of water, and afterwards dried in the sun. We obtain arrow-root chiefly from the West Indies, and the ports of Brazil. It is probable that other plants contribute to furnish the arrow-root of commerce. Lindley states that it is procured in the West Indies from the Maranta Allouya and M. nobilis, besides the M. arundinacea. Under the name of M. Indica, Tussac describes a distinct species which he says was originally brought from the East Indies, and is now cultivated in Jamaica. This species, however, is not admitted by any of the British botanists whom we have consulted. Very fine arrow-root is obtained in the East Indies from the root of the Curcuma angustifolia of Roxburgh, which is 428 Maranta. PART I. abundantly cultivated in Travancore. Parcels occasionally reach this country, but from the length of the voyage are apt to be more or less musty. The East India arrow-root is lighter than ours, and does not so quickly make a jelly. Ainslie informs us that the M. arundinacea has lately been introduced from the West Indies into Ceylon, where good arrow-root is pre- pared from it. A fecula closely resembling that of the Maranta, is said by Guibourt to be prepared in the West Indies from the root of the cassava plant, Jatropha Manihot; and it is not improbable that a portion of the arrow-root brought to the United States has a similar origin. In fact, that imported from South America often-contains small lumps, as large as a pin's head, identical with tapioca, which is a product of the J. Manihot. A variety of arrow-root has also been imported from the Sandwich Islands. It was supposed to be identical with that said to be procured from the root of the Tacca pinnatifida, which grows abundantly in Tahiti and other islands of the South Pacific; but Mr. Nuttall, during his visit to the Sandwich Islands, found that it was the product of another species of Tacca, which he has de- scribed under the name of Tacca oceanica. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 305.) Arrow-root is in the form of a light white powder, or of small pulverent masses, without smell or taste. It is a pure starch, identical in chemical properties with that of wheat and the potato. It is very apt to be musty, and should then be rejected. It is said to be sometimes adulterated with common starch, and with that of the potato. There is no certain mode of detecting these, unless the microscope may afford the means. (See Amy- lum.) The odour and taste are the best criteria of its purity. It should be perfectly free from smell and unpleasant flavour. Attempts have been made to substitute finely prepared potato starch for arrow-root; and there is no doubt that, medically considered, it is quite equal; but patients complain of an unpleasant taste of the potato which it is apt to retain. Medical Properties and Uses. Arrow-root is nutritious and demulcent, affording a light, very mild, and easily digested article of diet, well adapted for the sick and convalescent, and peculiarly suited, from its demulcent pro- perties, to bowel complaints and diseases of the urinary passages. It is much used as food for infants after weaning, or when the mother's milk is insufficient. It is prepared by dissolving it in hot water, with which it forms a pearly gelatinous solution, and, if in sufficient quantity, a jelly-like mass on cooling. A tablespoonful will communicate sufficient consistence to a pint of water. It should first be formed into a paste with a small quantity of cold water, and the boiling water then gradually added with brisk agitation. The preparation may be rendered more palatable by the addition of lemon-juice and sugar, or in low forms of disease by that of wine and spices, if the latter are not contraindicated. For children the arrow-root is usually prepared with milk. W. PART I. Marrubium.—essential to its action. That it enters the circulation and is brought into contact with 454 Nux Vomica. part i. the parts upon which it acts, is rendered evident by the experiments of Ma- gendie and others. Nux vomica has long been employed in India, and was known as a medicine to the Arabian physicians. On the continent of Europe, it has at various times been recommended as an antidote to the plague, and as a remedy in intermit- tents, worms, mania, hypochondriasis, hysteria, rheumatism, hydrophobia, and dysentery; but in none of these complaints is it now much employed. It is said to have effectually cured obstinate spasmodic asthma. Its peculiar in- fluence upon the nerves of motion, to which the public attention was first called by Mauendie, suggested to M. Fouquier, a French physician, the application of' the remedy to paralytic affections; and his success was such as to induce him to communicate to the public the result of his experience. Others have subsequently employed it with variable success; but the expe- rience in its favour so much predominates, that it may now be considered a standard remedy in palsy. It is a singular fact, attested by numerous wit- nesses, that its action is directed more especially to the paralytic part, ex- citing contraction in this before it is extended to other muscles. The medicine however, should be administered with judgment, and never given in cases de- pending on inflammation or organic lesion of the brain or spinal marrow, until after the removal of the primary affection by bleeding or other deple- tory measures. It has been found more successful in general palsy and para- plegia than in hemiplegia, and has frequently effected cures in palsy of the bladder, incontinence of urine from paralysis of the sphincter, amaurosis, and other cases of partial palsy. Nux vomica may be given in powder in the dose of five grains, repeated three or four times a day, and gradually increased till its effects are expe- rienced. In this form, however, it is very uncertain; and fifty grains have been given with little or no effect. It is most readily reduced to powder by filing or grating, and the raspings may be rendered finer by first steaming them, then drying them by stove heat, and lastly rubbing them in a mortar. The alcoholic extract is more convenient and more certain in its operation. From half a grain to two grains may be jjiven in the form of pill, repeated as before, and gradually increased. (See Extractum Nucis Vomicae.) The watery extract is comparatively feeble. Strychnia has recently been much used, and possesses the advantage of greater certainty and uniformity of action. Its effects are precisely similar. With the exception of prussic acid, it is perhaps the most violent poison with which we are acquainted, and should therefore be administered with great caution. Dr. Bardsley bears very decided testimony to its favourable effects in palsy. He gave it in thirty-five cases, of which twenty-two were hemiplegia, and thirteen paraplegia. Of the former, twelve were cured and eight considerably relieved; of the latter, eleven were cured and one relieved. The duration of the treatment was from six weeks or less to three months. Strychnia has also been highly recommended in the palsy resulting from the poisonous action of lead. Dr. Schwartz considers it a specific in pro- lapsus ani. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xvii. 251.) The dose of strychnia is from one-twelfth to one-sixth of a grain, repeated twice or three times a day, and gradually increased. Dr. Bardsley began with one-sixth of a grain, and seldom increased the dose to half a grain, three times a day, without producing spasmodic symptoms. The system is not so soon habituated to its impression as to that of the narcotics generally, so that after its effects are experienced it is unnecessary to go on increasing the dose. Strychnia ha? been applied externally with advantage in amaurosis. It should be sprinkled upon a blistered surface near the temples, in the quantity part i. Nux Vomica.—Olea.—Olea Fixa. 455 of half a grain or a grain morning and evening, and the quantity may be gradually augmented. It has also been given internally with favourable results in the same complaint. The best form of administration is that of pill, in consequence of the excessive bitterness of the solution. Strychnia may, however, be given, dissolved in alcohol, or in water by the interven- tion of an acid. Brucia may be used for the same purposes with strychnia in the dose of one grain twice or three times a day. Dr. Bardsley found that the quantity of two grains three or four times a day, was seldom exceeded without the occurrence of the characteristic effects of the medicine. Magendie has found this alkali very useful in small doses as a tonic. He employed for this pur- pose, one-eighth of a grain, frequently repeated. Off. Prep. Extractum Nucis Vomicae, Dub.; Strychnia, Lond. W. OLEA. Oils. These are liquid or solid substances, characterized by an unctuous feel, inflammability, and the property of leaving a greasy stain upon paper. They are divided into two classes, the fixed and volatile, distinguished, as their names imply, by their different habitudes in relation to the vaporizing influence of caloric. 1. OLEA FIXA. Fixed Oils. The oils thus designated by the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, are less cor- rectly termed Olea expressa, expressed oils, by the Dublin College; for they are not obtained exclusively by expression; and this process is some- times employed in procuring the volatile oils. They are not designated as a class in the United States Pharmacopoeia, nor at present in that of the London College. The fixed oils, though existing in greater or less proportion in various parts of plants, are furnished for use exclusively by the fruit; and, as a gen- eral rule, are most abundant in the dicotyledonous seeds. They are obtained either by submitting the bruised seeds to pressure in hempen bags, or by boiling them in water, and skimming off the oil as it rises to the surface. When pressure is employed, it is customary to prepare the seeds for the press, by exposing them to a moderate heat, so as to render the oil more liquid, and thus enable it to flow out more readily. The consistence of the fixed oils varies from that of tallow to perfect fluidity, but by far the greater number are liquid at ordinary temperatures. They are somewhat viscid, transparent, and usually of a yellowish colour, which disappears when they are treated with animal charcoal. When pure they have little taste or smell. They are lighter than water, varying in specific gravity from 0.913 to 0.936. (Berzelius.) They differ very much in their point of congelation, olive oil becoming solid a little above 32° F., while linseed oil remains fluid at 4° below zero. They are not volatilizable without decomposition. At about 600° they boil, and are converted into vapour, which, when condensed, is found to contain a large proportion of oleic and margaric acids, together with benzoic acid, another volatile acid, and an empyreumatic oil. Exposed to a red heat, in close vessels, they 456 Olea Fixa. part i. yield, among other products of the destructive distillation of vegetables, a large quantity of the combustible compounds of carbon and hydrogen. Heated in the open air they take fire, burning with a bright flame, and pro- ducing water and carbonic acid. When kept in air-tight vessels, they remain unchanged for a great length of time; but exposed to the atmosphere, they attract oxygen, and ultimately become concrete. Some, in drying, lose their unctuous feel, and are converted into a transparent, yellowish, flexible solid. These are called drying oils. Others, especially such as contain mucilaginous impurities, become rancid, acquiring a sharp taste, and unplea- sant smell. This change is owing to the formation of an acid, from which the oil may be freed by boiling it for a short time with hydrate of magnesia and water. The fixed oils are insoluble in water, but are miscible with that fluid by means of mucilage, forming mixtures which are called emulsions. They are in general very sparingly soluble in alcohol, but readily dissolved by ether, which serves to separate them from other vegetable proximate principles. By the aid of heat they dissolve sulphur and phosphorus. Chlorine and iodine are converted by them into muriatic and hydriodic acids, which reacting upon the oils increase their consistence, and ultimately render them as hard as wax. The stronger acids decompose them, giving rise, among other products, to the oleic and margaric acids. Boiled with diluted nitric acid, they are converted into malic and oxalic acids, besides other substances usually resulting from the action of this acid upon vegeta- ble matter. Several acids are dissolved by them without producing any sensible change. They combine with salifiable bases; but at the moment of combination undergo a change, by which they are converted into a peculiar substance, called glycerin, and into the oleic and margaric acids, which unite with the base employed. The compounds of these acids with potassa and soda are called soaps. (See Sapo and Emplastrum Plumbi.) The fixed oils dissolve many of the vegetable alkalies, the volatile oils, resin, and other proximate principles of plants. They consist of two distinct substances, one of which is liquid at ordinary temperatures, and therefore called olein, the other solid, and called margarin. The more solid ingredient of the vegetable oils was originally called stearin, the name applied to the analogous ingre- dient of the animal oils, with which it was supposed by Chevreul, the dis- coverer of this complex constitution of oleaginous substances, to be identi- cal. It has, however, been found to be essentially different, yielding mar- garic acid in the process of saponification, while stearin yields stearic acid; and a new name has accordingly been conferred upon it. For the mode of separating the liquid from the solid principles of oils, as well as for an account of their distinctive properties, the reader is referred to the article Adeps. Margarin is distinguished from stearin by its greater fusibility, and by its solubility in cold ether; and the two principles may be separated by the action of boiling ether, which dissolves both, but deposites the stearin upon cooling, while it retains the margarin and yields it by evaporation. These principles, however, are thought by Berzelius not to be absolutely identical in the different oils; as they have different points of congelation and liquefaction, according to the substance from which they are derived.* The * Some interesting results in relation to the fixed oils have recently been obtained by MM. Pelouze and Boudet, and published in the Journal de Pharmacie, torn. xxiv. p. 385. According to these chemists, the variable fusibility of the margarin and stearin of fixed oils, which has induced some chemists to believe that they are severally not en. tirely identical as obtained from different oils, is owing to the existence of definite combina- tions of margarin and stearin respectively with olein; and each of these principles, in a PART I. Olea Fixa.—Olea Volatilia. 457 ultimate constituents of the fixed oils are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the hydrogen being in much larger proportion than is necessary to form water with the oxygen. Those which are least fusible contain most carbon and least oxygen; and, according to Saussure, their solubility in alcohol is greater in proportion to their amount of oxygen. (Berzelius.) Some of them con- tain a very minute proportion of nitrogen. 2. OLEA VOLATILIA. Volatile Oils. These are sometimes called distilled oils, from the mode in which they are usually procured; sometimes essential oils, from the circumstance that they possess, in a concentrated state, the properties of the plants from which they are derived. In the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and London, the former title has been adopted; in that of Dublin, the latter; the Edin- burgh College uses the term volatile oils. They exist in all odoriferous vegetables, sometimes pervading the whole plant, sometimes confined to a single part; in some instances contained in distinct cellules, and preserved after desiccation, in others formed upon the surface, as in many flowers, and exhaled as soon as th#y are formed. Oc- casionally two or more are found in different parts of the same plant. Thus the orange tree produces one volatile oil in its leaves, another in its flowers, and a third in the rind of its fruit. In a few instances, when existing in dis- tinct cellules, they may be obtained by pressure, as from the rind of the lemon and orange; but they are generally procured by distillation with water. (See Olea Destillata.) The volatile oils are usually yellowish, but sometimes brown, red, green, or even blue, and occasionally colourless. They have a strong odour, re- sembling that of the plants from which they were procured, though generally less agreeable. Their taste is hot and pungent, and when they are diluted is often gratefully aromatic. The greater number are lighter than water; some are heavier; and their sp. gr. varies from 0.847 to 1.17.* They par- tially rise in vapour at ordinary temperatures, diffusing their peculiar odour, and are completely volatilized by heat. Their boiling point is various, generally as high as 320° F. and sometimes higher; but most of them rise readily with the vapour of boiling water. When distilled alone, they almost always undergo partial decomposition. They differ also in their point of congelation. A few are solid at ordinary temperatures, several become so at 32° F., and many remain liquid considerably below this point. Heated in the open air, the volatile oils take fire, and burn with a bright flame at- tended with much smoke. Exposed at ordinary temperatures, they absorb state of purity, is probably the same from whatever source derived, whether from vege- table or from animal oils. Thus they found the same margarin in palm oil and in human fat. But there appear to be two distinct kinds of olein, one existing in the drying oils, as linseed oil, the oil of poppies, &c, the other in the oils which are not drying, us in olive oil, almond oil, human fat, and lard. These two forms of olein are different in their solubility in different menstrua, and in the circumstances that one is drying and the other not so, 'that one remains liquid under the action of nitrous acid, while the other Is converted by it into a solid substance called elaldine, and finally that the former contains much less hydrogen than the latter. Besides, the oleic acid formed in the process of saponification by these two kinds of olein is decidedly different, inasmuch as, in the one case, it is converted by nitrous acid into elaidic acid, aod Ln the other is not thus changed.—Note to Fourth Edition. * The oil of the Gaultheria proeumbens, a native plant, is said to have the extraordi- nary ap.gr. of 1.17. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. l&JK) 40 458 Olea Volalilia. part I. oxygen, assume a deeper colour, become thicker and less odorous, and are ultimately converted into resin. This change takes place most rapidly un- der the influence of light. Before the alteration is complete, the remaining portion of oil may be recovered by distillation. The volatile oils are very slightly soluble in water. Agitated with this fluid ihey render it milky; but separate upon standing, leaving the water impregnated with their odour and taste. This impregnation is more com- plete when water is distilled with the oils, or from the plants containing them. Trituration with magnesia or its carbonate renders them much more soluble, probably in consequence of presenting, by their minute division, a more extensive surface to the action of the solvent. The intervention of sugar also greatly increases their solubility, and affords a convenient method of preparing them for internal use. Most of them are very soluble in alco- hol, and in a degree proportionate to its freedom from water. The oils which contain no oxygen are scarcely soluble in diluted alcohol, and, ac- cording to Saussure, "their solubility generally in this liquid is proportionate to the quantity of oxygen which they contain. They are readily dissolved by ether. The volatile oils dissolve sulphur and phosphorus with the aid of heat, and deposite them* on cooling. By long boiling with sulphur they form brown, unctuous, fetid substances, formerly called balsams of sulphur. They absorb chlorine, which converts them into resin, and then combines with the resin. Iodine produces a similar effect. They are decomposed by the strong mineral acids, and unite with several of those from the vegetable kingdom. With the exception of the oil of cloves they do not combine di- rectly with salifiable bases; but, when treated with a caustic alkali, they are converted into resin, which unites with the alkali to form a kind of soap. Several of the metallic oxides, and various salts which easily part with oxy- gen, convert them into resin. The volatile oils dissolve many of the proxi- mate principles of plants and animals, such as the fixed oils and fats, resin, camphor, and several of the vegetable alkalies. The volatile, like the fixed oils, consist of distinct principles, which are congealed at different temperatures, and may be separated by compressing the frozen oil between the folds of bibulous paper. The solid matter remains within the folds; and the fluid is absorbed by the paper, from which it may be separated by distillation with water. The name of siearoptene has been proposed for the former, that of eleoptene for the latter. The solid crystal- line substances deposited by certain volatile oils upon standing, usually con- sidered as camphor, are examples of stearoptene. Some oils, under the influence of water, deposite crystalline bodies which appear to be hydrates of the respective oils. The ultimate constituents of the volatile oils are usually carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Some, as the oils of turpentine and copaiba, in their purest state, contain only carbon and hydrogen. Several, according to De Saussure, have a very minute proportion of nitrogen in their composition. The volatile oils are often sophisticated. Among the most common adul- terations are fixed oils, resinous substances, ami alcohol. The fixed oils may be discovered by the permanent stain which they leave on paper, while that occasioned by a pure volatile oil disappears entirely when exposed to heat. They may also in general be detected by their comparative insolubility in alcohol. Both the fixed oils and resins are left behind when the adulterated oil is distilled with water. If alcohol is present, the oil becomes milky when agitated with water, and after the separation of the liquids, the water occupies more space, and the oil less than before. The following method of detecting part i. Olea Volatilia.—Oleum Amygdalae. 459 alcohol has been proposed by M. Beral. Put twelve drops of the suspected oil in a perfectly dry watch-glass, and add a piece of potassium about as large as the head of a pin. If the potassium remain for twelve or fifteen minutes in the midst of the liquid, there is either no alcohol present, or less than four per cent. If it disappear in five minutes, the oil contains more than four per cent, of alcohol; if in less than a minute, twenty-five per cent. or more. Sometimes volatile oils of little value are mixed with those which are costly. The taste and smell afford in this case the best means of detecting the fraud. The specific gravity of the oils may also serve as a test of their purity. When oils of which one is lighter and one heavier than water, are mixed, they are separated by long agitation with this fluid, and will take a place corresponding to their respective specific gravities. But it sometimes happens that an unadulterated oil may thus be separated into two portions. When oil of turpentine is used as the adulteration, it may be known by re- maining in part undissolved, when the mixture is treated with three or four times its volume of alcohol of the sp. gr. 0.84. Volatile oils may be preserved without change in small well-stopped bot- tlesj entirely filled with the oil, and excluded from the light. W. OLEUM AMYGDALA. U.S. Oil of Almonds. " Amygdalus communis. Nucleorum oleum fixum. The fixed oil Of the kernels," U. S. Off. Syn. AMYGDALAE OLEUM. Amygdalus communis. Var. a. VaY. 0. Oleum ab alterutriusque nucleis expressum. Lond:; OLEUM AMYGDALARUM, Dub.; OLEUM AMYGDALI COMMUNIS, Ed. Huille d'amandes, Fr.; Mandelol, Germ.; Olio iii mandorle, Ital; Aceyte de almen- dras, Span. See AMYGDALA. This oil is obtained equally pure from sweet and bitter almonds. In its preparation, the almonds, after having been deprived of a reddish-brown powder adhering to their surface, by rubbing them together in a piece of coarse linen, are ground in a mill resembling a coffee-mill, or bruised in a stone mortar, and then submitted to pressure in canvass sacks between plates of iron slightly heated. The oil, which is at first turbid, is clarified by rest and filtration. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges direct the oil to be prepared by bruising the almonds, and then expressing without heat. Sometimes the almonds are steeped in very hot water, deprived of their cuticle, and dried in a stove previously to expression. The oil is thus ob- tained free from colour, but in no other respect better. Bitter almonds, when treated in this way, are said to impart a smell of hydrocyanic acid to the oil. With regard to these, therefore, the process is objectionable. M. Boullay obtained fifty-four per cent, of oil from sweet almonds, Vogel twen- ty-eight per cent, from bitter almonds. The oil of almonds is clear and colourless, or slightly tinged of a green- ish-yellow, is nearly inodorous, and has a bland sweetish taste. It remains liquid at temperatures considerably below the freezing point of water. Its sp. gr. is from 0.917 to 0.92. It may be used for the same purposes with olive oil; and, when suspended in water by means of mucilage or the yolk of eggs and loaf sugar, forms a 460 Oleum Bubulum.—Oleum Cajuputi. part i. very pleasant emulsion, useful in catarrhal and other pulmonary affections attended with cough. From a fluidrachm to a fluidounce may be given at a dose. Off.Prep. Unguentum Aquae Rosae, U.S. W. OLEUM BUBULUM. U.S. JSeats-foot Oil. " Bos domesticus. Oleum ex ossibus praeparatum. The oil prepared from the bones." U. S. Huile de pied de bceuf, Fr.; Ochsenfussefett, Germ. • ( Neats-foot oil is obtained by boiling in water for a long time the feet of the ox, previously deprived of their hoof. The fat and oil which rise to the surface are removed, and introduced into a fresh portion of water heated nearly to the boiling point. The impurities having subsided, the oil is drawn off, and if required to be very pure, is again introduced into water, which is kept for twenty-four hours sufficiently warm to enable the fat which is mixed with the oil to separate from it. The liquid being then allowed to cool, the fat concretes, and the oil is removed and strained, or filtered through layers of small fragments of charcoal free from powder. This oil is yellowish, and when properly prepared, inodorous and of a bland taste. It thickens or congeals with great difficulty, and is therefore very useful for greasing machinery in order to prevent friction. It was introduced into the officinal catalogue of the United States Phar- macopoeia as an ingredient of the ointment of nitrate of mercury. Off. Prep. Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitratis, U. S. W. OLEUM CAJUPUTI. U. S. Secondary. Cajuput Oil. " Melaleuca cajuputi. Oleum volatile. The volatile oil." U. S. Off, Syn. CAJUPUTI. Melaleuca minor. Oleum efoliis destillatum. Lond.; MELALEUCiE LEUCADENDRI OLEUM VOLATILE. Ed.; MELALEUCA LEUCADENDRON. Oleum volatile Cajeput. Dub. Huile de cajeput, Fr.; Kajeputol, Germ.; Olio di cajeput, Ital; Kayuputieh, Malay. Melaleuca. Sex. Syst. Polyadelphia Icosandria.—Nat. Ord. Myrta- ceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted, semi-superior. Corolla five-petaled. Sta- mens about forty-five, very long, conjoined in five bodies. Style single. Capsule three-celled. Seeds numerous. Roxburgh. It was long supposed that the oil of cajuput was derived from the Melaleuca leucadendron; but from specimens of the plant affording it, sent from the Mo- luccas and cultivated in the botanical garden of Calcutta, it appears to be a dis- tinct species, upon which the trivial name of Cajuputi has been conferred. It corresponds with the arbor alba minor of Rumphius, and is a smaller plant than the M. leucadendron. It is possible, however, that the oil may be obtained from different species of Melaleuca; as M. Stickel of Jena suc- ceeded in procuring from the leaves of the M. hypericifolia, cultivated in PART I. Oleum Cajuputi. 461 the botanical garden of that place, a specimen of oil not distinguishable from the cajuput oil of commerce, except by a paler green colour. (Annal. der Pharm. xix. 224). Melaleuca Cajuputi. Rumphius, Herbar. Amboinense, torn. ii. tab. 17; Roxburgh, Trans. Lond. Med. Bot. Soc, A.D., 1829; Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm., vol. i. p. 193.—Melaleuca minor. De Candolle. This is a small tree, with an erect but crooked stem, and scattered branches, the slender twigs of which droop like those of the weeping willow. The bark is of a whitish-ash colour, very thick, soft, spongy, and lamellated, throw- ing off its exterior layer from time to time in flakes, like the birch tree. The leaves have short footstalks; are alternate, lanceolate, when young sericeous, when full grown smooth, deep green, three and five-nerved, slightly falcate, entire, from three to five inches long, from one half to three quarters of an inch broad; and when bruised exhale a strpng aromatic odour. The flow- ers, which are small, white, inodorous, and sessile, are disposed in terminal and axillary downy spikes, with solitary, lanceolate, three-flowered bractes. The filaments are three or four times longer than the petals, and both are inserted in the rim of the calyx. This species of Melaleuca is a native of the Moluccas, and other neigh- bouring islands. The oil is obtained from the leaves by distillation. It is prepared chiefly in Amboyna and Bouro, and is exported from the East In- dies in glass bottles. The small proportion yielded by the leaves, and the extensive use made of it in India, render it very costly. Properties. Cajuput oil is very fluid, transparent, of a fine bluish-green colour, a lively and penetrating odour analogous to that of camphor, and a warm pungent taste. It is very volatile and inflammable, burning without any residue. According to Guibourt the sp. gr. varies from .916 to .919. The green colour is ascribed by some writers to the presence of a salt of copper derived from the vessels in which the distillation is performed, and Guibourt obtained two grains and a half of oxide of copper from a pound of the commercial oil. But neither Brande nor Gcertner could detect copper in specimens which they examined; and M. Lesson, who witnessed the pro- cess for preparing the oil at Bouro, attributes its colour to chlorophylle, or some analogous principle, and states that it is rendered colourless by rectifi- cation. Guibourt, moreover, obtained a green oil by distilling the leaves of a Melaleuca cultivated at Paris. A fair inference is that the oil of cajeput is naturally green; but that, as found in commerce, it often contains copper, either accidentally present, or added with the view of imitating and main- taining the fine colour natural to the oil, which it may want if impro- perly prepared, or may in some measure lose by time. The proportion of copper, however, is not so great as to interfere with the internal use of the oil; and the metal may be readily separated by distillation with water, or agitation with a solution of ferrocyanate of potassa. (Guibourt.) The high price of cajuput oil has led to its occasional adulteration. The oil of rosemary, or that of turpentine, impregnated with camphor and co- loured with the resin of milfoil, is said to be employed for the purpose. Medical Properties and Uses. This oil is highly stimulant, producing when swallowed a sense of heat, with an increased fulness and frequency of pulse, and exciting in some instances profuse perspiration. It is very highly esteemed by the Malays and other people of the East, who consider it a universal panacea. (Lesson, Journ. de Chim. Med. 1827.) They are said to employ it with great success in epilepsy and palsy. (Ainslie.) The com- plaints to which it is best adapted are probably chronic rheumatism, and spasmodic affections of the stomach and bowels, unconnected with inflam- 40* 462 Oleum Cajuputi.—Oleum Caryophylli. part i. mation. It has been highly extolled as a remedy in spasmodic cholera. Diluted with an equal proportion of olive oil, it is applied externally to re- lieve gouty and rheumatic pains. Like most other highly stimulating es- sential oils, it relieves toothach, if introduced into the hollow of the carious tooth. It is little used in the United States. The dose is from one to five drops, given in emulsion, or upon a lump of sugar. W. OLEUM CARYOPHYLLI. U.S. Oil of Cloves. " Eugenia caryophyllata. Gemmarum floralium oleum volatile. The vo- latile oil of the flower-buds." U.S. Off. Syn. CARYOPHYLLI OLEUM. Caryophyllus aromaticus. Oleum e floribus destillatum. Lond.; EUGENLE CARYOPHYLLATiE OLE- UM VOLATILE. Ex floribus nondum explicitis. Ed.; EUGENIA CA- RYOPHYLLATA. Oleum volatile. Dub. Huile de girofle, Fr.; Nelkenol, Germ.; Olio di garofani, Ital.; Aceyte de clavos, Span. See CARYOPHYLLUS. This oil is obtained t>y distilling cloves with water, to which it is custo- mary to add common salt, in order to raise the temperature of ebullition; and the water should be repeatedly distilled from the same cloves, in order completely to exhaust them. The product of good cloves is said to be about one-sixth of their weight. The oil was formerly brought from Holland or the East Indies; but since the introduction of the Cayenne cloves into our markets, the reduced price and superior freshness of the drug have rendered the distillation of oil of cloves profitable in this country; and the best now sold is of domestic extraction. We have been informed that from seven to nine pounds of cloves yield to our distillers about one pound of the oil. Properties. Oil of cloves, when recently distilled, is very fluid, clear, and colourless, but becomes yellowish by exposure, and ultimately brown. As found in our shops it is frequently of a reddish-brown colour, answering in appearance to the oil described by Lewis, and after him by other British writers on the Materia Medica, as derived from the Dutch. In the proper- ties of taste and smell, the oil resembles cloves, but is comparatively less pungent. The taste of the Dutch oil of cloves is more pungent and fiery than that freshly obtained by distillation, owing, as is supposed, to the pre- sence of a portion of the resin. The sp. gr. of the oil, according to Bonas- tre, is 1.061. It is one of the least volatile of the essential oils, and re- quires for congelation a temperature from zero of Fahrenheit to—4°. It is completely soluble in alcohol, ether, and strong acetic acid. Nitric acid changes its colour to a deep red, and converts it by the aid of heat into oxa- lic acid. It combines directly with the mineral alkalies, forming soluble and crystallizable compounds. When long kept it deposites a crystalline stear- optene. It is frequently adulterated with fixed oils, and sometimes also with oil of pimento and with copaiba. The oil of cloves should sink in pure water. Medical Properties and Uses. Its medical effects are similar to those of cloves, and it is used for the same purposes; but its most common employ- ment is as a corrigent of other medicines. Like other powerful irritants it part i. Oleum Caryophylli.—Oleum Cinnamomi. 463 is sometimes effectual in relieving toothach, when introduced into the ca- vity of a carious tooth. The dose is from two to six minims. Off.Prep. Alcohol Ammoniatum Aromaticum, U.S.; Confectio Scam- monii, U. S.; Pilulae Colocynthidis Compositae, Ed., Dub. W. OLEUM CINNAMOMI. U.S. Oil of Cinnamon. " Laurus cinnamomum. Corticis oleum volatile. The volatile oil of the bark." U.S. Off. Syn. CINNAMOMI OLEUM. Laurus Cinnamomum. Oleum e cortice destillatum. Lond.; LAURUS CINNAMOMUM. Oleum volatile. Dub. Huile de cannelle, Fr.; Zimmtol, Germ.; Olio di cannella, Ital; Aceyte de canela, Span. See CINNAMOMUM. This oil is prepared exclusively in the East. In Ceylon, the cinnamon which was not considered of sufficiently good quality for the East India Company's investment, was formerly appropriated to this purpose. The fol- lowing account of the method of extraction is given by Marshall. The bark, having been coarsely powdered, is macerated for two days in sea-water, and then submitted to distillation. A light and a heavy oil come over with the water, the former of which separates in a few hours, and swims upon the surface, the latter falls to the bottom of the receiver, and continues to be pre- cipitated for ten or twelve days. In future distillations the saturated cinnamon water is employed in connexion with sea-water to macerate the cinnamon. Eighty pounds of the bark, freshly prepared, yield about two and a half ounces of the lighter oil, and five and a half of the heavier. From the same quantity of cinnamon which has heen kept for several years in store, about half an ounce less of each oil is obtained. The two kinds are probably united in the oil of commerce. An oil is also distilled from the Chinese cinnamon or commercial cassia; but it is inferior in flavour to that afforded by the aromatic of Ceylon, and commands a much smaller price. It is called oil of cassia. The two are said to be frequently mixed together. Recently prepared oil of cinnamon is of a light yellow colour, which becomes deeper by age, and ultimately reddish. It has the flavour of cin- namon in a concentrated state. When applied undiluted to the tongue it is excessively hot and pungent. Dr. Duncan states that it sometimes has a peppery taste, which he ascribes to an admixture of the leaves with the bark in the preparation of the oil. It is heavier than water, having the specific gravity 1.035. It congeals below the freezing point of water, and reas- sumes the liquid form at 41° F. Alcohol completely dissolves it; and as it does not rise in any considerable quantity at the boiling temperature of this liquid, it may be obtained by forming a tincture of cinnamon, and distilling off the menstruum. When very long kept it deposites a stearoptene in large, regular, colourless or yellowish crystals. According to Dumas and Peligot, this is a compound of the pure oil with oxygen, and possesses acid properties analogous to those of benzoic acid. They propose to call it cinnamic acid. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 546.) The oil of cinnamon is said to be frequently adulterated with alcohol and fixed oil. Medical Properties and Uses. It has the cordial and carminative proper- 464 Coci Butyraceee Oleum Fixum. part i. ties of the cinnamon, without its astringency; and is much employed as an adjuvant to other medicines, the taste of whioh it corrects or conceals, while it conciliates the stomach. As a powerful local stimulant, it is sometimes prescribed in gastrodyni3, flatulent colic, and languor from gastric debility. The dose is one or two minims, and may be most conveniently administered in the form of emulsion. Off.Prep. Alcohol Ammoniatum Aromaticum, U.S.; Aqua Cinnamomi, U.S., Lond.; Spiritus Cinnamomi, Lond. " • COCI BUTYRACE^ OLEUM FIXUM. Ed. Palm Oil. Huile de palme, Fr.; PalmOl, Germ.; Aceyte de palma, Span. The Cocos butyracea belongs to the "class and order Monoecia Hexandria and to the family of the Palms. It grows in Brazil and other parts of South America, and bears a nut, from the kernel of which an oil is obtained by expression, used by the natives in its recent state for dressing food, and when old for burning in lamps. But the Edinburgh College probably errs in ascribing the palm oil of commerce to this tree. That employed in Europe and the United States is thought to be derived chiefly from the Elais Guiniensis, a native of the western coast of Africa, and cultivated in the West Indies and South America. This is also a palm, and is placed by systematic writers in the class and order Dia>cia Hexandria, though stated by others to be really monoecious. It is among the handsomest trees of its graceful family which flourish in the tropical regions of Africa. The oil is obtained by expression from the fruit. It is brought to this country chiefly from Liberia, and other places on the African coast, though prepared also in the West Indies, Cayenne, and Brazil. The probability is that various species of palms contribute to the supply of this article of commerce. Palm oil has the consistence of butter, a rich orange-yellow colour, a sweetish taste, and an agreeable odour, compared by some to that of violets, by others to that of the Florentine orris. By age and exposure it becomes rancid, and of a whitish colour. It melts with the heat of the hand, and when perfectly fluid passes readily through blotting paper. Highly rectified alcohol dissolves it at common temperatures, and in ether it is soluble in all proportions. According to M. Henry, it consists of 31 parts of stearin and 69 of olein; but the more recent experiments of MM. Pelouze and Boudet show that the solid ingredient, considered by M. Henry as stearin, is a mixture of margarin with the margaric and oleic acids; and the same chemists have detected in the oil a portion of glycerin; so that the changes which are effected in oils, ftirough the agency of alkalies, in the process of saponification, takes place, to a certain extent, spontaneously in palm 'oil. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiv. 389.) It is said to be frequently imitated by a mixture of lard and suet, coloured with turmeric, and scented with Florentine orris. The use to which it is chiefly applied, is the manufacture of a toilet soap, which retains the plea- sant odour of the oil. Medical Properties and Uses. Palm oil is emollient, and has sometimes been employed in friction or embrocation, though not superior for this pur- pose to many other oleaginous substances. W. part r. Oleum Limonis.—Oleum Lini. 465 OLEUM LIMONIS. U.S. Oil of Lemons. *• Citrus medica. Fructus corticis oleum volatile. The volatile oil of the rind of the fruit." U.S. Off. Syn. LIMONUM OLEUM. Citrus Limonum. Oleum e Fructus Cortice exteriori destillatum. Lond.; CITRI MEDIC^E OLEUM VOLA- TILE. Ex cortice fructus. Ed.; CITRUS MEDICA. Fructus tunicae ex- terioris oleum volatile. Dub. Huile de citron, Fr.; CetronenOl, Germ.; Olio di limone, Ital; Aceyte de limon, Span. See LIMON. The exterior rind of the lemon abounds in an essential oil, which, as it is contained in distinct cellules, may be separated by simple expression. The rind is first grated from the fruit, and then submitted to pressure in a bag of fine cloth. The oil thus obtained is allowed to stand till it becomes clear, when it is decanted, and preserved in stopped bottles. By a similar process, that delightful perfume, the essence of bergamot, is procured from the fruit of the Citrus bergamia vulgaris of Risso, or common bergamot tree; and the oil called by the French huile de cedrat, from the citron, or fruit of the proper Citrus medica, of which the lemon-tree is a variety. All these oils may also be obtained by distillation; but thus procured, they have less of the peculiar flavour of the fruit, and the mode by expression is generally pre- ferred. They are all brought originally from Italy, Portugal, or the South of France. Properties. The oil of lemons is a very volatile fluid, having the odour of the fruit, and a warm, pungent, aromatic taste. As ordinarily procured it is yellow, and has the specific gravity 0.8517; but by distillation it is rendered colourless; and if three-fifths only are distilled, its sp. gr. is reduced to 0.847, at 71° F. When perfectly pure, it consists exclusively of carbon and hydrogen, and is said to be identical in composition with pure oil of turpentine. In this state it is capable of absorbing almost half its weight of muriatic acid gas, by which it is converted into a crystalline substance, and a yellow oily fuming liquid. The crystals are analogous to the artificial camphor which results from the action of muriatic acid upon the oil of tur- pentine. The oil of lemons is often adulterated by the fixed oils and by alcohol, the former of which may be detected by the permanent stain which they impart to paper, the latter by the milkiness produced by the addition of water. Medical Properties and Uses. This oil has the stimulant properties of the aromatics; but is almost exclusively used to impart a pleasant flavour to other medicines. Off. Prep. Alcohol Ammoniatum Aromaticum, U.S., Ed., Dub. W. OLEUM LINI. U.S.,Dub. Flaxseed Oil. " Linum usitatissimum. Seminum oleum. The oil of the seeds." U. S. Off. Syn. LINI OLEUM. Linum usitatissimum. Oleum e Seminibus expressum. Lond.; OLEUM LINI USITATISSIMI. Ed. 466 Oleum Lini.—Oleum Myrislicae. part i. Linseed oil; Huile de lin, Fr.; Leinol, Germ.; Olio di lino, Ital; Aceyte de linaza, Span. See LINUM. This oil is obtained by expression from the seeds of the Linum usitatis- simum, or common flax. In its preparation on a large scale, the seeds are usually roasted before being submitted to pressure, in order to destroy the gummy matter contained in their exterior coating. The oil is thus obtained more free from mucilage, but more acrid than that procured by cold expres- sion. Flaxseed oil is of a yellowish-brown colour, a disagreeable odour, and nauseous taste; is of the sp. gr. 0.932; boils at 600° F.; does not congeal at zero; becomes rancid with facility, and has the property of drying or becoming solid on exposure to the air. On account of its dry- ing property, it is highly useful in painting, and the formation of printers' ink. Medical Properties and Uses. It is laxative in the dose of a fluidounce, but on account of its disagreeable taste is seldom given internally. It is sometimes added to purgative enemata; but its most ordinary application is externally to burns, usually in combination with lime-water. Off. Prep. Linimentum Calcis, U. S., Ed., Dub. W. OLEUM MYRISTICA. U.S. Oil of Nutmeg. " Myristica moschata. Nucleorum oleum expressum. The expressed eildf the kernels." U. S. See MYRISTICA. This substance* usually but erroneously called oil of mace, is obtained from nutmegs by bruising them in a heated mortar, and afterwards compress- ing them strongly between heated plates. A liquid oil flows out, which becomes solid when it cools. It has been admitted into the London and Dublin Pharmacopeeias, and that of the United States. Nutmegs are said to yield from ten to twelve per cent, of this oil. The best is imported from the East Indies in stone jars. It is solid, soft, unctuous to the touch, of a yellowish or orange-yellow colour more or less mottled, with the odour and taste of nutmeg. It is composed, according to Schrader, of a soft oily substance, yellowish or brownish, soluble in cold alcohol and ether; a white, pulverulent, inodorous substance, insoluble in these liquids; and a volatile oil, to which it owes its aromatic odour. Eigh- teen parts are said to furnish one part of volatile oil. An inferior kind is prepared in Holland, and sometimes found in the shops. It is in hard, shining, square cakes, of a lighter colour than that from the East Indies, with less smell and taste. It is supposed to be pre- pared from nutmegs, previously deprived of most of their essential oil by distillation. An artificial preparation is sometimes substituted for the genuine oil. It is made by mixing together various fatty matters, such as suet, palm oil, spermaceti, wax, lard, &c, adding some colouring substance, and giving fla- vour to the mixture by the volatile oil of nutmeg. The expressed oil of nutmeg is never used in medicine, except as a gen- tle external stimulant, and seldom even for this purpose. Off.Prep. Emplastrum Pieis Composiium. Lond. W. PART l Oleum Olium. 467 OLEUM OLIV.E. U.S. Olive Oil. " Olea Europoea. Fructus oleum. The oil of the fruit." U. S. Off. Syn. OLIViE OLEUM. Olea europtea. Oleum e drupis ex- pressum. Lond.; OLEJE EUROPffi^E OLEUM FIXUM. Ex fructu. Ed.; OLEA EUROPCEA. Oleum ex fructu. Dub. Huile d'olive, Fr.; Olivenol, Germ.; Olio delle olive, Ital; Aceyte de olivas, Span. Olea. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat Ord. Jasmineae, Juss.; Oleaceae, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Corolla four-cleft, with subovate segments. Drupe one-seed- ed. Willd. Olea Europoea. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 44; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 280. t. 98. This valuable tree is usually from fifteen to twenty feet in height, though it sometimes attains a much greater size, particularly in Greece and the Levant. It has a solid, erect, unequal stem, with numerous straight branches, covered with a grayish bark. The leaves, which stand opposite to each other on short footstalks, are evergreen, firm, lanceolate, entire, two or three inches in length, with the edges somewhat reverted, smooth and of a dull green colour on their upper surface, whitish and almost silvery be- neath. The flowers are small, whitish, and disposed in opposite axillary clusters, which are about half as long as the leaves, and accompanied with small, obtuse, hoary bractes. The fruit or olive is a smooth, oval drupe, of a greenish, whitish, or violet colour, with a fleshy pericarp, and a very hard nut of a similar shape. The flowers are not at all fruitful, as clusters contain- ing not less than thirty yield only two or three ripe olives. The olive tree, though believed by some to have been originally from the Levant, flourishes at present in all the countries bordering on the Mediterra- nean, and has been cultivated from time immemorial in Spain, the South of France, and Italy. It begins to bear fruit after the second year, is in full bearing at six years, and continues to flourish for a century. There are several varieties, distinguished by the form of the leaves, and the shape, colour, and size of the fruit. The variety longifolia of Willdenow is said to be the most esteemed. The leaves and bark of the olive tree have an acrid and bitterish taste, and have been employed as substitutes for cinchona, though with no great success. In hot countries a substance resembling the gum-resina exudes spontaneously from the bark. It was thought by the ancients to possess useful medicinal properties, but is not now employed. Analyzed by Pelle- tier, it was found to contain resinous matter, a small quantity of benzoic acid, and a peculiar principle analogous to gum, which has received the name of olivile. But the fruit is by far the most useful product of the tree. In the state in which it is gathered, it is hard and insupportably acrid; but when macerated in water, or an alkaline solution, and afterwards introduced into a solution of common salt, it loses these properties, and becomes a pleasant and highly esteemed article of diet. The periearp, or fleshy part of the olive, abounds in a fixed oil, which constitutes its greatest value, and for which the tree is chiefly cultivated in the South of Europe. The oil is obtained by first bruising the olives in a mill, and then submitting them to pressure. The product varies much, according to the state of the fruit and the circumstances of the process. The best oil, called virgin oil, is obtained from the fruit picked before it has arrived at perfect maturity, an 1 immedi- 468 Oleum Olivae. part i. ately pressed. It is distinguished by its greenish hue. The common oil used for culinary purposes, and in the manufacture of the finest soaps, is procured from very ripe olives, or from the pulp of those which have yielded the virgin oil. In the latter case, the pulp is thrown into boiling water, and the oil removed as it rises to the surface. An inferior kind, employed in the arts, especially in the preparation of the coarser soaps, plasters, unguents, &c, is afforded by fruit which has been thrown into heaps and allowed to ferment for several days, or by the marc left after the expression of the finer kinds of oil, broken up, exposed to the fermenting process, and again intro- duced into the press. Olive oil is imported in glass bottles, or in flasks surrounded by a pecu- liar kind of net-work made of grass, and usually called Florence flasks. The best comes from the South of France, where most care is exercised in the selection of the fruit. Properties. The pure oil is an unctuous liquid, of a pale yellow or greenish-yellow colour, with scarcely any smell, and a bland slightly sweet- ish taste. Its sp.gr. is 0.9153. It begins to congeal at 38° F. At a freezing temperature a part of it becomes solid, and the remainder retaining the liquid consistence, may be separated by pressure, or by the agency of cold alaohol, which dissolves it. The concrete portion has been found by MM. Pelouze and Boudei to be a definite compound of margarin and olein; the liquid portion is uncombined olein. Olive oil is solidified by nitrous acid and by nitrate of mercury, and converted into a peculiar fatty substance, which has received the name of elaidin. The olein of all oils which have not the drying pro- perty undergoes the same change, when acted on by nitrous acid; and the singular fact is stated by MM. Pelouze and Boudet, that the margarin of olive oil, combined as it is with olein, is converted by that acid into elaidin, while the same principle in a state of purity is not affected by it. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiv. 391.) Olive oil when exposed to the air is apt to become rancid, acquiring a disagreeable smell, a sharp taste, a thicker consistence, and a deeper colour; and the change is promoted by heat. It is said to be frequently adulterated with the cheaper fixed oils, especially with that of poppies; but the adulte- ration may usually be detected by reducing the temperature to the freezing point. As other oils are less readily congealed than the olive oil, the degree of its purity will be indicated by the degree of concretion. Another mode has been indicated by M. Poutet, founded on the property possessed by the supernitrate of mercury of solidifying the oil of olives, without a similar influence upon the other oils. Six parts of mercury are dissolved at a low temperature in seven parts and a half of nitric acid of the sp. gr. 1.35; and this solution is mixed with the suspected oil in the proportion of one part to twelve, the mixture being occasionally shaken. If the oil is pure, it is con- verted after some hours into a yellow solid mass; if it contain a minute pro- portion, even so small as a twentieth of poppy oil, the resulting mass is much less firm; and a tenth prevents a greater degree of consistence than oils usually acquire when they concrete by cold. Medical Properties and Uses. Olive oil is nutritious and mildly laxative, and is occasionally given in cases of irritable intestines, when the patient objects to more disagreeable medicines. Taken into the stomach in large quantities, it serves to involve acrid and poisonous substances, and mitigate their action. It has also been recommended as a remedy for worms, and is a very common ingredient in laxative enemata. Externally applied, it is useful in relaxing the skin, and sheathing irritated surfaces from the action of the air; and is much employed as a vehicle or diluent of more active sub- part r. Oleum Ricini. 469 stances. In the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, it is thought, when smeared over the skin, to afford some protection against the plague; and applied warm, by means of friction over the surface, is said to be useful as a remedy in the early stages of that complaint. But the most extensive use of olive oil is in pharmacy, as a constituent of liniments, ointments, cerates, and plasters. The dose as a laxative is from one to two fluidounces. W. OLEUM RICINI. U.S. Castor Oil. "Ricinus communis. Seminum oleum. The oil of the seeds." U.S. Off. Syn. RICINI OLEUM. Ricinus communis. Oleum e seminibus expressum. Lond.; RICINI COMMUNIS OLEUM FIXUM. Ex semi- nibus. Ed.; RICINUS COMMUNIS. Oleum e seminibus. Dub. Huile de ricin, Fr.; Ricinusol, Germ.; Olio di ricino, Ital; Aceyte de ricino, Span. Ricinus. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Monodelphia.—Nat. Ord. Euphorbiaceae. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx five-parted. Corolla none. Stamens numerous. Female. Calyx three-parted. Corolla none. Styles three, bifid. Capsule three-celled. Seed one. Willd. Ricinus communis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 564; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 624. t. 221. The castor oil plant, or palma Christi, as it was formerly called, attains in the East Indies and Africa the character of a1 tree; and rises some- times thirty or forty feet in height. In the temperate latitudes of North America and Europe it is an annual plant; though we are informed by M. Achille Richard, that in the South of France, in the vicinity of Nice, on the seacoast, he saw a small wood consisting entirely of this species of Ricinus. The following description applies to the plant as cultivated in cool latitudes. Its general aspect is very peculiar, and not inelegant. The stem is of vigo- rous growth, erect, round, hollow, smooth, glaucous, somewhat purplish towards the top, branching, and from three to eight feet or more in height. The leaves are alternate; peltate or supported upon footstalks inserted into their lower disk; palmate, with seven or nine pointed serrate lobes; smooth on both sides; and of a bluish-green colour. The flowers are monoecious, stand upon jointed peduncles, and form a pyramidal terminal raceme, of which the lower portion is occupied by the male flowers, the upper by the female. Both are destitute of corolla. In the male flowers the calyx is divided into five oval, concave, pointed, reflected, purplish segments, and encloses numerous stamens, which are united into fasciculi at their base. In the female, the calyx has three or five narrow lanceolate segments; and the ovary, which is roundish and three-sided, supports three linear, reddish stigmas, forked at their apex. The fruit is a roundish glaucous capsule, with three projecting sides, covered with tough spines, and divided into three cells, each containing one seed, which is expelled by the bursting of the capsule. This species of Ricinus is a native of the East Indies and Northern Africa; has become naturalized in the West Indies; and is cultivated in various parts of the world, in no country perhaps more largely than in the United States. New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and the States upon the right bank of the Ohio, are the sections in which it is most abundant. 41 470 Oleum Ricini. part r. The flowers appear in July, and the seeds ripen successively in August and September. The part employed in medicine is the fixed oil extracted from the seeds; and as this is always purchased by the apothecary, it has been very correctly placed, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, among the original articles of the Materia Medica. I. The Seeds. These are about as large as a small bean, oval, com- pressed, obtuse at the extremities, very smooth and shining, and of a grayish or ash colour, marbled with reddish-brown spots and veins. At one end of the seed is a small yellowish tubercle, from which an obscure longitudinal ridge proceeds to the opposite extremity, dividing the side upon which it is situated into two flatfish surfaces. In its general appearance the seed is thought to resemble the insect called the tick, the Latin name of which has been adopted as the generic title of the plant. Its variegated colour depends upon a very thin pellicle, closely investing a hard, brittle, blackish, tasteless, easily separable shell, within which is the kernel, highly oleaginous, of a white colour, and a sweetish taste succeeded by a slight degree of acrimony. The seeds easily become rancid, and are then unfit for the extraction of the oil, which is acrid and irritating. In 100 parts of the seeds Geiger found, exclusive of moisture, 23.82 parts of envelope, and 69.09 of kernel. These 69.09 parts contained 46.19 of fixed oil, 2.40 of gum, 20.00 of starch and lignin, and 0.50 of albumen. Taken internally the seeds are powerfully cathartic, and often emetic. Two or three are sufficient to purge, and seven or eight act with great violence. This property depends upon an acrid principle, which has by some been thought to exist exclusively in the integuments, by others in the embryo. But it is now satisfactorily ascertained that the integuments are inert; and Guibourt maintains that the principle alluded to pervades the whole kernel, in connexion with the oil. This principle is volatile, and dis- sipated by the heat of boiling water. By a much greater heat the oil itself becomes altered, and acquires acrid properties. 2. The Oil. This maybe extracted from the seeds in three ways; 1. by decoction, 2. by expression, and 3. by the agency of alcohol. The process by decoction, which is practised in the East and West In- dies, consists in bruising the seeds previously deprived of their husk, and then boiling them in water. The oil, rising to the surface, is skimmed or strained off, and afterwards again boiled with a small quantity of water to dissipate the acrid principle. To increase the product it is said that the seeds are sometimes roasted. The oil is thus rendered brownish and acrid; and the same result takes place in the second boiling, if care is not taken to suspend the process soon after the water has been evaporated. Hence it happens that the West India oil has generally a brownish colour, an acrid taste, and irritating properties. The mode by expression was formerly directed by the London College, which simply ordered the seeds, previously decorticated, to be brusied, and the oil expressed without heat. But these directions were both redundant and defi- cient. The removal of the outer covering of the seeds is unnecessary, as it contains no injurious principle; and something more than simple expression is requisite to obtain the oil in a state fit to be kept in the shops. The following, as we have been informed, are the outlines of the process usually employed by those who prepare the oil on a large scale in this country. The seeds having been thoroughly cleansed from the dust and fragments of the capsules with which they are mixed, are conveyed into a shallow iron reservoir, where they are submitted to a gentle heat insufficient to scorch or PART I. Oleum Ricini. 471 decompose them, and not greater than can be readily borne by the hand. The object of this step is to render the oil sufficiently liquid for easy expres- sion. The seeds are then introduced into a powerful screw press. A whitish oily liquid is thus obtained, which is transferred to clean iron boilers, supplied with a considerable quantity of water. The mixture is boiled for some time, and, the impurities being skimmed off as they rise to the surface, a clear oil is at length left upon the top of the water, the mucilage and starch having been dissolved by this liquid, and the albumen coagulated by the heat. The latter ingredient forms a whitish layer between the oil and the water. The clear oil is now carefully removed; and the process is completed by boiling it with a minute proportion of water, and continuing the application of heat till aqueous vapour ceases to rise, and till a small portion of the liquid taken out in a vial, preserves a perfect transparency when it cools. The effect of this last operation is to clarify the oil, and to render it less irritating by driving off the acrid volatile matter. But much care is requisite not to push the heat too far, as the oil then acquires a brownish hue, and an acrid peppery taste, similar to those of the West India medicine. After the completion of the process, the oil is put into barrels, and thus sent into the market. One bushel of good seeds yields five or six quarts, or about twenty-five per cent, of the best oil. If not very carefully prepared, it is apt to deposite a sediment upon standing; and the apothecary frequently finds it necessary to filter it through paper before dispensing it. Perhaps this may be owing to the plan adopted by some of purifying the oil after expression, by merely allowing it to stand for some time, and then drawing off the supernatant liquid. We have been told that the oil in barrels occasionally deposites a copious whitish sediment in cold weather, which it redissolves when the temperature rises. This substance is probably stearin, or an analogous principle. A large proportion of the drug consumed in the eastern section of the Union, is derived by way of New Orleans from Illinois and the neighbouring States, where it is so abundant that it is sometimes used for burning in lamps. The process for obtaining castor oil by means of alcohol has been practised in France; but the product is said to become rancid more speedily than that procured in the ordinary mode. Properties. Pure castor oil is a thick, viscid, colourless fluid, with little or no odour, and a mild though somewhat nauseous taste, followed by a slight sense of acrimony. As found in the shops it is often tinged with yel- low, and has an unpleasant smell; and parcels are sometimes though rarely met with, of a brownish colour, and hot acrid taste. It does not readily congeal by cold. When exposed to the air it slowly thickens, without be- coming opaque, and it ranks among the drying oils. It is heavier than most of the other fixed oils, from which it differs also in being soluble in all pro- portions in cold absolute alcohol. Weaker alcohol, of the sp. gr. 0.8425, takes up about three-fifths of its weight. Adulterations with other fixed oils may thus be detected, as the latter are but slightly soluble in this fluid. Such adulterations, however, are not practised in this country. Castor oil is also soluble in sulphuric ether. When distilled it yields, according to MM. Bussy and Lecanu, 1. a colourless, highly odorous volatile oil, which crys- tallizes by cold, 2. two oleaginous acids, denominated ricinic and oleoricinic, which are excessively acrid and nearly concrete, and 3. a solid spongy resi- due, amounting to two-thirds of the oil employed. Supposing these acids to be developed by heat, we can readily account for the injurious influence of too high a temperature in the preparation of the oil. Alkalies unite with castor oil forming soaps, and determine the formation of the margaric acid, 472 Oleum Tiglii. part i. besides the two above mentioned. Its purgative property is ascribed by MM. Bussy and Lecanu to the oil itself, and not to any distinct principle which it may hold in solution. It differs in this respect from the croton oil, though derived from a plant belonging to the same natural family. Castor oil which is acrid to the taste may be rendered mild by boiling it with a small proportion of water. If turbid, it should be clarified by filtra- tion through paper. On exposure to the air, it is apt to become rancid, and is then unfit for use. Medical Properties and Uses. Good castor oil is a mild cathartic, speedy in its action, usually operating with little griping or uneasiness, and evacu- ating the contents of the bowels without much increasing the alvine secre- tions. Hence it is particularly applicable to cases of constipation from col- lections of indurated feces, and to those cases in which acrid substances have been swallowed, or acrid secretions have accumulated in the bowels. From its mildness it is also especially adapted to diseases attended with irritation or inflammation of the bowels, as colic, diarrhoea, dysentery, and enteritis. It is habitually resorted to in the cases of pregnant and puerperal women; and is decidedly, as a general rule, the best and safest cathartic for children. Infants usually require a larger relative dose than adults, pro- bably because they digest a larger proportion of the oil. The dose for an adult is about a fluidounce, for an infant from one to three or four fluidrachms. It is sometimes of exceedingly difficult admin- istration, not so much from any peculiarly unpleasant taste, as from the recollection of former nausea, or other uneasiness which it may have pro- duced, and from its clamminess and unpleasant adhesiveness to the mouth. In a few cases the disgust which it excites is utterly unconquerable by any effort of resolution. It is desirable, therefore, to obviate this inconvenience as far as possible by the mode of exhibition. A common method is to give it floating on the surface of mint or cinnamon water; but that which we have found upon the whole the least offensive, is to mix it with a cup of hot sweetened coffee, by which it is rendered more fluid, and its taste conside- rably disguised. Some take it in wine or spirituous liquors; but these are generally contraindicated in the cases to which the medicine is applicable. When the stomach is unusually delicate, the oil may be made into an emul- sion with mucilage or the yolk of an egg, loaf sugar, and some aromatic « water. To the mixture laudanum may be added in cases of intestinal irri- tation. Castor oil may also be beneficially used as an enema in the quan- tity of two or three fluidounces mixed with some mucilaginous liquid. Though apt to become rancid by itself, it loses much of this susceptibility when mixed with lard; and some apothecaries are said to use it as a substi- tute for olive oil in unguents and cerates. But the slightly irritating proper- ties of even the mildest castor oil, render it inapplicable in those prepara- tions which are intended rather to alleviate irritation than to produce it. W. OLEUM SESAMI. U.S. Secondary. Benne Oil. " Sesamum orientale. Seminum oleum. The oil of the seeds." U. S. See SESAMUM. PART I. Oleum Terebinthinas. 473 OLEUM TEREBINTHIN^E. U.S., Dub. Oil of Turpentine. " Pinus palustris et aliae. Succi oleum volatile. The volatile oil of the juice." U. S. Off. Syn. TEREBINTHINjE OLEUM. Pinus Sylvestris. Oleum e resina destillatum. Lond.; PINI OLEUM VOLATILE. Ed.; PINUS SYLVESTRIS. Oleum volatile. Dub. Huile volatile de te'rebenthine, Ft:; Terbinthinol, Germ.; Olio della trementina, Ital; Aceyte de trementina, Span. See TEREBINTH1NA. The oil of turpentine is prepared by distillation from our common turpen- tine, though equally afforded by other varieties. The Dublin College gives the following formula for its preparation. " Take of common turpentine, \Terebinthina Vulgaris, Lond.] five pounds; water, four pints. Draw off the oil in a copper alembic." But it is at present never prepared by the apothecary, and in all the other Pharmocopoeias is placed in the cata- logue of the Materia Medica. The turpentine of the Pinus palustris is said to yield about seventeen per cent, of oil; while the common turpen- tine of Europe affords twenty-four per cent. Large quantifies of the oil are distilled in North Carolina for exportation. Pure oil of turpentine is perfectly limpid and colourless, of a strong, penetrating, peculiar odour, and a hot, pungent, bitterish taste. It is much lighter than water, having the specific gravity 0.86 at 72° F.; is highly vo- latile and inflammable; boils at a temperature somewhat higher than 300°; is very slightly soluble in water, less soluble in alcohol than most other vo- latile oils, and readily soluble in sulphuric ether. Boiling alcohol dissolves it with facility, but deposites most of the oil upon cooling. One hundred parts of alcohol of 0.84, dissolve 13.5 parts of the oil at 72°. As found in commerce, it always contains oxygen; but when perfectly pure, it consists exclusively of carbon and hydrogen, and, according to Dumas, is isomeric with the radical of camphor. MM. Blanchet and Sell think they have shown that it consists of two distinct isomeric oils, which, by the absorption of oxygen are converted into two distinct resins, corresponding to those found by Unverdorben in colophony, and differing from each other in their solu- bility in alcohol. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 226.) On exposure to the air and light, oil of turpentine deposites a white solid matter in acicular crys- tals, which are without taste or smell, insoluble in cold water, but soluble in ether and alcohol. (Boissenot, Journ. de Chim. Med. ii. 143.) White crys- tals of stearoptene, heavier than water and fusible at 20°,'separate Irom the oil at the temperature of 18° below zero. The oil of turpentine absorbs muriatic acid gas, which forms with it a white crystalline substance which bears a strong resemblance to camphor, and on this account is usually called artificial camphor. Exposed to the air the oil absorbs oxygen, becomes thicker and yellow- ish, and loses much of its activity. Hence the British Colleges direct a process for its rectification, consisting in distilling it with about four mea- sures of water. But the process is difficult, in consequence of the great inflammability of the vapour, and its rapid formation, which causes the liquid to boil over. In this country it is scarcely necessary, as the recent oil can be obtained at an expense less than that which would be incurred by its redistillation on a small scale. Another mode of purifying the oil is to agi- 474 Oleum Terebinthinae. part I- tale it with one-eighth of alcohol, which dissolves the portion that has become resinous by the absorption of oxygen. About one-fifth of the alco- hol is retained by the oil, but is readily separated by agitation with water. Medical Properties and Uses. The oil of turpentine is stimulant, diu- retic, anthelmintic, in large doses cathartic, and externally rubefacient. When swallowed in moderate quantities it produces a sense of warmth in the stomach, accelerates the circulation, and increases the heat of the skin, without especially affecting the functions of the brain. In small doses, fre- quently repeated, it stimulates the kidneys, augmenting the secretion of urine, and often producing, especially if long continued, painful irritation of the urinary passages, amounting sometimes to violent strangury. At the same time it imparts the odour of violets to the urine; and this effect is also produced by its external application, or even by breathing the air of an apartment impregnated with its vapours. In large doses it occasions slight vertigo, or a sense of fulness in the head, sometimes amounting to intoxica- tion, attended frequently with nausea, and succeeded generally, though not always, by speedy and brisk catharsis. When this effect is experienced, the oil is carried out of the bowels, and, no time being allowed for absorp- tion, is less apt to irritate the kidneys and bladder than when taken in small and repeated doses. In some constitutions it produces, even when taken internally, an erythematic eruption on the skin. The oil of ulrpentine is employed in numerous diseases. As a stimulant it is useful in \?.w forms of fever, particularly in cases where there is reason to suspect ulcerations of the mucous membranes. There is a particular state of fever usually attended with much danger, in which we have found this remedy uniformly successful. The condition of things alluded to, is one which occurs in the latter stages of typhoid fevers or lingering remit- tents, in which the tongue, having begun to throw off its load of fur in patches, has suddenly ceased to clean itself, and become dry and brownish. The skin is at the same time dry, the bowels torpid and distended with fla- tus, and the patient sometimes affected with slight delirium. Under the use of small doses of oil of turpentine frequently repeated, the tongue becomes moist and again coated, the tympanitic state of the bowels disappears, and the patient goes on to recover as in a favourable case of fever. We are dis- posed to ascribe the effect to a healthy change produced by the oil in the ulcerated surface of the intestines. The medicine has also been recom- mended as a counter-irritant in yellow and puerperal fevers; and may un- doubtedly be given with advantage in the latter stages of these diseases, and in other instances of gastric and enteritic inflammations, which require a resort to stimulation; but the highly favourable reports which have been made of its effects in the early stages of puerperal peritonitis, have pro- bably originated in the confounding of intestinal irritation with that formi- dable disease. In chronic rheumatism, particularly sciatica and lumbago, the oil has often been given with great benefit. It has also been much ex- tolled as a remedy in neuralgia, in epilepsy and tetanus, in passive hemor- rhages, particularly from the bowels, in disordered conditions of the alimen- tary canal attended with sallow countenance, foul tongue, tumid abdomen, sour or fetid eructation, and general depravation of health, in obstructions of the bowels, in some forms of chronic dysentery and diarrhoea, in obsti- nate gleets and leucorrhcea, and in chronic nephritic and calculous affec- tions. As a vermifuge also it is very highly esteemed, especially in cases of taenia. It appears, by its poisonous operation, to destroy or debilitate the worm, which losing its hold upon the bowels is then easily discharged. In cases of worms in the stomach it is often very beneficial. The worms, part i. Oleum Terebinthinae.—Oleum Tiglii. 475 in this instance, are destroyed and digested as any other dead animal matter. In dropsies with feeble action, the oil may sometimes be ad- vantageously given as a diuretic; and in amenorrhcea from torpor of the uterine vessels it is occasionally useful. As a local stimulant or carmina- tive it may be given beneficially in some instances of flatulent colic, and gout in the stomach. The dose for ordinary purposes is from five to thirty drops, repeated every hour or two in acute, and three or four times a day in chronic dis- eases. In rheumatism it is recommended by some in the dose of a flui- drachm every four hours. As a remedy for the tape-worm it is given in the quantity of one or two fluidounces, and should be followed by castor oil if it do not operate in three or four hours. In ordinary cases of worms, the dose is much smaller. It may be administered dropped on sugar, or in emulsion with gum Arabic, loaf sugar, and cinnamon or mint water. In the form of enema, it has been employed in amenorrhcea, and is highly useful in cases of ascarides, obstinate constipation, and distention of the bowels from accumulation of air. No remedy is more effectual in tym- panites than injections of the oil of turpentine. From half a fluidounce to two fluidounces may be administered in this way, suspended by the yolk of eggs in half a pint or a pint of water or some mucilaginous fluid. Externally applied, the oil of turpentine irritates and speedily inflames the skin; and in low forms of fever, with coldness of the surface, is when heated one of the most efficacious rubefacients. It is also used as a lini- ment in rheumatic and paralytic affections, and various internal inflamma- tions. It should generally, in mild cases, be diluted with olive oil; and in some constitutions, even in this state, produces such violent inflammation of the skin, with extensive eruptions, as to render its external use in any shape improper. Mixed with some mild oil and introduced on cotton into the ear, it is sometimes beneficial in deafness arising from a deficient or unhealthy secretion of wax. Applied to recent burns it is thought by some to be highly useful in allaying the burning pain and promoting a disposition to heal. For this purpose, however, it is usually mixed with the resin cerate, (basilicon ointment,) so as to form a liniment capable of being spread upon linen rags. (See Linimentum Terebinthinse.)* Off.Prep. Enema Terebinthinae, Lond.; Linimentum Cantharidis, U.S.; Linimentum Terebinthinae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; 01. Terebinth. Purificatum, Lond., Dub., Ed. W. OLEUM TIGLII. U.S. Croton Oil. " Croton tiglium. Seminum oleum. The oil of the seeds." U.S. Off. Syn. TIGLII OLEUM. Croton Tiglium. Oleum e seminibus expressum. Lond.; CROTON TIGLIUM. Oleum ex seminibus expres- sum. Dub. Huile de croton, Fr.; Crotonol, Germ.; Nervalum unnay, Tamool. Crotox. See CASCARILLA. * The following is the formula adopted by the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy for the preparation of the rubefacient liniment, so much sold under the name of British oil. R. Olei Terebinth, f^viij, Olei Lini f^viij, Olei Succini f.^iv, Olei Juniperi f^iv, Pe- trolei B*rbadens. f^iij, Petrolci American. (Seneca oil) fjj. Misce. {Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. v. 29.) 476 Oleum Tiglii. part r. Croton Tiglium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 543; Woodv. Med. Bot. 3d ed. vol. 5. p. 71. This species of Croton is a small tree or shrub, with a few spreading branches, bearing alternate petiolate leaves, which are ovate, acuminate, serrate, smooth, of a dark green colour on the upper surface, paler beneath, and furnished with two glands at the base. The flowers are in erect terminal racemes, scarcely as long as the leaf—the lower being female, the upper male, with straw-coloured petals. The fruit is a smooth capsule, about the size of a filbert, with three cells, each containing a single seed. The tree is a native of Hindostan, Ceylon, the Moluccas, and other parts of continental and insular India. It is pervaded throughout by an acrid pur- gative principle, which is probably analogous to that found in other plants belonging to the family of the Enphorbiaceae. Rumphius says that the root is employed in Amboyna in the dose of a few grains as a drastic purge in dropsy; and, according to the same author, the leaves are so acrid that, when chewed and swallowed, they excite painful inflammation in the lips, mouth, throat, and along the whole course of the alimentary canal. The wood is said in small doses to be diaphoretic, in larger, purgative and emetic. But the seeds are the portion in which the active principle of the plant is most concentrated. These have been long employed throughout the whole of India as a powerful purgative, and were introduced so early as the year 1630 into Europe, where they were known by the names of Grana Molucca and Grana Tiglia. But in consequence of their violent effects they passed into neglect, and had ceased to be ranked among medicinal substances, when at a recent period attention was again called to them by the writings of some English physicians in India. They are now imported for the oil which they afford, and which is the only portion of the plant considered officinal. These seeds are rather larger than a grain of coffee, of an oblong form, rounded at the extremities, with two faces, the external considerably more convex than the internal, separated from each other by longitudinal ridges, and each divided by a similar longitudinal ridge, so that the whole seed pre- sents an irregular quadrangular figure. Sometimes, as in the grain of coffee, their internal surface is flat with a longitudinal groove, owing to the presence of only two seeds in the capsule, the groove being produced by the central column or axis. The shell is covered with a soft yellowish-brown epider- mis, beneath which the surface is black and smooth; and as the epidermis is often partially removed by friction during their carriage, the seeds as they come to us are frequently of a mottled appearance, and sometimes nearly black. The kernel or nucleus is of a yellowish-brown colour, and abounds in oil. In India the seeds are prepared for use by submitting them to slight torrefaction, by which the shell is rendered more easily separable, and the acrid property thought to be mitigated. In the dose of one or two grains the kernel purges with great activity. The oil is obtained by expression from the seeds, in general previously roasted, and deprived of the shell. It may also be separated by decoction in water, or by the action of ether, which dissolves the oil, and leaves it behind when evaporated. According to Dr. Nimmo, the seeds consist of 64 parts of kernel, and 36 of envelope, in the hundred; and the cotyledons yield 60 per cent, of oil. Properties. Croton oil, as usually found in the shops, is of an orange or reddish-yellow colour, which is owing to the roasting of the seeds previously .to expression, and varies more or less according to the greater or less dura- tion of this process. When procured without roasting, it is very nearly PART I. Oleum TigUi. 477 colourless. Its smell is faint but peculiar, its taste hot and acrid, leaving in the mouth a disagreeable sensation which continues for many hours. The oil is wholly soluble in sulphuric eiher and oil of turpentine, and partially so in alcohol. Dr. Nimmo ascertained that it consists of two portions, one acrid and purgative, amounting to forty-five per cent., soluble in cold alcohol, and having an acid reaction, the other a mild oleaginous substance like olive oil, soluble in ether and the oil of turpentine, and very slightly soluble in hot alcohol, from which it is precipitated when the liquor cools. The acrid portion consists of a resinous substance, and a very acrid volatile acid, for which Brandes has proposed the name of crotonic acid. It is thought that the croton oil is often adulterated with other fixed oils; but, with the exception of castor oil, they may be detected by their less degree of solubility in alcohol, while the latter is discoverable by its greater solubility. If cold alcohol dissolve less than forty-five per cent, of a sus- pected sample, the presence of olive oil may be inferred, if more, that of castor oil. It would be difficult, as Dr. Duncan observes, to detect by this test a mixture of these two oils in certain proportions. We have been told by Dr. Burrough, who was for some time in India, that much of the croton oil there prepared for exportation, is derived from the seeds of a plant wholly different from the Croton Tiglium. Dr. R. E. Griffith, of the University of Virginia, informed us that, from a parcel of these seeds presented to him by Dr. Burrough, he had succeeded in raising a plant which proved to be the Jatropha Curcas, the seeds of which are known by the name of Barbadoes nuts. (See Tapioca.) The oil is weaker than the genuine croton oil, but is said by Dr. Burrough to be an efficient cathartic in the dose of three or four drops. Medical Properties and Uses. The substance under consideration is a powerful hydragogue purgative, acting, for the most part, when adminis- tered in moderate doses, with ease to the patient; but in large doses apt to excite vomiting and severe griping pain, and capable, if immoderately taken, of producing fatal effects. It acts with very great rapidity, frequently evacuating the bowels in less than an hour, and generally exciting a rum- bling sensation in half that period. It possesses also a great advantage in the minuteness of the dose, on account of which it may frequently be given when we should fail with more bulky medicines, as in mania, coma, and the cases of children. A drop placed on the tongue of a person in a comatose state will generally operate. Though long used in India, and known a cen- tury ago to the Dutch physicians, it did not attract general notice till about 1820, when it was introduced into England by Mr. Conwell. It is chiefly employed in cases of obstinate constipation, in which it often produces the happiest effects after the failure of other medicines; but it may also be ad- vantageously employed in almost all cases in which powerful and speedy purging is demanded. Dropsy, apoplexy, mania, and visceral obstructions, are among the complaints in which it has been particularly recommended. The seeds are said to have been used with great success in India in amenor- rhoea. Applied externally, the oil produces inflammation of the skin attended with a pustular eruption, and has been used in this way in rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, glandular and other indolent swellings, and in pulmonary diseases. It should be diluted with three parts of olive oil, soap-liniment, oil of tur- pentine, or other convenient vehicle, and applied in the way of liniment twice or oftener in the twenty-four hours. Sometimes the insusceptibility of the skin to its influence is such as to require its application undiluted. For further information on this subject the reader is referred to the Amer. Journ. of Med. Sciences, xv. 240. 478 Oleum Tiglii.—Olibanum. part r. The dose for an adult is one or two drops, and is most conveniently ad- ministered in the form of pill. A very safe and convenient plan is to make two drops into four pills with crumb of bread, and give one every hour till it operates. The oil may also be given in emulsion. The form of tincture may be advantageously resorted to when a minute quantity of the medicine is required, as it affords the means of readily dividing the dose. It is said that four drops of the oil applied externally by friction around the umbilicus, will produce a purgative effect. (Diet, des Drogues.) W. OLIBANUM. Lond. Olibanum. " Boswellia serrata. Gummi-resina." Lond. Off. Syn. JUNIPERI LYCLE GUMMI-RESINA. Ed.; OLIBA- NUM. BOSWELLIA SERRATA. Gummi-resina. Dub. Encens, Fr.; Weihrauch, Germ.; Ohbano, Ital; Olibano, Incienso, Span.; Koondir Zuckir, Hindoo.; Cundur Looban, Arab. Olibanum, the frankincense of the ancients, was ascribed by Linnaeus to the Juniperus Lycia, which is still recognised as its source by the Edin- burgh College, though the conjecture of Linnaeus is now universally ad- mitted to have been incorrect. There appear to be two varieties of olibanum, one derived from the countries bordering on the Red Sea, and taken to Europe by way of the Mediterranean, the other brought directly from Calcutta. The origin of the former remains yet undecided; though some writers refer it to a species of Amyris. The latter has been satisfactorily ascertained to be the product of the Boswellia serrata of Roxburgh, a large tree growing in the mountains of India, and found by Mr. Colebrook abundant in the vicinity of Nagpur. The tree belongs to the class and order Decan- dria Monogynia, and to the natural order Terebintucex of Kunth. The Arabian or African frankincense is in the form of yellowish tears and irregular reddish lumps or fragments. The tears are generally small, oblong or roundish, not very brittle, with a dull and waxy fracture, softening in the mouth, and bearing much resemblance to mastich, from which, how- ever, they differ in their want of transparency. The reddish masses soften in the hand, have a stronger smell and taste than the tears, and are often mixed with fragments of bark, and small crystals of carbonate of lime. The Indian frankincense, or olibanum, consists chiefly of yellowish, somewhat translucent, roundish tears, larger than those of the African, and generally covered with a whitish powder produced by friction. It has a balsamic resinous smell, and an acrid, bitterish, and somewhat aromatic taste. When chewed it softens in the mouth, adheres to the teeth, and par- tially dissolves in the saliva, which it renders milky. It burns with a bril- liant flame, and a fragrant odour. Triturated with water it forms a milky imperfect solution. Alcohol dissolves nearly three-fourths of it, and the tincture is transparent. From 100 parts, Braconnot obtained 8 parts of volatile oil, 56 of resin, 30 of gum, and 5.2 of a glutinous matter insoluble in water or alcohol, with 0.8 loss. Various saline substances were found in its ashes. The oil may be separated by distillation, aud resembles that of lemons in colour and smell. Medical Properties and Uses. Olibanum is stimulant like the other gum- resins; but is now never used internally. It is chiefly employed for fumi- gations, and enters into the composition of some unofficinal plasters. W. PART I. Opium. 479 OPIUM. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Opium. " Papaver somniferum. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. " Papaver somniferum. Capsulse immaturse Succus concretus." Lond. " Succus concretus Papaveris somniferi." Ed. " Papaver somniferum. Cap- sularum succus proprius concretus." Dub. Opium, Fr.; Opium, Mohnsaft, Germ.; Oppio, Ital; Opio, Span.; Affioni, Turk.; Ufyoon, Arab.; Sheerikhaskash, Persian.; Ufeem, Hindoo. Papaver. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Monogynia—Nat. Ord. Papaveracese. Gen. Ch. Corolla four-petaled. Calyx two-leaved. Capsule one-celled, opening by pores under the persistent stigma. Willd. Opium is at present generally believed to be derived exclusively from the Papaver somniferum, though every species of poppy is capable of yielding it to a greater or less extent, and some authors have indicated the Papaver orientate as its real source. The British and French Pharmacopoeias unite with our own in recognising only the first mentioned species. Papaver somniferum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1147; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 376. t. 138. There are two varieties of this species, which are distinguished by the titles of the white and black poppy, derived from the colour of their seeds. It is the former which is usually described as the proper opium plant. The white poppy is an annual plant, with a round, smooth, erect, glaucous, often branching stem, rising two or three feet in height, and sometimes at- taining five or even six feet in favourable situations. The leaves are large, variously lobed and toothed, and alternately disposed upon the stem which they closely embrace. The flowers are terminal, very large, and of a white or silver gray colour, with a tinge of violet at their base. In India they appear in February, in Europe and the United States, not earlier than June, July, or August. The calyx is smooth, and composed of two leaves, which fall when the petals expand. These are usually four in number; but there is a variety in which the flower is double. The germen, which is smooth and globular, supports a radiated stigma, and is surrounded by numerous short and slender filaments, with erect, oblong, compressed anthers. The capsule is smooth and glaucous, of a rounded shape, from two to four inches in diameter, somewhat flattened at the top and bottom, and crowned with the persistent stigma, the diverging segments of which are arranged in a circle upon the summit. It contains numerous minute white seeds, which, when perfectly ripe, escape through small openings beneath the stigma. The black poppy differs from the preceding variety only in the character of the fruit. The capsule is somewhat smaller and more globular, and the seeds are of a brown or blackish colour. All parts of the poppy are said to contain a white opaque narcotic juice; but the leaves, when analyzed by M. Blondeau, yielded none of those active principles by which opium is characterized. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 214.) It is in the capsule that the juice most abounds, and the virtues of the plant chiefly reside. Hence this part is sometimes employed medicinally in Eu- rope, where it is considered officinal. (See Papaveris Capsulse.) The seeds are wholly destitute of narcotic properties, and are even used as food in many parts of the world. The Romans employed them in the preparation of various dainties. They abound with a bland oil, which may be extract- ed by expression, and has most of the useful properties of olive oil. It is 480 Opium. PART I. an article of much importance on the continent of Europe, particularly in France, in the northern departments of which the black poppy is very ex- tensively cultivated for the seed alone. The oil is employed for culinary and pharmaceutic purposes, in painting, and the manufacture of soap, and in other ways as a substitute for olive oil, which is said to be frequently adul- terated with it. The poppv does not appear to elaborate the milky fluid in which its narcotic properties reside, before a certain period of its growth; for we are told that in Persia, the young plants which are pulled up to pre- vent too thick a crop, are used as pot-herbs; and the fi^xav of the Greeks, which is believed to be identical with the Papaver somniferum, is said by Hippocrates to be nutritive. Though generally believed to be a native of Asia, this species of poppy grows wild in the South of Europe, and even in England, whither its seeds are supposed to have been brought at a very early period. It was cultivated by the ancient Greeks, and is mentioned by Homer as a garden plant. It is at present cultivated very extensively in India, Persia, Egypt, and Asiatic Turkey, for the opium which it affords; and in several parts of Europe, especially in France, not only for this product, but also for the seed and capsules. In this country it is found only in our gardens as an ornamen- tal flower. The process for procuring opium from the poppy, as practised by the modern inhabitants of India and Persia, according to the accounts of Kerr and of Kcempfer, is very nearly the same with that described by Diosco- rides as employed in his own times, about eighteen hundred years since. As the capsules abound most in the narcotic juice, it is from these that the opium is procured. The operation commences when they are about half grown. When ripe, they afford little or no juice. In the evening, near sunset, two or more longitudinal incisions are made in the capsule, so as not to penetrate its cavity; and are repeated several successive evenings, at the same time, till the whole circumference is scarified. The evening is preferred for the operation, as the night dews are supposed to favour the flow of the juice. The portion which exudes during the night, is scraped off in the morning, and put into suitable vessels, where, by exposure to the sun, and by kneading with the hand, it acquires a sufficient consistence to retain the shape into which it may be moulded. It is then formed into cakes, which are still further dried, then wrapped in leaves, and sent into the market. The accounts of Belon, Olivier, and Texier, as to the modes of collecting opium in Asia Minor, are essentially the same. That opium is obtained by incisions in the capsule, and the collection of the juice which exudes, is evinced not only by the reports of travellers and eye-wit- nesses, but also by the success which has attended the employment of this method in GreatLiritain and France. Considerable quantities of good opium have been obtained by different individuals in England by scarifying the capsules of the poppy.* Similar success has been met with in France; and the drug obtained by incisions in both countries has been found nearly, * So early as the year 1796, a premium was awarded by the society for the encourage- ment of arts, to Mr. Ball, for a specimen of British opium; and in 1823, Messrs. Cowley and Stains collected 196 pounds, which sold for nearly seven dollars a pound, from little more than twelve acres of land. This product, however, was by no means equal to that obtained in Scotland by Mr. John Young. From one acre of ground planted with pop- pies and potatoes, he procured fifty-six pounds of opium, valued at 450 dollars, while the whole expense was more than repaid by the potatoes, and the oil expressed from the scrds. For papers on the subject of the cultivation of the poppy in England, see Edin. Philosoph. Journ. vol. i. p. 258, and the Quarterly Journal of Science, vol iv. p. 69. part I. Opium. 481 if not quite equal to that imported from the East. In the Dictionnaire des Drogues it is even stated, that a specimen of opium collected in this way in the vicinity of Provins, gave sixteen per cent, of the active principle, while a good commercial specimen examined by M. Petit, afforded only eight per cent. But results equally favourable have not been generally ob- tained; and neither in England nor France is it probable that agriculturists will be able to stand a competition, in the culture of this drug, with the low price of labour, united with the favourable influence of climate, in the opium countries of Asia. Another method of extracting the virtues of the capsules, is to select such as have ceased to yield their juice by exudation, to beat them with a small proportion of water, and inspissate the liquid thus obtained by artificial heat. The ancient Greeks were acquainted with both processes, as appears from the writings of Dioscorides. The term oitiov, derived from ortoj, juice, they applied to the substance procured by incision, and answering precisely to the modern opium. The inspissated expressed juice they called firjxuviov, from utixov, the name of the plant. Tournefort states that it is the latter preparation which is exported from Turkey as opium, the former being much more valuable, and therefore retained in the country for the use of the great and wealthy. This error has been copied by many writers on the Ma- teria Medica; and till within a comparatively few years, opium was gene- rally believed to be an extract obtained by evaporating either the expressed juice, or a deeoction of the capsules. The mistake has been corrected by the experiments of cultivators in England and France, by whom, as before stated, a substance having all the characters of commercial opium was procured by incisions, while the inspissated expressed juice of the cap- sules, prepared by M. Deslongchamps, was found not to have more than half the strength. Commercial History. Commerce is supplied with opium chiefly from Hindostan, Persia, Egypt, and the Asiatic dominions of Turkey. Large quan- tities are produced in the Indian provinces of Bahar and Benares, to which the British East India Company, who exercise a monopoly of this branch of agriculture within their dominions, have restricted the cultivation of the poppy. In the interior provinces, which, though under the political control, are not under the immediate civil government of the Company, the natives raise an almost incredible amount of the drug; and Sir John Malcom informs us, in his work on Central India, that 350,000 pounds are annually produced in Malwa. The opium of Hindostan is distributed extensively through continen- tal and insular India, where it is habitually employed in the place of spirituous liquors. Great quantities are also sent to China, into which it finds an easy entrance, notwithstanding prohibitory laws. Much was formerly imported by the Company into England, through which a small portion reached our own country; but at present India opium is considered so far inferior to that from Turkey, that it has been almost entirely excluded from our market, and none is brought directly from the East. The great demand for it in the Indian Archipelago and in China, and its consequent high price, have probably contributed more even than its reputed inferiority to this result. Indeed, Ainslie explicitly states that India opium is inferior to none; and it is pro- bable that the specimens from which the description was drawn up that has been current among authors upon the materia medica, were the refuse of the Eastern market. We know that the drug was formerly very much and variously adulterated by the natives. Among the impurities mentioned by authors are the extract of the poppy procured by decoction, 42 488 Opium. part i- the powdered leaves and stems of the plant made into a paste with muci- lage, the oil of sesamum, catechu, and even cow-dung. But a more care- ful superintendence by the officers of the Company is said to have resulted in a great improvement of the India opium; and it is possible that, if now imported, it might not be found to answer the description usually met with in books. Of the opium produced in Persia, very little is brought to this country; and it is scarcely known in our markets as a distinct variety. Much was formerly produced in Upper Egypt, especially in the district of ancient Thebes, which was supposed to yield it in greatest perfection. It was in fact for a long time generally known by the name of Opium Thebaicum, and laudanum is still frequently directed in prescriptions as the Tinctura Thebaica. Its cultivation has recently been again introduced into Egypt; and considerable quantities are now annually exported. Turkey opium is raised in Anatolia, and is shipped chiefly from the port of Smyrna. It is brought to the United States, either directly from the Levant, or indirectly through the Mediterranean ports of France. From the treasury returns for the year 1829, it appears that the value of opium imported from the Turkish dominions was 92,924 dollars, from France on the Mediierranean, 12,187 dollars, and from all other parts of the world only 2,040 dollars. None was imported from India. Turkey opium usually comes to us in masses of irregular size and shape, generally more or less flattened, covered with leaves, and with the reddish capsules of some species of Rumex, which are said to be absent in the inferior kinds, and may therefore be considered as affording some indication of the purity of the drug. We may account for this circumstance upon the very probable supposition, that the capsules are removed during the operation which the masses sometimes undergo in the hands of the merchants, after leaving those of the cultivators. We are told by the French writers, that extensive frauds are practised at Marseilles in this branch of commerce. The opium brought thither from the Levant is first softened, and then adulterated with various matters, which are incorporated in its substance. To use a strong expres- sion of M. Guibourt, they make the opium over again at Marseilles. Our traders to the Mediterranean would do well to bear this assertion in mind. According to Dr. A. T. Thomson, one-fourth part of Turkey opium gene- rally consists of impurities. Sand, ashes, the seeds of different plants, the extracts of the poppy, Lactuca virosa, Glycyrrhiza glabra, and Chelido- nium glaucum, gum Arabic, tragacanth, aloes, even small stones, and mi- nute pieces of lead and iron, are mentioned among the substances employed in the sophistication, of the drug. In England a sophisticated opium has been prepared, so nearly resembling good Turkey opium in appearance, that by the eye alone it would be difficult to detect the fraud, and yet wholly destitute of the active principle of this drug. Portions of it have been sent into the markets both of France and this country. It is probably the genuine drug, deprived of its morphia by some process which does not materially disturb the visible arrangement of its particles.* (Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 261.) * The great importance of opium renders it desirable that all its commercial varieties should be accurately described, and their relative value so far as possible ascertained. The following statement has been drawn up from the most recent published accounts of this drug, and from the personal observations of the author. The papers of Guibourt in France, Christison in Great Britain, and Merck and Martius in Germany, have been con- sulted. (See Journ. de Pharm. xvii. 714, and xxi. 542; and Annalen der Pharm. xviii. 79, and xxiv. 56.) PART I. Opium. 483 Opium is regarded as inferior when it is of a blackish colour; a weak or empyreumatic smell; a sweet or slightly nauseous and bitter taste; a soft, The varieties of this drug may be arranged, according to the countries in which they are produced, under the heads of Turkey, Egyptian, India, and Persia opium. I. TURKEY OPIUM. This title belongs to the opium produced in the Turkish pro- vince of Anatolia, and exported from Smyrna and Constantinople. According to some authorities, there is no essential difference between the parcels of the drug brought from these two ports. Others maintain that they are distinct varieties, differing in their interior structure, and probably also in the precise place of their production, and the mode of their collection. The truth probably is, that most of the opium shipped at Constantinople is produced in the northern parts of Anatolia, while that from Smyrna is collected in the provinces more convenient to the latter city; and, though it is possible that an identical drug may occasionally be brought from the two ports, yet there seems to be good ground in general lor arranging it under different varieties, as derived from these different sources. 1. Smyrna Opium. This is the variety which is beyond all comparison most abundant in our market; and it is from this that the ordinary descriptions of opium are drawn up. It comes to us in masses of various size, usually from half a pound or somewhat less to a pound in weight, originally perhaps of a globular form, but variously indented, and rendered quite irregular in shape, by the pressure to which they are subjected, while yet soft, in the cases which contain them. Sometimes they are even pressed out into flat cakes. As brought into market, the lumps are usually hard on the outside, but still soft within. They are covered externally with the remains of leaves, and with the reddish capsules of a species of Rumex, which have no doubt been applied in order to prevent the surfaces from adhering. Notwithstanding, however, this coating, the masses sometimes stick together, and two or more become consolidated into one. In this way the fact may be accounted for, that the seeds of the Rumex are occasionally found in the interior of the masses. In the finer parcels of Smyrna opium, the colour internally is light brown; in the inferior it is darker. A peculiar character of this variety is, that when a lump of it is cut into and then carefully torn, numerous minute shining tears are observable, par- ticularly under a microscope, bearing some resemblance to small seeds, but readily dis- tinguishable by pressure between the fingers. They are undoubtedly formed from the drops of juice which escape from the incisions in the capsules, and which, according to Belon, are allowed to concrete before they are removed. From the account of the same author it appears, that, after the juice has been collected, it is not subjected to the process of kneading or beating, as in the case of other varieties of opium; so that the tears pre- serve their original shape in the mass. It is probably owing to the peculiar mode of collecting Smyrna opium, that minute pieces of the skin of the poppy capsules are found intermingled in the mass, these being separated in the process of removing the adhering tears. In the finer specimens of Smyrna opium, these fragments of the capsules are the only impurities. This variety of the drug is of very different qualities, the finest kinds yielding, according to Merck, as much as 13 per cent, of pure morphia, while from some very bad parcels he could not procure more than 3 or 4 per cent. In these inferior specimens the colour is darker, the smell is often musty, and there is very generally more or less mouldiness both upon the surface, and in the interior of the masses, indicating perhaps too much moisture in the opium originally, or its subsequent exposure to an injurious degree of dampness. Good Smyrna opium ought to yield 10 or 11 per cent, of morphia. 2. Constantinople Opium. Most of the Constantinople opium is in lumps from half a pound to two and a half pounds in weight, and scarcely distinguishable in exterior appear- ance Irom those of the former variety, being equally irregular in shape, and in like manner covered with the capsules of the Rumex. It differs, however, strikingly from the Smyrna opium in its interior constitution, being, according to Merck, wholly destitute of the tears which characterize that variety. This would indicate some difference in the mode of collecting und preparing the juice. In the case of the Constantinople opium, it is pro- bably either removed from the capsules before concretion, or subjected to pressure after- wards. M. Texier, in an account of the culture of opium sent from Constantinople to the French Academy of Sciences, states that the juice is removed twenty-four hours after the incisions hive been made, and is then beaten in small earthen vessels, the operator at the same time moistening it with his saliva. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 196.) Merck says that he has not discovered in this variety those minute portions of the poppy capsules which are usually present in the Smyrna opium; but this fact is probably true only of the best specimens; tor Texier informs us that the peasants, in removing the juice, purposely 484 Opium. PART I. viscid, or greasy consistence; a dull fracture; or an irregular, heterogeneous texture, arising from the intermixture of foreign substances. It should not scratch the capsules in order to increase the weight. The average quality of the Con- stantinople opium, as above described, is about equal to that of the drug from Smyrna; but it appears to be occasionally purer; as Merck obtained from one specimen as much as 15 per cent, of pure morphia. . . Guibourt describes another variety of Constantinople opium of much inferior character. " It comes," he observes, " in small flattened cakes, sufficiently regular and of a lenticular shape, from two to two and a half inches in diameter, and always covered with a poppy leaf, the midrib of which divides the surface into two equal parts. It has an odour similar to that of the preceding variety, but feebler, and it blackens and dries in the air. It is mote mucilaginous than Smyrna opium, and contains only half as much morphia." These characters are obviously those of Egyptian opium; and, though the parcels which came under the notice of Guibourt may have been imported directly from Constantinople, it ib highly probable that they were originally from Alexandria. Mr. Stettner of Trieste, though well acquainted with the opium commerce of that port, admits no such Constan- tinople opium as that described by Guibourt. (Annal der Pharm. xxiv. 65.) II. EGYPTIAN OPIUM. This is in flat roundish cakes, of various dimensions, sometimes as much as six inches in diameter and a pound in weight, usually, however, much smaller, and sometimes not weighing more than half an ounce. These cakes are either wrapped in a poppy leaf, so placed that the midrib divides the surface into two equal parts, or exhibit vestiges of such a covering. Occasionally the brown colour of tho opium is seen through the leaf, and the surface appears as if uncovered, while the leaf is still present This variety of opium is always destitute of the Rumex capsules, and differs from the Smyrna opium also in being brittle instead of tenacious, and equally hard in the centre as at the surface of the mass. Its fracture is conchoidal and of a waxen lustre, and small fragments of it are translucent. Its colour is usually redder than that of Smyrna opium, though it is sometimes dark. Some of the pieces, on exposure to the air, become damp and sticky on the outer surface, indicating the fraudulent addition of some deli- quescent substance. The odour is similar to that of Smyrna opium, but weaker. There can be little doubt that this opium is, in some way, sophisticated in its preparation; as it yields only 6 or 7 per cent, of morphia. (Merck.) A specimen examined by Mr. J. Evans of Philadelphia, yielded only 3.55 per cent. Egyptian opium, therefore, should never be dispensed by the apothecary, or employed in the preparation of his tinctures; as the pre- scription of the physician is based upon the strength of good Smyrna opium, which is about twice that of the Egyptian. III. INDIA OPIUM. Little if any of this opium ever reaches our market. There appear to be two chief varieties of it, one produced in Bahar and Benares, and perhaps other parts of the Bengal Presidency, and called Bengal opium, the other in the interior provinces, and designated by the name of Malwa opium. 1. Bengal opium. This appears to be identical with the variety sometimes called Patna opium. As described by Christison, from specimens received by him from the East Indies, it is in balls, three and a half pounds in weight, surrounded by agglutinated layers of leaves, of a deep colour in the interior of the mass, of the consistence of a stiff paste, and possessed in a high degree of the characteristic odour and taste of opium. Mr. Smyttan, inspector of opium at Bombay, obtained from two to three and a half per cent, of morphia from this variety of opium; but, as he obtained only from five to six and a half per cent, from Smyrna opium, we may conclude that the drug was not exhausted by his process, and may estimate the proportion of its active principle at double that stated above. Still, even with this allowance, it must be subjected to great adulteration in its preparation; as it is by no means probable that the poppies cultivated in India yield a product materially weaker than those of Turkey. Yet Christison states, that all the India opium which he has seen is exempt from the mixture of leaves, seeds, and frag- ments of poppy capsules so abundant in Smyrna opium. The probability is, that the pure juice of the poppy is sophisticated by an extract prepared from the plant; and this sophistication was formerly carried on to a much greater extent than at present. The India opium examined by Dr. A. T. Thomson was apparently of inferior charac- ter. As described by that author, it is in round masses, covered with the petals of tho poppy in successive layers, to the thickness of nearly one-fourth of an inch. It has a strong empyreumatic smell, with little of the peculiar heavy odour of Turkey opium. Its taste is more bitter and equally nauseous, but less acrid. Its colour is blacker, and its texture, though as tenacious, is less plastic. It is more friable, and when triturated with water, is wholly suspended or dissolved, leaving none of that plastic residue which is PART I. Opium. 485 impart a deep brown colour to the saliva, nor leave a dark uniform trace when drawn over paper, nor form with water a thick viscid solution. Properties. Good opium has a peculiar, strong, narcotic odour, and a bitter, somewhat acrid taste. When long chewed, it excites much irritation in the lips and tongue, and even blisters the mouth of those unaccustomed to its use. Its colour is a reddish-brown or deep fawn; its texture compact and uniform; its specific gravity 1.336. When drawn over paper it leaves an interrupted trace of a light brown colour. It is often soft in the interior of the mass, and in this state is tenacious; but when exposed to the air it gradually hardens, and ultimately becomes brittle, breaking with a uniform shining fracture, and affording when pulverized a yellowish-brown powder, which becomes adhesive upon a slight elevation of temperature. It readily inflames upon the application of a lighted taper. It is partially soluble in water, alcohol, ether, wine, vinegar, and lemon juice, to all which it im- parts a deep brown colour. Pelletier states that the proportion of opium taken up by water varies in all specimens. He never found the quantity of extract prepared with cold water to exceed 12 parts out of 16. (Journ. de Pharm. Nov. 1832.) Much attention has been devoted to the chemical constitution of opium; and very interesting results have been obtained. It was by their researches into the nature of this substance that chemists were led to the discovery of those vegetable alkaloids, which, as the active principles of the plants in which they are found, have recently attracted so much attention among phy- afforded by the other variety. It yielded to Dr. Thomson more narcotina than Turkey opium, but only about one-third the quantity of morphia. All these are the characters of an extract of the poppy heads, rather than of their inspissated juice. The absence of the plastic principle analogous to caoutchouc is. strong evidence in favour of this view of its nature; for it is obvious that water would not extract this principle from the capsules, while it is hardly probable that the juice is destitute of it. Besides, the strength indicated by Dr. Thomson is very nearly the same with that of the extract of the capsules prepared in France. The Bengal opium is at present a superior drug to that here described, though still inferior to the Smyrna opium. 2. Malwa Opium. This, according to Christison, is usually in cakes four or five inches square, though the dimensions of a portion which has reached us arc considerably less. These cakes are without a covering of leaves or seeds, of a shining appearance, and uniform consistence, presenting exactly Ihe aspect of a pharmaceutical extract. The colour is sometimes almost or quite black, sometimes paler, and occasionally of a light brown like that of Egyptian opium. This variety is often rich in morphia; for Christison obtained from a portion upon which he experimented as much as nine and a half per cent. of the muriate of that alkali. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 544.) IV. PERSIA OPIUM. A variety of opium under this name is sometimes found in the markets of London, and has even found its way to this country, though it is very rare'. A specimen sent to M. Guibourt from London is described as being in cylindrical pieces, about three and a half inches long and half an inch thick, wrapped in glossy paper, and tied with a cotton thread. It is of a uniform consistence, but exhibits, never- theless, under the microscope, small agglutinated tears, much less than those of the Smyrna opium. It has the liver-brown colour of Egyptian opium, a virose, musty odour, and a very bitter taste; and, like Egyptian opium, softens in a moist atmosphere. From the report of a trial in the city of New York, published in the Journal of Com- merce, it appears, that a parcel of Persia opium imported into that city from London in August 1835, was in small round balls, and contained only 3 per cent, of morphia. It is highly important that the real value of these commercial varieties of opium should be known'to the physician and apothecary, as otherwise, there can be no certainty in rela- tion to the strength of the preparations which may be made from them. In the prepara- tion of laudanum and the other tinctures into which opium enters, it is understood that the drug employed should have the average quality of good Smyrna opium. The inferior kinds should be used only for the extraction of morphia. 42* 466 Opium. PART i- sicians, and been applied so advantageously in the treatment of disease. To Sertiirner, an apothecary at Eimbeck, in Hanover, certainly belongs the credit of having opened this new and most important field of experiment. In the year 1803, M. Derosne made known the existence of a crystalliza- ble substance which he had discovered in opium, and which he erroneously believed to be the active principle. In the following year, Seguin disco- vered another crystallizable body, which subsequent experience has proved to be the true narcotic principle of opium; but he did not fully investigate its nature, and no immediate practical advantage was derived from his ex- cellent analysis. About the same time, Sertiirner was engaged in a similar investigation, the results of which, very analogous to those obtained by Se- guin, were published in a German journal, without, however, attracting general attention. In this state the subject remained till the year 1817, when Sertiirner announced the existence of a saline compound in opium, consisting of a peculiar alkaline principle united with a peculiar acid, and clearly demonstrated the precise nature of a substance, which, though before discovered both by Seguin and by himself, had been hitherto but vaguely known. To the alkali, in which he correctly conceived the narcotic pow- ers of the opium to reside, he gave the name of morphium, which has been subsequently changed to morphia by English writers, in order to render it analogous to the titles of the other alkalies. The acid he called meconic, a term derived from the Greek name of the poppy. The correctness of the statements of Sertiirner was confirmed by the experiments of Robiquet, who also satisfactorily demonstrated that the substance obtained by Derosne, and called by him the salt of opium, was a principle altogether distinct from the morphia, though supposed to possess very considerable influence over the system. In the belief of its narcotic powers, Robiquet denominated it narcotin, a title which it still retains. Several other peculiar principles have since been discovered; though it is difficult to resist the impression that some of them may be the result of the processes to which opium is sub- mitted for their extraction. According to the views of its constitution at present admitted, opium contains, 1. morphia; 2. narcotina; 3. codeia; 4. pa- ramorphia; 5. narcein; 6. meconin, 7. meconic acid; 8. a peculiar acid, not yet fully investigated; 9. extractive matter; 10. gum; 11. bassorin; 12. a peculiar resinous body insoluble in ether and containing nitrogen; 13. fixed oil; 14. a substance resembling caoutchouc; 15. an odorous volatile principle; besides a considerable quantity of vegetable remains, and a small proportion of acetic acid, sulphate of lime, sulphate of potassa, alumina, and iron. Besides these principles, Pelletier has announced the discovery of another which he calls pseudomorphia, but which appears to be only an occasional constituent of opium. (See Journ. de Phurm. xxi. 575.) Of the principles above mentioned morphia is by far the most impor- tant. Though generally admitted to exist in opium united with meconic acid in the state of meconate, it is also intimately associated with the ex- tractive matter, according to the statement of M. Faure, who found that the meconic acid of opium was alone insufficient to saturate all the morphia. By this experimenter, the morphia, meconic acid, and extractive, are believ- ed to exist in chemical combination; and hence the meconate cannot be obtained separate from the last mentioned principle. (Journ. de Pharm. xv. 571.) Of morphia and the mode of procuring it, and of its salts, we shall treat at large under the head of the pharmaceutic preparations. (See Morphia.) Narcotina is solid, white, tasteless, inodorous, crystallizable in silky PART I. Opium. 487 flexible needles, usually larger than the crystals of morphia, fusible at a moderate elevation of temperature, insoluble in cold water, soluble in 400 parts of boiling water, in 100 parts of cold and 24 of boiling alcohol which precipitates it upon cooling, and very soluble in ether. The fixed and vola- tile oils also dissolve it. It exerts no alkaline reaction upon vegetable colours, but is dissolved by most of the acids, and with some of them forms definite compounds, which may be obtained in a separate state, and deserve to be considered as genuine salts. It must, therefore, be ranked among the vegetable alkalies. Robiquet states that he has obtained the sulphate and muriate of narcotina well crystallized. (Journ. de Pharm. xvii. 639, arid xix. 59.) With acetic acid, however, it does not appear, according to the observation of Pelletier, to form a permanent combination; for, though dis- solved by cold acetic acid, it is separated by exposing the solution to heat. Though narcotina itself is tasteless, its salts are very bitter, even more so than those of morphia. (Berzelius.) They are all soluble in water, and, in consequence of the weak neutralizing power of the base, redden litmus paper. Narcotina is precipitated by the alkalies from its solution in the diluted acids. It may be distinguished from morphia by its insipidity and its solubility in ether, by assuming a yellowish instead of a blood-red colour under the action of strong nitric acid, and by not producing, either pure or in the saline state, with the salts of iron, the blue colour which character- izes morphia and its salts. It is, however, reddened by a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids. Water extracts it from opium in consequence of the acid which the latter contains, either free or combined with the narcotina; but the diluted acids extract it with greater facility. It is usually obtained mixed with morphia in the processes for proouring this principle; and may be separated by the action of sulphuric ether, which dissolves it without affecting the morphia, and yields it upon evaporation. It may also be ob- tained by digesting opium or its aqueous extract in sulphuric ether, evapo- rating the ether, treating the residue of the evaporation with boiling water and animal charcoal, filtering, precipitating with ammonia, and purifying the precipitate, if necessary, either by solution in hot .alcohol which depo- sites it on cooling, or by solution in muriatic acid, digestion with animal charcoal, filtration, and precipitation by ammonia. In this process the ether takes up, besides the natural salt of narcotina, a fixed oil from the extract, and in addition, caoutchouc and resin from the opium. These are left be- hind by the water; and the salt of narcotina is decomposed by the ammonia. This at least is the explanation given by Berzelius; but Pelletier and Robi- quet maintain that narcotina exists uncombined in opium; and according to the former of these chemists, though a small portion of narcotina, in the above process, is dissolved by water from the ethereal extract, this is owing to the presence of a little free acid; and a much larger proportion o f the principle remains in the extract undissolved. (Journ. de Pharm.) Another mode of procuring narcotina is to treat opium, which has been exhausted by previous maceration in water, with acetic acid, filtering the solution, preci- pitating by an alkali, washing the precipitate with water, and purifying it by means of boiling alcohol, as in the former instance. Should it still be impure, the solution in alcohol and crystallization may be repeated. Different opinions have been advanced relative to the action of narcotina on the system. Derosne believed it to be the active principle of opium; though, upon experimenting with it, he obtained effects but little stronger than those produced by an equal dose of opium itself. Magendie found it to exercise a powerful influence upon the system of dogs. One grain dis- solved in oil was sufficient to throw the animal into a state of stupor, which 488 Opium. part 1. terminated in death in the course of twenty-four hours. This stupor was wholly different from the composed sleep produced by morphia and its pre- parations. He inferred that, while the latter principle exercises the reme- dial, anodyne, and soporific virtues of opium, the injurious excitant operation of the medicine is ascribable to the narcotina. Both Derosne and Magendie found its unpleasant effects to be modified or prevented by its conjunction with acetic acid. According to Magendie, twenty-four grains, dissolved in vinegar, may be given to a dog without destroying life. M. Baily pre- scribed it in the dose of sixty grains, both in the solid state and dissolved in muriatic acid, without observing from it any sensible effect. In the same state, Orfila found that it might be taken by man in very large doses with impunity; and thirty grains of it dissolved in acetic acid, produced no effect upon several patients to whom it was administered. Upon dogs, he informs us, that it is without action when dissolved in nitric or muriatic acid; but held in solution by acetic or sulphuric acid, or by olive oil, thirty or forty grains of it were sufficient to produce fatal effects. A singular circumstance noticed by the same experimenter is, that the solution in acetic or sulphuric acid occasioned violent excitement; while the contrary condition uniiormly resulted from the use of that in olive oil. On the whole, we may conclude that narcotina, either in the solid form or dissolved in acids, is not possessed of any considerable narcotic powers; and that the effects of a narcotic cha- racter which have been attributed to it, have probably arisen from the em- ployment of a preparation not entirely freed from other principles contained in the opium. It may be considered as certain, that substances differing in some respects have been obtained and described under the name of narcotina; for the most skilful analytical chemists of the age have given statements of its composition wholly irreconcilable with each other, and to be accounted for only upon the supposition that they did not experiment on precisely the same body. Thus Pelletier and Dumas found 7.21 per cent of nitrogen, and Liebig only 2.51 per cent. Perhaps the discovery of the new principles in opium may throw some light on this subject. Narcotina is composed, according to an analysis conducted with great care by Pelletier, of 65.16 parts of carbon, 4.31 of nitrogen, 5.45 of hydrogen, and 25.08 of oxygen. (Journ. de Pharm. xviii. 624.) According to Robiquet, its muriate consists of 4.585 parts of narcotina, and 0.409 parts of dry acid. (Ibid. xix. 63.)* Codeia was discovered in 1832 by Robiquet in the muriate of morphia prepared according to the process of Gregory. It exists in opium combined like morphia with meconic acid, and is extracted along with that alkali in the preparation of the muriate. (See Morphia.) When the solution of the mixed muriates of morphia and codeia is treated with ammonia, the former alkali is precipitated, and the codeia, remaining in solution, may be obtained * Dr. O'Shaughnessy, Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College of Calcutta, recommends narcotina very highly in intermittent fever, and believes that he has dis- covered in it even stronger anti-periodical properties than those of quinia. Should his reports in its favour be confirmed by further experiments, it will undoubtedly take its place among the most valuable substances of the Materia Medica. In the cases reported by him, it was employed in combination with muriatic acid. Given in this form, though powerfully febrifuge, it was found not to produce narcotic effects, not to constipate the bowels, and never to occasion that distressing headach and restlessness which sometimes follow the use of quinia. It proved, moreover, powerfully sudorific. It was given in doses of three grains, three times a day. Dr. O'Shaughnessy was induced to recommend its employment to his medical friends in India, from a knowledge that it had proved effectual in mild agues, in the hands of Dr. Roots and Mr. Jetson in England. We have extracted these statements from a pamphlet sent by Dr. O'Shaughnessy to Dr. Hare, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. PART I. Opium. 489 by evaporation and crystallization. It may be purified by treating the crys- tals with hot ether, which dissolves them and yields the codeia in colourless crystals by spontaneous evaporation. This alkaline product melts at 300° without decomposition. It is soluble in water, which takes up 1.26 per cent, at 60°, 3.7 at 110°, and 5.9 at 212°. It is soluble also in alcohol and ether, but is insoluble in alkaline solutions. It combines with acids to form salts, some of which are crystallizable, particularly the nitrate. Its capacity of saturation is almost identical with that of morphia. According to Robi- quet, 1 part of muriatic acid is saturated by-7.837 of codeia, and by 7.88 of morphia. It is distinguishable, however, from the latter principle, by the different form of its crystals, by its solubility in boiling ether, greater solu- bility in water, and insolubility in alkaline solutions, by affording a copious precipitate with tincture of galls, and by not assuming a red colour with nitric acid, nor a blue one with the sesquisalts of iron. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 91.) Its crystals contain about six per cent, of water, which is driven off at 212°. Like the other vegetable alkalies, it consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Mr. Gregory tried the effects of nitrate of codeia upon himself and several of his pupils, and found that, in a dose of three grains or less, it produced no obvious effect, but in the quantity of from four to six giains, accelerated the pulse, occasioned a sense of heat in the head and face, and gave rise to an agreeable excitement of the spirits like that resulting from intoxicating drinks, which was attended with a sense of itching upon the skin, and after lasting for several hours, was followed by an unpleasant depression, with nausea and sometimes vomiting. No ten- dency to sleep was observed, except in the state of depression. In two or three cases the medicine produced a slight purgative effect; but in others it appeared to exercise no peculiar influence on the bowels. M. Barbier of Amiens administered codeia uncombined in numerous cases, and observed that, in the dose of one or two grains, it acted on the nervous system, and appeared to be directed especially to the nervous plexus of the great sympa- thetic; as it relieved painful affections having their origin apparently in dis- orders of this plexus, while it exerted no influence over pains of the back and extremities supplied by nerves from the spinal marrow. He did not find it to affect the circulation, to disturb digestion, or to produce constipa- tion. In sufficient quantity, it induced sleep, without occasioning those marks of cerebral congestion induced by opium. Dr. Miranda of Havana has employed it, with great advantage, in several bad cases of dyspepsia. On the whole, there can be no doubt that this principle has a decided action on the animal economy, and is among those upon which opium depends for its peculiar powers. Paramorphia is the name given by Pelletier to a principle discovered by him in the precipitate thrown down from an infusion of opium treated with milk of lime. The precipitate being washed with water till the liquid came away colourless, and then treated with alcohol, instead of affording morphia to this solvent, as was anticipated, yielded a new alkaline principle, which was obtained separate by evaporating the alcohol, acting on the residue with ether, allowing the ethereal solution to evaporate spontaneously, and then purifying the resulting crystalline mass by dissolving it in an acid, precipi- tating by ammonia, and recrystallizing by means of alcohol or ether. Pelle- tier gave it its present name from its close analogy in composition with morphia, from which, however, it is quite distinct in properties. It is white, crystallizable in needles, of an acrid and styptic rather than bitter taste, fusible at about 300°, scarcely soluble in water, very soluble in alcohol and ether even when cold, and still more so when heated, and capable of com« 490 Opium. part i. bining with the acids, with which, however, it does not form crystallizable salts. Alkalies precipitate it from its acid solutions, and, unless in very concentrated solution, do not redissolve it when added in excess. It is not like morphia reddened by nitric acid, nor does it become blue with solutions of the sesquisalts of iron. From codeia it differs in never being in large crystals, in not forming crystallizable salts, in being always precipitated from its acid solutions by ammonia, and in not melting in oily drops. From nar- cotina, which it most resembles, it may be distinguished by its shorter crystals which want the pearly appearance of those of narcotina, by its dif- ferent taste, by its much greater solubility in cold alcohol, of which 10 parts will dissolve one of this principle, while narcotina requires 100 parts, and by the action of nitric acid which converts it into a resin-like matter before dissolving it, while the same acid instantly dissolves narcotina. The name of thebain has been proposed for it by M. Couerbe, who is disposed to give the credit of its discovery to M. Thiboumery, the director of Pelletier's laboratory. According to Magendie, it is closely analogous, in its effects on the system, to strychnia and brucia, producing tetanic spasms in the dose of a grain. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 69.) Narcein, discovered by Pelletier in 1832, is white, in silky acicular crys- tals, inodorous, of a slightly bitter taste, fusible at 197° F., soluble in 375 parts of cold and 230 of boiling water, soluble also in alcohol, and insoluble in ether. It is rendered blue by the action of mineral acids so far diluted as not to decompose it; but does not, like morphia, become blue by the action of the salts of iron, nor red by that of nitric acid. It is dissolved by the acids, but does not neutralize them, and, though at first thought to be alkaline by Pelletier, is not so considered by him at present. Its constituents are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Pelletier obtained it in the course of his ana- lysis of opium. Having formed an aqueous extract of opium, he treated it with distilled water, precipitated the morphia by ammonia, concentrated the solu- tion, filtered it, threw down the meconic acid by baryta water, separated the excess of baryta by carbonate of ammonia, drove off the excess of the ammo- niacal salt by heat, evaporated the liquor to the consistence of syrup, set it aside till a pulpy matter formed containing crystals, separated 'and expressed this pulpy matter, then treated it with alcohol, and concentrated the alcoho- lic solution. This, upon cooling, deposited crystals of narcein, which were easily purified by repeated solution and crystallization. When mixed with meconin, which often crystallizes with it, the latter may be separated by the agency of ether. Meconin, the existence of which was announced in 1832 by M. Couerbe, is identical with a substance discovered several years previously by M. Dublanc, jun., but of which no account was published. It is perfectly white, in the form of acicular crystals, soluble in about 265 parts of cold and 18 of boiling water, very soluble in ether, alcohol, and the essential oils, fusible at 195°, volatilizable without change, wholly destitute of nitro- gen in its composition, and possessed of a degree of acrimony which favours the supposition that it may not be without action upon the system. It is neither acid nor alkaline, and contains no nitrogen. Meconin is obtained by precipitating the aqueous infusion of opium with ammonia, washing the precipitate with water until the latter nearly ceases to acquire colour, mixing the watery fluids, evaporating them to the consistence of molasses, setting them aside for fifteen days or three weeks, during which a mass of granu- lar crystals is formed, then decanting the liquid, expressing the mass, and drying it with a gentle heat. The meconin may be separated from the mass by treating it with boiling alcohol of 36° Baume, evaporating so as to obtain PART I. Opium. 491 crystals, dissolving these in boiling water with animal charcoal, filtering the liquid while hot, and subjecting the crystals which form upon the cooling of the solution to the action of ether, which dissolves the meconin, and yields it in a state of purity by spontaneous evaporation. (Journ. de Pharm., Decemb. 1832.) Of pseudo-morphia, as it is found in opium only as an accidental ingre- dient, and is not generally present, it is scarcely necessary to enter into details. An interesting fact, however, in relation to it, and one of some toxicological importance, is that it possesses two properties hitherto consider- ed characteristic of morphia, those namely of being reddened by nitric acid and of striking a blue colour with the salts of iron, and yet is without any poisonous influence upon the animal economy. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 77, or Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 575.) Meconic acid is white, solid, crystallizable, fusible at about 220° F., vola- tilizable without change, of a sour taste followed by bitterness, soluble in water and alcohol, with the property of reddening vegetable blues, and of striking a blood-red colour with the salts of iron. This last property is characteristic. The following is Robiquet's process for obtaining the acid. An infusion of opium is boiled, for fifteen or twenty minutes, with a quan- tity of magnesia equal to about two per cent, of the opium employed, and then filtered; the matter deposited on the filter containing meconate of magnesia, morphia, &c, is washed with cold distilled water, and having been treated first with diluted alcohol, and afterwards with concentrated alcohol, to separate the colouring matter and morphia, is submitted to the action of very weak sulphuric acid with heat; the acid liquor is precipi- tated with solution of muriate of baryta, which throws down the meconate and sulphate of baryta, contaminated with colouring matter; the precipi- tate is washed and macerated with weak sulphuric acid, to separate the baryta from the meconic acid which is now dissolved; the liquor is fil- tered and concentrated by evaporation; and lastly, the acid, which sepa- rates in the form of a reddish-yellow mass, is taken from the mother waters, washed with a small quantity of cold water, dried, and freed from the colouring matter by sublimation. Meconic acid is not used separately in medicine; but its natural relation to morphia requires that it should be understood. Incompatibles. All the substances which produce precipitates with opium, do not necessarily affect its medical virtues; but the alkalies, and all vegetable infusions containing tannin and gallic acid, are strictly incompa- tible; the former separating and precipitating the active principle, the latter forming with it an insoluble compound. The proportion of morphia which any particular specimen of opium will furnish, may be considered as the best test of its value, except that of actual trial upon the system. Good opium should yield ten or twelve per cent. of the impure morphia precipitated from the infusion by ammonia with alcohol according to the process of the United States Pharmacopoeia. (See Morphia.) The London College judiciously directs that opium, before being used, be carefully separated from all foreign substances, especially those which are external. .The College also directs that it should be kept in two states— soft, fit to form pills; and hard, by drying it with the aid of a water^bath, so that it may be pulverized. Medical Properties and Uses. Opium is a stimulant narcotic. Taken by a healthy person, in a moderate dose, it increases the force, fulness, and frequency of the pulse, augments the temperature of the skin, invigorates 492 Opium. part I. the muscular system, quickens the senses, animates the spirits, and gives new energy to the intellectual faculties. Its operation, while thus extending to all parts of the system, is directed with peculiar force to the brain, the functions of which it excites sometimes even to intoxication or delirium. In a short time this excitation subsides; a calmness of the corporeal actions, and a delightful placidity of mind succeed; and the individual, insensible to painful impressions, forgetting all sources of care and anxiety, submits him- self to a current of undefined and unconnected, but pleasing fancies; and is conscious of no other feeling than that of a quiet and vague enjoyment. At the end of half an hour or an hour from the administration of the narcotic, all consciousness is lost in sleep. The soporific effect, after having con- tinued for eight or ten hours, goes off, and is generally succeeded by more or less nausea, headach, tremors, and other symptoms of diminished or irregular nervous action, which soon yield to the recuperative energies of the system; and unless the dose be frequently repeated, and the powers of nature worn out by over-excitement, no injurious consequences ultimately result. Such is the obvious operation of opium when moderately taken; but other effects, very important in a remedial point of view, are also expe- rienced. All the secretions, with the exception of that from the skin, are either suspended or diminished; the peristaltic motion of the bowels is les- sened; pain and inordinate muscular contraction, if present, are allayed; and general nervous irritation is composed, if not entirely relieved. When large doses are taken, the period of excitement and exhilaration is shorter; the soporific and anodyne effects are more intense and of longer duration; and the succeeding symptoms of debility are more obvious and alarming. In quantities sufficient to destroy life, opium scarcely produces any sensi- ble increase of the general powers of the system, but almost immediately reduces the frequency, though not the force of the pulse, diminishes mus- cular strength, and brings on languor and drowsiness, which soon eventuate in a deep apoplectic sleep. A stertorous respiration; a dark suffusion of the countenance; a full, slow, and labouring pulse; an almost total insensibility to external impressions; and—when a moment of consciousness has been obtained by violent agitation, or powerfully irritating applications—a con- fused state of intellect, and an irresistible disposition to sink back into coma- tose sleep, are symptoms which, for the first few hours, attend the operation of the poison. Though not signs of an elevated condition of the bodily powers, neither do they imply a state of pure, unmixed debility. The pulse is, indeed, slow; but it is often so full, and so powerful in its beat, that the practitioner feels himself obliged to use the lancet. In the space, however, of a few hours, varying according to the quantity of the narcotic taken, and the powers of the patient's constitution, a condition of genuine debility ensues; and this condition will be hastened in point of time, though it will be more under the control of remedies, if the opium be removed artificially from the stomach. Called to an individual labouring under the influence of a fatal dose of opium, at a period from six to eight hours after it has been swallowed, the practitioner will generally find him with a cool, clammy skin; cold extremities; a pallid countenance; a feeble, thread-like, scarcely perceptible pulse; a slow, interrupted, almost gasping respiration; and a torpor little short of absolute, deathlike insensibility. With such symptoms, the patient is usually beyond the reach of assistance: the poison has worked its fatal effects; and the last convulsive struggle of the system may be every moment expected. No appearances are revealed by the dissection of those who have died PART I. Opium. 493 of the immediate effects of opium, which can be considered as affording satisfactory evidence of its mode of operation. The redness occasionally observed in the mucous membrane of the stomach, is by no means con- stantly present, and is ascribable rather to the irritating substances prescribed as remedies, or to the spirituous vehicle in which the poison has been swal- lowed, than to the action of the poison itself. Such at least is the inference drawn by Nysten from his experiments and observations; and Orfila states that the stomachs of dogs which he had killed by opium internally adminis- tered, did not present the slightest vestige of inflammation. The force of the medicine is directed to the cerebral and nervous functions; and death is produced by a suspension of respiration arising from the want of due influence from the brain. The section of the par vagum on both sides has not been found to prevent or retard the death'of animals to which large doses of opium have been given, nor even materially to modify its narcotic effects.* It would seem, therefore, that the active principle is conveyed into the circu- lation, and operates upon the brain, and probably upon the nervous system at large, by immediate contact with their interior structure. It is an error to attribute the anodyne, sedative, and soporific effects of the medicine to the previous excitement. They are, as much as this very excitement, the direct results of its action upon the brain. It is in the state of exhaustion and col- lapse which ensue after the peculiar influence of the opium has ceased, that we are to look for an illustration of that principle of the system, by which any great exaltation of its energies above the natural standard is followed by a corresponding depression. We may be permitted to advance the conjec- ture, that the excitement which almost immediately supervenes upon the internal use of opium, is produced by means of nervous communication; while the succeeding narcotic effects are attributable to its absorption and entrance into the circulation; and the prostration of all the powers of the system which ultimately takes place, is a necessary consequence of the agitation into which the various organs have been thrown. On some individuals opium produces very peculiar effects, totally differing from the ordinary results of its operation. In very small quantities it occa- sionally gives rise to excessive sickness and vomiting, and even spasm of the stomach; in other cases it produces restlessness, headach, and delirium; and we have known it, even in large doses, to occasion obstinate wakefulness. The headach, want of appetite, tremors, &c, which usually follow, in a slight degree, its narcotic operation, are uniformly experienced by some indi- viduals to such an extent, as to render the use of the medicine very incon- venient. It is possible that some of these disagreeable effects may arise not from the meconate of morphia contained in the opium, but from some other of its ingredients; and those which do result from the meconate, may not be produced by other salts of morphia. It has, in fact, been found that the operation of opium may often be favourably modified by changing the state of combination in which its active principle naturally exists. Dissolved in vinegar or lemon juice, it had been known to act in some instances more pleasantly and effectually than in substance, or in the state of tincture, long before physicians had learned to explain the phenomenon by referring it to the production of an acetate or citrate of morphia. When upon the subject of morphia, we shall take occasion to treat of the medical properties of this principle in its various combinations. An occasional effect of opium, which has not yet been alluded to, is a disagreeable itching or sense of pricking in the skin, which is sometimes * Nysten, quoted by Orfila. 43 494 Opium. PART i. attended with a species of miliary eruption. We have found the effect to residt equally from all the preparations of this narcotic. The general operation of opium may be obtained by injecting it into the rectum, or applying it to the surface of the body, especially upon a part denuded of the cuticle. It has appeared to us, when thus applied, to pro- duce less general excitement, in proportion to its other effects, than when administered by the mouth; but we do not make the statement with entire confidence. It is said that when introduced into the cellular membrane, it acts with great energy; and when thrown into the cavity of the peritoneum speedily produces convulsions and death. Injected into the cavity of the heart, it impairs, or altogether destroys the powers of that organ. The local effects of opium are of a similar character with those which fol- low its general operation. An increased action of the part is first observable; then a diminution of its sensibility and contractility; and the latter effect is more speedy, more intense, and of longer continuance, the larger the quan- tity in which the narcotic is applied. In all parts of the world, opium is habitually employed by many with a view to its exhilarating and anodyne influence. This is particularly the case among the Mahomedans and Hindoos, who find in this narcotic the most pleasing substitute for those alcoholic drinks which are interdicted by the precepts of their religion. In India, Persia, and Turkey, it is consumed in immense quantities; and many nations of the East smoke opium as those of the West smoke tobacco. This is not the place to speak of the fearful and blasting effects of such a practice upon both the intellectual and bodily faculties. The use of opium as a medicine can be clearly traced back to Diagoras, who was nearly contemporary with Hippocrates; and it was probably em- ployed before his time. It is at present more frequently prescribed than perhaps any other article of the materia medica. Its extensive applicability to the cure of disease, will be rendered evident by a view of the indications which it is calculated to fulfil. 1. It is excitant in its primary action. In low or typhoid complaints, requiring a supporting treatment, it exalts the ac- tions of the arterial and nervous systems, and in moderate doses frequently repeated, may be employed with advantage in conjunction or alternation with other stimulants. 2. It relieves pain more speedily and effectually than any other medicine with which we are acquainted. If possessed of no Other property than this, it would be entitled to high consideration. Not to mention cancer, and those other incurable affections, which, if not alleviated by opium> would render the remainder of life one continued scene of torture; we have numerous instances of painful diseases which are not only tempo- rarily, but entirely cured by the remedy, and there is scarcely a complaint in the catalogue of human ailments, in the treatment of which it is not occa- sionally demanded for the relief of suffering, which, if allowed to continue, might aggravate the disorder, and protract, if not prevent a cure. 3. Another very important indication, which, beyond any other narcotic, it is capable of fulfilling, is the production of sleep. For this purpose it is given in a great variety of diseases—whenever, in fact, morbid vigilance exists, not depend- ent on acute inflammation of the brain. Among the complaints in which it proves most serviceable in this way, is delirium tremens, or the mania of drunkards, in which it is frequently sufficient of itself to effect a cure. Opi- um produces sleep in two ways; first, by its direct operation on the brain, secondly, by allaying that morbid nervous irritation upon which wakefulness generally depends. In the latter case it may frequently be advantageously combined with camphor or Hoffman's anodvne. 4. Opium i? powerfully PART I. Opium. 49S antispasmodic. No medicine is so efficient in relaxing spasm, and in control- ling those irregular muscular movements which depend on unhealthy nervous action. Hence its great importance as a remedy in tetanus; colic; spasm of the stomach attending gout, dyspepsia, and cholera; spasm of the ureters in nephritis, and of the biliary ducts in the passage of calculi; and' in various convulsive affections. 5. Probably dependent upon a similar influence over the nervous system, is the property which it possesses of allaying general and local irritations, whether exhibited in the nerves or blood-vessels, pro- vided the action do not amotint to positive inflammation; and even in this case it is sometimes prescribed with advantage. Hence its use in composing restlessness, quieting cough, and relieving nausea, tenesmus, and strangury. 6. In suppressing morbid discharges, it answers another indication which fits it for the treatment of a long list of diseases. This effect it is, perhaps, enabled to produce by diminishing the nervous energy upon which secretion and muscular motion depend. Upon this principle it is useful in diarrhoea, when the complaint consists merely in increased secretion into the bowels, without high action or organic derangement; in consumption, chronic ca- tarrh, humoral asthma, and other cases of morbidly increased expectoration; in diabetes; and in certain forms of hemorrhage, particularly that from the uterus, in combination with other remedies. 7. It remains to mention one other indication—that of producing perspiration—in fulfilling which opium, conjoined with small doses of emetic medicines, is pre-eminent. No diapho- retic is so powerful as a combination of opium and ipecacuanha; and none is so extensively employed. We shall speak more fully of this application of the remedy under the head of Pulvis Ipecacuanhse et Opii. It is here sufficient to say, that its beneficial effects are especially experienced in rheumatism, the bowel affections, and certain forms of pulmonary disease. From this great diversity of properties, and the frequent occurrence of those morbid conditions in which opium affords relief, it is often pre- scribed in the same disease to meet numerous indications. Thus, in idiopa- thic fevers, we frequently meet with morbid vigilance and great nervous irritation, combined with a low condition of the system. In typhous pneu- monia, there is the same depression of the vital powers, combined with severe neuralgic pains, and much nervous irritation. In diarrhcea, besides the indications presented by the spasmodic pain and increased discharge, there is a strong call for the diaphoretic operation of the opium. It is un- necessary to multiply instances. There is hardly a complaint which does not occasionally present a complication of symptoms demanding the use of this remedy. But a medicine possessed of such extensive powers may do much injury if improperly directed; and conditions of the system frequently occur, in which, though some one of the symptoms calls for its use, others, on the contrary, are incompatible with it. Thus, opium is contra-indicated by a high state of inflammatory excitement, which should be reduced before we can with propriety venture upon its employment; and when there is any doubt as to the sufficiency of the reduction, the opium should be given in combination with tartarized antimony or ipecacuanha, which modify its stimulant operation, and give it a more decided tendency to the skin. It is also contra-indicated by inflammation of the brain or strong determina- tion of blood to the head, and whenever constipation of the bowels is par- ticularly to be avoided. When, however, the constipation depends upon intestinal spasm, as in colic, it is sometimes relieved by the antispasmodic action of the opium; and the binding effects of the medicine may gene- rally be counteracted by the use of laxatives. 496 Opium. part i. Opium is usually admiuistered in substance or in tincture. In the former 6tate it is given in the shape of pill, which, as a general rule, should be formed out of powdered opium, as it is thus more readily dissolved in the liquors of the stomach, and therefore operates more speedily and effectually than when made, as it sometimes is, immediately from the plastic mass. There is no medicine of which the dose is more variable, according to the habits of the patient, the nature of his complaint, or the purpose to be effect- ed. While in catarrh and diarrhcea, we often prescribe not more than one- fourth or one-third of a grain; in tetanus and some other nervous affections, it has been administered, without abating the violence of the symptoms, in the enormous quantity of two drachms in twenty-four hours; and in a case of cancer of the uterus, under the care of the late Drs. Monges and La Roche of this city, the quantity is stated to have been gradually increased, till the amount taken during one day, either in the shape of tincture or in substance, was equivalent to more than three ounces. The medium dose, in ordinary cases of disease, to produce the anodyne and soporific effects of the medicine, is one grain. Opium may often be applied with great advantage by the rectum. In this way it operates most advantageously in cases of obstinate vomiting, of pain- ful nephritic and uterine affections, of strangury from blisters, and of dysen- teric tenesmus. It may be employed as a suppository, or in the form of enema made with laudanum and a small quantity of viscid liquid, as flaxseed tea, mucilage of gum Arabic, or starch prepared with hot water. The quantity, as a general rule, may be three times that administered by the mouth; but the relative susceptibility of the stomach and rectum in different persons, is not always the same; and the effects produced by the narcotic given by injection, are sometimes much greater than was anticipated. The practitioner, moreover, should take into consideration the previous habits of the patient. It is possible that, in an individual who has long been accus- tomed to take opium internally, and whose stomach will receive large doses with impunity, the rectum may not have lost, in a proportionate degree, its absorbing power or susceptibility; and that serious consequences might result by adhering, in such a case, to the general rule as to the relative quantity to be given in the way of enema or suppository. In some one of its liquid preparations, opium is often used externally as an addition to collyria in ophthalmia, to injections in gonorrhoea, and lotions in various complaints of the skin, and external pains, as those of gout and rheumatism. It is also used as a local anodyne in the state of powder, made into a plaster or cataplasm. When opium has been taken in an overdose, the only effectual mode of relief is immediately to evacuate the stomach, either by means of the sto- mach-pump, or when this is not attainable, by the more active emetics, such as tartarized antimony, sulphate of zinc, or sulphate of copper, conjoined with ipecacuanha. Emetics are preferable to the stomach-pump, when opium has been swallowed in substance, as the capacity of the tube is insufficient to admit of the passage of the masses in which the poison is sometimes taken. The operation of the emetic should be promoted by a very free use of warm drinks, by irritating the fauces with a feather, by keeping the patient in motion, and, if the insusceptibility to the action of the remedy is very great, by dashing cold water upon the head and shoulders, thus counteracting, for a moment, the narcotic influence of the opium upon the brain, and enabling this organ to receive and transmit the necessary impressions. After the evacuation of the poison, the chief indication is to obviate the debility which generally supervenes, and which, in cases where PART ! Opium. 497 the quantity of the narcotic has been large, or has remained long in the stomach, is sometimes alarming and even fatal. For this purpose, the car- bonate of ammonia or the aromatic spirit of ammonia, with wine whey, may be employed internally, and sinapisms and stimulant frictions applied to the surface. The practitioner should not despair even if called at the last mo- ment. The stomach tube may be applied at any period; and it is possible that, even without an evacuation of the stomach, a little assistance may enable the system to resist successfully the prostrating influence of the poison, if not taken in an overwhelming dose. Should all other measures fail, resort may be had to artificial respiration, by which the functions of the lungs and heart may possibly be sustained till the brain has struggled through its con- flict with the narcotic, and is enabled to resume its natural action. Brodie has demonstrated that death from many of the narcotics results from a suspen- sion of the cerebral influence necessary to sustain the respiratory function, and that the heart ceases to act in consequence of the cessation of respiration. If this can be restored artificially before the contractions of the heart have entirely ceased, the circulation may continue, and life be supported for a time without the interference of the brain, which now receives a supply of arterial blood, and is thus better enabled to rife above the repressing action of the opium. As this narcotic does not produce a structural derangement, but operates chiefly up n the nervous power, a favourable result is more likely to be experienced than in cases of poisoning from some other articles of the same class. Two cases are on record, in which patients, apparently in the very last stage, were saved by a resort to artificial respiration.* It is often desirable lo ascertain the presence of opium in any suspected mixture. A test proposed by Dr. Hare, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, though not to be relied on with absolute cer- tainty, may be advantageously resorted to as an auxiliary to other means. It is founded on the fact that meconic acid forms a red salt with the sesquioxide of iron. Dr. Hare precipitates the meconate of lead by the addition of a few drops of a solution of the acetate of lead to the suspected liquid; applies to the precipitated meconate by means of a dropping-tube, about thirty drops of sulphuric acid, by which the meconic acid is separated; and filially adds in the same way a solution of the red sulphate of iron, which gives the striking red colour of the meconate of that metal. By this mode a drop of laudanum may be detected in six fluidounces of water. Orfila states that this test may be much simplified. All that is necessary is to separate the meconic acid from its native combination, and then combine it with the sesquioxide of iron. This may be accomplished by first adding sulphuric acid, and afterwards the ferruginous sesquisulphate. Even the ses- quisulphate of iron alone will, according to Orfila, strike a red colour with a solution of opium, owing to its excess of acid. It is obvious that the meconic acid only is detected; but as this has not been found in any other substance than opium, the presumptive evidence afforded by the test is strong. Off. Prep. Acetum Opii, Dub.; Confectio Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Electuarium Catechu Comp., Ed., Dub.; Emplastrum Opii, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Extractum Opii Purificatum, Lond., Dub.; Morphia, U.S.; Mor- phia? Hydrochloras, Lond.; Pilulae Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pil. * One of these was an infant, ten days old, who had received by mistake from twenty- five to thirty drops of laudanum intended for the mother, had completely lost the power of deglutition, was comatose, and had had several convulsions. Artificial respiration was sustained two or three hours. See case by Dr. Ogilvie, in the N. Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. iii. p. 277. The other case was that of an adult female, for a notice of which, see the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. xx. p. 450. 43* 498 Opium.—Opopa nax. PART I. Styracis Comp., Lond., Dub.; Pulvis Cretae Compositus cum Opio, Lond.; Pulvis Ipecac, et Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Kino Compositus, Lond.; Pulvis Opiatus, Ed.; Tinctura Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tr. Opii Acetata, U.S.; Tr. Opii Ammoniata, Ed.; Tr. Opii Camphorata, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tr. Saponis et Opii, Ed.; Trochisci Gly- cyrrhizae cum Opio, Ed.; Vinum Opii, U.S., Lond., Ed. W. —->»e®8..... OPOPANAX. Lond. Opopanax. " Opopanax Chironium. Gummi-resina." Lond. Off. Syn. OPOPONAX. Pastinaca Opoponax. Gummi Resina. Dub. Opopanax, Fr.; Panax, Opopanax, Germ.; Opopanace, Ital; Opopanaco, Span.; Jiwe- sheer, Arab.; Gawsheer, Pers. Pastinaca. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbeliiferae. Gen. Ch. Fruit elliptical, compressed, flat. Petals involute, entire. Willd. Pastinaca Opopanax. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1466; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 122. t. 47.—Opopanax Chironium. De Candolle. This species of parsnip, usually called rough parsnip, has a thick, yellow, fleshy, perennial root, which sends up annually a strong branching stem, rough near the base, about as thick as a man's thumb, and from four to eight feet in height. The leaves are variously pinnate, with long sheathing petioles, and large, oblong, serrate leaflets, of which the terminal one is cordate, others are deficient at their base upon the upper side, and the whole are hairy on their under surface. The flowers are small, yellow, and form large flat umbels at the termination of the branches. The plant is a native of the Levant, and grows wild in the South of France, Italy, and Greece. When the base of the stem is wounded, a juice exudes, which, when dried in the sun, constitutes the opopanax of commerce. Some authors state that it is obtained from the root. A warm climate appears necessary for the perfection of the juice, as that which has been collected from the plant in France, though similar to opopanax, is of inferior quality. The drug is brought from Turkey. It is said to come also from the East Indies; but Ainslie states that he has never met with it in any Indian medicine bazaar. It is sometimes in tears, but usually in irregular lumps or fragments, of a reddish-yellow colour, speckled with white on the outside, paler within, and when broken exhibiting white pieces intermingled with the mass. Its odour is strong, peculiar, and unpleasant; its taste bitter and acrid. Its sp. gr. is 1.622. It is inflammable, burning with a bright flame. In chemical con- stitution it is a gum-resin, with an admixture of other ingredients in small proportion. The results of its analysis by Pelletier were from 100 parts, 33.4 of gum, 42 of resin, 4.2 of starch, 1.6 of extractive, 0.3 of wax, 2.8 of malic acid, 9.8 of lignin, 5.9 of volatile oil and loss, with traces of caout- chouc. Water by trituration dissolves about one-half of the gum-resin, form- ing an opaque milky solution, which deposites resinous matter on standing, and becomes yellowish. Both alcohol and water distilled from it retain its flavour; but only a very minute proportion of oil can be obtained in a sepa- rate state. Medical Properties and Uses. Opopanax was formerly employed as an part i. Opopanax.—Origanum.— Origanum Majorana. 499 antispasmodic and deobstruent, in hypochondriasis, hysteria, asthma, and chronic visceral affections, and as an emmenagogue in suppression of the menses; but it is now generally regarded as a medicine of very feeble powers, and in this country is scarcely ever used. Its dose is from ten to thirty grains. W. ORIGANUM. U.S., Lond. Origanum. " Origanum vulgare. Herba. The herb." U. S. " Origanum vulgare." Lond. Off Syn. ORIGANUM VULGARE. Dub. Origan, Fr.; Gemeiner Dosten, Wohlgemuth, Germ.; Origano, Ital; Oregano, Span. Origanum. Sex. Syst. Didynamia Gymnospermia.—Nat. Ord. Labiatae. Gen. Ch. Strobile four-cornered, spiked, collecting the calyces. Corolla with the upper lip erect and flat, the lower three-parted, with the segments equal. Willd. Origanum vulgare. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 135; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 344. t. 123. Origanum or common marjoram is a perennial herb, with erect, purplish, downy, four-sided, trichotomous stems, which rise about eighteen inches high, and bear opposite, ovate, entire, somewhat hairy leaves, of a deep yellowish-green colour. The flowers are numerous, of a pinkish-pur- ple or rose colour, disposed in roundish, panicled spikes, and accompanied with ovate reddish bractes, longer than the calyx. This is tubular, and five- toothed, with nearly equal segments. The corolla is funnel-shaped, with the upper lip erect, bifid, and obtuse, the lower trifid, blunt, and spreading. The anthers are double, the stigma bifid and reflexed. The plant is a native of Europe and America. In this country it grows along the road sides, and in dry stony fields and woods, from Pennsylvania to Virginia, and is in flower from June to October; but it is not very abun- dant, and is seldom collected for use. The oil, which is the part chiefly employed, is imported from Europe. Properties. Common marjoram has a peculiar agreeable aromatic odour, and a warm, pungent taste. These properties it owes to a volatile oil, which may be separated by distillation. (See Oleum Origani.) Medical Properties and Uses. It is gently tonic and excitant, and has been used in the form of infusion as a diaphoretic and emmenagogue, and externally as a fomentation; but it is at present scarcely employed. Off. Prep. Oleum Origani, U.S., Lond., Dub. W. ORIGANUM MAJORANA. Herba. Dub. Sweet Marjoram. Off. Syn. ORIGANI MAJORANtE HERBA. Ed. Marjolaine, Fr.; Majoran, Wurstkraut, Germ.; Maggiorana, Ital; Mejorana, Span. Origanum. See ORIGANUM. Origanum Majorana. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 137; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 345. t. 124. This species of Origanum has a perennial root with numerous 500 Origanum Majorana.—Os. part i. stems, which are woody, branching, four-sided, and a foot and a half high. The leaves are sessile, in pairs, ovate, obtuse, entire, downy, and of a pale green colour. The flowers are small, white, and appear successively between the bracteal leaves, which are numerous, and form round compact spikes, of which three or four are placed at the extremity of each peduncle. The corolla is funnel-shaped, with the upper lip erect and roundish, the under divided into three pointed segments. Sweet marjoram grows wild in Portugal and Andalusia, and is cultivated as a garden herb in other parts of Europe and in the United States. Some authors, however, consider the O. Majoranoides, which is a native of Bar- bary, and closely allied to the O. Majorana, as the type of the sweet marjo- ram of our gardens. This plant has a pleasant odour, and a warm, aromatic, bitterish taste, which it imparts to water and alcohol. By distillation with water it yields a large proportion of volatile oil. It is tonic and gently excitant, but is used more as a condiment in cookery than as a medicine. In domestic practice, its infusion is much employed by the vulgar to hasten the tardy eruption in measles and other exanthematous diseases. Off. Prep. Oleum Volatile Origani Majoranae, Ed.; Pulvis Asari Com- positus, Ed. W. OS. U.S. Bone. Off. Syn. OSSA. Ed., Dub. Os, Fr.; Knochcn, Germ.; Ossa, Ital; Huesos, Span. Bones are employed in several pharmaceutical processes, and those de- rived from the domestic quadrupeds, especially the ox, may be assumed as the kind intended for officinal use. Properties, fyc. They are solid, white substances, of a lamellated tex- ture, constituting the skeleton of the superior orders of animals, of which they form the hardest and densest parts. They consist of a cellular tissue ef organic matter, the cavities of which are filled up with certain earthy salts, to be mentioned presently. When subjected to destructive distillation, in close vessels, they are decomposed without alteration of shape, lose about three-sevenths of their weight, become brittle, and are converted into a black substance containing the earthy salts of the bone, and constituting thfe species of animal charcoal called bone-black. (See Carbo Animalis.) The. portions which distil over consist of the usual ammoniacal products derived from animal matter. (See Ammonise. Murias.) When calcined in open vessels they lose more of their weight, and are converted into a white friable sub- stance, consisting of the incombustible part, and called by the earlier chemists the earth of bones. Treated with boiling water, a small portion of the ani- mal matter is dissolved, consisting of gelatin; but when acted on by water in a Papin's digester, the whole of the animal matter is taken up, and the earthy salts, deprived of their cement, crumble into powder, and become diffused through the solution. When subjected to the action of dilute mu- riatic acid, the gelatin and earthy salts are dissolved, and the bone softens without losing its shape, and becomes semitransparent and flexible. The portion which remains unattacked by the acid is animal matter, having the appearance of cartilage, and the chemical properties of coagulated albumen. PART I. Os.—Ovum. 501 This portion of bone is very nutritious, and has been prepared so as to form a wholesome aliment by M. d'Arcet. His process for obtaining it consists in digesting bones in weak muriatic acid for seven or eight days, occasion- ally renewing the acid, plunging them for a few moments in boiling water, and then subjecting them to a strong current of cold water. The pure ani- mal matter thus procured is made up into cakes of gelatin, called portable soup, (tablettes de bouillon,) by dissolving in water, concentrating the solu- tion until it gelatinizes, and drying the matter obtained. Composition. The bones of different animals, and of the same animal at different ages, vary somewhat in their composition. Dry ox-bones, accord- ing to Berzelius, consist of cartilage 33.3, phosphate of lime 55.45, carbo- nate of lime 3.85, fluate of lime 2.90, soda, chloride of sodium, water, &c. 2.45, phosphate of magnesia 2.05 = 100. Fourcroy and Vauquelin's re- sults give a larger quantity of animal matter and carbonate of lime, and a smaller of phosphate of lime. Human bones differ somewhat in the pro- portions of their constituents, and in containing traces of iron and manga- nese. Uses. Bones are applied to numerous uses. Burnt to whiteness, they furnish phosphate of lime, employed to obtain other phosphates,phosphoric acid, and phosphorus. Subjected to destructive distillation, they yield im- pure carbonate of ammonia, and empyreumatic oil; and a carbonaceous residue is left, called bone-black. Calcined, pulverized, and washed, they form the material of which cupels are made. In a divided state, in the form of bone saw-dust, they form an excellent manure. Deprived of their earthy portion by weak acids, they furnish a nutritious substance, proper as an in- gredient in broths, or for forming portable soup. By proper treatment with water they furnish gelatin, applicable not only to the purposes of common glue, but also to those of the finer sorts of gelatin, called isinglass, in making animal jellies, and for the fining of wines. (See Ichthyocolla and Cornu Cervi Elaphi.) The hoof-bones of the ox, when boiled with water, furnish a peculiar oil, called neals-foot oil. (See Oleum Bubulum.) Off. Prep. Calcis Phosphas Praeeipitatum, Dub.; Sodas Phosphas, U.S., Ed., Dub. B. OVUM. Lond. " Phasianus Gallus. Ovum." Lond. ffiuf, Fr.; Ei, Germ.; Ovo, Ital; Huevo, Span. The common dunghill fowl is supposed to have come originally from India, where it is found in a wild state. It is now domesticated in almost all parts of the globe. The egg, which is the only officinal product, consists of 1. an exterior covering called the shell; 2. a white, semi-opaque membrane, lining the in- ternal surface of the shell; 3. the white; 4. the yolk. Other distinct parts are recognised by the comparative anatomist, but they have no peculiar interest for the practical physician or pharmaceutist. 1. The shell consists, according to Vauquelin, chiefly of carbonate of lime, with animal matter, and a minute proportion of phosphate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, oxide of iron, and sulphur. When exposed to a 502 Ovum. PART I. high degree of heat in the open air, the carbonic acid is driven off, the ani- mal matter consumed, and lime is left nearly pure. 2. The membrane lining the shell appears to be of an albuminous nature. 3. The white—albumen ovi—is a glairy viscid liquor contained in very delicate membranes, without odour or taste, readily soluble in water, coagu- lable by the stronger acids, by alcohol, and by a heat of 160° F. Exposed in thin layers to a current of air it becomes solid, retaining its transparency and solubility in water. By coagulation it is rendered sapid, white, opaque, and insoluble. At a temperature of 212°, one part of it renders one thou- sand parts of water in which it has been dissolved opaque. It contains, according to Dr. Bostock, in one hundred parts, 85 of water, 12 of pure albumen, 2.7 of mucus or uncoagulable matter, and 0.3 of saline substances, including soda with traces of sulphur. The white of egg is precipitated by muriate of tin, muriate of gold, subacetate of lead, corrosive sublimate, and tannin. When kept in the fluid state it soon putrefies; but if carefully dried without coagulation it may be long preserved without change, and may be applied in a state of solution to the same purposes as in its original condition. 4. The yolk—vitellus ovi—is inodorous, of a bland oily taste, and forms a milky emulsion when agitated with water. It contains water, albumen, a mild fixed oil, and a colouring matter. By heat it is coagulated into a gra- nular solid, which yields the oil by expression. Medical Properties and Uses. Eggs are applied to various purposes in medicine and pharmacy. The shells powdered and levigated may be used beneficially as an antacid in diarrhoea. In common with oyster shells, they possess the advantage of uniting intimately animal matter with the car- bonate of lime, the particles of which are thus more thoroughly isolated, and prove more acceptable to the stomach, than chalk in the finest state of division to which the latter can be brought by mechanical means. The dose £nd mode of preparation are the same with those of oyster shell. (See Testa.) The white of the egg is used chiefly for the clarification of liquids, which it effects by involving, during its coagulation, the undissolved particles, and carrying them with it to the surface. It is also the best antidote for corro- sive sublimate, producing with that substance an insoluble and inert com- pound. It is sometimes also used for the suspension of insoluble substances in water, but is inferior for this purpose to the yolk, and even to mucilage of gum Arabic. Agitated briskly with a lump of alum it coag- ulates, at the same time dissolving a portion of the alum, and thus forming an astringent poultice, which may be advantageously applied between folds of gauze over the eye, in some states of ophthalmia. (See Cataplasma Aluminis.) The yolk in its raw state is thought to be laxative, and is a popular rem- edy in jaundice. If beneficial in this complaint, it is probably in conse- quence of affording a mild nutritious diet, acceptable to the stomach, and easily digested. In dyspepsia it is, from this cause, highly useful. Dr. Parrish, of Philadelphia, has found much advantage from recommending to his dyspeptic patients, the habitual use of the yolk of egg beat up with water and a little ginger. In pharmacy, the yolk is highly useful as an in- termedium between water and insoluble substances, such as the balsams, turpentine, oils, &c. It is a mistake in our practitioners to recommend the white, instead of the yolk of eggs, in the preparation of emulsions. Off. Prep. Cataplasma Aluminis, Dub.; Enema Terebinthinae, Lond., Dub. W. PART I. Papaver.—Pareira. 503 PAPAVER. Lond. Poppy Capsules. " Papaver somniferum. Capsulse maturse." Lond. Off. Syn. PAPAVERIS SOMMFERI CAPSULiE. Ed.; PAPA- VER SOMNIFERUM. Capsula? maturae. Dub. Poppy heads; Capsules des pavots, Fr.; Kupseln des weissen Mohns, Germ.; Capidel papi'.vcro, Ital; Cabezas de amapola, Span. See OPIUM. In England the poppy is cultivated chiefly for its capsules, which are gathered as they ripen, and taken to market enclosed in bags. They are occasionally imported into this country; but as no effect is produced by them, which cannot be as readily obtained from opium, or some one of its preparations, they are little employed; and the framers of the United States Pharmacopoeia did not consider them entitled to a place among the articles of the Materia Medica. The dried poppy capsules vary in size from the dimensions of a small egg to those of the fist. They are of a spheroidal shape, flattened below, and surmounted by a crown-like expansion—the persistent stigma—which is marked by numerous diverging rays that rise somewhat above its upper surface, and appear to be prolongations of partial septa or partitions, pro- ceeding along the interior circumference of the capsule from the top to the bottom. In the recent state, the seeds, which are very numerous, adhere to these septa; but in the dried capsule they are loose in its cavity. The cap- sules of the black poppy are smaller and more globular than those of the white, and contain dark instead of light-coloured seeds. There appears to be no essential difference in their properties. Both kinds, when fresh, are glaucous, but when dry, as directed in the Pharmacopoeias, are of a dirty white or purplish-brown colour, have a consistence somewhat like that of paper, are without smell, and have little taste, unless long chewed, when they are decidedly bitter. Submitted to analysis, they are found to contain principles similar to those of opium, which they yield to water by decoc- tion. They have been employed in France for producing morphia. Medical Properties and Uses. Dried poppy heads, though analogous to opium in medical properties, are exceedingly feeble. They are sometimes employed in the form of decoction, as an external emollient and anodyne application; and in the shape of emulsion, syrup, or extract, are often used internally by European practitioners to calm irritation, promote rest, and produce generally the narcotic effects of opium. Off. Prep. Decoctum Papaveris, Lond.; Extractum Papaveris, Lond., Ed.; Syrupus Papaveris, Lond., Ed., Dub. W. PAREIRA. Lond. Pareira Brava. " Cissampelos Pareira. Radix." Lond. Cissampelos. Sex. Syst. Dioecia Monadelphia.—Nat. Ord. Menisper- mire. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx four-leaved. Corolla none. Nectary rotate. 504 Pareira.—Petroleum. part i. Stamens four, with connate filaments. Female one-leaved, ligulate round- ish. Corolla none. Styles three. Berry one-seeded. Cissampelos Pareira. "Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 861; Woodv. Med. Bot. 3ded. p. 167. t. 65. This is a climbing plant, with numerous slender, shrubby stems, and roundish, entire leaves, indented at the top, covered with soft hair upon their under surface, and supported upon downy footstalks, which are insert- ed into the back of the leaf. The flowers are very small, and disposed in racemes, of which those in the female plant are longer than the leaves. The plant is a native of the West Indies and South America, and is supposed to be the source of the root, introduced into Europe from Brazil, under the name of pareira brava, and adopted by the London College as officinal in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia. In former editions of this Dispen- satory it was treated of, among other unofficinal medicines, in the Appendix. The root comes in pieces from the thickness of the finger to that of the arm, two or more feet in length, cylindrical, sometimes contorted, forked, and covered with a thin, firmly adhering, smooth, brown bark. The interior is ligneous, yellowish, very porous, marked by irregular concentric circles, inodorous, and of a sweetish, nauseous, bitter taste. M. Feneulle found in it a soft resin, a yellow bitter principle upon which its tonic virtues may depend, a brown substance, an azotized substance, fecula, acidulous malate of lime, nitrate of potassa, and various other salts. Medical Properties and Uses. Pareira brava is said to be tonic, aperi- ent, and diuretic. It was introduced into European practice so long ago as 1688, and at one time enjoyed considerable reputation as a lithontriptic. It has been recommended in calculous affections, chronic inflammation and ulceration of the kidneys and bladder, leucorrhcea, dropsy, rheumatism, and jaundice. The purpose for which it is at present chiefly employed is the relief of chronic diseases of the urinary passages. Sir Benjamin Brodie has found it very useful, in chronic inflammation of the bladder, in .allaying irritability of that organ, and correcting the disposition to profuse mucous secretion. Dr. T. F. Betton of Germantown, near Philadelphia, has also em- ployed it successfully in a case of irritable bladder. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xvii. 259.) Advantage may often be derived from combining it, in this com- plaint, with some one of the narcotics, as opium or hyoscyamus. In Brazil, it is used in the cure of the bites of poisonous serpents, a vinous infusion of the root being taken internally, while the bruised leaves of the plant are applied to the wound. The dose of pareira brava in substance is from 30 grains to a drachm. The infusion, however, is more convenient. It is prepared in the proportion of half an ounce of the root to a pint of water, and given in the dose of two fluidounces three times a day. The aqueous extract may be given in the dose of from ten to thirty grains. Off. Prep. Extractum Pareira, Lond.; Infusum Pareirae, Lond. W. PETROLEUM. Lond. Petroleum. " Petroleum (Barbadense.)" Lond. Off. Syn. BITUMEN PETROLEUM. Ed.; PETROLEUM. BI- TUMEN PETROLEUM. PETROLEUM BARBADENSE. Dub. PART I. Petroleum. 505 Barbadoes tar; Pe'trole, Huile de Gabian, Fr.; Steinol, Germ.; Petroleo, Ital, Span. Petroleum belongs to the class of native inflammable substances, called bitumens. These are liquids or readily fusible solids, which emit when heated a peculiar smell, burn easily, and leave a very small carbonaceous residue. They are of two kinds, one liquid, called naphtha, the other solid, denominated asphaltum. Naphtha is a transparent, yellowish-white, very light and inflammable, limpid liquid, which is found abundantly in Persia. It consists exclusively of hydrogenjand carbon. As oxygen does not enter into its composition, it may be advantageously employed for preserving potassium. During the formation of coal gas, an artificial naphtha is obtained, which bv rectification is rendered equally light and limpid with the natural substance. Thus purified, it was discovered by Mr. James Syme of Edinburgh to pos- sess the property of dissolving caoutchouc, and the solution has been use- fully applied to the purpose of forming various surgical instruments of that material. It has also been employed by Mr. Mackintosh of Glasgow, for giving a thin coating of caoutchouc to cloth, to render it impermeable to moisture. Asphaltum is solid, black, dry, friable, and insoluble in alcohol. These two varieties of bitumen often exist in a state of mixture in nature. When the asphaltum predominates it takes the name of maltha or mineral tar; when the naphtha is in the larger proportion it is called petroleum. Localities. Petroleum is found principally at Amiano in the Duchy of Parma, at Gabian in France, upon the borders of the Caspian Sea, in the kingdom of Ava, and in Barbadoes, Trinidad, and other West India islands. The wells of petroleum in Ava are said to produce four hundred thousand hogsheads annually. The petroleum from Barbadoes is indicated as the officinal variety by the London and Dublin Colleges. In the United States petroleum is found in various localities, the principal of which are, on the Kenhawa in Virginia; near Scottsville in Kentucky; in Western Pennsylvania; on Duck Creek in Ohio; and on the shores of Seneka Lake in New York. That found in the latter locality is usually called in this country Seneka oil, and similar varieties of petroleum from other native sources are known by the same name. Properties. Petroleum is a black, rather thick, nearly opaque, inflam- mable liquid, unctuous to the touch, and possessing a bituminous taste, and strong and tenacious odour. Its sp. gr. varies from 0.730 to 0.878. When subjected to distillation, it yields naphtha, and leaves a solid residue of asphaltum. The petroleum from Ava yielded to Dr. Christison half its bulk of very fine naphtha. It has not been analyzed; but probably consists of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Medical Properties and Uses. Petroleum is accounted a stimulating anti. spasmodic and sudorific. It is occasionally given in disorders of the chest, when not attended with inflammation; but is seldom employed as an internal remedy except in the West Indies. In Germany it has been extolled as a remedy for tape-worm. Schwartz's formula in such cases was a mixture of one part of petroleum with one and a half parts of tincture of assafetida, of which forty drops were given three times a day. Externally petroleum is employed as a stimulating embrocation in chilblains, chronic rheum;;ti?m, aflections of the joints, and paralysis. It is an ingredient in the popular remedy called British oil. The dose of petroleum is from ten to thirty minims, given in any convenient vehicle. That variety of native petroleum called Seneka oil is used to a consider- able extent as an external application in domestic practice. It is lighter 44 506 Petroselinum.—Phosphorus. part I. coloured, thinner in consistence, and less sapid and odorous than the Barba- does petroleum, and probably contains more naphtha than the latter. B- PETROSELINUM. U.S. Secondary. Parsley Root. " Apium petroselinum. Radix. The root." U.S. Persil, Fr.; Petcrsilie, Germ.; Prezzemolo, Ital; Pcrcxil, Span. Apium. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Umbellifera?. Gen.Ch. Fruit ovate, striated. Involucre one-leafed. Petals equal. H Hid. Apium Petroselinum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1475; \\ oo<\\. Med. Bot. p. 118. t. 45. Parsley has a biennial root, with an annual, round, furrowed, jointed, erect, branching stem, which rises about two feet in height. The radical leaves are compound, pinnated in ternaries, with the leaflets smooth, divided into three lobes, and notched at the margin. In the cauline leaves, the seg- ments of the leaflets are linear and entire. The flowers are small, pale yellow, and disposed in terminal compound umbels, with a one or two leaved general involucre, and partial ones composed of six or eight leaflets. The petals are five, roundish, and inflexed at their apex. The seeds are small, ovate, flat on one side, convex on the other, of a dark green colour, and marked with five longitudinal ridges. They have a strong, terebinthinate odour, and a warm aromatic taste. The plant is a native of Sardinia and other parts of southern Europe, and is cultivated every where in gardens. All parts of it contain an essential oil, to which it owes its medicinal virtues, as well as its use in seasoning. The root is the part directed by the Pharmacopoeia, though the seeds are at least equally efficient. The root is spindle-shaped, about as thick as the finger, externally white and marked with close annular wrinkles, internally fleshy and white, with a yellowish central portion. It has a pleasant smell, and a sweetish slightly aromatic taste; but loses these properties by long boiling, and by the action of time. It should be employed in the recent state. Medical Properties and Uses. Parsley root is said to be aperient and diuretic, and is occasionally used in nephritic and dropsical affections, in connexion with more active medicines. It is highly recommended by Pro- fessor Chapman. The usual form of administration is that of strong infu- sion. The juice of the fresh herb has been employed as a substitute for quinia in intermittents. W. PHOSPHORUS. Lond. Phosphorus. Phosphore, Fr.; Phosphor, Germ.; Fosforo, Ital., Span. This substance, having been made officinal in the last London Pharmaco- poeia, is transferred from the Appendix to this place. It was discovered in 1669 by Brandt, an alchemist of Hamburg; and the process by which it was made remained a secret until 1737. At first it was obtained from putrid urine, and was exceedingly scarce and costly; but in 1769, Gahn discovered PART I. Phosphorus. 507 it in bones, and shortly afterwards published a process by which it might be extracted from them; and his method has been followed, with but slight modifications, up to the present time. Preparation. Calcined bones, which consist principally of phosphate of lime, are digested for twenty-four hours with two-thirds of their weight of strong sulphuric acid, previously diluted with twelve times its weight of water. The sulphuric acid detaches half the lime from the phosphoric acid, and precipitates as sulphate of lime; while a biphosphate of lime remains in solution. The mixture is then strained through a linen cloth to separate the sulphate of lime, and afterwards submitted to evaporation, which causes a fresh precipitation of sulphate, requiring to be separated by a new filtra- tion. The filtered solution of biphosphate is evaporated to a syrupy con- sistence, and then thoroughly mixed with half its weight of powdered char coal, so as to form a soft mass, which is dried by being heated to dull redness in an iron pot. The mass when cool is quickly transferred to a coated earthenware retort, furnished with an adopter of copper, bent downwards at right angles so as to enter a bottle with a large neck containing water, which should rise about two lines above the orifice of the adopter. The bottle is closed round the adopter by a cork, which is traversed by a small glass tube, to give exit to the gaseous products. The retort is heated in a furnace, furnished with a dome, in the most gradual manner, so as to occupy about four hours in bringing it to a red heat. Afterwards the heat is pushed vigorously, so long as any phosphorus drops into the water; and this takes place generally for from twenty-four to thirty hours. During this part of the process the excess of acid in the biphosphate is decomposed; its oxygen combining with the charcoal, and the liberated phosphorus distilling over. A quantity of the materials sufficient to fill a quart retort will yield about a pound of phosphorus. Properties. Phosphorus is a semitransparent solid, without taste, but possessing an alliaceous smell. When perfectly pure it is colourless; but as usually prepared it is yellowish or reddish-yellow. It is flexible, sectile, and when cut exhibits a waxy lustre. It is insoluble in water, but dissolves sparingly in alcohol and the oils, and more freely in ether. Its sp. gr. is 1.77, and its equivalent number 15.71. It takes fire at 100°, melts at 108°, and boils at 550°, air being excluded. During its combustion, it combines with the oxygen of the air, and forms phosphoric acid. On account of its great inflammability it requires to be kept under water. When exposed to the air it undergoes a slow combustion, emitting white vapours, which are luminous in the dark. It forms with oxygen the hypophosphorous, phos- phorous, and phosphoric acids, and the two isomeric varieties of phosphoric acid, called pyrophosphoric and metaphosphoric. With hydrogen it forms phosphuretted hydrogen and subphosphuretted hydrogen. The only medi- cinal combinations containing phosphorus are phosphoric acid, and the phosphates of mercury, iron, lime, and soda. Phosphoric acid in a diluted state, and the three latter phosphates are officinal. Medical Properties. Phosphorus, exhibited in small doses, acts as a powerful general stimulant; in large doses, as a violent irritant poison. Its action seems particularly directed to the kidneys and genital organs, pro- ducing diuresis, and excitation of the venereal appetite. The latter effect has been conclusively proved by the experiments of Alphonse Leroy, Che- nevix, and Bertrand-Pelletier. From its peculiar physiological action, it is considered applicable as a remedy to diseases attended with extreme prostra- tion of the vital powers. It has been recommended in dropsy, impotency, typhus fever, phthisis, marasmus, chlorosis, paralysis, gutta-serena, mania, 508 Phosphorus.—Phytolaccae Baccx. part i. &c. The usual form for exhibition is an ethereal solution, as directed by the Paris Codex, under the title of .Ether Phosphoratus. This solution con- tains about three grains of phosphorus to the ounce, and may be given in the dose of ten drops, repeated every two or four hours, according to cir- cumstances, in a small portion of some bland drink. Magendie, in his for- mulary, published in Paris in 1835, recommends the solution of six grains of phosphorus in an ounce of rectified ether, agreeably to the formula of Bertrand-Pelletier. The solution is effected by cutting the phosphorus in small pieces, and agitating it with the ether, from time to time, for three or four days. Of this solution, he indicates ten drops as the dose; although it is twice as strong as that of the Paris Codex. It has been objected to the ethereal solution, that, upon the evaporation of the ether, the phosphorus is liable to be set free, and may inflame in the stomach. It is on this account that oil has been proposed as a solvent, according to the following formula of M. Lescot. Take of phosphorus a drachm, olive or almond oil, an ounce and a half. Cut the phosphorus into very small pieces, introduce them into a ground stoppered bottle, and add the oil. Let the mixture stand in a dark place for fifteen days; after which decant, and give the solution an aromatic flavour with the oil of bergamot. This solution is called Aromatic Phosphoric Oil, and must be kepi in a dark place. It may be given to the extent of twenty-five or thirty drops in the twenty-four hours, mixed with some mucilaginous drink. Great caution is necessary in the exhibition of phosphorus, and its effects should be closely watched. It ought never to be given in substance; as, when thus administered, it is apt to produce violent irritation of the stomach. When taken in substance in a poisonous dose, two or three grains of tartar emetic should be given to dislodge it. If swallowed in the state of solution, copious draughts of cold water containing magnesia in suspension should be administered, in order to arrest the further combustion of the phosphorus, and to neutralize any acid which may have been formed. Off. Prep. Acidum Phosphoricum Dilutum, Lond. B. —••»**© @ e<««- ■ PHYTOLACCA BACCJE. U.S. Secondary. Poke Berries. " Phytolacca decandra. Baccae. The berries." U.S. PHYTOLACCA RADIX. U.S. Secondary. Poke Root. " Phytolacca decandra. Radix. The root." U.S. Phytolacca. Sex. Syst. Decandria Decagynia.—Nat. Ord. Phytolacete. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Petals five, calycine. Berry superior, ten-celled, ten-seeded. Willd. Phytolacca decandra. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 822; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 39; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 213. This is an indigenous plant with a very large perennial root, often five or six inches in diameter, divided into two or three principal branches, soft, fleshy, fibrous, whitish within, and covered with a brownish cuticle. The stems, which are annual, frequently grow to the height of six or eight feet, and divide into numerous spreading PART I. Phytolacca Radix. 509 branches. They are round, very smooth, of a green colour when young, but purple after the berries have ripened. The leaves are scattered, ovate oblong, entire, pointed, smooth, ribbed beneath, and supported on short footstalks. The flowers are numerous, small, and grow in long racemes, which are sometimes erect, sometimes drooping. The corolla consists of five ovate, concave petals, folding inwards, and of a whitish colour. The germ is green. There are ten stamens, and the same number of pistils. The raceme of flowers becomes a cluster of dark purple, almost black, shining berries, flattened above and below, and divided into ten cells, each of which contains one seed. The poke is abundant in all parts of the United States, flourishing along fences, by the borders of woods, and especially in newly cleared and uncul- tivated fields. It also grows spontaneously in the North of Africa and the South of Europe, where, however, it is supposed to have been introduced from America. Its flowers begin to appear in July, and the fruit ripens in autumn. The magnitude of the poke-weed, its large rich leaves, and its beautiful clusters of purple berries, often mingled upon the same branch with the green unripe fruit, and the flowers still in bloom, render it one of the most striking of our native plants. The young shoots are much used as food early in the spring, boiled in the manner of spinage. The ashes of the dried stems and leaves contain a very large proportion of potassa, yield- ing, according to Braconnot, not less than forty-two per cent, of the pure caustic alkali. In the plant the potassa is neutralized by an acid closely resembling the malic, though differing from it in some respects. The leaves, berries, and root are used in medicine, but the two latter only are mentioned in the Pharmacopoeia. The root abounds most in the active principles of the plant. It should be dug up late in November, cut into thin transverse slices, and dried with a moderate heat. As its virtues are diminished by keeping, a new supply should be procured every year. The berries should be collected when perfectly ripe, and the leaves about the middle of summer, when the footstalks begin to redden. The berries contain a succulent pulp, and yield upon pressure a large quantity of fine purplish-red juice. They have a sweetish, nauseous, slightly acrid taste, with little odour. The colouring principle of their juice is eva- nescent, and cannot be applied to useful purposes in dyeing, from the diffi- culty of fixing it. Alkalies render it yellow; but the original colour is restored by acids. The juice contains saccharine matter, and, after fermenting, yields alcohol by distillation. The dried root is of a light yellowish-brown colour externally, very much wrinkled, and, when in transverse slices, exhibits on the cut surface nume- rous concentric rings, formed by the projecting ends of fibres, between which the intervening matter has shrunk in the drying process. The structure in- ternally in the older roots is firm and almost ligneous; the colour yellowish- white, alternatingjwith darker circular layers. There is no smell; the taste is slightly sweetish, and at first mild, but followed by a sense of acrimony. The active matter is imparted to boiling water and alcohol. Medical Properties and Uses. Poke is emetic, purgative, and somewhat narcotic. As an emetic it is very slow in its operation, frequently not com- mencing in less than one or two hours after it has been taken, and then continuing to act for a long time upon both the stomach and bowels. The vomiting produced by it is said not to be attended with much pain or spasm; but narcotic effects have been observed by some physicians, such as drowsi- ness, vertigo, and dimness of vision. In over-doses it produces excessive vomiting and purging, attended with great prostration of strength, and sorae- 44* 510 Phytolacca Radix.—Pimenta. part i. times with convulsions. It has been proposed as a substitute for ipecacuanha; but the slowness and long continuance of its action, and its tendency to purge, wholly unfit it for the purposes which that emetic is calculated to fulfil. In small doses it acts as an alterative, and has been highly recom- mended in the treatment of chronic rheumatism. The dose of the powdered root, as an emetic, is from ten to thirty grains; as an alterative, from one to five grains. A saturated tincture of the berries prepared with diluted alcohol may be given in rheumatic eases, in the dose of a fluidrachm three times a * day. A strong infusion of the leaves or root has been recommended in piles. An ointment prepared by mixing a drachm of the powdered root or leaves with an ounce of lard, has been used with advantage in psora, tinea capitis, and some other forms of cutaneous disease. It occasions at first a sense of heat and smarting in the part to which it is applied. An extract made by evaporating the expressed juice of the recent leaves has been used for the same purpose, and acquired at one time considerable repute as a remedy in cancer. W. PIMENTA. U.S., Lond. Pimento. "Myrtus pimenta. Bacca?. The berries." U.S. " Myrtus Pimenta. Baccse immature exsiccatse." Lond. Off. Syn. MYRTI PIMENTiE FRUCTUS,^/.; PIMENTA. MYR- TUS PIMENTA. Fructus. Dub. Allspice, Jamaica pepper; Piment, Poivre de la Jamaique, Fr.; Nelkenpfcffer, Germ.; Pimenti, Ital; Pimienta de la Jamaica, Spun. Myrtus. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Myrtaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft, superior. Petals five. Berry two to five-celled, many-seeded. II 'Hid. By Professor Lindley, of London, the pimento tree has been withdrawn from the Myrtus, and erected into a new genus, by the title of Pimenta, of which the following character is given. " Calyx five-cleft; petals five; ovary two-celled; ovules solitary apense; style straight; stigma somewhat capitate." (Loudon's Encyc. of Plunts.) This genus contains but a single species, which is named Pimenta vulgaris. We adhere, however, to the officinal title. Myrtus Pimenta. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 973; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 541. t. 194. This species of myrtle is a beautiful tree, about thirty feet high, with a straight trunk, much branched above, and covered with a very smooth gray bark. Its dense and ever-verdant foliage gives it at all times a refresh- ing appearance. The leaves, which are petiolate, vary in shape and size; but are usually about four inches long, elliptical, entire, blunt or obtusely pointed, veined, and of a deep shining green colour. The flowers are small, without show, and disposed in panicles upon trichotomous stalks, which usually terminate the branches. The fruit is a spherical berry, crowned with the persistent calyx, and when ripe is smooth, shining, and of a black or dark purple colour. The tree exhales an aromatic fragrance, especially during the summer months, when it is in flower. It is a native of the West Indies, Mexico, and South America, and is par- ticularly abundant in Jamaica, wlience its fruit received the name of Jamaica pepper. The berries are the officinal portion of the plant. They are PART I. Pimenta.—Piper. 511 gathered after having attained their full size, but while yet green, and are carefully-dried in the sun. When sufficiently dry, they are put into bags and casks for exportation. Properties. The berries, as they reach us, are of different sizes, small, round, wrinkled, umbilicate at the summit, of a brownish colour, and when broken present two cells, each containing a black hemispherical seed. They have a fragrant odour, thought to resemble that of a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg: hence the name of allspice, by which they are best known in this country. Their taste is warm, aromatic, pungent, and slightly astringent. They impart their flavour to water, and all their virtues to alcohol. The infusion is of a brown colour, reddens litmus paper, and affords a black precipitate with the salts of iron. They yield a volatile oil by distillation. (See Oleum Pimentas.) Neumann ascertained that their aromatic flavour depends on the volatile oil, their pungency in great measure upon a substance soluble in alcohol and insoluble in water. By a minute ^ analysis, M. Bonastre obtained from them a volatile oil, a green fixed oil, a concrete oleaginous substance in yellowish flakes, tannin, gum, resin, un- crystallizable sugar, colouring matter, malic and gallic acids, saline matters, moisture, and lignin. The green oil has the burning aromatic taste of pimento, and is supposed to be the acrid principle. Upon this, therefore, together with the volatile oil, the medical properties of the berries depend; and as these two principles exist most largely in the shell or cortical portion, this part is most efficient. According to M. Bonastre, ihe shell contains 10 per cent, of the volatile, and 8 of the fixed oil, the seeds only 5 per cent, of the former, and 2.5 of the latter. Berzelius considers the green fixed oil of Bonastre as a mixture of volatile oil, resin, fixed oil, and perhaps a little chlorophylle. Medical Properties and Uses. Pimento is a warm, aromatic stimulant, used in medicine chiefly as an adjuvant to tonics and purgatives, the taste of which it serves to cover, while it increases their warmth and renders them more acceptable to the stomach. It is particularly useful in cases attended with much flatulence. It is, however, much more largely em- ployed as a condiment than as a medicine. The dose is from ten to forty grains. Off. Prep. Aqua Pimentas, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Oleum Pimento, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pilulae Opiatae, Ed.; Spiritus Pimentas, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Syrupus Rhamni, Lond., Dub. W. PIPER. U.S. Black Pepper. " Piper nigrum. Bacrae. The Berries." U.S. Off. Syn. PIPER NIGRUM. Piper nigrum. Baccae. Lond.; PIPE- RIS NIGRI FRUCTUS. Ed.; PIPER NIGRUM. Semina. Dub. Poivre, Fr.; Schwarzer Pfeffer, Germ.; Gemeine peper, Dutch; Pepe nero, Ital; Pi- mienta negra, Span.; Fifil uswud, Arab.; Lada, Malay; Maricha, Javan.; Sahan, Pa- lembang. Piper. See CUBEBA. Piper nigrum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 159; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 721. t 216. The pepper vine is a perennial plant, with a round, smooth, woody, articulated stem, swelling near the joints, branched, and from eight to 512 Piper. PART I. twelve feet or more in length. The leaves are entire, broad ovate, acumi- nate, seven-nerved, coriaceous, very smooth, of a dark green colour, and attached by strong, sheath-like footstalks to the joints of the branches. The flowers are small, whitish, sessile, covering thickly a cylindrical spa- dix, and succeeded by globular berries, which are of a red colour when ripe. The vine grows wild in Cochin-china and various parts of India. It is cultivated on the coast of Malabar, in the peninsula of Malacca, in Siam, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippines, and many other places in the East. We are told by Crawford, that the best pepper is raised in Malabar; but Europe and America derive their chief supplies from Sumatra and Java. The vine is propagated by cuttings, and is supported by props, or by trees of various kinds planted for the purpose, upon which it is trained. In three or four years from the period of planting, it begins to bear fruit. The ber- ries are gathered before they are all perfectly ripe, and upon being dried, become black and wrinkled. White pepper is the ripe berry deprived of its skin by maceration in water and subsequent friction, and afterwards dried in the sun. It has less of the peculiar virtues of the spice than the black pepper, and is seldom em- ployed in this country. Properties. The dried berries are about as large as a small pea, exter- nally blackish and wrinkled, internally whitish, of an aromatic smell, and a hot, pungent, almost fiery taste. They yield their virtues partially to water, entirely to alcohol and ether. Pelletier found them to contain a peculiar crystalline matter called piperin, an acrid concrete oil of a green colour, a balsamic volatile oil, a coloured gummy substance, an extractive matter like that found in leguminous plants capable of being precipitated by infusion of galls, a portion of bassorin, uric and malic acids, lignin, and various salts. Of these principles the piperin and the acrid concrete oil are those which have attracted most attention. Piperin was discovered by professor Oersted of Copenhagen, who considered it a vegetable alkali, and the active princi- ple of pepper. Pelletier, however, utterly denies its alkaline nature and medical activity, and ascribes all the effects supposed to have been obtained from it to a portion of the acrid concrete oil with which it is mixed when not very carefully prepared. He considers it a resin analogous to that which Vauquelin found in cubebs. When perfectly pure, piperin is in colourless transparent crystals, without taste, fusible at 212°, insoluble in cold water, slightly soluble in boiling water which precipitates it upon cooling, soluble in alcohol, ether, and acetic acid, decomposed by the concentrated mineral acids, with the sulphuric becoming of a blood-red colour, with the nitric, first of a greenish-yellow, then orange, and ultimately red. It is obtained by treating pepper with alcohol, evaporating the tincture to the consistence of an extract, submitting the residue to the action of an alkaline solution by which the oleaginous matter is converted into soap, washing the undis- solved portion with cold water, separating the liquid by filtration, treating the matter left on the filter with alcohol, and allowing the solution thus obtained to evaporate spontaneously, or by a gentle heat. Crystals of piperin are deposited, and may be purified by alternate solution in alcohol or ether, and crystallization. The taste of pepper depends on the peculiar concrete oil before alluded to, and probably also on- the volatile oil. The former is of a deep green colour, the latter is limpid, colourless, becoming yellow by age, of a strong odour, and of a taste less acrid than that of the pepper. The medicinal activity of pepper probably depends on these two ingredients. PART I. Piper.—Piper Longum. 513 Medical Properties and Uses. Black pepper is a warm carminative stimulant, capable of producing general arterial excitement, but acting with greater proportional energy on the part to which it is applied. From the time of Hippocrates it has been employed as a condiment and medicine. Its culinary uses at present are too well known to require notice. Its chief medicinal application is to excite the languid stomach, and correct flatu- lence. It was long since occasionally administered for the cure of inter- mittents; but its employment for this purpose had passed from the hands of the profession into those of the vulgar, till a few years since revived by an Italian physician, to be again consigned to forgetfulness. Piperin has also been employed in the same complaint; and has been recommended as superior even to the sulphate of quinia, but experience has not confirmed the first reports in its favour. That in its impure state, when mixed with a portion of the acrid principle, it will occasionally cure intermittents, there can be ,no doubt; but it is not comparable to the preparations of bark, and is probably less active than the alcoholic extract of pepper. When peifectly pure it is inert. In those cases of intermittents in which the sto- mach is not duly susceptible to the action of quinia, as in some instances of drunkards, pepper may be found a useful adjuvant to the more powerful febrifuge. The dose of pepper is from five to twenty grains. It may be given in the state of the berry or in powder; but is more energetic in the latter. Piperin has been given in doses varying from one to six or eight grains. Off. Prep. Confectio Piperis Nigri, Lond., Dub.; Confectio Rutre, Lond., Dub.; Emplast. Cantharidis Vesicatorias Comp., Ed.; Unguentum Piperis Nigri, Dub. W. PIPER LONGUM. Lond. Long Pepper. " Piper longum. Fructus immaturus exsiccatus." Lond. Off Syn. PIPERIS LONGI FRUCTUS. Ed.; PIPER LONGUM. Semina. Dub. Poivre longue, Fr.; Langer Pfeffer, Germ.; Pepe lungo, Ital; Pimienta larga, Span. Piper. See PIPER. Piper longum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 161; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 724. t. 247. This species of Piper differs from its congeners in having its lower leaves cordate, petiolate, seven-nerved, its upper oblong cordate, sessile, and five-nerved; its flowers in dense, short, terminal, and nearly cylindri- cal spikes; and its fruit, consisting of very small one-seeded berries or grains, embedded in a pulpy matter. It is a native of South-eastern Asia, and is produced abundantly in Bengal and many parts of Hindostan. The fruit is green when immature, and becomes red as it ripens. It is gathered in the former state, as it is then hotter than when perfectly ripe. The whole spike is taken from the plant and dried in the sun. Long pepper is cylindrical, an inch or more in length, indented on its surface, of a dark gray colour, a weak aromatic odour, and a pungent fiery taste. M. Dulong found its chemical composition to be closely analogous to that of black pepper as ascertained by Pelletier. Like that it contains pi- perin, a concrete oil upon which its burning acrimony depends, and a vola- tile oil to which it probably owes its odour. Its medical virtues are essen- 514 Pix Jibielis. part i. tially the same with those of the black pepper; but it is considered inferior to that spice, and is seldom used. Off. Prep. Confectio Opii, Lond., Dub.; Pulvis Aromaticus, Dub.; Pulvis Cretae Compositus, Lond., Dub.; Tinct. Cinnamon. Comp., Lond., Ed. W. —• •*»© © ©*«»■-- PIX ABIETIS. U.S. Burgundy Pitch. " Pinus abies. Succus concretus praeparatus. The prepared concrete juice." U.S. Off. Sxjn. PIX ABIETINA. Pinus Abies. Resina praeparata. Lond.; PINI RESINA SOLIDA sponte concreta, vulgo, PIX BURGUN- DICA. Ed.; PIX BURGUNDICA. PINUS ABIES. Resina. Thus. Dub. Poix de Bourgogne, Poix jaune, Poix blanche, Fr.; Burgundisches Pech, Germ. Pinus. See TEREBINTHINA. Pinus Abies. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 506; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 4. t. 2. Abies communis. Lindley in Loudon's Encyc. of Plants.—Abies excelsa. De Candolle. The Norway spruce is a very lofty tree, rising sometimes one hundred and fifty feet in height, with a trunk from three to five feet in diameter. The leaves, which stand thickly upon the branches, are short, obscurely four-cornered, often curved, of a dusky green colour, and shining on the upper surface. The male aments are purple and axillary, the female of the same colour, but usually terminal. The fruit is in pendent, purple, nearly cylindrical strobiles, the scales of which are oval, pointed, and ragged at the edges. This tree is a native of Europe and Northern Asia. Though designated as the source of Burgundy pitch, it furnishes but a part of the substance sold under thatTiame by the druggists. Tingley asserts that the real Bur- gundy pitch is obtained from the Pinus picea, or European silver fir tree; and the same fact is stated by Fee. According to Geiger, who is probably correct, it is procured from both species. To obtain the pitch, portions of the bark are removed so as to lay bare the wood, and the flakes of concrete resinous matter which form upon the surface of the wound, having been de- tached by iron instruments, are melted with water in large boilers, and then strained through coarse cloths. It is called Burgundy pitch from the pro- vince of that name in the East of France. We are told that the greater portion is collected in the neighbourhood of Neufchatel. From other species of pine in different parts of Europe, a similar product is obtained and sold by the same name. It is prepared by removing the juice which concretes upon the bark of the tree or upon the surface of inci- sions, called galipot by the French, and purifying it by melting and strain- ing, either through cloth or a layer of straw. A fictitious Burgundy pitch is also made by melting together common pitch, resin, and turpentine, and agitating the mixture with water, which gives it ihe requisite yellowish colour. Its odour is different from that of the genuine. As brought to this country, Burgundy pitch is generally mixed with impurities, which require that it should be melted and strained before being used. In its pure state it is hard, brittle, quite opaque, of a yellowish or PART I. Pix Jlbietis.—Pix Canadensis. 515 brownish-yellow colour, and a weak terebinthinate taste and odour. It is very fusible, and at the heat of the body softens and becomes adhesive. It differs from turpentine in containing a smaller proportion of essential oil. Under the name of Abietis Resina, the London College directs the con- crete juice of the spruce fr, as taken immediately from the bark of the tree, without any preparation. It is the Thus or Frankincense of the former London and present Dublin Pharmacopoeia. " It is in the form of solid brittle tears, of a brownish-yellow colour on the outside, and internally white, and emits a very agreeable odour upon burning." (Thomson's Dis- pensatory.) Though ascribed to the Pinus Abies, it is probably obtained also from other species; and we have been told by an apothecary from London, that an article exactly resembling our common white turpentine when perfectly dried, is sold as frankincense in the shops of that city. Medical Properties and Uses. Applied to the skin in the shape of a plaster, Burgundy pitch acts as a gentle rubefacient, producing a slight de- gree of inflammation and serous effusion without separating the cuticle. Sometimes it excites a papillary or vesicular eruption; and we have known it to act upon the surface as a violent poison, giving rise to excessive pain, tumefaction, and redness, followed by vesication and even ulceration. It is used chiefly in cases of slight chronic pains of a rheumatic character, or in chronic affections of the chest or abdominal viscera, which call for a gentle but long continued revulsive action upon the skin. The Abietis Resina, or Frankincense, is used only as an ingredient of plasters. Off. Prep. Emplast. Cantharidis Vesicatorias Comp., Ed.; Emplast. Galbani Comp., U.S.; Emplast. Opii, Dub.; Emplast. Picis, Lond.; Emplast. Picis cum Cantharide, U.S., Dub. Off. Prep, of the Resin of the Spruce Fir. Emplast. Aromatic, Dub.; Emplast. Galbani, Lond.; Emplast. Opii, Lond., Ed.; Emplast. Picis, Lond. W. PIX CANADENSIS. U.S. Hemlock Pitch. " Pinus Canadensis. Succus concretus praeparatus. The prepared concrete juice." U.S. Pinus. See TEREBINTHINA. Pinus Canadensis. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 505.—Abies Canadensis. Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. iii. 185. This is the hemlock spruce of the United States and Canada. When of full growth it is often seventy or eighty feet high, with a trunk two or three feet in diameter, and of nearly uniform dimensions for two-thirds of its length. The branches are slender, and dependent at their extremities. The leaves are very numerous, six or eight lines long, flat, denticulate, and irregularly arranged in two rows. The strobiles are ovate, little longer than the leaves, pendulous, and situated at the ends of the branches. The tree is abundant in Canada, Nova Scotia, and the more northern parts of New England; and is found in the elevated and mountainous regions of the Middle States. Its bark abounds in the astringent principle, and is much used for tanning in the northern parts of the United States. It con- tains much less juice than some other species of pine; and very little flows 516 Pix Canadensis.—Pix Liquida. part i. from incisions made into its trunk. But in the trees which have attained their full growth, and are about or have begun to decay, the juice exudes spontaneously, and hardens upon the bark in consequence of the partial evaporation or oxidation of its essential oil. The bark thus incrusted is stripped from the tree, broken into pieces of convenient size, and boiled in water. The pitch melts, rises to the surface, is skimmed off, and is still further purified by a second boiling in water. It is brought to Philadelphia from the North of Pennsylvania, in dark coloured brittle masses, which on being broken exhibit numerous minute fragments of bark, interspersed through their substance. From these it is purified in the shops by melting and straining through linen or canvass.* Thus prepared it is hard, brittle, quite opaque, of a dark yellowish-brown colour, which becomes still darker by exposure to the air, of a weak pecu- liar odour, and scarcely any taste. It softens and becomes adhesive with a moderate heat, and melts at 198° F. Its constituents are resin and a minute proportion of essential oil. It is most generally known by the incorrect name of hemlock gum. Medical Properties and Uses. Hemlock pitch is a gentle rubefacient, closely analogous to Burgundy pitch in its properties, and employed for pre- cisely the same purposes. W. —»•»© © ©<«••— PIX LIQUIDA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tar. " Pinus palustris et aliae. Terebinthina empyreumatica. The impure tur- pentine procured by burning." U.S. " Pinus sylvestris. Resinapraeparata liquida." Lond. " E speciebus Pini diversis." Dub. Off Syn. PINI RESINA EMPYREUMATICA, vulgo, PIX LI- QUIDA. Ed. Goudron, Fr.; Theer, Germ.; Pece liquida, Ital.; Alquitran, Span. The tar used in this country is prepared from the wood of various spe- cies of pine, particularly the Pinus palustris of the Southern States, the P. australis of Michaux. (See Terebinthina.) The dead wood is usually selected, because, when vegetation ceases, the resinous matter becomes con- centrated in the interior layers. The wood is cut into billets of a conve- nient size, which are placed together so as to form a large stack or pile, and are then covered with earth as in the process for making charcoal. The stack is built upon a small circular mound of earth previously prepared, the summit of which gradually declines from the circumference to the centre, where a small cavity is formed, communicating by a conduit with a shallow ditch surrounding the mound. Fire is applied through an opening in the top of the pile, and a slow combustion is maintained, so that the resinous matter may be melted by the heat. This runs into the cavity in the centre of the mound, and passes thence by the conduit into the ditch, whence it is emptied into barrels. Immense quantities of tar are thus prepared in North Carolina and the south-eastern parts of Virginia, sufficient, after supplying our own consumption, to afford a large surplus for exportation. Considerable quantities of tar are also prepared in the lower parts of New * See a paper by Mr. Charles Ellis in the Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vol. ii. p. 18. part i. Pix Liquida.—Pix Nigra.—Plumbum. 517 Jersey, in some portions of New England, and in Pennsylvania west of the Alleghany mountains, from the Pinus rigida, or pitch pine, and perhaps from some other species. Properties. Tar has a peculiar empyreumatic odour, a bitterish resinous somewhat acid taste, a colour almost black, and a tenacious consistence intermediate between that of a liquid and solid. It consists chiefly of resin, united with acetic acid and empyreumatic oil, and coloured with charcoal. The empyreumatic oil obtained by distillation from tar has been ascertained by Dr. Reichenbach, of Moravia, to contain six distinct principles, which he has named paraffine, eupione, creosote, picamar, capnomor, and pittacal. Of these only picamar and creosote merit particular attention; the former as the principle to which tar owes its bitterness, the latter as the one upon which it probably depends chiefly for its medical virtues. (See Creasoton.) Tar yields a small proportion of its constituents to water, which is thus ren- dered medicinal, and is employed under the name of tar water. By long boiling the liquid parts are evaporated, and the tar is converted into pitch, the Pix Nigra of the London College. Medical Properties and Uses. The medical properties of tar are similar to those of the turpentines. It is sometimes used in chronic coughs, and, when the disease depends on chronic bronchial inflammation, with occa- sional advantage. Little benefit can be expected from it in genuine phthisis, in the treatment of which it was formerly highly recommended. Dr. Bate- man employed it advantageously as an internal remedy in ichthyosis. Its vapour, inhaled into the lungs, has been found serviceable in numerous cases of bronchial disease. Externally applied, in the state of ointment, it is a very efficient remedy in tinea capitis, or scald head, and in some cases of psoriasis; and has been used with advantage in foul or indolent ulcers, and some other affections of the skin. It.may be used in the form of tar water, Aqua Picis Liquidse, or in sub- stance made into pills with wheat flour, or mixed with sugar in the form of an electuary. The dose is from half a drachm to a drachm, and may be repeated so as to amount to three or four drachms daily. Off. Prep. Aqua Picis Liquida?, Dub.; Unguentum Picis Liquidae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. PIX NIGRA. Lond. Black Pitch. " Pinus sylvestris. Resina prseparata solida." Lond. This is the solid black mass left after the evaporation of the liquid parts of tar. (See Pix Liquida.) It is employed only as an external remedy. Off. Prep. Unguentum Picis Nigrae, Lond. W. PLUMBUM. Lead. Plomb, Fr.; Blei, Germ.; Lood, Dutch; Piombo, Ital; Plomo, Span.; Chumbo, Port. Lead is not officinal in its metallic state; but enters into a number of im- portant medicinal preparations. It occurs in nature in three principal states— 45 51S Plumbum. part i. as an oxide: as a sulphuret called galena; and in the srdine state, forming the native sulphate, phosphate, carbonate, chromate, molybdate, and arseniate of lead. The oxide is rare, but galena is exceedingly abundant and diffused, and is the ore from which all the lead of commerce is extracted. The pro- cess of extraction consists merely in melting the ore in contact with charcoal. Mines of galena occur in different parts of the world, but the richest and most extensive are found in our own country. The lead region of the United States extends in length from the Wisconsin in the north, to the Red river of Arkansas in the south, and in breadth about one hundred and fifty miles. It is only of latter years that these mines have been extensively worked. Properties. Lead is a soft, bluish-white, and very malleable metal, present- ing a bright surface when newly melted or cut. It has a perceptible taste, and a peculiar smell when rubbed. It undergoes but little change in the air, but is corroded by the combined action of air and water. Its sp. gr. is 11.4, melting point about 600°, and equivalent number 103.6. Exposed to a stream of oxygen on ignited charcoal, it burns with a blue flame, throwing off dense yellow fumes. The best solvent of lead is nitric acid; but the presence of sulphuric acid destroys, and that of muriatic acid lessens its solvent power, on account of the insolubility of the compounds which these acids form with the metal. Lead forms four oxides, a dinoxide, protoxide, peroxide, and red oxide. The dinoxide consists of two equivalents of lead and one of oxygen. The protoxide, called in commerce massicot, may be obtained by calcining, in a platinum crucible, the subnitrate of lead, formed by precipitating a solution of the nitrate with ammonia. On a large scale it is manufactured by exposing melted lead to the action of the air. Its surface becomes incrusted with a gray pellicle, which being scraped off, is quickly succeeded by another; and ihe whole of the metal, being in this way suc- cessively presented to the air, becomes converted into a greenish-gray pow- der, consisting of protoxide and metallic lead. This, by exposure to a moderate heat, absorbs more oxygen, and is converted entirely into protoxide. This oxide has a yellow colour, and is the one present in the salts of lead. It consists of one equiv. of lead 103.6, and one of oxygen 8 = 111.6. A variety of this oxide, called litharge, is very much used in pharmacy, and is officinal in all the Pharmacopoeias. (See Plumbi Oxidum Semivitreum.) The peroxide, called also puce oxide from its ^ea-brown colour, may be obtained by treating red lead with nitric acid. The acid takes up the pro- toxide, and leaves the peroxide, which may be purified by washing with boiling water. It is a tasteless powder, of a dark-brown colour. When heated to redness it loses half its oxygen, and becomes protoxide. It con- sists of one equiv. of lead 103.6, and two equiv. of oxygen 16=119.6. The red oxide, called in commerce minium, or red lead, is officinal with the Edinburgh College, and is described under another head. (See Oxidum Plumbi Rubrum.) Lead combines also with chlorine, forming a sparingly soluble chloride. This combination is precipitated whenever a muriate or chloride in solution is added to a soluble salt of lead. The salts of lead are numerous and important.. The nitrate is in the form of white crystals, and the sulphate in that of an insoluble white powder. The best tests of this metal are sulphuretted hydrogen, and a solution of iodide of potassium. The former produces a dark-brown precipitate of sulphuret of lead, the latter, a yellow one of iodide of lead. Medical Properties and Uses. The effects of lead in its various combina- tions are those of a sedative and astringent. It is used internally for the purpose of reducing vascular action, and restraining inordinate discharges; and externally as an abater of inflammation. When introduced into&the PART I. Plumbum. 519 system by imperceptible degrees, it acts injuriously on the nervous system, producing a peculiar colic, called lead colic, and palsy which is almost always partial and incomplete. It has been asserted by Dr. A. T. Thomson, of London, that of all the ordinary preparations of lead, the carbonate is the most virulent; and that those salts which are easily convertible into the carbonate are also highly poisonous. On the other hand, those combinations which are not susceptible of this change, such as the nitrate, muriate, &c. may be given in large doses to inferior animals, without perceptible inconve- nience. If these views should prove correct, it would follow that the best antidote to the poisonous effects of lead, would be the free use of vinegar, to convert the carbonate into the soluble acetate. According to M. Gendrin, sulphuric acid, prepared like lemonade, and used both internally and externally, is a remedy and prophylactic for the poisonous effects of lead, especially the lead colic. (Amer. Journ. of Med. Sci. xv. 528.) Its powers, however, for either purpose, are positively denied by Dr. A. Grisolle, who appears to have made very careful experi- ments to determine the point. This writer recommends that workmen em- ployed in lead manufactories should use frequent baths, avoid intemperance, and always eat before they enter upon their work in the morning. He sup- poses that in the great majority of cases the metal is introduced into the system through the stomach by means of the saliva or food. (Ibid. xix. 146 et seq.) Pharm. Preparations. The following table embraces a list of all the officinal preparations containing lead in the United Slates and British Phar- macopoeias. Oxidum Plumbi Rubrum, Ed. Plumbi Oxidum Semivitreum, U.S.; Plumbi Oxydum, Lond.; Oxidum Plumbi Semivitreum, Ed.; Plumbi Oxydum Semivitreum, Dub. Anglice, Litharge. Ceratum Saponis, U.S., Lond. Emplastrum Plumbi, U.S., Lond.; Emplastrum Oxidi Plumbi Se- mivitrei, Ed.; Emplastrum Lithargyri, Dub. Anglice, Lead plaster, Litharge plaster.* Unguentum Plumbi Compositum, Lond. Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis, U.S.; Liquor Plumbi Diacetatis, Lond.; Plumbi Subacetatis Liquor, Dub. Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutus, U.S.; Liquor Plumbi Diace- tatis Dilutus, Lond.; Plumbi Subacetatis Liquor Composi- tus, Dub. Anglice, Lead-water. \ Ceratum Plumbi Subacetatis, U.S.; Ceratum Plumbi Composi- tum, Lond. Anglice, Goulard's cerate. Plumbi Oxydum Hydratum, Lond. Plumbi Chloridum, Lond. Plumbi lodidum, Lond. Unguentum Plumbi Iodidi, Lond. Plumbi Acetas, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Acetas Plumbi, Ed. Ceratum Plumbi Acetatis, Lond.; Unguentum Acetatis Plumbi, Ed.; Unguentum Plumbi Acetatis, Dub. Plumbi Carbonas, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Carbonas V\umhi, Ed. Unguentum Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S., Dub.; Unguentum Carbonatis Plumbi, Ed. Emplastrum Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S. Ceratum Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S. B. * This plaster forms the basis of a number of other plasters. 520 Plumbi Acetas. PART I. PLUMBI ACETAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Acetate of Lead. Off. Syn. ACETAS PLUMBI. Ed. Sugar of lead; Saccharum Saturni, Cerussa acetata, Lat; Acetate de plomb, Sucre de plomb, Sel de Saturne, Fr.; Essigsaurcs Bleioxyd, Bleizucker, Germ.; Zucchero di Sa- turno, Ital; Azucar de plomo, Span. Directions are given by the three British Colleges for preparing acetate of lead; but as it is seldom or never prepared by the apothecary, and may be obtained in the greatest perfection, and at a cheap rate, from the. manufac- turing chemist, it is more properly placed, in the United States Pharmaco- poeia, in the catalogue of the Materia Medica. Preparation. Sugar of lead is obtained by two methods. By one me- thod, thin plates of lead are placed in shallow vessels filled with distilled vinegar, in such a manner as to have a part of each plate rising above the vinegar; and they are turned from time to time, so as to bring different por- tions of the metallic surface in contact with the air. The metal becomes protoxidized, and dissolves in the vinegar to saturation, and the solution is evaporated to the point of crystallization. This process is a slow one, but furnishes a salt which is perfectly neutral. The other method consists in dissolving, by the assistance of heat, litharge, or the protoxide of lead ob- tained by calcination, in an excess of distilled vinegar or purified pyrolig- neous acid, contained in leaden boilers. The oxide is quickly dissolved, and when the vinegar has become saturated, the solution is transferred to other vessels to cool and crystallize. The crystals having formed, the mother waters are decanted, and, by a new evaporation, made to yield a new crop. These are generally of a yellow colour, but may be purified by repeated solutions and crystallizations. The processes of the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges for preparing this salt, agree in directing the solution of carbonate of lead (white lead) in dilute acetic acid, or distilled vinegar, but we do not deem it expedient to copy them, as they are ineligible and expensive. The London College di- rects litharge instead of the carbonate in the process. Sugar of lead is extensively manufactured in Germany, Holland, France, and England; its principal consumption being caused by the arts of dyeing and calico-printing, in which it is employed to form with alum the acetate of alumina, which is used as a mordant. By far the larger part consumed in the United States is obtained from foreign countries, principally from England and France; a comparatively small portion only being made in our own laboratories. Properties. Acetate of lead is a white salt, crystallized in brilliant needles, which have the shape of long prisms, terminated by dihedral sum- mits. Its taste is at first sweet and afterwards astringent. Exposed to the air, it effloresces slowly. It dissolves in four times its weight of cold, and in a much smaller quantity of boiling water. It is soluble also in alcohol. Carbonic acid water, as well as common water, which uniformly contains this acid, produces a slight precipitate of carbonate of lead in the commer- cial acetate. The production of this precipitate, which interferes with the clearness of the solution, may be prevented by the addition of a small portion of vinegar, or of dilute acetic acid. In pure di.stilled water, free from carbonic acid, it ought to dissolve entirely, and form a clear solution. Sulphuric acid or a soluble sulphate, when added to a solu- PART r. Plumbi Acetas. 521 tion of the acetate of lead, produces instantly a precipitate of sulphate of lead; the acid disengaging, at the same time, acetic vapours. An impor- tant property of sugar of lead is its power of dissolving a large quantity of protoxide of lead. (See Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis.) It consists of "one equiv. of acetic acid 51.48, one of protoxide of lead, 111.6, and three of water 27 = 190.08. lncompatibles. Acetate of lead is decomposed by all acids, and by those soluble salts formed from them, which produce with protoxide of lead in- soluble or sparingly soluble compounds. Acids of this character are the sulphuric, muriatic, citric, and tartaric. It is also decomposed by lime- water, and by ammonia, potassa, and soda; the last two, if added in excess, dissolving the precipitate at first formed. It is decomposed by hard water, in consequence of the sulphate of lime and common salt, which such water usually contains. With sulphuretted hydrogen, it gives a black pre- cipitate of sulphuret of lead; with iodide of potassium, a yellow one of iodide of lead; and with carbonate of soda, a white one of carbonate of lead. Medical Properties and Uses. Acetate of lead, in medicinal doses, is a powerful astringent and sedative, and in large ones, an irritant poison, pro- ducing inflammation of the alimentary canal, if the patient survive for some time; but if the quantity taken be large, the stom ch is apt to present a pecu- liar blanched appearance. The danger, however, from over-doses of sugar of lead is not so great as is generally supposed. It has sometimes been given in pretty large doses in regular practice, without any bad effects, and cases are on record where a quarter of an ounce has been swallowed with- out proving fatal. According to Dr. A. T. Thomson, the poisonous quality of this salt is to be attributed to its tendency to become converted into car- bonate in the stomach; and hence he finds that if it be mixed with vinegar, it may be freely and safely administered in medical practice. The principal diseases in which it has been exhibited, are hemorrhages, particularly from the lungs, intestines, and uterus. Its effect in restraining the discharge of blood is admitted to be very powerful. It has also been used with advantage in certain forms of dysentery and diarrhcea, and has been recommended in particular stages of cholera infantum. It sometimes proves a valuable re- medy in checking vomiting. Dr. Irvine, of Charleston, in his treatise on yellow fever, recommends it to compose the irritability of the stomach in that disease; and Dr. Davis of Columbia, S. C, used it with benefit in the irritable stomach attendant on bilious fever. It has been much extolled by several German practitioners in dothinenteritis, or the typhoid fever attend- ed with ulcerations of the intestines. In some of these cases it was advan- tageously combined with carbonate of ammonia. (Am. Journ. of Med Sci. xix. 200. from the Mcdicinische Zeitung.) In mercurial salivation, M. Brachet, of Lyons, found sugar of lead very efficacious, administered in grain pills, night and morning. Several cases of severe salivation of seve- ral months' duration, wHich had resisted the use of opium, purgatives, &c. were speedily relieved by the remedy. (Ibid. xxii. 203.) When employing this medicine, the practitioner should always bear in mind, that, when long continued in small doses, it is apt to produce dan- gerous constitutional effects. These effects are of two kinds; 1. an affec- tion of the alimentary canal, attended with violent pain and obstinate con- stipation, called colica pictonum, or lead colic; 2. a chronic affection of the muscles, especially of the extensors of the upper extremities, characterized by an excessive wasting of these organs, and denominated lead palsy. Both these affections are very apt to be excited in those artisans who work in 44* 522 Plumbi Acetas.—Plumbi Carbonas. part i. lead. Acetate of lead, when combined with opium, is less apt to produce these deleterious effects, and, according to Dr. Thomson, when taken with vinegar, is rendered entirely safe, as above mentioned. Its solution is fre- quently used as a collyrium; and applied by means of cloths, or mixed with crumb of bread, it forms a good application to superficial inflammation. For the latter purpose, the dilute solution of subacetate of lead is better. (See Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis Dilutus.) The dose of sugar of lead is Irom one to two grains, in the form of pill, repeated every two or three hours. The solution for external use may be made by dissolving from two drachms to half an ounce of the salt in a pint of water; and if it be wanted clear, a fluidrachm of vinegar or dilute acetic acid may be added, which immediately dissolves the carbonate of lead, to which ils turbidness is owing. The usual strength of the solution as a collyrium is from one to two grains to the fluid- ounce of water. Off. Prep. Ceratum Plumbi Acetatis, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Liquor Plum- bi Subacetatis, U. S., Lond.; Plumbi Chloridum, Lond.; Plumbi lodidum, Lond. B. PLUMBI CARBONAS. U.S., Lond. Carbonate of Lead. Off. Syn. CARBONAS PLUMBI. Ed.; PLUMBI CARBONAS. CERUSSA. Dub. White lead; Ceruse, Carbonate de plomb, Blanc de plomb, Blanc de ceruse, Fr.; Blei- weiss, Germ.; Cerussa, Lat., Ital; Albayalde, Span. Preparation. Carbonate of lead is prepared by two principal methods. By one method it is obtained by passing a stream of carbonic acid, pro- ceeding from a fire of charcoal, through a solution of subacetate of lead. The carbonic acid combines with the excess of protoxide and precipitates as carbonate of lead, while a neutral acetate remains in solution. This, by being boiled with a fresh portion of protoxide, is again brought to the state of subacetate, when it is treated with carbonic acid as before. In this way the same portion of acetate repeatedly serves the purpose of being convert- ed into subacetate, and of being decomposed by carbonic acid. The carbo- nate obtained is washed, dried by a gentle heat, and thrown into commerce. This process, which produces white lead of the first quality, was invented and made public by Thenard, about the year 1802, and is that which is pur- sued in France and Sweden. According to the experiments of G. Bischof, it is not the subacetate only which is precipitated by carbonic acid gas. This writer asserts that the solution of the neutral acetate also is precipitated by a stream of this gas, until the acetic acid attains a certain degree of excess, greater or less according to the degree of dilution of the solution, when the carbonic acid no longer occasions a precipitate. Thus when 100 parts of sugar of lead were dis- solved in 500 of water, 16 parts of protoxide were precipitated in the form of carbonate; but when the same quantity of the salt was dissolved in 1300 parts of water, the precipitate amounted to near 40 parts. On dilu- ting the solution to a greater extent, it did not appear that any further increase of the precipitated oxide was occasioned. (Annalen der Pharm. xx. 177.) The other method, which consists in exposing lead to the vapours of vinegar, originated in Holland, and is pursued in England and the United PART I. Plumbi Carbonas. 523 States; but in England, with some modifications, which are kept secret. We shall describe the process as pursued by our own manufacturers. The lead is cast into thin sheets, made by pouring the melted metal over an oblong sheet-iron shovel, with a flat bottom, and raised edges on its sides, which is held in a slanting direction over the melting pot. As many of these sheets are then loosely rolled up as may be sufficient to form a cylinder five or six inches in diameter, and seven or eight high, which is placed in an earthen pot containing about half a pint of vinegar, and having within a few inches from the bottom, three equidistant projecting portions in the earthenware, on which the cylinder of lead is designed to rest, in order to keep it from con- tact with the vinegar. The pots thus prepared are placed side by side, in horizontal layers, in a building roughly constructed of boards, with interstices between them. The first layer is covered with boards, on which a stratum of tan or refuse straw from the stables is strewed; and fresh layers of pots, boards, and straw, are successively placed, until the whole building is filled. The sides also are enclosed with straw. The pile of pots, called a bed, is allowed to remain undisturbed for about six weeks, at the end of which time it is taken down, and the cylinder of lead in each pot, though still retaining its shape, is found almost entirely converted into a flaky, white, friable sub- stance, which is the white lead. This is separated from the lead yet re- maining in the metallic state, ground in water, whereby it is washed and reduced to fine powder, and finally dried in long, shallow reservoirs, usually heated by steam. The theory of the above process is not well understood. It is generally supposed that the vinegar by its decomposition furnishes the oxygen and part of the carbonic acid to the lead; the remainder of this acid being sup- plied by the decomposition of the tan or straw, which is found to undergo a kind of fermentation. This fermentation maintains the requisite degree of heat, which should be about 113°. If the temperature falls below 95°, a part of the lead escapes corrosion, and if it rises above 122°, the product is yellow. According to Berzelius, the white lead made by this process is of better quality, the more perfectly the air is excluded, a fact which, if well found- ed, proves that the metal is not oxidized at the expense of the oxygen of the air. It is never perfectly white when straw is used, in consequence of the production of a little sulphuretted hydrogen by the fermentation of the straw. It would be an improvement in the process, if the requisite tempera- ture could be maintained without the use of fermentable materials; and it is probable that a mode of effecting this object is one peculiarity of the English process. The form of acetic acid usually employed is common vinegar; but the variable nature of that liquid as to strength and purity is an objection to ils use; and, accordingly, other forms of the acid have been substituted for it with advantage, such as the purified acetic acid from wood, sufficiently diluted, and potato vinegar. The consumption of white lead is principally supplied from our own manufactories. Properties. Carbonate of lead is a heavy, opaque, insoluble substance, in powder or friable lumps, of a fine white colour, inodorous, and nearly insipid. Its beauty as a pigment depends in great measure on the purity of the lead from which, it is manufactured. It is sometimes adulterated with chalk, or sulphate of baryta in fine powder, and sulphate of lead is occa- sionally present. Chalk may be detected by dissolving the suspected white lead in vinegar, and adding oxalate of ammonia, which will cause a white precipitate; and if the sulphates of baryta and lead be present, they will remain undissolved on the addition of nitric acid. Carbonate of lead is an anhydrous salt, and consists of one equivalent of carbonic acid 22.12, and 524 Plumbi Carbonas.— Oxidum Plumbi Rubrum. part i. one of protoxide of lead 111.6 = 133.72. In their revised Pharmacopoeia of 1836, the London College have corrected the error of calling it a sub- carbonate. Medical Properties and Uses. White lead is ranked in the materia medica as an astringent and sedative. It is employed externally only, being used as an application to ulcers, and to inflamed and excoriated surfaces. It has been recommended as an external application in facial neuralgia. (Journ. de Pharm. x.\. 603.) It is used either by sprinkling the powder on the part, or in the form of cerate or ointment. (See Ceratum and Un- guentum Plumbi Carbonatis.) Its external use, however, is viewed by many practitioners as extremely dangerous, on account of the risk of absorp- tion; but the danger is certainly overrated, as we have the testimony of resppctable physicians that they frequently use it in this way, without the least unpleasant result. Of the different preparations of lead, the carbonate is considered to be the most virulently poisonous. Being very extensively manufactured for the purposes of the arts, it is that preparation also which most frequently pro- duces the peculiar spasmodic colic, called colica pictonum. This disease is characterized by pain about the rogion of the navel, and by obstinate constipa- tion, aitended with a frequent desire to evacuate the bowels, and is supposed to depend upon a spasmodic constriction of the intestinal tube, particularly of that portion called the colon. The principal indications in the treatment are, first to relax the spasm, and then to evacuate the bowels by the gentlest means. Opium and mild aperients are accordingly the best remedies, and among the latter castor oil and sulphate of magnesia are to be preferred. Indeed this latter appears peculiarly adapted to the case; for while it acts as an aperient, it operates as a counterpoison, by forming the inert sulphate of lead with any preparation of the metal which it may meet with in the bowels. Calomel is often useful in particular states of the disease, and if it happen to induce ptyalism, the disease immediately yields. If the views of Dr. A. T. Thomson should be confirmed, of the compara- tive safety of the soluble salts of lead, they would teach the propriety of allowing the workmen in white lead works, a daily portion of vinegar with their food. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S.; Unguentum Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Plumbi Acetas, Dub., Ed. B. OXIDUM PLUMBI RUBRUM. Ed. Red Oxide of Lead. Red lead, Minium; Deutoxide de plomb, Minium, Fr.; Menning, Germ.; Minio, Ital, Span. Preparation. Red lead is prepared on the large scale in a furnace, with the flour slightly concave and the roof arched, presenting a general resem- blance to a baker's oven. The lead is placed on the floor, and gradually raised to a red heat, whereby it melts and becomes covered with a pellicle of protoxide, which is removed by means of a long iron scraper; and ihe pellicles, as they successively form, are scraped off, until the whole of the metal has been converted into them. The product is subjeted to further cal- cination with occasional stirring, for some time, with a view to oxidize any particles of metallic lead. It is thus rendered yellow, and constitutes the part i. Oxidum Plumbi Rubrum. 525 protoxide of lead, or massicot. This is taken out of the furnace and thrown upon a level pavement, and cooled by being sprinkled with water. It is next reduced to fine powder by trituration and levigation, and dried; and in this state is introduced into large, shallow, square lin boxes, which are placed in another furnace, closed from the air, and heated nearly to red- ness; the heat being allowed gradually to fall during a period of from twenty- four to thirty hours. At the end of this time the protoxide of lead will have combined with an additional quantity of oxygen, and become the red oxide. This is taken out, and, having been passed through a fine wire sieve, is packed in barrels for the purposes of commerce. The above is an outline of the French process for making red lead. In England and the United States, the calcination of the protoxide is not per- formed in tin boxes, but by replacing it in the furnace in which it was first calcined. To save the first calcination, litharge is generally used for making the red lead of commerce, which consequently contains the impuri- ties of that substance, consisting of iron, copper, a little silver, and silica. The presence of copper is hurtful in red lead, when used for making glass, to which this metal communicates colour. In order to have red lead of good quality, it should be made in large quantities at a time. It is also important that it be slowly cooled; for as the absorption of oxygen by which it is formed, takes place during a particular interval of temperature only, it is necessary that the heat within that interval should be maintained sufficiently long to allow all the protoxide to absorb it3 appropriate dose of oxygen. Properties, fyc. Red lead is in the form of a heavy, scaly powder, of a bright red colour, with a slight shade of orange. Its sp. gr. is about 9. When exposed to heat it gives off oxygen, and is reduced to the state of protoxide. It is sometimes adulterated with red oxide of iron, or red bole, substances which may be detected by dissolving the suspected red lead in nitric acid, and testing with tincture of galls. This reagent will produce a black precipitate, in consequence of the iron present in the substances men- tioned. If powdered brick be present, it will be left undissolved upon treat- ing the suspected specimen with muriatic acid. When free from impurities, it is completely reduced on charcoal, by means of the blowpipe, into a globule of metallic lead. When treated by nitric acid, it is resolved into protoxide which dissolves, and peroxide which remains insoluble. The red lead of commerce may be considered as a mixture of what may be called the true red oxide, and variable proportions of protoxide. That this is its nature is proved by the action of cold dilute acetic acid, not used in excess, which takes up a variable quantity of protoxide, leaving a portion unchanged in colour, which may be deemed the pure red oxide. This latter, when analyzed by nitric acid, has been proved, by the coincident results of Dalton, Dumas, and Phillips, to consist of two equiv. of protoxide, and one of peroxide, corresponding with three equiv. of lead, and four of oxygen. (Journ. of Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 162, from Phil. Mag. N. S. iii. 125.) JMedical Properties and Uses. Red lead is officinal only with the Edin- burgh College, and is employed exclusively as an external application, entering into the composition of some non-officinal ointments and plasters. Its chief use is in the arts, as a paint and as an ingredient in flint glass. B. 526 Plumbi Oxidum Semivitreum. part i. PLUMBI OXIDUM SEMIVITREUM. U.S. Semivitrifed Oxide of Lead. Off. Syn. PLUMBI OXYDUM. Plumbi Oxydum (semivitreum). Lond.; OXIDUM PLUMBI SEMIVITREUM. Ed.; PLUMBI OXY- DUM SEMIVITREUM. LITHARGYRUM. Dub. Litharge; Oxide de plomb fondu, Litharge, Fr.; Lithargyrus, hat.; Bleiglatte, Germ.; Litargirio, Ital; Almartaga, Span. When the protoxide of lead is rendered crystalline by fusion, it becomes the semivitrified oxide, or litharge. Almost all the litharge of commerce is obtained in the process for extracting silver from argentiferous galenas. After extracting the argentiferous lead from the ore, the alloy is calcined in the open air; whereupon the lead becomes oxidized, and by fusion passes into the state of litharge, while the silver remains behind. The following is an outline of the process. Preparation. The lead containing the silver is placed upon an oval slightly excavated dish, about three feet long and twenty inches wide, called a test, made by beating pulverized bone-earth formed into a paste with water, into a mould, the sides of which are formed of an elliptical band of iron, and the bottom, of strips of sheet iron, placed a short distance apart. The test is of such a size as exactly to fit an opening in the floor of a reverberatory furnace, where it is placed, and adjusted to the level of the floor. On one side of the test the fire place is situated, and exactly opposite, the chimney; while at one extremity of it the pipe of a strong bellows is placed, and at the other a vertical hole is made, communicating with a gutter leading from the centre of the test. The furnace is now lighted, and shortly afterwards the bellows is put in motion. The lead fuses and combines with oxygen, and the resulting oxide melting also, forms a stratum which swims on the sur- face, and which is driven by the blast of the bellows along the gutter, and through the vertical hole, into a recipient below, where, upon solidifying, it crystallizes in small scales, which form the litharge. In proportion as the lead is oxidized and blown off the test, fresh portions are added, so as to keep it always sufficiently full. The process is continued for eight or ten days, after which no more lead is added. The operation is now confined to the metal remaining on the test; and, the oxidizement proceeding, a period at last arrives when the whole of the lead has run off as litharge, and the silver, known to be pure by its brilliant appearance in the fused state, alone remains. This is then removed, and the process repeated on a fresh portion of argentiferous lead. Properties. Litharge is in the form of small, brilliant, vitrified scales, some presenting a red, and some a yellow colour. It is devoid of taste or smell. It slowly attracts carbonic acid from the air, and contains more of this acid the longer it has been prepared. It is on this account that it effer- vesces with th stronger acids. In dilute nitric acid it should be almost entirely soluble. As it occurs in commerce, it usually contains iron, copper, and a little silver and silica. The English litharge is most esteemed; that from Germany being generally contaminated with iron and copper. In choosing litharge, samples should be selected which are free from copper, and from fragments of vegetable matter. This metal is detected, if upon adding ferrocyanate of potassa to a nitric solution of the litharge, a brown instead of a white precipitate is produced. Two varieties of litharge are distin- guished in commerce, named from their colour, and dependent on differences part i. Plumbi Oxidum Semivitreum.—Podophyllum. 527 in the process for making it. Sometimes it has a pale yellow colour and silvery appearance, and is then denominated litharge of silver, or yellow litharge; at other times it is of a red colour, and is known under the name of litharge of gold, or red litharge. In composition, litharge is essentially identical with the protoxide of lead. (See Plumbum.) The carbonic acid which it contains is variable, dependent on the length of time it has been prepared; but its average amount is about four per cent. Pharmaceutical Uses, Src. Litharge is never used internally, but is employed in several pharmaceutical operations, and forms an ingredient in various external applications, which ^re used for abating inflammation, and for other purposes. Combined with olive oil it forms the Emplastrum Plumbi, which is the basis of a majority of the preparations technically called Plasters. (See Emplastra.) In the arts it is extensively employed in the glazing of pottery, in painting to render oils drying, and as an ingre- dient in flint glass. Off.Prep. Ceratum Saponis, U.S., Lond.; Emplastrum Plumbi, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Liquor Plumbi Subacetatis, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Plumbi Acetas, Lond. B. PODOPHYLLUM. U.S. May-apple. "Podophyllum peltatum. Radix. The root." U.S. Podophyllum. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Ranun- culi, Juss.; Podophylleae, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx three-leaved. Corolla nine-petaled. Berry one-celled, crowned with the stigma. Willd. Podophyllum peltatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii, 1141; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 34; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 9. The may apple, known also by the name of mandrake, is an indigenous herbaceous plant, and the only species belonging to the genus. The root is perennial, creeping, usually several feet in length, about one quarter of an inch thick, of a brown colour externally, smooth, jointed, and furnished with radicles at the joints. The stem is about a foot high, erect, round, smooth, divided at top into two petioles, and sup- porting at the fork a solitary one-flowered peduncle. Each petiole bears a large peltate, palmate leaf, with six or seven wedge-shaped lobes, irregularly incised at the extremity, yellowish-green on their upper surface, paler and slightly pubescent beneath. The flower is nodding. The calyx is composed of three oval, obtuse, concave, deciduous leaves. The corolla has from six to nine white, fragrant petals, which are obovate, obtuse, concave, with deli- cate transparent veins. The stamens are from thirteen to twenty, shorter than the petals, with oblong yellow anthers of twice the length of the fila- ments. The stigma is sessile, and rendered irregular on its surface by numerous folds or convolutions. The fruit is a large oval berry, crowned with the persistent stigma, and containing a sweetish fleshy pulp, in which about twelve ovate seeds are imbedded. It is, when ripe, of a lemon-yellow colour, interrupted by round brownish spots. The plant is extensively diffused throughout the United States, growing luxuriantly in moist shady woods, and in low marshy grounds. It is propa- gated by its creeping root, and is often found in large patches. The flowers 52S Podophyllum. PART I. appear about the* end of May and beginning of June; and the fruit ripens in the latter part of September. The leaves are said to be poisonous. The fruit has a subacid, sweetish, peculiar taste, agreeable to some palates, and may be eaten freely with impunity. From its colour and shape it is some- times called icild lemon. The root is the officinal portion, and is said to be most efficient when collected after the falling of the leaves. It shrinks con- siderably in drying. Properties. The dried root is in pieces about two lines in thickness, with swelling, broad, flattened joints at short intervals. It is much wrinkled lengthwise, is yellowish or reddish-brown externally, and furnished with fibres of a similar, but somewhat paler colour. The fracture is short and irregular, and the internal colour whitish. The powder is light yellowish- gray, resembling that of jalap. The root in its aggregate state is nearly in- odorous; but in powder has a sweetish not unpleasant smell. The taste is at first sweetish, afterwards bitter, nauseous, and slightly acrid. The decoc- tion and tincture are bitter. A peculiar bitter principle has been discovered in the root by William Hodgson, jun. of Philadelphia. It is in pale brown shining scales, unalterable in the air, very sparingly soluble in cold water, much more soluble in boiling water, soluble also in ether, and freely so in boiling alcohol. It, has neither acid nor alkaline properties. Nitric acid dissolves it with effervescence, producing a rich deep red colour. Its taste, at first not very decided in consequence of its sparing solubility, becomes at length very bitter and permanent; and its alcoholic solution is intensely bitter. Should it be found to be the purgative principle of the plant, it would be entitled to the name of podophyllin. It may be obtained by boiling the root with quicklime in water, straining the decoction, precipitating the lime with sulphate of zinc, evaporating the clear solution to the consistence of an extract, treating this with cold alcohol of 0.817, filtering and evaporating the alcoholic solution, and treating the residue with boiling distilled water, which deposites the bitter principle on cooling. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. 273.) Medical Properties and Uses. Podophyllum is an active and certain cathartic, producing copious liquid discharges without much griping or other unpleasant effect. In some cases it has given rise to nausea and even vomiting, but the same result is occasionally experienced from every active cathartic. Its operation resembles that of jalap; but is rather slower, and is thought by some to be more drastic. It is applicable to most inflamma- tory affections which require brisk purging; and is much employed in various parts of the country, especially combined with calomel, in bilious fevers and hepatic congestions. It is also frequently used in connexion with the supertartrate of potassa in dropsical, rheumatic, and scrofulous complaints. The dose of the powdered root is about twenty grains. An extract is pre- pared from it possessing all its virtues in a smaller bulk. (See Extractum Podophylli.) In minute doses frequently repeated, podophyllum is said to diminish the frequency of the pulse, and to relieve cough; and for these effects is sometimes used in haemoptysis, catarrh, and other pulmonary affections. Off.Prep. Extractum Podophylli, U.S. W. part i. Poly gala Rubella.— Polygoni Bistortx Radix. 529 POLYGALA RUBELLA. U.S. Secondary. Bitter Poly gala. " Polygala rubella. Planta. The plant." U.S. Polygala. See SENEGA. Polygala rubella. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 875; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 129.^—P. polygama. Walter, Flor. Car. 179; Pursh, Flor. Am. Sept. 465. This species of Polygala is an indigenous, perennial plant, with a branching, somewhat fusiform root, which sends up annually numerous simple, smooth, and angular steins, from four to eight inches in height. The leaves are scattered, sessile, obovate or linear lanceolate, attenuated towards the base, obtuse, and mucronate. The flowers are purple, and in elongated terminal racemes. From the base of the stem proceed other racemes, which lie upon the ground, or are partially buried under it, and bear incomplete but fertile flowers, the calyx of which is without wings. This plant is found in many parts of the United States, preferring a dry sandy or gravelly soil, and flowering in June and July. The whole plant is officinal. It has a strong and permanent bitter taste, which it yields to water and alcohol. Medical Properties and Uses. In small doses it is tonic, in larger laxative and diaphoretic. The infusion of the dried plant has been usefully employed to impart tone to the digestive organs. (Bigelow.) It appears to be closely analogous in medical virtues to the Polygala amara of Europe, which is used for a similar purpose. W. POLYGONI BISTORTJE RADIX. Ed. Bistort Root. Off. Syn. POLYGONUM BISTORTA. Radix. Dub. Bistorte, Fr.; Natter.Wurzel, Germ.; Bistorta, Ital, Span. Polygonum. Sex. Syst. Octandria Trigynia.—Nat. Ord. Polygoneas. Gen. Ch. Corolla five-parted, calycine. Seed one, angular. Willd. Besides the bistort, some other plants belonging to this genus, have been used as medicines. Among these are the P. aviculare or knot-grass, a mild astringent formerly employed as a vulnerary and styptic; the P. Persi- caria (Persicaria mitis,) of a feebly astringent saline taste, and at one time considered antiseptic; and the P. Hydropiper or water-pepper (Persicaria urens), the leaves of which have a burning and biting taste, inflame the skin when rubbed upon it, and are esteemed diuretic. The water-pepper or smart-weed of this country—P. punctatum (Elliott), P. Hydropiperoides (Michaux), which grows abundantly in moist places, possesses properties similar to those of the European water-pepper, and is occasionally used as a detergent in chronic ulcers, and internally in gravel. Dr. Eberle very strongly recommended it in amenorrhcea, in which complaint he found no other remedy equally effectual. He gave a fluidrachm of the saturated tinc- ture of the plant, or from four to six grains of the extract, three or four times a day. He found it to produce a warmth and peculiar tingling sensation throughout the system, with slight aching pains in the hips and loins, and a 46 530 Polygoni Bistortse Radix.—Porrum.—Potassium, part i. sense of weight and tension within the pelvis. (Eberle's Mat. Med. 4th ed. vol. i. p. 441.) The P. Fagopyrum is the common buckwheat. Polygonum Bistorta. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 441; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 668. t. 232. This plant has a perennial root, and an annual herbaceous stem, which is simple, erect, jointed, and rises one or two feet in height. The lower leaves are cordate lanceolate, and supported on long winged foot- stalks; the upper are ovate, almost sessile, amplexicaule, and sheathing. The flowers are of a pale rose colour, and form a close terminal spike. The plant is a native of Europe and the North of Asia. The root, which is the officinal portion, is cylindrical, somewhat flat- tened, about as thick as the little finger, marked with annular or transverse wrinkles, furnished with numerous fibres, and folded or bent upon itself, so as to give it the tortuous appearance from which its name was derived. When dried, it is solid, brittle, of a deep brown colour externally, reddish within, destitute of smell, and possessed of a rough, astringent taste. It contains much tannin, some gallic acid and gum, and a large proportion of starch. Medical Properties. Bistort resembles the other vegetable astringents, such as galls, kino, &c, in medical properties, and is applicable to the same com- plaints; but in this country it is seldom or never used. It may be employed in the form of decoction or of powder. The dose of the latter is twenty or thirty grains, three or four times a day. W. PORRUM. Lond. Leek Root. " Allium Porrum. Bulbus." Lond. Poireau, Fr.; Gemeiner Lauch, Germ.; Porro, Ital; Puerro, Span. Allium. See ALLIUM. Allium Porrum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 64. " Stem flat-leaved, umbelli- ferous. Stamens tricuspidate. Root tunicated." The leek is a biennial bulbous plant, growing wild in Switzerland, and cultivated in the gardens of Europe and this country for culinary purposes. All parts of it have an offensive pungent odour, and an acrid taste, dependent on an essential oil, which is in great measure dissipated by decoction, and may be obtained separate by distillation. The bulb, which is the officinal portion, consists of concentric layers, like the onion, which it resembles in medical properties, though somewhat milder. It is gently stimulant, with a peculiar direction to the kidneys. The expressed juice may be given in the dose of a fluidrachm, mixed with syrup. This species of Allium is not used medicinally in the United States. W. POTASSIUM. Potassium. Potassium, Fr.; Potassium, Kalimctall, Germ.; Pottasio, Ital; Potasio, Span. Potassium is a peculiar metal forming the basis of a number of important medicinal preparations. It was discovered in 1807 by Sir H. Davy, who PART I. Potassium.—Potassae Jlcetas. 531 obtained it by the agency of galvanic electricity; but it is procured more readily by heating the hydrate of potassa to whiteness in contact with iron or charcoal, whereby the alkali is decomposed, yielding up its oxygen to the iron or charcoal, while its metallic radical is set free. Potassium is solid, softer and more ductile than wax, easily cut with a knife, and of a silver-white colour. A newly cut surface is brilliant; but the metal quickly tarnishes by combining with the oxygen of the air, and as- sumes the appearance of lead. It possesses a remarkably strong affinity for oxygen, and is capable of taking that element from every other sub- stance. On account of this property it must be kept in liquids, such as naphtha, which are devoid of oxygen as a constituent. Its sp. gr. is be- tween 0.8 and 0.9, its melting point 136°, and its equivalent number 39.15. When thrown upon water it swims, takes fire, and burns with a rose-colour- ed flame, combining with oxygen, and generating potassa which dissolves in the water. It forms numerous combinations, uniting with most of the non-metallic bodies, and with several of the metals. It combines in two proportions with oxygen, forming a protoxide (dry potassa) of a gray, and a peroxide, of a yellowish-brown colour; the former containing one, and the latter three equivalents of oxygen to one of metal. It unites also with chlo- rine, and forms officinal compounds with iodine, bromine, sulphur, and fer- rocyanogen, under the names of iodide, bromide, sulphuret, and ferrocya- nuret of potassium. Its protoxide (dry potassa) is a very strong salifiable base, existing in nature always in a state of combination, and forming with acids a numerous and important class of salts. Of these, the acetate, car- bonate, bicarbonate, chlorate, hydrate (caustic potassa), nitrate, sulphate, bisulphate, tartrate, and supertartrate are officinal, and will be described under their respective titles, to which, for their properties, the reader is referred. B. POTASSiE ACETAS. U. S., Lond., Dub. Acetate of Potassa. Off. Syn. ACETAS POTASSiE. Ed. Diuretic salt, Foliated earth of tartar, Digestive salt of Sylvius; Acetate de potasse, FY.; Essigsaures Kali, Germ.; Acetato di potasso, Ital. Acetate of potassa is included among the preparations in the Pharmaco- poeias of the British Colleges; but is perhaps more properly placed in the catalogue of the Materia Medica in the United States Pharmacopoeia. Preparation, fyc. This salt is prepared by saturating a filtered solution of carbonate of potassa with distilled vinegar or acetic acid, and heating the mixture to promote the disengagement of the carbonic acid. An excess of acid is now added, which prevents the potassa from colouring the solution by acting on any small portion of mucilage which may exist in the acid. The solution is then evaporated to three-fourths, care being taken to main- tain its excess of acid. It is now somewhat coloured, and being allowed to cool and to remain at rest for some hours, is afterwards decanted. The decanted liquid is next mixed with a fifth of its weight of animal charcoal, boiled for a few moments and filtered; after which it is evaporated to a pel- licle. The concentrated solution is next evaporated to dryness, in separate small portions, in a shallow silver capsule, with a moderate fire. As the pellicles form on the surface, they are constantly scraped off to the edges of 532 Potassae Acetas. part I. the capsule, and the heat is continued until the whole is converted into these pellicles. The desiccation being completed, the capsule is covered with paper; and its contents, when cool, are transferred to a perfectly dry bottle, which must be well stopped. The above process is' merely a case of single elective affinity, the acetic acid combining with the potassa, and expelling the carbonic acid, which causes the effervescence. This salt may be obtained also by double decom- position between acetate of lead and sulphate of potassa. When thus pro- cured, it is very white and pure, but liable to the objection, for medical use, that it may possibly contain lead. Another method by double decomposi- tion is between the acetate of lime and sulphate of potassa; but when thus prepared, the salt is apt to contain some of the alkaline sulphate. The following is an outline of the processes adopted by the British Colleges for obtaining this salt. The London College uses the officinal acetic acid obtained from acetate of soda, for decomposing the carbonate of potassa. The acid is diluted with about half its bulk of distilled water, and saturated with the carbonate. The resulting liquid is filtered, and cautiously evaporated in a sand bath, until the salt is obtained in a dry state. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges direct distilled vinegar and the carbonate of potassa from tartar for making the salt; and after subjecting it to exsiccation and cautious fusion, redissolve it in water, fiber the solution, and evapo- rate it to such an extent that it may concrete into a crystalline mass upon cooling. Properties. Acetate of potassa when pure, is a white salt, possessing a pungent saline taste, which diffuses a peculiar warmth over the palate. When unskilfully prepared, it is apt to be more or less coloured; and as there is some difficulty in obtaining it free from colour, the different pro- cesses for preparing it are particularly directed to the attainment of this object. Its state of aggregation differs with the manner in which it has been prepared. When obtained by removing the pellicles from the solution of the salt as it evaporates, it is in the form of light, white, spongy masses; when by concretion upon the cooling of the concentrated solution, it pre- sents a flaky or foliated texture. The latter form is that in which it is gene- rally found in our shops. This salt is extremely deliquescent, and if exposed to the air becomes converted into a liquid of an oleaginous appearance. It is on account of this property that it must always be preserved in well stopped bottles. It dissolves in about half its weight of water, and twice its weight of alcohol. Anything remaining undissolved by these menstrua proves impurity. Exposed to a high temperature it fuses, and, upon slow cooling, assumes the form of a foliated mass. If the heat be conti- nued, it is decomposed, and resolved into water, oil, and ammonia, which are volatilized, and carbonate of potassa with charcoal, which remains as a fixed residue. When treated with sulphuric acid, acetic acid vapours are evolved, and sulphate of potassa formed. The most usual impurities con- tained in it are the sulphate and tartrate of potassa, chloride of potassium, and the salts of lead and copper. The presence of a soluble sulphate will be shown by chloride of barium producing a precipitate, that of chloride of potassium, by nitrate of silver, added to a dilute solution. If tartrate of potassa be present, the salt will not be entirely soluble in alcohol. Lead and copper may be detected by sulphuretted hydrogen and ferrocyanate of po- tassa; the former test producing with the lead a blackish, and the latter with the copper a brown precipitate. Acetate of potassa is not unfrequently a constituent in organic substances. part i. Potassae Acetas.—Potassae Carbonas Lmpurus. 533 According to Vauquelin, it is present in the sap of nearly all trees; and it has been detected in some animal fluids, as in milk. Incompatibles. This salt is decomposed by sulphuric, muriatic, and nitric acids, acetic acid being expelled. It is incompatible also with the sulphates of soda and magnesia, the muriates of ammonia and magnesia, the tartrate of potassa and soda (Rochelle salt), the corrosive chloride of mercury, nitrate of silver, and several other metallic and earthy salts. Composition. It consists of one equivalent of acetic acid 51.48, one of potassa 47.15, and two of water 18 = 116.63. Medical Properties and Uses. Acetate of potassa acts as a diuretic in doses of from a scruple to a drachm, and as a mild cathartic when given to the extent of two or three drachms. It is employed in dropsies, and often with good effect. The late Dr. Duncan considered it to be a medicine of great efficacy, and one of the best saline deobstruents that we possess. We have ourselves used it in dropsical affections, and can bear testimony to its powers. The acetate, ready prepared, being an expensive preparation, the salt, equally efficacious, may be made extemporaneously in the liquid form by saturating distilled vinegar with the carbonate of potassa. Two drachms of the carbonate, saturated with vinegar, will sometimes produce in hydropic cases ten or twelve stools, and a copious discharge of urine. (Duncan.) Acetate of potassa, like tho other alkaline salts containing a vegetable acid, may be given in the uric acid diathesis, to alkalize the urine; for the expe- riments of Wohler have shown that the acid of these salts undergoes de- composition in the digestive and assimilating processes, while the alkali enters the current of the circulation. Acetate of potassa is used pharmaceutically for obtaining acetic acid by the Dublin College, and in the preparation of acetate of mercury, the tinc- tures of acetate of iron, and the tincture of acetate of zinc. It enters into no officinal preparation. B. POTASSAE CARBONAS LMPURUS. U.S. Impure Carbonate of Potassa. Off. Syn. POTASS^ CARBONAS IMPURA. Lond.; SUB-CAR- BONAS POTASSAE LMPURUS, Ed.; LIX1VUS CINIS. Dub. Pearlash, Pearlashes, Impure potassa, Impure sub-carbonate of potassa; Potasse du commerce, Fr.; Kohlensaures Kali, Pottasche, Germ.; Potasch, Dutch; Potaske, Dan.; Potaska, Swed.; Potassa del commercio, Ital; Cenizas claveladas, Span. The alkali potassa, using this term in its strict sense, is the protoxide of the metal potassium. (See Potassium.) It exists in various states of com- bination and of purity. In its most impure state, it is the common potash of commerce. This, subjected to calcination, becomes somewhat purer, and is then called pearlash, the form of the alkali intended to be desig- nated by the officinal name at the head of this article. Natural State and Preparation. Potash and pearlash of commerce are procured from the ashes of wood, by lixiviation and the subsequent evapo- ration of the solution obtained. The alkali exists in the wood, principally in the state of acetate; and being of a fixed and incombustible nature, is left behind after the incineration. The wood is burnt on the ground, in a place sheltered from the wind. The ashes which are left, consist of a solu- ble and insoluble portion. The soluble part is made up of carbonate of 46* 534 Potassae Carbonas Impurus. part i. carbonate of potassa, together with the sulphate, phosphate, and silicate of potassa, and the chlorides of potassium and sodium; and the insoluble por- tion, of carbonate and subphosphate of lime, alumina, silica, the oxides of iron and manganese, and a little carbonaceous matter that had escaped inci- neration. The ashes are lixiviated in barrels with the addition of a portion of lime, and the soluble substances above mentioned are taken up. The lixivium is then evaporated in iron kettles, which for several days are kept constantly full. The evaporation is continued until the mass has become of a black colour, and of the consistence of brown sugar. It is now subjected to as powerful a heat as can be raised by the best wood fire for a number of hours, by which it is fused. During the progress of the fusion, the com- bustible impurities are for the most part burnt out, and a gaseous matter is emitted, which agitates the more fluid part. When the fusion is complete, the liquid becomes quiescent, and looks like melted iron. It is now trans- ferred, by means of large iron ladles, to iron pots, where it congeals in cakes. These are broken up and packed in tight barrels, and constitute the potash of commerce. (Dr. G. A. Rogers,in Silliman's Journ.) If it be intended to make pearlash, the process is different. In this case the black matter of the consistence of brown sugar, (called black salts by our manufacturers,) instead of being fused, is transferred from the kettles to a large oven-shaped furnace, so constructed that the flame is made to play over the alkaline mass, which in the meantime is stirred by means of an iron rod. The ignition is in this way continued, until the combustible im- purities are burnt out, and the mass, from being black, becomes of a dirty bluish-white colour. (Rogers.) The ashes of plants amount generally to not more than a few parts in the hundred; and of these a portion only consists of carbonated potassa. The different parts of the same vegetable, and, for a stronger reason, different plants, furnish variable quantities of ashes. Ligneous plants furnish less than herbaceous, the trunk less than the branches, and the branches less than the leaves. The bark yields more ashes than the interior portions; and the leaves of trees which drop their leaves in winter, more than those of evergreens. The dried stems of potatoes have been said to yield the impure carbonate of potassa, to the extent of five and a half per cent.; but this statement has not been confirmed. The ashes of the poke contain a large proportion of this alkali. (See Phytolaccse Baccae et Radix.) The pine, on the contrary, contains very little potash. Commercial History. Pot and pearlash are made in those countries in which forests abound. Accordingly the alkali is extensively manufactured in Canada and the United States, and constitutes a very important export of this country. It is prepared chiefly in the state of New York, which is supposed to furnish three-fourths of our export of this alkali. It is also produced in considerable quantities in the northern countries of Europe, especially in Russia, and on the shores of the Baltic. It is of different qualities as it occurs in commerce, being more or less pure; and is generally distinguished by the country or place of manufacture, as American, Rus- sian, Dantzic potash, &c. Properties. Potash is in the form of fused masses of a stony appear- ance and hardness, and caustic burning taste. Its colour is variegated; but reddish and dark brown are the predominant hues. When exposed to the air it absorbs moisture, and deliquesces; and if sufficiently long exposed, final!yr becomes liquid. Pearlash is of a white colour, with usually a tinge of blue. As it occurs in commerce, it is in tight casks, containing about three hundred and fifty pounds, iu which it forms one entire hard concrete part i. Potassae Carbonas Impurus. 535 mass. In the shops it is found in coarse powder, intermingled with lumps as dugout of the casks, presenting an opaque granular appearance, like salt or Havana sugar. It is a deliquescent salt, and has a burning alkaline taste, but no smell. It is soluble in water, with the exception of impurities, which aie more or less in quantity according to the quality of the alkali, of which three sorts exist in the market. It differs from potash principally in con- taining less combustible impurities and in being less caustic and deliques- cent, and commands in the market from five to fifteen dollars per ton more than potash. The colouring matter of both these forms of alkali is derived from carbonaceous impurities, and small portions of iron and manganese. Composition. The basis of both pot and pearlash is carbonate of potas- sa; but this is associated with certain salts, the principal of which are sul- phate of potassa and chloride of potassium, and with insoluble impurities. Several varieties of potash found in commerce were analyzed by Vauquelin, whose results are contained in the following table. The quantity examined of each kind was 1152 parts. KINDS OF POTASH. Caustic Hydrate of Potassa. Sulphate of Potassa. Chloride of Potassium. Insoluble Residue. Carbonic Acid and Water. American Potash. Russian Potash. Pearlash. Potash of Treves. Dantzic Potash. Potash of Vosges. 857 772 754 720 603 444 154 65 80 165 152 148 20 5 4 44 14 510 2 56 6 24 79 34 119 254 308 199 304 16 By the above table it is perceived, that the American potash contains the most alkali, and next the Russian. Pearlash, it is seen, is more rich in carbonic acid than potash; and this result of analysis corresponds with the qualities of the two substances as prepared in the United States; potash being known to be far more caustic than pearlash. The greater causticity of the American potash, compared with most of the varieties of Europe, probably depends upon the use of lime with us, which is not mentioned as being employed in the preparation of the commercial alkali in the best European works. The usual saline impurities are shown by the table to be sulphate of potassa and chloride of potassium. The insoluble residue consists principally of carbonaceous matter, which has escaped incineration. Sometimes, however, insoluble matters are fraudulently added, such as brick- dust, sand, and other substances. As the potash of commerce is valuable in the arts in proportion to the quantity of real alkali which it contains, it becomes important, in so variable a substance, to possess an easy method of ascertaining its quality in that respect. The process by which this is accomplished is called alkalimetry, and the instrument used an alkalimeter. The best mode of conducting the assay, which is applicable to the commercial forms of soda as well as those of potassa, is that proposed by Mr. Faraday, and described by Dr. Turner as follows. Take a cylindrical tube, sealed at one end, nine and a half inches long, and three quarters of an inch in diameter, and pour into it one thousand grains of water, marking with a file the point at which the water stands. Divide the space occupied by the water into one hundred equal parts, graduating from above downwards; and opposite to the numbers 23.44, 48.96, 54.63, and 65 severally, write the words soda, potassa, ear- 536 Potassae Carbonas Impurus.—Potassae Chloras. part i. bonate of soda, and carbonate of potassa. Then prepare a dilute sulphuric acid, having the specific gravity 1.127, which may be formed by adding to the strong acid, about four times its volume of distilled water. An acid of this strength, if added so as to reach to any one of the heights denoted by the above numbers, will be just sufficient for neutralizing one hundred grains of the alkali written opposite to it. Suppose, for example, that the dilute acid be added until it stands opposite to the word carbonate of potassa, we shall then have the exact quantity necessary to neutralize one hundred grains of that carbonate; and if we add pure water, until the liquid reaches to 0, or the beginning of the scale, it is evident that the acid has been brought to the bulk of a hundred measures, each of which would be compe- tent to neutralize one graiu of the carbonate in question. All that is now necessary in order to ascertain the quality of any commercial sample of this carbonate, is to dissolve one hundred grains of it in warm water, filter the solution to remove insoluble impurities, and add by degrees the dilute acid from the tube until the solution is exactly neutralized, as shown by litmus paper. The number of divisions of acid expended in attaining this point, may be read off from the tube; and for each division one grain of real carbo- nate is indicated. Pharmaceutical Uses. Pearlash is never used as a medicine in regular practice, being considered as too impure; but it is employed pharmaceuti- cally in several processes. The Dublin College uses it for depriving recti- fied spirit of water, in the process for strengthening it, and it is directed to be purified, in all the Pharmacopoeias, to form the carbonate of potassa. Off. Prep. Potassae Carbonas, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. B. POTASSAE CHLORAS. Lond. Chlorate of Potassa. Oxymuriate of potassa, Hyperoxymuriate of potassa; Chlorate de potasse, Fr.; Chlor- saures Kali, Germ. This salt has been introduced as a new officinal into the London Pharma- copoeia of 1836. It did not attract much attention as a remedy until within the last few years, although it has been used occasionally, with various in- tentions, ever since its discovery in 1786 by Berthollet. Preparation. Chlorate of potassa is generally prepared by passing a large excess of chlorine through a solution, either of common caustic potassa, or of the potash of commerce. The salt as formed, being sparingly soluble in cold water, is deposited in brilliant scales, and is produced in greater amount in proportion as the alkaline solution is stronger. Upon the com- pletion of the process, which takes several days even when five or six pounds of alkali are operated on, the liquid is to be decanted, and the precipitate washed on a filter with cold water, in order to remove chloride of potassium and chlorite of potassa. But, notwithstanding the washing, the chlorate may still contain portions of these, salts, as well as a little silica, which often accompanies potash. Hence it is better always to crystallize anew. A pound of the potash of commerce furnishes, on an average, from eleven to twelve drachms of the chlorate. (Thenard.) In this process, assuming the alkaline solution to be strong, there appears to be formed a chloride of potassium, and a chlorite and chlorate of potassa. Of these salts the last only is spa- ringly soluble, and therefore precipitates almost entirely, while the other two remain in solution. PART I. Potassae Chloras. 537 Liebig recommends the preparation of this chlorate from chloride of lime (bleaching salt). He first converts the chloride into chloride of calcium and chlorate of lime, by making it up into a paste with water and evaporating to dryness. The dry matter is then dissolved in hot water, and the solution filtered. Chloride of potassium is next added to the solution, which is allowed to cool. The chloride of potassium decomposes the chlorate of lime, so as to form chloride of calcium and chlorate of potassa, which latter, as the solution cools, for the period of a few days, is deposited in crystals, to be purified by a second crystallization. Liebig states that he obtained one-twelfth of chlorate of potassa from a bleaching salt, so impure as to leave 65 per cent, of insoluble residue when acted on by water. (Thenard, Traite de. Chim., from Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. xlix. 300.) Properties. Chlorate of potassa is a white anhydrous salt, of a cooling and slightly acerb taste. It crystallizes in rhomboidal plates of a pearly lustre. It is soluble in sixteen times its weight of water at 60° and in two and a half of boiling water. When thrown on burning coals, it augments their combustion remarkably. This property i3 due to the presence of oxygen, which may be evolved from the salt in the proportion of nearly 39 per cent., by heating it a little above its point of fusion. The residue of this decompo- sition is chloride of potassium. Chlorate of potassa is characterized by giving out oxygen upon fusion, and leaving a residue of chloride of potassium; by becoming orange-red by admixture with sulphuric acid, and by the action of that acid evolving chlorous acid gas, (quadroxide of chlorine), known by its yellow colour, and explosive property when heated; by its bleaching property when mixed first with muriatic acid and then with water; and by its power of exploding vio- lently when triturated with a small portion of sulphur or phosphorus. Its usual impurity is chloride of potassium, which may be detected by a preci- pitate of chloride of silver being produced on the addition of nitrate of silver. It consists of one equiv. of chloric acid 75.42, and one of potassa 47.15 = 122.57. Medical Properties and Uses. Chlorate of potassa is ranked as a refrige- rant and diuretic. From experiments made by Dr. O'Shaughnessy and others, it gives a bright scarlet colour to the venous blood, and passes unde- composed into the urine. The first trials made with it as a medicine were founded upon the supposition that it would prove an oxygenating remedy; and hence it was employed in scurvy which was supposed to depend upon a deficiency of oxygen in the system, and in syphilis and liver complaint as a substitute for mercury, which mineral was held by some to act in these affections by imparting oxygen. In scurvy it appears to have acted benefi- cially, but not on the principle which induced its trial; as it would seem not to be decomposed in the system. More recently it has been employed by Dr. Stevens and others as a remedy for certain fevers, and for malignant cholera, to supply a supposed deficiency of saline matter in the blood. For a full account of its physiological effects and the trials which have been made with it as a medicine, the reader is referred to Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica, Part i. 298, published in 1839. The dose is from ten or fifteen to thirty grains. Chlorate of potassa is used to obtain pure oxygen; to make matches which take fiie when dipped in sulphuric acid, or when rubbed; and to prepare priming for cannon and fire-arms. It forms a stronger gunpowder than nitre, but too dangerous to be employed, on account of the facility with which it explodes. B. 538 Potassae Nitras. part I. POTASSiE NITRAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Nitrate of Potassa. Off. Syn. NITRAS POTASSAE. Ed. Nitre, Saltpetre; Nitrum, Lot.; Nitrate de potassc, Azotate de potasse, Nitre, Sal- petre, Fr.; Salpeter-saures Kali, Salpeter, Germ., Dutch., Dan., Swed.; Nitro, Ital, Span., Port. Nitre or saltpetre is both a natural and artificial production. It is found ready formed in many countries, existing in the soil on which it forms a saline efflorescence, in the fissures of calcareous rocks, and in caves. It has been found in different parts of Europe, in Egypt, and in Peru; but the country in which it is most abundantly produced is India, from which the principal part is furnished for the demands of commerce. In the United States it is found in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky. It exists, in these States, for the most part in caverns situated in limestone rock, called saltpetre caves, and is associated with nitrate of lime. The earths contained in them are lixiviated, and yield, according to their richness, from one to ten pounds of crude nitre to the bushel. These caves are particularly numerous in Kentucky, and furnished a large portion of the nitre consumed in the United States during the late war. It exists also in the vegetable kingdom, having been found in borage, tobacco, bugloss, parietaria, hemlock, and the sun-flower. The artificial sources of nitre are certain mixtures of animal and vegetable substances with wood-ashes and calcareous matter, called nitre beds; and certain materials, impregnated with saltpetre, consisting principally of old plaster, derived from the demolition of old buildings. Preparation from its Natural Sources. In India the soil of the nitre districts is lixiviated, and the lixivium obtained evaporated in shaded shallow pits, until it crystallizes. Where the material is less rich in nitre, and con- tains nitrate of lime, as is the case with the earths from our saltpetre caves, it is necessary to convert the latter salt into nitrate of potassa by the addition of wood-ashes. Artificial Preparation. The plan of forming saltpetre in artificial nitre- beds is principally practised in Germany; while the method of obtaining it from old plaster rubbish is followed in France. Artificial nitre-beds are formed of animal and vegetable remains, together with ashes and calcareous earth, which are mixed up with a portion of loose soil and placed under sheds, to shelter them from the rain; while the sides are left open to permit the free access of air. The matter is disposed in little ranges or heaps, which are frequently turned over with a spade, and sprinkled with urine, as a substance containing a large quantity of nitrogen. At the end of two or three years the nitrogen is converted into nitric acid, and this, by uniting with the potassa existing in the vegetable remains, forms nitre. When the contents of the bed contain about four ounces of the salt for every cubic foot of the materials, they are deemed fit to be lixiviated. The lixiviation is performed with boiling water, which is repeatedly thrown upon fresh portions of the mass, until the solution obtained is sufficiently strong. The lixivium is of a brown colour, and contains chiefly the nitrate of potassa, but at the same time more or less of the nitrates of lime and magnesia, and of common salt. The earthy nitrates are then decomposed by a solution of wood-ashes, which, by furnishing potassa, converts them into nitre, and! precipitates the earths. The solution being further evaporated, the common salt rises to the PAKT I. Potassae Nitras. 539 surface as a scum, and is removed. The solution is then allowed to cool, and the nitre crystallizes in dirty white crystals, called crude nitre. When obtained from old plaster rubbish, the material is reduced to powder and lixiviated, in order to exhaust it of every thing soluble. The solution is found to contain the nitrates of potassa and lime, and common salt, and is treated with wood-ashes, which convert the nitrate of lime into nitrate of potassa, with precipitation of the earth as a carbonate. The liquor is separated from the precipitate and concentrated by heat; and the common salt as it rises to the surface is skimmed off. When the solution is so strong as to mark 45° of Baume's areometer, it is allowed to cool and crystallize; and the crystals form the crude nitre of this process. The salt obtained in this way generally contains from 85 to 88 per cent, of pure nitre; the re- mainder being made up of chloride of sodium, and certain deliquescent salts. The details of the above process as practised in Paris, are given with minute- ness by Thenard. (Traite de Chirnie, sixieme edit. 1834, tome iii. p. 340.) Purification. Nitrate of potassa, as first obtained, either from its natural or artificial sources, is called in commerce crude saltpetre, and requires to be purified or refined before it can be used in medicine, or in most of the arts. The process, which is founded principally on the fact of the greater solubility of nitre than of common salt in hot water, is conducted in the fol- lowing manner in France. Thirty parts of the saltpetre are boiled with six parts of water, and the portion which remains undissolved, or is deposited, consisting of common salt, is carefully removed. As the ebullition pro- ceeds, a little water is added from time to time, to hold the nitre in solution. When common salt ceases to be separated, the solution is clarified with glue, and more water is added at intervals, until the whole amounts, includ- ing that previously added, to ten parts. The clear solution is now trans- ferred to large, shallow copper coolers, where it is agitated with wooden instruments, to hasten the cooling, and to cause the nitre to crystallize in small grains. The purification is completed by washing the salt with water, or a saturated solution of nitre, in a kind of wooden hopper, with holes in the bottom stopped with pegs. The liquid employed is allowed to remain in contact with the nitre for several hours, at the end of which time it is permitted to drain off by taking out the pegs. The salt being now dried, its purification is completed. In Sweden, the process of purification is somewhat different. The solu- tion of the crude nitre is boiled, until a saline crust (common salt) forms on its surface, and until it is so far concentrated that a small portion of it crys- tallizes upon cooling. The crust being removed, the solution is filtered, and diluted with l-48th of water, with a view to retain in solution the com- mon salt, which, being somewhat less soluble in cold than in boiling water, would otherwise be in part precipitated on refrigeration. The solution is now allowed to cool, and, at the moment crystals begin to form, is stirred constantly to cause the salt to crystallize in small grains. The granular salt is then washed after the French method, as above described, dried, and being fused, is cast in sheet iron moulds, so as to form masses, each weighing from ten to twenty pounds. The preparation of nitre in this manner by fusion is, according to Berzelius, attended with several advantages; such as its occupy- ing less space, its losing nothing by waste in transportation, and its present- ing in this state an obvious index of its quality. This index is the character of its fracture. When the salt is perfectly pure, this is radiated, the radii being generally large. The presence of l-80th of common salt renders the radii smaller; and of l-40th or a larger quantity, produces a zone in the sub- stance of the mass, devoid of the radiated structure, or causes this structure 540 Potassae Nitras. part i. to disappear entirely. On the other hand, the process by fusion has the dis- advantage of converting the salt in part into nitrite when heated too high, and of rendering it difficult to pulverize. Commercial History. Nitre is received in this country from Calcutta in the state of crude saltpetre, packed in grass cloth bags, containing from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five pounds. The greater portion of it arrives at Boston, which city carries on a very brisk trade with Calcutta. Its quality varies considerably. That which comes in dirty yel- low crystals is called crude saltpetre; while the finer lots, in small, compara- tively clear crystals, approaching to white, are called East India refined. Very little crude saltpetre is at present prepared in the United States, on account of the low price of that from India, which for the average of the few last years has been only seven and a half cents a pound. The refined salt- petre is almost exclusively prepared by our own chemists; and a considera- ble portion of it is exported. As connected with the subject of saltpetre, it may be proper in this place to notice what is called South American saltpetre, considerable quantities of which have been received within a few years from Peru. It is the nitrate of soda, and comes in bags containing about two hundred and seventy pounds of the salt in the crude state. This nitrate is coming into use with our manufacturing chemists, and is better suited than nitre for preparing nitric and sulphuric acids, on account of the greater proportional quantity of acid which it contains. It is, however, not applicable to the purpose of making gunpowder, from its tendency to absorb moisture. Properties. Nitre is a white salt, possessing a sharp, cooling, and slightly bitterish taste, and generally crystallized in long, striated, semitransparent, six-sided prisms, with dihedral summits. It dissolves in four or five times its weight of cold, and in about two-fifths of its weight of boiling water; but is insoluble in absolute alcohol. It undergoes no alteration in the air, unless this be very moist. It contains no water of crystallization; but is apt to hold a portion of liquid, mechanically lodged within the substance of the crystals. This is particularly the case with the large crystals, and, according to Ber- zelius, is a source of impurity; as the liquid in question is a portion of the mother-waters in which they were formed. It is on this account that Ber- zelius recommends that the solution of the purified salt should be agitated, so as to shoot into small crystals. When exposed to heat, nitre fuses at about 662°. (Thenard.) The fused mass, when cast in moulds, or formed into little circular cakes, constitutes that form of nitre kept in the shops under the name of crystal mineral or sal prunelle.* If the heat be increas- ed, the salt is decomposed, evolves pure oxygen, and is reduced to the state of a nitrite. Upon a further continuance of the heat, the nitrous acid itself is decomposed, and a large additional quantity of oxygen is evolved, con- taminated, however, with more or less nitrogen. The residuum, after the gaseous matter has ceased to come over, is, according to Berzelius, a com- pound of potassa with nitric oxide; but, sometimes at least, it is the perox- ide of potassium, as was observed about the same time by Mr. Phillips of * The sal prunelle, as made in France, is a mixture of nitrate and sulphate of potassa. It is prepared by fusing a pound of pure nitre in a Hessian crucible, and throwing into the fused salt a drachm of pulverized sulphur. The sulphur immediately takes fire, and by combining with oxygen from the nitre, becomes sulphuric acid, which then unites with the potassa of this salt, and forms sulphate of potassa. The mixed salts are then poured into a heated silver basin, where they are allowed to congeal in thin layers. This preparation is said to be called sal prunelle, because formerly it was the custom to give it a purple colour, resembling that of the plum. PART I. Potassae Nitras. 541 London and Dr. Bridges of Philadelphia. On account of the large quan- tity of oxygen which it contains, nitre increases the combustion of many substances in a remarkable degree. When thrown on burning coals, it de- flagrates with bright scintillations. Mixed with half its weight of sulphur, and two-thirds of its weight of pearlash, it forms a compound, powerfully detonating when struck with a hammer. Nitre may be readily recognised by its effect in increasing the combustion of live coals, when thrown upon them; and by evolving white or reddish vapours on the affusion of sulphuric acid. When it has been fused, its radiated structure is a test of its purity. Its most usual impurity is common salt, which injures its quality for the manu- facture of gunpowder. The presence of this salt is readily detected by nitrate of silver. If a sulphate be present it will cause a precipitate to be formed with chloride of barium. The refined or purified saltpetre of commerce may be deemed the officinal nitre, and is sufficiently pure for medical use. Nevertheless, the Dublin College, with needless refinement, has given a formula for its purification. (See Potassae Nitras Purifcalum, Dub.) Composition. Nitrate of potassa is composed of one equiv. of nitric acid 54.15, and one of potassa 47.15 = 101.3. Medical Properties and Uses. Nitre is considered refrigerant, diuretic, and diaphoretic, and is much used in inflammatory diseases. It is known to be a powerful antiseptic. It generally promoies the secretion of urine and sweat, lessens the heat of the body and the frequency of the pulse, and has a tendency to keep the bowels in a soluble condition. It is very frequently prescribed with tartar emetic and calomel, forming a combination usually called the nitrous powder, which promotes most of the secretions, particularly those of the liver and skin, and which in many cases is advan- tageously employed in lessening and modifying febrile excitement. The formula usually preferred is eight or ten grains of nitre, the eighth of a grain of tartar emetic, and from a fourth to half of a grain of calomel, exhibited every two or three hours. Nitre is frequently given in active hemorrhages, particularly haemoptysis, and is useful as an ingredient in gargles, in certain stages of inflammatory sorethroat. In the form of sal prunelle, it is rubbed with advantage on chapped lips. The dose is from five to fifteen grains, dissolved in water or some mucilaginous fluid, and repeated every two or three hours. From one to three drachms may, in this manner, be exhibited in the course of the day. If given too freely, or for too long a period, it is apt to excite pains of the stomach. In an over-dose, (half an ounce to an ounce or more,) sometimes taken by mistake for sulphate of soda, it causes violent symptoms; such as intense pain in the stomach, vomiting and purg- ing of blood, great prostration, convulsions, and sometimes death. On dis- section, the stomach and intestines are found violently inflamed. The treat- ment in such cases consists in the administration of mucilaginous and demulcent drinks, laudanum to allay pain and irritation, and cordials to sustain the sinking powers of the system. Pharmaceutical Uses, fyc. In pharmacy nitre is employed to form crocus of antimony, (see Edinburgh process for tartar emetic,) and to obtain nitric acid, (see Acidum Nitricum,) sweet spirit of nitre by the United States formula, and purest carbonate of potassa (salt of tartar). It enters into the composition of moxa, (see Moxa, Dub.,) and is employed in preparing the sulphate of potassa with sulphur of the Edinburgh Col- lege. In the laboratory it is used as an oxidizing agent, and to yield oxygen at a red heat. One pound of it will furnish four hundred and fourteen pints of oxygen, sufficiently pure for experiments of illustration. In the arts, it is employed iu the production of aquafortis, the manufacture of sulphuric 47 542 Potassae Nitras.—Potassae Sulphas. part i. acid, (see Acidum Sulphuricum,) and the fabrication of gunpowder. It is this last use which causes its principal consumption. In domestic economy, it is applied to the purpose of preserving meat, especially beef, to the fibre of which it communicates a red colour and considerable firmness. Off. Prep. Potassae Nitras Purificatum, Dub.; Trochisci Nitratis Po- tassae, Ed.; Unguentum Sulphuris Compositum, U.S., Lond. B. POTASSAE SULPHAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Sulphate of Potassa. Off Syn. SULPHAS POTASSAE. Ed. Vitriolated tartar; Tartarum vitriohtum, Arcanum duplicatum, Sal de duobus, hat.; Sulfate de potasse, Potasse vitriolee, Fr.; Schwefelsaures Kali, Vitriolisirtir Weinstein, Germ.; Solfato di potassa, Ital. This salt is placed among the preparations by the London and Dublin Colleges; in the Materia Medica list, as well as among the Preparations, by the Edinburgh College; and in the Materia Medica list only in the United States Pharmacopoeia. The latter position is its proper one, as the salt is manu- factured for the most part on the large scale. Preparation. Several chemical processes give rise to sulphate of potassa as a secondary product. Thus it is produced in the distillation of nitric acid from a mixture of nitre with sulphuric acid or with sulphate of iron; in the decomposition of sulphate of magnesia by carbonate of potassa, in forming carbonate of magnesia; and during the combustion of the mixture of nitre and sulphur in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. (See Acidum Nitricum, and Acidum Sulphuricum.) When nitric acid is obtained by calcining a mixture of nitre and sulphate of iron, the residue consists of sesquioxide of iron and sulphate of potassa, the latter of which being alone soluble, is sepa- rated by means of water, and crystallized from its solution. The residue of the combustion of sulphur and nitre, in making sulphuric acid, is an impure sulphate of potassa mixed with sulphur, and is not purified for use in medi- cinoy'but sold to the alum makers; sulphate of potassa being one of the saline ingredients of that double salt. The British Colleges agree in obtaining sulphate of potassa from the salt which remains after the distillation of nitric acid. This salt is a supersul- phate of potassa, and must be so prepared as to be brought to the neutral state. The London College brings it to this state by igniting it in a cruci- ble; the Dublin College, by saturating the excess of acid with carbonate of potassa; the Edinburgh College, by removing the excess by the addition of carbonate of lime, which converts it into an insoluble sulphate of lime. The directions of the London College are as follows. "Take of the salt which remains after the distillation of nitric acid two pounds, boiling water two gallons. Ignite the salt in a crucible until the excess of sulphuric acid is entirely expelled; then boil it in the two gallons of water until a pellicle forms, and the liquor being strained, set it aside that crystals may form. Pour off the liquor from the crystals and dry them." This is a new process of the London Pharmacopoeia, which is staled by Mr. Phillips to be more eco- nomical than the former one, in which the excess of acid was saturated by carbonate of potassa. Properties. Sulphate of potassa is a white, anhydrous salt, in the form of small, aggregated, transparent, very hard crystals, permanent in the air, part i. Potassae Sulphas.—Super-tartras Potassae Impurus. 543 having the shape usually of short six-sided prisms, terminated by six-sided pyramids, and possessing a nauseous, somewhat bitter taste. It is slowly soluble in about sixteen times its weight of cold, and five times its weight of boiling water; but is insoluble in alcohol. When thrown upon burning coals it decrepitates, and exposed to a strong red heat it undergoes fusion. It exists naturally in ligneous vegetables, and hence is present in their ashes. Added to a solution of sulphate of alumina, it generates alum, recognised by the octohedral shape of its crystals. It is decomposed by tartaric acid, which forms bitartrate of potassa, and by the soluble salts of baryta, stron- tia, lime, silver, and lead, forming insoluble, or sparingly soluble sulphates. It consists of one equiv. of sulphuric acid 40.1, and one of potassa 47.15 = 87.25. Medical Properties and Uses. Sulphate of potassa is a mild purgative, operating without heat, pain, or other symptoms of irritation. In small doses, from a scruple to half a drachm, it operates as an aperient, and is useful in removing obstructions; in larger doses, of four or five drachms, it acts slowly as a gentle purge. Combined with rhubarb, in the propor- tion of about a drachm of the salt to ten grains of the root, Dr. Fordyce found it an excellent alterative cathartic in the visceral obstructions of chil- dren, characterized by a tumid abdomen, and defective digestion and nutri- tion; and we can bear testimony to its efficacy in these cases from our own experience. Dr. A. T. Thomson states that this salt, in combination either with rhubarb or aloes, has proved in his hands " more useful than any of the other saline purgatives, in jaundice and dyspeptic affections." It enters into the composition of Dover's powder, in which it assists in pulverizing the other ingredients when triturated in consequence of the hardness of its crystals. In the arts it is employed in making alum, and by the refiners of saltpetre for converting nitrate of lime into nitrate of potassa. Off. Prep. Pilulae Colocynthidis Compositae, Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Ipeca- cuanhas et Opii, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Salinus Compositus, Ed., Dub. B. SUPER-TARTRAS POTASS^ IMPURUS. Ed. Impure Supertartrate of Potassa. Crude tartar, Argol; Tartre, Fr.; Weinstein, Germ.; Tartaro volgare, Ital; Tartaro, Span. During the fermentation of acidulous wines, a peculiar matter is deposited on the bottom and sides of the casks, forming a crystalline crust, called crude tartar, or argol. That deposited from red wines is of a reddish co- lour, and is called in commerce red tartar, while that derived from white wines is of a dirty white colour, and is denominated white tartar. Both kinds are essentially the same, consisting of potassa united with an excess of tartaric acid, forming supertartrate (bitartrate) of potassa, mixed with tar- trate of lime, more or less colouring matter, and the lees and other matters which are deposited during the clarification of the wine. The substance in question is, therefore, an impure supertartrate of potassa, as called by the Edinburgh College. When purified it forms the cream of tartar of the shops, the bitartrate of potassa of the chemist, described in the next article. This acidulous salt exists naturally in the tamarind and grape. In the juice of the latter, it is held in solution by means of the saccharine and rau- 544 Potassae Supertartras. part I. cilaginous matter of the fruit. But when the juice is submitted to fermenta- tion in the process for converting it into wine, the sugar disappears, and is replaced by alcohol, which, not being competent to dissolve the salt, allows it to precipitate. In this way the deposition of tartar during the fermenta- tion of wine is explained. Off. Prep. Sub-Carbonas Potassae Purissimus, Ed. B. POTASS^ SUPERTARTRAS. U.S. Supertartrate of Potassa. Off. Syn. POTASS.E BITARTRAS. Lond.; SUPER-TARTRAS POTASSAE. Ed.; POTASSAE BITARTRAS. TARTARI CRYSTAL- LI. Dub. Cream of tartar, Crystals of tartar; Cremor tartari, Lat.: Tartrate acide de potasse, Creme de tartre, Fr.; Doppelt weinsaures Kali, Weinsteinrahm, Germ.; Cremore di tar- taro, Ital; Cremor de tartaro, Span. Cream of tartar is obtained from crude tartar, the substance described in the preceding article, by subjecting it to a process of purification. The process is conducted on a large scale at Montpellier in France, and is founded upon the property which cream of tartar possesses, of being much more soluble in hot than in cold water. The tartar, previously pulverized, is boiled with water in copper boilers. The solution, when saturated, is trans- ferred to earthen pans, where it deposites, on cooling, a crystalline layer, nearly free from colour. This is redissolved in boiling water; and the solu- tion, having been mixed with four or five per cent, of argillaceous earth, is evaporated to a pellicle. The clay precipitates with the colouring matter, and the clear solution, as it cools, deposites white crystals in crusts, which, upon being exposed to the open air on linen for several days, acquire an in- creased degree of whiteness. These constitute the crystals of tartar, or cream of tartar of pharmacy. The salt, however, as met with in the shops, is generally, for greater convenience, in the form of powder; and it is to the substance in this form, that we are accustomed to apply the name of cream of tartar. Properties. Supertartrate of potassa occurs in commerce in white crys- talline crusts, or masses of aggregated crystals, and is received in that state from France by our wholesale druggists, who procure its pulverization for the use of the apothecaries. In crystals it is hard and gritty under the teeth, and dissolves slowly in the mouth; in powder it has a white colour. It is a permanent salt, of an acid not ungrateful taste, soluble in sixty parts of cold, and fifteen of boiling water, but insoluble in alcohol. When ex- posed to heat it is decomposed, exhales a peculiar odour, and gives rise to an acid, called pyrotartaric, and the usual products of the destructive distil- lation of vegetable matter. It is precipitated by solutions of baryta, strontia, and lime, which form insoluble tartrates, and by acetate of lead, forming tartrate of lead. With salifiable bases which form soluble tartrates, it gives rise to double salts, consisting of neutral tartrate of potassa, and the tartrate of the base added. Several of them are important medicines, and will be described under their respective heads. Cream of tartar, though sparingly soluble in water, becomes abundantly so by the addition of borax. The com- bination thus formed is sometimes used in medicine, and will be described under borax. (See Sodae Boras.) PART I. Potassae Supertartras. 545 The cream of tartar of commerce is not a pure supertartrate of potassa. It uniformly contains tartrate of lime, amounting on an average to six per cent., but occasionally even to fourteen per cent. It is sometimes adulterated with sand, clay, and similar substances. The fraud may be easily detected, by treating the suspected salt with a warm alkaline solution, which will dis- solve the cream of tartar, and leave the adulterating substances. According to Mr. Brande, purified tartar is sometimes mixed with white siliceous peb- les, bruised into small fragments. Composition. Cream of tartar consists of two equiv. of tartaric acid 132.96, and one equiv. of potassa 47.15. It is, therefore, in precise che- mical language, a bitartrate of potassa. When crystallized it contains one equivalent of water, which cannot be expelled without decomposing the salt. Medical Properties and Uses. Supertartrate of potassa is cathartic, diu- retic, and refrigerant. In small doses it acts as a cooling aperient, in large ones as a hydragogue cathartic, producing copious watery stools; and from this latter property, as well as its tendency to excite the action of the kid- neys, it is very much used in dropsical affections. When exhibited in these diseases, it is frequently prescribed in combination with jalap. (See Pulvis Jalapae Compositus.) Its solution in boiling water, sweetened with sugar, and allowed to cool, forms an acid, not unpleasant, refrigerant drink, advan- tageously used in some febrile affections, and very much employed as a domestic remedy. The beverage called imperial is a drink of this kind, made by dissolving half an ounce of the salt in three pints of boiling water, and adding to the solution four ounces of white sugar, and half an ounce of fresh lemon peel. Cream of tartar whey is prepared by adding about two drachms of the supertartrate to a pint of milk. It is given, diluted with warm water, in dropsical complaints. The dose of cream of tartar is a drachm or two as an aperient; and from half an ounce to an ounce as a hydragogue cathartic, generally mixed with molasses. As a diuretic in dropsical cases, it is best given in divided doses to the amount of an ounce or more in twenty-four hours, largely diluted with water. In pharmacy, cream of tartar is employed to obtain the neutral tartrate of potassa (soluble tartar), tartrate of potassa and soda (Rochelle salt), tar- trate of antimony and potassa (tartar emetic), and the tartrate of iron and potassa. Saturated by means of chalk, it forms tartrate of lime, which, decomposed by sulphuric acid, furnishes tartaric acid. Deflagrated with nitre, it is converted into a pure form of carbonate of potassa, called salt of tartar. (See Potassae Carbonas Purissimus.) In the laboratory it is used to procure potassa in a pure state, and in making black and white flux. Black flux is prepared by deflagrating cream of tartar with half its weight of nitre; and white flux, by a similar process, with twice its weight of the latter salt. Off. Prep. Acidum Tartaricum, Lond., Dub.; Antimonii et Potassae Tar- tras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Ferri et Potassae Tartras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Potassae Carbonas Purissimus, U.S., Dub.; Potassae Tartras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Jalapae Compositus, Ed., Dub.; Sodae et Potassae Tartras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. B. 47« 546 Potassii Ferrocyanidum. PART !• POTASSII FERROCYANIDUM. Lond. Fcrrocyanide of Potassium. Ferrocyanuret of potassinm, Ferrocyanate of potassa, Ferroprussiate of potassa, Prus- siate of potassa; Proto-cyanure jaune de ter et de potassium, Fr. This is a new officinal of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, which we have transferred from the Appendix of our preceding edition to this place. It is the yellow double cyanuret of potassium and iron, the salt from which the cyanuret of potassium is obtained by calcination. (See Cyanuret of Potassium in the Appendix.) Preparation. This salt is prepared on a large scale by calcining animal matters, such as dried blood, hoofs, horns, &c. with the pearlash of com- merce, dissolving the calcined mass, after cooling, in water, mixing the solu- tion with one of sulphate of iron, until Prussian blue begins to be formed, decanting the liquor, and evaporating it so as first to crystallize the sulphate of potassa, and afterwards the double cyanuret. Properties. Ferrocyanide of potassium is in large, beautiful, transparent, permanent, four-sided, tabular crystals, of a lemon-yellow colour, devoid of odour, but possessing a sweetish, yet somewhat bitter, saline taste. It dis- solves in between three and four times its weight of cold water, and in about its own weight of boiling water, but is insoluble in alcohol. It acts slightly on turmeric paper, probably from the presence of a little free potassa retained by the water of crystallization. (R. Phillips.) When heated to 140° it loses its water of crystallization, amounting to 12.6 per cent., and becomes white. When ignited, the fixed residue amounts to 18.7 per cent, of sesquioxide of iron, resulting from the oxidizement of the iron of the salt. It is charac- terized by striking a deep blue colour with the sesquisalts of iron, a deep brown one with the salts of copper, and a white one with those of zinc; the several precipitates formed being cyanurets of the respective metals. Ferro- cyanide of potassium consists of two equiv. of cyanuret of potassium 131.08, one equiv. of cyanuret of iron 54.39, and three equiv. of water 27 = 212.47. The water present is just sufficient to convert the iron and potassium into protoxides, and the cyanogen into hydrocyanic acid. Medical Properties, fyc. From experiments undertaken chiefly by the German physicians, to determine the physiological effects of this salt, it would appear to have but little activity. Callies, quoted by Pereira, found the commercial salt slightly poisonous, but the pure salt unproductive of harm in the dose of several ounces. It should be borne in mind that it is the commercial salt which is used medicinally. Westrumb and Hering proved that it passed with rapidity into the blood and urine. Notwithstanding the above statements, Dr. Burleigh Smart, of Kennebec, Maine, has attributed to this salt valuable medicinal powers. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xv. 362.) Its primary effect, according to him, is that of a sedative, diminishing the fulness and frequency of the pulse, and allaying pain and irri- taion. It also acts, under favourable circumstances, as a diaphoretic and astrin- gent. Dr. Smart used it with success in a case of chronic bronchitis in a child, with the effect, in a few days, of diminishing the frequency of the pulse, and of lessening the sweating, cough, and dyspnoea. It sometimes acts as a diapho- retic, but only in cases attended with excessive vascular action and increased heat of skin. As an astringent its power is most conspicuous in the colli- quative sweats of chronic bronchitis and phthisis. The same power was evinced in several cases of leucorrhoea cured by its use. It sometimes pro- PART I. Potassii Ferrocyanidum.—Prinos. 547 duces Ptyalism, unattended, however, by swelling of the salivary glands or tetor ot the breath. Its properties as an anodyne and sedative render it applicable to cases of neuralgic pains and whooping cough, in which dis- eases especially the latter, Dr. Smart found it useful. When given in an over-dose he states that it occasions vertigo, coldness, and numbness, with a sense ot gastric sinking. The form of administration which Dr. Smart prefers is that of solution in the proportion of two drachms to the fluidounce of water. Of this the dose for an adult is from 30 to 45 drops, equivalent to from 10 to 15 grains ot the salt, repeated every four or six hours. Should the results of Dr. Smart be confirmed by the profession, the ferrocyanide of potassium will form an important acquisition to the Materia Medica. This salt is manufactured on a large scale, chiefly for the use of the calico- VlTaeoa appeaFS t0 have been introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia ot 18do, not as a medicine, but as a pharmaceutical agent, to be employed in preparing the dilute hydrocyanic acid of that work. Off. Prep. Acidum Hydrocyanicum Dilutum, Lond. B. —>*9 © »♦«« PRINOS. 17. S. Secondary. Black Alder. " Prinos verticillatus. Cortex. The bark." U.S Prinos Sex. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia.-JVaf. Ord. Rhamni, Juss.; Ihcineae, Brongmart, Lindley. ' Gen. Ch. Calyx small, six-cleft. Corolla monopetalous, subrotate, six- parted. Berry six-seeded; seeds nuciform. Nuttall. ... P™os verticillatus.^Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 225; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. .... 141; Barton, Med. Bot i 203. The black alder is an indigenous shrub, with a stem six or eight feet high, furnished with alternate, spreading branches and covered with a bluish-gray bark. The leaves, which stand alternately or irregularly on short petioles, are oval, pointed, tapering at the base acutely serrate, of a dark green colour, smooth on their upper furface, but downy on the veins beneath. The flowers are small, white, nearly ses- sile, and grow three or four together at the axils of the leaves. They are often dioecious. The calyx is persistent; the segments of the corolla are obtuse; the stamens usually six in number, and furnished with oblong anthers; the germ large, green, roundish, and surmounted by a short style terminating in an obtuse stigma. The fruit when ripe consists of glossy' scarlet, roundish berr.es, about the size of a pea, containing six tells and six seeds Several of these berries are clustered together so as to form little bunches at irregular intervals on the stem. In the latter part of autumn, after the leaves have fallen, they still remain attached to the stem, and ren- der the shrub a striking object in the midst of the general nakedness of vege- tation Hence he plant has received the name of winter-berry, by which it is frequently designated. *' J It grows in all parts of the United States, from Canada to Florida fre- quenting low wet places, such as swamps, and the borders of ponds, ditches and streams Its flowers appear in June. The berries, which have a bitter, sweetish, somewhat acrid taste, are sometimes used medici- 548 Prinos.—Prunum. part i. nally for the same purposes with the bark, which is the proper officinal portion. The dried bark is in slender pieces, more or less rolled, brittle, greenish- white internally, and covered with a smooth epidermis which is easily separable, and of a whitish-ash colour, alternating or mingled with brown. It has no smell. The taste is bitter and slightly astringent. Boiling water extracts the virtues of the bark. Medical Properties and Uses. Black alder is usually considered tonic and astringent; and is among the remedies which have been proposed as sub- stitutes for Peruvian bark, with which, however, it has very little analogy. It has been recommended in intermittent fever, diarrhoea, and other diseases connected with a debilitated state of the system, especially gangrene and mortification. It is a popular remedy in gangrenous or flabby and ill-con- ditioned ulcers, and in chronic cutaneous eruptions, in which it is given internally, at the same time that it is applied locally in the form of a wash or poultice. Any favourable influence which it may exert over these affec- tions must be ascribed rather to a peculiar alterative property, than to its tonic and astringent powers, which are very feeble. It may be used in substance or decoction. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm, to be repeated several times a day. The decoction, which is usually preferred both for internal and external use, may be prepared by boiling two ounces of the bark with three pints of water to a quart, and given in the dose of two or three fluidounces. A saturated tincture, as well of the berries as of the bark, is sometimes employed. W. PRUNUM. U.S. Prunes. «* Primus domestica. Fructus siccatus. The dried fruit." U.S. Off. Syn. PRUNA. Prunus domestica. Drupas exsiccatae. Lond.; PRUNl'DOMESTIC^E FRUCTUS. Fructus siccatus. .Erf.; PRUNUS DOMESTICA. Fructus siccatus. Dub. Pruneaux, Fr.; Pflaumen, Germ.; Pruni, Ital.; Ciruelas secas, Span. Prunus. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Amygdaleae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft, inferior. Petals five. Nut of the drupe with sutures somewhat prominent. Willd. Prunus domestica. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 995; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 520. t. 187. The cultivated prune or plum tree is so well known as to render a minute description unnecessary. We merely give the specific character. " Peduncles subsolitary; leaves lanceolate, ovate, convolute; branches not spiny." The varieties of the tree produced by cultivation are very numerous. Nearly one hundred are to be found in the British gardens. Though at present growing wild in various parts of Europe, it is thought to have been brought originally from Asia Minor and Syria. It is the dried fruit only that is officinal. The prunes brought to our market come chiefly from the South of France, the best from the port of Bordeaux. They are derived from the variety of the tree named Juliana by Linnaeus. The fresh fruit, called prune de Saint Julien by the French, is of an oval shape, nearly an inch in length, and of a deep violet colour. It is prepared by drying in the sun after having been exposed to the heat of an oven. The finest prunes, used on PART I. Prunum.—Prunus Lauro-Cerasus. 549 the tables in France, are prepared from the larger kinds of plums, such as the Aatnt Catharine and Reine-Claude or green-gage. An inferior sort is brought from Germany. Prunes have a feeble odour, and a sweet mucilaginous taste, which is generally also somewhat acid. They contain uncrystallizable sugar, malic acid, and mucilaginous matter. In Germany they obtain from this fruit a kind ot brandy, which in some districts is much employed. Bonneberg a German chemist, has succeeded in extracting crystallizable sugar, equal to that of the cane. ^ Medical Properties and Uses. Prunes are laxative and nutritious, and stewed with water form an excellent diet in cases of costiveness, especially during convalescence from febrile and inflammatory diseases. As they im- part their laxative property to water in which they'are boiled, they serve as a pleasant and useful addition to purgative decoctions. Their pulp is also used in the preparation of laxative confections. Too largely taken in a de- bilitated state of the digestive organs, they are apt to occasion flatulence, and griping pain in the stomach and bowels. Off. Prep. Confectio Sennae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W PRUNUS LAURO-CERASUS. Folia. Dub. Leaves of Cherry-Laurel. Laurier cerise, Fr.; Kirschlorbeer, Germ.; Lauro-ceraso, Ital. Prunus. See PRUNUM. Prunus Lauro-cerasus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 988; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 513. t. 185.—Cerasus Lauro-cerasus, De Cand. Prod. ii. 540. This is a small evergreen tree, rising fifteen or twenty feet in height, with long spread- ing branches, which, as well as the trunk, are covered with a smooth black- ish bark. The leaves, which stand alternately on short strong footstalks, are oval oblong, from five to seven inches in length, acute, finely toothed, firm, coriaceous, smooth, beautifully green and shining, with oblique nerves, and yellowish g ands at the base. The flowers are small, white, strongly odorous, and disposed in simple axillary racemes. The fruit consists of oval drupes, very similar to small black cherries, both in their shape and internal structure. The cherry-laurel is a native of Asia Minor, but has been introduced into Europe, throughout which it is cultivated, both for medical use and for the beauty of its shining evergreen foliage. Almost all parts of it are more or less impregnated with the odour supposed to indicate the presence of hydro- cyanic acid. The leaves only are officinal. In their recent and entire state they have scarcely any smell, but when bruised they emit the characteristic odour of the plant in a high degree Their taste is somewhat astringent and strongly bitter, with the peculiar flavour of the peach kernel. By drying they lose their sensible properties and become inert. They yield a peculiar volatile oil and hydrocyanic acid by distillation with water, which they strongly impregnate with their flavour The oil resembles that of bitter almonds, for which it is said to be sometimes sold in the shops in Europe, where it is employed to flavour liquors and various culinary preparations; but as it is highly poisonous, dangerous con- sequences may result from its careless use. It has not been determined how much of its action is dependent on the oil itself, and how much on the 550 Prunus Lauro-Cerasus.—Prunus Virginiana. part i. hydrocyanic acid which is combined with it. The fresh leaves are occa- sionally used to flavour milk, cream, &c; and more safely than the oil; though they also are poisonous when too largely employed. Medical Properties and Uses. The leaves of the cherry-laurel possess properties similar to those of hydrocyanic acid; and the water distilled from them is much employed in various parts of Europe for the same purposes as that active medicine. But it is deteriorated by age; and therefore, as kept in the shops, must be of variable strength. Hence, while Hufeland directs only twenty drops for a dose every two hours, to be gradually increased to sixty drops, M. Fouquier has administered several ounces without effect. Another source of inequality of strength must be the variable quality of the leaves, according to the time they have been kept after separation from the tree, and probably also to their age and degree of development. It is not, therefore, to be regretted, that the want of the plant in this country has pre- vented the introduction of the distilled water into our shops. Off. Prep. Aqua Lauro Cerasi, Dub. W. PRUNUS VIRGINIANA. U.S. Wild-cherry Bark. " Prunus Virginiana. Cortex. The bark." U.S. Prunus. See PRUNUM. Prunus Virginiana. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 985.—Cerasus Virginiana. Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. ii. 205. The wild-cherry tree is, according to Michaux, one of the largest productions of the American forest. Indivi- duals were seen by that botanist on the banks of the Ohio from eighty to one hundred feet high, with trunks from twelve to fifteen feet in circum- ference, and undivided to the height of twenty-five or thirty feet. But as usually met with in the Atlantic States, the tree is of much smaller dimen- sions. In the open fields it is less elevated than in forests, but sends out more numerous branches, which expand into an elegant oval summit. The trunk is regularly shaped, and covered with a rough blackish bark, which detaches itself semi-circularly in thick narrow plates, and by this peculiar character serves as a distinguishing mark of the tree when the foliage is too high for inspection. The leaves are oval oblong, acuminate, unequally ser- rate, smooth on both sides, of a beautiful brilliant green, and supported alternately upon petioles, which are furnished with from two to four red- dish glands. The flowers are small, white, and collected in long erect racemes. They appear in May, and are followed by globular drupes about the size of a pea, and when ripe of a shining blackish-purple colour. This species of Prunus grows throughout the Union, flourishing most in those parts where the soil is fertile and the climate temperate, and abounding in the Middle Atlantic States, and in those which border on the Ohio. In the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, it affects open situations, growing solitary in the fields and along the fences, and seldom aggregated in woods or groves. It is highly valued by the cabinetmakers for its wood, which is compact, fine-grained, susceptible of polish, and of a light red tint, which deepens with age. The fruit has a sweetish, astringent, bitter taste; and is much employed in some parts of the country to impart fla- vour to spirituous liquors. The inner bark is the part employed in medi- cine, and is obtained indiscriminately from all parts of the tree, though that PART I. Prunus Virginiana. 551 of the roots is most active. It should be preferred recently dried, as it deteriorates by keeping. Properties. Wild-cherry bark as kept in the shops is in pieces of various sizes, more or less curved laterally, usually destitute of epidermis, of a lively cinnamon colour, brittle, and pulverizable, presenting a reddish-gray frac- ture, and affording a fawn-coloured powder. In the fresh state, or when boiled in water, it emits an odour resembling that of peach leaves. Its taste is agreeably bitter and aromatic, with the peculiar flavour of the bitter al- mond. It imparts its sensible properties to water, either cold or hot, pro- ducing a clear reddish infusion closely resembling Madeira wine in appear- ance. Its peculiar flavour as well as medical virtues are injured by boiling, in consequence partly of the volatilization of the principle upon which they depend, partly upon a chemical change effected by the heat. From an ana- lysis by Mr. Stephen Proctor of Philadelphia, it appears to contain starch, resin, tannin, gallic acid, fatty matter, lignin, red colouring matter, salts of lime and potassa, and iron. He obtained also a volatile oil, associated with hydrocyanic acid, by distilling the same portion of water successively from several different portions of the bark. This oil was of a light straw colour, and very analogous in its properties to the volatile oil of bitter almonds. In the quantity of two drops it proved fatal to a cat in less than five minutes. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 8.) Mr. William Proctor, also of Philadelphia, has shown that, as in the case of bitter almonds, (see Amyg- dala,) the volatile oil and hydrocyanic acid do not exist ready formed in the bark, but are the result of the reaction of water upon amygdalin, which he ascertained to be one of its constituents. In order, however, that this change may take place, the agency of another principle, probably analogous to if not identical with the synaptase of Robiquet, is also essential; and as this principle becomes inoperative at a boiling temperature, we can under- stand how decoction may interfere with the virtues of the bark. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 197.) It is highly probable that wild-cherry bark con- tains also phloridzin, a bitter principle proved to exist in the bark of the apple, pear, cherry, and plum trees. (See Phloridzin in the Appendix.) In this case, an easy explanation is offered of the coexistence of tonic and sedative properties in this valuable medicine, the former depending on the phloridzin, the latter on the hydrocyanic acid. Medical Properties and Uses. This bark is among the most valuable of our indigenous remedies. Uniting with a tonic power, the properly of calming irritation and diminishing nervous excitability, it is admirably adapted to the treatment of diseases in which a debilitated condition of the stomach, or of the system at large, is united with general or local irritation. When largely taken it is said to diminish the action of the heart, an effect ascribable to the hydrocyanic acid which it affords. Di. Eberle states that copious draughts of the cold infusion, taken several times a day, and continued lor nearly two weeks, had the effect of reducing his pulse from seventy-five to fifty strokes in the minute. The remedy is highly useful in the hectic fever of scrofula and consumption, in the treatment of which it has long been a favourite with many American practitioners. In the gene- ral debility which often succeeds inflammatory diseases, it has also been found advantageous, and it is well adapted to many cases of dyspepsia. It has been used successfully in intermittent fever, but in this complaint is much inferior to cinchona. It may be used in powder or infusion. The dose of the powder is from Uiirty grains to a drachm. The infusion is properly directed by our national 552 Pyrelhrum. PART i. Pharmacopoeia to be prepared with cold water. (See Infusum Pruni fir- ginianae.) Off.Prep. Infusum Pruni Virginianae, U.S. W. PYRETHRUM. Lond., Dub. Pellitory Root. " Anthemis Pyrethrum. Radix." Lond., Dub. Off. Syn. ANTHEMIDIS PYRETHRl RADIX. Ed. Pyrethre, Fr.; Bertram Wurzel, Germ.; Piretro, Ital; Pelitre, Span. Anthemis. See ANTHEMIS. Anthemis Pyrethrum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 2184; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 50. L 20. The root of this plant is perennial, and sends up numerous stems, which are usually trailing at the base, erect in their upper portion, eight or ten inches high, and terminated by one large flower. The leaves are doubly pinnate, wiih narrow nearly linear segments of a pale green co- lour. The florets of the disk are yellow; the rays are white on their upper surface, and reddish or purple beneath and at their edges. The plant is a native of the Levant, Barbary, and the Mediterranean coast of Europe. The root is the only part used under the name of pellitory. According to Hayne, the pellitory of the shops is derived from the Anacy- clus officinarum, a plant cultivated in Thuryngia for medical purposes. This remark, however, can apply only to Germany. Properties. The dried root of the A. Pyrethrum is about the size of the little finger, cylindrical, straight or but slightly curved, wrinkled longitudi- nally, of an ash-brown colour externally, whitish within, hard and brittle, sometimes furnished with a few radicles. It is destitute of odour, though when fresh, of a disagreeable smell. Its taste is peculiar, slight at first, but afterwards acidulous, saline, and acrid, attended with a burning and tingling sensation over the whole mouth and throat, which continues for some lime, and excites a copious flow of saliva. Its constituents, according to M. Gau- thier, are a fixed oil, a yellow colouring matter, gum, inulin, lignin, with traces of volatile oil and of muriate of lime. A more minute analysis by Koene gives, in 100 parts, 0.59 of a brown, very acrid substance, of a re- sinous appearance, and insoluble in caustic potassa; 1.60 of a dark brown, very acrid fixed oil, soluble in potassa; 0.35 of a yellow acrid oil, also solu- ble in potassa; traces of tannin; 9.40 parts of gum; inulin; 7.60 parts of sulphate, muriate, and carbonate of potassa, phosphate and carbonate of lime, alumina, silica, &c; and 19.80 of lignin, besides loss. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 175, from the Journ. de Pharm.) Medical Properties and Uses. Pellitory root is a powerful irritant, used almost exclusively as a sialagogue in certain forms of headach, rheumatic and neuralgic affections of the face, toothach, &c, or as a local stimulant in palsy of the tongue or throat, and in relaxation of the uvula. For these purposes it may be chewed, or employed as a gargle in decoction or vinous tincture. It is seldom prescribed by medical practitioners in this country. \Y. part r. Quassia, 553 QUASSIA. U.S., Lond. Quassia. " Quassia excelsa. Willd.; Simaruba excelsa. De Candolle. Lignum. The Wood." U.S. " Quassia excelsa. Lignum." Lond. Off Syn. QUASSIA EXCELSJE LIGNUM. Ed.; QUASSIA EX- CELSA. Lignum. Dub. Bois do quassie, Fr.; Quassicnholz, Germ.; Legno della quassia, Ital; Leno de quassia, Span. Quassia. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Magnoleae, Juss.; Simarubaceae, Richard, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved. Petals five. Nectary five-leaved. Drupes five, distant, bivalve, one-seeded, inserted into a fleshy receptacle. Willd. Of the species included by Linnaeus in this genus, some, as the Quassia amara, are hermaphrodite; others, as the Q. excelsa and Q. Simaruba, are polygamous. The latter have been associated together by De Candolle in a distinct genus, with the title Simaruba; and the Simaruba excelsa of this author has been recognised, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, as a syno- nymc of the officinal quassia plant. The medicine was formerly thought to be obtained from the Quassia amara; but more than twenty years since, Lamarck stated that in conse- quence of the scarcity of this tree, the Quassia excelsa had been resorted to as a substitute, and the Pharmacopoeias at present agree in acknowledg- ing the latter as the officinal plant. It is, however, the opinion of Martius, that the genuine quassia of Surinam is the Q. amara; and we shall, there- fore, give a brief description of both species. Quassia excelsa. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 569.—Simaruba excelsa, De Cand. Ann. du Mus. xvii. 424; Hayne, Darstcl. und Beschreib., fyc. ix. 16. As its name imports, this is a lofty tree, attaining sometimes not less than one hundred feet in height, with a straight smooth tapering trunk, which is often three feet in diameter near its base, and covered with a smooth gray bark. The leaves are pinnate, with a naked petiole, and oblong pointed leaflets standing upon short footstalks, in opposite pairs, with a single leaflet at the end. The flowers are small, of a yellowish-green colour, and disposed in panicles. They are polygamous and pentandrous. The fruit is a small black drupe. This species inhabits Jamaica and the Caribbean islands, where it is called bitter ash. The wood is the offici- nal portion. Quassia amara. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 567; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 574. t. 204. The bitter quassia is a small branching tree or shrub, with alternate leaves, consisting of two pairs of opposite pinnae, with an odd one at the end. The leaflets are elliptical, pointed, sessile, smooth, of a deep green colour on their upper surface, and paler on the under. The common foot- stalk is articulated, and edged on each side with a leafy membrane. The flowers, which are hermaphrodite and decandrous, have a bright red co- lour, and terminate the branches in long racemes. The fruit is a two-celled capsule, containing globular seeds. The Q. amara is a native of Surinam, and is said also to grow in some of the West India islands. Its root, bark, and wood were formerly officinal. They are all excessively bitter, as are also the leaves, flowers, and fruit, and in fact the whole plant. It is uncer- tain whether any of the produce of this tree reaches our markets. Quassia comes in cylindrical billets of various sizes, from an inch to near 48 554 Quassia. part I. a foot in diameter, and several feet in length. These are frequently invested with a whitish smooth bark, brittle and but slightly adherent, and possess- ing in at least an equal degree the virtues of the wood. Their shape and structure clearly evince that they are derived from the branches or trunk, and not, as some suppose, from the root of the tree. In the shops they are usually kept split into small pieces, or rasped. Properties. The wood is at first whitish, but becomes yellow by expo- sure. It is inodorous, and has a purely bitter taste, which is surpassed by that of few other substances in intensity and permanence. It imparts all its active properties, with its bitterness and yellow colour, to water and alcohol. The name of quassin was given by Dr. Thomson to the aqueous extract of quassia; but improperly, as this preparation is of complex constitution. Dr. Winckler first obtained from the wood a bitter crystallizable principle, to which the name of quassin properly belongs; but there is some reason to suppose that as prepared by him it was not entirely free from saline impu- rities. The following process of Wiggers probably affords it in a purer state. A filtered decoction of quassia is evaporated to three-quarters of the weight of the wood employed, slaked lime is added, and the mixture having been allowed to stand for a day, with occasional agitation, is again filtered. A considerable quantity of pectin, besides other substances, is thus separat- ed. The clear liquor is evaporated nearly to dryness, and the resulting mass exhausted by alcohol of the sp. gr. .835, which leaves behind gum, com- mon salt, nitre, &c. in large amount, and dissolves quassin with some com- mon salt and nitre, and an organic substance of a brown colour. In order to separate the quassin from these latter principles, which are soluble in water, the solution is evaporated to dryness, the resulting mass is dissolved in the least possible quantity of absolute alcohol, a large proportion of ether is added, and the liquor, previously separated by filtration from the brown mass which the ether has thrown down, is evaporated to dryness; and this process is repeated, till the quassin remains behind quite colour- less, and affords no evidence of the presence of the above mentioned salts. Lasdy, in order to obtain it in a crystalline form, to which it is not strongly disponed, pour the alcoholic solution mixed with ether upon a little water, and allow it to evaporate spontaneously. Quassin is white, opaque, unal- terable in the air, inodorous, and of an intense bitterness, which in the solu- tions of this principle is almost insupportable. The bitterness is pure, and resembles that of the wood. When heated, quassin melts like a resin. It is but slightly soluble in water, which at 54° dissolves only 0.45 in 100 parts, and that slowly. By the addition of salts, especially of those with which it is associated in quassia, its solubility is strikingly increased. It is also but slightly soluble in ether, but is very soluble in alcohol, more so in that liquid hot than cold, and the more so the purer it is. Quassin is per- fectly neutral, though both alkalies and acids increase its solubility in water. It is precipitated by tannic acid from its aqueous solution, which is not dis- turbed by iodine, chlorine, corrosive sublimate, solutions of iron, sugar of lead, or even the subacetate of lead. Its ultimate constituents are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Medical Properties and Uses. Quassia has in the highest degree all the properties of the simple bitters. It is purely tonic, invigorating the diges- tive organs, with little excitement of the circulation, or increase of animal heat. It has not been very long known as a medicine. About the middle of the last century, a negro of Surinam, named Quassi, acquired considera- ble reputation in the treatment of the malignant fevers of that country, by a secret remedy, which he was induced to disclose to Mr. Rolander, a Swede, part i. Quassia.—Quercus Alba.—Quercus Tinctoria. 555 for a valuable consideration. Specimens were taken to Stockholm by this gentleman in the year 1756; and the medicine soon became popular in Eu- rope. The name of the negro has been perpetuated in the generic title of the plant. Quassia is useful in all cases in which a simple tonic impres- sion is desirable. It is particularly adapted to dyspepsia from debility of stomach, and to that weakened state of the digestive organs which some- times succeeds acute disease. It may also be given with advantage in the remission of certain fevers in which tonics are demanded. No one at pre- sent would expect from it any peculiar controlling influence over malignant fevers. It is said to be largely consumed in England by the brewers, who employ it to impart bitterness to their liquors. It is most conveniently administered in infusion. (See Infusum Quassise.) The watery extract, made by evaporating the decoction, is a very conve- nient preparation, and may be given in the form of pill, in the dose of five grains. The difficulty of reducing the wood to powder, is an objection to its use in substance. It may, however, be employed in a dose varying from a scruple to a drachm, repeated three or four times a day. Off. Prep. Infusum Quassiae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Quas- siae, U.S., Ed., Dub. W. QUERCUS ALBA. U.S. White-oak Bark. " Quercus alba. Cortex. The bark." U.S. QUERCUS TINCTORIA. U.S. Black-oak Bark. " Quercus tinctoria. Cortex. The bark." U.S. Off. Syn. QUERCUS. Quercus pedunculata. Cortex. Lond.; QUER- CUS ROBORIS CORTEX. Ed.; QUERCUS ROBUR. Cortex. Dub. > Ecorce de chene, Fr.; Eichenrinde, Germ.; Corteccia della quercia, Ital; Corteza de roble, Span. Quercus. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Polyandria.—Nat. Ord. Amentaceae, Juss.; Cupuliferae, Richard, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx commonly five-cleft. Corolla none. Stamens five to ten. Female. Calyx one-leafed, entire, rough. Corolla none. Styles two to five. Nut coriaceous, surrounded at the base by the persistent calyx. Willd. This extensive genus comprises not less than eighty species, of which between thirty and forty are found within the limits of the United States. Many of these are applied to important practical purposes. In the northern hemisphere, the oak is the most valuable, as it is the most widely diffused of all forest trees. Notwithstanding the great number of species, few, com- paratively, have found a place in the officinal catalogues. The Q. robur or common European oak, and the Q. pedunculata or European white oak, are the only species admitted by the British Colleges. As these do not grow in the United States, and their products are not imported, it is unnecessary to treat of them particularly in this work. According to Michaux, they grow in the same countries, frequently together, constituting the greater part of the forests of Europe, and spreading over almost the whole northern 556 Quercus Alba.—Quercus Tinctoria. part i. section of Asia, and the northern coast of Africa. The Q. pedunculata is the common British oak, celebrated as well for its majestic growth and the venerable age which it attains, as for the strength and durability of its timber, and the high purposes to which it has been applied. Our own Pharmacopoeia recognises only the Q. alba or white oak, and the Q. tinctoria or black oak; but several other species afford barks which are equally useful, and perhaps as much employed. Such are the Q. falcata or Spanish oak, the Q. prinus or white chestnut oak, and the Q. montana or rock chestnut oak. The remarks which follow in relation to the white oak bark, will apply also to that of the three last mentioned species. The bark of the Q. tinctoria is somewhat peculiar. 1. Quercus alba. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 448; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. i. 17. Of all the American species, the white oak approaches nearest in the character of its foliage, and the properties of its wood and bark, to the Q. pedunculata of Great Britain. When allowed to expand itself freely in the open field, it divides at a short distance from the ground into numerous widely spreading branches, and attains under favourable circumstances a magnificent size. Its trunk and large branches are covered with a whitish bark, which serves to distinguish it from most of the other species. The leaves are regularly and obliquely divided into oblong, obtuse, entire lobes, which are often narrowed at their base. When full grown, they are smooth and light green on their upper surface, and glaucous beneath. Some of the dried leaves remain on the tree during the whole winter, and till the circu- lation of the sap returns in spring. The acorns are large, ovate, contained in rough, shallow, grayish cups, and supported singly or in pairs upon pedun- cles nearly an inch in length. The white oak abounds in the Middle States, and extends also through the whole Union, though comparatively rare in the northern, southern, and western sections. It is the most highly valued for its timber of all the American oaks, with the exception of the live oak (Q. virens), which is preferred in ship-building. The bark is sometimes used for tanning, but that of the red and Spanish oaks is preferred for this purpose. All parts of the tree, with the exception of the epidermis, are more or less astringent, but this property predominates in the fruit and the bark, the latter of which is the only officinal portion. Oak bark, deprived of its epidermis, is of a light brown colour, of a coarse fibrous texture, and not easily pulverized. It has a feeble odour, and a rough, astringent, and bitterish taste. Water and alcohol extract its active properties. The chief soluble ingredients are tannin, gallic acid, and ex- tractive matter. It is upon the tannin that its medical virtues as well as its use in the preparation of leather chiefly depend. The proportion of this ingredient varies with the size and age of the tree, the part from which the bark is derived, and even the season when it is gathered. It is most abun- dant in the young bark; and the English oak is said to yield four times as much in spring as in winter. Sir H. Davy found the inner bark most abundant in tannin, the middle portion or cellular integument much less so, and the epidermis almost wholly destitute as well of this principle, as of extractive. Vauquelin states that the infusion of oak bark does not, like that of galls, precipitate tartar emetic. 2. Quercus tinctoria. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 444; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. i. 91. The black oak is one of our largest trees, frequently attaining the height of eighty or ninety feet. Its trunk is covered with a deeply fur- rowed bark, of a black or dark brown colour. The leaves are ovate oblong, pubescent, slightly sinuated, with oblong, obtuse, mucronate lobes. The part i. Quercus Tinctoria.—Ranunculus. 557 fructification is biennial. The acorn is globose, flattened at top, and placed in a saucer-shaped cup. Black oak bark has a more bitter taste than that of the other species, and may be distinguished also by staining the saliva yellow when it is chewed. Its cellular integument contains a colouring principle, capable of being ex- tracted by boiling water, to which it imparts a brownish-yellow colour, which is deepened by alkalies, and rendered brighter by acids. Under the name of quercitron, large quantities of this bark, deprived of its epidermis and reduced to coarse powder, are sent from the United States to Europe, where it is used for dyeing wool and silk of a yellow colour. It contains also much tannin; but is less used in tanning than the other barks, in conse- quence of the colour which it imparts to the leather. Medical Properties and Uses. Oak bark is astringent and somewhat tonic. It has been given with advantage in intermittent fever, obstinate chronic diarrhoea, and certain forms of passive hemorrhage; but it is not much employed as an internal remedy. Externally applied it is often pro- ductive of benefit. The decoction may be advantageously used as a bath, particularly for children, when a combined tonic and astringent effect is desirable, and the stomach is not disposed to receive medicines kindly. It has been employed in this way in marasmus, scrofula, intermittent fevers, chronic diarrhoea, and cholera infantum. As an injection in leucorrhcea, a wash in prolapsus ani and hemorrhoidal affections, and as a gargle in slight inflammation of the fauces, attended with prolapsed uvula, the decoction is often highly useful. Reduced to powder and made into a poultice, the bark was recommended by the late Dr. Barton as an excellent application in cases of external gangrene and mortification, and the infusion obtained from tanners' vats has been used beneficially as a wash for flabby, ill-conditioned ulcers. The bark may be given internally in the form of powder, extract, or decoction. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm, of the extract about half as much, of the decoction two fluidounces. (See Decoctum Quercus.) Black-oak bark is considered inferior to the white-oak as an internal remedy, in consequence of being more disposed to irritate the bowels. The fruit of the oak is sometimes used as an astringent; and a decoction made from roasted acorns has been highly recommended by Hufeland as a remedy in scrofula. Off. Prep. Decoctum Quercus, Lond., Dub.; Extractum Quercus, Dub. W. RANUNCULUS. U.S. Secondary. Crowfoot. " Ranunculus bulbosus. Planta. The plant." U.S. Off. Syn. RANUNCULUS ACRIS. Folia. RANUNCULUS FLAM- MULA. Herba recens. Dub. Ranunculus. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Polygynia.—Nat. Ord. Ranuncu- lac ae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved. Petals five, having the inner side of each claw furnished with a melliferous pore. Seeds naked, numerous. Nuttall. Most of the plants belonging to this genus have the same acrid proper- ties. Several of them grow together in our fields and pastures, and from 48* 558 Ranunculus. part i. their close resemblance in appearance, are confounded under the common name of buttercup, applied to them from the colour and shape of their flowers. Those which are most abundant are believed to have been intro- duced from Europe. Such are the R. bulbosus, R. acris, and R. repens, which, with the R. sceleratus, may be indiscriminately used. In Europe, the R. sceleratus appears to have attracted most attention; in this country, the R. bulbosus. The latter is the only one designated by our Pharmaco- poeia. The R. acris and R. flammula are directed by the Dublin Col- lege. Ranunculus bulbosus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1324; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 61. This species of crowfoot is perennial, with a bulbous, solid, fleshy root, which sends up annually several erect, round, and branching stems, from nine to eighteen inches high. The radical leaves, which stand on long footstalks, are ternate or quinate, with lobed and dentate leaflets. The leaves of the stem are sessile and ternate, the upper more simple. Each stem supports several solitary, bright yellow, glossy flowers, upon furrowed, angular peduncles. The leaves of the calyx are reflexed or bent downwards against the flowerstalk. The petals are obcordate and arranged so as to represent a small cup in shape. At the inside of the claw of each petal is a small cavity, which is covered with a minute wedge-shaped emar- ginate scale. The fruit consists of numerous naked seeds, collected in a spherical head. The stem, leaves, peduncles, and calyx are hairy. In the months of May and June our pastures are everywhere adorned with the rich yellow flowers of this species of Ranunculus. Somewhat later the R. acris and R. repens begin to bloom, and a succession of similar flowers is maintained till September. The two latter species prefer a moister ground, and are found most abundantly in meadows. The R. scele- ratus is found in ponds and ditches. In all these species, the whole plant is pervaded by a volatile acrid principle, which is dissipated by drying or by the application of heat. This principle may be separated by distillation. Dr. Bigelow found that water distilled from the fresh plant has an acrid taste, and produces when swallowed a burning sensation in the stomach; and that it retains these properties for a long time if kept in closely stopped bottles. The plant itself when chewed excites violent irritation in the mouth and throat; inflaming and even excoriating the tongue and inside of the cheeks and lips, if not quickly discharged. Both the root and herbace- ous portion of the R. bulbosus are officinal. Medical Properties and Uses. Crowfoot, when swallowed in the fresh state, produces heat and pain in the stomach, and if the quantity be consider- able, may excite fatal inflammation. It is, however, never used internally. The property for which it has attracted the attention of physicians is that of inflaming and vesicating the skin; and before the introduction of the Spanish fly into use, it was much employed for this purpose. But the uncertainty and occasional violence of its action have nearly banished it from regular practice. While on some individuals it appears to produce scarcely any effect, on others it acts very speedily, exciting extensive and troublesome inflammation, which sometimes terminates in deep and obstinate ulcers. It probably varies in strength with the season, and in the dried state, or boiled with water it is wholly inert. The decoction, moreover, is inert, in conse- quence of the escape of the acrid principle. Nevertheless, the plant has been very properly retained by the Pharmacopoeia in the catalogue of medi- cines of secondary importance; as occasions may occur when the practitioner in the country may find advantage in having recourse to its powerful rube- facient' and epispastic operation. W. PART I. Resina. 559 RESINA. U.S., Lond. Resin. " Pinus palustris, et aliae. Residuum postquam oleum terebinthinae de- stillatum est. The residuum after the distillation of the oil of turpentine." U. S. " Pinus sylvestris. Residuum resinae liquidx postquam terebin- thinae oleum destillatum est." Lond. Off. Syn. PINI RESINA SOLIDA, oleo volatile privata, vulgo, RE- SINA ALBA. Ed.; PINUS SYLVESTRIS. Resina. Dub. Resinc blanche, Resine jaune, Fr.; Fichtenharz, Germ.; Ragea di pino, Ital; Resina de pino, Span. After the distillation of the volatile oil from the turpentines, (see Terebin- thina,) a resinous matter remains, which on the continent of Europe is called colophony, but in our language is commonly known by the name of rosin. It is the Resina of the United States and London Pharmacopoeias, and the Resina flava or yellow resin, of the Dublin College. When this, in a state of fusion, is strongly agitated with water, it acquires a distinct appearance, and is now denominated Resina alba or white resin. Before describing these officinal substances, it may be proper to enumerate the characteristic properties of the proximate principles which chemists designate by the term resins. Pure resins are solid, brittle, inodorous, insipid, generally of a yellow- ish colour and semitransparent, with a smooth and shining fracture. Their sp. gr. varies from 0.92 to 1.2. They are fusible by a moderate heat, de- composed at a higher temperature, and in the open air take fire, burning with a yellow flame and much smoke. Insoluble in water, they are dis- solved by alcohol, ether, and the essential oils; and their alcoholic and ethe- real solutions afford precipitates upon the addition of water. With pure potassa and soda they unite to form soaps which are soluble in water; and the same result takes place when they are heated with the solutions of the alkaline carbonates. Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves them with mutual decomposition; and nitric acid converts them into artificial tannin. They readily unite by fusion with wax and the fixed oils. Common or yellow resin, in its purest state, is beautifully clear and pel- lucid, but much less so as it is commonly found in the shops. Its odour and taste are usually in a slight degree terebinthinate; its colour yellowish- brown with a tinge of olive, and more or less dark according to its purity. It is rather heavier than water. At 276° F. it fuses, is completely liquid at 306°, begins to emit bubbles pf gas at 316°, and is entirely decomposed at a red heat. Its constituents are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen; but the exact proportions are differently stated by different chemists. White resin differs from the preceding only in being opaque and of a whitish colour. These properties it owes to the water with which it is incorporated, and which gradually escapes upon exposure, leaving it more or less transparent. Medical Uses, Resin is important as an ingredient of ointments and plasters; but is never used internally. Off. Prep. Ceratum Cantharidis, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Ceratum Resinae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Emplastrum Cerae, Lond., Ed.; Emplast. Ferri, U.S., Ed.; Emplast. Hydrargyri, U.S., Ed.; Emplastrum Picis, Lond.; Emplast. Resinae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Cantharidis, Ed.; Unguentum Picis Nigrae, Lond. W. 560 Rhamnus. part i. RHAMNUS. Lond. Buckthorn Berries. " Rhamnus catharticus. Baccse." Lond. Off. Syn. RHAMNI CATHARTICI SUCCUS. Ex bacc'ts. Ed.; RHAMNUS CATHARTICUS. Baccae. Dub. Baies du nerprun, Fr.; Krcutzbeeren, Germ.; Bacche del spino cervino, Ital; Bayas de ramno catartico, Span. Rhamnus. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Rhamneae. Gen. Ch. Calyx tubular. Corolla scales defending the stamens, inserted into the calyx. Berry. Willd. Rhamnus catharticus. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1092; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 594. t. 210. The purging buckthorn is a shrub seven or eight feet high, with branches terminating in a sharp spine. The leaves are in fascicles, on short footstalks, ovate, serrate, veined. The flowers are usually dioecious, in clusters, small, greenish, peduncled, with a four-cleft calyx, and four very small scale-like petals, placed, in the male flower, behind the stamens, which equal them in number. The fruit is a four-seeded berry. The shrub is a native of Europe, and is said to have been found grow- ing wild in this country. It was first discovered in the Highlands of New York by Dr. Barratt. (Eaton's Manual.) It flowers in May and June, and ripens its fruit in the latter part of September. The berries are the officinal portion. When ripe they are about the size of a pea, round, somewhat flattened on the summit, black, smooth, shining, with four seeds surrounded by a green, juicy parenchyma. Their odour is unpleasant, their taste bitterish, acrid, and nauseous. The expressed juice has the colour, odour, and taste of the parenchyma. It is reddened by the acids, and from deep green is rendered light green by the alkalies. Upon stand- ing it soon begins to ferment, and becomes red in consequence of the for- mation of acetic acid. Evaporated to dryness with the addition of lime or an alkali, it forms the colour called by painters sap-green. The dried ber- ries of another species, R. infectorius, yield a rich yellow colour, for which they are much employed in the arts under the name of French berries. Medical Properties and Uses. Both the berries and the expressed juice are actively purgative; but, as they are apt to occasion nausea, and severe griping pain in the bowels, with much thirst and dryness of the mouth and throat, they are now little employed. They formerly enjoyed considerable reputation as a hydragogue cathartic in dropsy; and were given also in rheumatism and gout. The only shape in which they are used in this country is that of the syrup, which is sometimes, though rarely, added to hydragogue or diuretic mixtures. (See Syrupus Rhamni.) The dose of the recent berries is about a scruple, of the dried berries a drachm, and of the expressed juice a fluidounce. Off. Prep. Syrupus Rhamni. Lond., Dub. W. PART I. Rheum. 561 RHEUM. U.S., Lond. Rhubarb. " Rheum palmatum, et alia. Radix. The Root." U.S. " Rheum pal- matum. Radix." Lond. Off. Syn. RHEI RADIX. Ed.; RHEUM PALMATUM et RHEUM UNDULATUM. Radix. Dub. Rhubarbe, Fr.; Rhabarber, Germ.; Rabarbaro, Ital; Ruibarbo, Span.; Hai-houng, Chinese; Schara-modo, Tibet. Rheum. Sex. Syst. Enneandria Trigynia.—Nat. Ord. Polygoneae. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Corolla six cleft, persistent. Seed one, three- sided. Willd. Notwithstanding the length of time that rhubarb has been in use, and the attention which it has received from naturalists, the question yet remains un- settled from what precise plant it is derived. The remoteness of the region where it is collected, and the jealous care with which the monopoly of the trade in this drug is guarded, have prevented any accurate information on the subject. All that we certainly know, is that it is the root of one or more species of Rheum. It is true that the Pharmacopoeias undertake to desig- nate the particular species. Thus, the London College recognises the R. palmatum, the Dublin both this and the R. undulatum, and in the United States Pharmacopoeia the drug is referred to the R. palmatum and other species not particularized. But the evidence in favour of either of these species is by no means unequivocal, as will appear from the following brief history. The rhabarbarum of the ancients, from which the modern name rhubarb was derived, is supposed to have been the root of the Rheum Rhaponticum, which grows on the banks of the Caspian sea and the Wolga; and this spe- cies was formerly believed to be the source of the medicine now in use. But the true rhubarb has long been known to be wholly distinct from the Rhapontic, and derived from a different source. It was not till the year 1732 that any probable information was obtained as to its real origin. At that time plants were received from Russia by Jussieu in France and Rand in England, which were said to be of the species which afforded the genuine rhubarb, and were named by Linnaeus, under this impression, Rheum Rhabarbarum, a title which has since given way to Rheum undulatum. At a subsequent period, Kauw Boerhaave obtained from a merchant who dealt in the rhubarb of Tartary, some seeds which he said were those of the plant which produced the root he sold. These seeds having been planted, yielded two species of Rheum, the R. undidatum, and another which Linnaeus pronounced to be distinct, and named R. palmatum. Seeds trans- mitted by Dr. Mounsey from St. Petersburg to Dr. Hope, and planted in the botanic garden at Edinburgh, produced the latter species; and the same was also raised at Upsal from a root received by Linnaeus from De Gorter, and was described A. D. 1767 by the younger Linnaeus, two years after the ap- pearance of Dr. Hope's paper in the Philosophical Transactions. Thus far the evidence appears equally in favour of the R. palmatum and R. undulatum. The claims of another species were afterwards presented. Pallas, upon exhibiting the leaves of the R. palmatum to some Bucharian merchants, of whom he was making inquiries relative to the rhubarb plant, was told that the leaves of the latter were entirely different in shape; and the description he received of them corresponded more closely with those of the R. com- 562 Rheum. part i. pactum, than of any other known species. Seeds of this plant were more- over sent to Miller from St. Petersburg, as those of the true Tartarian rhubarb. Within a few years the attention of naturalists has been called to a fourth species, for which the same honour is claimed. Dr. Wallich, super- intendent of the botanical garden at Calcutta, received seeds which were said to be those of the plant which yielded the Chinese rhubarb, growing on the Himalaya mountains and the highlands of Tartary. These produced a species not hitherto described, which Dr. Wallich named R. Emodi, from the native title of the plant. It is the R. australe of Mr. Don and of Cole- brooke. From what has been said, it is obvious that no species yet men- tioned can be considered as the undoubted source of commercial rhubarb; the plant having, in no instance, been seen and examined by naturalists in its native place. Sievers, an apothecary sent to Siberia in the reign of Catharine II. with the view of improving the cultivation of the native rhubarb, asserts, from information given him by the Bucharians, that all the seeds procured under the name of true rhubarb are false, and pronounces " all the descriptions in all the Materia Medicas to be incorrect." This assertion, however, has no relation to the R. australe which has been sub- sequently described; but of this plant it is said that the roots dried by the medical officers of the British army in India differ from true rhubarb in ap- pearance and power. Still, however, it is possible that the medicine is derived from one or more, or even from all the species alluded to; and if it should be objected that their roots, as cultivated in Europe, have not the precise qualities or composition of the Asiatic rhubarb, the answer is obvious, that the product of the same plant is often known to vary exceedingly with diversities of soil, climate, and culture. All the plants of this genus are perennial and herbaceous, with large branching roots, which send forth vigorous stems from four to eight feet or more in height, surrounded at their base with numerous very large petiolate leaves, and terminating in lengthened branching panicles composed of small and very numerous flowers, resembling those of the Rumex or dock. With- out describing the several species minutely, we shall mention those particulars with regard to them by which they are respectively characterized. Rheum palmatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 489; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 662. t. 231. The root of this species is large, divided into thick branches, brittle, externally brown, internally of a deep yellow colour. The leaves are pal- mate, with five or seven deeply sinuated pointed segments, are somewhat rough, and stand on long smooth footstalks, which are somewhat channeled on their upper surface, and rounded on the sides. It is said to inhabit China, in the vicinity of the great wall. R. undulatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 489; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 335. The root of the R. undulatum is large, roundish, externally brown, internally yellow, and divided into numerous ramifications which penetrate deeply into the soil. The leaves are long, pointed, wavy, and somewhat villous, have at their base on each side a deep sinus, and are supported upon footstalks flat on their upper surface, with acute edges. This species is a native of Siberia, and probably also of Tartary. R. compactum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 489; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants. p. 336. This is distinguished by the leaves being very smooth, shining, somewhat lobed, very obtuse, and finely denticulate. The root is thick, divided into many long branches, and internally of a fine reddish-yellow colour. The plant is said to be a native of Tartary and China. R. australe. Don, Prod. Flor. Nepal, p. 75; Sprengel, Syst. Veg. iv. 156. " The leaves of this species are roundish cordate, obtuse, rough PART I. Rheum. 563 beneath and on the margin, with the sinus at the base dilated, and with furrowed roundish footstalks. The branches and peduncles are papillose- scabrous; the leaflets of the perianth oval oblong, finely crenate at the apex." The plant grows in the highlands of Chinese Tartary, and in the Himalaya mountains. R. Rhaponticum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 488; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 335. The leaves are very large, cordate, obtuse, smooth, with the veins on the under surface hairy, the sinus at the base dilated, and the footstalks furrowed above and rounded at the edge. The root is large, fleshy, often branching, of a yellow colour diversified with red internally, and reddish- brown on the outside. The Rhapontic rhubarb grows on the banks of the Caspian sea, in the deserts between the Wolga and the Oural, and on the mountains of Krasnojar in Siberia. The leafstalks of the different species of Rheum have a pleasant acid taste, and are used for making tarts and pies, which are not unlike those made with gooseberries. It is for this purpose only that the plants are cul- tivated in the United States. The R. Rhaponticum is the common pie- rhubarb. The R. palmatum and R. undulatum are sometimes found in our gardens. In relation to the culture and preparation of rhubarb, our information is almost as uncertain as on the subject of its natural history. The accounts received from the Bucharian merchants are very discordant, and few intelli- gent travellers have penetrated into the country where the medicine is col- lected. We shall present, however, a brief abstract of what we have been able to collect upon the subject from the authorities we have consulted. Rhubarb is produced abundantly in the elevated lands of Tartary about the lake Koko Norr, and is said to be cultivated in the neighbouring Chinese province of Shen-see and in that of Setchuen. From these sources it is generally supposed that our supplies of Russian and Chinese rhubarb are exclusively derived; but the root is also collected in Boutan and Thibet, on the north of the Himalaya mountains; and it is probable that the plant per- vades the whole of Chinese Tartary. It flourishes best in a light sandy soil. We are told by Mr. Bell, who, on a journey from St. Petersburg to Pekin, had an opportunity of observing it in a growing state, that it is not cultivated by the Tartars, but springs up spontaneously in tufts at uncertain distances, wherever the seeds have fallen upon the heaps of loose earth thrown up by the marmots. In other places the thickness of the grass pre- vents their access to the soil. The root is not considered sufficiently mature for collection till it has attained the age of six years. It is dug up twice a year in Tartary, in the spring and autumn; in China not till the winter. After removal from the ground it is cleaned, deprived of its cortical portion and of the smaller branches, and then divided into pieces of a convenient size. These are bored with holes, and strung upon cords to dry, according to Mr. Bell, about the tents and on the horns of the sheep, according to Sievers, under sheds, by which the rays of the sun are excluded, while the air has free access. The Chinese are said first to place the pieces on a stone slab heated by fire beneath, and afterwards to complete the drying pro- cess by exposing them to the sun and air. In Boutan, the roots are hung up in a kind of drying room, in which a moderate and regular heat is main- tained. Much time and attention are devoted to the preparation of the root; and Sievers states, that a year sometimes elapses from the period of its col- lection before it is ready for exportation. A very large proportion of its weight is lost in drying, according to some accounts four-fifths, to others not less than seven-eighths. It is probably in order to favour the drying that the 564 Rheum. PART I- bark is removed. The trade in rhubarb centres in the Chinese town of Si-nin, where a Bucharian company or family is established, which pos- sesses a monopoly of this trade, in consideration of a certain tribute paid to the government. To this city the rhubarb is brought from the various places of its collection, and having been duly assorted and undergone further preparation, is transmitted partly to Russia, partly to the coast of China; so that the drug which reaches us through St. Petersburg, is procured from the same neighbourhood with that imported from Canton. But it will soon be seen that there are differences between the Russian and Chinese rhubarb, which would seem to indicate a different origin, and might authorize doubts as to the entire accuracy of the above accounts. It is at least probable that the drug produced in the province of Setchuen, whence the best China rhu- barb is said to be brought, takes a more direct route to the coast than that through the town of Si-nin. Besides the two commercial varieties just men- tioned, a third occasionally comes to us from Europe, where the cultivation of rhubarb has been carried on for some time with success, especially in France, Belgium, and Great Britain. Of these three varieties we shall treat under different heads, and shall add a brief account of the Rhapontic, which is entirely distinct from the others. 1. Chinese Rhubarb. Rheum Sinense vel Indicum. Ed. Much the largest proportion of rhubarb consumed in this country is brought from Canton. Though somewhat inferior to the Russian, its com- parative cheapness gives it a decided preference in our markets; and when of good quality it does not disappoint the expectations of the physician. It is in cylindrical or roundish pieces, sometimes flattened on one or both sides, of a dirty yellow colour externally, appearing as if the cortical por- tion of the root had been removed by scraping, and the surface rendered smooth and somewhat powdery by attrition. It is heavier than the Russian rhubarb, has a texture rather close and compact, and when broken presents a ragged uneven surface, variegated with intermingled shades of red, yellow, and white, which are sometimes diversified or interrupted by darker colours. The pieces are generally perforated with small holes, intended for conveni- ence of suspension during the drying process; and portions of the suspending cord are not unfrequently found remaining in the holes. Chinese rhubarb has a peculiar somewhat aromatic smell, and a bitter astringent taste, feels gritty when chewed, imparts a yellow colour to the saliva, and affords a yellowish powder with a tinge of orange. With the pieces of good quality others often come mingled, which are defective from decay or improper pre- paration. These are usually lighter, and of a dark or russet colour. Like all the other varieties of rhubarb, this is liable to be attacked by worms; and in almost every large parcel, pieces may be found which have suffered from this cause. The want of proper care in its selection by the Chinese mer- chants, and the exposure incident to a long sea-voyage, are causes which contribute to its inferiority to the following variety, 2. Russian Rhubarb. Rheum Russicum vel Turcicum. Ed. The rhubarb taken to Russia from Tartary, undergoes a peculiar prepa- ration in conformity with the stipulations of a contract with the Bucharian PART I. Rheum. 565 merchants, who furnish the supply. The best is selected, and each piece perforated in order to ascertain whether it is sound in the centre. From Si-nin it is conveyed by the Bucharian merchants to the frontier town of Kiachta, where it undergoes a rigid inspection by an apothecary stationed at that place by the Russian government. All those pieces which do not pass examination are committed to the flames; and the remainder is sent to St. Petersburg. This variety is sometimes called Turkey rhubarb, from the circumstance that it was formerly derived from the Turkish ports, whither it is said to have been brought from Tartary by caravans through Persia and Natolia. The circumstance of the identity of the Russian and Turkey rhubarb, and their decided difference from the Chinese, would appear to indicate a distinct origin for the two varieties. The pieces of Russian rhubarb are irregular, and somewhat angular, ap- pearing as if the bark had been shaved off longitudinally by successive strokes of a knife, and a portion of the interior substance removed with each shaving. They have a cleaner and fresher appearance than the Chinese, and their colour both internally and externally, though of the same general character, is somewhat more lively. They are less compact and heavy; and are cut with less facility, owing to their giving way before the knife. Another distinction is in the character of the perforations, which in the Rus- sian rhubarb are large, frequently reaching only to the centre, and evidently made for the purpose of inspection; while in the Chinese they are small, penetrate completely through the pieces, and were intended for the passage of a suspending cord. The taste and smell of the former closely resemble those of the latter, except that the Russian is rather more aromatic. There is the same crackling under the teeth, and the same yellow stain imparted to the saliva; but the colour of the powder in this variety is a bright yellow, without the orange tinge exhibited by the Chinese. The care which renders the Russian rhubarb so free from defects, tends greatly to enhance its price, and consequently to limit its consumption. Its great comparative value in the market has led to frequent attempts at adulteration; and the pieces of Chinese rhubarb are sometimes cut down and prepared, so as to resemble the Russian. The fraud, however, may be detected by adverting to the peculiarities in texture, colour, and weight, by which the varieties are distinguished. We have seen parcels of very good rhubarb imported from Canton, which was evidently prepared, before leaving China, so as to resemble the Russian; but in most if not all of the pieces which came under our notice, the small perforating hole was observable which characterizes the China rhubarb, though in some instances it had been filled with the powdered root, so as in some measure to con- ceal it. Sometimes the worm-eaten pieces are made to resemble the sound, by filling up the holes with a mixture of pulverized rhubarb and mucilage, and covering over the surface with the powder. By removing this the fraud is at once revealed. 3. European Rhubarb. Rheum Britannicum. Ed. In various parts of Europe, particularly in England, France, Belgium, and Germany, the rhubarb plant has been cultivated for many years; and considerable quantities of the root are annually brought into the market. The R. palmatum was first introduced, is most largely cultivated, and is said by M. Guibourt to afford a root, which, when of sufficient age, ap- proaches most nearly, in sensible and chemical qualities, to the rhubarb 49 566 Rheum. part i. from China. The R. undulatum, and R. compaction, are also cultivated. The following account of an establishment for the culture of these plants, which recently existed and possibly still exists in France, may prove interesting to those who may be disposed to attempt the introduction of this culture into the United States. This establishment was in the depart- ment of the Morbihan, and was conducted by M. Genthon, a pharmaceutist of Lorient. The quantity of rhubarb which it annually furnished was fifteen hundred pounds. The mode of proceeding was essentially the same with that formerly pointed out by Baume. The seeds of the several officinal species were'sown in the spring in a light soil. The young shoots were trans- planted in the following spring, and placed regularly at the distance of three feet from each other. The roots were not dug up till the autumn of the fifth or sixth year, when they weighed from fifteen to twenty-five pounds, ln the fresh state they were more spongy than fibrous, and very difficult to dry, in consequence of the great quantity of mucilaginous and extractive matter they contained. They were first washed in water, and having been deprived of their small branches and radical fibres, were again steeped in fresh water, and cut into pieces of convenient size. The brown bark was then scraped off", and the pieces, having been soaked for three or four hours in cold water, were placed upon bundles of rods to drain, when a gummy, gelatinous matter exuded. The drying was effected in drying rooms heated to 120° or 140° of the centigrade thermometer. The rhubarb by this process lost from seventy to seventy-two per cent, of its weight, and became wrinkled on the sur- face. It was deprived of the wrinkles by grating, and was then introduced into a barrel which was made to revolve upon its axis for half an hour. The pieces were thus covered with a yellow powder arising from their friction against each other, and were made to present an appearance similar to that of the Chinese rhubarb. Whether from the difference in species, or from the influence of soil and climate, none of the European rhubarb is equal in purgative power to that brought from Russia and China. It is usually in pieces longer than they are thick, sometimes flat, sometimes irregularly cylindrical, and in the latter case often little more than an inch in diameter. Its texture is more ligneous than that of the Asiatic varieties, its colours more compactly arranged, and its powder more strongly tinged with red. It has a nauseous odour and astringent taste, scarcely feels gritty when chewed, and but slightly colours the saliva. Duncan says that the British rhubarb is commonly pasty under the pestle. This quality is probably attributable to imperfect drying. The roots of the different species are not distinguished in commerce. 4. Rhapontic Rhubarb. In the French works on pharmacy, two kinds of rhubarb are described under the name of Rhapontic, both derived from the R. Rhaponticum, but one the growth of France, the other of the native country of this species of Rheum. The former is in pieces of the size of the fist, ligneous in their appearance, of a reddish-gray colour on the outside, internally marbled with red and while arranged in the form of rays proceeding from the centre to the circumference, of a disagreeable odour, a mucilaginous and very astrin- gent taste, not crackling under the teeth, but tinging the saliva yellow, and affording a reddish powder. The pieces of the latter are three or four inches long by two or three in thickness, and present characters very simi- lar to those of the French, though less ligneous in their texture, and ex- ternally of a pale or brownish-yellow colour less inclining to redness. The PART I. Rheum. 567 Rhapontic rhubarb, though formerly in great repute, is little used at pre- sent, and seldom brought to this country; but as it is said to be sometimes employed in Europe to adulterate the better kinds, it may possibly be applied to the same purposes here; and our apothecaries should be able to distinguish it. Choice of Rhubarb. In selecting good rhubarb, without reference to the commercial variety, those pieces should be preferred which are moderately heavy and compact, of a lively yellowish colour, brittle, presenting when broken a fresh appearance, with reddish and yellow veins intermingled with white, of an odour decidedly aromatic, of a bitter and astringent not mucila- ginous taste, feeling gritty and staining the saliva yellow when chewed, and affording a powder either bright yellow, or yellow mingled with orange. When very light, rhubarb is usually rotten or worm-eaten; when very heavy and compact, it is of inferior species, culture, or preparation. Chemical Properties. Rhubarb yields all its active properties to water and alcohol. The infusion is of a dark reddish-yellow colour, with the taste and odour of rhubarb; and the residue, after sufficient maceration, is whitish, inodorous, and insipid. By long boiling, the virtues of the medi- cine are diminished, in consequence probably of the evaporation of a volatile ingredient in which they partly reside. Many attempts have been made to analyze this important root, with various results. Among the most recent are those of the elder Henry and Caventou of Paris, Brande of London, and Peretti of Rome. From the analysis of M. Henry, it appears that rhubarb contains, 1. a peculiar yellow colouring matter; 2. a fixed oil which becomes rancid by heat, and is soluble in alcohol and ether; 3. starch; 4. gum; 5. tan- nin; 6. lignin; 7. oxalate of lime; 8. supermalate of lime, sulphate of lime, a salt of potassa, and oxide of iron, all in minute proportion. To these Pe- retti adds sugar, a volatile oil, and gallic acid. Brande found gum, resin, extractive, tannin, gallic acid, phosphate and malate of lime, lignin, and water. The extractive of Brande is probably a mixture of other principles, among which is the yellow colouring matter of Henry. This last appears to be the most interesting ingredient. It is yellow, of the odour of rhubarb, of a bitter harsh taste, but slightly soluble in cold water, volatilizable by heat in yellow odorous vapours, dissolved and reddened by solutions of potassa and ammonia, precipitated yellow by acids and metallic salts generally, but green by the sulphate of iron, and converted by the action of nitric acid into artificial tannin. The name of caphopicrite has been proposed for it. It is probably, however, a complex substance, containing a bitter principle soluble in water, and a yellow principle identical with that to which Caventou has given the appropriate name of rhabarbarin, and others that of rhein, and which may be considered the distinctive principle of rhubarb in a pure state. Rhabarbarin, or rhein, as procured by Caventou, is crystallizable; of a yel- low colour, harsh bitter taste, and the odour of rhubarb; insoluble in cold water; soluble in hot water, alcohol, and ether; and capable of forming inso- luble compounds with all the acids. It does not, however, possess alkaline properties. It is probably the purgative principle of rhubarb. The oxalate of lime is another interesting ingredient, though possessed of no medicinal power. It is the substance which imparts the gritty feel to the Russian and Chinese rhubarb, of which, according to Scheele and Henry, it constitutes nearly one-third. The proportion, however, appears to be very variable; as Schrader found only 4.5 per cent, in Russian rhubarb, and Brande dis- covered none in the specimens which he examined. The European rhubarb contains but a small proportion of the oxalate, and has therefore little of the gritty feel when chewed. It contains, however, much more tannin and 568 Rheum. part i. fecula than the Asiatic varieties. The existence of volatile oil in rhubarb, though highly probable, has not been satisfactorily demonstrated; at least it has not been obtained separate in a state of purity. The rheumic acid has proved to be the oxalic; and the sulphate of rhabarbarin of M. Nani, to be sul- phate of lime coloured with extractive matter. As all the active principles of rhubarb are extracted by alcohol and water, it is desirable to know the proportion of soluble matter in the different varie- ties. Chinese rhubarb is said to yield 70 parts out of 100 to these fluids; the European, from me R. palmatum 64 parts, from the R. compactum 50 parts, from the R. undulatum 32 parts, and from the R. rhaponticum 30 parts. (Diet, des Drogues.). Water at 212° takes up 40 per cent, of the Russian, and one-halfof the Chinese; alcohol extracts 27 per cent, of the former, and 40 of the latter. (London Dispensatory.) Medical Properties and Uses. The medical properties of rhubarb are peculiar and valuable. Its most remarkable singularity is the union of a cathartic with an astringent power; the latter of which, however, does not interfere with the former, as the purgative effect precedes the astringent. It is also tonic and stomachic; invigorating, in small doses, the powers of diges- tion. It is not probable that these properties reside in a single proximate principle; and, as rhubarb owes its chief value to their combination, it is not to be expected that chemical analysis will be productive of the same practi- cal advantages in this, as in some other medicines, the virtues of which are concentrated in one ingredient. In its purgative operation rhubarb is mode- rate, producing fecal rather than watery discharges, and appearing to affect the muscular fibre more than the secretory vessels. It sometimes occasions griping pain in the bowels. Its colouring principle is absorbed, and may be detected in the urine. The circumstances of disease to which it is applicable may be inferred from its peculiar properties. When the stomach is enfeebled and the bowels relaxed, at the same time that a gentle cathartic is required, rhubarb, as a general rule, is preferable to all others. Hence its use in dyspepsia attended with constipation, in diarrhoea when purging is indicated, in the secondary stages of cholera infantum, in chronic dysentery, and in almost all typhoid diseases when fecal matter has accumulated in the intestines, or the use of cathartic medicine is necessary to prevent such accumulation. When em- ployed in cases of habitual constipation, its astringent tendency should be counteracted by combining it with soap. Magnesia is also an excellent associate in disorders of the stomach and bowels. By combination with other cathartics, rhubarb frequently acquires additional activity, while it gives increased efficiency to the substance with which it is associated. A mixture of calomel and rhubarb is a brisk and powerful cathartic, much used in the commencement of our bilious feVers. As a general rule, rhubarb is not applicable to cases attended with much inflammatory action. Its griping effect may be counteracted by combining it with aromatics. The dose of rhubarb as a purgative is from twenty to thirty grains, as a laxative and stomachic from five to ten grains. European rhubarb must be given in double or treble the dose to produce an equal effect. Few medicines are used in a greater variety of forms. It is most effectual in substance. It is frequently given in the shape of pill, combined with an equal proportion of soap, when its laxative effect is desired. The infusion is much used in cases of delicate stomach, and is peculiarly adapted to children. The syrup and tincture are also highly useful preparations. They are all officinal. By the roasting of rhubarb its purgative property is diminished, while its astringency remains unaffected. This mode of treatment has, therefore, part i. Rheum.—Rhododendri Chrysanthi Folia. 569 been sometimes resorted to in cases of diarrhoea. By long boiling the same effect is produced. Off. Prep. Extractum Rhei, Lond., Dub.; Infusum Rhei, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Piluke Rhei Comp., U.S., Lond., Ed.; Syrupus Rhei, U.S.; Syrupus Rhei Aromaticus, U.S.; Syrupus Rhei et Sennas, U.S.; Tinctura Rhei, U. S., Ed.; Tinctura Rhei Comp., Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Rhei et Aloes, U.S., Ed.; Tinctura Rhei et Gentianae, U.S., Ed.; Tinctura Rhei et Sennae, U.S.; Vinum Rhei, U.S., Ed. W. RHODODENDRI CHRYSANTHI FOLIA. Ed. Leaves of the Yellow-flowered Rhododendron. Rosage, Fr.; Gelbbluhender Alpenbalsam, Germ.; Rhodpdendro aureo, Ital; Sabina Russian. Rhododendrum. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Ericeee. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Corolla nearly funnel-shaped. Stamens declined. Capsule five-celled. Willd. Rhododendrum chrysanthum. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 605; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 299. t. 103. This is a beautiful evergreen shrub, about a foot high, with spreading branches, and oblong, obtuse, thick leaves, narrowed towards their footstalks, reflexed at the margin, much veined, rugged and deep green upon their upper surface, ferruginous or glaucous beneath, and surrounding the branches upon strong petioles. The flowers are large, yellow, on long peduncles, and arranged in terminal umbels. The corolla is wheel-shaped, with its border divided into five roundish, spreading segments. The plant is a native of Siberia, delighting in mountainous situations, and flowering in June and July. The leaves are the part used in medicine. When fresh they have a feeble odour, said to resemble that of rhubarb. In the dried state they are inodorous, but have an austere, astringent, bitter- ish taste. They yield their virtues to water and alcohol. Medical Properties and Uses. The leaves of this species of Rhododen- dron are stimulant, narcotic, and diaphoretic, producing, when first taken, increase of heat aud arterial action, subsequently a diminished frequency of the pulse, and in large doses, vomiting, purging, and delirium. They have been long employed by the natives of Siberia as a remedy in rheumatism, and their use has extended to various parts of Europe. Their action is said to be accompanied with a sensation of creeping or pricking in the affected part, which subsides in a few hours, leaving the part free from pain. They have been recommended also in gout, lues venerea, and palsy. In Siberia they are prepared by infusing two drachms of the dried leaves in about ten ounces of water, in a close earthen vessel, and keeping the liquid near the boiling point during the night. The strained liquor is taken in the morning; and a repetition of the dose three or four days successively generally effects a cure. The remedy is not used in this country. W. 49* 570 Rhoeas.—Rhus Glabrum. part i- RHCEAS. Lond. Petals of the Red Poppy. " Papaver Rhceas. Petala." Lond. Off. Syn. PAPAVER RHffiAS. Petala. Dub. Coquelicot, Fr.; Wilder Mohn, Klapperrose, Germ.; Rosolaccio, Ital; Amapola, Span. Papaver. See OPIUM. Papaver Rhoeas. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1146; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 387. t. 139. The red or corn poppy is distinguished by its hairy stem, which is branched and rises about a foot in height, by its incised pinnatifid leaves, by its urn-shaped capsule, and by the full, bright, scarlet colour of its petals. It is a native of Europe, where it grows wild in great abundance, adorning especially the fields of grain with its brilliant flower. It has been introduced and naturalized in this country. Its capsules contain the same kind of milky juice as that found in the P. somniferum, and an extract has been prepared from them having the pro- perties of opium; but the quantity is too small to repay the trouble of its preparation. The petals are the officinal portion. They have a narcotic smell, and a mucilaginous slightly bitter taste. Chevallier has detected a very minute proportion of morphia in an extract obtained from them (Diet. des Drogues); but their operation on the system is exceedingly feeble, and they are valued more for their beautiful scarlet colour which they commu- nicate to water, than for their medical virtues. They are rejected by the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and of Edinburgh, but are recognised as officinal by those of London and Dublin, and by the French Codex. A syrup is prepared from them, which was formerly prescribed as an anodyne in catarrhal affections; but is now little esteemed, except for the beauty of its colour. Off. Prep. Syrupus Rhoeados, Lond., Dub. W. RHUS GLABRUM. U.S. Secondary. Sumach. " Rhus glabrum. Baccae. The berries." U.S. Rhus. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Trigynia.—Nat. Ord. Terebintaceae, Juss.; Anacardiaceae. Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Petals five. Berry small, with one nuciform seed. Nuttall. Of this genus there are several species which possess poisonous properties, and should be carefully distinguished from that here described. For an ac- count of them the reader is referred to the article Toxicodendron. Rhus glabrum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1478. This species of Rhus, called variously smooth sumach, Pennsylvania sumach, and upland sumach, is an indigenous shrub from four to twelve feet high, with a stem usually more or less bent, and divided into straggling branches, covered with a smooth light gray or somewhat reddish bark. The leaves are upon smooth petioles, and consist of many pairs of opposite leaflets, with an odd one at the extremity, all of which are lanceolate, acuminate, acutely serrate, glabrous, green on their upper surface, and whitish beneath. In the autumn their colour changes to a beautiful red. The flowers are greenish-red, and disposed in large, part i. Rhus Glabrum.—Rosa Canina. 571 erect, terminal, compound thyrses, which are succeeded by clusters of small crimson berries covered with a silky down. The shrub is found in almost all parts of the United States, growing in old neglected fields, along fences, and on the borders of woods. The flowers appear in July, and the fruit ripens in the early part of autumn. The bark and leaves are astringent, and said to be used in tanning leather and in dye- ing. Excrescencies are produced under the leaves resembling galls in cha- racter, and containing large quantities of tannin and gallic acid. These have been used as a substitute for the imported galls by Dr. Walters of New York, who thinks them, in every respect, preferable. They may be collected at little expense, as they are produced very abundantly, especially in the Western States. (A. W. Ives' edition of Paris's Pharmacologia.) But the only officinal part of the plant is the berries. These have a sour, astringent, not unpleasant taste, and are often eaten by the aountry people with impunity. According to Mr. Cozzens of New York, the acid to which they owe their sourness is the malic, and is con- tained in the pubescence which covers their surface; as, when it is washed away by warm water, the berries are wholly free from acidity. Professor W. B. Rogers of Virginia found the acid combined with lime, in the state of bimalate. Medical Properties and Uses. Sumach berries are astringent and refri- gerant; and their infusion has been recommended as a cooling drink in febrile complaints, and a pleasant gargle in inflammation and ulceration of the throat. By Dr. Fahnestock an infusion of the inner bark of the root, employed as a gargle, is considered almost as a specific in the sore mouth attending inordinate mercurial salivation. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sciences, v. 61.) W. ROSA CANINA. Lond. Pulp of the Dog Rose. " Rosa canina. Fructus pulpa." Lond. Off. Syn. ROSiE CANINiE FRUCTUS Ed.; ROSA CANINA. Fructus. Dub. Rose sauvage, Fr.; Hundsrose, Germ. Rosa. See ROSA CENTIFOLIA. Rosa canina. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1077; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 493. t. 177. The dog rose, wild briar, or heptree, is a native of Europe, distin- guished as a species by its glabrous ovate germs, its smooth peduncles, its prickly stem and petioles, and its ovate, smooth, rigid leaves. It rises eight or ten feet in height, and bears white or pale red flowers, having usually five obcordate fragrant petals. The plant has been introduced into this country, but is not much cultivated. The fruit is a fleshy, smooth, oval, red berry, of a pleasant, sweet, acidu- lous tasle, and contains sugar and uncombined citric acid. The pulp, separated from the seeds and the silky bristles in which they are embedded, is employed in Europe for the preparation of a confection, intended chiefly as a pleasant vehicle for other medicines. Off. Prep. Confectio Rosse Caninae, Lond., Ed. W. 572 Rosa Centifolia.—Rosa Gallica. part i. ROSA CENTIFOLIA. U.S., Lond. Hundred-leaved Roses. " Rosa centifolia. Petala. The petals." U.S. Off. Syn. ROS/E CENTIFOLIA PETALA. Ed.; ROSA CENTI- FOLIA. Petala. Dub. Roses a cent feuilles, Fr.; Hundertblatterige Rose, Germ.; Rosa pallida, Ital.; Rosa de Alexandria, Span. Rosa. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Polygynia.—Nat. Ord. Rosaceae. Gen. Ch. Petals five. Calyx urceolate, five-cleft, fleshy, contracted at the neck. Seeds numerous, hispid, attached to the inner side of the calyx. Willd. Rosa centifolia. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1071; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 495. t. 178. This species of rose has prickly stems, which usually rise from three to six feet in height. The leaves consist of two or three pairs of leaflets, with an odd one at the end, closely attached to the common foot- stalk, which is rough, but without spines. The leaflets are ovate, broad, serrate, pointed, and hairy on the under surface. The flowers are large, with many pelals, usually of a pale red colour, and supported upon pedun- cles beset with short bristly hairs. The germ is ovate, and the segments of the calyx semi-pinnate. The varieties of the R. centifolia are very nu- merous, but may be indiscriminately employed. The plant is now culti- vated in gardens all over the world; but its original country is not certainly known. It has sometimes been mistaken for the damask rose, which is a distinct species. The petals are the officinal portion. They are extremely fragrant, and have a sweetish, slightly acidulous, somewhat bitterish taste. Their odour depends on a volatile oil, which may be separated by distillation with water, and is sold at a very high price, under the title of essence or attar of roses. It is furnished in very minute proportion, not more than three drachms hav- ing been obtained by Colonel Polier, in Hindostan, from one hundred pounds of the petals without the calyxes. It is prepared on a large scale in Egypt, Persia, Cashmire, India, and other countries of the East. In cool weather it is concrete; and adulterations with other volatile oils, which are very com- mon may thus be detected. The water which is distilled with the oil, has in a high degree the fragrance of the flower. The petals are slightly laxative, and are sometimes administered in the form of syrup combined with cathartic medicines; but their chief use is in the preparation of rose-water. Off. Prep. Aqua Rosse, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Syrupus Rosa;, Lond., Ed., Dub. W. ROSA GALLICA. U.S., Lond. Red Roses. » Rosa Gallica. Petala. The petals." U.S. Off. Syn. ROSA GALLICA PETALA. Ed.; ROSA GALLICA. Petala. Dub. Roses rouges, Fr.; FranzOsiche Rose, Essig-rosen, Germ.; Rosa domestica, Ital; Rosa rubra o Castillara, Span. part i. Rosa Gallica.—Rosmarinus. 573 Rosa. See ROSA CENTIFOLIA. Rosa Gallica. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1071; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 498. t. 179. This species is smaller than the R. centifolia, but resembles it in the character of its foliage. The stem is beset with short bristly prickles. The flowers are very large, with obcordate widely spreading petals, which are of a rich crimson colour, and less numerous than in the preceding species. In the centre is a crowd of yellow anthers on thread-like filaments, and as many villose styles bearing papillary stigmas. The fruit is oval, shining, and of a firm consistence. The red rose is a native of the South of Eu- rope, and is cultivated in gardens throughout the United States. The petals, which are the part employed, should be gathered before the flower has blown, separated from their claws, dried in a warm sun or by the fire, and kept in a dry place. Their odour, which is less fragrant than that of the R. centifolia, is improved by drying. They have a pleasantly astrin- gent and bitterish taste; and contain, according to M. Cartier, tannin, gallic acid, colouring matter, a volatile oil, a fixed oil, albumen, soluble salts of potassa, insoluble salts of lime, silica, and oxide of iron. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 531.) Their sensible properties and medical virtues are extracted by boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. Red roses are slightly astringent and tonic, and were formerly thought to possess peculiar virtues. They are at present chiefly employed in infusion, as an elegant vehicle for tonic and as- tringent medicines. Off. Prep. Confectio Rosae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Infusum Rosae Compositum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Mel Rosae, Lond., Dub.; Syrupus Rosic Gallicae, Ed.; Syrupus Sarsaparillae, U.S. W. ROSMARINUS. U.S., Lond. Rosemary. " Rosmarinus officinalis. Cacumina. The tops." U.S. Off. Syn. RORISMARINI OFFICINALIS CACUMINA. Ed.; ROS- MARINUS OFFICINALIS. Cacumina. Dub. Romarin, Fr.; Rosmarin, Germ.; Rosmarino, Ital; Romero, Span. Rosmarinus. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Labiatae. Gen. Ch. Corolla unequal, with the upper lip two-parted. Filaments long, curved, simple, with a tooth. Willd. Rosmarinus officinalis. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 126; Woodv. Med.Bot. p. 329. t. 117. Rosemary is an evergreen shrub, three or four feet high, with an erect stem, divided into many long, slender, ash-coloured branches. The leaves are numerous, sessile, opposite, more than an inch long, about one- sixth of an inch broad, linear, entire, obtuse at the summit, turned backward at the edges, of a firm consistence, smooth and green on the upper surface, whitish and somewhat downy beneath. The flowers are pale blue or white, of considerable size, and placed in opposite groups at the axils of the leaves, towards the ends of the branches. The seeds are four in number, of an oblong shape, and naked in the bottom of the calyx. The plant grows spontaneously in the countries which border on the Mediterranean, and is cultivated in the gardens of Europe and this coun- try. The flowering summits are the officinal portion. 574 Rosmarinus.—Rubia. part i. These have a strong balsamic odour, which is possessed, though in a less degree, by all parts of the plant. Their taste is bitter and camphorous. These properties are imparted partially to water, completely to alcohol, and depend on a volatile oil which may be obtained by distillation. (Sec Oleum Rosmarini.) The tops lose a portion of their sensible properties by dry- ing, and become inodorous by age. Medical Properties and Uacs. Rosemary is gently stimulant, and has been considered emmenagogue. In the practice of this country it is scarcely used; but in Europe, especially on the continent, it enters into the composition of several syrups, tinctures, &c, to which it imparts its agree- able odour and excitant property. It is sometimes added to sternutatory powders, and is used externally in connexion with other aromatics in the form of fomentation. In some countries it is employed as a condiment; and its flowers, which are much sought after by the bees, impart their peculiar flavour to the honey of the districts in which the plant abounds. Off. Prep. Oleum Rosmarini, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Rosma- rini, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. —••►»«©©«««— RUBIA. U.S. Secondary. Madder. "Rubia tinctorum. Radix. The root." U.S. Off. Syn. RUBIA TINCTORUM RADIX. Ed.; RUBIA TINC- TORUM. Radix. Dub. Garance, Fr.; Krappwurzel, Germ.; Robbia, Ital; Rubia de tintoreros, Granza, Span. Rubia. Sex. Syst. Tetrandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Rubiaceae. Gen. Ch. Corolla one-petaled, bell-shaped. Berries two, one-seeded. Willd. Rubia tinctorum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 603; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 173. t. 67. The root of the dyers' madder is perennial, and consists of nume- rous long, succulent fibres, varying in thickness from the size of a quill to that of the little finger, and uniting at top in a common head, from which also proceed side-roots that run near the surface of the ground, and send up many annual stems. These are slender, quadrangular, jointed, procumbent, and furnished with short prickles by which they adhere to the neighbouring plants upon which they climb. The leaves are elliptical, pointed, rough, firm, about three inches long and nearly one inch broad, having rough points on their edges and midrib, and standing at the joints of the stem in whorls of four, five, or six together. The branches rise in pairs from the same joints, and bear small yellow flowers at the summit of each of their subdi- visions. The fruit is a round, shining, black berry. The plant is a native of the South of Europe, and is cultivated in France and Holland. It is from the latter country that commerce derives its chief supply. The root, which is the part used, is dug up in the third summer, and having been deprived of its cuticle, is dried by artificial heat, and then reduced to a coarse powder. In this state it is packed in barrels, and sent into the market. The root is invested with a brown epidermis, but is internally throughout its whole substance of a deep-red colour. The powder, as kept in the shops, is brownish-red. part i. Rubia.—Ruhus Trivialis.—Rubus Villosus. 575 Madder has a weak peculiar odour, and a bitterish astringent taste; and imparts these properties, as well as a red colour, to water and alcohol. Among its constituents are two colouring principles, one of which, named by Robiquet and Collin alizarin, is of an orange-red colour, inodorous, insipid, crystallizable, capable of being sublimed without change, scarcely soluble in cold water, soluble in boiling water, and very readily so in alco- hol, ether, the fixed oils, and liquid alkalies. The alcoholic and watery so- lutions are rose-coloured; the ethereal, golden-yellow; the alkaline, violet and blue when concentrated, but violet-red when sufficiently diluted. A beautiful rose-coloured lake is produced by precipitating a mixture of the solutions of alizarin and alum. The other colouring principle is yellow, and named xanthin by Kuhlmann. It is very soluble in water, soluble in alcohol, scarcely so in ether. Its solution is made orange-red by the action of die alkalies, and citron-yellow by that of the acids. It has a sweetish, bitterish taste. Madder also contains sugar; and Dobereiner succeeded in obtaining alcohol from it by fermentation and distillation, without affecting its colouring properties. It is much used by the dyers. Medical Properties and Uses. Madder was formerly thought to be em- menagogue and diuretic; and was used in amenorrhcea, dropsy, jaundice, and visceral obstructions. It is still occasionally prescribed in suppressed menstruation; but physicians generally have no confidence in its efficacy in this or any other complaint. When taken into the stomach it imparts a red colour to the milk and urine, and to the bones of animals, without sensibly affecting any other tissue. The effect is observable most quickly in the bones of young animals, and in those nearest the heart. Under the impres- sion that it might effect some change in the osseous system, it has been pre- scribed in rachitis, but without 'any favourable result. The dose is about half a drachm, repeated three or four times a day. W. RUBUS TRIVIALIS. U.S. Secondary. Dewberry-root. «• Rubus trivialis. Radix. The root." U.S. RUBUS VILLOSUS. U.S. Secondary. Blackberry-root. " Rubus villosus. Radix. The root." U.S. Rubus. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Polvgynia.—Nat. Ord. Rosacea?. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Petals five. Berry compound, with one- seeded acini. Willd. Of this extensive genus not less than twenty species are indigenous in the United States, where they are called by the various names of raspberry, blackberry, dewberry, cloudberry, S/-c. Most of them are shrubby or suffru- ticose briers, with astringent roots and edible berries; some have annual stems without prickles. The only officinal species are the R. trivialis and R. villosus, which, so far as relates to their medical properties, are so closely alike, as not to require a separate description. 1. Rubus trivialis. Michaux, Flor. Americ. i. 296. The dewberry, some- 576 Rubus Trivialis.—Rubus Villosus. part I- times also 'called low blackberry, or creeping blackberry, has a slender, prickly stem, which runs along the ground, and occasionally puts forth roots. The leaves are petiolate, and composed of three or five leaflets, which are oblong oval, acute, unequally serrate, and somewhat pubescent. The stipules are awl-shaped. The flowers are large, white, and nearly soli- tary, with elongated pedicels, and peduncles, which, like the leafstalks, are armed with recurved, hispid prickles. The petals are generally obovate, and three times longer than the calyx. In one variety they are orbicular. The plant grows abundantly in old fields and neglected grounds in all parts of the United States. Its fruit is large, black, of a very pleasant flavour, and ripens somewhat earlier than that of the R. villosus. 2. R. villosus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1085; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 160; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 151. The stem of the blackberry is somewhat shrubby, from three to seven feet high, branching, more or less furrowed and angular, and armed with strong prickles. The smaller branches and young shoots are herbaceous. The leaves are ternate or quinate; the leaflets ovate, acuminate, unequally and sharply serrate, and pubescent on both sides; the footstalk and midrib usually armed with short recurved prickles. The flowers are large, white, and in erect racemes, with a hairy, prickly stalk. The calyx is short, with acuminate segments. The fruit is first green, then red, and when perfectly ripe, of a shining black colour, and very pleasant taste. It is a compound berry, consisting of numerous pulpy one-seeded globules or acini attached to the receptacle. This species of Rubus is, perhaps, the most abundant of those indigenous in the United States, growing in neglected fields, along fences, on the borders of woods, in forest glades, and wherever tillage or too much shade and moisture does not interfere with it. Its flowers appear from May to July, and its fruit is ripe in August. The berries of both these species of Rubus are much used as food; and a jelly made from them is in great esteem as an article of diet, and even as a remedy in dysenteric affections. The roots only are officinal. The blackberry root is branching, cylindrical, of various dimensions, from nearly an inch in thickness down to the size of a straw, ligneous, and covered with a thin bark, which is externally of a light brownish or reddish- brown colour, and in the dried root is wrinkled longitudinally. The dew- berry root is usually smaller, without the longitudinal wrinkles, but with transverse fissures through the epidermis, and of a dark ash colour, without any reddish tinge. Both are inodorous. The bark in both has a bitterish strongly astringent taste, the ligneous portion is nearly insipid, and compa- ratively inert. The smaller roots, therefore, should be selected for use; or if the thicker pieces are employed, the cortical part should be separated, and the wood rejected. Their virtues are extracted by boiling water, and by diluted alcohol, and depend chiefly, if not exclusively, upon tannin, which experiment has proved to be an abundant constituent. Medical Properties and Uses. Dewberry and blackberry roots are tonic and strongly astringent. They have long been a favourite domestic remedy in bowel affections; and from popular favour have passed into regular medi- cal use. Given in the form of decoction, they are usually acceptable to the stomach, without being offensive to the taste; and may be employed with great advantage in cases of diarrhoea from relaxation of the bowels, whether in childien or adults. We can add our own decided testimony to that of others who have spoken favourably of their use in this complaint; and there is no doubt that they are applicable to all other cases in which the vegetable astringents are found serviceable. The decoction may be prepared by boil- part i. Rumex. 577 ing an ounce of the smaller roots, or of the bark of the larger, in a pint and a half of water down to a pint; of which from one to two fluidounces may be given to an adult three or four times, or more frequently during the twenty-four hours. The dose of the powdered root is twenty or thirty grains. W. RUMEX. Lond. Sorrel Leaves. " Rumex Acetosa. Folia." Lond. Off Syn. RUMICIS ACETOSA FOLIA. Ed.; RUMEX ACETOSA. Folia. Dub. Oseille des jardins, Fr.; Sauerampfer, Germ.; Acetosa, Ital; Azedera, Span. Rumex. See RUMEX AQUATICUS. Several species of Rumex have acid leaves, and are distinguished by the common name of sorrel from the others which are called dock. Two only deserve particular notice, the R. Acetosa, or common English sorrel, which is sometimes cultivated in our gardens, and the R. Acetosella, or common sorrel of our fields. Rumex Acetosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 260; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 660. t. 230. This is a perennial herbaceous plant, with a striated leafy stem, branching at top, and rising one or two feet in height. The radical leaves are narrow, oblong, arrow-shaped, and supported on long footstalks; those attached to the stem are alternate, pointed, and clasping. The flowers are dioecious, in terminal panicles, and partly tinged of a red colour. R. Acetosella. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 260; Eng. Bot. 1574. The com- mon field sorrel is also an herbaceous perennial, with a stem from four to twelve inches high, and lanceolate-hastate leaves, having the lobes spread- ing or recurved. The male and female flowers are on separate plants. The valves are without grains. The flowers appear in May, June, and July. Though abundant in the light sandy or gravelly soils of this country, it is supposed by some botanists to have been introduced from Europe. Sorrel leaves are pleasantly sour, and without odour. Their acidity is dependent on the presence of binoxalate of potassa, with a small proportion of tartaric acid. Starch and mucilage are also among their constituents. Their taste is almost entirely destroyed by drying. They are refrigerant and diuretic, and may be used with great advantage, as an article of diet, in scorbutic complaints. They are prepared in the form of salad, or boiled like spinage. The juice of the fresh leaves forms with water a pleasant acidulous drink, sometimes given in fevers. W. 50 578 Rumex jlquaticus.—R. Brilannica. part i. RUMEX AQUATJCUS. Radix. Dub. Water Dock Root. RUMEX BRITANNIC A. U.S. Secondary. Water Dock. "Rumex Britannica. Radix. The root." U.S. RUMEX OBTUSIFOLIUS. U.S. Secondary. Blunt-leaved Dock. "Rumex obtusifolius. Radix. The root." U.S. Rumex. Sex. Syst. Hexandria Trigynia.—Nat. Ord. Polygoneae. Gen. Ch. Calyx three-leaved. Petals three, converging. Seed one, three- sided. Willd. Calyx six-parted, persistent, the three interior divisions petaloid, connivent. Seed one, three-sided, superior, naked. Stigmata multifid. Nuttall. We have placed together the three officinal species of dock, because their virtues are so nearly alike that a separate consideration would lead to unne- cessary repetition. The roots of several other species have been medici- nally employed. Those of the R. Patientia, and R. alpinus, European plants, and of the R. crispus, R. acutus, and R. sanguineus, which belong both to Europe and the United States, are recognised by the French Codex, and may be used indiscriminately with those which are considered officinal with us. Several species of Rumex have acid leaves, which are sometimes used in medicine. Such are the R. Acetosa, R. Acetosella, and jf?. scuta- tus. These are more particularly noticed under the head of Rumex. The docks are herbaceous plants with perennial roots. Their flowers are in terminal or axillary panicles. Some of the species are dioecious; but all those here described have perfect flowers. 1. Rumex aquaticus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 255; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 658. t. 229. The water dock has a large thick root, externally black, inter- nally whitish, with an erect stem from three to five feet high, furnished with smooth, lanceolate, pointed leaves, of which the lower are cordate at their base. The three petals, or as some botanists consider them, the three interior divisions of the calyx, approach each other so as to assume a trian- gular shape, and in this state are called valves. These are large, ovate, entire, and are each furnished with a small, linear, often obscure grain, ex- tending down the middle. The plant is a native of Europe, but naturalized in America. It grows in this country in small ponds and ditches, and flowers in July and August. It is thought to be the Herba Britannica of the ancients, celebrated for the cure of scurvy and diseases of the skin. 2. R. Britannica. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 250. This species is distin- guished in the vernacular language by the name of yellow-rooted water dock. The root is large, dark on the outside, and yellow within. The stem is two or three feet high, and bears broad lanceolate, smooth, flat leaves, with the sheathing stipules slightly torn. The spikes of the panicle are leafless; the valves entire and all graniferous. The plant is indigenous, inhabiting low, wet places, and flowering in June and July. part i. Rumex Oblusifolius.—Rut a. 579 3. R. oblusifolius. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 254; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 293. The root of the blunt-leaved dock is externally brown, internally yellow; the stem two or three feet high and somewhat rough; the radical leaves ovate cordate, obtuse, and very large; the valves dentate and one of them conspicuously graniferous. It is a common weed in our rich grounds and pastures, but is supposed to have been introduced from Europe. Its flowers appear in June and July. 4. R. crispus. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 251. This common species, though not officinal, is perhaps equally entitled to notice with those which are so. It has a yellow, spindle-shaped root, with a smooth furrowed stem two or three feet high, and lanceolate, waved, pointed leaves. The valves are ovate, entire, and all graniferous. It is a native of Europe, and grows wild in this country. It is common in our dry fields and pastures, and about barn yards, and flowers in June and July. Dock-root, from whatever species derived, has an astringent bitter taste, with little or no smell. It readily yields its virtues to water by decoction. It has not been accurately analyzed; but, according to M. Deyeux, the root of the common European dock (R. Patientia) contains, among other ingre- dients, sulphur, starch, and acetate of lime. The leaves of most of the species are edible, and are occasionally used as spinage. They are some- what laxative, and form an excellent diet in scorbutic cases. The roots are used to dye a yellow colour. Medical Properties and Uses. The medical properties of dock-root are those of an astringent and mild tonic. It is also supposed to possess an alterative property, which renders it useful in scorbutic disorders, and cuta- neous eruptions, particularly the itch, in the cure of which it enjoyed at one time considerable reputation. It is said to have proved useful also in syphilis. Dr. Thomson found a decoction of the root of the R. Patientia very effica- cious in obstinate ichthyosis. (London Dispensatory.) The R. aquaticus, and R. Britannica, are the most astringent. The roots of some species unite a laxative with the tonic and astringent property, resembling rhubarb somewhat in their operation. Such are those of the R. crispus and R. ob- tusifolius; and the 7?. alpinus has in some parts of Europe the common name of mountain rhubarb. (Pa)'is Codex.) This resemblance of proper- ties is not singular, as the two genera belong to the same natural family. Dock-root is given in powder or decoction. Two ounces of the fresh root bruised, or one ounce of the dried, may be boiled in a pint of water, of which two fluidounces may be given at a dose, and repeated as the stomach will bear it. The root has often been applied externally in the shape of ointment, cataplasm, and decoction, to the various cutaneous eruptions and ulcerations for which its internal use is recommended. The powdered root is recom- mended as a dentifrice, especially when the gums are spongy. W. RUTA. Lond. Rue Leaves. " Ruta graveolens. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. RUTA GRAVEOLENTIS HERBA. Ed.; RUTA GRA- VEOLENS. Folia. Dub. Rue odorante, Fr.; Garten-Raute, Germ.; Ruta, Ital; Ruda, Span. Ruta. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Rutaceae. 580 Ruta.—Sabadilla. % part r. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Petals concave. Receptacle surrounded by ten melliferous points. Capsule lobed. Willd. Ruta graveolens. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 542; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 487. t. 174. Common rue is a perennial plant, usually two or three feet high, with several shrubby branching stems, which, near the base, are woody and covered with a rough bark, but in their ultimate ramifications are smooth, green and herbaceous. The leaves are doubly pinnate, glaucous, with obo- vate, sessile, obscurely crenate, somewhat thick and fleshy leaflets. The flowers are yellow, and disposed in a terminal branched corymb upon sub- dividing peduncles. The calyx is persistent, with four or five acute seg- ments; the corolla consists of four or five concave petals somewhat sinuate at the margin. The stamens are usually ten, but sometimes only eight in number. The plant is a native of the South of Europe, but cultivated in our gardens. It flowers from June to September. The whole herbaceous part is active; but the leaves are usually employed. These have a strong disagreeable odour, especially when rubbed. Their taste is bitter, hot, and acrid. In the recent state, and in full vigour, they have so much acrimony as to inflame and even blister the skin, if much handled; but the acrimony is diminished by drying. Their virtues depend chiefly on a volatile oil which is very abundant, and is contained in glandular vesicles, apparent over the whole surface of the plant. Besides volatile oil, they contain, according to Mahl, chlorophylle, albumen, an azotized sub- stance, extractive, gum, starch or inulin, malic acid, and lignin. Both alco- hol and water extract their active properties. Medical Properties and Uses. Rue is stimulant and antispasmodic, and like most other substances which excite the circulation, occasionally in- creases the secretions, especially when they are deficient from debility. It is sometimes used in hysterical affections, flatulent colic, and amenorrhcea, particularly in the last complaint. It has also been given in worms. The ancients employed it as a condiment, and believed it to possess, besides other valuable properties, that of resisting the action of poisons. Its excitant and irritating properties require that it should be used with caution. The dose of the powder is from fifteen to thirty grains two or three times a day. The medicine is also given in infusion and extract. Off. Prep. Confectio Rutae, Lond., Dub.; Extractum Rutae Graveolen- tis, Ed., Dub.; Oleum Rutae, Dub. W. SABADILLA. Lond. Cevadilla. " Helonias officinalis. The seeds." Lond. Cevadille, Fr.; Sabadillsame, Germ.; Cebadilla, Span. Cevadilla has been referred by the London College, in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia, as it appears to us, without sufficient authority, to the Helonias officinalis of Don, described in the Edinburgh New Philosophi- cal Journal, vol. 13. p. 234. The plant from which this product is derived, is not known to have come under the notice of botanists in its perfect state. Retzius described it from the remains of the flowers which he found among the imported fruit. (Merat et De Lens.) It has usually been considered a Veratrum, and is specifically designated as the Veratrum Sabadilla. It is a native of Mexico, from which country the drug is obtained. The seeds are PART I. Sabadilla. 581 the part recognised by the London College, which has introduced them into its officinal catalogue solely on account of their employment in the prepara- tion of veratria. The cevadilla seeds usually occur in commerce mixed with the fruit of the plant. This consists of three coalescing capsules, which open above, and present the appearance of a single capsule with three cells. It is three or four lines long and u line and a half in thickness, obtuse at the base, light brown or yellowish, smooth, and in each capsule contains one or two seeds. A resemblance existing or supposed between this fruit and that of barley, is said to have given rise to the Spanish name cevadilla, which is a diminutive of barley. The seeds are elongated, pointed at each end, flat on one side and convex on the other, somewhat curved, two or three lines long, wrinkled, black or dark brown on the outside, whitish within, hard, inodorous, and of an exceedingly acrid, burning, and durable taste. Ceva- dilla was found by Pelletier and Caventou to contain a peculiar organic alkali which they named veratria, combined with gallic acid; fatty matter; wax; yellow colouring matter; gum; lignin; and salts of potassa and of lime with a little silica. From 100 parts of the seeds, separated from their capsules, Meissner obtained 0.58 of veratria. Besides the principles above mentioned, M. Couerbe discovered another organic alkali which he called sabadilline (sabadillia), and a resinous substance for which he proposed the name of veratrin. The following process is recommended by M. Couerbe for obtaining veratria. An extract of cevadilla, obtained by treating this substance with bo'ling alcohol and evaporating the tincture, is to be boiled with water acidulated with sulphuric acid until the liquid ceases to receive colour, or till a mineral alkali introduced into it, no longer occasions any sign of pre- cipitation. To the solution of impure sulphate of veratria thus obtained, a solution of potassa or ammonia is to be added, and the resulting precipitate is to be treated with boiling alcohol and animal charcoal. The alcoholic so- lution, being filtered and evaporated, will yield the veratria sufficiently pure for medical use. A drachm of it, in this state, may be procured from a pound of cevadilla. But besides veratria, M. Couerbe has shown that the principles, called respectively sabadillia and veratrin, are also contained in this product. These are separated in the following manner. Into the solu- tion of impure sulphate of veratria obtained in the above process, nitric acid is to be introduced by drops. This occasions an abundant precipi- tate, from which the clear liquor is to be decanted. A weak solution of potassa is then to be added to the liquor, and the piecipitate which it produces is to be washed with cold water, and treated with boiling alco- hol. The substance obtained by evaporating the alcohol yields the saba- dillia to boiling water, which deposites it upon cooling—a substance called by M. Couerbe resini-gum of sabadillia, remaining in solution. If the residue of the substance, treated as just mentioned with boiling water, be submitted to the action of ether, it yields to this liquid the proper vera- tria, which may be obtained entirely pure by the spontaneous evaporation of the ether. The matter remaining undissolved is the resinous sub- stance which M. Couerbe calls veratrin. Veratria, when pure, is white, pulverulent, uncrystallizable, inodorous, extremely acrid, fusible by heat, scarcely soluble in cold water, soluble in a thousand parts of boiling water which it renders sensibly acrid, dissolved freely by alcohol, less so by ether, and capable of neutralizing the acids, with several of which, particularly the sulphuric and muriatic, it forms crystallizable salts. For a further account of veratria, with its effects upon 50* 582 Sabadilla.—Sabbatia. part i. the system, and its remedial applications, see the article Veratria in the second part of this work. Sabadillia is white, crystallizable, insupportably acrid, fusible by heat, readily soluble in hot water which deposites it upon cooling, very soluble in alcohol, and wholly insoluble in ether. It is capable of saturating the acids. For practical purposes it is unnecessary to obtain these two principles in a separate state; the impure veratria, procured by the process above describ- ed, being the preparation usually employed in medicine. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 527.) Medical Properties and Uses. Cevadilla is an acrid drastic emeto-ca- thartic, operating occasionally with great violence, and in over doses capable of producing fatal effects.' It was made known as a medicine in Europe so early as the year 1572; but has never been much employed. It has been chiefly used as an anthelmintic, especially in cases of taenia, in \\ hich it has been given in doses varying from five to thirty grains. It has also been given in different nervous aflections. It is the principal ingredient of the pidvis Capucinorum, sometimes used in Europe for the destruction of vermin in the hair. Externally applied, it is highly irritating, and is even said to be corrosive. Its chief employment at present is for the preparation of veratria. Off. Prep. Veratria, Lond. W. SABBATIA. U.S. American Centaury. " Sabbatia angularis. Herba. The herb." U.S. This is the Chironia angularis of Linnaeus, but as it wants some of the essential characters of the genus Chironia, it has been separated from it by subsequent botanists, and now ranks in the genus Sabbatia of Ad- anson. Sabbatia. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Gentianese. Gen. Ch. Calyx five to twelve-parted. Corolla rotate, five to twelve- parted. Stigmas two, spiral. Anthers at length revolute. Capsule one- celled, two-valved, many-seeded. Nuttall. Sabbatia angularis. Pursh, Flor. Am. Sept. 137; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 147; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 255. The American centaury is an an- nual or biennial herbaceous plant, with a fibrous root, and an erect, smooth, /our-sided stem, winged at the angles, simple below, sending off opposite axillary branches above, and rising one or two feet in height. The leaves, which vary considerably in length and width, are ovate, entire, acute, nerved, smooth, opposite, and sessile, embracing half the circumference of the stem at their base. The flowers are numerous, growing on the ends of the branches, and forming altogether a large terminal corymb. The calyx is divided into five lanceolate segments, considerably shorter than the corolla. This is deeply five parted, with obovate segments of a beautiful delicate rose-colour, which is paler and almost white in the middle of their under surface. The anthers are yellow, and after shedding their pollen become revolute. The style, which is bent downward, and is longer than the stamens, terminates in two linear stigmas, which become spirally twisted together. PART I. Sabbatia.—Sabina. 583 The plant is widely diffused through the Middle and Southern States, growing in low meadow grounds, and in wet seasons upon uplands, in woods and neglected fields. It flowers in July and August. In its gene- ral aspect as well as medical properties, it bears a close resemblance to the Erythraea, formerly Chironia Centaurium, or European centaury, for which it was mistaken by the earlier settlers. The whole herb is employed, and should be collected when in flower. All parts of it have a strongly bitter taste, without any admixture of as- tringency or other peculiar flavour. Both alcohol and water extract its bit- terness, together with its medical virtues. Medical Properties and Uses. American centaury has the tonic pro- perties of the simple bitters, and is very analogous in its action to the other plants belonging to the same natural family. It has long been popularly employed as a prophylactic and remedy in our autumnal intermittent and remittent fevers; and has found much favour with the medical profession iii the latter of these complaints. The state of the fever to which it is parti- cularly applicable, is that which exists in the intervals between the parox- ysms, when the remission is such as to call for the use of tonics, but is not sufficiently decided to justify a resort to the preparations of Peru- vian bark. It is also occasionally useful during the progress of a slow convalescence, by promoting appetite and invigorating the digestive func- tion; and may be employed for the same purpose in dyspepsia and diseases of debility. The most convenient form for administration is that of infusion. A pint of boiling water poured on an ounce of the herb and allowed to cool, may be given in the dose of two fluidounces, repeated every hour or two during the remission of fevers, and less frequently in chronic aflections. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm. The decoction, extract, and tincture are also efficient preparations. W. SABINA. U.S.,Lond. Savine. " Juniperus sabina. Folia. The leaves." U. S. " Juniperus Sabina. Cacumina recentia et exsiccata." Lond. Off. Syn. JUNIPERI SABINA FOLIA. Ed.; JUNIPERUS SABI- NA. Folia. Dub. Sabine, Fr.; Sevenbaum, Germ.; Sabina, Ital, Span. Juniperus. See JUNIPERUS. Juniperus Sabina. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 852; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 10. t. 5. This is an evergreen shrub, rising from three or four feet to fifteen feet in height, with numerous erect, pliant branches, very much subdivided. The bark of the young branches is light green, that of the trunk, rough and reddish-brown. The leaves, which completely invest the younger branches, are numerous, small, erect, firm, smooth, pointed, of a dark green colour, glandular in the middle, opposite, and imbricated in four rows. The flowers are male and female on different trees. The fruit is a blackish-purple berry, of an ovoid shape, marked with tubercles, the remains of the calyx and petals, and containing three seeds. The savine is a native of the South of Europe and the Levant. It is said also to grow wild in the neighbourhood of our Northwestern lakes. 5S4 Sabina.—Saccharum. part i. The ends of the branches, and the leaves by which they are invested, are collected for medical use in the spring. When dried they fade very much in colour. There is reason to believe that the Juniperus Virginiana, or common red cedar, is sometimes substituted in the shops for the savine, to which it bears so close a resemblance as to be with difficulty distinguished. The two species, however, differ in their taste and smell. In the J. Virginiana, moreover, the leaves are sometimes ternate. Tlie tops and leaves of savine have a strong, heavy, disagreeable odour, and a bitter, acrid taste. These properties are owing to a volatile oil which is obtained by distillation with water. (See Oleum Sabinse.) They impart their virtues to alcohol and water. Medical Properties and Uses. Savine is highly stimulant, increasing most of the secretions, especially those of the skin and uterus, to the latter of which organs it is supposed to have a peculiar direction. It has been much used in amenorrhcea, and occasionally as a remedy for worms. Dr. Chap- man strongly recommends it in chronic rheumatism. At present, however, it is not generally employed; and in no case should it be given when much general or local excitement exists. In pregnancy it should always be avoided. It is most conveniently administered in the form of powder, of which the dose is from five to fifteen grains, repeated three or four times a day. As an external irritant it is very useful, in the form of cerate, for maintain- ing a discharge from blistered surfaces; but as the preparation sold in this country under the name of savine ointment is often deficient in power, either from the age of the drug or the substitution of red cedar, it has in some mea- sure fallen into disrepute. (See Ceratum Sabinse.) In the state of powder or infusion, savine is used in Europe as an application to warts, indolent, carious, and gangrenous ulcers, psora, and tinea capitis; and the expressed juice of the fresh leaves, diluted with water, is sometimes applied to similar purposes. Off. Prep. Ceratum Sabinae, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Oleum Sabinae, Dub., Ed.; Unguentum Sabinae, Dub. W. SACCHARUM. U.S., Lond. Sugar. " Saccharum officinarum. Saccharum purificatum. The refined sugar." Off Syn. SACCHARUM PURIFICATUM. Ed.; SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM. Succus concretus purificatus. Dub. White sugar; Sucre pur, Sucre en pains, Fr.; Weisser Zucker, Germ.; Zucchero en pane, Ital; Azucar de pilon, Azucar refinado, Span. SACCHARUM NON PURIFICATUM. Ed. Brown Sugar. Off. Syn. SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM. Succus concretus non purificatus. Dub. Raw or Muscovado sugar; Sucre brut, Cassonade rouge, Moscouade, Fr.; Gemeiner Zucker, Germ.; Zucchero brutto, Ital; Azucar negro, Span. part i. Saccharum. 585 SYRUPUS EMPYREUMATICUS. Ed., Dub. Molasses. Off, Syn. SACCHARI FAX. Lond. MeMasse, Fr., Germ.; Melazzo, Ital; Melaca, Span. Sugar is a peculiar organic principle, neither acid nor alkaline, which is derived principally from vegetables, though occasionally from animal matter. As obtained from different sources, it presents shades of difference in its properties; and this circumstance has given rise to a number of varieties of this organic principle, distinguished by names derived from their source or mode of preparation. According to strict definition, however, no substance is considered a sugar, unless it be susceptible of the vinous fermentation. (See Alcohol.) Substances having a saccharine taste, but not susceptible of this fermentation, may be conveniently called saccharine principles. Sugar is found in the fruit, roots, and sap of many vegetables. All the sweet fruits contain a variety of it, called .grape sugar from its pe- culiar abundance in that fruit. It is also present, in larger or smaller amount, in the turnip, onion, and beet. The last mentioned root is cultivated extensively in France for the purpose of yielding sugar. In the north-western parts of the United States, as well as in Ca- nada, considerable quantities of sugar are manufactured from the sap of the sugar maple. (Acer saccharinum.) The process pursued is de- scribed by Dr. Rush in a paper published in the third volume of the American Philosophical Transactions. But the supply of sugar from the above sources is insignificant when compared with that obtained from the sugar cane, which is extensively cultivated in the East and West Indies, Brazil, and some of our Southern States, particularly Louisiana, for the pur- pose of being manufactured into sugar. This plant is the Saccharum offici- narum of botanists, and is the source of the officinal sugars of the Pharma- copoeias. Saccharum. Sex. Syst. Triandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Gramineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx two-valved, involucred, with long down. Corolla two- valved. Willd. Saccharum officinarum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 321; Phil. Trans, lxix. 207. The sugar cane is an herbaceous plant, possessing a jointed, succulent root, from which arise several shining, jointed stems, from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, and eight or ten feet high, and containing a white and juicy pith. The joints are about three inches apart, and give origin to the leaves, which embrace the stem at their base, are three or four feet long, and about an inch wide, flat, acuminate, longitudinally striated, furnished with a white midrib, glabrous, finely dentate, and of a green colour inclining to yellow. The flowers are whitish, surrounded by a long silky down, and disposed in a large, terminal, nearly pyramidal panicle, composed of sub- divided spikes, and two or three feet in length. The plant has a general resemblance to the Indian corn. There are two varieties, the common and the Otaheitan, the latter of which was introduced into the West Indies from the island of Tahiti (Otaheite) by Bougainville and Bligh. It is distin- guished by its greater height, the longer intervals between its joints, and by the greater length of the hairs which surround the flowers. The sugar cane is a native of the tropical regions of both the old and new continents. It is cultivated by cuttings, which are planted in rows, and which, by giving rise to successive shoots, furnish five or six crops before the plants require to be renewed. At the end of a year the plant generally 586 Saccharum. part i. flowers, and in four or five months afterwards the canes are completely ripe, at which time they have a yellowish colour, and contain a sweetish viscid juice. The quantity of sugar which they yield is very variable, ranging from six to fifteen per cent. Its separation is founded upon its property of crystallization, which is possessed by the sugar alone of all the substances present in the juice. Preparation and Purification. The canes being ripe, are cut down close to the earth, topped, and stripped of their leaves, and then crushed between iron rollers in a kind of mill. The juice, as it runs out, is received in suitable vessels, and being quickly removed, is immediately mixed with lime in the proportion of one part to eight hundred of the juice, and heated in a boiler to 140°. The gluten and albumen rise to the top, and form a thick scum, from underneath which the liquid is drawn off by a cock into a copper boiler, where it is concentrated by ebullition, the froth being care- fully skimmed off as it forms. When sufficiently concentrated, it is trans- ferred to shallow vessels called coolers, from which, before it is cool, it is drawn off into wooden vessels, with perforated bottoms, the holes in which are temporarily plugged. At the end of twenty-four hours, the liquid is strongly agitated with wooden stirrers, in order to accelerate the granulation of the sugar, which is completed in six hours. The stoppers are now re- moved, and the syrup allowed to drain off from the sugar, which in this state is granular, of a yellowish colour, and moist. It is next dried in the sun, and being introduced into hogsheads, forms the brown sugar of com- merce. The syrup, by a new evaporation, furnishes an additional portion of sugar; and the portion which finally remains, incapable of yielding more sugar, is the liquid called molasses. Sometimes the brown sugar undergoes an additional preparation, consisting in boiling it with lime-water, and, after sufficient concentration, allowing the syrup to crystallize in large inverted conical vessels, pierced at the apex and plugged. The surface of the crys- talline mass being covered with a thin mixture of clay and water, the plug is removed, and the water from the clay, penetrating the mass, removes the coloured syrup, which flows out at the hole. The sugar, as thus prepared, approaches to the white state, and constitutes the clayed sugar of commerce, usually called in this country Havana sugar. It is still, however, far from being pure. The purification of brown sugar forms a distinct branch of business, and the methods pursued have undergone many changes and improvements. By the original process, the sugar was boiled with lime-water, and clarified by means of bullocks' blood. The clarified syrup is then strained through a woollen cloth, whereby it is rendered limpid. It is next transferred to a boiler, where it is subjected to ebullition, until it is brought to a proper concentration, when it is allowed to cool in conical moulds, and to drain for the separation of the molasses. This last boiling requires to be continued so long, that the action of the fire and air frequently decomposes the sugar to such an extent, as to cause a loss of twenty-five per cent, in molasses. This disadvantage has caused the process above described to be very gene- rally abandoned since the year 1812; and now, for the most part, the sugar refiners boil the syrup in shallow boilers, which are suspended in such a way as to admit of their being emptied with the greatest quickness, without put- ting out the fire. By this arrangement, ten minutes are a sufficient time for boiling, and thus any considerable decomposition of the sugar is avoided. The process of refining has been still further improved by Messrs. Philip Taylor and Howard. The former introduced the improvement of heating the syrup with great rapidity by means of steam, made to pass through a PART I. Saccharum. 587 series of tubes traversing the boiler; and the latter devised the plan of caus- ing the syrup to boil under a diminished pressure, created by a suction pump, set in motion by a steam engine, while it was heated by steam, circulating round the boiler. In this way, the syrup was made to boil at a lower tem- perature, and without contact with the air, the two conditions most favour- able to the formation of crystallizable sugar. After the syrup is sufficiently boiled by any one of these methods, it is trans- ferred into a large vessel to cool, and afterwards poured into unglazed earth- enware moulds of a conical shape, with a hole in the apex, which is stop- ped with a plug of linen. The moulds are placed, with the apex down- wards, above stone-ware pots, intended to receive the uncrystallizable syrup. While the mass is cooling it is stirred, to cause the sugar to granulate, and when it has completely concreted, the moulds are unstopped, to allow the syrup to drain off. The syrup constitutes sugar house molasses. To remove the remains of the coloured syrup, the operation called claying is performed. This consists in removing from the base of the cones, a layer of the sugar, about an inch thick, and replacing it with pure sugar in powder, which is covered with a mixture of pipe clay and water, of about the con- sistence of cream. The water gradually leaves the clay, dissolves the pure suffar, and percolates the mass as a pure syrup, removing in its progress the coloured syrup. When this is all removed, the loaf is taken out of the mould and placed in stoves to dry. It now constitutes white or purified sugar. Latterly bullocks' blood has gone very much out of use, and animal char- coal has been substituted, in the proportion of from four to fourteen per cent. of the weight of the sugar. The sugar purified in this way is perfectly white. Sometimes the boiling is performed by means of heated whale oil, contained in serpentine tubes, which traverse the syrup, and into which the oil is drawn by a suction pump. This plan, first put in practice by an English refiner of the name of Daniel Wilson, affords the means of healing the syrup rapidly without the risk of burning it, and of withdrawing the heat in an instant by stopping the action of the pump. Of the several forms of sugar above indicated, as resulting from the various steps for its preparation from the cane, three only, white and brown sugar, and molasses, are officinal in the British and United States Pharmacopoeias; and these are designated by the Latin names placed at the head of this article. The United States Pharmacopoeia recognises refined sugar only, which it names Saccharum; the uses of brown sugar and molasses being replaced by the employment of a prepared syrup of known strength. (See Syrupus.) The London College also recognises refined sugar under the name of Saccharum; but in their last edition (1836) they have left out brown sugar, and inserted molasses under the name of Sacchari Fasx. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges, besides recognising refined sugar, also admit brown sugar and molasses. Commercial History. Sugar has been known from the earliest ages, and was originally obtained from Asia. About the period of the Crusades, the Venetians brought it to Europe; but at that time it was so scarce as to be used exclusively as a medicine. Upon the discovery of the Cape of Good- Hope and the maritime route to the East Indies, the commerce in sugar passed into the hands of the Portuguese. Subsequently, the cultivation of the cane was extended to Arabia, Egypt, Sicily, Spain, and the Canaries, and finally, upon the discovery of the new world, to America, where it was pursued with the greatest success, and continues to be so up to the present day. After this time, sugar became comparatively so cheap and abundant, 588 Saccharum. PART I. that, from being viewed as a medicine and costly luxury, it came into almost universal use among civilized nations as an article of food. In America it is produced most abundantly in the West Indies, which supply the greater part of the consumption of Europe, little comparatively being brought from the Brazils or the East Indies. The consumption of the United States, which in the year 1829 was estimated at one hundred and fifty millions of pounds, is more than half supplied by Louisiana and some of the neigh- bouring states, the remainder being received principally from the West Indies. It is not unlikely, that before many years shall have passed, all the sugar consumed in the United States will be furnished by the sugar-growing States. Within a few years, our planters have introduced into Louisiana the variety of cane called the Otaheite or ribbon cane, which is hardier and more productive than the common cane, and better suited to the climate of our Southern States. Varieties. There are but five kinds of sugar properly so called; that is, of substances susceptible of the vinous fermentation. These are 1. ordi- nary sugar, or that extracted from the cane, beet, and maple, which furnish an identical sugar; 2. ordinary sugar, rendered uncrystallizable by solution in water or weak acids and long boiling; 3. sugar of grapes, found in nearly all fruits; 4. mushroom sugar;* 5. sugar of diabetic urine. Besides these we have the saccharine principles, lactin or sugar of milk, mannite, and glycerin. Honey is a mixture, in variable proportions, of sugar of grapes and uncrystallizable sugar, united to an odorous principle. Of course the officinal sugar corresponds with the first kind of fermentable sugar, enume- rated above. Properties. Sugar, in a pure state, is a solid of a peculiar grateful taste, permanent in the air, phosporescent by friction, and of the sp.gr. 1.6. It dissolves readily in half its weight of cold water, and to almost an unlimited extent in boiling water. The solution, when thick and ropy, is called syrup, and forms, by spontaneous evaporation, white, semi-transparent crystals, having the shape of oblique four-sided prisms, and called sugar-candy. Sugar is nearly insoluble in absolute alcohol, but dissolves in four times its weight of boiling alcohol of the sp. gr. 0.83. Exposed to heat it swells, undergoes fusion, is decomposed, and exhales a peculiar odour, called caro- mel. Subjected to destructive distillation, it yields an acid water mixed with empyreumatic oil, and as gaseous products, a mixture of hydrogen, carburetted hydrogen, carbonic oxide, and carbonic acid; and there remains in the retort one-fourth of its weight of charcoal, which burns without resi- due. By the action of strong sulphuric acid it is blackened and decom- posed; and by strong nitric acid it is converted into oxalic acid. (See Oxalic Acid, in the Appendix.) Sugar has the property of combining with some salifiable bases, as potassa, ammonia, and protoxide of lead, and forming with them definite compounds called saccharates. It renders the fixed and volatile oils to a certain extent miscible with water, and forms with the latter an imperfect combination, called in pharmacy oleosaccharum. When in solution, it is not precipitated by subacetate of lead, a negative pro- perty by taking advantage of which it may be separated from most other organic principles. Action of Dilute Acids and Alkalies. The action of these substances on sugar has been ably investigated by Malaguti and Bouchardat. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 443, et 627.) It appears from their researches, that the acids * According to M. Bussy, the sweet principle of some mushrooms is identical with mannite, and, therefore, strictly speaking, not a sugar. {Amer. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 81.) PART I. Saccharum. 589 in general, both organic and inorganic, and whether more or less diluted with water, act always in the same manner at the boiling temperature on sugar; while they undergo no change themselves. The sugar is first converted into uncrystallizable sugar, sweeter than the original sugar, next into sugar of grapes, then into ulmic acid, or if the atmosphere is not excluded, into for- mic acid, in addition to the ulmic. The ulmic acid is accompanied by an isomeric substance of a brown colour, called by M. Malaguti ulmin, into which the acid appears susceptible of conversion by a prolonged ebullition. In producing these successive changes, the acids act with diminished en- ergy, in proportion to their dilution; but the smallest quantity of them will, nevertheless, produce the effects, though more slowly. The theory ad- vanced of these changes is that water, by the prolonged ebullition, com- bines with the sugar, and converts it into sugar of grapes, and that the acid employed takes this water, and an additional quantity, or its elements, from the sugar of grapes, with the effect of converting it into ulmic acid. If, however, the air be not excluded, a certain quantity of oxygen will be ab- sorbed, which will cause more or less formic acid to be generated. M. Ma- laguti supposes that the acids have in fact no agency in producing the sugar of grapes; but only begin to act when this is formed, as the result of the action of water at the boiling temperature. M. Bouchardat, however, con- tends that heat alone never converts sugar into sugar of grapes. Alkalies act upon sugar precisely in the same way as acids. The account above given of the action of acids on sugar explains very satisfactorily the way in which lime acts in the manufacture and refining of sugar. The acids naturally existing in the saccharine juice, even though in minute proportion, have the effect of converting the crystallizable sugar, first into the uncrystallizable kind, and then into sugar of grapes, by which a great loss of the former is sustained. The use of lime, by neutralizing these acids, prevents this result; while, at the same time, the earth has no injurious effect on the sugar. From these general remarks on the properties and varieties of sugar, and the action of chemical agents, we pass to the description of the several forms of officinal sugar. Purified or white sugar, as obtained on a large scale, is in concrete, some- what porous masses, called loaves, consisting of an aggregate of small crys- talline grains. When carefully refined, it is brittle and pulverulent, per- fectly white, inodorous, and possessed of the pure saccharine taste. Unpurified or brown sugar is in the form of a coarse powder, more or less moist and sticky, consisting of shining crystalline grains, intermixed with lumps, having an orange-yellow colour, more or less deep, a sweet, cloying taste, and a heavy and peculiar smell. It varies very much in qua- lity. The best sort is nearly dry, in large sparkling grains of a clear yellow colour, and possesses much less smell than the inferior kinds. It consists of the pure crystallizable sugar, containing variable quantities of colouring and extractive matter. Molasses is a black ropy liquid, of a peculiar odour, and a sweet empy- reumatic taste. When fermented and disiilled it yields rum. According to Bouchardat it is very variable in composition, but usually contains, 1. cane sugar, unaltered; 2. uncrystallizable syrup, capable of being converted by the action of acids into sugar of grapes; 3. black uncrystallizable syrup, resnliing from the alteration of the sugar of grapes; 4. sugar of grapes, pro- duced by the action of the free acids in the cane juice. Although Bouchar- dat admits the probability of the presence of this last, yet he was not able to sep.rate it without the use of acids; aud as these give rise to the sugar 51 590 Saccharum.—Sagapenum. PART i. of grapes, it was impossible to determine whether the grape sugar obtained pre-existed in the molasses, or was generated in the process of extraction. Composition. Pure cane sugar consists, according to Prout, of one equiv. of hydrogen 1, one of carbon 6.12, and one of oxygen 8 = 15.12. The theory of its conversion, during the vinous fermentation, into carbonic acid and alcohol, has been explained under another head. (See Alcohol.) Accord- ing to Berzelius, however, cane sugar is a hydrate, consisting of one equiv. of dry sugar and one of water. He founds this opinion on the fact that his analysis of dry saccharate of lead, gives for the combined sugar the same elements as for cane sugar, minus one equiv. of oxygen and one equiv. of hydrogen, that is, one equiv. of water. Med. and Pharm. Uses, fyc. The uses of sugar as an aliment and con- diment are numerous. It is nutritious, but, judging from the results of the experiments of Magendie, not capable of supporting life when taken exclu- sively as aliment, on account of the absence of nitrogen in its composition. It is a powerful antiseptic, and is beginning to be used for preserving meat and fish; for which purpose it possesses the advantage of acting in a much less quantity than is requisite of common salt, and of not altering the taste, nor impairing the nutritious qualities of the aliment. It was formerly sup- posed to be an antidote to the poisonous effects of copper, but this proves to be a mistake. (See Cuprum.) The medical properties of sugar are those of a demulcent, and as such it is much used in catarrhal affections, attended with irritation of the larynx and fauces, in the form of candy, syrup, &c. In pharmacy it is employed to render oils miscible with water, to cover the taste of medicines, to give them consistency, and to preserve them from change. Accordingly it enters into the composition of several infusions and mixtures, and of nearly all the syrups, confections, and troches. Brown sugar is used in the Dublin com- pound pills of iron, and in the Dublin and Edinburgh infusion of senna with tamarinds; and molasses, in preparing the London compound pills of iron, the London and Dublin compound pills of chloride of mercury, the Edinburgh syrup of senna, and the Dublin compound pills of colocynth, and of galbanum, and electuary of senna. In the United States Pharmaco- poeia, in which the two latter forms of sugar are not officinal, their place is usually supplied by the use of syrup. B. SAGAPENUM. Lond., Ed., Dub. Sagapenum. " Ferulae species incerta. Gummi-resina." Lond. Sagapenum, Fr.; Sagapen, Germ.; Sagapeno, Ital, Span.; Sugbeenuj, Arab. All that is known in relation to the source of this gum resin, is that it is the concrete juice of a plant, probably belonging to the family of the Umbel- liferae, growing in Persia. The plant is conjectured to be a species of Ferula, and Willdenow supposes it to be the F. Persica, but without suffi- cient evidence. The drug is brought from Alexandria, Smyrna, and other ports of the Levant. It is in irregular masses, composed of soft agglutinated fragments, slightly translucent, of a brownish-yellow, olive, or reddish-yellow colour externally, paler internally, brittle, of a consistence somewhat resembling that of wax, and often mixed with impurities, especially with seeds more or less entire. PART I. Sagapenum.—Sago. 591 It has an alliaceous odour, less disagreeable than that of assafetida, and a hot nauseous bitterish taste. It softens and becomes tenacious by the heat of the hand. The effect of time and exposure is to harden and render it darker. It is inflammable, burning with a white flame and much smoke, and leaving a light spongy charcoal. Pure alcohol and water dissolve it partially, diluted alcohol almost entirely. Distilled with water it affords a small quantity of volatile oil; and the water is strongly impregnated with its flavour. Accord- ing to Pelletier, it contains in 100 parts 54.26 of resin, 31.94 of gum, 1.0 of bassorin, 0.60 of a peculiar substance, 0.40 of acidulous malate of lime, and 11.80 of volatile oil including loss. Brandes found 3.73 per cent, of volatile oil. This is of a pale yellow colour, very fluid, lighter than water, and of a very disagreeable alliaceous odour. Medical Properties and Uses. Sagapenum is a moderate stimulant, simi- lar to assafetida in its properties, but much inferior, and usually considered as holding a middle station between that gum-resin and galbanum. It has been given as an emmenagogue and antispasmodic in amenorrhoea, hysteria, chlorosis, &c, but is now seldom used. The ancients were acquainted with it; and Dioscorides speaks of it as being derived from Media. The dose i's from ten to thirty grains, and may be administered in pill or emulsion. Sagapenum is also considered discutient, and has been occasionally applied externally, in the form of plaster, to indolent tumours. Off. Prep. Confectio Rutae, Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Galbani Compositae, Lond.; Pil. Sagapeni Comp., Lond. W. SAGO. U.S., Lond. Sago. " Cycas circinalis et Sagus Rumphii. Medulla praeparata. The prepared pith." U.S. " Sagus Rumphii. Medullas Fsecula." Lond. Sagou, Fr.; Sago, Germ., Ital; Sagu, Span. Numerous trees inhabiting the islands and coasts of the Indian Ocean, contain a farinaceous pith which is applied to the purposes of nutriment by the natives. Such are the Sagus Rumphii, Sagus Ruffia, and Phmnix farinifera, belonging to the family of the Palms; and the Cycas circinalis, Cycas revoluta, and Zamia lanuginosa, belonging to the Cycadeae. Of these the Cycas circinalis, Cycas revoluta, and Sagus Rumphii, have been severally indicated as the source of sago; and it is possible that they may all afford this peculiar form of farinaceous matter; but we are assured by Craw- ford, in his History of the Indian Archipelago, that the sago of commerce is derived exclusively from the Metroxylon Sagu, identical with the Sagus Rumphii; and this is at present the generally received opinion. Sagus. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Hexandria.—Nat. Ord. Palmae. Gen. Ch. Common spathe one-valved. Spadix branched. Male. Calyx three-leaved. Corolla none. Filaments dilated. Femalk. Calyx three- leaved, with two of the leaflets bifid. Corolla none. Style very short. Stigma simple. Nut tessellated-imbricated, one-seeded. Willd. Sagus Rumphii. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 404; Loudon's Encyc. of Plants, p. 789. The Sago palm is one of the smallest trees of the family to which it belongs. Its extreme height seldom exceeds thirty feet. The trunk is proportionably very thick, quite erect, cylindrical, covered with the remains of the old leafstalks, and surrounded by a beautiful crown of foliage, con- 592 Sago. PART I. sisting of numerous, very large, pinnate leavps, extending in every direction from the summit, and curving gracefully downwards. From the basis of the leaves proceed lono- divided and sub-divided flower and fruit-bearing spadices, the branches of which are smomh. The fruit is a roundish nut, covered with a chequered imbricated coat, and containing a single seed. The tree is a native of the East India islands, growing abundantly in the Moluccas, Borneo, Celebes, and a part of New Guinea. It flourishes best in low and moist situations. Before attaining maturity, the stem consists of a shell usually about two inches thick, filled with an enormous volume of spongy medullary matter like that of elder. This is gradually absorbed after the appearance of fruit, and the stem ultimately becomes hollow. The greatest age of the tree is not more than thirty years. At the proper period of its growth, when the medullary matter is fully developed, and has not yet begun to diminish, the tree is felled, and the trunk cut into billets six or seven feet long, which are split in order to facilitate the extraction of the pith. This is obtained in the state of a coarse powder, which is mixed with water in a trough, having a sieve at the end. The water loaded with farina, passes through the sieve, and is received in convenient vessels, where it is allowed to stand till the insoluble matter has subsided. It is then strained off; and the farina which is left may be dried into a kind of meal, or moulded into whatever shape may be desired. For the consumption of the natives it is usually formed into cakes of various sizes, which are dried, and extensively sold in the islands. The commercial sago is prepared by form- ing the meal into a paste with water, and rubbing it into grains. It is pro- duced in the greatest abundance in the Moluccas, but of the finest quality on the eastern coast of Sumatra. The Chinese of Malacca refine it so as to give the grains a fine pearly lustre. In this state it is called pearl sago, and is in great repute. It is said that not less than five or six hundred pounds of sago are procured from a single tree. (Crawford.) Pearl sago is that which is now generally used. It is in small grains, about the size of a pin's head, hard, whitish, or of a light brown colour, in some instances translucent, inodorous, and with little taste. Common sago is in larger grains, of more unequal size, of a duller aspect, and frequently mixed with more or less of a dirty looking powder.* Sago is insoluble in cold water, but by long boiling unites with that liquid, becoming at first soft and transparent, and ultimately forming a gela- tinous solution. Chemically considered, it has the characters of starch. It is used exclusively as an article of diet, having no medicinal qualities which adapt it to the treatment of disease. Being nutritive, easily dio-eslible, and wholly destitute of irritating properties, it is frequently employed in febrile cases, and in convalescence from acute disorders, in the place of richer and less innocent food. It is given in the liquid state, and in its pre- paration care should be taken to boil it long in water, and stir it diligently, in order that the grains may be thoroughly dissolved. Should any portion remain undissolved, it should be separated by straining, as it might offend a delicate stomach. A table-spoonful to the pint of water is sufficient for ordi- nary purposes. The solution may be seasoned with sugar and nutmeg, or with other spices where these are not contraindicated. W. * For an interesting paper on the varieties of sago, see Journ.de Pharm. xxiii. 115, and Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 214. PART I. Salix. 593 SALIX. }f. S. Secondary. Willow. " Salix alba et aliae. Cortex. The bark." U.S. Off. Sun. SALICIS CAPREA CORTEX. Ed.; SALIX ALBA. SALIX FRAGILIS. SALIX CAPREA. Cortex. Dub. Ecorce de saule, Fr.; Weidenrinde, Germ.; Corteccia di salcio, Ital; Corteza de sauce, Span. Salix. Sex. Syst. Dicecia Diandria.—Nat. Ord. Amentaceae, Juss; Sa- licineae, Richard, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Male. Amentum cylindrical. Calyx a scale. Corolla none. Glands of the base nectariferous. Female. Amentum cylindrical. Calyx a scale. Corolla none. Style two-cleft. Capsule one-celled, two-valved. Seeds downy. Willd. This is a very extensive genus, comprising, according to Nuttall, not less than one hundred and thirty species, which, with very few exceptions, are natives of Europe and of the northern and temperate parts of North Ame- rica. Though they are all probably possessed of similar medical proper- ties, only three have been admitted to the rank of officinal plants by the British Colleges; viz. S. alba, S. caprea, and S. fragilis. Of these spe- cies, the Salix alba is the only one which has been introduced into this country, and is expressly recognised in the last edition of our Pharmaco- poeia. Many native species are in all probability equally active; but they have not been sufficiently tried in regular practice to admit of a positive de- cision in relation to them. The younger Michaux speaks of the S. nigra or black willow, as affording in its root a strong bitter, used in the country as a preventive and cure of intermittents. In consequence of the pliability of the young branches or twigs, the willow is admirably adapted for the manufacture of baskets and other kinds of wicker-work, and several species, as well native as introduced, are employed for this purpose in the United States. The S. Babylonica or weeping willow is a favourite ornamental tree. Salix alba. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 710; Smith, Flor. Brit. 1071. The common European or white willow is a tree twenty-five or thirty feet in height, with numerous round spreading branches, the younger of which are silky. The bark of the trunk is cracked and brown, that of the smaller branches smooth and greenish. The leaves are alternate, upon short pe- tioles, lanceolate, pointed, acutely serrate with the lower serratures glandu- lar, pubescent on both sides, and silky beneath. There are no stipules. The flowers appear at the same time with the leaves. The amenta are terminal, cylindrical, and elongated, with elliptical, lanceolate, brown, pubescent scales. The stamens are two in number, yellow, and somewhat longer than the scales; the style is short; the stigmas two-parted and thick. The capsule is nearly sessile, ovate, and smooth. The white willow has been introduced into this country from Europe, and is now very common. It flowers in April and May; and the bark is easily separable throughout the summer. That obtained from the branches rolls up when dried into the form of a quill, has a brown epidermis, is flexible, fibrous, and of difficult pulveriza- tion. Willow bark has a feebly aromatic odour, and a peculiar bitter astrin- gent taste. It yields its active properties to water, with which it forms a reddish-brown decoction. Pelletier and Caventou found among its ingre- 51* 594 Salix.—Salvias Officinalis Folia. part i. dients, tannin, resin, a yellow colouring matter, gum, and an acid. The proportion of tannin is so considerable that the bark has been used for tan- ning leather. A crystalline principle #ias also been obtained from it, which, having the medical virtues of the willow, has received the name of salicin. When pure, it is in white, shining, slender crystals, very bitter to the taste, with the peculiar flavour of the bark. It is soluble in cold water, much more so in boiling water, soluble in alcohol, and insoluble in ether and the oil of turpentine. Uniting neither with acids nor salifiable bases, and containing no nitrogen, it has no claims to rank among the vegetable alka- lies. Concentrated sulphuric acid decomposes it, receiving from it an intense and permanent bright red colour. The diluted acids dissolve it with- out change. The honour of its discovery is claimed by Buchner of Ger- many, and Fontana and Rigatelli of Italy; but M. Leroux of France deserves the credit of having first accurately investigated its properties. M. Bra- connot procures it by adding subacetate of lead to a decoction of the bark, precipitating the excess of lead by sulphuric acid, evaporating the colour- less liquid which remains, adding near the end of the process a little animal charcoal previously washed, and filtering the liquor while hot. Upon cool- ing it deposites the salicin in a crystalline form. (Journ. de Chimie Medi- cate, Janv. 1831.) Messrs. Fisher and Tyson of Baltimore recommend the following process, which they have tried with success. Willow bark is boiled with caustic lime in water, the decoction filtered, and sulphate of zinc added so long as it produces a precipitate. The liquid having been again filtered, is evaporated to the consistence of an extract, and the residue treat- ed with alcohol. The tincture thus obtained, if carefully evaporated, yields crystals of salicin, which may be purified by washing with a saturated solu- tion of the same principle in cold water. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. 214.) The Salix helix is the species which in France has been found most productive of salicin; but the S. alba and others also afford it. M. Bra- connot has obtained it from various species of Populus, particularly the P. tremula or European aspen. Medical Properties and Uses. The bark of the willow is tonic and as- tringent, and has been employed as a substitute for Peruvian bark, particu- larly in intermittent fever. It has recently attracted much attention from the asserted efficacy of salicin in the cure of this complaint. There seems to be no room to doubt, from the testimony of numerous practitioners in France, Italy, and Germany, that this principle has the property of arresting inter- mittents; though the ascription to it of equal efficacy with the sulphate of quinia was certainly premature. The bark maybe employed in substance or decoction, in the same doses and with the same mode of preparation as cinchona. The dose of salicin is from two to eight grains, to be so repealed, that from twenty to forty grains may be taken daily, or in the interval be- tween the paroxysms of an intermittent. Magendie has seen fevers cut short in one day by three doses of six grains each. The decoction of willow has been found beneficial as an external application in foul and indolent ulcers. W. SALVIA OFFICINALIS FOLIA. Ed. Leaves of Sage. Sauge, Fr.; Salbey, Germ.; Salvia, Ital. Span. Salvia. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Labiatae. PART I. Salviae Officinalis Folia. 595 Gen. Ch. Corolla unequal. Filaments affixed transversely to a pedicel. Willd. Salvia officinalis. Willd. Sp. Riant, i. 129; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 352. t. 127. The common garden sage is a perennial plant, about two feet high, with a quadrangular, pubescent, branching, shrubby stem, furnished with opposite, petiolate, ovate lanceolate, crenulate, wrinkled leaves, of a grayish- green colour, sometimes tinged with red or purple. The flowers are blue, variegated with white and purple; and are disposed on long terminal spikes in distant whorls, each composed of few flowers, and accompanied with ovate, acute, deciduous bractes. The calyx is tubular and striated, with two lips, of which the upper has three acute teeth, the under two. The corolla is tubular, bilabiate, ringent, with the upper lip concave, the lower divided into three rounded lobes, of which the middle is the largest. The filaments are supported upon short pedicels, to which they are affixed trans- versely at their middle. Sage grows spontaneously in the South of Europe, and is cultivated abun- dantly in our gardens. There are several varieties, differing in the size and colour of their flowers, but all possessed of the same medical properties. The flowering period is in June, at which time the plant should be cut and dried in a shady place. The leaves are the officinal portion. Both these and the flowering summits have a strong, fragrant odour, and a warm, bitterish, aromatic, somewhat astringent taste. They abound in a volatile oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation with water, and contains a considerable proportion of camphor. Sulphate of iron strikes a black colour with their infusion. Medical Properties and Uses. Sage unites a slight degree of tonic power and astringency with the properties common to the aromatics. By the an- cients it was very highly esteemed; but it is at present little used internally, except as a condiment. In the state of infusion it may be given in debili- tated conditions of the stomach attended with flatulence, and is said to have been useful in checking the exhausting sweats of hectic fever. But its most usual application is as a gargle in inflammation of the throat and re- laxation of the uvula. For this purpose it is usually employed in infusion with honey and alum, or vinegar. From twenty to thirty grains of the powdered leaves may be given for a dose. The infusion is prepared by macerating an ounce of the leaves in a pint of boiling water, of which two fluidounces may be administered at once. When intended to be used merely as a pleasant drink in febrile complaints, or to allay nausea, the maceration should continue but a very short time, so that all the bitterness of the leaves may not be extracted. Two other species of Salvia—the S. pratensis and S. Sclarea—are ranked among the officinal plants in Europe. The latter, which is com- monly called clarry, has been introduced into our gardens. Their medical properties are essentially the same as those of the common sage; but they art: less agreeable, and are not much used. In Europe, the leaves of the S. Sclarea are said to be introduced into wine in order to impart to it a mus- cadel taste. W. 596 Sumbucus.—Sambuci Nigrse Flores, fyc. part i. SAMBUCUS. U.S. Secondary. Elder Berries. " Sambucus Canadensis. Baccae. The berries." U.S. Sambucus. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Trigynia.—Nat. Ord. Caprifoliaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Corolla five-cleft. Berry three-seeded. Willd. Sambucus Canadensis. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1494. Our indigenous common elder is a shrub from six to ten feet high, with a branching stem, which is covered with a rough gray bark, and contains a large spongy pith. The small branches and the leafstalks are very smooth. The leaves are op- posite, pinnate, sometimes bipinnate, and composed usually of three or four pairs of oblong oval, acuminate, smooth, shining, deep-green leaflets, the midribs of which are somewhat pubescent. The flowers are small, white, and disposed in loose cymes, having about five divisions. The berries are small, globular, and when ripe of a deep purple colour. The shrub grows in low moist grounds, along fences, and on the borders of small streams, in all parts of the United Slates, from Canada to Carolina. It flowers from May to July, and ripens its berries early in the autumn. These are the only officinal portion, though other parts of the plant are em- ployed in domestic practice, and have been found to answer the same purposes with the corresponding parts of the European elder, to which this species bears a very close affinity. (See Sambuci Nigrse Flores, <^c.) W. SAMBUCI NIGR.E FLORES, BACCE, CORTEX. Ed. Flowers, Berries, and Bark of the Common European Elder. Off. Syn. SAMBUCUS. Sambucus nigra. Flores. Lond.; SAMBU- CUS NIGRA. Flores. Baccae. Cortex interior. Dub. Sureau, Fr.; Hollunder, Germ.; Sambuco, Ital.; Sauco, Span. Sambucus. See SAMBUCUS. Sambucus nigra. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1495; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 596. t. 211. The common elder of Europe differs from the American most obviously in its size, which approaches to that of a small tree. The stem is much branched towards the top, and has a rough whitish bark. The leaves are pinnate, consisting usually of five oval, pointed, serrate leaflets, four of which are in opposite pairs, and the fifth terminal. The flowers are small, whitish, and in five-parted cymes. The berries are globular, and of a blackish-purple colour when ripe. The flowers have a peculiar rather unpleasant odour, which is strong in their recent state, but becomes feeble by drying. Their taste is bitterish. They yield their active properties to water by infusion, and when distilled give over a small proportion of volatile oil, which on cooling assumes a butyraceous consistence. Water distilled from them contains an appreciable portion of ammonia. The berries are nearly inodorous, but have a sweetish acidulous taste, dependent on the saccharine matter and malic acid which they contain. Their expressed juice is susceptible of fermentation, and forms a vinous liquor used in the North of Europe. It is coloured violet by alkalies, and bright red by acids*; and the colouring matter is precipitated part i. Sambuci Nigrse Flores, fyc.—Sanguinaria. 597 blue by acetate of lead. The inner bark is without smell, its taste is at first sweetish, afterwards slightly bitter, acrid, and nauseous. Both water and alcohol extract its virtues, which are said to reside especially in the green layer between the liber and epidermis. Medical Properties and Uses. The flowers are gently excitant and sudorific, but are seldom used except externally as a discutient in the form of poultice, fomentation, or ointment. The berries are diaphoretic and ape- rient; and their inspissated juice has enjoyed some reputation as a remedy in rheumatic, gouty, eruptive, and syphilitic affections. Its dose as an alterative diaphoretic is one or two drachms, as a laxative half an ounce or more. The inner bark is a hydragogue cathartic, acting also as an emetic in large doses. It has been employed in dropsy and as an alterative in various chronic diseases. One ounce may be boiled with two pints of water to a pint, and four fluidounces of the decoction given for a dose. It is also sometimes used in vinous infusion. The leaves are not without activity, and the young leaf-buds are said to be a violent and even unsafe purgative. The juice of the root has been used as a diuretic in dropsy. Off. Prep. Aqua Sambuci, Lond.; Oleum Sambuci, Lond.; Succus Spissatus Sambuci Nigrae, Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Sambuci, Lond., Dub. W. SANGUINARIA. U.S. Blood-root. " Sanguinaria Canadensis. Radix. The root." U.S. Sanguinaria. Sex. Syst. Polyandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Papave- raceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx two-leaved. Petals eight. Stigma sessile, two-grooved. Capsule superior, oblong, one-celled, two-valved, apex attenuated. Re- ceptacles two, filiform, marginal. Nuttall. Sanguinaria Canadensis. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1140; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 75; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 31. The blood-root, or, as it is sometimes called, puccoon, is an herbaceous perennial plant. The root is horizontal, abrupt, often contorted, about as thick as the finger, two or three inches long, fleshy, of a reddish-brown colour on the outside, and brighter red within. It is furnished with numerous slender radicles, and makes offsets from the sides, which succeed the old plant. From the end of the root arise the scape and leafstalks, surrounded by the large sheaths of the bud. These spring up together, the folded leaf enveloping the flower-bud, and rolling back as the latter expands. The leaf, which stands upon a long channeled petiole, is reniform, somewhat heart-shaped, deeply lobed, smooth, yellowish-green on the upper surface, paler or glaucous on the under, and strongly marked by orange-coloured veins. The scape is erect, round and smooth, rising from six inches to a foot in height, and terminating in a single flower. The calyx is two-leaved and deciduous. The petals^ vary- ing from seven to fourteen, but usually about eight in number, are spreading, ovate, obtuse, concave, mostly white, but sometimes slightly tinged with rose or purple. The stamens are numerous, with yellow filaments shorter than the corolla, and orange oblong anthers. The germ is oblong and compressed, and supports a sessile, persistent stigma. The capsule is 598 Sanguinaria. part i. oblong, acute at both ends, two-valved, and contains numerous oval, red- dish-brown seeds. The whole plant is pervaded by an orange-coloured sap, which flows from every part when broken, but is of the deepest co- lour in the root. The blood-root is one of the earliest and most beautiful spring flowers of North America. It grows abundantly throughout the whole United States, delighting in rich loo°se soils, and shady situations, and flowering in March and April. After the fall of the flower, the leaves continue to increase in size, and by the middle of summer, have become so large as to give the plant an entirely different aspect. All parts of the plant are active, but the root only is officinal. This, when dried, is in pieces from one to three inches long, from a quarter to half an inch or more in thickness, flattened, much wrinkled and twisted, often furnished with abrupt offsets and numerous short fibres, of a i reddish-brown colour externally, with a spongy uneven fracture, the surface of which is at first bright orange, but becomes of a dull brown by long ex- posure. The colour of the powder is a brownish orange-red. Sanguinaria has a faint narcotic odour, and a bitterish very acrid taste, the pungency of which remains long in the mouth and fauces. It yields its virtues to water and alcohol. The late Dr. Dana of New York obtained from it a peculiar alkaline principle, denominated by him sanguinurina, upon which the ac- rimony, and perhaps the medical virtues of the root depend. It may be procured, according to Dana, by infusing the finely powdered root in hot water or diluted muriatic or acetic acid, precipitating with water of ammo- nia, collecting the precipitated matter, boiling it in water with pure animal charcoal, filtering off the water, exposing the residue left upon the filter to the action of alcohol, and finally evaporating the alcoholic solution. (Ann. Lye. of Nat. Hist. New York, ii. 250.) Sanguinarina, thus obtained, is a white pearly substance, of an acrid taste, very sparingly soluble in water, soluble in ether, and very soluble in alcohol. With the acids it forms salts soluble in water, all of which have some shade of red, crimson, or scarlet, and form beautitul red solutions. They are acrid and pungent to the taste, particularly the muriate and acetate. From these facts it would appear, that the red colour and acrid properties of the blood-root may be ovying to the presence of some native salt of sanguinarina; which is decomposed by am- monia in the process of separating the vegetable alkali. The virtues of the root are said to be rapidly deteriorated by time. Medical Properties and Uses. Sanguinaria is an acrid emetic, with stimulant and narcotic powers. In small doses it excites the stomach, and accelerates the circulation; more largely given, it produces nausea and con- sequent depression of the pulse; and in the full dose occasions active vomit- ing. The effects of an overdose are violent emesis, a burning sensation in the stomach, faintness, vertigo, dimness of vision, and alarming prostration. Snuffed up the nostrils it excites much irritation, attended with sneezing. Upon fungous surfaces it acts as an escharotic. It has been given in ty- phoid pneumonia, catarrh, pertussis, croup, phthisis pulmonalis, rheuma- tism, jaundice, hydrothorax, and some other affections, either as an emetic, nauseam, or alterative; and its virtues are highly praised by many judicious practitioners. The dose with a view to its emetic operation is from ten to twenty grains, given in powder or pill. The latter form is preferable in consequence of the great irritation of throat produced by the powder when swallowed. For other purposes, the dose is from one to five grains, repeated more or less frequently according to the effect desired. The medicine is sometimes part i. Sanguinaria.—Santalum. 599 given in infusion or decoction, in the proportion of half an ounce to the pint. The emetic dose of this preparation is from half a fluidounce to a fluidounce. The tincture is officinal. An infusion in vinegar has been employed advantageously, as a local application, in obstinate cutaneous affections. Off. Prep. Tinctura Sanguinariae, U.S. W. SANTALUM. U.S. Red Saunders. "Pterocarpus santalinus. Lignum. The Wood." U.S. Off. Syn. PTEROCARPUS. Pterocarpus santalinus. Lignum. Lond.; PTEROCARPI SANTALINI LIGNUM. Ed.; SANTALUM RU- BRUM. PTEROCARPUS SANTALINUS. Lignum. Dub. Santal rouge, Fr.; Santelholz, Germ. Pterocarpus. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Legumi- nosae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-toothed. Legume falcated, leafy, varicose, girted by a wing, not gaping. Seeds solitary. Willd. Pterocarpus santalinus. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 906; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 430. t. 156. This is a large tree with alternate branches, and petiolate ternate leaves, each simple leaf being ovate, blunt, somewhat notched at the apex, entire, veined, smooth on the upper surface, and hoary beneath. The flowers are yellow, in axillary spikes, and have a papilionaceous corolla, of which the vexillum is obcordate, erect, somewhat reflexed at the sides, toothed and waved, the alae spreading with their edges apparently toothed, and the carina oblong, short, and somewhat inflated. The tree is a native of India, and attains the highest perfection in mountainous districts. Its wood is the true officinal red sounders, though there is reason to believe that the product of other trees is sold by the same name. It comes in squared or angular billets, internally of a blood-red colour, externally brown from exposure to the air, compact, heavy, and of a fibrous texture. It is kept in the shops in the state of small chips, raspings, or coarse powder. Red saunders has little smell or taste. It imparts a red colour to alcohol and ether, but not to water; and a test is thus afforded by which it may be distinguished from some other colouring woods. The colouring principle, which has been separated by Pelletier, and called by him santalin, is of a resinous character, scarcely soluble in cold water, more so in boiling water, very soluble in alcohol, ether, acetic acid, and alkaline solutions, but slightly in the fixed and volatile oils, with the exception of those of lavender and rosemary, which readily dissolve it. The wood has no medical virtues, and is employed solely for the purpose of imparting colour. Off. Prep. Spiritus Lavandulae Compositus, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Cinchonae Composita, U.S.; Tinctura Rhei et Sennae, CS. W. 600 Sapo. PART I- SAPO. U.S., Lond. Soap. " Sapo ex soda et oleo olivae confectus. Soap prepared from soda and olive oil." U.S. Off. Syn. SAPO DURUS. Ed., Dub. Savon blanc, Fr.; Oel-sodaseile, Germ.; Sapone duro, Ital; Xabon, Span. SAPO VULGARIS. U.S. Common Soap. " Sapo ex soda et oleo animali confectus. Soap prepared from soda and animal oil." U.S. Savon de suif, Savon de graisse, Fr.; Talgseife, Germ. SAPO MOLLIS. Lond., Ed., Dub. Soft Soap. " Sapo, ex Olivae oleo et Potassa confectus." Lond. Soap prepared from olive oil and potassa. Savon mou, Savon a base de potasse, Fr.; Schmierseife, Kaliseife, Germ. Soaps, in the most extended signification of the term, embrace all those compounds which result from the reaction of salifiable bases on oils and fats. During this reaction, the fatty bodies undergo saponification, and are changed, by the union of the elements of a small portion of water, into three peculiar acids, called stearic, margaric, and oleic, which unite with the salifiable base, and into a sweet principle called glycerin, which remains behind and is not saponifiable. Soap, under this view of its nature, is a saline compound, consisting of a mixiure, in variable pioportions, of the stearate, margaratc, and oleate of some base. Glycerin is a transparent liquid, without colour or smell, of a very Iweet taste, and a syrupy con- sistence. Iissp.gr. is 1.27. Exposed to the air it attracts moisture, and thrown on burning coals, inflames like the oils. Water combines with it in almost all proportions, and alcohol dissolves it with facility. Soaps are arranged in two divisions, the soluble and insoluble. The solu- ble soaps are those formed with soda, potassa, and ammonia; the insoluble include those generated with other salifiable bases, whether earths or metallic oxides. It is the soluble soaps only that are detergent, and it is to these that the term soap is generally applied. On the other hand, the insoluble soaps, though not fit to be used in domestic economy, are some of them employed in pharmacy; as for example, the soap of the oxide of lead, or lead plaster, and the soap of lime. (See Emplastrum Plumbi and Linimentum Calcis.) The consistence of the fixed alkaline soaps depends partly on the nature of the oleaginous matter employed, but principally on the alkali present; soda forming a hard, and potassa a soft soap. This dilference depends upon the circumstance, that the stearate, margarate, and oleate of soda are firm and solid; while the corresponding salts of potass-*, which are the constituents of soft soap, have a gelatinous consistence. The soap of soda is more or PART I. Sapo. 601 less hard, according as the stearate and margarate, or the oleate predominate in its composition. These variations in its constitution depend upon the nature of the oily matter. It has been explained elsewhere, (see Adeps and Olea,) that nearly all the fixed oils, whether concrete or liquid, consist of three proximate principles, two solid, called stearin and margarin, and one liquid, of which there are two varieties, called olein. Stearin characterizes for the most part the animal oils, margarin the vegetable, while olein is almost universally present in both. When these principles are separately saponi- fied, the stearin is converted into stearic acid, the margarin into the margaric, and the two kinds of olein into distinct oleic acids. From these statements it will be understood that fatty and oily bodies which are rich in stearin and margarin, such as tallow and olive oil, will form the hardest soda soap. The officinal soaps, the names of which are placed at the head of this article, embrace three soluble varieties, namely, two soda soaps, made respectively with olive and animal oil; and one potassa soap, under the name of soft soap. The soap of ammonia, also a soluble soap, is described under another head. (See Linimentum Ammonise.) Preparation. Olive oil soda soap is usually prepared as follows. Barilla is bruised, and mixed with about one-third of its weight of slaked lime, and a portion of cold water is added to the mixture. At the end of about twelve hours the liquor is drawn off, and constitutes what is called the first lixivium. Two other lixivia are then obtained, by separate portions of water, which serve to exhaust the alkali from the residuum, and constitute weaker solu- tions than the first. The next step consists in boiling the alkaline solution with the oil, which is mixed with one-fifth of rapeseed oil, to prevent the resulting soap from crumbling when it is cut. The ebullition is performed in large iron boilers. The weakest lixivium is first put into the boiler, to which a little oil is added, and the mixture is boiled. The combination soon takes place, and portions of the weaker solutions and of the oil are suc- cessively added, until the latter is expended. The strong lixivium is now added in successive small portions, and by completing the saturation of the oil, forms perfect soap, which separates from the remaining liquor and floats on the surface. This liquor, though abundant, consists principally of cer- tain salts, which render it no longer fit for saponification. The fire is now allowed to fall, and the liquor in question is drawn off" by a pipe, so as to leave the soap nearly dry. Fresh portions of strong lixivium are now added, the fire is re-kindled, and the addition of the alkaline solution is continued, until the operator is satisfied that the saturation is complete. The remaining liquor is again drawn off as at first, so as to allow the soap, which floats on the surface, to sink to the bottom of the boiler. The soap is now of a bluish-black colour, and contains about sixteen per cent, of water. The colour arises from an alumino-ferruginous soap, which is formed at the time the soap thickens, and which, by reaction with the sulphuret of sodium at the boiling temperature, generates a small portion of sulphuret of iron. The soap, in the state above described, may be converted either into white soap, or marbled soap, at the pleasure of the operator. To convert it into the former, it is diluted by degrees with the weaker lixivia, and the mixture is subjected to a regulated heat, and allowed to remain at rest. The dark-coloured alumino-ferruginous soap gradually falls to the bottom, leaving the soda soap perfectly white, This is drained, and run into frames, where it cools and hardens, after which it is out into cakes or bars. When the soap as first obtained is to be converted into marbled soap, it is thinned to a certain extent with the weak lixivia, and allowed to cool gradually. The colouring matter separates in veins, and while the soap is still traversed by 52 602 Sapo. PART I. these, it is run into the frames, allbwed to harden, and cut into bars. To succeed in the process of marbling, the soap must have a medium consistency; for if too thin, the colouring matter would fall to the bottom, and if too thick, this matter would become uniformly diffused through the soap. Soap of soda, made as above described with olive oil, is manufactured principally in France and Spain, where the olive abounds. It is this soap which is meant by the officinal names Sapo of the U.S. and London Phar- macopoeias, and Sapo Durus of the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges. Common soap (Sapo Vulgaris, U.S.) is also a soda soap, but instead of olive, it contains animal oil. This soap corresponds with the white soap of northern European countries and the United States, and is formed usually from barilla and tallow. In Scotland, it is manufactured from kelp and tallow. It was introduced into the list of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, as the only soap proper for making opodeldoc. (See Linimentum Saponis Cam- phoratum.) This soap is made by boiling the alkaline lixivia, obtained from the barilla or kelp and added in successive portions, with the melted tallow, until the saponification is complete; after which the soap is lifted out and put into the frames to consolidate. Soft soap (Sapo Mollis) is prepared on the same general principles as hard soap; potash being employed as the alkali, and a fatty matter, rich in olein, as the oil. The French soft soap is made with the seed oils, such as rape-seed, hemp-seed, &c; the Scotch, with fish oil and tallow; and our own with refuse fat and grease. A ley of wood-ashes is the form of potash usually employed. In the fabrication of this soap there is this peculiarity, that the soap formed continues, throughout the whole process, to be dis- solved in the alkaline solution, whereas, on the contrary, in making a soda soap, it is necessary for the success of the process, that the soap should separate from this solution. On this view, soft soap is a soap of potassa completely dissolved in the solution of its alkali, which consequently is present in excess. Soft soap is sometimes made with a view to its conver- sion into soda or hard soap. This conversion is effected by the addition of common salt, which, by double decomposition, generates a soap of soda, and chloride of potassium in solution. Besides the officinal soaps of the British and United States Pharmaco- poeias, the preparation of which is above described, there are many other varieties, more or less used for medicinal or economical purposes. The officinal sqap of the French Codex, called amygdaline soap of soda, is formed from soda and fresh almond oil, and is directed to be kept for two months before being used. Starkey's soap, also officinal in the Codex, is prepared by uniting, by trituration, carbonate of potassa with oil of turpen- tine and Venice turpentine. Eau de luce (aqua luciae) is a kind of liquid soap, formed by mixing together a tincture of oil of amber and balsam of Gilead, with water of ammonia. Transparent soap is prepared by saponi- fying kidney fat with soda free from foreign salts, drying the resulting soap, dissolving it in alcohol, filtering and evaporating the solution, and running it into moulds when sufficiently concentrated. The soap is yellow, or yel- lowish-brown, and preserves its transparency after desiccation. Palm soap is prepared from palm oil and soda. It has a yellowish colour, and an agreeable odour of violets derived from the oil. Almond soap is made by dissolving equal parts of soap of olive oil and tallow soap in almond milk, formed from bitter almonds and infusion of roses, to which a little hy- drocyanic acid is sometimes added. Soap balls are prepared by dissolving soap in a small quantity of water, and then forming it into a mass of the PART I. Sapo, 603 proper consistence, by means of starch. Common yellow soap, used for domestic purposes, derives its peculiarities from an admixture of rosin and a little palm oil with the tallow employed; the oil being added to improve its colour. All the varieties of soap, except a few of the fancy sort and the olive oil soaps, are manufactured in the United States. These latter, which are chiefly used for medicinal purposes, are imported in largest amount from France. Properties. Soap, whatever may be its colour, has the same general properties. Its aspect and consistence are familiar to every one. Its smell is peculiar, and its taste slightly alkaline. It is somewhat heavier than water, and therefore sinks in that liquid. Exposed to heat it quickly fuses, swells up, and is decomposed. It dissolves in water, and more readily in hot than in cold; and acids added to the solution, combine with the alkali, and set free the oleaginous acids, which being diffused through the water, produce a milky appearance. Its decomposition is also determined by all metallic salts, which invariably give rise to insoluble soaps. Soap is soluble also in cold, and abundantly in boiling alcohol. When dissolved in this menstruum it constitutes the tincture of soap, which forms a very convenient test for discovering earthy salts in mineral waters. Its use as a detergent depends upon its power of rendering grease and other soiling substances soluble in water, and, therefore, susceptible of being removed by washing. Olive oil soda soap is a hard soap, and is presented under two prin- cipal varieties, white and marbled. Good white soap has a slight yellowish tinge. In thin slices it is translucent, and to the touch it is neither greasy nor slippery. It ought not to grow moist, but, on the contrary, become dry by exposure to the air; without, however, being covered with any saline efflorescence. This variety of soap contains about foity-five per cent, of water. Marbled soap is harder and more constant in its proportions than white soap. It is also more alkaline, and, therefore, less mild. It contains but thirty per cent, of water; and it is out of the power of the manufacturer to increase this quantity; whereas in making white soap, the operator may augment the proportion of this liquid to an almost indefinite extent, the soap being whiter in proportion as the quantity of water is greater. Marbled soap is, therefore, more economical than white soap for all the purposes to which it is applicable. The variety of marbled soap, called Castile in the shops, has its blue and red veins produced, the former by the addition of sulphate of iron to a part of the alkaline ley, after the soap is fully boiled; the latter by stirring in red oxide of iron, when the soap is nearly completed; (Thomson, London Dispensatory.) Animal oil soda soup, the Sapo Vulgaris of the United States Pharma- copoeia, is a hard soap, of a white colour, inclining to yellow. It possesses the same general properties as the olive oil soda soap. Soft soap, as made in this country, is in the form of a semi-fluid slippery mass, capable of being poured from one vessel to another, and of a dirty yellow colour. This soap always contains an excess of alkali, which causes it to act more powerfully as a detergent than hard soap. That which is made in France has a greenish colour and the consistence of soft ointment, and is made from potash, and hemp-seed oil. Sometimes it is manufac- tured from the dregs of olive oil. Adulterations. When soap is made to unite with an excess of water, it becomes unnaturally white. Sometimes pulverized lime, gypsum, or pipe- clay is incorporated with it, with fraudulent intentions. An excess of water 604 Sapo. PART I. may be known by the rapid loss of weight which the soap suffers in a dry air; and the latter substances are detected by acting on the soap with alcohol, which leaves them undissolved. lncompatibles. Soap is decomposed by all the acids, earths, and earthy and metallic salts. The acids combine with the alkali, and set free the oil; the earths unite with the oily matter, and separate the alkali; while the salts mentioned give rise, by double decomposition, to an insoluble soap of their base, and a saline combination between their acid and the alkali of the soap. All hard waters, in consequence of their containing lime, decompose and curdle soap. Composition. As has been already explained, soap consists of certain oleaginous acids, resulting from the saponification of fats and oils, united with an alkali. Several of them have been analyzed by able chemists, and present considerable variation in their composition. According to Thenard, 100 parts of the following soaps are thus constituted. White soap—soda 4.6, fatty acids 50.2, water 45.2. Marbled soap—soda 6, fatty acids 64, water 30. French soft soap—potassa 9.5, fatty acids 44, water 46.5. It is remarkable what a large proportion of water soaps contain. Medical Properties. Soap possesses the properties of a laxative and antacid. It is seldom given alone, but frequently in combination with rhu- barb, the astringency of which it has a tendency to correct. Thus combined, it is frequently administered in dyspepsia, attended with constipation and torpor of the liver. As it is readily decomposed by the weakest acids, which combine with the alkali, it has proved useful in acidity of the stomach, and has been recommended as a remedy in the uric acid diathesis; but it pos- sesses no power to dissolve calculi, as was once supposed. Externally, soap is a stimulating discutient, and as such has been used, by friction, in sprains and bruises. Dr. A. T. Thomson has seen much benefit derived from rubbing the tumid bellies of children in mesenteric fever, morning and evening, with a strong lather of soap. In pharmacy, soap is frequently employed for the purpose of giving proper consistency to pills; but care must be taken not to associate it with a substance which may be decom- posed by it. It is also an ingredient in some liniments and plasters. In toxicology it is used as a counterpoison for the mineral acids, and should be always resorted to in poisoning by these agents without a moment's delay, and its use continued, until magnesia, the more appropriate antidote, can be obtained. The mode of administration, in these cases, is to give a teacupful of a solution of soap, made by dissolving it in four times its weight of water, every three or four minutes, until the patient has taken as much as he can swallow. The dose of soap is from three grains to half a drachm, given in the form of pill. Off. Prep, of Soap. Ceratum Saponis, U.S., Lond.; Emplastrum Sapo- nis, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Extractum Colocynthidis Compositum, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Linimentum Saponis, Zone?.,* Pilulae Aloe's, U.S., Ed.; Pilulae Aloes et Assafcetidae, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Pilulae Assafcetidae, U.S.; Pilulae Gam- bogiae Compositae, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pilulae Colocynthidis Compositae, Dub.; Pilulae Opii, U.S.; Pilulae Rhei Compositae, Lond.; Pilulaa Saponis Compositae, Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Scillae Compositae, Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Sub-Carbonatis Sodae, Ed.; Tinctura Saponis Camphorata, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Saponis et Opii, Ed. Off. Prep, of Common Soap. Linimentum Saponis Camphoratum, U.S. Off Prep, of Soft Soap. Enema Colocynthidis, Lond.; Linimentum Terebinthinae, Lond.; Unguentum Sulphuris Compositum, Lond. B. ?art i. Sarsaparilla. 605 SARSAPARILLA. U.S. Sarsaparilla. " Similax sarsaparilla, et alias. Radix. The root." U.S. Off. Sun. SARZA. Smilax officinalis. Radix. Lond.; SMILACIS SARSAPARILLA RADIX. Ed.; SARSAPARILLA. SMILAX SAR- SAPARILLA. Radix. Dub. : Salscpireille, Fr.; Sarsaparille, Germ.; Salsapariglia, Ital; Zarzaparrilla, Span. Smilax. Sex. Syst. Dioecia Hexandria.—Nat. Ord. Asparagi, Juss.; Smilaceae, R. Brown, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx six-leaved. Corolla none. Female. Calyx six- leaved. Corolla none. Styles three. Berry three-celled. Seeds two. Willd. Although most of the Pharmacopoeias recognise the root of the Smilax Sar- saparilla as officinal, it is very doubtful whether any of the drug as found in the shops is obtained from this species. The S. Sarsaparilla is a native of the United States, and its root would certainly be dug up and brought into the market, had it been found to possess the same properties with the/imported medicine. It is not among the eleven species of Smilax described by Hum- boldt, Bonpland, and Kunth, who indicate the S. officinalis, S. syphilitica, and S. Cumanensis, especially the first, as the probable sources of the sar- saparilla exported from Mexico and the Spanish Main. In the present state of oiir knowledge on the subject, it is impossible to decide with certainty from what species the several commercial varieties of the drug are res- pectively derived. This much is highly probable, that they do not pro- ceed from the same plant. Of the great number of species belonging to this genus, very few possess any useful medicinal power; and Hancock stales that of the six or eight which he found growing in the woods of Guiana, only one presented in any degree the sensible properties of the genuine sarsaparilla, the rest being insipid and inert. The root of the Smilax China, a native of China and Japan, has been employed under the name of China root for similar purposes with the officinal sarsaparilla. As it occurs in commerce, it is in pieces from three to eight inches long and an inch or two thick, usually somewhat flattened, more or less knotty, often branched, of a brownish or grayish-brown colour externally, whitish or of a light flesh-colour internally, without odour, and of a taste flat at first, but afterwards very slightly bitterish and somewhat acrid like that of sar- saparilla. It is feeble as a medicine, and at present very little used. A root, supposed to be that of the Smilax aspera, has been employed in India as a substitute for sarsaparilla. Parcels of it, imported into London, are de- scribed as consisting of long, tortuous, cylindrical, rugose roots, with the cortical portion resembling cork, and divided by furrows into moniliform rings. It has an aromatic odour and a bitter taste. (Journ. of the Phil. Col., of Pharm. vi. 202.) Smilax Sarsaparilla. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 776; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 161. t. 62. This plant is perennial, and like all of the same genus has a climbing or trailing stem, which in the present instance is long, slender, shrubby, angular, and beset with prickles. The leaves are unarmed, ovate lanceolate, with about five nerves, somewhat glaucous beneath, and sup- ported alternately upon footstalks, at the bases of which are long tendrils. The flowers usually stand three or four together upon a common peduncle, which is longer than the leafstalk. The name sarsaparilla is expressive of 52* 606 Sarsaparilla. part I. the character of the plant, being derived from two Spanish words which signify a small thorny vine. S. officinalis. Humb. and Bonpl. Plant AHquinoct. i. 271. In this spe- cies the stem is angular and prickly, and the leaves oblong oval, acuminate, cordiform, coriaceous, smooth, and furnished with five or seven nerves. According to Humboldt, it abounds on the river Magdalena, and is the zarzaparilla of the natives. S. syphilitica. Humb. Plant Mquinoct. This species has a round prickly stem, with scattered prickles, and very firm, oblong lanceolate, mu- cronate, three-nerved, coriaceous leaves. It grows in Venezuela and per- haps other parts of South America. The medicinal species of Smilax grow in Mexico, Guatemala, and the warm latitudes of South America. The roots are very long and slender, and originate in a common head from which the stems of the plant rise. They are brought into the market from various sources, and are divided into several commercial varieties according to their place of collection or shipment. The sarsaparilla most commonly used in this country is brought from the bay of Honduras, by which name it is known in commerce. It comes in bundles two or three feet long, composed of the roots folded lengthwise, and secured in a compact form by a few circular turns. These are packed in bales imperfectly covered with skins, each bale containing about one hun- dred pounds. The roots are usually connected at one extremity in large numbers in a common head, to which portions of the stems are also attached. In some bundles are many small fibres either lying loose or still adhering to the roots. The Jamaica or red sarsaparilla of foreign writers is not known by that name in the United Slates. As the island of Jamaica is said to be merely its channel of exportation to Europe, and as it is supposed to be originally from Honduras, it is probably confounded by our druggists with the Hon- duras sarsaparilla, from which it does not materially differ in properties. The reddish colour of its epidermis is its chief peculiarity. Considerable quantities of the drug are imported from the Mexican ports of Vera Cruz and Tampico. The Vera Cruz sarsaparilla comes either in packages, like the Honduras, or in large, rather loose bundles, bound with cords or leather thongs, and usually containing the roots separately packed. These, as in the Honduras sarsaparilla, consist of a head or cau- dex with numerous long radicles, which, however, are somewhat smaller than in that variety, and have a thinner bark. They are often also much soiled with earth. This variety is not highly esteemed; but from the acrid taste which it possesses, it is probably not inferior in real virtues to the other kinds. Another variety is the Caracas sarsaparilla, brought in large quantities from La Guayra. It is in oblong packages, of about one hundred pounds, surrounded with broad strips of hide, which are connected laterally with thongs of the same material, and leave much of the root exposed. The roots, as in the last variety, are separately packed, but more closely and with greater care. The radicles are often very amylaceous internally, in this respect resembling the following. The Brazilian, or, as it is sometimes called in Europe, the Lisbon sarsaparilla, scarcely reaches the United Slates. Commanding a higher price in the European markets than in ours, it takes the former course. It grows in the country between the sources of the Orinoco, and the Rio Negro, a northern tributary of the Amazon, through which latter river it is PART I. Sarsaparilla. 607 conveyed to the Port of Para. It is celebrated throughout South Ame- rica by the name of sarsa of the Rio Negro, and is considered as the most valuable variety of the drug. It is distinguished by the amylaceous cha- racter of its interior structure. Hence has probably arisen the value at- tached in Europe to sarsaparilla, from whatever source derived, which when broken exhibits a starch-like aspect. We are informed that our druggists find it profitable to export parcels of this character when they happen to reach our market. But the Brazillian drug, if really more effi- cient, must owe its superiority to some other cause than the abundance of starch which it contains. Properties. The dried sarsaparilla roots are several feet in length, about the thickness of a goose-quill, cylindrical, more or less wrinkled longitudi- nally, flexible, and composed of a thick exterior cortical portion covered with a thin easily separable epidermis, of an inner layer of ligneous fibre, and of a central pith. 'Ihe epidermis is of various colours, generally, in the Honduras variety, of a dirty ash-colour, sometimes very dark, and often more or less deeply tinged with red. The cortical portion is in some spe- cimens whitish, in others brown, and not unfrequently of a pink or rosy1 hue. It is occasionally white, brittle, and almost powdery like starch. The woody part is usually very thin, and composed of longitudinal fibres, which allow the root to be split with facility through its whole length. Saisaparilla in its ordinary state is nearly or quite inodorous, but in de- coction acquires a decided and peculiar smell. To the taste it is mucilagi- nous and very slightly bitter, and, when chewed for some time, produces a disagreeable acrid impression which remains long in the mouth and fauces. The root is efficient in proportion as it possesses this acrimony, which is said by some authors to be confined to the cortical portion, while the lig- neous fibre and medullary matter aie insipid and inert. Hancock avers that all parts are equally acrid and efficacious. The truth is probably between the two extremes; and, as in most medicinal roots, it must be admitted that the bark is more powerful than the interior portions, while these are not wholly inactive. The virtues of the root are communicated to water cold or hot, but are impaired by long boiling. (See Decoctum Sarsaparillae.) They are extracted also by diluted alcohol. It appears from the experi- ments of Hancock that the whole of the active principle is not extracted by water. He observes in his paper upon sarsaparilla, published in the London Medico-Botanical Transactions, when speaking of the sarsaparilla from Para and the Rio Negro, " after exhausting half a pound of this sort by two digestions, boiling and pressure, 1 added to the dregs half a pint of proof spirit, and digested this with a gentle heat for a few hours in a close vessel, then aflusing hot water to the amount of that taken off from the first boiling, and pressing again, I procured by the last operation about four pints of an infusion which possessed the acrid properties of the sarsa in a much higher degree even than that obtained by the first decoction with simple water." It appears that in South America it is the custom to prepare sarsaparilla by digestion in wine or spirit, or by infusion in water with additions which may produce the vinous fermentation, and thus add alcohol to the menstruum. The same result, as to the superior efficacy of alcohol as a solvent of the acrid principle of sarsaparilla, has been obtained by the French experi- mentalists.* According to M. Thubeuf, sarsaparilla contains, 1. a peculiar crystalline substance, which is probably the active principle of the root, 2. a colouring * See a paper by M. Soubeiran, Journ. de Pharm. torn. xvi. p. 38. an. 1830. 608 Sarsaparilla. .part x. snbatance, 3. resin, 4. starch, 5. lignin, 6. a thick, aromatic fixed oil, 7. a waxy substance, and 8. muriate and nitrate of potassa. The proportion of starch is large. The crystalline principle in which the virtues of sarsapa- rilla probably reside should be called sarsapariltin. It was first discovered by Dr. Palotta, who described it in 1824, under the name of pariglin. Sub- sequently, M. Fofchi supposed that he had found another principle which he called smilmin. In 1831, M. Thubeuf announced the discovery of a new substance in sarsaparilla, which he named salseparine, from the French name of the root. Finally, Batka, a German chemist, towards the end of 1833, published an account of a principle which he had discovered in the root, and which, under the impression that it possessed acid properties, he called parillinic acid. M. Poggiale, however, has shown that these sub- stances are identical, and differ only in the processes by which they were procured. The process of M. Thubeuf, which is decidedly preferable to the others, is the following. The root is treated with hot alcohol till de- prived of taste. The tincture thus obtained is submitted to distillation and seven-eighths of the alcohol drawn off. The remainder is treated with animal charcoal, and filtered at the end of twenty-four or forty-eight hours. The sarsaparillin is deposited in the form of a granular powder. This is dis- solved in a fresh portion of alcohol and crystallized. The alcoholic mother liquors may be deprived of that portion of the principle which they retain by evaporating to dryness, dissolving the product in water, filtering, again evaporating to dryness, redissolving in alcohol, and crystallizing. Sarsapa- rillin is white, inodorous, almost tasteless in the solid state, but of a bitter, acrid, nauseous taste, when dissolved in alcohol or water. It is very slightly soluble in cold water, but is more readily dissolved by boiling water which tleposites it on cooling. It is very soluble in alcohol, especially at a boiling temperature. Ether and the volatile oils also dissolve it. Water which holds it in solution has the property of frothing very much by agitation. The solutions of sarsaparillin are without either acid or alkaline reaction. Batka erred in considering it an acid. M. Poggiale found it both in the cortical and medullary part of the root, but most largely in the former. Palotta gave it internally in doses varying from two to thirteen grains, and found it to produce nausea and to diminish the force of the circulation. It is probably the principle upon which sarsaparilla depends chiefly, if not exclusively, for its remedial powers; but this opinion needs the support of further observation before it can be admitted as an established fact. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 553 and 679.) The sarsaparilla of the shops is very apt to be nearly if not quite inert, either from age, or from having been obtained from an inferior species of Smilax. This inequality of the medicine, together with the improper modes of preparing it which have been long in vogue, have probably contributed to its variable reputation. The only criterion of good sarsaparilla which can be relied on is the taste. If it leave a decidedly acrid impression in the mouth after having been chewed for a short time, it may be considered effi- cient; if otherwise, it is probably inert. Medical Properties and Uses-. Few medicines have undergone greater changes of reputation. About the middle of the sixteenth century it was introduced into Europe as a remedy for the venereal complaint, in the treat- ment of which it had been found very useful in the recent Spauish settle- ments in the West Indies. After a time it fell into disrepute, and was little employed till nearly a century ago, when it was again brought into notice by Sir William Fordyce and others, as a useful adjuvant and corrigent of mercury in lues venerea. Since that period very different opinions have part i. Sassafras Medulla.—Sassafras Radicis Cortex. 609 been entertained of its efficacy. Some, among whom was Dr. CuUen, con- sidered it wholly inert; others, on the contrary, have had the most un- bounded confidence in its powers. The probable cause of much of this discrepancy has been already mentioned. Experience, both among regular practitioners and empyrics, would seem to have placed its efficiency beyond reasonable doubt; and at this moment its reputation is probably as high as at any former period. Its most extensive and useful application is to the treatment of secondary syphilis and syphiloid diseases, and that shattered state of the system which sometimes follows the imprudent use of mercury in these affections. It is also employed, though with less obvious benefit, in chronic rheumatism, scrofulous affections, certain cutaneous diseases, and other depraved conditions of the general health to which the physician may find it difficult to apply a name. Its mode of action is less evident than its ultimate effects. It is said to increase the secretion of perspiration and urine; but allowing it to possess this power, the amount of effect is too trifling to explain its influence over disease; and the diaphoretic and diuretic action which it appears to evince, may perhaps be as justly ascribed to the medicines with which it is generally associated, or the liquid in which it is exhibited. In this ignorance of its precise modus operandi we may call it an alterative, as we call all those medicines which change existing morbid actions, without an obvious influence over any of the functions. Sarsaparilla may be given in powder in the dose of half a drachm three or four times a day. Dr. Hewson of Philadelphia informs us that, as the result of numerous trials, he has found that few stomachs would bear more than this quantity of the powder. The medicine, however, is more conveniently administered in the form of infusion, decoction, syrup, or extract. (See the several officinal preparations in Part II.) A beer made by fermenting an infusion of the drug with molasses, is said to be a popular remedy in South America.* Off. Prep. Decoctum Sarsaparillae, U.S., Lond., Dub., Ed.; Decoctum Sarsaparillae Compositum, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Extractum Sarsaparillae, Dub., Lond.; Extractum Sarsaparillae Fluidum, Dub.; Infusum Sarsapa- rillae Compositum, Dub.; Syrupus Sarsaparillae, U.S., Lond., Dub. W. SASSAFRAS MEDULLA. U.S. Sassafras Pith. " Laurus sassafras. Stipitum medulla. The pith of the stems." U.S. SASSAFRAS RADICIS CORTEX. U.S. Bark of Sassafras Root. " Laurus sassafras. Radicis cortex. The bark of the root." U.S. * The following is a formula recommended by Hancock. " Take of Rio Negro sarsa, bruised, 21b; bark of guaiac, powdered, 8 oz.; raspings of guaiac wood, anise seeds, and liquorice root, each 4 oz.; mezereon, bark of the root, 2 oz.; treacle [molasses] 2 fb; and a dozen bruised cloves; pour upon these ingredients about four gallons of boiling water, and shake the vessel tlirice a day. When a fermentation has well begun, it is fit for use, and may be taken in the dose of a small tumblerful twice or thrice a day." This formula is worthy of attention; but the bark of guaiacum, which is not kept in the shops, might be omitted without materially affecting the virtues of the preparation. 610 Sassafras Radicis Cortex. part i. Off. Syn. SASSAFRAS. Laurus Sassafras. Radix. Lond.; LAURI SASSAFRAS LIGNUM. LAURI SASSAFRAS RADIX. Ed.; SASSA- FRAS. LAURUS SASSAFRAS. Lignum. Radix. Dub. Sassafras, Fr., Germ.; Sassafras, Sassafrasso, Ital.; Sosafras, Span. Laurus. See CAMPHORA. Laurus Sassafras. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 485; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 142; Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. ii. 144. This is an indigenous tree of middling size; rising in favourable situations from thirty to fifty feet in height, with a trunk about a foot in diameter. In the Southern States it is sometimes larger, and in the northern parts of New England is little more than a shrub. The bark which covers the stem and large branches is rough, deeply furrowed, and grayish; that of the extreme branches or twigs is smooth and beautifully green. The leaves, which are alternate, petiolate, and downy when young, vary much in their form and size even upon the same tree. Some are oval and entire, others have a lobe on one side; but the greater number are three-lobed. Their mean length is four or five inches. The flowers, which are frequently dioecious, aie small, of a pale yellowish-green colour, and disposed in racemes which spring from the branches below the leaves, and have linear bractes at their base. The corolla is divided into six oblong segments. The male flowers have nine stamens; the hermaphrodite, which are on a different plant, have only six, with a sim- ple style. The fruit is an oval drupe, about as large as a pea, of a deep blue colour when ripe, and supported on a red pedicel, which enlarges at the extremity into a cup for its reception. The sassafras is common throughout the United States, and extends into Mexico. It is said also to grow in Brazil and Cochin-china. In this coun- try it is found both in woods and open places, and is apt to spring up in the neighbourhood of cultivation, and in neglected or abandoned fields. In Penn- sylvania and New York it blooms in the beginning of May; but much ear- lier at the South. The fresh flowers have a slightly fragrant odour, and almost all parts of the plant are more or less aromatic. The wood and root are directed by the British Pharmacopoeias, the bark of the root, and the pith of the twigs or extreme branches, by that of the United States. The wood is porous, light, fragile, whitish in the young tree, reddish in the old, and but feebly endowed with aromatic properties. It is sent to Europe in billets invested with the bark; but is not employed in this country. The root is more commonly exported, and is the part chiefly used in British pharmacy. It consists of a brownish-white wood, covered with a spongy bark divisible into layers. The latter portion is by far the most active, and is usually kept in our shops in a separate state. 1. Sassafras Pith. This is in slender cylindrical pieces, very light and spongy, with a mucilaginous taste, having in a slight degree the character- istic flavour of the sassafras. It abounds in a gummy matter which it readily imparts to water, forming a limpid mucilage, which, though ropy and viscid, has much less tenacity than that of gum Arabic, and will not answer as a substitute in the suspension of insoluble substances. It differs also from solutions of ordinary gum, in remaining perfectly limpid when added to alcohol. This mucilage is much employed as a mild and soothing applica- tion in inflammation of the eyes; and forms a pleasant and useful drink in dysenteric, catarrhal, and nephritic diseases. It may be prepared by adding a drachm of the pith to a pint of boiling water. 2. Bark of Sassafras Root. As found in the shops, this is usually in small irregular fragments, sometimes invested with a brownish epidermis, sometimes partially or wholly freed from it, of a reddish or rusty cinnamon parti. Sassafras Radicis Cortex.—Scammonium. 611 hue, very brittle, and presenting when freshly broken a lighter colour than that of the exposed surfaces. Its odour is highly fragrant, its taste sweet- ish, and gratefully aromatic. These properties are extracted by water and alcohol. They reside in a volatile oil which may be obtained separate by distillation with water. (See Oleum Sassafras.) Medical Properties and Uses. The bark of sassafras root is stimulant, and perhaps diaphoretic, though its possession of any peculiar tendency to the skin, independently of its mere excitant property, is quite doubtful. It is used almost exclusively as an adjuvant to other more efficient medicines, the flavour of which it improves, while it renders them more cordial to the 6tomach. The complaints for which it has been particularly recommended, are chronic rheumatism, cutaneous eruptions, and scorbutic and syphiloid aflections. As a remedy in lues venerea, in which it formerly had a high reputation, it is now universally considered as in itself wholly inefficient. It is most conveniently administered in the form of infusion. The oil may also be given. As the active principle is volatile, the decoction and extract are useless preparations. Off. Prep. Aqua Calcis Composita, Dub.; Decoctum Guaiaci Compo- situm, Ed., Dub.; Decoctum Sarsaparillae Compositum, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Oleum Sassafras, U.S., Ed., Dub. W. SCAMMONIUM. US, Lond. Scammony. " Convolvulus scammonia. Radicis succus concretus. The concrete juice of the root." U.S. " Convolvulus Scammonia. Gummi-resina." Lond. Off. Syn. CONVOLVULI SCAMMONLE GUMMI-RESINA. Ed.; SCAMMONIUM. CONVOLVULUS SCAMMONIA. Gummi-resina. Dub. Scammonee, Fr.; Scammonium, Germ.; Scamonea, Ital; Escamonea, Span. Convolvulus. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Convolvu- laceae. Gen. Ch. Corolla bell-shaped, plaited. Stigmas two. Capsule two-celled, cells two-seeded. Willd. Convolvulus Scammonia. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 845; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 243. t. 86. This species of Convolvulus has a perennial, tapering root, from three to four feet long, from nine to twelve inches in circumference, branching towards its lower extremity, covered with a light gray bark, and containing a milky juice. The stems are numerous, slender, and twining, extending sometimes to the distance of fifteen or twenty feet upon the ground, or on neighbouring plants, and furnished with smooth, bright green, arrow-shaped leaves, which stand alternately upon long footstalks. The flowers are placed in pairs, or three together upon the pedicels, which are round, axillary, solitary, and of nearly twice the length of the leaf. The plant is a native of Syria and the neighbouring countries. No part is medicinal except the root, which, when dried, was found by Dr. Russel to be a mild cathartic. Scammony is the concrete juice of the fresh root, and is collected, according to Russel, in the following manner. In the month of June, the earth is cleared away from about the root, the top of which is cut off obliquely about two inches from the origin of the stems. The milky juice which exudes is collected in shells or other convenient receptacle. placed at the most depending part of the cut surface. A few drachms only 612 Scammonium. part i. are collected from each root. The juice from several plants is put into any convenient vessel, and concretes by time. In this state it constitutes genuine scammony, but is very seldom exported. It is generally prepared for the market by admixture, while it is yet soft, with the expressed juice of the stalks and leaves, with wheat flour, ashes, fine sand, &c; and there is reason to believe that scammony sometimes consists wholly or in great part of the expressed juice of the root evaporated to dryness by exposure to the sun, or by artificial heat. The drug produced in Syria is called Aleppo scammony, from the place whence it is sent out of the country. There is another variety called Smyrna scammony, which is of uncertain origin, but sup- posed by some to be derived from the Periploca Scammone, and named from its place of export. In the South of France, a substance prepared from the expressed juice of the Cynanchum Monspeliacum, is sold by the name of Montpellier scammony, and is said to be brought into this country from Marseilles. Each of these varieties deserves a separate notice. 1. Aleppo scammony. This seldom or never reaches us in its purest state. It is described as in small masses, often porous, sometimes uniform, of a reddish or whitish-gray colour, breaking with a dull waxy fracture, forming when rubbed with the saliva a greenish-yellow emulsion, and pos- sessing a strong disagreeable odour. The Aleppo Scammony brought to our market is contained in drums, in large, irregular, rather heavy masses, sometimes of a lenticular shape, breaking with a faintly shining fracture, and exhibiting when broken a structure generally somewhat porous, sometimes cavernous, occasionally almost compact. The colour externally is usually a dark ash or olive; internally it is lighter and sometimes slightly tinged with yellow, but speedily deepens on exposure. The small fragments are some- what translucent at the edges. The mass is easily pulverized, and yields a light gray powder. It imparts to water, with which it is triturated, a green- ish milky appearance. The smell is rather disagreeable, but said to resem- ble that of old cheese made from ewe's milk. The taste is bitterish and slightly acrid. 2. Smyrna scammony. This is in flat cakes, darker, more compact, heavier, and harder than the preceding variety, less easily pulverized, of a dull and earthy fracture, a bitter acrid taste, and an odour which, though disagreeable, is different from that of genuine scammony. Its watery solu- tion is opaque and of a dirty white colour. It is much inferior to Aleppo scammony; but is scarcely known as a distinct variety in our market. Under the name, however, of Smyrna scammony, a substance has been occasionally found in some of our drug stores, said to be imported from Marseilles, which is evidently factitious, and may be considered as nearly or altogether worthless. It is in circular cakes or fragments of such cakes, rather more than half an inch thick, very light, almost black externally, penetrated with small holes as if worm eaten, and when broken exhibiting an irregular cellular, spongy texture. 3. The Montpellier scammony is black, hard, compact, and when rubbed with the moistened finger, becomes dark gray, unctuous, and tenacious. Its smell is weak and disagreeable, and its taste nauseous. We are not aware that it is imported; but as scammony is sometimes brought from the South of France, our druggists should be on their guard against it. It is said to be more irritating and less purgative than the Aleppo scammony, which it is sometimes employed to adulterate. Scammony is ranked among the gum-resins. It is partially dissolved by water, more largely by alcohol, and entirely, with the exception of impuri- ties, by diluted alcohol. Its chief constituent is resin, which constitutes PART r. Scammonium.—Scilla. 613 more than two-thirds of the weight of Aleppo scammony. Bouillon-Lagrange and Vogel obtained from 100 parts of Aleppo scammony 60 of resin, 3 of gum, 2 of extractive, and 35 of insoluble matter; from the same quantity of Smyrna scammony 29 parts of resin, 8 of gum, 5 of extractive, and 58 of vegetable remains and earthy substances. Christison states as the result of numerous observations, that pure scammony consists of resin, gum, a small quantity of sandy matter, and a little moisture—the gum amounting to 8 per cent., and the resin varying from 77 to 83 per cent., according to the age and consequent dryness of the specimen. But the gum-resin in so pure a state is seldom found in the market. In the greater part of the scammony which he examined, he found a large proportion of impurities, consisting chiefly of chalk and fecula; and the proportion of resin, which is the active principle, was only about half that contained in pure samples of the drug. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 124.) Medical Properties and Uses. Scammony is an energetic cathartic, apt to occasion griping, and sometimes operating with harshness. It was known to the ancient Greek physicians, and was much employed by the Arabians, who not only gave it as a purgative, but also applied it externally for the cure of various cutaneous diseases. It may be used in all cases of torpid bowels, when a powerful impression is desired, but on account of its occasional violence is seldom administered, except in combination with other cathartics, the action of which it promotes, while its own harshness is mitigated. It should be given in emulsion with mucilage, sugar, almonds, liquorice or other demulcent; and its disposition to gripe may be counter- acted by the addition of an aromatic. The dose is from five to ten grains. Off. Prep. Confectio Scammonii, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Extract Colocyn- thidis Comp., U.S., Lond.; Pilulae Catharticse Comp., U.S.; Pilulae Colo- cynthidis Comp., Dub.; Pulvis Scammonii Comp., Lond., Dub., Ed. W. SCILLA. U.S., Lond. Squill. " Scilla maritima. Bulbus. The bulb." U.S. " Scilla maritima. Bulbus VCC6T18*' LoTld* Off Syn. SCILLAE MARITIME RADIX. Ed.; SCILLA MARI- TIMA. Bulbus. Dub. Scille, Fr.; Meerzwiebel, Germ.; Scilla, Ital; Ccbolla albarrana, Span. Scilla. Sex. Syst. Hexandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Asphodeleae. Gen. Ch. Corolla six-petaled, spreading, deciduous. Filaments thread- like. Willd. Scilla maritima. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 125; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 745. t. 255. This is a perennial plant, with fibrous roots proceeding from the bottom of a large bulb, which sends forth several long, lanceolate, pointed, somewhat undulated, shining, deep-green leaves. From the midst of the leaves a round, smooth, succulent flower-stem rises, from one to three feet high, terminating in a long, close spike of whitish flowers. These are des- titute of calyx, and stand on purplish peduncles, at the base of each of which is a linear, twisted, deciduous floral leaf. The squill grows on the seacoast of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and the other countries bordering on the Mediterranean. The bulb is the offici- 53 614 Scilla. PART I. nal portion. It is generally dried for use; but it is sometimes imported into this country in the recent state, packed in sand. Properties. The fresh bulb is pear-shaped, usually larger than a man's fist, sometimes as large as the head of a child, and consisting of fleshy scales, attenuated at their edges, closely applied over each other, and invested by exterior scales so thin and dry as to appear to constitute a membranous coat. In the variety generally employed, this exterior coating is of a deep reddish- brown colour, and the inner scales have a whitish rosy or very light pink epidermis, with a yellowish-white parenchyma. In another variety the whole bulb is white. They do not differ in their medicinal virtues. The bulb abounds in a viscid, very acrid juice, which causes it to inflame and even excoriate the skin when much handled. By drying, this acrimony is very much diminished, with little loss of medicinal power. The bulb loses about four-fifths of its weight in the process. Vogel found 100 parts of fresh squill to be reduced to 18 by desiccation. The process is somewhat difficult, in consequence of the abundance and viscid character of the juice. The bulb is cut into thin transverse slices, and the pieces dried separately bv artificial or solar heat. The outer and central scales are rejected, the former being dry and destitute of the active principle, the latter too fleshy and mucilaginous. The British Colleges give directions in relation to the drying of squill; and the Dublin College orders it to be reduced to powder, and kept in phials with ground stoppers. Dried squill, as found in our shops, is in irregular oblong pieces, often more or less contorted, of a dull yellowish-white colour with a reddish or rosy tint, sometimes entirely white, slightly diaphanous, brittle and pulveri- zable when perfectly dry, but generally flexible from the presence of mois- ture, for which they have a great affinity. Occasionally a parcel will be found consisting of vertical slices, some of which adhere together at their base. The odour is very feeble, the taste bitter, nauseous, and acrid. The virtues of squill are extracted by water, alcohol, and vinegar. Ac- cording to Vogel, it contains a peculiar very bitter principle named by him scillitin, gum, tannin, traces of citrate of lime and saccharine matter, lignin, and an acrid principle which he was unable to isolate. Water distilled from it had neither taste nor smell, and was drunk by Vogel to the amount of six ounces without producing any effect. From the experiments of Duncan and Buchner it appears, that tannin, if it exists in squill, is in very small proportion. The scillitin of Vogel is soluble in water, alcohol, and vinegar; but it is considered by Mr. Tilloy of Dijon, whose analysis is more recent, as a compound of the proper active principle of squill with gum and uncrys- tallizable sugar. The scillitin obtained by the latter experimenter, was in- soluble in water and in dilute acids, soluble in alcohol, exceedingly acrid and bitter to the taste, and very powerful in its influence on the animal system. A single grain produced the death of a strong dog. The following is the process of M. Tilloy. Dried squill is macerated in alcohol of 33° Baume, the resulting tincture evaporated to the consistence of syrup, and the extract treated with alcohol of 35°. The alcoholic solution is evaporated, and the residue treated first with ether and subsequently with water. The aqueous solution, filtered and evaporated, yields a substance analogous to the scillitin of Vogel. To obtain the principle pure, the aqueous solution is treated with animal charcoal before evaporation. The matter obtained is dissolved in alcohol, ether is added to precipitate the sugar, and the active principle remains in the mixed liquor, from which it may be obtained by evaporation. According to M. Tilloy, this proceeding should be repeated several times. part i. Scilla.—Scrophularia Nodosa. 615 (Diet, des Drogues.) M. Chevallier thinks that the active principle of squill has not yet been entirely isolated. When kept in a dry place, squill retains its virtues for a long time; but if exposed to moisture, it soon becomes mouldy. Medical Properties and Uses. Squill is expectorant, diuretic, and in large doses emetic and purgative. In overdoses it has been known to occasion hypercatharsis, strangury, bloody urine, and fatal inflammation of the stomach and bowels. The Greek physicians employed it as a medicine; and it has retained to the present period a deserved popularity. As an expectorant, it is used both in cases of deficient and of superabundant secretion from the bronchial mucous membrane, in the former case usually combined with tartar emetic or ipecacuanha, in the latter frequently with the stimulant expectorants. In both instances, it operates by stimulating the vessels of the lungs; and where the inflammaloiy action in this organ is considerable, as in pneumonia and severe catarrh, the use of squill should be preceded by the lancet. In dropsical diseases it is very much employed, especially in connexion with calomel, which is supposed to excite the absorbents, while the squill in- creases the secretory action of the kidneys. In these complaints also it is thought to succeed best in the absence of general inflammatory excitement. On account of its great uncertainty and occasional harshness as an emetic, it is very seldom prescribed, except in infantile croup or catarrh, in which it is usually given in the form of syrup or oxymel. When given in substance, it is most conveniently administered in the form of pill. The dose, as a diuretic or expectorant, is one grain, repeated two or three times a day, and gradually increased till it produces slight nausea, or evinces its action upon the kidneys or lungs. From six to twelve grains will generally vomit. Off. Prep. Acetum Scillae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Mel Scillae Compo- situm, U.S.; Oxymel Scillae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Ipecacuanhae Compositae, Lond.; Pilulae Scillae Compositae, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Scillae, Ed., Dub.; Syrupus Scillae, U.S., Ed.; Tinctura Scillae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. SCROPHULARIA NODOSA. Folia. Dub. Figwort Leaves. Scrophulaire noueuse, Fr.; Braunwurzel, Germ.; Scrofolaria nodosa, Ital; Escrofula- ria, Span. Scrophularia. Sex. Syst. Didynamia Angiospermia.—Nat. Ord. Scro- phularinea1. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla subglobular, resupine. Capsule two- celled. Willd. Scrophularia nodosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 270; Smith, Flor. Brit. 663. The root of the knotty rooted figwort is perennial, tuberous, and knotty; the stem is herbaceous, erect, quadrangular, smooth, branching, and from two to three feet high; the leaves are opposite, petiolate, ovate cordate, pointed, sharply toothed, veined, and of a deep-green colour; the flowers are small, dark purple, slightly drooping, and borne on branching peduncles in erect terminal bunches. The plant is a native of Europe, where it grows in shady and moist places, and flowers in July. The leaves, which are the part used, have when fresh a rank fetid odour, 616 Scrophularia Nodosa.—Secale Cornutum. part i. and a bitter somewhat acrid taste; but these properties are diminished by drying. Water extracts their virtues, forming a reddish infusion, which is blackened by the persulphate of iron. Medical Properties and Uses. Figwort leaves are said to be anodyne and diuretic, and to have repellent properties when externally applied. They were formerly considered tonic, diaphoretic, discutient, anthelmintic, &c; and were thought to be useful in scrofula. They are at present very little employed, and never in this country. In Europe they are sometimes ap- plied in the form of ointment or fomentation to piles, painful tumours and ulcers, and cutaneous eruptions. Off. Prep. Unguentum Scrophulariae, Dub. W. SECALE CORNUTUM. U.S. Spurred Rye. Ergot. " Secale cereale. Semen morbo affectum. The diseased seed. Vel, Sole- rotium clavus. De Candolle." U.S. Off. Syn. ERGOTA. Acinula Clavus. Lond. Seigle ergote, Fr.; Mutterkorn, Germ. In several of the grains, the place of the seed is occupied by a morbid excrescence, which, from its resemblance to the spur of a cock, has received the name of ergot, adopted from the French. This excrescence occurs most frequently in the rye, Secale cereale of botanists, and having been found, as produced by this plant, to possess valuable medicinal properties, has been introduced into the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, under the previously recognised title of Secale cornutum, or spurred rye. In the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia it was transferred to the primary from the secondary list, in which it was first placed. Considerable difference of opinion has prevailed in relation to the nature of this singular substance. At one time it was thought to be merely the seed altered by disease; and the opinion was maintained, that the morbid action depended on the puncture of an insect and the deposition of its egg, which by irritating the neighbouring parts gave rise to this excrescence, as the gall is produced in the oak; nor is this view of the nature of ergot without its advocates at present. De Candolle, however, considers it a parasitic plant, belonging to the natural family of the Fungi, and the genus Sclerotium, and denominates it Sclerotium Clavus. An intermediate opinion is advocated by M. Leveille, who, after careful observation of the development of the ergot, published the result of his inquiries in the An- nals of the Linn. Society of Paris for the year 1826. According to this author, a soft viscid tubercle may be seen at the earliest stage of the flower, surmounting the germ, the character of which it changes, without prevent- ing its growth. The germ becomes of a dark colour, and increasing in size pushes the tubercle before it, which also expands, and exudes a viscid matter, which spreads over the germ, and drying upon its surface, gives it a thin yellowish coating. The tubercle M. Leveille considers a parasitic fungus, for which he proposes the name Sphacelid segetum; and the ergot is thus composed of the diseased grain incorporated with a distinct and independent vegetable production. It is in the coating given by the latter to the enlarged seed that he supposes the virtues of the spurred PART I. Secale Cornutum. 617 rye to reside; and very dry or very wet seasons are equally unfavourable to the full development of the medicine, the former because the coating breaks into scales and falls off, the latter because it is washed away by the rain. These statements need confirmation before they can be impli- citly received. Rye is most subject to this disease in poor and wet soils, and in rainy seasons. Intense heat succeeding continued rains is said to favour its de- velopment. The ergot usually projects out of the glume or husk beyond the ordinary outline of the spike or ear. In some spikes the place of the seeds is wholly occupied by the ergot, in others only two or three spurs are ob- served. It is staled that this substance is much more energetic when col- lected before than after harvest. Properties. Ergot is in solid, brittle yet somewhat flexible grains, from six lines to an inch and a half long, from half a line to two lines in thick- ness, usually curved like a spur, tapering from near the middle, obtuse at the extremities, marked with a deep longitudinal furrow on one or both sides, of a violet-brown colour externally, yellowish-white within, of an un- pleasant smell when in mass resembling that of putrid fish, and of a taste which is at first scarcely perceptible, but ultimately disagreeable and slightly acrid. It imparts its virtues to water and to alcohol. Vauquelin obtained from it—1. a yellowish fawn-coloured matter soluble in alcohol, 2. a violet colouring matter insoluble in alcohol but soluble in water, 3. a sweetish oleaginous substance in great abundance, 4. a fixed acid, probably the phos- phoric, 5. an azotized substance in large proportion which easily became putrid, and 6. free ammonia, which escaped at the temperature of boiling water. According to a more recent analysis by a German chemist of the name of Wiggers, ergot contains 35.0 per cent, of a peculiar fixed oil; 1.04 of a peculiar, white, crystallizable, very soft fatty matter; 0.75 of cerin; 46.18 of a substance analogous to fungin or the fleshy substance of mushrooms; 1.24 of a reddish-brown substance of a peculiar nauseous odour, and a bitter slightly acrid taste, soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water and ether, and called ergotin by the discoverer, under the impression that it might be the active principle of ergot; 7.76 of a substance resembling osmazome; 1.55 of a peculiar saccharine matter; 2.32 of gummy extractive combined with an azotized colouring principle; and 1.46 of albumen; besides saline and earthy matters in minute proportion. (Journ. de Pharm. xviii. 534.) Medical Properties and Uses. Given in small doses, ergot produces, in the system of the male, no obvious effects; but in the female, exhibits a strong tendency to the uterus, upon the contractile property of which it operates with great energy. It is perhaps the only medicine which spe- cifically promotes contraction in this organ. In the quantity of half a drachm or a drachm it often occasions nausea or vomiting, and in still larger doses excites headach and febrile symptoms, and sometimes operates un- pleasantly upon the brain. Its long continued use is highly dangerous, even when no immediate effects are perceptible. Terrible and devas- tating epidemics in different parts of the continent of Europe, particularly in certain provinces of France, have long been ascribed to the use of bread made from rye contaminated with this degenerate grain. Dry gan- grene, typhus fever, and disorder of the nervous system attended with convulsions, are the forms of disease which have been observed to follow the use of this unwholesome food. It is true that ergot has been denied to be the cause; but accurate investigations made by competent men upon the spot where the epidemics have prevailed, together with the result of expe- 618 Secale Cornutum. PART !■ riments made upon inferior animals, leave no room for reasonable doubt upon the subject. The most important remedial application of ergot is founded on its power of promoting the contraction of the uterus. On the continent of Europe, in various parts of Germany, France, and Italy, it has long been empyri- cally employed by midwives for this purpose; and its German name ol multerkorn implies a popular acquaintance with its peculiar powers. But the attention of the medical profession was first called to it by a letter from Dr. Stearns of Saratoga county, in the state of New York, addressed to Dr. Ackerly, A.D. 1807, and published in the eleventh volume of the New York Medical Repository. Since that period the journals have teemed with communications attesting its efficacy in facilitating parturition; and though it has failed in the hands of some physicians, the general opinion of the profession is so decidedly in its favour, that it may now be considered among the established articles of the materia medica. When it has proved wholly inefficient, the result is probably ascribable to the inferior character of the particular parcel employed. In its operation upon the pregnant uterus it produces a constant unremitting contraction and rigidity, rather than that alternation of spasmodic effort and relaxation which is observable in the natural process of labour. Hence, unless the os uteri and external parts are sufficiently relaxed, the medicine would be likely to produce in- jury to the child by the incessant pressure which it maintains. Such in fact has been the observation of numerous practitioners, and the death of the infant is thought not unfrequently to result from the injudicious employ- ment of the medicine. The cases to which it is thought to be especially adapted are those of lingering labour, when the os uteri is sufficiently dila- ted, and the external passages sufficiently relaxed, when no mechanical im- pediment is offered to the passage of the child, and the delay is ascribable solely to want of energy in the uterus. Other cases are those in which the death of the foetus has been ascertained, and when great exhaustion or dan- gerous constitutional irritation imperiously calls for speedy delivery. The remedy may also be given to promote the expulsion of the placenta, to re- strain inordinate hemorrhage after delivery, and to hasten the discharge of the foetus in protracted cases of abortion. In women subject to dangerous flooding, a dose of ergot given immediately before delivery is said to have the happiest effects. In menorrhagia and uterine hemorrhage, unconnected with pregnancy, the medicine has long been empyrically employed; and is now found highly useful in the hands of regular practitioners. Its use has even been extended to hemorrhages from other organs, and with reputed good effect. Cases of hemorrhage from the lungs are recorded in which ergot has proved highly beneficial. May ii not have the power of produc- ing contraction in the capillaries in general? We might in this way account for the dry gangrene which results from its abuse, as well as for its influ- ence in restraining hemorrhage. It has also been employed in amenorrhcea, but not with encouraging success. Gonorrhoea, gleet, and leucorrhcea are among the complaints in which it has been recommended. Ergot is given in substance, infusion, or decoction. The dose of the powder to a woman in labour is fifteen or twenty grains, to be repeated every twenty minutes, till its peculiar effects are experienced, or till the amount of a drachm has been taken. Of an infusion made in the pro- portion of one drachm of the ergot to four fluidounces of water, one-third may be given for a dose, and repeated with the same interval. For other purposes the dose of the medicine is ten or fifteen grains, repeated three times a day, and gradually increased, but not continued for a great length of part i. Secale Cornutum.—Senega. 619 time. Tinctures of ergot are kept in many shops, but as there is no offici- nal formula, they are of uncertain strength. Ergot should be powdered only when wanted for use. W. SENEGA. U.S., Lond. Seneka. " Polygala senega. Radix. The Root." U.S. Off. Syn. POLYGALiE SENEGiE RADIX. Ed.; POLYGALA SENEGA. Radix. Dub. Polygale de Virginie, Fr.; Klapperschlangenwurzel, Germ.; Poligala Virginiana, Ital. Polygala. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Octandria.—Nat. Ord. Polygaleae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-leaved, with two leaflets wing-shaped, and colour- ed. Legume obcordate, two-celled. Willd. Besides the P. Senega, two other species have attracted some attention in Europe—the P. amara and P. vulgaris—as remedies in chronic pectoral affections; but as they are not natives of this country, and are never used by practitioners here, they do not merit particular notice. Polygala Senega. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 894; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 97; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 111. This unostentatious plant has a peren- nial branching root, from which several erect, simple, smooth, round, leafy stems annually rise, from nine inches to a foot in height. The stems are occasionally tinged with red or purple in their lower portion, but are green near the top. The leaves are alternate or scattered, lanceolate, pointed, smooth, bright green on the upper surface, paler beneath, and sessile or supported on very short footstalks. The flowers are small, white, and arranged in a close spike at the summit of the stem. The calyx is the most conspicuous part of the flower. It consists of five leaflets, two of which are wing-shaped, white, and larger than the others. The corolla is small and closed. The capsules are small, much compressed, obcordate, two-valved, two-celled, and contain two oblong ovate, blackish seeds, pointed at one extremity. This species of Polygala, commonly called Seneka snakeroot, grows wild in all parts of the United States, but most abundantly in the southern and western sections, where the root is collected in great quantities for sale. It is brought into market in bales weighing from fifty to four hun- dred pounds. Properties. As the root occurs in commerce, it is of various sizes, from that of a small quill to that of the little finger, presenting a thick knotty head, which exhibits traces of the numerous stems. It is tapering, branched, va- riously twisted, often marked with crowded annular protuberances, and with a projecting keel-like line, extending along its whole length. The epidermis is corrugated, transversely cracked, of a yellowish-brown colour in the young roots, aud brownish-gray in the old. In the smaller branches the colour is a lighter yellow. The bark is hard and resinous, and contains the active prin- ciples of the root. The central portion is ligneous, white, and quite inert, and should be rejected in the preparation of the powder. The colour of this is gray. The odour of seneka is peculiar, strong in the fresh root, but faint in the'dried. The taste is at first sweetish and mucilaginous, but after chew- ing becomes somewhat pungent and acrid, leaving a peculiar irritating sensa- tion in the fauces. These properties, as well as the medical virtues of the 620 Senega. PART I. root, are extracted by boiling water, and by alcohol; but the alcoholic solu- tion is said to be less acrid than the decoction. Diluted alcohol is an excel- lent solvent. The root has been analyzed by Gehlen, Peschier of Geneva, Feneulle of Cambray, Dulong d'Astafort, and Folchi, and more recently by M. Quevenne. Gehlen was "supposed to have found the active principle in the substance left behind, when the alcoholic extract is treated successively with ether and water, and the name of senegin was accordingly conferred upon this substance. But it does not seem to have any just claim to the rank assigned to it, though it probably contains the active principle among its constituents. Equally unfounded are the conclusions of those chemists, who believe that they have discovered an organic alkali in the root. From a comparison of the results obtained by the above mentioned chemists, it would appear that seneka contains 1, a peculiar acrid principle, which M. Quevenne considers to be an acid, and has named polygalic acid; 2. a yellow colouring matter, of a bitter taste, insoluble or nearly so in water, but soluble in ether and alcohol; 3. a volatile principle, considered by some as an essential oil, but thought by Quevenne to possess acid properties, and named by him virgineic acid; 4. pectic acid or pectin; 5. tannic acid of the variety which precipitates iron green; 6. gum; 7. albumen; 8. cerin; 9. fixed oil; and 10. saline and earthy substances, as the carbonates, sulphates, and phosphates of lime and potassa, chloride of potassium, alumina, magne- sia, silica, and iron. The virtues of seneka appear to reside chiefly, if not exclusively, in the acrid principle which M. Quevenne calls polygalic acid, and which he considers closely analogous to saponin. He obtains it pure by the following process. Powdered seneka is exhausted by alcohol of 33°, and so much of the alcohol is distilled off as to bring the resulting tincture to the consistence of syrup. The residue is treated with ether, in order to remove the fatty matter. The liquid upon standing deposites a precipitate, which is separated by filtration, and is then mixed with water. To the turbid solution thus formed alcohol is added, which facilitates the formation of a white precipitate, consisting chiefly of polygalic acid. The liquid is allowed to stand for several days, that the precipitate may be fully formed. The supernatant liquid being decanted, the precipitate is drained upon a filter, and being removed while yet moist, is dissolved by the aid of heat in alcohol of 36°. The solution is boiled with animal charcoal previously purified by muriatic acid, and is filtered while hot. Upon cooling it deposites the principle in question in a state of purity. Thus obtained, polygalic acid is a white powder, inodorous, and of a taste at first slight, but soon becoming pungent and acrid, and producing a very painful sensation in the throat. It is fixed, unalterable in the air, inflammable, soluble in water slowly when cold and rapidly with the aid of heat, soluble in all proportions in boiling absolute alcohol, which deposites most of it on cooling, quite insoluble in ether and in the fixed and volatile oils, and possessed of the property of reddening litmus and of neutralizing the alkalies. Its ultimate constituents are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. M. Quevenne found it, when given to dogs, to occasion vomiting and much embarrassment in respiration, and in large quantities to destroy the animal. Dissection exhibited evidences of inflammation of the lungs, and frothy mucus was found in the stomach, oesophagus, and superior portion of the trachea, showing the tendency of this substance to increase the mucous secretion, and explaining in part the beneficial influence of seneka in croup. (Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 449 and xxiii. 227.) From the experiments of M. Quevenne it also appears, that seneka yields its virtues to water, cold or hot, and to boiling alcohol; and that the extracts PART I. Senega.—Senna. 621 obtained by means of these liquids have the sensible properties of the root. But, under the influence of heat, a portion of the acrid principle unites with the colouring matter and coagulated albumen, and thus becomes insoluble in water; and the decoction, therefore, is not so strong as the infusion, if time is allowed, in the formation of the latter, for the full action of the men- struum. If it be desirable to obtain the virtues of the root in the form of an extract, the infusion should be prepared on the principle of displacement; as it is thus most concentrated, and consequently requires less of the injurious influence of heat in its evaporation. In forming an infusion of seneka, the temperature of the water, according to M. Quevenne, should not exceed 104° F. (Ibid.) The roots of the Panax quinquefolium or ginseng are frequently mixed with the seneka, but are easily distinguishable by their shape and taste. Medical Properties and Uses. Seneka is a stimulating expectorant and diuretic, and in large doses proves emetic and cathartic. It appears indeed to excite more or less all the secretions, proving occasionally diaphoretic and emmenagogue, and increasing the flow of saliva. Its action, however, is more especially directed to the lungs; and its expectorant virtues are those for which it is chiefly employed. It was introduced into practice about a century ago by Dr. Tennant of Virginia, who recommended it as a cure for the bile of the rattlesnake and in various pectoral complaints. As an expec- torant it is employed in cases not attended with inflammatory action, or in which the inflammation has in great measure been subdued. It is peculiarly useful in chronic catarrh, humoral asthma, the secondary stages of croup, and in peripneumonia notha after sufficient depletion. By Dr. Archer of Mary- land it was recommended in the early stages of croup; but under these cir- cumstances it is now seldom given unless in combination with squill and an antimonial, as in the Mel Scillae Compositum. Employed so as to purge and vomit it has proved useful in rheumatism; and some cases of dropsy are said to have been cured by it. Amenorrhcea also is among the complaints for which it has been recommended. The dose of powdered seneka is from ten to twenty grains; but the form of decoction is that in which the medicine is most conveniently administered. (See Decoctum Senegas.) There is an officinal syrup; and an extract and tincture may be prepared, though neither is much employed. Off. Prep. Decoctum Senegae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Mel Scillae Com- positum, U.S.; Syrupus Senegae, U.S. W. SENNA. U.S., Lond. Senna. " Cassia acutifolia, Cassia obovata, et Cassia elongata. Folia. The leaves." U.S. " Cassia lanceolata. Folia. Cassia obovata. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. CASSLE iSENNiE FOLIA. Ed.; SENNA. CASSIA SEN- NA. Folia. Dub. Sene, Fr.; Sennesblatter, Germ.; Senna, Ital, Port; Sen, Span. Cassia. See CASSIA FISTULA. The plants which yield senna belong to the genus Cassia, of which seve- ral species contribute to furnish the drug. These were confounded together by Linnaeus in a single species, which he named Cassia Senna. Since his time the subject has been more thoroughly investigated, especially by Delile, 622 Senna. PART I. who accompanied the French expedition to Eirypt, and had an opportunity of examining the plant in its native country. Botanists at present distinguish at least three species, the C. acutifolia, the C. obovata, and the C. elongata, on each of which we shall offer a few observations. 2. Cassia acutifolia. Delile, Flore d'Egyple, lxxv. tab. 27. f. 1. This is a small undershrub, from two to three feet high, with a straight, woody, branching, whitish stem. The leaves are pinnaie, alternately placed upon the stem, and have at their base two small narrow pointed stipules. The leaflets, of which from four to six pairs belong to each leaf, are almost ses- sile, oval lanceolate, acute, oblique at their base, nerved, from half an inch to an inch in length, and of a yellowish-green colour. The flowers are yellow, and arranged in axillary spikes. The fruit is a flat, elliptical, obtuse, membranous, smooth, grayish-brown, bivalvular legume, about an inch long and half an inch broad, scarcely if at all curved, and divided into six or seven cells, each containing a hard, heart-shaped, ash-coloured seed. The C. acutifolia grows wild in great abundance in Upper Egypt near Sienne, in Nubia, Sennaar, and probably in other parts of Africa having similar qualities of soil and climate. It is this species that furnishes the Tripoli senna, and the greater part of that variety known in commerce by the title of Alexandria senna. 2. Cassia obovata. Colladon, Monographie des Casses, p. 92. tab. 15. fig. a.; De Cand., Prodrom., ii. 492. The stem of this species is rather shorter than that of the C. acutifolia, rising to the height of only a foot and a half. The leaves have from five to seven pairs of leaflets, which are obovate, very obtuse, sometimes mucronate, in other respects similar to those of the preceding species. The flowers are in axillary spikes, of which the pedun- cles are longer than the leaves of the plant. The legumes are very much compressed, curved almost into the kidney form, of greenish-brown colour, and covered with a very short down, which is perceptible only by the aid of a magnifying glass. They contain from eight to ten seeds. This plant, which according to M. Merat is annual, grows wild in Syria, Egypt, and Senegambia; and is said to have been cultivated successfully in Italy, Spain, and the West Indies. It yields the variety of senna called in Europe Aleppo senna, and contributes to the packages of the Alexandrian. 3. Cassia elongata. Lemaire, Journ. de Pharm. vii. 345; Fee, Journ. de Chim. Med. vi. 232. This name was conferred by M. Lemaire upon the plant from which the India senna of commerce is derived. The botanical description was completed by M. Fee, from dried specimens of the leaves and fruit found by him in unassorted parcels of this variety of senna. Each leaf has five pairs of leaflets. These are elongated, acute, thin and flexible, obscurely mucronate, oblique, and with very short petioles, which are some- what swollen, but not glandular. The most striking characteristic of the leaflet is its length, which varies from an inch to twenty lines. Its breadth is from three to five lines. The legumes are thin, shining, smooth, a little curved, mucronate and very obtuse at the summit, of a greenish-olive colour towards the edges, and blackish in the centre. They contain from five to seven irregular heart-shaped seeds. This species has not yet been examined by botanists in its native country. Dr. Wallich, however, has succeeded in raising the plant from seeds found in a parcel of senna taken to Calcutta from Arabia, and has published a description of it corresponding with that given by M. Fee. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 105.) It is inferred, from the sources whence the variety of senna which this plant furnishes is brought, that it grows in the southern parts of Arabia. Besides the three species of senna plants above described, a fourth is PART I. Senna. 623 mentioned by some authors—the C. lanceolata—so named by Forskhal, who found it growing in the deserts of Arabia. Some difference, however, of opinion exists as to the justice of its claims to the rank of a distinct spe- cies. De Candolle considers it only a variety of the C. acutifolia, from the ordinary form of which it differs chiefly in having leaflets with glandular petioles; and, as Forskhal's description was prior to that of Delile, he desig- nates the species by the name of C. lanceolata; and his example is followed by the London College. Forskhal's plant has been supposed by some to be the source of the India and Mocha senna; but the leaflets in this variety are much longer than those of the C. lanceolata, from which they differ also in having no glands. Neibuhr informs us that he found the Alexandria senna growing in the Arabian territory of Abuarish, whence it is taken by the Arabs to Mecca and Jedda. This is probably the C. lanceolata of Forskhal.* Commercial History. Several varieties of this valuable drug are known in commerce. Of these we receive three only in America, the Alexandria, the Tripoli, and the India senna. 1. Alexandria Senna. Though the name of this variety is derived from the Egyptian port at which it is shipped, it is in fact gathered very far in the interior of the country. The Alexandria senna does not consist exclu- sively of the product of one species of Cassia. The history of its prepara- tion is not destitute of interest. The senna plants of Upper Egypt yield two crops annually, one in spring and the other in autumn. They are gathered chiefly in the country beyond Sienne. The natives cut the plants, and having dried them in the sun, strip off the leaves and pods which they pack in bales, and send to Boulac, in the vicinity of Cairo, the great entrepot for this article of Egyptian commerce. This senna from Upper Egypt, consisting chiefly though not exclusively of the product of the C. acutifolia, is here mixed with the leaflets of the C. obovata, brought from other parts of Egypt, and even from Syria, and with the leaves of the Cynanchum olesefolium, known commonly by the name of argel or arguel. A small portion of Arabian senna is also probably added; and it is said that the leaves of the Colutea arborescens and Coriaria myrtifolia have been occasionally found in the parcels which reach the European market. Ac- cording to M. Royer, the proportions in which the three chief constituents of this mixture are added together, are five parts of the C. acutifolia, three of the C. obovata, and two of Cynanchum. Thus prepared, the senna is again packed in bales, and transmitted to Alexandria. It is by no means improbable that a similar mixture is effected in this place of the C. acutifolia from Tripoli with the C. obovata from Syria. The Alexandria senna is often called in the French pharmaceutic works send de la palthe, a name derived from an impost formerly laid upon it by the Ottoman Porte. If a parcel of this commercial variety of senna be carefully examined, it will be found to consist of the following ingredients:—1. The leaflets of the C. acutifolia, characterized by their acute pointed form, and their length always less than an inch; 2. the leaflets of the C. obovata, known by their rounded very obtuse summit, which is sometimes furnished with a small projecting point, and by their gradual diminution in breadth towards their base; 3. the pods, broken leafstalks, and fine fragments of other parts of one or both of these species; 4. the leaves of the Cynanchum oleaefolium, which are distinguishable by their length, almost always more than an inch, their greater thickness and firmness, the absence of any visible lateral nerves on * See an interesting paper on the botanical history of the senna plants, by Dr. Joseph Carson, in the Am. Journ. of Pharm. vol. viii. p. 177 and 266. 624 Senna. part i. their under surface, their somewhat lighter colour, and the regularity of their base. In this last character they strikingly differ from the genuine senna leaflets, which, from whatever species derived, are always marked by obliquity at their base, one side being inserted in the petiole at a point somewhat lower than the other, and at a different angle. The discrimina- tion between this and the other ingredients is a matter of some conse- quence, as the cynanchum must be considered an adulteration. It is said by the French writers to occasion hypercatharsis and much irritation of the bowels. Besides the above constituents of Alexandria senna, it occasionally contains leaflets of genuine senna, much longer than those of the acutifolia or obovata, equalling in this respect the cynanchum, which they also some- what resemble in form. They may be distinguished however by their greater thinness, the distinctness of their lateral nerves, and the irregularity of their base. They are probably, as before stated, the product of the C. elongata, and are brought to Egypt from Mocha in Arabia. The Alexandria senna sometimes comes to our market with very few leaves of the obovate senna and Cynanchum, and is then probably a portion of the product brought directly to Alexandria from Upper Egypt, without having undergone any intermixture at Boulac or other intervening place. 2. Tripoli Senna. It has been customary in England and this country to consider the Tripoli senna as very impure; and Paris expressly states, that it contains a much larger proportion than the Alexandrian of cynanchum and other adulterations. This, however, is a mistake, which has probably arisen from the inferior price commanded by this variety; and it is not un- common to class indiscriminately together under this name all the least valuable parcels of the drug. The fact is, that the genuine Tripoli senna consists exclusively of the product of the C. acutifolia, containing neither the obovate senna nor the leaves of Cynanchum, and generally free even from the pods of the first mentioned species. The leaflets however are much broken up; and it is probably on this account that the variety is less esteemed than the Alexandrian. The aspect given to it by this state of comminution, and by the uniformity of its constitution, enables the eye at once to distinguish it from the other varieties of senna. The leaflets of the Tripoli senna, though undoubtedly derived from the C. acutifolia, differ in some respects from those of the same species contained in the Alexandrian. They are shorter, less :- :ute, thinner, and more fragile; and their nerves are much less distinct. From these characters of the Tripoli senna, there is good reason to believe, that the plant from which it is derived grows in a different region from the Egyptian, and in one less favourable to its full development. The general opinion is, that it is brought from Sennaar and Nubia in caravans across the desert, and receives its name from Tripoli simply as its place of export; but it is reasonably asked by M. Fee, how it could be afforded at a cheaper price than the Alexandrian, if thus brought on the backs of camels a distance of eight hundred leagues through the desert; and why, moreover, it should be unmixed with the obovate senna, if gathered in regions neigh- bouring to those from which the other variety is transmitted, which is known even when first gathered to contain a portion of this species. This author is of the opinion that the Tripoli senna grows upon the Mediterranean coast of Africa, in the vicinity of that city. 3. India Senna. This variety is in Europe sometimes called Mocha senna, and is identical with an article recently introduced into French com- merce under the name of Senegambia senna, said to be derived from the western coast of Africa. It usually contains, besides the leaflets, conside- rable quantities of the pod, and of the petioles or leafstalks. The leaflets PART I. Senna. 625 are all of the same character, and are evidently the product of the same plant. The eye is at once struck by their great length and comparative narrowness, so that no difficulty can be experienced in distinguishing this variety. The pike-like shape of the leaflet has given rise to the name of sene de la pique, by which it is known in French Pharmacy. It has been already stated that the title of C. elongata has been conferred upon the spe- cies from which it is derived. Though denominated India senna, and cer- tainly imported from Calcutta and perhaps other ports of Hindostan, it ap- pears not to be the growth of that country. Ainslie informs us that senna grows abundantly in India; but that it is of the species with obtuse leaves, and is not held in high estimation. A better sort, distinguished by its pointed leaves, is taken to India from Mocha, and extensively consumed.' This is undoubtedly identical with that which we obtain from India, and of which the native country is Arabia Felix. It is said by Ainslie that the Arabian senna plant has been recently introduced into the South of India and promises to succeed. The senna of the Mediterranean is brought to our market chiefly from Marseilles. The India or Mocha variety comes either directly from Cal- cutta, or by the route of London, where it is purchased at the East India Company's sales. Commercial senna is prepared for use by picking out the leaflets, and rejecting the leafstalks, the small fragments, and the leaves of other plants. The pods are also rejected by some apothecaries; but they appear to pos- sess the cathartic virtue to a considerable extent, if not equally with the leaves; and, though not adopted by the American or British Pharmacopoeias, are recognised as officinal in the Paris Codex. Properties. The odour of senna is faint and sickly; the taste slightly bitter, sweetish, and nauseous. Water and alcohol extract its active princi- ples. The leaves yield about one-third of their weight to boiling water, one pint of which is requisite to e.xhaust the strength of an ounce of the medicine. The infusion is of a deep reddish-brown colour, and preserves the odour and taste of the leaves. When exposed to the air for a short lime, it deposites a yellowish insoluble precipitate, supposed to result from the union of extractive matter with oxygen. The nature of this precipitate, however, is not well understood. Decoction also produces some change in the principles of senna, by which its medicinal virtues are impaired. To diluted alcohol it imparts the same reddish-brown colour as to water; but rectified alcohol and ether digested upon the powdered leaves become of a deep olive green. The analysis of senna by MM. Lassaigne and Feneulle furnished the following results. The leaves contain—1. a peculiar princi- ple called cathartin, 2. chlorophylle or the green colouring matter of leaves; 3. a fixed oil; 4. a small quantity of volatile oil; 5. albumen; 6. a yellow colouring mailer; 7. mucilage; 8. salts of the vegetable acids, viz. malate and tartrate of lime and acetate of potassa; and 9. mineral salts. The pods are composed of the same principles, with the exception of the chlorophylle, the place of which is supplied by a peculiar colouring matter. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 548 and ix. 58.) Of these constituents, the most interesting and' important is the cathartin, which is said to be the active principle of senna, and derived its name from tlv's circumstance. It is an uncrystalliza- ble substance, having a peculiar smell, a bitter, nauseous taste, and a red- dish-yellow colour; is soluble in every proportion in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether; and in its dry slate attracts moisture from the air. It is prepaied in the following manner. To a filtered decoction of senna the solution of acetate of lead is added; and the precipitate which forms is 54 626 Senna. part i. separated. A stream of hydrosulphuric acid (sulphuretted hydrogen) is then made to pass through the liquor in order to precipitate the lead, and the sulphuret produced is removed by filtration. The liquid is now evaporated to the consistence of an extract; the product is treated with rec- tified alcohol; and the alcoholic solution is evaporated. To the extract thus obtained sulphuric acid diluted with alcohol is added, in order to de- compose the acetate of potassa which it contains; the sulphate of potassa is separated by filtration; the excess of sulphuric acid by the acetate of lead; the excess of acetate of lead by hydrosulphuric acid; and the sulphuret of lead by another filtration. The liquid being now evaporated yields cathartin. Incompatibles. Many substances afford precipitates with the infusion of senna; but it by no means follows that they are all medicinally incompati- ble; as they may remove ingredients which have no influence upon the system, and leave the active principles unaffected. Cathartin is precipi- tated by the infusion of galls and probably other astringents, and by the solution of subacetate of lead. The acetate of lead and tartarized antimony, which disturb the infusion of senna, have no effect upon the solution of this principle. Medical Properties and Uses. Senna was first used as a medicine by the Arabians. It was noticed in their writings so early as the ninth century; and the name itself is Arabic. It is a prompt, efficient, and very safe pur- gative, well calculated for fevers and febrile complaints, and other cases in which a decided but not violent impression is desired. An objection some- times urged against it is that it is apt to produce severe griping pain in the bowels. This effect, however, may be obviated by combining with the senna some aromatic and some one of the alkaline salts, especially the super- tartrate of potassa, tartrate of potassa, or sulphate of magnesia. The expla- nation which attributes the griping property to the oxidized extractive, and its prevention by the neutral salts to their influence in promoting the solu- bility of this substance, is not entirely satisfactory. The purgative effect of senna is considerably increased by combination with bitters, a fact which was noticed by CuUen, and has been abundantly confirmed by the experi- ence of others. The decoction of guaiac is said to exert a similar influence. The dose of senna in powder is from half a drachm to a drachm; but its bulk renders it of inconvenient administration; and it is not often prescribed in this state. Besides, the powder is said to undergo decomposition, and to become mouldy on exposure to a damp air. The form of infusion is almost universally preferred. (See Infusum Sennas.) The medicine is sometimes used in the form of confection and of tincture. Off.Prep. Confectio Sennae, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Extractum Cas- siae Sennae, Ed.; Infusum Sennae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Infusum Tamarindi cum Senna, Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Rhei et Sennae, U.S.; Tinctura Sennae Composita, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Sennae et Jalapae, U. S.; Syrupus Rhei et Sennae, U.S.; Syrupus Sennae, Dub. \V. PART J. Serpentaria. 627 SERPENTARIA. U.S., Lond. Virginia Snakeroot. " Aristolochia serpentaria. Radix. The root." U.S. Off Syn. ARISTOI.OOHLE SERPENTARLE RADIX. Ed.; ARIS- TOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA. Radix. Dub. Serpentaire de Virginie, Fr.; Virginianische Schlangenwurzel, Germ.; Serpentaria Virginiana, Ital, Span. Aristolochia. Sex. Syst. Gynandria Hexandria.—Nat. Ord. Aristolo- chiae. Gen. Ch. Calyx none. Corolla one-petaled, ligulate, ventricose at the base. Capsule six-celled, many seeded, inferior. Willd. Numerous species of Aristolochia have been employed in medicine. The roots of all of them are tonic and stimulant, and from their supposed posses- sion of emmenagogue properties, have given origin to the name of the genus. The A. Clematitis, A. longa, A. rotunda, and A. Pistolochia, are still retained in many officinal catalogues of the continent of Europe, where they are indigenous. The root of the A. Clematitis is very long, cylindrical, as thick as a goose quill or thicker, variously contorted, beset with the remains of the stems and radicles, of a grayish-brown colour, a strong peculiar odour, and an acrid bitter taste; that of the A. longa is spindleshaped, from a few inches to a foot in length, of the thickness of the thumb or more, fleshy, very brittle, grayish externally, brownish-yellow within, bitter, and of a strong disagreeable odour when fresh; that of the A. rotunda is tuberous, roundish, heavy, fleshy, brownish on the exterior, grayish-yellow internally, and similar to the preceding in odour and taste; that of the A. Pistolochia consists of numerous slender yellowish or brownish fibres attached to a common head, and possessed of an agreeable aromatic odour, with a taste bitter and somewhat acrid. Many species of Aristolochia growing in the West Indies, Mexico, and South America, have attracted attention for their medicinal properties, and some, like our own snakeroot, have acquired the reputation of antidotes for the bites of serpents. In the East Indies, the A. Indica is employed for similar purposes with the European and American species; and the Arabians are said by Forskhal to use the leaves of the A. sempervirens as a counter-poison. We have within the limits of the United States four species, of which three—the A. Serpentaria, A. tomen- tosa, and A. hastata—contribute indiscriminately to furnish the snakeroot of the shops, though one only, the A. Serpentaria, is admitted into the Pharmacopoeia. Aristolochia Serpentaria. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 159; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 82; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 41. This species of Aristolochia is an herbaceous plant with a perennial root, which consists of numerous slender fibres proceeding from a short horizontal caudex. Several stems often rise from the same root. They are about eight or ten inches in height, slender, round, flexuose, jointed at irregular distances, and frequently of a reddish or purple colour at the base. The leaves are oblong cordate, acuminate, entire, of a pale yellowish-green colour, and supported on short petioles at the joints of the stem. The flowers proceed from the joints near the root, and stand singly on long, slender, round, jointed peduncles, which are some- times furnished with one or two small scales, and bend downwards so as nearly to bury the flower in the earth or decayed leaves. There is no calyx. 628 Serpentaria. part I. The corolla is of a purple colour, monopetalous, tubular, swelling at the base, contracted and curved in the middle, and terminating in a labiate border with lanceolate lips. The anthers—six or twelve in number—are sessile, attached to the under part of the stigma, which is roundish, divided into six parts, and supported by a short fleshy style upon an oblong, angular, hairy, inferior germ. The fruit is an hexangular, six-celled capsule, containing several small flat seeds. The plant glows in rich, shady woods, throughout the Middle, Southern, and Western States, abounding in the valley of the Ohio, and in the moun- tainous regions of our interior. It flowers in May and June. The root is collected in Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, in, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, and is brought to the eastern markets chiefly by the route of Wheeling and Pittsburg. As it reaches Philadelphia, it is usually in bales containing one hundred pounds, and is often mixed with the leaves and stems of the plant, and with dirt from which it has not been properly cleansed at the time of collection. A. tomentosa. Nuttall, Gen. of N. Am. Plants, p. 199.—A. hirsuta, Muhl. Catal. p. 81. The stem of this species is twining, and ascends to the summit of the tallest trees. Its leaves are roundish cordate, and villous on the under surface; the peduncles solitary and without bractes; the corolla densely villous, with a three-cleft, greenish-yellow border, and an oblique gaping orifice, the margin of which is elevated, rugose, and dark purple, while the interior of the tube is white, spotted with purple. The stigmas are three, and the anthers immersed in the style. The plant grows abun- dantly throughout Louisiana, on the banks of the Mississippi, on the moun- tains of South Carolina, and probably in other parts of the Western and Southern Slates. A. hastata. Nuttall, Gen. of N. Am. Plants, p. 200.—A. sagittata. Muhl. Catal. This species, if indeed it can be considered a distinct species, differs from the A. Serpentaria in having hastate, acute, somewhat cordate leaves, radical peduncles, and the lip of the corolla ovate. It flourishes on the banks of the Mississippi, in Carolina, and elsewhere. The roots of the two latter species scarcely differ from those of the officinal plant, and are frequently mixed with them, as is evinced by the presence of the characteristic leaves of the A. tomentosa and A. hastata in the parcels brought into market. (See Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vol. i. p. 264.) Properties. Virginia snakeroot, as found in the shops, is in tufts of long, slender, frequently interlaced and brittle fibres, attached to a short, contorted, knotty head or caudex. The colour, which in the recent state is yellowish, becomes brown by time. That of the powder is grayish. The smell is strong, aromatic, and camphorous; the taste warm, -very bitter, and also camphorous. The root yields all its virtues to water and to alcohol, pro- ducing with the former a yellowish-brown infusion, with the latter a bright greenish tincture, which is rendered turbid by the addition of water. Che- vallier found in the root, volatile oil, a yellow bitter principle soluble in water and alcohol, resin, gum, starch, albumen, lignin, and various salts. Bucholz obtained from 1000 parts, 5 of a green fragrant volatile oil, 28.5 of a yellowish-green resin, 17 of extractive matter, 181 of gummy extract, 624 of lignin, and 144.5 of water. The active ingredients are probably the volatile oil, and the yellow bitter principle of Chevallier, which that chemist considers analogous to the extract of quassia called quassin by Dr. Thom- son. The volatile oil passes over with water in distillation, rendering the liquid milky, and impregnating it with the peculiar odour of the root. Dr. PART I. Serpentaria.—Sesamum. 629 Bigelow states that the liquid on standing deposites round the edges of its surface small crystals of camphor. Dr. A. T. Thomson in his Dispensatory informs us that the roots of the Lollinsonia praecox, the C. scabra of Pursh, are often mixed with those of 11 ^erPentarm- This is not the case with the drug as brought to the Phi- ladelphia market; but the roots of the Spigelia Marilandica are sometimes found associated with it. They may be distinguished by the absence of the bitter taste, and when the stem and foliage are attached, by the peculiar cha- raCJerr °/ these parts of the plant. (See Spigelia.) Medical Properties and Uses. Serpentaria is a stimulant tonic, acting also as a diaphoretic or diuretic, according to the mode of its application. 1 oo largely taken, it occasions nausea, griping pains in the bowels, some- times vomiting and dysenteric tenesmus. It is admirably adapted to the treatment of typhoid fevers, whether idiopathic or symptomatic, when the system begins to feel the necessity for support, but is unable to bear active stimulation. In exanthematous diseases in which the eruption is tardy or has receded, and the grade of action is low, it is thought to be useful by promoting the cutaneous affection. It has also been highly recommended in intermittent fevers; and though itself generally inadequate to the cure of the complaint, often proves serviceable as an adjunct to Peruvian bark or the sulphate of quinia. With the same remedies it is frequently associated in the treatment of typhous diseases. It is sometimes given in dyspep- sia, and is employed as a gargle in malignant sorethroat. The dose of the powdered root is from ten to thirty grains; but the infusion is almost always preferred. (See Infusum Serpentariae.) The decoction or extract would be an improper form, as the volatile oil, upon which the virtues of the medicine partly depend, is dissipated by boiling. Off. Prep. Electuarium Opiatum, Ed.; Infusum Serpentariae, U.S., Lond.; Tinctura Cinchonae Composita, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinc- tura Serpentariae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. SESAMUM. U.S. Secondary. * Benne. " Sesamum orientale. Folia. The leaves." U. S. OLEUM SESAMI. U.S. Secondary. Benne Oil. " Sesamum orientale. Seminum oleum. The oil of the seeds." U.S. Sesame, Fr.; Sesam, Germ.; Sesamo, Ital; Ajonjoli, Span. Sesamum. Sex. Syst. Didynamia Angiospermia.—Nat. Ord. Bignoniae, Juss.; Pedalineae, R. Brown, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx five parted. Corolla bell-shaped, five-cleft, with the lower lobe largest. Stamens five, the fifth a rudiment. Stigma lanceolate. Capsule four-celled. Willd. Though the Sesamum orientale has been indicated by the United States Pharmacopoeia as the medicinal plant, there is reason to believe that the S. Indicum is that cultivated in our Southern States; at least we have found 54* H30 Sesamum.—Sevum. PART I. plants raised in Philadelphia from seeds obtained from Georgia, to corres- pond more closely with the description of the latter, as given by Willde- now. We give the specific character of both. Sesamum orientale. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 358; Rheed. Hort. Malab. ix. 54. " Leaves ovate, oblong, entire." Sesamum Indicum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 359; Curtis, Bot. Mag. vol xli. t. 1688. "Leaves ovate-lanceolate, the inferior three-lobed, the supe- rior undivided. Stem erect." The benne plant of our Southern States is annual, with a branching stem, which rises four or five feet in height, and bears opposite, petiolate leaves, varying considerably in their shape. Those on the upper part of the plant are ovate-lanceolate, irregularly serrate, and pointed; those near the base three-lobed and sometimes ternate; and lobed leaves are not uncommon at all distances from the ground. The flowers are of a reddish-white colour, and stand solitarily upon short peduncles in the axils of the leaves. The fruit is an oblong capsule, containing small, oval, yellowish seeds. These two species of Sesamum are natives of the East Indies, and have been cultivated from time immemorial in various parts of Asia and Africa. From the latter continent it is supposed that seeds were brought by the Ne- groes to our Southern States, where, as well as in the West Indies, one or both species are now cultivated to a considerable extent. It has been found that the plant above described will grow vigorously in the gardens so far north as Philadelphia. The seeds are employed as food by the negroes, who parch them over the lire, boil them in broths, make them into puddings, and prepare them in various other modes. By expression they yield a fixed oil, which, as well as ihe leaves of the plant, has been introduced into the secondary catalogue of our national Pharmacopoeia. 1. Oil of Benne. This is inodorous, of a bland sweetish taste, and will keep very long without becoming rancid. It bears some resemblance to olive oil in its properties, and may be used for similar purposes. It was known to the ancient Persians and Egyptians, and is highly esteemed by the modern Arabs, and other people of the East, both as food, and as an external application to promote softness of the skin. Like olive oil, it is laxative in large doses. 2. Leaves. These abound in a gummy matter, which they readily im- part to water, forming a rich bland mucilage, much used in the Southern States as a drink in various complaints to which demulcents are applicable, as in cholera infantum, diarrhcea, dysentery, catarrh, and affections of the urinary passages. The remedy has attracted some attention further north- ward, and has been employed with favourable results by physicians in Phi- » ladelphia. One or two fresh leaves stirred about in half a pint of cool water, will soon render it sufficiently viscid. In their dried state they should be introduced into hot water. The leaves also serve for the preparation of emollient cataplasms. W. SEVUM. U.S., Lond. Suet. " Ovis aries. Sevum curatum. The prepared suet. U.S. " Ovis Aries. Sevum." Lond. PART I. Sevum.—Simaruba. 631 Off. Syn. ADEPS OVILLUS. Ed.,; ADEPS OVILLUS PRiEPA- RATUS. Dub. Suif, Graisse dc mouton, Fr.; Hammelstalg, Germ.; Grasse duro, Ital; Sebo, Span. . Suet is the fat of the sheep taken chiefly from about the kidneys'. The London and Dublin Colleges direct it to be prepared by cutting the fat into pieces, melting it with a moderate heat, and straining it through linen or flannel. In order to avoid too great a heat, the crude suet is sometimes purified by boiling it in a little water. Mutton-suet is of a firmer consistence, and requires a higher temperature for its fusion than any other animal fat. It is very white, somewhat brittle inodorous, of a bland taste, insoluble in water, and nearly so in alcohol. Boiling alcohol, however, dissolves it, and deposites it upon cooling. It consists, according to Chevreul, of stearin, olein, and a small proportion of hircin. For an account of the two first mentioned principles, the reader is referred to the article Adeps. Hircin is a liquid like olein, from which it differs in being much more soluble in alcohol, and in being converted into hircic acid by saponfication. Suet acquires by time an unpleasant smell, and becomes unfit for phar- maceutic purposes. It is employed exclusively to give a proper consistence to ointments and plasters. W. SIMARUBA. U.S., Lond. Simaruba. " Quassia simaruba. Willd. Simaruba officinalis. De Candolle. Simaruba Guyanensis. Richard. Cortex. The bark." U.S. " Simaruba officinalis. Radicis cortex." Lond. Off. Syn. QUASSIiE SIMARUBA CORTEX. Ed.; QUASSIA SI- MARUBA. Cortex radicis. Dub. Ecorce de simarouba, Fr.; Simarubarinde, Germ.; Corteccia di simaruba, Ital; Cor- teza de simaruba, Span. Quassia. See QUASSIA. Quassia Simaruba. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 568; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 569. t. 203. As this plant is polygamous, it belongs properly to the genus Simaruba, separated by De Candolle from the Quassia (see Quassia); but we follow the Pharmacopoeias in considering it under its former title. It is a tree of considerable height and thickness, having alternate branches, with a bark, which in the old tree is black and somewhat furrowed, in the young is smooth, gray, and marked here and there with broad yellow spots. The leaves are alternate and abruptly pinnate, with a naked petiole to which the leaflets are alternately attached by short footstalks. The leaflets are nearly elliptical, on the upper surface smooth and of a deep green colour, on the under whitish. The flowers are of a yellow colour, and are disposed in long axillary panicles. In some descriptions they are stated to be monoe- cious, in others dioecious. According to Dr. Wright, the female flowers are never found in Jamaica on the same tree with the male. The number of stamens is ten. The tree is found in the West Indies and Guyana. In Jamaica it is called the mountain damson. Dr. A. T. Thomson is mistaken in stating that it is a native of Carolina. The Simaruba amara of Aublet, which grows in Guyana, and has generally been considered identical with the Q. Simaruba, 632 Simaruba.—Sinapis. part r. is believed by Hayne to be a distinct species. The bark of the root is the part employed, the wood itself being nearly tasteless and inert. Simaruba bark is in long pieces, some inches in breadth, folded length- wise, light, flexible, tenacious, very fibrous, externally of a light brownish- yellow colour, rough, warty, and marked with transverse ridges, internally of a pale yellow. It is without smell, and of a bitter taste. It readily im- parts its virtues, at ordinary temperatures, to water and alcohol. The infu- sion is at least equally bitter with the decoction, which becomes turbid as it cools. Its constituents, according to M. Morin, are a bitter principle, sup- posed by him to be identical with quassin, a resinous matter, a volatile oil having the odour of benzoin, malic acid, gallic acid in very minute propor- tion, an ammoniacal salt, malate and oxalate of lime, some mineral salts, oxide of iron, silica, ulmin, and lignin. Medical Properties and Uses. Simaruba possesses the same tonic pro- perties as other simple bitters, and may be employed for the same purposes. It was introduced into France in the year 1713 from Guyana, where it had previously been used as a remedy for dysentery. In the treatment of this disease and of obstinate diarrhcea it afterwards obtained much credit in Eu- rope; but Cullen was right in denying to it any specific control over these complaints. It operates simply as a tonic; and, though it may be occasion- ally beneficial in relaxed and debilitated states of the alimentary canal, it would do much harm if indiscriminately prescribed in dysenteric cases. On account of its difficult pulverization, it is seldom given in substance. The best mode of administration is by infusion. (See Infusum Simarubae.) The dose is from a scruple to a drachm. Off. Prep. Infusum Simarubae, Lond., Dub. W. SINAPIS. U.S., Lond. Mustard. " Sinapis nigra et Sinapis alba. Semina. The seeds." U.S. "Sinapis nigra. Semina." Lond. Off. Syn. SINAPIS ALB.E SEMINA. Ed.; SINAPIS ALBA. Se- mina. SINAPIS NIGRA. Seminum pulvis. Dub. Moutarde, Fr.; Senfsamen, Germ.; Senapa, Ital; Mostaza, Span. Sinapis. Sex. Syst. Tetradynamia Siliquosa.—Nat. Ord. Cruciferae. Gen. Ch. Calyx spreading. Corolla with straight claws. Glands between the shorter stamens and pistil, and between the longer stamens and calyx. Willd. Sinapis nigra. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 555; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 403. t. 146. Common or black mustard is an annual plant, with a stem three or four feet in height, divided and subdivided into numerous spreading branches. The leaves are petiolate, and variously shaped. Those near the root are large, rough, lyrate-pinnate, and unequally toothed; those higher on the stem are smooth and less lobed; and the uppermost are entire, narrow, smooth and dependent. The flowers are small, yellow, with a coloured calyx,, and stand closely together upon peduncles at the upper part of the branches. The pods are smooth, erect, nearly parallel with the branches, quadrangular, furnished with a short beak, and occupied by numerous seeds. Sinapis alba. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 555; Smith, Flor. Brit. 721. The white mustard is also an annual plant. It is rather smaller than the preced- PART I. Sinapis. 633 ii»g species. The lower leaves are deeply pinnatifid, the upper sublyrate, and all irregularly toothed, rugged with stiff hairs on both sides, and of a pale green colour. The flowers are in racemes, with yellow petals, and linear, green, calycine leaflets. The pods are spreading, bristly, rugged, roundish, swelling in the position of the seeds, ribbed, and provided with a very long ensiform beak. Both plants are natives of Europe and cultivated in our culinary gardens; and the S. nigra has become naturalized in some parts of this country. Their flowers appear in June. The seeds are kept in the shops both whole and in the state of very fine powder, as prepared by the manufacturers for the table. The black mustard seeds are small, globular, of a deep brown colour, slightly rugose on the surface, and internally yellow. In the entire state they are inodorous, but have a distinct smell in powder, and when rubbed with water or vinegar exhale a strong pungent odour, sufficient in some in- stances to excite a flow of tears. Their taste is bitterish, hot, and pungent, but not permanent. The seeds of the white mustard are much larger, of a yellowish colour, and less pungent taste. Both afford a yellow powder, which has a somewhat unctuous appearance, and cakes when compressed. Their skin contains a mucilaginous substance, which is extracted by boiling water, and abounds most in the white. When bruised or powdered they impart their active properties wholly to water, but in a very slight degree to alcohol. They yield upon pressure a fixed oil, of a greenish-yellow colour, little smell, and a mild not unpleasant taste; and the poition which remains is even more pungent than the unpressed seed. When black mus- tard seeds are distilled with water they afford a yellow volatile oil, soluble in alcohol and water, of an exceedingly pungent odour, an acrid and burn- ing taste, containing a portion of sulphur, and capable, when applied to the skin, of producing very speedy vesication. Guibourt conjectured, and Ro- biquet and Boutron have proved, that this oil does not exist ready formed in the seeds, but is produced by the actipn of water. Hence the absence or very slight degree of odour in the seeds when bruised in a perfectly dry state, and their great pungency when water is added. It will probably be found that a principle exists in black mustard seed, containing sulphur as a constituent, which is converted into volatile oil by the agency of this fluid. MM. Robiquet and Boutron were unable to procure any volatile oil from the white mustard seeds. The active properties of these they found to depend on a fixed principle, not existing in the seeds, but developed, as the volatile oil in the former case, by the action of water or other agent. The ingre- dient of the seeds which is converted into this acrid principle, they believe to be the sulpho-sinapisin, discovered originally by MM. Henry the younger and Garot in the oil of white mustard, and afterwards found in the seeds them- selves. Their reason for this belief is that mustard which has been pre- viously deprived of this ingredient, is incapable of developing the acrid principle. As the white mustard contains none of that substance which affords the volatile oil when water is applied, so the black mustard contains little or none of the sulpho-sinapisin which in the former is converted by similar means into the active principle. The two varieties, therefore, differ essentially in their constitution, though it is probable that their respective characteristic ingredients are closely analogous, as they both contain sulphur. Sulpho-sinupisin is an interesting compound, as affording an instance of a proximate vegetable principle having sulphur as a constituent. Its other elements are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. It was at first thought by MM. Henry and Garot to be an acid, but has since been acknowledged 634 Sinapis. PART I. to be a neutral substance. It is white, crystallizable, soluble in water and alcohol, producing a yellow solution, without smell, and of a taste analogous to that of mustard. (Journ. de Pharm. Janv. 1831.) From the experiments of MM. Troupeau and Blanc, it appears that vine- gar diminishes the irritating property of black mustard; and that a mixture of the powder with concentrated acetic acid in certain proportions is quite inert when applied to the skin, though either separately is capable of excit- ing severe inflammation. The same result does not appear to have been obtained with the white mustard seed. (Archives Generates. Sept. 1830.) Other acids have since been found to produce the same effect; and the action of alcohol, and of a temperature above 200° also diminishes the activity of black mustard seed, by preventing the development of the volatile oil. It has been conjectured that these agents operate by coagulating the albumen of the seeds, which then prevents the clue contact of water with their particles; but a more probable supposition is, that the principle which in black mus- tard seeds is converted into volatile oil by the reaction of water, requires, as in the case of bitter almonds, the intervention of another body as a kind of ferment, the activity of which is destroyed by heat, alcohol, and the acids. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 464.) Medical Properties and Uses. Mustard seeds swallowed whole operate as a laxative, and have recently enjoyed great popularity as a remedy in dyspepsia, and in other complaints attended with torpid bowels and deficient excitement. The white seeds are preferred, and are taken in the dose of a tablespoonful once or twice a day, mixed with molasses, or previously soft- ened and rendered mucilaginous by immersion in hot water. They probably act by mechanically stimulating the bowels. The bruised seeds or powder, in the quantity of a large teaspoonful, operate as an emetic. Mustard in this state is applicable to cases of great torpor of stomach, especially that resulting from narcotic poisons. It rouses the gastric susceptibility and facilitates the action of other emetics. In smaller quantities it is useful as a safe stimulant of the digestive organs; and, as it is frequently determined to the kidneys, has been beneficially employed in dropsy. Whey made by boil- ing half an ounce of the bruised seeds or powder in a pint of milk, and straining, is a convenient form for administration. It may be given in the dose of a wineglassful repeated several times a day. But mustard is most valuable as a rubefacient. Mixed with water in the form of a cataplasm, and applied to the skin, it very soon produces redness with a burning pain which in less than an hour usually becomes insupportable. When a speedy impression is not desired, especially when the sinapism is applied to the extremities, the powder should be diluted with an equal portion of rye meal or wheat flour. Care should be taken not to allow the application to con- tinue too long, as vesication with obstinate ulceration, and even sphacelus may result. This caution is particularly necessary in cases where the patient is insensible, and the degree of pain can afford no criterion of the sufficiency of the action. Off. Prep. Cataplasma Sinapis, Lond., Dub.; Emplastrum Cantharidis Vesicatoriae Comp., Ed.; Infusum Armoraciae Compositum, U. S., Lond., Dub. W. PART I. Sodium.—Sodse Jlcetas. 635 SODIUM. Sodium. Sodium, Fr.; Natronmetall, Natrium, Germ.; Sodio, Ital, Span. Sodium is a peculiar elementary body of a metallic nature, forming the radical of the alkali soda. It was discovered by Sir H. Davy in 1807, who obtained it in minute quantity by decomposing the alkali by the agency of galvanic electricity. It was afterwards procured in much larger quantities by Gay-Lussac and Thenard, by bringing the alkali in contact with iron turnings heated to whiteness. The iron became oxidized, and the metallic radical of the soda was liberated. Sodium is a soft, malleable, sectile solid, of a silver-white colour. It pos- sesses the metallic lustre in a high degree when protected from the action of the air, by which it is quickly tarnished and oxidized. Its sp. gr. is 0.97, fusing point about 200°, and equivalent number 23.3. Its chemical affinities resemble those of potassium, but are by no means so energetic. Like potas- sium it has a strong attraction for oxygen. When thrown upon cold water it instantly fuses into a globule without inflaming, and traverses the surface in different directions with rapidity; on hot water it inflames. In both cases the water is decomposed, hydrogen is liberated, and a solution of soda gene- rated. It combines also with a larger proportion of oxygen than exists in soda, forming a sesquioxide. This oxide is always formed when the metal is burnt in the open air. Sodium is present in a number of important medicinal preparations, and is briefly described in this place as an introduction to these compounds. Its protoxide only is salifiable, constituting the alkali soda, which, united to acids, give rise to a numerous class of compounds, called salts of sodium, or salts of soda. This oxide consists of one equiv. of sodium 23.3, and one of oxygen 8 = 31.3. United with one equiv. of water 9, it forms hydrate of soda (caustic soda,) weighing 40.3. Sodium unites also with chlorine, forming chloride of sodium, or common salt, and with most of the other simple non-metallic bodies. The officinal combinations containing sodium, are the chloride of sodium, the acetate, borate, carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate, sulphate, and sulphuret of soda, and the tartrate of potassa and soda. The description of most of these com- binations will immediately follow; while the remainder, being included among the '• Preparations," will be noticed, under their respective titles, in the second part of the work. B. SOD^E ACETAS. U. S., Lond., Dub. Acetate of Soda. Acetate de soude, Fr.; Essigsaures Natron, Germ.; Acetato di soda, Ital. Acetate of soda is included among the " Preparations," in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia; but more properly in the catalogue of the Materia Medica in those of London and the United States, as it is obtained on a large scale by the manufacturing chemist from pyroligneous acid. Preparation. The Dublin College obtains this salt by saturating carbonate of soda with distilled vinegar, and evaporating the filtered solution until it attains the sp.gr. 1JJ76. As the solution cools crystals will form, which 636 Sodse rfcetas.—Sodse Boras. part I. must be cautiously dried, and kept in well stopped bottles. In conducting the process, the crystallized carbonate of soda will be found to require about eleven times its weight of distilled vinegar for saturation. Acetate of soda is prepared by the manufacturers of pyroligneous acid, for the purpose of being decomposed, so as to yield strong acetic acid by the action of sulphuric acid. (See Acidum Aceticum Empyreumaticum, and Acidum Aceticum.) The first step is to add to the impure acid as much chalk as it is capable of decomposing at common temperatures, and then to boil the liquor, and complete the saturation with slaked lime. During the saturation a quantity of blackish scum arises, which must be carefully removed. In this way an acetate of lime is formed, which must be decom- posed by the requisite quantity of sulphate of soda. By double decomposi- tion there become formed acetate of soda which remains in soluti n, and sulphate of lime which precipitates, carrying down with it more or less of the tarry impurities. After the sulphate of lime has completely subsided, the solution of acetate of soda is decanted, and concentrated to a pellicle; when it is transferred to crystallizers, in which it cools and crystallizes in mass. The acetate, in this state, is very impure, being black and im- pregnated with much tar. It is purified by drying, submitting it to the igneous fusion, solution in water, filtration, and repeated crystallizations. Sometimes animal charcoal is used to free the crystals from colour. Properties, fyc. Acetate of soda is a white salt, crystallizing in long striated prisms, and possessing a sharp, bitterish, not disagreeable taste. Exposed to the air it effloresces slowly, and loses about forty per cent, of its weight. It is soluble in about three parts of cold water, and in twenty- four of alcohol. Subjected to heat, it undergoes first the aqueous and then the igneous fusion, and is finally decomposed. By the affusion of sulphuric acid it is decomposed, the acetic acid being liberated, and sulphate of soda formed. It consists, when ciystallized, of one equiv. of acetic acid 51.48, one of soda, 31.3, and six of water 54= 136.78. Medical Properties and Uses. Acetate of soda is diuretic, and possesses generally the same medical properties as the acetate of potassa, to which article the reader is referred. It is, however, more convenient for exhibition than the latter salt, as it is not deliquescent. The dose is from one to four scruples. Its only pharmaceutical use is to yield strong acetic acid by the action of sulphuric acid, and for this purpose it is employed in the London and United States Pharmacopoeias. Off. Prep. Acidum Aceticum, U.S., Lond. B. SOD.E BORAS. U.S. Borate of Soda. Off. Syn. BORAX. Lond.; SUB-BORAS SODiE. Ed.; SODiE BO- RAS. BORAX Dub. Borax; Borate de soude, Borax, Fr.; Boraxsaures Natron, Borax, Germ.; Borace, Ital; Borrax, Span.; Boorak, Arab. Borax was known to the ancients, but its chemical nature was first ascer- tained by Geoffroy in 1732. It exists native, and may be obtained by arti- ficial means. It occurs in small quantities in several localities in Europe, and in Peru in Soulh America; but the demands of commerce are supplied almost exclusively by certain lakes, existing in Thibet and Persia, from PART I. Sodse Boras. 637 which it is obtained by spontaneous evaporation. The impure borax con- cretes on the margins of these lakes, and is dug up in lumps, called in commerce tincal or crude borax. In this state it is in the form of crys- talline masses, which are sometimes colourless, sometimes yellowish or greenish, and always covered with an earthy coating, greasy to the touch, and having the odour of soap. The greasy appearance is derived from a fatty matter, with which the excess of soda appears to be united. The crude borax, thus obtained in the interior, is transferred to the seaports of India, especially Calcutta, from which it is exported to this country packed in chests. Besides tincal, there is another commercial variety of borax, which comes from China, and which is partially refined. Both these kinds of borax require to be refined, before they are fit for use in medicine or the arts. Purification. The method of refining borax was originally possessed as a secret by the Venetians and Dutch, but is now practised in several Euro- pean countries. The process pursued in France, as reported by Robiquet and Marchand, is as follows. The tincal is placed in a large wooden vessel, and covered to the depth of three or four inches with water; in which state it is allowed to remain for five or six hours, being agitated from time to time. Slaked lime is now added, in the proportion of one part to four hundred of the impure salt; and the whole being mixed thoroughly, is allowed to remain at rest until the succeeding day. The salt is next separated by means of a sieve, the crystals being crumbled between the hands, and placed so as to drain. The object of this treatment is to separate the greasy matter, with which the lime forms an insoluble soap. The borax being drained, is next dissolved, by the assistance of heat, in two and a half times its weight of water, and the solution treated with one-fiftieth of its weight of chloride of calcium, and allowed to strain through a coarse bag. The filtration being completed, the liquor is concentrated by heat, and then run into wooden vessels, lined with lead, having the shape of an inverted quadrangular pyra- mid. If care be taken that the cooling proceeds very gradually, distinct crystals will be obtained, such as are found in commerce; otherwise, crystal- line crusts will be formed. The washing with water in this process causes the loss of a minute portion only of the borax, the substances removed being a soapy matter, together with sulphate of soda and chloride of sodium. The Chinese borax is purified in a similar manner, but being less impure than the common tincal, does not require to be washed. According to Berzelius, tincal, in the process of purification, loses half its weight; but according to Robiquet and Marchand, the loss is not nearly so great. Preparation of Artificial Borax. In France of latter years borax has been made to a considerable extent by the direct combination of boracic acid with soda; and the same process is beginning to be employed by a few of our own manufacturing chemists. The acid made use of is imported from Italy, where it exists in solution in certain lakes, particularly in Tuscany. It is heated with water and carbonate of soda in' excess, and the solution, after proper concentration, is allowed to crystallize in vessels lined with lead, as above described. Properties. Borax is a white salt, generally crystallized in flattened hexa- hedral prisms terminated by triangular pyramids, and possessing a sweetish, feebly alkaline taste, and an alkaline reaction with test paper. It dissolves in twelve times its weight of cold, and twice its weight of boiling water. Exposed to the air, it effloresces slowly and slightly at the surface of the crys- tals, which become covered with a white powder. Subjected to a moderate heat it undergoes the aqueous fusion, swells considerably, and finally becomes 55 638 Sodse Boras. part r- a dry porous mass, with loss of half its weight. Above a red heat it melts into a limpid liquid, and, after cooling, concretes into a transparent solid, called glass of borax, which is very much used as a flux in assays with the blowpipe. According to Dr. Duncan, borax possesses the singular property of converting the mucilage of gum Arabic, of Iceland moss, and salep, into a gelatinous mass, without any adhesive property. It is decomposed by a majority of the acids, by potassa, and by the earthy and ammoniacal sul- phates, muriates, phosphates, and filiates. Borax has the property of rendering cream of tartar very soluble in water, and forms a combination with it, called soluble cream of tartar, which is sometimes used in medicine. This preparation is made by boiling six parts of cream of tartar and two of borax in sixteen of water for five minutes, allowing the solution to cool, and then filtering to separate some tartrate of lime. Soluble cream of tartar attracts moisture from the air, and is soluble in its own weight of cold, and half its weight of boiling water. A similar preparation may be made by substituting boracic acid for the borax; the pro- portions being four parts of cream of tartar to one of the acid. This combi- nation is even more soluble than the other. It has not been well ascertained what is the nature of these compounds. Thenard has thrown out the sug- gestion, that the former consists of the tartrate of potassa and soda (Rochelle salt), and a combination of cream of tartar with boracic acid; and Berzelius inclines to the opinion, that in the latter the boracic acid acts the part of a base, and that the compound is a double salt, consisting of the tartrate of potassa and tartrate of boracic acid. Applying Berzelius's view to the former salt, it would consist of two double salts united together, namely, the tartrate of potassa and soda, and the tartrate of potassa and boracic acid. According to the formula of the Paris Codex, soluble cream of tartar is made with boracic acid. One hundred parts of the acid and 400 of cream of tartar are dissolved in a silver basin, at the temperature of ebullition, in 2400 parts of water. The solution is kept boiling until the greater part of the water is consumed. The fire is then moderated, and the solution continually stirred while the evaporation proceeds. When the matter has become very thick, it is removed by portions which are flattened in the hand, completely dried by the heat of a stove, reduced to powder, and kept in well stopped bottles. Composition. Borax consists of two equiv. of boracic acid 69.8, and one of soda 31.3= 101.1. As ordinarily crystallized it contains ten equiv. of water; but a variety of the salt exists, which crystallizes in oetohedrons, and which contains only five equiv. of water. From the composition of borax in equivalents, it is evidently a oiborate, though generally called a sw6borate, on account of its possessing an alkaline reaction. This latter property arises from the feeble neutralizing power of boracic acid, which renders it inade- quate to overcome the alkaline nature of so strong a base as soda. Medical Properties and Uses. Borax is a mild refrigerant and diure- tic. It is supposed to exercise also a specific influence over the uterus, promoting menstruation, facilitating parturition, and favouring the expul- sion of the placenta. (Vogt's Pharmakodynamik, quoted by Pereira, Elem. Mat. Med.) It is strongly recommended by Dr. Daniel Stahl, of Indiana, in dysmenorrhoea occurring in sanguineous constitutions, venesec- tion being premised. He gives it in doses of about nine grains every two hours in a tablespoonful of flaxseed tea, for two days before the time of the expected return of the menses. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xx. 536, from Western Journ. rf Med. and Phys. Sci.) Dr. Duncan quotes Wurzer for asserting that it is the best remedy that can be used in nephritic and calcu- lous complaints, dependent on an excess of uric acid. It acts in such cases part i. Sodae Boras.—Sodse Carbonas Impura. 639 as an alkali, the boracic acid being displaced by the acid which may be met with in the stomach or urinary passages. The dose is from thirty to forty grains. Cream of tartar, rendered soluble by borax or boracic acid, is a con- venient preparation, where it is desirable to administer large quantities of the former salt. The chief medical use, however, of borax, is as a detergent in aphthous aflections of the mouth in children. When thus employed, it is generally applied in powder, mixed with sugar in the proportion of one part to seven, or rubbed up with honey. (See Mel Boracis.) Off Prep. Mel Boracis, Lond., Ed., Dub. B. SODM CARBONAS IMPURA. Lond. Impure Carbonate of Soda. Off. Syn. SUB-CARBONAS SODiE IMPURUS. Ed. SOD^E CAR- BONAS VENA LE. BARILLA. Dub. Barilla; Soude de commerce, Fr.; Rohe Soda, Germ.; Soda impura, Ital; Barilla, Span. The impure carbonate of soda of commerce, or barilla, is introduced into the British Pharmacopoeias, as the substance from which the pure carbonate is to be obtained by solution and crystallization. It has not a place in our national Pharmacopoeia; as the purified carbonate, obtained by artificial means on a large scale by the manufacturing chemist, is deemed sufficiently pure for medicinal use, and is the preparation found in our shops; the apothe- cary seldom or never resorting to any process for the purification of barilla. The sources of the alkali soda are either natural or artificial. The natural sources are certain minerals which contain it in a carbonated stale, and cer- tain marine vegetables which yield it by incineration; the artificial, are par- ticular salts of sodium which yield the alkali by chemical decomposition. Native soda is found in different parts of the world; but chiefly in Egypt, in Hungary, and near Merida in the Republic of Columbia. It exists in these localities in solution in small lakes, from which it is extracted in con- sequence of the drying up of the water during the heats of summer. Native soda is called in commerce by the name of natron, and was formerly im- ported from Egypt for use in the arts; but for a number of years, the de- mands of commerce for this alkali have been supplied from other sources. The native soda of Egypt, called trona by the natives, proves on analysis to be a sesquicarbonale; while the South American is intermediate, in the proportion of its acid, between the Egyptian and artificial carbonate. None of these native sodas are important to the American chemist or druggist, as they are never imported into this country. Soda of vegetable origin is derived from certain plants which grow on the surface or borders of the sea, and is denominated either barilla or kelp, according to the particular character of the marine plants from which it is derived. Barilla is obtained from several vegetables, principally belonging to the ffenera Salicornia and Sal sola; and the Salsola soda and Salsola kali are the species preferred, ln Spain, Sicily, and some other countries, these plants are regularly cultivated for the purpose of yielding soda by their com- bustion. The plants, when mature, are cut down, dried, and burnt in exca- vations in the ground, about three feet deep, and four in diameter. The com- bustion is continued by the fresh addition of bundles of the dried plant, until 640 Sodas Carbonas Impura. part i. the pit is filled with the ashes. These are found in the state of a semifused, hard, and compact saline mass, which is broken up into fragments by means of pickaxes, and thrown into commerce. Kelp is procured by the incinera- tion of various kinds of sea-weeds, principally the algae and fuci, which grow on the rocky coasts of many countries. The Orkney Islands, and the rocky coasts of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, furnish large quantities of these weeds. The plants are allowed to ferment in heaps, then dried, and after- wards burnt to ashes in ovens, roughly made with brick or stone, and built in the ground. The alkali in the ashes melts, and forms the whole into one solid mass. When cold, it is broken up with iron instruments into large heavy masses, in which state it is found in commerce. About twenty-four tons of sea weeds are required to produce one of kelp. Large quantities of this substance were formerly manufactured in Great Britain, but its demand and production have very much lessened since the introduction of artificial soda at a comparatively low price. An impure soda is obtained in a similar manner in France, under the name of vareck. Properties. Barilla, when of good quality, is in hard, dry, porous, sono- rous, grayish-blue masses, which become covered with a saline efflorescence after exposure to the air. It possesses an alkaline taste, but is inodorous, and should not emit any unpleasant smell on solution. It contains from twenty-five to forty per cent, of real carbonated alkali, the residue being made up of sulphate of soda, sulphuret of sodium, common salt, carbonate of lime, alumina, silica, oxide of iron, and a small portion of charcoal which had escaped combustion. Kelp is in hard compact masses, of a dark blue colour, and possessing a sulphureous odour, and an acrid, caustic taste. It is still less pure than ba- rilla, containing only from three to eight per centof carbonated soda, the rest being made up of a large proportion of the sulphates of soda and potassa and the chlorides of potassium and sodium, and a small quantity of the iodide either of potassium or sodium. It is from kelp that iodine is usually ob- tained. (See Iodinum.) Preparation of the Artificial Soda of Commerce. Soda is obtained by chemical means, principally from the sulphate of soda, and the chloride of sodium or common salt. The methods pursued in Scotland for decompos- ing these salts are very well described by Mr. Steele, lecturer on chemistry in Glasgow, in a communication made to Dr. Duncan, from which we derive the following account. When the sulphate of soda is employed, 5 cwt. of the salt, 2 cwt. of saw-dust, 50 lbs. of lime, and a small quantity of iron- filings or borings are ground together, and then exposed to heat in a rever- beratory furnace, until the mixture becomes pasty. During the calcination the sulphuric acid is decomposed; its oxygen combines with the carbon de- rived from the saw-dust, and forms carbonic acid, which unites with the soda; while the sulphur forms sulphurets with the lime and iron. The matter in this state is then transferred to large cisterns with double bottoms, where it is lixiviated to separate the soluble matter from the insoluble im- purities. The ley obtained, consisting of a solution of carbonate of soda with a little sulphate of soda, is evaporated to dryness, and the dry mass subjected to anew treatment, precisely similar to that above described, for the purpose of decomposing the remains of the latter salt. The dry mass remain- ing after the second treatment consists of the soda, but is deficient in carbonic acid, in consequence of the strong heat to which it has been exposed. To supply this deficiency, the product is heated in a reverberatory furnace with a quantity of saw-dust, which, during its combustion, furnishes the neces- sary carbonic acid. The carbonate of soda being thus completely formed, PART I. Sodas Carbonas Impura. 641 the matter from the furnace is again lixiviated, and the solution crystallized at a temperature which should not exceed 55°. Sometimes the above process is varied by the substitution of chalk for the lime and iron, and of charcoal or small coal for the saw-dust. When soda is obtained from common salt, the process pursued is as fol- lows. Saturated solutions of equal weights of common salt and of pot or pearlash are mixed together and boiled to a pellicle. The common salt by solution in water becomes a muriate of soda, which, by double decomposition with the carbonate of potassa, generates carbonate of soda, and muriate of po- tassa in solution. This reaction having taken place, the solution is run into a cooler, and the muriate of potassa separates as chloride of potassium by priority of crystallization. The supernatant liquid containing the soda, some- what deficient in carbonic acid owing to the deficiency of this acid in the potash, is now evaporated to dryness, and the dry mass calcined at a low red heat with saw-dust, to supply the deficient acid. It is then withdrawn from the furnace and lixiviated, and the solution crystallized at a temperature not exceeding 55°. Sometimes soda is obtained from what are called soapers1 salts, which are the saline matters remaining after the conversion of the alkali in kelp into hard soap. These salts consist of the sulphates and muriates of soda and potassa, and are treated in the same way as the unmixed sulphate of soda. The sulphate of soda in the mixture is of course converted into carbonate of soda, and by the operation of similar affinities, the sulphate of potassa passes into the stale of a carbonate. The carbonate of potassa, as soon as formed, reacts upon the muriate of soda, and produces an additional portion of car- bonate of soda. The muriate of potassa is consequently the only salt present in the soapers' salts, which remains unchanged in the process; and its quan- tity is somewhat increased by the decomposition of the common salt. (Dun- can, Edinb. Dispensatory.) The method of obtaining carbonate of soda by the decomposition of the salts of sodium was first put in practice in France by Leblanc and Dize, and has since been improved by other chemists. The process above detailed is that practised in Scotland, where large quantities of artificial carbonate of soda are made. The alkali, as obtained after the first calcination of the materials, is very impure, containing only from thirty-two to thirty-three per cent, of pure carbonate of soda, and may be considered as corresponding in quality with the barilla of commerce; but after being subjected to all the steps of the process, as above described, it may be considered as a pure car- bonate. When carelessly prepared, it is apt to contain sulphuret of sodium, which causes it to smell of sulphuretted hydrogen upon being moistened with water. (See next article.) The carbonate of soda used in this country is chiefly imported from Scot- land, and comes packed in hogsheads. The impure carbonate, in the form of barilla, is imported principally from the Canary Islands, and is consumed by the soap manufacturers. The different kinds of impure carbonate of soda of commerce, whether barilla or kelp, are exceedingly variable in com- position; and as their value depends entirely on the quantity of real carbo- nated alkali which they contain, it becomes important to have a ready method of determining this point. The mode in which this is ascertained, by means of an instrument called an alkali meter, is explained under another head. ''See Potassae Carbonas Impurus.) Pharmaceutical Uses, fyc. Barilla is never used in medicine, but is directed by the British Colleges for the purpose of obtaining from it the pure 55* 642 Sodse Carbonas. PART i. carbonate of soda. It is largely consumed in the manufacture of soap and glass, and in some of the processes of dyeing. Off. Prep. Sodae Carbonas, Lond., Ed., Dub. B. SODJE CARBONAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Carbonate of Soda. Off. Syn. SUB-CARBONAS SOD^E. Ed. Carbonate de soude, Fr.; Kohlensaures Natron, Germ.; Carbonato di soda, Ital; Car- bonato de soda, Span. The different British Colleges give directions for the preparation of this salt from barilla by solution and crystallization; but the framers of the United States Pharmacopoeia have placed it more properly in the list of the Materia Medica, as a product obtained on a large scale by the manufacturing chemist, and not made by the apothecary. The directions of the British Colleges for the purification of barilla are as follows. The London College takes two pounds of the impure salt, boils it with four pints (Imperial measure) of distilled water, strains the solution while hot, and sets it by that crystals may form. The Edinburgh College bruises the barilla, dissolves it in boiling water without specifying the quan- tity, filters the solution through paper, and evaporates it in an iron vessel, so that crystals may form on refrigeration. The Dublin College exhausts the barilla by boiling it with twice its weight of water for two or three succes- sive times, and, having mixed the several solutions, evaporates to dryness. The dry mass is then dissolved in boiling water, and the solution evaporated until it acquires the sp.gr. 1.22; when it is exposed to a temperature about freezing, in order that it may crystallize. The crystals are then dried and kept in close bottles. These processes for the purification of barilla are almost entirely super- seded, in consequence of the great perfection to which the artificial produc- tion of the carbonate of soda has been brought. It is this product, made on a large scale, that supplies our apothecaries with the carbonate of soda which they vend. The manner in which it is prepared is fully detailed under the preceding article. (See Sodae Carbonas Impura.) Properties. Carbonate of soda is a white efflorescent salt, possessing an alkaline and disagreeable taste, and crystallizing usually in large rhomboidal prisms, which are opaque and powdery on the surface, but semitransparent within. It is exceedingly soluble in water, but not in alcohol, and displays an alkaline reaction with tests. When heated it undergoes the aqueous fusion at a low temperature; and, if the heat be continued, it dries and finally suffers the igneous fusion. The most usual impurities which it contains are sulphate of soda and common salt, which may be detected by converting the salt into a nitrate, and testing separate portions of this severally with the nitrates of baryta and silver. According to Mr. W. R. Fisher, of Baltimore, it is liable to contain, when badly prepared from the sulphate of soda, a por- tion of sulphuret of sodium, which may be detected by the production of the smell of sulphuretted hydrogen upon dissolving the salt in water. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 108.) Carbonate of soda is incompatible with acids, acidulous salts, lime-water, muriate of ammonia, and earthy and metallic salts. It consists of one equiv. of carbonic acid 22.12, and one of soda PART I. Sodae Carbonas.—Sodas Sulphas. 643 31.3 — 53.42. When fully crystallized it contains ten equivalents of water »0, giving as the number representing the crystallized salt 143.42. It is thus perceived that this salt, when perfectly crystallized, contains nearly two- thirds of its weight of water; but the quantity actually present in it as found in the shops, is very variable, being dependent one1 the extent to which it may have undergone efflorescence. Medical Properties and Uses. Carbonate of soda is antacid and resolvent. It is given principally in diseases attended with acidity of the stomach; such as gout, uric acid gravel, and certain forms of dyspepsia. It is more fre- quently exhibited than carbonate of potassa, as it is more easily taken, its taste being less acrid. It has also been recommended in hooping-cough, scrofula, and bronchocele. In the latter disease, Dr. Peschier of Geneva considers it more efficacious than the iodine itself. It is given in doses of from ten grains to half a drachm, either in powder, or in solution in some bitter infusion. In consequence of the variable state in which it exists in the shops, as to the amount of water of crystallization which it contains, it is not easy to designate the dose with precision. It is on this account, that the salt is most conveniently administered in the dried state. (See Sodae Carbonas Exsiccatus.) It is used in preparing the precipitated carbonate of iron. Off Prep. Aqua Super-Carbonatis Sodae, Ed., Dub.; Ferri Carbonas Praecipitatus, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Liquor Sodae Chlorinatae, Lond.; Magnesiae Carbonas, Lond.; Pilulae Ferri Compositae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Sodae Bicarbonas, U.S., Lond. Ed., Dub.; Sodae Carbonas Exsiccatus, U.S., Lond., Dub; Sodse et Potassae Tartras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Sodae Phosphas, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Sodae Sulphas, Lond. B. SOD.E SULPHAS. U. S, Lond., Dub. Sulphate of Soda. Off Syn. SULPHAS SODiE. Ed. Vitriolntcd soda, Glauber's salt; Sulfate de soude, Fr.; Schwefelsaures Natron Glau- bersalz, Germ.; Solfa to di soda, Ital; Sulfato de soda, Sal de Glaubero, Span. This salt is included among the Preparations by the three British Col- leges, a formula for obtaining it being given; and is placed also in the cata- logue of the Materia Medica by the Edinburgh College. In the United States Pharmacopoeia, it is inserted only in the Materia Medica list, where it properly stands as a substance obtained on a large scale. Sulphate of soda, in small quantities, is extensively diffused in nature, and is obtained artificially in several chemical operations. It exists in solution in many mineral springs, among which may be mentioned those of Chelten- ham and Carlsbad; its ingredients are present in sea-water; and it is found combined with sulphate of lime, constituting a distinct mineral. As an arti- ficial product, it is formed in the processes for obtaining muriatic acid and chlorine, and in the preparation of muriate of ammonia, from sulphate of ammonia and common salt. (See Acidum Muriaticum, Aqua Chlorinii, and Ammonias Murias.) It may also be procured, under favourable circum- stances, from sea-water. Preparation. The British Colleges agree in obtaining sulphate of soda from the salt left after the distillation of muriatic acid. This residuary salt, as is explained under muriatic acid, is sulphate of soda; but it generally con- 644 Sodae Sulphas. PART I. tains a slight excess of sulphuric acid, which must be neutralized or removed. The London College dissolves two pounds of the salt in two pints (Imp. mea- sure) of boiling water, and saturates the excess of acid with carbonate of soda. The solution is then evaporated to a pellicle, strained, and set aside to crystal- lize. The supernatant liquor being poured off, the crystals are to be dried. The Edinburgh College dissolves the salt in water, the quantity not being specified, and adds to the solution powdered carbonate of lime to neutralize the excess of acid. The solution, after being allowed to stand until the pre- cipitate subsides, is poured off clear, filtered through paper, and evaporated to the point of crystallization. In the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, the salt is directed to be dissolved in a sufficient quantity of boiling water, and the solution, after filtration and due evaporation, is allowed to crystallize by slow cooling. In the above processes, it is perceived that the London College converts the excess of acid in the residuary salt into an additional portion of sulphate of soda; while the Edinburgh College gets rid of the excess, by converting it into the insoluble sulphate of lime. The Dublin process makes no provi- sion for removing the excess of acid, and hence the sulphate of soda obtained is slightly acid. The residuum of the process for obtaining chlorine by the action of sul- phuric acid, water, and peroxide of manganese on common salt, is a mixture of sulphate of soda and sulphate of protoxide of manganese. We have not been able to find any detailed process for separating the sulphate of soda from this mixture; but we are informed by Mr. Parkes that an establishment for this purpose in England was attended with complete success, and was only discontinued in consequence of the Government having forbidden the sale of the residuum in question. Considering the large quantities of this residuum, which are necessarily formed in preparing chloride of lime and other bleaching agents, it would seem worth the while of our manufacturing chemists to attempt its purification. The object would not be to furnish a salt for use in medicine, but to convert the sulphate of soda which might be obtained into the carbonate. (See Sodae Carbonas Impura.) For this pur- pose, it would probably not require to be carefully purified. In the process for obtaining muriate of ammonia from the sulphate and common salt, water is decomposed, and a double decomposition takes place, resulting in the formation of muriate of ammonia and sulphate of soda. The mode in which the two salts are afterwards separated is explained under the head of muriate of ammonia. Since the chemical method of making carbonate of soda from the sulphate has been generally practised in France and England, the consumption of Glauber's salt has considerably increased, and its preparation has been an object of importance. In France, it is usually made by decomposing com- mon salt by sulphuric acid, and in most instances the muriatic acid is allowed to escape. This is the same process with that of the British Colleges, only performed on a large scale. In Sweden sulphate of soda is made by double decomposition between sulphate of iron and common salt. In some of our Northern States, particularly Massachusetts, a portion of Glauber's salt is procured from sea-water in the winter season. The circumstances under which it is formed, have been explained in a paper on " On the preparation of Glauber's and Epsom Salt and Magnesia from Sea-water," by Mr. Daniel B. Smith, published in the fourth volume of the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. The constituents of a number of salts exist in sea- water; and in what binary order these constituents may precipitate during evaporation, depends on the temperature. During the prevalence of rigor- • part i. Sodae Sulphas.—Sodii Chloridum. 645 ous cold, sulphate of soda is the least soluble salt which can be formed out of the acids and bases present, and accordingly separates in the form of crystals. Properties. Sulphate of soda is a white salt, possessing a cooling, nau- seous, very bitter taste, and crystallizing with great facility in four-sided striated prisms, with dihedral summits. When recently prepared, it is beau- tifully transparent; but by exposure to the air it effloresces, and the crystals become covered with an opaque white powder. By long exposure it under- goes complete efflorescence, and falls to powder with loss of more than half its weight. It is soluble in about twice its weight of cold water, and in less than one-third of its weight at 91.5°, above which temperature, up to the boiling point, its solubility diminishes. Subjected to heat, it melts in its water of crystallization, then dries, and afterwards, by the application of a pretty strong heat, undergoes the igneous fusion. Occasionally it contains an excess of acid or alkali, which may be discovered by litmus or turmeric paper. The presence of common salt may be detected by sulphate of silver; that of iron by ferrocyanuret of potassium or tincture of galls. It is incom- patible with carbonate of potassa, chloride of calcium, the salts of baryta, nitrate of silver if the solutions be strong, and the acetate and subacetate of lead. It consists of one equiv. of sulphuric acid 40.1, one of soda 31.3, and ten of water 90 = 161.4. Medical Properties and Uses. Sulphate of soda, in doses of from half an ounce to an ounce, is an efficient cathartic; in smaller doses largely diluted, an aperient and diuretic. When in an effloresced state, the dose must be reduced one-half. It is much less used than formerly, having been almost entirely superseded by sulphate of magnesia, which is less disagreeable to the palate. Its nauseous taste, however, may be readily disguised by the admixture of a little lemon-juice or cream of tartar. Sulphate of soda is the principal ingredient in the artificial Cheltenham salts. These consist of 120 grs. of sulphate of soda, 66 grs. of sulphate of magnesia, 10 grs. of chloride of sodium, and half a grain of sulphate of iron, and constitute, according to Dr. Paris, a very efficacious purgative. The only use of sul- phate of soda in the arts is to make carbonate of soda, and as an ingredient in some kinds of glass. It has no officinal preparations. B. SODII CHLORIDUM. U. S., Lond. Chloride of Sodium. Off. Syn. SOD^E MURIAS. Dub.; MURIAS SOD.E. Ed. Muriate of soda, Common salt; Chlorure de sodium, Hydro-chlorate de soude, Sel marin, Fr.; Salzsaures Natron, Kochsalz, Germ.; Salt, Dan., Swed.; Sal commune, Ital; Sal, Span. This mineral production, so necessary to mankind, is universally distri- buted over the globe, and is the most abundant of the native soluble salts. Most animals have an instinctive relish for it; and from its frequent presence in the solids and fluids of the animal economy, it may be supposed to per- form an importantpart in nutrition and assimilation. Natural State. Common salt exists in nature, either in the solid state or in solution. In the solid state, called rock salt, it is often found forming extensive beds, and even entire mountains, from which it is extracted in blocks or masses by mining operations. Its geological position is very con- stant, occurring almost invariably in secondary formations, associated with 646 Sodii Chloridum. part i. clay and gypsum. In solution it occurs in certain springs and lakes, and in the waters of the ocean. The principal salt-mines in the world are found in Poland, Hungary, and Russia; in various parts of Germany, particularly the Tyrol; in England, in the county of Cheshire; in Spain; in various parts of Asia and Africa; and in Peru, and other countries of South America. In the United States there are no salt-mines, but numerous saline springs, which either flow naturally, or are produced artificially by sinking shafts to various depths, in places where salt is known to exist. These are found principally in Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York. In the last mentioned Slate the springs are the most pro- ductive; the chief ones being situated at Salina, Montezuma, and Galen. In Virginia, an important salt region exists, extending fifteen miles on each side of the great Kanawha river. The salt works in this district were esti- mated in 1835 to have produced two millions of bushels of salt. Rock salt is always transparent or translucent; but it often exhibits various colours, such as red, yellow, brown, violet, blue, &c, which are supposed to be derived from iron and manganese. Extraction. Mines of salt are worked in two ways. When the salt is pure, it is merely dug out in blocks and thrown into commerce. When impure it is dissolved in water, and extracted afterwards from the solution by evaporation. When the salt is naturally in solution, the mode of extraction depends upon the strength of the brine, and the temperature of the place where it is found. When the water contains from fourteen to fifteen per cent, of salt, it is extracted by evaporation in large iron boilers. If, how- ever, it contains only two, three, four, or five per cent., the salt is obtained in a different manner. If the climate be warm it is procured by spontaneous evaporation, effected by the heat of the sun; if temperate, by a peculiar mode of spontaneous evaporation to be mentioned presently, and the subse- quent application of artificial heat. Sea water is a weak saline solution, from which salt is often extracted by the agency of solar heat in warm countries. Salt thus obtained, is called bay salt. The extraction is conducted in Europe principally on the shores of the Mediterranean, the waters of which are Salter than those of the open ocean. The mode in which it is performed is by letting in the sea-water into shallow dikes, lined with clay, and capable, after being filled, of being shut off from the sea. In this situation the heat of the sun gradually con- centrates the water, and the salt is deposited. In temperate climates, weak brines are first concentrated in buildings, called graduation houses. These are rough wooden structures, open on the sides, ten or eleven yards high, five or six wide, and three or four hundred long, and containing an oblong pile of brushwood somewhat smaller than the building itself. The brine is pumped up into troughs full of holes, placed above the fatrgots, upon which it is allowed to fall; and in its descent it becomes minutely divided. This operation, by greatly increasing the surface of the brine, promotes its evapo- ration; and being repeated several times, the solution is at last brought to the requisite degree of strength, to permit of its final concentration in iron boilers by artificial heat. Sometimes, to save fuel, the last concentration is per- formed by allowing the brine to trickle down a number of vertical ropes, on the surface of which the salt is deposited in the form of a crust. Properties. Chloride of sodium is white, without odour, and of a peculiar taste, called saline. It is usually crystallized in cubes; but by hasty evapo- ration it often assumes the form of hollow quadrangular pyramids. When pure it undergoes no change in the air, but when contaminated with muriate of magnesia, as not unfiequently happens, it is rendered deliquescent. It part i. Sodii Chloridum. 647 dissolves in somewhat less than three times its weight of cold water, and is scarcely more soluble in boiling water. In weak alcohol it is very soluble, but sparingly so in absolute alcohol. Exposed to a gradually increasing heat, it first decrepitates from the presence of interstitial moisture, next melts, and finally volatilizes in white fumes without decomposition. It is decomposed by several of the acids, particularly the sulphuric and nitric, which disengage vapours of muriatic acid; by carbonate of potassa with the assistance of heat; and by the nitrates of silver and the protoxide of mercury. Several varieties of common salt are distinguished in commerce; as stoved salt, fishery salt, bay salt, fyc; but they are characterized by modifications in the size and compactness of the grains, rather than by any essential dif- ference in composition. Composition. Common salt, in its pure state, consists of one equiv. of chlorine 35.42, and one of sodium 23.3=58.72. It contains no water of crystallization. When in solution it is by some supposed to become the muriate of soda in consequence of the decomposition of water, the hydrogen and oxygen of which severally convert the chlorine and sodium into muriatic acid and soda. The common salt of commerce, besides pure chloride of sodium, contains, generally speaking, insoluble matter, and usually more or less of the muriates and sulphates of lime and magnesia. The muriate of lime is generally present in very small amount; but the muriate of magnesia sometimes amounts to 28 parts in 1000. Sulphate of lime is usually pre- sent, constituting variously from 1 part to 23 in 1000; and sulphate of mag- nesia is sometimes present and sometimes absent. To separate the earths, a boiling solution of carbonate of soda must be added, as long as any preci- pitate is formed. The earths will fall as carbonates, and must be separated by filtration, and muriate and sulphate of soda will remain in solution. The sulphate of soda may then be decomposed by the cautious addition of muriate of baryta, which will generate muriate of soda, and the insoluble sulphate of baryta. Medical Properties and Uses. Chloride of sodium, in small doses, acts as a stimulant tonic and anthelmintic; in larger ones as a purgative and emetic. It certainly promotes digestion, and the almost universal animal appetency for it, proves it to be a salutary stimulus in health. When taken in larger quantities than usual with food, it is useful in some forms of dys- pepsia, and by giving greater tone to the digestive organs in weakly chil- dren, may correct the disposition to generate worms. On the sudden occur- rence of haemoptysis, it is usefully resorted to as a styptic, in the dose of a teaspoonful, taken dry, and often proves successful in stopping the flow of blood. Externally applied in solution it is stimulant, and may be used either locally or generally. Locally it is sometimes employed as a fomenta- tion in sprains and bruises; and as a general external application, it forms the salt water bath, a valuable remedy as a tonic and excitant in depraved conditions of the system, occurring especially in children, and supposed to be dependent on the scrofulous diathesis. One part of salt dissolved in forty of water, forms a solution of about the strength of sea-water, and suitable for a bath. It is frequently used as an ingredient in stimulating enemata. The dose, as a tonic, is from ten grains to a drachm; as a cathartic, though seldom used for that purpose, from two drachms to half an ounce, ln doses of from half an ounce to an ounce, dissolved in four or five times its weight of water, it frequently proves a prompt and efficient emetic, invigorating rather than depressing the powers of the system. When employed as a clyster, it may be used in the amount of from one to two tahlespoonfuls dissolved in a pint of water. 648 Sodii Chloridum.—Solidago. part i. The uses of aommon salt in domestic economy as a condiment and anti- septic are well known. In agriculture it is sometimes used as a manure, and in the arts is en ploved to prepare artificial soda and muriate of ammo- nia. In pharmacy it is used in the processes for obtaining muriatic acid, chlorine, calomel, aud corrosive sublimate. Off. Prep. Acidum Muriaticum, Ed., Dub., Lond.; Aqua Chlorinii, Dub.: Hydrargyri Chloridum Corrosivum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Hydrargyri Chloridum Mite, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Liquor Sodae Chlorinata?, Lond.; Plumbi Chloridum, Lond.; Pulvis Salinus Compositus, Ed., Dub.; Sub- Murias Hydrargyri Praecipitatus, Ed., Dub. B. SOLIDAGO. U.S. Secondary. Golden-rod. " Solidago odora. Folia. The leaves." U.S. Solidago. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Calyx imbricated, scales closed. Radical florets about five, yellow. Receptacle naked, punctate. Pappus simple pilose. Nuttall. This is a very abundant genus, including, according to Eaton's enumera- tion, upwards of sixty species belonging to this country. Of these the S. odora only is officinal. The S. Virgnurea, which is common to the United States and Europe, was formerly directed by the Dublin College; but was omitted in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia. It is astringent, and has been supposed to possess lithontriptic virtues. Solidago odora. WnMd. Sp. Plant, iii. 2061; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 187. The sweet-scented golden-rod has a perennial creeping root, and a slender, erect, pubescent stem, which rises two or three feet in height. The leaves are sessile, linear lanceolate, entire, acute, rough at the margin, else- where smooth, and, according to Bigelow, covered with pellucid dots. The flowers are of a deep golden-yellow colour, and are arranged in a terminal, compound, panicled raceme, the branches of which spread almost horizon- tally, are each accompanied by a small leaf, and support the flowers on downy pedicels, which put forth from the upper side of the peduncle, and have small linear bractes at their base. The florets of the ray are ligulate, oblong, and obtuse; those of the disk funnel-shaped, with acute segments. The plant grows in woods and fields throughout the United States, and is in flower from August to October. The leaves, which are the officinal portion, have a fragrant odour, and a warm, aromatic, agreeable taste. These properties depend on a volatile oil, which may be separated by distillation with water. It is of a pale greenish-yellow colour, and lighter than water. Medical Properties and Uses. Golden-rod is aromatic, moderately stimu- lant and carminative, and like other substances of the same class, diaphoretic when given in warm infusion. It may be used to relieve pain arising from flatulence, to allay nausea, and to cover the taste or correct the operation of unpleasant or irritating medicines. For these purposes it may be given in infusion. The volatile oil dissolved in alcohol is employed in the Eastern States. According to Pursh, the dried flowers are used as a pleasant and wholesome substitute for common tea. W. PART I. Spartium.—Spigelia. 649 SPARTIUM. U.S. Secondary. Broom. " Spartium scoparium. Cacumina. The tops." U.S. Bi?&.$fn' SCOpARIUS. Cytisus Scoparius. Cacumina recentia. Lond.; SPARril SCOPARI1 SUMMITATES. Ed.; SPARTIUM SCOPA- KIUM. Cacumina. Dub. S a?061 * baIaiS> Fr': Gemeine Besenginster,Pfriemen, Germ.; Scoparia, Ital; Retama, Spartium. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Leguminosae. Gen. Ch. Stigma longitudinal, villous above. Filaments adhering to the germen. Calyx produced downwards. Willd. Spartium Scoparium. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 933; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 413. t. 150.—Cytisus Scoparius. De Candolle.—This is a common Eu- ropean shrub, cultivated in our gardens, from three to eight feet high, with numerous straight, pentangular, bright-green, very flexible branches, and small, oblong, downy leaves, which are usually ternate, but on the upper part of the plant are sometimes simple. The flowers are numerous, pa- pilionaceous, large, showy, of a golden-yellow colour, and supported soli- tarily upon short axillary peduncles. The seeds are contained in a com- pressed legume, which is hairy at the sutures. The whole plant has a bitter nauseous taste, and when bruised, a strong peculiar odour. The tops of the branches are the officinal portion; but the seeds are also used, and possess similar virtues. Water and alcohol extract their active properties. Medical Properties and Uses. Broom is diuretic and cathartic, and has been employed with some advantage in dropsical complaints, in which it was recommended by Mead, Cullen, and others. Cullen prescribed it in the form of decoction, made by boiling half an ounce of the fresh tops in a pint of water down to half a pint, of which he gave a fluidounce every hour till it operated by stool or urine. It is a domestic remedy in Great Britain, but is seldom used in this country. Off. Prep. Decoctum Scoparii Compositum, Lond.; Extractum Spartii Scoparii, Dub.; Infusum Scoparii, Lond. W. SPIGELIA. U.S., Lond. Pink-root. " Spigelia Marilandica. Radix. The Root." U. S. Off. Syn. SPIGELLE MARILANDICiE RADIX. Ed.; SPIGELIA MAKILANDICA. Radix. Dub. Spigelie du Maryland, Fr.; Spigelie, Germ.; Spigelia, Ital. Spigelia. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Gentianae, Juss.; Spigeliaceae, Martius, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Corolla funnel-shaped, border five-cleft, equal. Capsule didymous, two-celled, four-valved, many-seeded. Nuttall. There are two species of Spigelia which have attracted attention as an- thelmintics, the S. anthelmintica of South America and the West Indies, and the S. Marilandica of this country. The former is an annual plant, 56 650 Spigelia. part r. used only in the countries where it grows, the latter is much employed both in this country and in Europe. Spigelia Marilandica. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 825; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 142; Barton, Med. Bot. ii. 75. The Carolina pink is an herbaceous plant with a perennial root, which sends off numerous fibrous branches. The stems, several of which rise from the same root, are simple, erect, four- sided, nearly smooth, and from twelve to twenty inches high. The leaves are opposite, sessile, ovate lanceolate, acuminate, entire, and smooth, with the veins and margins slightly pubescent. Each stem terminates in a spike, which leans to one side and supports from four to twelve flowers with very short peduncles. The calyx is persistent, with five long, subulate, slightly serrate leaves, reflexed in the ripe fruit. The corolla is funnel-shaped, and much longer than the calyx, with the tube inflated in the middle, and the border divided into five acute, spreading segments. It is of a rich carmine colour externally, becoming paler at the base, and orange-yellow within. The edges of the segments are slightly tinged with green. The stamens, though apparently very short, and inserted into the upper part of the tube between the segments, may be traced down its internal surface to the base. The anthers are oblong, heart-shaped; the germ superior, ovate; the style about the length of the corolla, and terminating in a linear fringed stigma projecting considerably beyond it. The capsule is double, consisting of two cohering, globular, one-celled portions, and containing many seeds. The plant is a native of our Southern States, being seldom if ever found North of the Potomac. It grows in rich soils on the borders of woods, and flowers from May to July. The root is the part recognised as officinal in the United States Pharmacopoeia, although the whole plant is gathered and dried for sale. It is collected by the ('reek and Cherokee Indians, who dis- pose of it to the white traders. By these it is packed in casks, or more commonly in large bales, weighing from three hundred to three hundred and fifty pounds. That contained in casks is to be preferred, as less liable to be damp and mouldy. Owing to the imperfect manner in which the plant is dried, it seldom happens that packages of it reach the maiket free from dirt and mouldiness, and having the stalks of a bright colour. Parcels have some- times been brought free from the stalks, and have commanded more than double the price of the drug prepared in the usual way. Properties. Pink-root consists of numerous slender, branching, crooked, wrinkled fibres, from three to six inches long, attached to a knotty head or caudex, which exhibits traces of the stems of former years. It is of a brown- ish or yellowish-brown colour externally, of a faint smell, and a sweetish, slightly bitter, not very disagreeable taste. Its virtues are extracted by boil- ing water. The root, analyzed by M. Feneulle, yielded a fixed and vola- tile oil, a small quantity of resin, a bitter substance supposed to be the active principle, a mucilaginous saccharine matter, albumen, gallic acid, the ma- lates of potassa and lime, &c, and woody fibre. The principle upon which (he virtues of the root are thought to depend, is brown, of a bitter nauseous taste, like that of the purgative matter of the leguminous plants, and when taken internally produces vertigo and a kind of intoxication. The stalks, which, with the leaves, are usually attached to the root, are oval below the first pair of leaves, and then become obscurely four-sided. The leaves, when good, have a fresh greenish colour, and an odour somewhat like that of tea. In taste they resemble the root, and afforded to M. Feneulle nearly the same principles. The quantity, however, of the bitter substance was less, corresponding with their inferior efficacy. This circumstance should cause their rejection from the shops, as the inequality in power of the PART I. Spigelia.—Spirxa. 651 two portions of the plant would lead to uncertainty in the result, when they are both employed. The root alone is wisely directed by the Phar- macopoeias. The roots are sometimes mixed with those of other plants, particularly of a small vine which twines round the stem of the Spigelia. These are long, slender, crooked, yellowish, thickly set with short capillary fibres, and much smaller and lighter coloured than the pink-root. They should be separated before the latter is used. The activity of spigelia is somewhat diminished by time. Medical Properties and Uses. Pink-root is generally considered among the most powerful anthelmintics. In the ordinary dose it usually produces little sensible effect on the system; more largely given it acts as a cathartic, though unequal and uncertain in its operation; in overdoses it excites the circulation, and determines to the brain, giving rise to vertigo, dimness of vision, dilated pupils, spasms of the facial muscles, and sometimes even to general convulsions. Spasmodic movements of the eyelids have been ob- served among the most common attendants of its narcotic action. The death of two children who expired in convulsions was attributed by Dr. Chalmers to the influence of spigelia. The narcotic effects are said to be less apt to occur when the medicine purges, and to be altogether obviated by combin- ing it with cathartics. The danger from its employment cannot be great, as it is in very general use in the United States, both in regular and domestic practice, and we never hear at present of serious consequences. Its effects upon the nervous system have been erroneously conjectured to depend on other roots sometimes mixed with the genuine. The vermifuge properties of spigelia were first learned from the Cherokee Indians. They were made known to the medical profession by Drs. Lining, Garden, and Chalmers of South Carolina. The remedy stands at present in this country at the head of the anthelmintics. It has also been recommended in infantile remit- tents and other febrile diseases; but is entitled to little confidence in these complaints. It may be given in substance or infusion. The dose of the powdered root for a child three or four years old, is from ten to twenty grains, for an adult from one to two drachms, to be repeated morning and evening for several days successively, and then followed by a brisk cathartic. The practice of preceding its use by an emetic has been generally abandoned. It is fre- quently given in combination with calomel. The infusion, however, is the most common form of administration. (See Infusum Spigeliae.) It is usually combined with senna or some other cathartic, to ensure its action on the bowels. A preparation generally kept in the shops and much prescribed by physicians, under the name of worm tea, consists of pink-root, senna, manna, and savine, mixed together, in various proportions, to suit the views of different individuals. Off. Prep. Infusum Spigeliae, U.S. W. SPIRJEA. U.S. Secondary. Hardhack. " Spiraea tomentosa. Radix. The root." U.S. Spir.e\. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Pentagynia.—Nat. Ord. Rosacea?. Gen. Ch. Calyx spreading, five-cleft, inferior. Petals five, equal, round- 652 Spiraea.—Spongia. PART I. ish. Stamens numerous, exserted. Capsules three to twelve, internally bivalve, each one to three-seeded. Nuttall. Spiraea tomentosa. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1056; Rafinesque, Med. Flor. vol. ii. This is an indigenous shrub, two or three feet high, with numerous simple, erect, round, downy, and purplish stems, furnished with alternate leaves closely set upon very short footstalks. The leaves are ovate lanceo- late, unequally serrate, somewhat pointed at both ends, dark green on their upper surface, whitish and tomentose beneath. The flowers are of a beauti- ful red or purple colour, and disposed in terminal, compound, crowded spikes or racemes. The hardhack flourishes in low grounds, from New England to Carolina, but is most abundant in the Northern States. It flowers in July and August. All parts of it are medicinal. The root, though designated in the Pharma- copoeia, is, according to Dr. A. W. Ives, the least valuable portion. The taste of the plant is bitter and powerfully astringent. Among its constituents are tannin, gallic acid, and bitter extractive. Water extracts its sensible properties and medicinal virtues. Medical Properties and Uses. Spiraea is tonic and astringent, and may be used in diarrhoea, cholera infantum, and other complaints in which astrin- gents are indicated. In consequence of its tonic powers it is peculiarly adapted to cases of debility; and, from the same cause, should not be given during the existence of inflammatory action, or febrile excitement. It is said to have been employed by the aborigines of our country; but was first brought before the notice of the medical profession by Dr. Cogswell of Hart- ford, in Connecticut. It is said to be less apt to disagree with the stomach than most other astringents. The form in which it is best administered is that of an extract, prepared by evaporating the decoction of the leaves, stems, or root. The dose is from five to fifteen grains, repeated several times a day. A decoction prepared by boiling an ounce of the plant in a pint of water, may be given in the dose of one or two fluidounces. W. SPONGIA. U.S. Sponge. " Spongia officinalis." U.S. Off. Syn. SPONGIA OFFICINALIS. Ed., Dub. Eponge, Fr.; Badeschwamm, Germ.; Spugna, Ital; Esponja, Span., Portug.; Isfung, Arab. The sponge is now universally admitted to be an animal belonging to the class of Zoophites. It is characterized as "a flexile, fixed, torpid, poly- morphous animal, composed either of reticulate fibres, or masses of small spires interwoven together, and clothed with a gelatinous flesh full of small mouths on its surface, by which it absorbs and ejects water." More than two hundred and fifty species have been described by naturalists, of which several are probably employed, though the Spongia officinalis is the only one designated in the Pharmacopoeias. They inhabit the bottom of the sea, where they are fixed to rocks or other solid bodies; and are most abundant within the tropics. They are collected chiefly in the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and in those of the East and West Indies. In the Grecian Archipelago many persons derive their support altogether from diving for sponges. When PART I. Spongia.—Stannum. 653 first collected they are enveloped in a gelatinous coating, which forms part of the animal, and is separated by washing with water. Large quantities of the coarser kinds are imported from the Bahamas; but the finest and most esteemed are brought from the Mediterranean. Sponge, as found in commerce, is in yellowish-brown masses of various shape and size, light, porous, elastic, and composed of fine, flexible, tena- cious fibres, interwoven in the form of cells and meshes. It usually contains numerous minute fragments of coral or stone, or small shells, from which it must be freed before it can be used for ordinary purposes. Sponge is pre- pared by macerating it for several days in cold water, beating it in order to break up the concretions which it contains, and dissolving what cannot thus be separated of the calcareous matter by muriatic acid diluted with thirty parts of water. By this process, it is rendered perfectly soft, and fit for surgical use. It may be bleached by steeping it in water impregnated with sulphurous acid, or by exposure in a moist state to the action of chlorine. When intended for surgical purposes, the softest, finest, and most elastic sponges should be selected; for forming burnt sponge, the coarser will answer equally well. According to Mr. Hatchett, the chemical constituents of sponge are gelatin, albumen, common salt, and carbonate of lime. The presence of magnesia, silica, iron, and phosphorus has also been detected; and iodine and bromine combined with sodium and potassium are among the ingredients. Medical Properties and Uses. Sponge, in its unaltered state, is not employed as a medicine; but in consequence of its softness, porosity, and property of imbibing liquids, it is very useful in surgical operations. From the same qualities it may be advantageously applied over certain ulcers, the irritating sanies from which it removes by absorption. Compressed upon a bleeding vessel, it is sometimes useful for promoting the coagulation of the blood, especially in hemorrhage from the nostrils. In the shape of sponge tent it is also useful for dilating sinuses. This is prepared by dipping sponge into melted wax, compressing it between two flat surfaces till the wax hardens, and then cutting it into pieces of a proper form and size. By the heat of the body the wax becomes soft, and the sponge expanding by the imbibition of moisture, gradually dilates the wound or ulcer in which it may be placed. Reduced to the state of charcoal by heat, sponge has long been used as a remedy in goitre. (See Spongia Usta.) Its efficacy in this complaint, which was formerly considered very doubtful by many phy- sicians, has been generally admitted since the discovery of iodine. Off. Prep. Spongia Usta, U.S., Dub. W. STANNUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tin. Off. Syn. STANNI LIMATURA. Ed. Etain, Fr.; Zinn, Germ.; Stagno, Ital; Estanno, Span. Tin is one of those metals which have been known from the earliest ages. It exists in the earth generally as an oxide, rarely as a sulphuret, and is by no means generally diffused. It is found in England, Spain, Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, in Europe; in the island of Banca and the peninsula of Malacca in Asia; and in Chili and Mexico in America. It has not been discovered in the United States. The English mines are the most pro- 56* 654 Stannum. part i. ductive, but those of Asia furnish the purest tin. The metal is extracted exclusively from the native oxide. When this occurs in its purest state, under the form of detached roundish grains, called stream tin, the reduction is effected simply by heating with charcoal. When the oxide is extracted from mines, it requires to be freed, by pounding and washing, from the ad- hering gangue; after which it is roasted to drive off sulphur, arsenic, and antimony, and finally reduced in furnaces by means of stone coal. The metal, as thus obtained, is not pure, and requires to be subjected to a gentle heat, whereby the pure tin enters first into fusion, and is thus separated from the impurities, which consist of tin united with copper, arsenic, iron, and antimony. The pure metal thus obtained, is the grain-tin of the English; while the impure residue, after being fused, constitutes ordinary or block-tin. Properties. Tin is a malleable, rather soft metal, of a silver-white colour, and possessing considerable brilliancy. It undergoes but a slight tarnish in the air. Its taste is slight, and when rubbed it exhales a peculiar smell. Its ductility and tenacity are small, and when bent to and fro, it emits a crack- ling noise, which is characteristic of this metal. Its sp. gr. is 7.29, melting point 442°, and equiv. number 58.9. It forms three oxides, a protoxide, sesquioxide, and deutoxide. The protoxide is of a grayish-black colour, and consists of one equiv. of tin 58.9 and one of oxygen 8=66.9. The sesquioxide is gray, and is composed of two equiv. of tin 117.8, and three of oxygen 24 = 141.8. The deutoxide is of a white colour, and con- stitutes the native oxide. It consists of one equiv. of tin 58.9, and two of oxygen 16=74.9. The tin of commerce is often impure, being contaminated with other metals, either by fraud, or in consequence of the mode of extraction from the ore. When its colour has a bluish or grayish cast, the presence of cop- per, lead, iron, or antimony may be suspected. Arsenic renders it whiter, but at the same time harder than natural; and lead, copper, and iron cause it to become brittle. Pure tin, dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, gives a white precipitate with ferrocyanuret of potassium. A blue precipitate with this test indicates iron; a purple one, copper; and a violet-blue one, both iron and copper. If lead be present, a precipitate will be produced by sulphate of soda. The Malacca and Banca tin, and the English grain-tin, are the purest kinds found in commerce. Block tin and the metal obtained from Germany are always of inferior quality. Uses. Tin enters into the composition of bronze, bell-metal, pewter, and plumbers' solder. It is used also in making tin-plate, in silvering looking- glasses, and in forming the solution of bichloride of tin, a combination essential to the perfection of the scarlet dye. It is employed in fabricating various vessels and instruments, useful in domestic economy and the arts. Being unaffected by weak acids, it forms a good material for vessels intended for boiling operations in pharmacy. For its medical properties, see Pulvis Stanni. Off. Prep. Pulvis Stanni, U.S., Ed., Dub. B. PART I. Staphisagria. 655 STAPHISAGRIA. Lond. Slavesacre seeds. " Delphinium Staphisagria. Semina." Lond. Off. Syn. DELPHIN1I STAPHISAGRLE SEMINA. Ed.; DEL- PHINIUM STAPHISAGRIA. Semina. Dub. Staphisaigre, Fr.; Stephanskraut, Lausekraut, Germ.; Stafisagria, Ital; Abarraz, Span. Delphinium. See DELPHINIUM. Delphinium Staphisagria. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1231; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 471. t. 168. Stavesacre is a handsome annual or biennial plant, one or two feet high, with a simple, erect, downy stem, and palmate, five or seven-lobed leaves supported on hairy footstalks. The flowers are bluish or purple, in terminal racemes, with pedicels twice as long as the flower, and bracteoles inserted at the base of the pedicel. The nectary is four- leaved and shorter than the petals, which are five in number, the uppermost projected backward so as to form a spur which encloses two spurs of the upper leaflets of the nectary. The seeds are contained in straight, oblong capsules. The plant is a native of the South of Europe. Properties. Stavesacre seeds are large, irregularly triangular, wrinkled, externally brown, internally whitish and oily. They have a slight but dis- agreeable odour, and an extremely acrid, bitter, hot, nauseous taste. Their virtues are extracted by water and alcohol. Analyzed by MM. Lassaigne and Feneulle, they yielded a brown and a yellow bitter principle, a volatile oil, a fixed oil, albumen, an azotized substance, a mucilaginoas saccharine matter, mineral salts, and a peculiar vegetable alkali called delphine, delphia, or delphinia, which exists in the seeds combined with an excess of malic acid. It is white, pulverulent, inodorous, of a bitter acrid taste, fusible by heat and becoming hard and britde upon cooling, slightly soluble in cold water, very soluble in alcohol and ether, and capable of forming salts with the acids. It is obtained by boiling a decoction of the seeds with magnesia, collecting the precipitate, and treating it with alcohol, which dissolves the delphia and yields it upon evaporation. According to M. Couerbe, this sub- stance consists of three distinct principles—one of a resinous nature sepa- rated from its solution in diluted sulphuric acid by the addition of nitric acid, another distinguished by its insolubility in ether, and named by M. Couerbe staphisain, and the third soluble both in alcohol and ether, and deserving to be considered as pure delphia. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 519.) Medical Properties and Uses. The seeds were formerly used as an emetic and cathartic, but have been abandoned in consequence of the violence of their action. Powdered and mixed with lard they are employed in some cutaneous diseases, and to destroy lice in the hair. An infusion in vinegar has been applied to the same purpose. Dr. Turnbull states that he has em- ployed a strong tincture with advantage as an embrocation in rheumatic aflections. In some countries the seeds are used to intoxicate fish in the same manner as the Cocculus Indicus. Delphia is highly poisonous in small doses, exerting its effects chiefly on the nervous system. This, at least, was the statement made in relation to it before the appearance of Dr. Turnbull's work, On the Medical Properties of the Ranunculacese. According to this author, pure delphia may be given to the extent of three or four grains a day, in doses of half a grain each, without exciting vomiting, and without pro- ducing much intestinal irritation, though it sometimes purges. In most in- 656 Slaphisagria.—Slatice. part i. stances it proves diuretic, and gives rise to sensations of heat and tingling in various parts of the body. Externally applied, it acts like veratria and is applicable to the same complaints; but, according to Dr. Turnbull, produces more redness and burning, and less tingling than that substance. He has employed it in neuralgia, rheumatism, and paralysis, and in the last com- plaint considers it preferable to veratria. It may be applied by friction, in the form of ointment or alcoholic solution, in proportions varying from ten to thirty grains of the alkali to an ounce of the vehicle; and the friction should be continued till a pungent sensation is produced. W. STATICE. U.S. Secondary. Marsh Rosemary. " Statice Caroliniana. Radix. The root." U.S. Statice. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Penlagynia.—Nat. Ord. Plumbagineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx one-leaved, entire, plaited, scariose. Petals five. Seed one, superior. Nuttall. Statice Caroliniana. Walter, Flor. Car. 118; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 51. This is considered by Nuttall, Torrey, and some other botanists, as a mere variety of the Statice Limonium of Europe. Pursh, Bigelow, and others follow Walter in considering it as a distinct species. It is an indi- genous maritime plant, with a perennial root, sending up annually tufts of leaves, which are obovate or cuneiform, entire, obtuse, mucronate, smooth, and supported on long footstalks. They differ from the leaves of the S,. Limonium in being perfectly flat on the margin, while the latter are undu- lated. The flower-stem is round, smooth, from a few inches to a foot or more in height, sending off near its summit numerous alternate subdividing branches, which terminate in spikes, and form altogether a loose panicle. The flowers are small, bluish-purple, erect, upon one side only of the com- mon peduncle, with a mucronate scaly bracte at the base of each, a five- angled, five-toothed calyx, and spatulate, obtuse petals. The marsh rosemary grows in the salt marshes along the seacoast, from New England to Florida, and flowers in August and September. The root, which is the officinal portion, is large, spindle-shaped or branched, fleshy, compact, rough, and of a purplish-brown colour. It is bitter and extremely astringent to the taste, but is without odour. It contains abundance of tannin and gallic acid, with extractive matter and some common salt. Water extracts its virtues. Medical Properties and Uses. Statice is powerfully astringent, and in some parts of the United States, particularly in New England, is much em- ployed. It may be used for all the purposes for which kino and catechu are given; but its chief popular application is to aphthous and ulcerative affections of the mouth and fauces. Dr. Baylies of Massachusetts found it highly useful in cynanche maligna, both as an internal and local remedy. It is employed in the form of infusion or decoction. W. part i. Stillingia.—Stramonii Folia. 657 STILLINGIA. U.S. Secondary. Queen's-root. " Stillingia sylvatica. Radix. The root " U.S. Stillingia. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Monadelphia.—Nat. Ord. Euphor- biaceae. Gen. Ch. Male. Involucre hemispherical, many-flowered, or wanting. Calyx tubular, eroded. Stamens two and three, exserted. Female. Calyx one-flowered, inferior. Style trifid. Capsule three-grained. Nuttall. Stillingia sylvatica. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 588. This is an indigenous perennial plant, with herbaceous stems, and alternate, sessile, oblong or lanceolate oblong, obtuse, serrulate leaves, tapering at the base, and accom- panied with stipules. The male and female flowers are distinct upon the same plant. They are yellow, and arranged in the form of a spike, of which the upper part is occupied by the male, the lower by the female flowers. The male florets are scarcely longer than the bracteal scales. The plant grows in pine barrens, from Virginia to Florida, flowering in May and June. When wounded, it emits a milky juice. The root, which is the part used, is large, thick, and woody. We are not acquainted with its precise properties; but understand that it is much employed in the Southern States. It is said to be purgative and alterative; and probably possesses more or less of the acrid quality common to the Euphorbiaceae. It is used in lues venerea, obstinate cutaneous affections, and other complaints which are usually treated with sarsaparilla. W. STRAMONII FOLIA. U.S. Thorn-apple Leaves. STRAMONII SEMEN. U.S. Thorn-apple Seed. "Datura stramonium. Folia. Semina. The leaves and seeds." U.S. Off. Syn. STRAMONII FOLIA. STRAMONII SEMINA. Datura Stramonium. Folia. Semina. Lond.; DATURiE STRAMONII HERBA. Ed.; STRAMONIUM. DATURA STRAMONIUM. Herba. Semina. Dub. Stramoine, Pomme epineuse, Fr.; Stcchapfel, Germ.; Stramonio, Ital; Estramonio, Span. Datura. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Solaneae. Gen. Ch. Corolla funnel-shaped, plaited. Calyx tubular, angular, decidu- ous. Capsule four-valved. Willd. Datura Stramonium. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1008; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 17; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 197. t. 74. The thorn-apple is an annual plant, of rank and vigorous growth, usually about three feet high, but in a very rich soil sometimes rising six feet or more. The root is large, whitish, and furnished with numerous fibres. The stem is erect, round, smooth, somewhat shining, simple below, dichotomous above, with numerous spread- ing branches. The leaves, which stand on short round footstalks in the forks of the stem, are five or six inches long, of an ovate triangular form, 658 Slramonii Folia.—Stramonii Semen. part i. irregularly sinuated and toothed at the edges, unequal at the base, of a dark- green colour on the upper surface, and pale beneath. The flowers are large, axillary, solitary, and peduncled; having a tubular, pentangular, five-toothed calyx, and a funnel-shaped corolla with a long tube, and a waved plaited border, terminating in five acuminate teeth. The upper portion of the calyx falls with the deciduous parts of the flower, leaving its base, which becomes reflexed, and remains attached to the fruit. This is a large, fleshy, roundish ovate, four-valved, four-celled capsule, thickly covered with sharp spines, and containing numerous seeds attached to a longitudinal receptacle in the centre of each cell. It opens at the summit. Dr. Bigelow describes two varieties of this species of Stramonium, one with green steins and white flowers; the other with a dark reddish stem, minutely dotted with green, and purplish flowers striped with deep purple on the inside. The latter variety, however, is considered by most botanists as a distinct species, being the D. Talula of Linn. The properties of both are the same. It is doubtful to what country this plant originally belonged. Many European botanists refer it to North America, while we in return trace it to the old continent. Nuttall considers it as having originated in South Ame- rica or in Asia; and it is probable that its native country is to be found in some portion of the East. Its seeds being retentive of life and easily ger- minating, are taken in the earth put on shipboard for ballast from one country to another, not unfrequently springing up upon the passage, and thus pro- pagating the plant in all regions which have any commercial connexion. In the United States it is found everywhere in the vicinity of cultivation, fre- quenting dung-heaps, the road-sides and commons, and other places where a rank soil is created by the deposited refuse of towns and villages. Its flowers appear from May to July or August, according to the latitude. Where the plant grows abundantly, its vicinity may be detected by the rank odour which it diffuses to some distance around. All parts of it possess medicinal properties. The herbaceous portion is directed by the Edinburgh College; the herb and seeds by that of Dublin; and the leaves and seeds by the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and of London. The leaves may be gathered at any time from the appearance of the flowers till the autumnal frost. In the common language of this country, the plant is most known by the name of Jamestown weed, derived probably from its having been first observed in the neighbourhood of that old settlement in Virginia. 1. The fresh leaves when bruised emit a fetid narcotic odour, which they lose upon drying. Their taste is bitter and nauseous. These properties, together with their medical virtues, are imparted to water and alcohol. Water distilled from them, though possessed of their odour in a slight degree, is destitute of their active properties. They contain, according to Promnitz, 0.58 per cent, of gum, 0.6 of extractive, 0.64 of green starch, 0.15 of albumen, 0.12 of resin, 0.23 of saline matters, 5.15 of lignin, and 91.25 of water. 2. The seeds are small, kidney-shaped, flattened on the sides, of a dark brown almost black colour, inodorous, and of the bitter nauseous taste of the leaves, with some degree of acrimony. They were minutely analyzed by Brandes, who found, besides a peculiar alkaline principle called dafuria, a glutinous matter, albumen, gum, a butyraceous substance, green wax, resin insoluble in ether, fixed oil, bassorin, sugar, gummy extractive, orange- coloured extractive, and various saline and earthy substances. According to Brandes, daturia exists in the seeds combined with an excess of malic acid. In its pure state it is crystallizable in the form of acicular prisms, nearly part r. Stramonii Folia.—Stramonii Semen. 659 insoluble in water and cold alcohol, soluble in boiling alcohol, and capable of neutralizing the acids. Its salts are very soluble; and the sulphate, muriate, and nitrate are crystallizable. It is said to produce upon the system narcotic effects similar to those of stramonium, but has hitherto been little used. To obtain it, the seeds are boiled in alcohol, the alcoholic solution treated with magnesia, and the precipitate submitted to the action of boiling alcohol, which yields the daturia upon cooling, and still further by evapora- tion. Mr. Simes of Philadelphia repeated the process of Brandes, adding the magnesia while the liquor was still hot, and treating the last alcoholic solution with animal charcoal before submitting it to evaporation. He ob- tained crystals of a substance which he found to be slightly bitter and acrid, and to possess the other properties mentioned as belonging to daturia. He experienced headach to a violent degree after tasting its salts; and killed a small cat with four grains of the muriate. Mr. Simes treated the green and dried leaves in the same manner as the seeds. From the former he obtained no crystals, from the latter a crystalline deposite, but so small in quantity that he could not determine its properties. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. v. 114.) Berzelius states that this salifiable base has been ascer- tained by other chemists, and even by Brandes himself, to be nothing more than the phosphate of magnesia. (Traite de Chimie, vi. 319.) Medical Properties and Uses. Stramonium is a powerful narcotic. When taken in quantities sufficient to affect the system moderately, it usually pro- duces more or less cerebral disturbance, indicated by vertigo, headach, dim- ness or perversion of vision, and confusion of thought, sometimes amounting to slight delirium or a species of intoxication. At the same time peculiar deranged sensations are experienced about the fauces, oesophagus, and tra- chea, increased occasionally to a feeling of suffocation, and often attended with nausea. A disposition to sleep is sometimes, but not uniformly pro- duced. The pulse is not materially affected. The bowels are rather relaxed than confined, and the secretions from the skin and kidneys not unfrequently augmented. These effects pass off in five or six hours, or in a shorter period, and no inconvenience is subsequently experienced. (Marcet, Greding, fyc.) Taken in poisonous doses, the narcotic produces cardialgia, excessive thirst, nausea and vomiting, a sense of strangulation, anxiety and faintness, partial or complete blindness with dilatation of the pupil, vertigo, delirium some- times of a furious sometimes of a whimsical character, tremors of the limbs, palsy, and ultimately stupor and convulsions. From all these symptoms the patient may recover; but in numerous instances they have terminated in death. To evacuate the stomach by emetics or the stomach pump is the most effectual means of affording relief. Though long known as a poisonous and intoxicating herb, stramonium was first introduced into tegular practice by Baron Storck of Vienna, who found some advantage from its use in mania and epilepsy. Subsequent ob- servation has confirmed his estimate of the remedy; and numerous cases are on record in which benefit has accrued from it in these complaints. It can be of use, however, only in those cases which depend solely on irregular nervous action. Other diseases in which it has been found beneficial are neuralgic and rheumatic affections, syphilitic pains, cancerous sores, and spasmodic asthma. In the last complaint it has acquired considerable repu- tation. It is employed only during the paroxysm, which it very often greatly alleviates or altogether subverts. The practice was introduced into Great Britain from the East Indies, where the natives are in the habit of smoking the dried root and lower part of the stem of the Datura fer ox, in the paroxysms of this distressing complaint. The same parts of the D. Stra~ 660 Stramonii Folia.—Stramonii Semen.—Styrax. part i. monium were substituted and found equally effectual. To prepare the roots for use, they are quickly dried, cut into pieces, and beat so as to loosen the texture. The dried leaves answer the same purpose. They are smoked by means of a common tobacco-pipe. These and other narcotic leaves have also been used in the shape of cigars. The smoke produces a sense of heat in the lungs, followed by copious expectoration, and attended frequently with temporary vertigo or drowsiness, and sometimes with nausea. The remedy should never be used in plethoric cases, unless preceded by ample depletion. Dangerous and even fatal consequences are said to have resulted from its incautious or improper use. Stramonium has sometimes been given by the stomach in the same complaint. Externally the medicine is used advantageously as an ointment or cata- plasm in irritable ulcers, inflamed tumours, swelling of the mammae, and painful hemorrhoidal affections. By American surgeons it is very frequently applied to the eye, in order to produce dilatation of the pupil, previously to the operation for cataract; and is found equally efficacious with belladonna. For this purpose the extract, mixed with lard, is generally rubbed over the eyelid, or a solution of it dropped into the eye. Of the parts of the plant employed, the seeds are the most powerful. They may be given in the dose of a grain twice a day; and an extract made by evaporating the decoction, in one quarter or half of the quantity. The dose of the powdered leaves is two or three grains. The inspissated juice of the fresh leaves, which is the officinal extract, is more commonly pre- scribed than any other preparation, and may be administered in the quantity of one grain. (See Extractum Stramonii.) There is also an officinal tincture to which the reader is referred. Whatever preparation is used, the dose should be gradually increased till the narcotic operation becomes evident, or relief from the symptoms of the disease is obtained. The quantity of fifteen or twenty grains of the powdered leaves, and a propor- tionate amount of the other preparations, have often been given daily without unpleasant effects. Off. Prep. Extractum Stramonii, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Stra- monii, U.S. w. STYRAX. U.S., Lond. Storax. " Styrax officinale. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U.S. "Sty- rax officinale. Balsamum." Lond. Off Syn. STYRAC1S OFFICINALIS BALSAMUM. Ed.; STYRAX OFFICINALE. Resina. Dub. Storax, Fr., Germ.; Storace, Ital; Estoraque, Span. Styrax. See BENZOINUM. Styrax officinale. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 623; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 291. t. 101. This species of Styrax is a tree which rises from fifteen to twenty- five feet in height, sends off many branches, and is covered with a rough gray bark. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, entire, oval, pointed, of a bright-green on their upper surface, white with a cotton-like down upon the under, about two inches in length, and an inch and a half in breadth. The flowers are united in clusters of three or four at the extremities of the branches. They are white, and bear considerable resemblance to those of the orange. PART l' Styrax. 661 coLhtTueraltpdnatiT,e,0f !yria and,°?er partS °f the Levant> and ha* ^ itToes"not^2?hl y> fr' a"d the S°Uth °f France' where> however. 1,1 I? I Ld balsam* Th,s circumstance has induced some naturalists tl LilW/het,er thG St^ officinale is the real source osTorax "and a ffous r£m J ^^r °f thi8 C0Untry affords a balsa™ clo-elV" al" ^Zm^^I-WT^m^m^Ae3uwAm conjectured 'that the SL2n . ufromanotller sPecies of the sar»e %™^ the Z. Xrax is onr3^ • wblch.ls ™re abl,nd:mt in S^ria lhan \rix. of the Zee ob*ined11!!.A?,aUc Turkey h* makin£ Virions into the trunk sfnral ? S.everalLk'nds are mentioned in the books. The purest is the earT ab^ufZT' "^ " *" whitish' 7^™^*, or recfdish-ye low so as'to form n 0f? PT' °paqUe' S0ft' adhesive' and caPabl* of uniting he" reiZ.„?pM8, • n°lher Yriety' f°rmer,y CaUed storaLalamita, from of a k?n rV '/" 1S suPP°sed' that * was brought wrapped in the leaves W utinld ,rd' CTS-S °f dry and briU,e masses' ^ed °' yellowSh ¥he French wri^" ** Trstices of which » ■ brown or reddish matter. variety have Tvf Cf" " "°rflf amysdaloUe. Both this and the preceding howeve^?7'hZK1638301 °d,°Ur likC lHat °f Vam,la- Neither of them! A h a Drougnt to our markets. brown or rVedtsth'hrhiCh 1§ SOmertimes sold as the storax calamita, is in ing a cer'a n dtttTfT maSSCS °f ,Var,?U8 Shap6S' "^ friab,e' ^et Posses«" consist nf Sa of tenacity, and softening under the teeth. It evidently an ogouXtlt; un,iedfeithe;with,a p.orr,on of the baisam'« ^* o*« in the state of a- r ?"? "V^ sh°pS °f this C0U,Ur>r' il is usua"v ilu friSfe imns f' ' dark-C0l0ur1ed P°wder' ^^gled with occasional balsam w P °I Var,'0US maSmtm\e, and containing very little of the a own relis" ffi-o'V8 h0"ld r^,^0" f* SSUre betWeen two h°< £ - A k lnous fluid' having the odour of storax. liquuTstoraTZZ' h"""^" °ur market'is a "mi-fluid adhesive matter, called Kr but of a htZ »T °r "'T' bl3Ck Up°n the Surface exP°sed ^ ^ihTuLAftl green'Su ,gray C°,0Ur Within' and of a» «dour , , nat llke that of the Peruvian balsam. It is kept in iars and i* th* k:ow„m°SSoelPl0yed- What JVhe — °f ,ifl»id storaxfs no "cert i ; brands ofT I?PT '/ l° be d?5ved hy decoclion from the young thi ni . I Ln}"dambar styraciflua; but some of the genuine iuice of ofltT;- °lght fr°n! New 0rlean«' whiRh we h«ve hadgan orportunity conTES h3S " °d°Ur entirdy disU"Ct fr0m that of the subsZce nnder melts whh ^ZiVlT k St0rax bas a (r^nt odour and aromatic taste. It melts with a moderate heat, and when the temperature is raised takes fire It mZ SodouT o6 fl,ame' l63!1^ 3 "fHt Sp"n*>' -^onaceous rSd , it imparts its odour to water, wh.ch it renders yellow and milky. With the exception of impurities it is wholly dissolved by alcohol and ether New manr. obtained from 480 grains of storax 120 of watery extract and fmm „ equa quantity 360 grains of alcoholic extract. I yUd benzol c7 £ distillation, and is therefore entitled to be ranked a/a b.J.am^^ contains also resin and volatile oil. «=««»i. n contains Medical Properties and Uses. This balsam is a stimulant expectorant and was formerly recommended in phthisis, chronic cata rh Sua and amenorrhcea; but it ,s very seldom used at present, except as acon^uenl of the compound tincture of benzoin. The liquid storax has recently been Z™?; ^"ef b.";"^* "1 'eUC°rrh(Ea 3S '^ effeCt»al ^ tt and Ie>s disagreeable. From ten to twenty grains may be given twice a day, and the dose gradually increased. y g 662 Succinum. past r. Off. Prep. Pilulae Styracis Compositae, Lond., Dub.; Styrax Purificata, U.S.; Tinctura Benzoini Composita, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. SUCCINUM. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Amber. Succin, Ambre jaune, Karabe, Fr.; Bernstein, Germ.; Ambra, Ital; Succino, Span. Amber is a kind of fossil resin of vegetable origin, occurring generally in small detached masses, in alluvial deposites, in different parts of the world. It is found chiefly in Prussia, either on the seashore, where it is thrown up by the Baltic, or underneath the surface, in the alluvial formations along the coast. It occurs, also, in considerable quantities near Catania, in Sicily. It is most frequently associated with bituminous wood and lignite, and some- times encloses twigs of vegetables, and insects. In the United States, it was found in Maryland, at Cape Sable, near Magothy river, by Dr. Troost. In this locality it is associated with iron pyrites and lignite. It has also been discovered in New Jersey. The amber consumed in this country, however, is brought from the ports of the Baltic. Properties. Amber is a brittle solid, generally in small irregular masses, permanent in the air, having a homogeneous texture and vitreous fracture, and susceptible of a fine polish. Its colour is generally yellow, either light or deep; but occasionally it is reddish-brown, or even deep brown. It has no taste, and is inodorous unless when heated, when it exhales a peculiar, aromatic, not unpleasant smell. It is usually translucent, though occasionally transparent or opaque. Its sp. gr. is 1.078. Water and alcohol scarcely act on it. When heated in the open air, it softens, melts, swells, and at last in- flames, leaving, after combustion, a small portion of ashes. Subjected to distillation in a retort furnished with a tubulated receiver, it yields, first, a sour yellow liquid; and afterwards a thin yellowish oil, with a yellow crys- talline sublimate, which is deposited in the neck of the retort and the upper part of the receiver. In the mean time a considerable quantity of combus- tible gas is given off, which must be allowed to escape from the tubulure of the receiver. By continuing the heat the oil gradually deepens in colour, until, towards the end of the distillation, it becomes black and of the con- sistence of pitch. The oil obtained is called oil of amber; the crystalline sublimate is of an acid nature, and is denominated succinic acid. As thus obtained it is impure, being contaminated with the oil. Resinous substances, particularly copal, are sometimes fraudulently mixed with amber. They may be detected by the difference in their colour and fracture, and by their not emitting the peculiar odour of amber when thrown upon hot iron. Composition. According to Berzelius, amber consists of 1. a volatile oil of an agreeable odour in small quantity; 2. a yellow resin, intimately united with a volatile oil, very soluble in alcohol, ether, and the alkalies, easily fusible, and resembling ordinary resins; 3. another resin, also combined with volatile oil, soluble in ether and the alkalies, sparingly soluble in cold, but more soluble in boiling alcohol; 4. succinic acid; 5. a principle, insoluble in alcohol, ether, and the alkalies, having some analogy to the lac resin of John. It also contains a strongly odorous, bright yellow balsam, which hardens by time, but preserves in part its odour. The ultimate constituents of amber are hydrogen 7.31, carbon 80.59, oxygen 6.73 ashes (silica, lime, and PART I. Succinum.—Sulphur. 663 alumina,) 3.27=97.90. (Drassier, quoted in Pereira's Elem. of Mpt. Med.) Pharmaceutical Uses, fyc. Amber was held in high estimation by the ancients as a medicine; but at present it is employed only in pharmacy and the arts. In pharmacy it is used to prepare succinic acid and oil of amber. (See Acidum Succinicum and Oleum Succini.) In the arts, it is made into ornaments, and employed in preparing varnishes. When put to the latter use it requires to be first subjected to roasting, whereby it is rendered solu- ble in alcohol and the fat oils. Off. Prep. Acidum Succinicum, Ed., Dub.; Oleum Succini, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. B. SULPHUR. U.S., Lond. Sulphur. " Sulphur sublimatum et lotum. Sulphur sublimed and washed." U. S. " Sulphur (sublimatum)." Lond. OffSyn. SULPHUR SUBLIMATUM. SULPHUR SUBLIMATUM LOTUM. Ed.; SULPHUR SUBLIMATUM. SULPHUR LOTUM. Dub. Brimstone; Soufre, Fr.; Schwefel, Germ.; Zolfb, Ital; Azufre, Span. The officinal forms of sulphur to be noticed in this place are the sublimed and washed. Under the same name of " Sulphur" the London College re- cognises the sublimed sulphur, the U. S. Pharmacopoeia the sublimed and washed sulphur; while the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges admit both the sublimed and the washed as distinct preparations. Precipitated sulphur will be noticed under the " Preparations," in Part II. Natural States. Sulphur is very generally disseminated throughout the mineral kingdom, and is almost always present, in minute quantity, in ani- mal and vegetable matter. Among vegetables, it is particularly abundant in the cruciform plants, as, for example, in mustard. It occurs in the earth, either native or in combination. When native it is found in masses, trans- lucent or opaque, or in the powdery form, mixed with various earthy im- purities. In combination, it is usually united with certain metals, such as iron, lead, mercury, antimony, copper, and zinc, forming compounds called sulphurets. Native sulphur is most abundant in volcanic countries. The most celebrated mines of it are found at Solfaterra in the kingdom of Naples, in Sicily, and in the Roman States. It occurs also, in small quantities, in different localities in the United States. Extraction, fyc. Sulphur is obtained either from sulphur earths, or from the native sulphurets of iron and copper, called iron and copper pyrites. The sulphur earths are placed in earthen pots, set in oblong furnaces of brick-work, and surmounted by a horizontal tube, which communicates with another pot with a hole in its bottom, underneath which a vessel is placed containing water. Fire being applied, the sulphur rises in vapour, leaving the impurities behind, and being condensed again, drops from the perforated pot into the water beneath. Sulphur, as thus obtained, is called crude sul- phur, and contains about one-twelfth of its weight of earthy matter. For purification, it is generally melted in a cast iron vessel. When the fusion is complete, the impurities subside, and the purer sulphur is dipped out and poured into cylindrical wooden moulds, which give it the form of solid 664 Sulphur. PART I. cylinders, about an inch in diameter, called in commerce roll sulphur or cane brimstone. The dregs of this process constitute a very impure kind of sulphur, known by the name of sulphur vivum in the shops. The above process purifies the sulphur but imperfectly, and at the same time causes a considerable loss; as the dregs, just alluded to, contain a large proportion of sulphur. A more eligible mode of purification consists in distil- ling the crude sulphur from a large cast iron vessel, surmounted with a capital, built of masonry and communicating laterally with a chamber of brick-work, furnished with stop-cocks even with the floor, and with a valve in the roof to allow the escape of rarefied air. Besides the opening by which the capi- tal communicates with the chamber, it has another, through which the iron vessel may be charged, and freed from the residue after each distillation. By this apparatus, the sulphur may be obtained either sublimed or in roll. For if the distillation be rapidly performed, the chamber will become heated above the melting point of the sulphur, which, consequently, will condense in the liquid state, and may be drawn off by the cocks, and cast into sticks. If, however, the chamber be comparatively large, and the distillation be sus- pended during the night, its temperature will fall so low that the vapour of the sulphur will be condensed on its surface in the form of an extremely fine powder, known in commerce under the name of sublimed sulphur, or flowers of sulphur. The extraction of sulphur from the sulphuret of iron is performed by distilling it in stone-ware cylinders. Half the sulphur contained in the sul- phuret is volatilized by the heat, and conducted, by means of an adopter, into vessels containing water, where it condenses. The residue of the mineral is employed for the purpose of being converted into sulphate of iron, or green vitriol, by exposure to air and moisture. In the Island of Anglesea, large quantities of sulphur are obtained from copper pyrites in the process for extracting that metal. The furnaces in which the ore is roasted are con- nected by horizontal flues with chambers, in which the volatilized sulphur is condensed. Each chamber is furnished with a door, through which the sulphur is withdrawn once in six weeks. According to Berzelius, a very economical method of extracting sulphur from iron pyrites is practised in Sweden, which saves the expenditure of fuel. The pyrites is introduced into furnaces with long horizontal chimneys, of which the part next to the furnace is of brick-work, while the rest' is formed of wood. The pyrites is kindled below, and continues to burn of itself; and the heat generated causes the stratum immediately above the part kindled to give off half its sulphur, which becomes condensed in flowers in the wooden chimney. As the fire advances, the iron and the other half of the sulphur enter into combustion, and, by the increase of heat thus gene- rated, cause the volatilization of a fresh portion of sulphur. In this man- ner, the process continues until the whole of the pyrites is consumed The sulphur thus obtained is pulverulent and very impure, and requires, for puri- fication, to be distilled from iron vessels. Crude sulphur is employed by the manufacturers of sulphuric acid, and as it is very variable in quality, it becomes important to ascertain its exact value. This may be done by drying a given weight of it, and submitting it to combustion. 1 he weight of the incombustible residue, added to that lost by desiccation, gives the amount of impurity. Crude sulphur comes to this country principally from Trieste, Messina in Sicily, and the ports of Italy, being imported for the use of the sulphuric acid manufacturers. Roll sulphur and the flowers are usually brought from Marseilles. J & PART I. Sulphur. 665 Properties. Sulphur is an elementary non-metallic brittle solid, of a pale yellow colour, permanent in the air, and exhibiting a crystalline texture and shining fracture. It has a slight taste, and a perceptible smell when rubbed. When pure, its sp. gr. is about 2; but occasionally, from impurity, it is as high as 2.35. Its equiv. number is 16.1. It is a bad conductor of heat, and becomes negatively electric by friction. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in alkaline solutions, petroleum, the fixed and volatile oils, and, provided it be in a finely divided state, in alcohol and ether. Upon being heated, it be- gins to volatilize at about 180°, when its peculiar odour is perceived; it melts at 225°, and at 600°, in close vessels, boils, and rises in the form of a yellow vapour, which may be condensed again, either in the liquid or pulverulent state, according as the temperature of the recipient is above or below the melting point of the sulphur. If heated in open vessels, sulphur takes fire at about the temperature of 300°, and burns with a blue flame, combining with the oxygen of the air, and giving rise to a peculiar gaseous acid called sulphurous acid. As a chemical element it is exceedingly important, its combinations being numerous, and among the most powerful agents of che- mistry. With oxygen it forms four acids, the hyposulphurous, sulphurous, hyposulphuric, and sulphuric, with hydrogen, hydrosulphuric acid or sul- phuretted hydrogen, and with the metals, various sulphurets. Many of its combinations are analogous to acids and bases, and are susceptible of com- bining with each other, forming compounds analogous to salts, and hence called by Berzelius sulpho-salts. The minerals which are roasted to obtain sulphur sometimes contain ar- senic; and hence sulphur is occasionally contaminated with this metal, and thereby rendered poisonous. The common English roll sulphur is said often to contain as much as a fifteenth of orpiment; but the accuracy of this state- ment may well be doubted. Impurities may be detected by the action of oil of turpentine, which will dissolve the sulphur and leave the impurities behind. (Pereira, Elem. of Mat. Med.) The above description applies to sulphur generally; but in its pharmaceu- tical states of sublimed and washed sulphur, it presents modifications which require to be noticed. Sublimed sulphur, usually called flowers of sulphur, is in the form of a crystalline powder of a fine yellow colour, it is always contaminated with a little sulphuric acid which is formed during its sublimation, at the expense of the oxygen of the air contained in the subliming chambers. It is on this account that'sublimed sulphur always reddens litmus; and if the acid be pre- sent in considerable quantity, it sometimes cakes. It may be freed from all acidity by ablution with hot water, when it becomes washed sulphur. Washed sulphur is the only form of sulphur officinal in the United States Pharmacopoeia, in which it is designated simply by the title Sulphur. It was considered by the framers of that work to be the best medicinal form of this substance; and, therefore, the only one which should be used for inter- nal exhibition. It is placed in the list of the Materia Medica in our national work, but the Dublin and Edinburgh Colleges give directions for preparinor it. The process of the Dublin College, which appears to be the most eligible, is to pour warm water on sublimed sulphur, and to continue the washing as long as the water, when poured off, continues to be impregnated with acid, which may be known by the test of litmus. The sulphur is then dried on bibulous paper. The directions of the Edinburgh College do not materi- ally differ from those of the Dublin. The London College, in their last revision (1836), have dismissed washed sulphur from their officinal list. It has the general appearance of sublimed sulphur; but if properly prepared 57* 666 Sulphur.— Tabacum. part i. it does not affect litmus, and undergoes no change by exposure to the at- mosphere. Medical Properties and Uses. Sulphur is laxative and diaphoretic. It evidently passes off by the pores of the skin; as is shown by the fact that silver worn in the pockets of patients under a course of it, becomes blackened with a coating of sulphuret. As a laxative it is gentle in its operation, un- less it contain a good deal of acid, when it causes griping; and the liability of the sublimed sulphur to contain acid, renders it less eligible for exhibition than the washed sulphur, from which all acidity is removed. The diseases in which sulphur is principally used, are hemorrhoidal affections, chronic rheumatism and catarrh, atonic gout, asthma, and other affections of the res- piratory organs unattended with acute inflammation. It is also much em- ployed, both internally and externally, in cutaneous affections, especially in scabies, for the cure of which it is considered a specific. The dose is from one to three drachms, mixed with syrup or molasses, or taken in milk. It is often combined with supertartrate of potassa, or with magnesia. Sulphur is consumed in the arts, principally in the manufacture of gun- powder and sulphuric acid. Off. Prep. Ferri Sulphuretum, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Hydrargyri Sulphure- tum Nigrum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Hydrargyri Sulphuretum Rubrum, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Oleum Sulphuratum, Ed.; Potassa; Sulphuretum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Sodae Sulphuretum, U.S.; Sulphur Prtecipitatum, U.S.; Unguentum Sulphuris, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Sul- phuris Compositum, U.S., Lond. B. TABACUM. U.S., Lond. Tobacco. " Nicotiana tabacum. Folia. The leaves." U. S. " Nicotiana Tabacum. Folia exsiccata." Lond. Off. Syn. NICOTlANiE TABACI FOLIA. Ed.; NICOTIANA TA- BACUM. Folia. Dub. Tabac, Fr.; Tabak, Germ.; Tobacco, Ital.; Tabaco, Span. Nicotiana. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Solaneae. Gen. Ch. Corolla funnel-shaped, with the border plaited. ' Stamens in- clined. Capsules two-valved, two-celled. Willd. Nicotiana Tabacum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1014; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 171; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 208. t. 77. The tobacco is an annual plant, with a large fibrous root, and an erect, round, hairy, viscid stem, which branches near the top, and rises from three to six feet in height. The leaves are numerous, alternate, sessile and somewhat decurrent, very large, ovate lanceolate, pointed, entire, slightly viscid, and of a pale green colour. The lowest are often two feet long, and four inches broad. The flowers are dis- posed in loose terminal panicles, and are furnished with long, linear, pointed bractes at the divisions of the peduncle. The calyx is bell-shaped, hairy, somewhat viscid, and divided at its summit into five pointed segments. The tube of the corolla is twice as long as the calyx, of a greenish hue, swelling at top into an oblong cup, and ultimately expanding into a five-lobed, plaited, rose-coloured border. The whole corolla is very viscid. The filaments incline to one side, and support oblong anthers. The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender style longer than the stamens, and a cleft stigma. The PART I. Taba&um. 667 fruit is an ovate, two-valved, two-celled capsule, containing numerous reni- form seeds, and opening at the summit. Although the original locality of this plant is not settled to the satisfaction of all botanists, there is good reason to believe that it is a native of tropical America, where it was found by the Spaniards upon their arrival. It is at present cultivated in most parts of the world, and nowhere more abundantly than within the limits of the United States. We seldom, however, see it north of Maryland. Virginia is, perhaps, the region of the world most celebrated for its culture. The young snoots, produced from seeds thickly sown in beds, are transplanted into the fields during the month of May, and set in rows with an interval of three or four feet between the plants. Through the whole period of its growth, the crop requires constant atten- tion. The development of the leaves is promoted by removing the top of each plant, and thus preventing it from running into flower and seed. The harvest is in August. The ripe plants having been cut off above their roots, are dried under cover, and then stripped of their leaves, which are tied in bundles, and packed in hogsheads. Two varieties of this species are mentioned by authors, one with narrow, the other with broad leaves; but they do not differ materially in properties. Great diversity in the quality of tobacco is produced by difference of soil and mode of cultivation; and several varieties are recognised in commerce. Other species of Nicotiana are also cultivated, especially the N. rustica and N. paniculata, the former of which is said to have been the first introduced into Europe, and is thought to have been cultivated by the aborigines of this country, as it is naturalized near the borders of some of our small northern lakes. The N. quadrivalvis of Pursh affords tobacco to the Indians of the Missouri and Columbia rivers; and the N.fructicosa, a native of China, was probably cultivated in Asia before the discovery of this continent by Columbus. Properties. Tobacco, as it occurs in commerce, is of a yellowish-brown colour, a strong narcotic penetrating odour which is less obvious in the fresh leaves, and a bitter nauseous and acrid taste. These properties are imparted to water and alcohol. They are destroyed by long boiling; and the extract is therefore feeble or inert. An elaborate analysis of tobacco was made by Vauquelin, who discovered in it, among other ingredients, an acrid, volatile, colourless principle, slightly soluble in water, very soluble in alco- hol, and supposed to be the active principle of the leaves. It was separated by a complicated process, of which, however, the most important step was the distillation of tobacco juice with potassa. In the results of this distilla- tion Vauquelin recognised alkaline properties, which he ascribed to the pre- sence of ammonia, but which were in part at least dependent upon the acrid principle alluded to. To this principle, which was supposed to be the ac- tive constituent of tobacco, the name of nicotin was given; but its alkalinity was not ascertained till a subsequent period. Another substance was ob- tained by Hermstadt by simply distilling water from tobacco, and allowing the liquid to stand for several days. A white crystalline matter rose to the surface, which, upon being removed, was found to have the odour of tobacco, and to resemble it in effects. It was fusible, volatilizable, similar to the nicotin of Vauquelin in solubility, and without alkaline or acid properties. It was called nicotianin by Hermstadt, and appears to partake of the nature of volatile oils. Two German chemists, Posselt and Reimann, subsequently analyzed tobacco, and ascertained the alkaline nature of its active principle, which, however, neither they nor Vauquelin obtained in a state of purity. According to these chemists, 10.000 parts of the fresh leaves contain 6 668 Tabacum. part i- parts of an alkaline principle, which they call nicotin, 1 of the nicotianin of Hermstadt, 287 of slightly bitter extractive, 174 of gum mixed with a little malate of lime, 26.7 of green resin, 26 of albumen, 104.8 of a substance analogous to gluten, 51 of malic acid, 12 of malate of ammonia, 4.8 of sul- phate of potassa, 6.3 of chloride of potassium, 9.5 of potassa, which was combined in the leaves with malic and nitric acids, 16.6 of phosphate of lime, 24.2 of lime which had been combined with malic acid, 8.8 of silica, 496.9 of lignin, traces of starch, and 8828 parts of water. (Berzelius, Trait, de Chim.) The nicotin of Vauquelin and of Posselt and Reimann was a colour- less, volatile liquid; and, as subsequently ascertained by MM. Henry and Boutron was in fact an aqueous solution of the alkaline principle in connexion with ammonia. It was reserved for these chemists to obtain the nicotin, or nicolia, as it should now be called, in a state of purity. It exists in tobacco in combination with an acid in excess, and in this state is not volatile. The following is the process employed by the last mentioned chemists. Five hundred parts of smoking tobacco were exposed to distillation in connexion with about 6000 parts of water and 200 parts of caustic soda, the heat applied being at first very moderate, and afterwards increased to the boiling point. The product of ihe distillation was received in a vessel containing about 30 or 40 parts of sulphuric acid, diluted with three times its weight of water; and the process was continued till nearly one-half of the liquid had come over. The product, in which care was taken to preserve a slight excess of acid, was evaporated to about 100 parts, and was then allowed to cool. A slight deposite which had formed was separated by filtration, an excess of caustic soda was added, and the liquid again distilled. A colourless very volatile acrid liquor now came over, which being concentrated under the receiver of an air-pump, lost the ammonia which accompanied it, and as- sumed a syrupy consistence and the colour of amber. In this liquid, after a few days, minute crystalline plates formed, which consisted of pure nicotia. Thus obtained, nicotia is white; inodorous, or nearly so, when cold; ex- ceedingly acrid, even when largely diluted; entirely volatilizable, and, in the state of vapour, very irritant to the nostrils, with an odour recalling that of tobacco; inflammable; very soluble in water, alcohol, ether, and oil of tur- pentine; deliquescent; strongly alkaline in its reaction; and capable of form- ing crystallizable salts with the acids. These salts are deliquescent, have a burning and acrid taste, and, like the salts of ammonia, lose a portion of their base by heat. Nicotia contains a much larger proportion of nitrogen than the other organic alkalies. In its action on the animal system, it is one of the most virulent poisons known. A drop of it in the state of concentrated solution was sufficient to destroy a dog; and small birds perished at the approach of a tube containing it. Tannin forms with it a compound of but slight solubility, and might be employed as a counterpoison. It exists in tobacco in very small proportion, constituting less than one part in one thou- sand of the dry leaves. Buchner found it in the seeds, and it exists also in very small proportion in the root. (See Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 639.) Nicotianin is probably the odorous principle of tobacco. Posselt and Reimann prepared it by distilling six pounds of the fresh leaves with twelve pounds of water, till one half of the liquid passed over, then adding six pounds more of water, and again distilling, and repeating this process three times. The nicotianin was obtained to the amount of eleven grains, floating on the surface of the water. It was a fatty substance, having the smell of tobacco-smoke, and an aromatic somewhat bitter taste. It was volatilizable by heat, insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether, and not affected by PART I. Tabacum. 669 the dilute acids, but dissolved by the solution of potassa. This was not ob- tained by MM. Henry and Boutron. When distilled at a temperature above that of boiling water, tobacco af- fords an empyreumatic oil, which Mr. Brodie has proved to be a most viru- lent poison. A single drop injected into the rectum of a cat occasioned death in about five minutes, and double the quantity administered in the same manner to a dog was followed by the same result. This oil is of a dark brown colour, of an acrid taste, and has a very peculiar smell, exactly resembling that of tobacco pipes which have been much used. Medical Properties and Uses. Tobacco unites with the powers of a sedative narcotic, those of an emetic and diuretic; and produces these effects to a greater or less extent to whatever surface it may be applied. In addi- tion, when snuffed up the nostrils, it excites violent sneezing and a copious secretion of mucus; when chewed, it irritates the mucous membrane of the mouth, and increases the flow of saliva; and, when injected into the rectum, it sometimes operates as a cathartic. Very moderately taken, it quiets restless- ness, calms mental and corporeal inquietude, and produces a state of general languor or repose, which has great charms for those habituated to the im- pression. In larger quantities, it gives rise to confusion of the head, vertigo, stupor, faintness, nausea, vomiting, and general debility of the nervous and circulatory functions, which, if increased, eventuates in alarming and even fatal prostration. The symptoms of its excessive action are severe retching, with the most distressing and continued nausea, great feebleness of pulse, coldness of the skin, fainting, and sometimes convulsions. It probably operates both through the medium of the nervous system, and by enter- ing the circulation. As its local action is stimulant, we can thus account for the fact, that it excites the functions of the kidneys, at the same time that it reduces the nervous and secondarily the arterial power. The ex- periments of Brodie lead to the inference that the function of the heart is affected by tobacco, through the medium of the nervous system; for in a decapitated animal in which the circulation was sustained by artificial res- piration, the infusion injected into the rectum did not diminish the action of the heart; while on the contrary this organ almost immediately ceased to contract when an equal dose of the poison was administered to a healthy animal. Mr. Brodie observed a remarkable difference between the opera- tion of the infusion and that of the empyreumatic oil. After death from the former the heart was found completely quiescent, while it continued to act with regularity for a considerable time after apparent death from the latter. We may infer from this fact, either that there are two poisonous principles in tobacco, or that a new narcotic product is formed during its destructive distillation. The use of tobacco was adopted by the Spaniards from the American In- dians. In the year 1560, it was introduced into France by the ambassador of that country at the court of Lisbon, whose name—Nicot—has been per- petuated in the generic title of the plant. Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have introduced the practice of smoking into England. In the various modes of smoking, chewing, and snuffing, the drug is now extensively consumed in every country on the globe. It must have properties peculiarly adapted to the propensities of our nature, to have thus surmounted the first repug- nance to its odour and taste, and to have become the passion of so many millions. When employed in excess, it enfeebles the digestive powers, produces emaciation and general debility, and lays the foundation of serious disorders of the nervous system. Its remedial employment is less extensive than would naturally be inferred 670 Tabacum. part i. from the variety of its powers. The excessive and distressing nausea which it is apt to occasion, interferes with its internal use; and it is very seldom administered by the stomach. As a narcotic it is employed chiefly to pro- duce relaxation in spasmodic affections. For this purpose, the infusion or smoke of tobacco, or the leaf in substance in the shape of a suppository, is introduced into the rectum in cases of strangulated hernia, obstinate consti- pation from spasm of the bowels, and retention of urine from a spasmodic stricture of the urethra. For a similar purpose, the powdered tobacco, or common snuff, mixed with simple cerate, as recommended by the late Dr. Godman, is sometimes applied to the throat and breast in cases of croup; and Dr. Chapman has directed the smoking of a cigar in the same com- plaint, with decided benefit. One of the worst cases of spasm of the rima glottidis which we have seen, and which resisted powerful depletion by the lancet, yielded to the application of a tobacco cataplasm to the throat. A similar application to the abdomen is highly recommended in painters' colic. Tetanus is said to have been cured by baths made with the decoction of the fresh leaves. The relaxation produced by smoking, in a person unaccus- tomed to it, has been very happily resorted to by Dr. Physick, in a case of obstinate and long continued dislocation of the jaw; and the same remedy has frequently been found useful in the paroxysm of spasmodic asthma. As an emetic, tobacco is seldom or never employed, unless in the shape of a cataplasm to the epigastrium, to assist the action of internal medi- cines, in cases of great insensibility of stomach. As a diuretic it was used by Fowler in dropsy and dysury, but the practice is not often imitated. There is no better errhine than tobacco, for the ordinary purposes for which this class of medicines is employed. As a sialagogue, it is beneficial in rheumatism of the jaws, and often relieves toothach by its anodyne action. It is also used externally in the shape of cataplasm, infusion, or ointment, in cases of tinea capitis, psora, and some other cutaneous affections. The empyreumatic oil mixed with simple ointment, in the proportion of twenty drops to the ounce, has been applied with advantage, by American practi- tioners, to indolent tumours and ulcers; but in consequence of its liability to be absorbed, and to produce unpleasant effects on the system, it should, be used with great caution. This remark is applicable to all the modes of em- ploying tobacco; particularly to the injection of the infusion into the rec- tum, which has in more than one instance caused the death of the patient. It is even more dangerous than a proportionate quantity introduced into the stomach, as, in the latter case, the poison is more apt to be rejected. Five or six grains of powdered tobacco will generally act as an emetic; but the remedy is not given in this shape. The infusion used in dropsy by Fowler, was made in the proportion of an ounce to a pint of boiling water, and given in the dose of sixty or eighty drops. The officinal infu- sion, which is employed for injection, is much weaker. (See Infusum Ta- baci.) A wine and an ointment of tobacco are directed by the United States Pharmacopoeia. Off. Prep. Enema Tabaci, Lond.; Infusum Tabaci, U.S., Dub.; Vinum Tabaci, U.S., Ed.; Unguentum Tabaci, U.S. W. PART I. Tamarindus. 671 TAMARINDUS. U.S., Lond. Tamarinds. "Tamarindus Indica. Fructus conditus. The preserved fruit." U.S. " Tamarindus indica. Leguminis Pulpa" Lond. Off. Syn. TAMARINDI INDICjE FRUCTUS. Ed.; TAMARIN- DUS INDICUS. Leguminis pulpa. Dub. Tamarins, Fr.; Tamarinden, Germ.; Tamarindi, Ital; Tamarindos, Span. Tamarindus. Sex. Syst. Monadelphia Triandria.—Nat. Ord. Legumi- nosae. Gen. Ch. Calyx four-parted. Petals three. Nectary with two short bristles under the filaments. Legume filled with pulp. Willd. Tamarindus Indica. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 577; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 448. t. 161. The tamarind tree is the only species of this genus. It rises to a great height, sends off numerous spreading branches, and has a beauti- ful appearance. The trunk is erect, thick, and covered with a rough, ash- coloured bark. The leaves are alternate and pinnate, composed of many pairs of opposite leaflets, which are almost sessile, entire,' oblong, obtuse, unequal at their base, about half an inch long, a sixth of an inch broad, and of a yellowish-green colour. The flowers, which are in small lateral ra- cemes, have a yellowish calyx, and petals which are also yellow, but beau- tifully variegated with red veins. The fruit is a broad, compressed, red- dish ash-coloured pod, very much curved, from two to six inches long, and with numerous brown, flat, quadrangular seeds, contained in cells formed by a tough membrane. Exterior to this membrane is a light-coloured acid pulpy matter, between which and the shell are several tough ligneous strings, running from the stem to the extremity of the pod, the attachment of which they serve to strengthen. The shells are very fragile, and easily separated. The Tamarindus Indica appears to be a native of the East and West Indies, of Egypt, and Arabia, though believed by some authors to have been imported into America. De Candolle is doubtful whether the East and West India trees are of the same species. The pods of the former are much larger than those of the latter, and contain a greater number of seeds. At least such is the statement made by authors, who inform us that East India tamarinds contain six or seven seeds, those from the West Indies rarely more than three or four. We have found, however, in a parcel of the latter which we have examined, numerous pods with from eight to ten seeds, and the number generally exceeded four.. The fruit is the officinal portion. Tamarinds are brought to us chiefly, if not exclusively, from the West Indies, where they are prepared by placing the pods, previously deprived of their shell, in layers in a cask, and pouring boiling syrup over them. A better mode, sometimes practised, is to place them in stone jars, with alter- nate layers of powdered sugar. They are said to be occasionally prepared in copper boilers. Properties. Fresh tamarinds, which are sometimes, though rarely, brought to this country, have an agreeable sour taste, without any mixture of sweetness. As we usually find them, in the preserved state, they form a dark-coloured adhesive mass, consisting of syrup mixed with the pulp, membrane, strings, and seeds of the pod, of a sweet acidulous taste. The seeds should be hard, clean, and not swollen, the strings tough and en- 672 Tamarindus.— Tanacetum. part i- tire, and the smell without mustiness. From the analysis of Vauquelin it appears, that in 100 parts of the pulp of tamarinds, independently of the sugar added to them, there are 9.40 parts of citric acid, 1.55 of tartaric acid, 0.45 of malic acid, 3.25 of supertartrate of potassa, 4.70 of gum, 6.25 of jelly, 34.35 of parenchymatous matter, and 27.55 of water; so that the acidity is chiefly owing to the presence of citric acid. It is said that copper may sometimes be detected in preserved tamarinds,.derived from the boilers in which they are occasionally prepared. Its presence may be ascertained by the reddish coat which it imparts to the blade of a knife immersed in the tamarinds. Medical Properties and Uses. Tamarinds are laxative and refrigerant, and infused in water form a highly grateful drink in febrile diseases. Con- valescents often find the pulp a pleasant addition to their diet, and useful by preserving the bowels in a loose condition. It is sometimes prescribed in connexion with other mild cathartics, and is one of the ingredients of the confection of senna. Though frequently prescribed with the infusion of senna to cover the taste of that medicine, it is said to weaken its purgative power; and the same observation has been made of its influence upon the resinous cathartics in general. From a drachm to an ounce or more may be taken at a dose. Off. Prep. Confectio Cassias, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Confectio Senna?, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Infusum Sennas cum Tamarindis, Dub., Ed. W. TANACETUM. U.S. Secondary. Tansy. " Tanacetum vulgare. Herba. The herb." U. S. Off. Sun. TANACETI VULGARIS FLORES, FOLIA. Ed.; TANA- CETUM VULGARE. Folia. Dub. Tanaisie, Fr.; Gemeiner Rheinfarrn, Wurmkraut, Germ.; Tanaceto, Ital, Span. Tanacetum. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compo- sitae Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle naked. Pappus somewhat marginate. Calyx imbri- cate, hemispherical. Corolla rays obsolete, trifid. Willd. Tanacetum vulgare. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1814; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 66. t. 27. This is a perennial herbaceous plant, rising two or three feet in height. The stems are strong, erect, obscurely hexagonal, striated, often reddish, branched towards the summit, and furnished with alternate, doubly pinnatifid leaves, the divisions of which are notched or deeply serrate. The flowers are yellow, and in dense terminal corymbs. Each flower is com- posed of numerous florets, of which those constituting the disk are perfect and five-cleft, those of the ray very few, pistillate, and trifid. The calyx consists of small, imbricated, lanceolate leaflets, having a dry scaly margin. The seeds are small, oblong, with five or six ribs, and crowned by a mem- branous pappus. Tansy is cultivated in our gardens, and grows wild in the roads and old fields; but was introduced from Europe, where it is indigenous. It is in flower from July to September. The leaves are ordered by the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges; but the flowers and seeds are not less effectual, and all are included in the directions of the United States Pharmacopoeia. There is a variety of the plant with curled leaves, which is said to be PART I. Tanacetum—Tapioca. 673 more grateful to the stomach than that above described, but has less of the peculiar sensible properties of the herb, and is probably less active as a medicine. The odour of tansy is strong, peculiar, and fragrant, but much diminished by drying; the taste is warm, bitter, somewhat acrid, and aromatic. These properties are imparted to water and alcohol. The medical virtues of the plant depend on a bitter extractive and a volatile oil. The latter, when sepa- rated by distillation, has a greenish-yellow colour, and deposites camphor upon standing. The seeds contain the largest proportion of the bitter prin- ciple, and the least of volatile oil. Medical Properties and Uses. Tansy has the medical properties com- mon to the aromatic bitters; and has been recommended in intermittents, hysteria, amenorrhcea, and as a preventive of the arthritic paroxysms; but at present it is chiefly used as an anthelmintic, and in this country is scarcely employed, for any purpose, in regular practice. The seeds are said to be most effectual as a vermifuge. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm two or three times a day; but the infusion is more frequently administered. A fatal case of poisoning with half an ounce of oil of tansy is recorded in the Medical Magazine for November, 1834. Frequent and violent clonic spasms were experienced, with much disturbance of respira- tion; and the action of the heart gradually became weaker till death took place from its entire suspension. No inflammation of the stomach or bowels was discovered upon dissection. (Am. Journ. of the Med. Sci. xvi. 256.) W. TAPIOCA. U.S. Tapioca. " Jatropha manihot. Radicis faecula. The fecula of the root." U. S. Jatropha. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Monadelphia.—Nat. Ord. Euphor- biaceas. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx none, or five-leaved. Corolla monopetalous, fun- nel-shaped. Stamens ten, alternately shorter. Female. Calyx none. Co- rolla five-petaled, spreading. Styles three, bifid. Capsule three-celled, Seed one. Willd. Most if not all of the species of Jatropha are impregnated, like other plants of the natural family of Euphorbiaceae, with an acrid, purging, poi- sonous principle. The seeds of the J. Curcas, which are known in Europe by the name of purging nuts, or Barbadoes nuts, have properties closely similar to those of the Croton Tiglium and Ricinus communis. They are blackish, oval, about eight lines long, flat on one side, convex on the other; and the two sides present a slight longitudinal prominence. Four or five of these seeds slightly roasted, and deprived of their envelope, are sufficient to purge actively; and in a large dose they are capable of producing fatal con- sequences. Their active principle is said to reside exclusively in the embryo. Upon pressure they yield an oil which has all the properties of the croton oil. We are not aware that they are employed in this country. The only species of Jatropha acknowledged as officinal in our Pharmacopoeia is the /. Manihot, which yields the tapioca of the shops. A number of bota- nists, following Kunth, place this plant in a new genus separated from 58 674 Tapioca. part r. Jatropha, and named Janipha, from the Indian designation of another species of the genus. Jatropha Manihot. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 562. Janipha Manihot. Curtis's Bot. Mag. 3071. This is the cassava plant of the West Indies, the mandioca or tapioca of Brazil. It is a shrub about six or eight feet in height, with a very large, white, fleshy, tuberous root, which often weighs thirty pounds. The stem is round, jointed, and furnished at its upper part with alternate petiolate leaves, deeply divided into three, five, or seven oval lanceolate, very acute lobes, which are somewhat wavy upon their borders, of a deep green colour on their upper surface, glaucous and whitish beneath. The flowers are in axillary racemes. The Jatropha Manihot is a native of South America, and is cultivated extensively in the West Indies, Brazil, and other parts of Tropical America, for the sake of its root, which is much employed as an article of food. The plant is of quick growth, and the root arrives at perfection in about eight months. There are two varieties, distinguished by the names of sweet and bitter. The root of the former may be eaten with impunity; that of the latter, which is most extensively cultivated, abounds in an acrid milky juice, which renders it highly poisonous if eaten in the recent state. By MM. Henry and Boutron-Charlard, it has been ascertained that the bitter cassava owes its poisonous properties to the presence of hydrocyanic acid. (Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 119.) Both varieties contain a large proportion of starch. The root is prepared for use by washing, scraping, and grating or grinding it into a pulp, which, in the case of the bitter variety, is submitted to pressure so as to separate the deleterious juice. It is now in the state of meal or powder, which is made into bread, cakes, or puddings. As the poisonous principle, is volatile, the portion which may have remained in the meal is entirely dis- sipated by the heat employed in cooking. The preparation denominated tapioca among us is obtained from the expressed juice. This, upon stand- ing, deposites a powder, which, after repeated washings with cold water, is nearly pure fecula. It is dried by exposure to heat, which renders it partly soluble in cold water, and enables it to assume the consistence by which it is characterized. When dried without heat, it is pulverulent, and closely resembles the fecula of arrow-root. Tapioca is in the form of irregular, hard, white, rough grains, possessing little taste, partially soluble in cold water, and affording a fine blue colour when iodine is added to its filtered solution. Being nutritious, and at the same time easy of digestion, and destitute of all irritating properties, it forms an excellent diet for the sick and convalescent. It is prepared for use by boiling it in water. Lemon juice and sugar will usually be found grateful additions; and in low states of disease or cases of debility, it may be advantageously impregnated with wine and nutmeg or other aromatic. A factitious tapioca is found in the shops, consisting of very small, smooth, spherical grains, and supposed to be prepared from potato starch. It is sold under the name of pearl tapioca. W. PART I. Taraxacum. 675 TARAXACUM. U.S., Lond. Dandelion. " Leontodon taraxacum. Radix. The root." U. S. Off. Syn. LEONTODI TARAXACl HERBA et RADIX. Ed.; LE- ONTODON TARAXACUM. Herba. Radix. Dub. Pissenlit, Dent de lion, Fr.; Lbwenzahn, Germ.; Tarassaco, Ital; Diente deleon, Span. Leontodon. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia ^Equalis.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Cichoraceae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle naked. Calyx double. Seed-down stipitate, hairy. Willd. Leontodon Taraxacum. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1544; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 39. t. 16. The dandelion is an herbaceous plant, with a perennial, fusiform root. The leaves, which spring immediately from the root, are long, pinna- tifid, generally runcinate, with the divisions toothed, smooth, and of a fine green colour. The common name of the plant was derived from the fancied resemblance of its leaves to the teeth of a lion. The flower-stem rises from the midst of the leaves, six inches or more in height. It is erect, simple, naked, smooth, hollow, fragile, and terminated by a large golden-coloured flower, which closes in the evening, and expands with the returning light of the sun. The calyx is smooth and double, with the outer scales bent down- wards. The florets are very numerous, ligulate, and toothed at their extre- mities. The receptacle is convex and punctured. The seed-down is stipi- tate, and at the period of maturity, is disposed in a spherical form, and is so light and feathery as to be easily borne away by the wind, with the seeds attached. This species of Leontodon grows spontaneously in most parts of the globe. It is abundant in this country, adorning our grass-plats and pasture grounds with its bright yellow flowers, which, in moist places, show themselves with the first opening of spring, and continue to appear till near the close of sum- mer. All parts of the plant contain a milky bitterish juice, which exudes when they are broken or wounded. The leaves, when very young, and blanched by the absence of light during their growth, are tender and not un- pleasant to the taste, and on the continent of Europe are sometimes used as a salad. When older and of their natural colour, they are medicinal, and have been adopted as officinal by the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges. The United States and London Pharmacopoeias recognise only the root, which is by far the most efficacious part of the plant. It should be full grown when collected, and should be employed in the recent state, as it is then most ac- tive. It does not, however, as stated by Duncan, lose nearly all its bitter- ness by drying; and the root dug up in the warmer seasons might, if dried with care, be employed with propriety in the succeeding winter. The fresh full-grown root of the dandelion is several inches in length, about as thick as the little finger, round and tapering, somewhat branched, of a light brown colour externally, whitish within, having a yellowish lig- neous cord running through its centre, and abounding in a milky juice. In the dried state it is much shrunk, wrinkled longitudinally, brittle, and when broken presents a shining somewhat resinous fracture. It is without smell, but has a sweetish, mucilaginous, bitterish, herbaceous taste. Its active pro- perties are yielded to water by boiling, and do not appear to be injured in the process. The milky juice, examined by John, was found to contain bitter extractive, gum, caoutchouc, saline matters, a trace of resin, and a free 676 Taraxacum.— Terebinthina. part i. acid. Besides these ingredients, starch and saccharine matter exist in the root. Medical Properties and Uses. Taraxacum is slightly tonic, diuretic, and aperient; and is thought to have a specific action upon the liver, exciting it when languid to secretion, and resolving its chronic engorgements. It has been much employed in Germany, and is a very popular remedy with many practitioners in this country. The diseases to which it appears to be espe- cially applicable, are those connected with the derangement of the hepatic system, and of the digestive organs generally. In congestion and chronic in- flammation of the liver and spleen, in cases of suspended or deficient biliary secretion, and in dropsical affections dependent on obstruction of the abdo- minal viscera, it is capable of doing much good, if applied with a due regard to the degree of excitement. Our own experience is decidedly in its favour. An irritable condition of the stomach and bowels, and the existence of acute inflammation, contra-indicate its employment. It is usually given in the form of extract or decoction. (See Extractum Taraxaci.) Two ounces of the fresh root, or an ounce of the dried, pre- viously bruised or sliced, may be boiled with a pint of water down to half a pint, and two fluidounces of the preparation given twice or three times a day. Supertartrate of potassa is sometimes added when an aperient effect is de- sired; and aromatics will occasionally be found useful in correcting a ten- dency to griping or flatulence. Off. Prep. Decoctum Scoparii Compositum, Lond. Decoctum Taraxaci, Dub.; Extractum Taraxaci, U. S., Lond., Dub. W. TEREBINTHINA. U.S. Turpentine. " Pinus palustris, et aliae. Succus. The juice." U.S. TEREBINTHINA CANADENSIS. U.S., Lond. Canada Balsam. " Pinus balsamea. Succus. The juice." U.S. " Pinus balsamea. Resina liquida." Lond. Off. Syn. PINI BALSAME^E RESINA. Resina liquida, Ed.; BAL- SAMUM CANADENSE. PINUS BALSAMEA. Resina liquida. Dub. TEREBINTHINA CHIA. Lond., Dub. Chian Turpentine. " Pistacia Terebinthus. Resina liquida." Lond. TEREBINTHINA VENETA. Dub. Venice Turpentine. " Pinus Larix. Resina Liquida." Dub. Off Syn. PINI RESINA LIQUIDA, vulgo TEREBINTHINA VE- NETA. Ex variis Pinis. Ed. PART I. Terebinthina. 677 TEREBINTHINA VULGARIS. Lond. Common Turpentine. " Pinus sylvestris. Resina liquida." Lond. Off. Syn. PINI RESINA LIQUIDA, vulgo TEREBINTHINA VUL- GARIS. Ex variis Finis. Ed.; PINUS SYLVESTRIS. Terebinthina Vulgaris. Dub. TeVebenthine, Fr.; Terpentin, Germ.; Trementina, Ital, Span. The term turpentine is now generally applied to certain vegetable juices, liquid or concrete, which consist of resin combined with a peculiar essential oil, called the oil of turpentine. They are generally procured from differ- ent species of pine, though other trees afford products which are known by the same general title, as for instance, the Pistacia Terebinthus, which yields the Chian turpentine. Some of the French writers extend the name of turpentine to other juices consisting of resin and essential oil, as copaiba, balm of Gilead, &c. We shall describe particularly, in this place, only the officinal turpentines. A brief botanical view of the plants from which they are respectively derived, will be in accordance with the plan of the work. Pinus. Sex. Syst. Monoecia Monadelphia—Nat. Ord. Coniferae. Gen. Ch. Male. Calyx four-leaved. Corolla none. Stamens many. An- thers naked. Female. Calyx strobiles; scales tuo-floweied. Corolla none. Pistil one. Nut with a membranous wing. Willd. The plants composing this genus are arranged by many botanists in three distinct genera, the Pinus, Abies, and Larix, of which the following cha- racters are given by Lindley, in the Encyclopaedia of Plants:—" 1. Pinus. Male. Anthers two-celled. Female. Scales in a conical cone, bracteate at base, digynous. Pericarps attached to the inside of scale, more or less winged, deciduous. Stigmas two or three-cleft. Cotyledons four to eight. —2. Abies The same as Larix, excepting its habit and stigma*, which is that of Finns. Cotyledons three to nine.—3. Larix. Male. Anthers two- cellpd. Female. Scales imbricated, in a round cone, bracleate at base, digy- nous. Pericarps attached to the inside of scale, winged, deciduous. Stigma hemispherical, cupped, glandular. Cotyledons five to nine."—Though the distinction between these genera is sufficient to justify their establishment, we deem it best, in this work, to follow the authority of the Pharmacopoeias which we have adopted as in some measure our standards, all of which adhere to the old genus Pinus. Besides the officinal species of pines, there is one, a native of this country, which affords a product considerably em- ployed, though not recognised by the Pharmacopoeias. The substance alluded to is the essence of spruce, prepared from the young branches of the Pinus nigra (Abies nigra), or black spruce, by boiling them in water, and evaporating the decoction. It is a thick liquid, having the colour and consistence of molasses, with a bitterish, acidulous, astringent taste. It is much used in the preparation of the beverage commonly known by the name of spruce beer, which is a pleasant and wholesome drink in summer, and useful in long sea-voyages as a preventive of scurvy.* 1. Pinus palustris. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 499.—P. Australis. Mi- chaux, N.Am. Sylv. iii. 133. "Leaves in threes, very long; stipules * The following is the formula usually followed. Take of essence of spruce half « pint; pimento bruised, ginger bruised, hops, each, four ounces; water three gallons. Boil for five or ten minutes: then strain, and add of warm water eleven gallons; yeast a pint; molasses six pints. Mix and ailow the mixture to ferment for twenty-four hours. 58* 678 Terebinthina. part i. pinnatifia\ ramentaceous, persistent; strobiles sub-cylindrical, armed with sharp prickles." This is a very large indigenous tree, growing in dry sandy soils from the southern part of Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico. Its mean elevation is sixty or seventy feet, and the diameter of its trunk about fifteen or eighteen inches for two-thirds of this height. The leaves are about a foot in length, of a brilliant green colour, and united in bunches at the ends of the branches. The names by which the tree is known in the Southern States, are long- leaved pine, yellow pine, and pitch pine; but the first is most appropriate, as the last two are applied also to other species. This tree furnishes by far the greater proportion of turpentine, tar, &c, consumed in the United States, or sent from this to other countries. (See Pix Liquida.) 2. Pinus Tseda. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 498; Michaux, N Am. Sylv. iii. 156. "Leaves in threes, elongated, with elongated sheaths; strobiles ob- long-conical, deflexed, shorter than the leaf; spines indexed." This is the loblolly, or old field pine of the Southern States. It is abun- dant in Virginia, where it occupies the lands which have been exhausted by cultivation. It exceeds eighty feet in height, has a trunk two or three feet in diameter, and expands into a wide-spreading top. The leaves are about six inches long, and of a light green colour. It yields turpentine in abundance, but less fluid than that which flows from the preceding species. 3. Pinus sylvestris. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 494; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 1. t. 1; Michaux, TV. Am. Sylv. iii. p. 125. "Leaves in pairs, rigid; stro- biles ovate-conical, of the length of the leaves; scales echinate." This species of pine, when of full size, is eighty feet high, with a trunk four or five feet in diameter. It inhabits the northern and mountainous parts of Europe. In Great Britain it is called the wild pine, or Scotch fir; the latter name having been applied to it from its abundance in the moun- tains of Scotland. It yields a considerable proportion of the common Euro- pean turpentine. 4. Pinus Balsamea. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 504.—Abies Balsamifera, Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. iii. p. 191. " Leaves solitary, flat, emarginate or entire, glaucous beneath, somewhat pectinate, sub-erect above, recurved spreading; cones cylindrical, erect; bractes abbreviate, obovate, conspicuously mucronate, sub-serrulate." This is the American silver fir, inhabiting Canada, Nova Scotia, Maine, and the mountainous regions further to the south. It is an elegant tree, seldom rising more than forty feet in height, with a tapering trunk, and numerous branches which diminish in length in proportion to their height, and form an almost perfect pyramid. The leaves are six or eight lines long, inserted in rows on the sides and tops of the branches, narrow, flat, rigid, bright green on their upper surface, and of a silvery whiteness be- neath. The cones are large, erect, nearly cylindrical, of a purplish colour, and covered with a resinous exudation which gives them a glossy, rich, and beautiful appearance. It is from this tree that the Canada balsam is obtained. 5. Pinus Larix. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 503; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 7. t. 4.—Larix Europaea. De Cand.—Larix communis. Lindley. " Leaves fascicled, deciduous; cones ovate-oblong; margins of the scales reflexed, la- cerated; bractes panduriform." The European larch is a large tree inhabiting the mountains of Switzer- land, Germany, and the East of France. It yields the Venice turpentine of commerce, and a peculiar sweetish substance, called in France Brianpon, manna, which exudes spontaneously, and concretes upon its bark. PART I. Terebinthina. 679 Pistacia. See MASTICHE. Pistacia Terebinthus. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 752; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 29. t. 12. This is a small tree with numerous spreading branches, bearing alternate, pinnate leaves, which consist of three or four pairs of ovate lanceo- late, entire, acute, smooth, and shining leaflets, with an odd one at the end. The male and female flowers are dioecious, small, and in branching racemes. This is a native of Barbary aud Greece, and flourishes in the islands of Cy- prus and Chio, the latter of which has given its name to the turpentine ob- tained from the tree. We shall treat of the several varieties of turpentine under distinct heads. 1. White Turpentine. Terebenthine de Boston, Fr.; The common American or white turpentine, (Terebinthina of the United States Pharmacopoeia,) is procured chiefly from the Pinus palustris, partly also from the Pinus Tseda, and perhaps some other species inhabiting the Southern States. In former times, large quantities were collected in New England; but the turpentine trees of that section of the Union are said to be nearly exhausted; and our commerce is almost exclusively supplied from North Carolina, and the south-eastern parts of Virginia. The following is the process for obtaining the turpentine as described by Michaux. During the winter months, excavations of the capacity of about three pints are made in the trunk of the tree three or four inches from the ground. Into these the juice begins to flow about the middle of March, and continues to flow throughout the warm season, slowly at first, rapidly in the middle of sum- mer, and more slowly again in the autumnal months. The liquid is removed from these excavations as they fill, and transferred into casks, where it gradually thickens, and ultimately acquires a soft solid consistence. Very large cpiantities are thus annually procured, sufficient not only to sup- ply the whole consumption of this country, but also to furnish a valuable export. White turpentine, as found in our shops, has a peculiar somewhat aro- matic odour, a warm pungent bitterish taste, and a white colour tinged with yellow. It is somewhat translucent, and of a consistence which varies with the temperature. In the middle of summer it is almost semi-fluid and very adhesive, though brittle; in the winter it is often so firm and hard, as to be incapable of being made into pills without heat. Exposed to the air it ultimately becomes perfectly hard and dry. In the recent state it affords about seventeen per cent, of essential oil. 2. Common European Turpentine. Terebenthine de Bordeaux, Terebenthine commune, Fr.; Gemeiner Terpentin, Germ.; Trementina comune, Ital; Trementina comun, Span. This is the Terebinthina Vulgaris of the British Pharmacopoeias. It is furnished by several species of pine; but most abundantly by the Pinus sylvestris. In the maritime districts of the south-west of France, especially in the department of the Landes, it is obtained largely from the Pinus mari- tima. The process consists simply in making incisions into the trunk, or removing portions of the hark, and receiving the juice which flows out in small troughs, or in holes dug at the foot of the tree. It is purified by heat- ing and filtering it through straw, or by exposing it to the sun in a barrel, through holes in the bottom of which the melted turpentine escapes. Thus prepared, it is whitish, turbid, thickish, and separates, upon standing, into two parts, one liquid and transparent, the other of a consistence and appear- 680 Terebinthina. part i. ance like those of thickened honey. It is scarcely ever given internally, but furnishes large quantities of oil of turpentine and resin. We do not import it into this country. The substance which the French call galipot or barras, is that portion of the turpentine which concretes upon the surface of the wounds, and is removed during the winter. (Thenard.) This, when puri- fied by melting with water and straining, takes the name of yellow or white pitch, or Burgundy pitch. When turpentine has been deprived of its oil by distillation, the resin which remains is called rosin, and sometimes colo- phony, from the Ionian city of that name, where it was formerly prepared. It is the yellow resin, Resina Flava, of the former London Pharmacopoeia. White resin, Resina Alba, is prepared by incorporating this, while in fusion, with a certain proportion of water. Tar (Pix Liquida) is the turpentine extracted from the wood by a slow combustion, and chemically altered by the heat. Common pitch (Pix Nigra or Resina Nigra) is the solid residue left after the evaporation by boiling of the liquid parts of tar. (See these titles respectively.) 3. Canadian Turpentine. Canada balsam; Baume de Canada, Fr.; Canadischer Balsam, Canadischer Terpentin, Germ.; Trementina del Canada, Ital. This is the product of the Pinus Balsamea, and is collected in Canada and the State of Maine. It is procured, according to Michaux, by breaking the vesicles which naturally form upon the trunk and branches, and receiving their liquid contents in a bottle. When fresh, it is colourless or slightly yellowish, transparent, of the consistence of thin honey, very tenacious, of a strong agreeable odour, and a bitterish, somewhat acrid taste. By time and exposure it becomes more yellow and thicker, and at last assumes a solid consistence. It is usually brought into market in bottles, and is kept in the shops under the name of Canada balsam, or balsam of fir. In Europe, it is sometimes called balm of Gilead, from its supposed resemblance to that celebrated medicine. The term balsam, as at present understood, is impro- perly applied to it; as it contains no benzoic acid, and is in fact a true tur- pentine, consisting of resin and essential oil. There is reason to believe that Strasburg turpentine is sometimes sold for it in the shops. 4. Venice Turpentine. Terebenthine demeleze, Terebenthine de Venise, Fr.; Venetianischer Terpentin, Germ.; Trementina di Venezia, Ital; Trementina de Venecia, Span. This turpentine received its name from the circumstance that it was for- merly an extensive article of Venetian aommerce. It is procured in Switzer- land, and the French province of Dauphiny, from the Pinus Larix or larch, which grows abundantly upon the Alps and the Jura mountains. The pea- sants bore holes into the trunk about two feet from the ground, and conduct the juice by means of wooden gutters into small tubes, placed at a'convenient distance. It is afterwards purified by filtration through a leather sieve. Genuine Venice Turpentine is more fluid than the other varieties, of a yel- lowish or slightly greenish colour, a strong not disagreeable odour, and a warm bitterish and acrid taste. As found in our shops it is usually quite brown, and is said to be a factitious substance, prepared by dissolving resin in oil of turpentine. Dr. A. T. Thomson states that much of the Venice turpentine of the shops of London is obtained from America. It is probably the same preparation as that which passes under the name in this country. PART I. Terebinthina. 681 5. Chian Turpentine. Terebenthine de Chio, Fr.; Cyprischer Terpentin, Germ.; Trementina Cipria, Ital. This variety of turpentine is collected chiefly in the Island of Chio or Scio, by incisions made during the summer in the bark of the Pistacia Terebin- thus. The juice, flowing from the wounds, falls upon smooth stones placed at the foot of the tree, from which it is scraped with small sticks, and allow- ed to drop into bottles. The annual product of each tree is very small; and the turpentine, therefore, commands a high price even in the place where it is procured. Very little of it reaches this country. It is said to be fre- quently adulterated with the other turpentines. It is a thick, tenacious, pel- lucid liquid, of a slightly yellowish colour, a peculiar penetrating odour more agreeable than that of the other substances of the same class, and a mild taste with little bitterness. On exposure to the air it speedily thickens, and ultimately becomes concrete and hard, in consequence of the loss of its volatile oil. Besides the turpentines mentioned, various others are noticed in books on materia medica, though not found in the shops of this country. There is the Strasburg turpentine, much used in France, and obtained from the Pinus Picea, (Abiespectinata of De Candolle,) or European silver fir, which grows on the mountains of Switzerland and Germany, and bears a close resemblance, as well in its appearance as its product, to the Pinus Balsa- mea of Canada; the Damarra turpentine, which speedily concretes into a very hard resin, and is derived from the Pinus Damarra of Lambert, the Agathis Damarra of Richard, growing in the East India islands; and the Dombeya turpentine, a glutinous milky-looking fluid of a strong odour and taste, derived from the Dombeya excelsa, the Araucaria Dombeyi of Rich- ard, which inhabits Chili, and is said to be identical with the Norfolk Island pine. These, with one or two other turpentines scarcely known or having a doubtful claim to the title, are all that belong properly to this class of vege- table products. General Properties. The turpentines resemble each other in odour and taste, though distinguished by shades of difference. Liquid at first, they become thick and gradually solid by exposure, in consequence partly of the volatilization, partly of the oxidation of their essential oil. They are ren- dered more liquid or softened by heat, and at a high temperature take fire, burning with a white flame and much smoke. Water extracts only a minute proportion of their volatile oil. They are wholly soluble in alcohol and ether, and readily unite with the fixed oils. They yield by distillation a volatile oil, well known as the oil of turpentine, and leave a residue consist- ing exclusively of resin. (See Oleum Terebinthinae and Resina.) A minute proportion of succinic acid passes over with the oil. From the experiments of M. Faure of Bordeaux it appears, that some of the liquid turpentines, like copaiba, may be solidified by the addition of magnesia. (Journ. de Chim. Med. 1830, p. 94.) ^ Medical Properties and Uses. The effects of the turpentines upon the system are dependent entirely on their essential oil. They are stimulant, diuretic, anthelmintic, and in large doses laxative.^ Whether taken internally, or applied to the skin, they communicate a violet odour to the urine, and if continued for some time produce an irritation of the mucous membrane of the urinary passages, amounting frequently to strangury. The last effect is less apt to be experienced when they operate upon the bowels. Externally ap- plied they act as rubefacients. Their medical virtues were known to the ancients. At present they are less used than formerly, having been super- 682 Terebinthina.— Testa. part i. seded by their volatile oil. They are, however, occasionally prescribed in leucorrhcea, gleet, and other chronic diseases of the urinary passages; in piles and chronic inflammations or ulcerations of the bowels; in chronic catarrhal affections; and in various forms of rheumatism, especially sciatica and lum- bago. The white turpentine is usually employed in this country. They may be given in the shape of pill made with powdered liquorice root; or in emulsion with gum Arabic or yolk of egg, loaf sugar, and water; or in electuary formed with sugar or honey. Their dose is from a scruple to a drachm. In the quantity of half an ounce or an ounce, triturated with the yolk of an egg, and mixed with half a pint of mucilaginous liquid, they form an excellent injection in cases of ascarides, and of constipation attended with flatulence. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Galbani, Lond.; Oleum Terebinthinae, Dub.; Un- guentum Elemi, Lond. W. TESTA. U.S. Oyster-shell. " Ostrea edulis. Testae. The shells." U. S. Off. Syn. TESTvE. Lond. Ecailles des huitres, Fr.; Austerschalen, Germ.; Gusci delle ostriche, Ital.; Cascaras, Span. The common oyster is the Ostrea edulis of naturalists, an animal belong- ing to the class Vermes, order Tcstacea. It is found in many parts of the world, and is particularly abundant on our own coast, and in the bays of our large rivers. It consists of a soft pulpy portion, comprising the vital organs of the animal, enclosed in a hard bivalve shell, of the nature of mother-of- pearl. The meat of the oyster forms a very digestible and nutritious ar- ticle of food, particularly suited to convalescents; but the shell only is officinal. Properties. Oyster-shells are too familiarly known to require descrip- tion. They are made up, like other mother-of-pearl shells, of alternate layers of earthy matter, and animal matter of the nature of coagulated albu- men. According to the analysis of Bucholz and Brandes, their exact con- stituents are carbonate of lime 98.6, phosphate of lime 1.2, animal matter 0.5, alumina (accidental) 0.2=100.5. Thus it appears that the animal mat- ter is present in but small amount. When calcined or burnt, the animal matter and carbonic acid are dissipated, and the shells are converted into a species of lime, called oyster-shell lime. Pharmaceutical Uses. Oyster-shells require to be reduced to an impal- pable powder, before they are fit for medicinal employment; and their prepa- ration in this way constitutes their sole pharmaceutical use. When thus prepared, they form the Testa Prseparata, under which head their medici- nal properties will be noticed. Off. Prep. Testa Praeparata, U.S., Lond. B. part i. Tolutanum. 683 TOLUTANUM. U.S. Tolu. *' Myroxylon Toluiferum. Richard. Myroxylon Peruiferum. Willd. Succus. The juice." U. S. Off. Syn. BALSAMUM TOLUTANUM. Myroxylon peruiferum. Bal- samum 'concretum. Lond.; TOLUIFERyE BALSAMI BALSAMUM. Ed.; TOLUIFERA BALSAMUM. Resina. Dub. Balsam of Tolu; Baume de Tolu, Fr.; Tolubalsam, Germ.; Balsamo del Tolu, Ital.; Balsamo de Tolu, Span. Myroxylon. See MYROXYLON. Till recently, the tree from which this balsam is derived, retained the name of Toluifera Balsamum, given to it by Linneeus; but it is now ad- mitted that the genus Toluifera was formed upon insufficient grounds; and botanists agree in referring the Tolu balsam tree to the Myroxylon. Ruiz, one of the authors of the Flora Peruviana, considers it identical with the Myroxylon Peruiferum; and his opinion has been adopted by some other writers. M. Achille Richard, however, thinks it a distinct species, and has appropriately denominated it Myroxylon Toluiferum, a title which is re- cognised in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. Sprengel and Hum- boldt also consider it a distinct species of Myroxylon. According to Rich- ard, who had an opportunity of examining specimens brought from South America by Humboldt, the leaflets of the M. Peruiferum are thick, coria- ceous, acute, and blunt at the apex, and all equal in size; while in the M. Toluiferum the leaflets are thin, membranous, obovate, with a lengthened and acuminate apex, and the terminal one is longest. The M. Peruiferum is found in Peru and the southern parts of New Granada; the M. Toluife- rum grows in Carthagena, and abounds especially in the neighbourhood of Tolu. The wood of the latter species, according to Humboldt, is of a deep red colour, has a delightful balsamic odour, and is much used for building. It is not improbable, that the two balsams known in the shops by 'the respective names of Peru and Tolu, differ more in the mode by which they are procured, than in the character of the trees which afford them. The balsam of Tolu is procured by making incisions into the trunk of the tree. The juice as it exudes is received in vessels of various kinds, in which it is allowed to concrete. It is brought from Carthagena in cala- bashes, or baked earthen jars of a peculiar shape, and sometimes in glass vessels. Properties. As first imported, it has a soft, tenacious consistence, which varies considerably with the temperature. By age it becomes hard and brittle like resin. It is shining, translucent, of a reddish or yellowish-brown colour, a highly fragrant odour, and a warm, somewhat sweetish and pun- gent, but not disagreeable taste. Exposed to heat, it melts, inflames, and diffuses, while burning, its own peculiar smell, united with that of benzoic acid. It is entirely dissolved by alcohol, and the essential oils. Boiling water extracts its benzoic acid. Distilled with water it affords a small pro- portion of volatile oil; and if the heat be continued, benzoic acid sublimes. Mr. Hatchett states, that when dissolved in the smallest quantity of solution of potassa, it loses its own characteristic odour, and acquires that of the clove-pink. Its ingredients are resin, benzoic acid, and volatile oil, the pro- portions of which vary in different specimens. Guibourt observed that it 684 Tolutanum.— Tormentilla. part r. contains more benzoic acid, and is less odorous in the solid form; and thinks that the acid is increased at the expense of the oil. Trommsdorff obtained 88 per cent, of resin, 12 of acid, and only 0.2 of volatile oil. Medical Properties and Uses. Tolu is a stimulant tonic, with a pecu- liar tendency to the pulmonary organs. It is given with some advantage in chronic catarrh and other pectoral complaints, in which a gently stimula- ting expectorant is demanded; but should not be prescribed until after the reduction of inflammatory action. Independently of its medical virtues, its pleasant flavour renders it a popular ingredient in expectorant mix- tures. Old and obstinate coughs are said to be sometimes greatly relieved by the inhalation of the vapour proceeding from an ethereal solution of this balsam. From ten to thirty grains may be given at a dose, and frequently repeat- ed. The best form of administration is that of emulsion, made by tritura- ting the balsam with mucilage of gum Arabic and loaf sugar, and afterwards with water. Off. Prep. Syrupus Tolutanus, Lond., Ed.; Tinctura Benzoini Compo- sita, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Tinctura Tolutani, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. TORMENTILLA. U.S. Secondary. Lond. Tormentil. "Tormentilla erecta. Radix. The root." U.S. " Potentilla Tormen- tilla. Radix." Lond. Off. Syn. TORMENTILLA ERECT^E RADIX. Ed.; TORMEN- TILLA OFFICINALIS. Dub. Tormentille, Fr.; Tormentillwurzel, Germ.; Tormentilla, Ital; Tormentila, Span. Tormentilla. Sex. Syst. Icosandria Polygynia.—Nat. Ord. Rosaceqe. Gen. Ch. Calyx eight-cleft. Petals four. Seeds roundish, naked, affixed to a small, juiceless receptacle. Willd. By some modern writers this genus is united with the Potentilla, from which it differs only in having eight instead of ten divisions of the calyx, and four instead of five petals. Tormentilla erecta. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 1112; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 503. t. 181.-71 Officinalis. Smith, Flor. Brit.—-Potentilla Tormentilla. Nestler, Monograph, des Potentilles; Pharm. Lond. The tormentil, or septfoil, is a small perennial plant, very common throughout Europe. The stems, which rise about six or eight inches in height, from a woody root, are slender, more or less erect, branching towards the top, and furnished with sessile leaves, which on the stalk usually consist of seven, on the branches of five, digitate, elliptical, villous, deeply serrated leaflets, three of which are larger than the others. The flowers are small, yellow, and soli- tary upon axillary peduncles. All parts of the plant are astringent, especially the root, which is the part employed. It is gathered in spring. Properties. The root of tormentil is cylindrical or roundish, rather larger above than at the lower extremity, an inch or two in length, about as thick as the finger, knotty, sometimes contorted, brown or blackish externally, and reddish within. It has a slight aromatic odour, and a very astringent taste. Tannin is an abundant constituent. There is also a red colouring part i. Tormentilla.— Toxicodendron. 685 principle, soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water. The root is said to be used for tanning leather in the Orkneys and Western Islands of Scotland, and for staining leather red by the Laplanders. It yields all its medical virtues to boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. Tormentil is a simple and powerful astrin- gent, applicable to all cases of disease in which this class of medicines is in- dicated. We seldom, however, employ it in this country, having indigenous plants of equal virtue. It may be given in substance, decoction, or extract. The dose of the powder is from thirty grains to a drachm. Off. Prep. Decoctum Tormentillae, Lond. W. TOXICODENDRON. U.S. Secondary. Lond. Poison-oak. " Rhus toxicodendron. Folia. The leaves." U. S. Off. Syn. RHOIS TOXICODENDRI FOLIA. Ed.; RHUS TOXI- CODENDRON. Folia. Dub. Sumac veneneux, Fr.; Gift-Sumach, Germ.; Albero del veleno, Ital Rhus. See RHUS GLABRUM. Admitting, as appears generally to be done at present, that the Rhus Toxi- codendron and Rhus radicans of Linnaeus, are mere varieties of the same plant, there are three indigenous species of Rhus which possess poisonous properties—the one above mentioned, the R. Vernix, commonly known by the name of swamp sumach or poison sumach, and the R. pumilum of the Southern States. Though the first only is designated in the Pharmacopoeia, we shall briefly describe the three species, as their medical effects are pro- bably similar, and their operation upon the system such that the plants should be known to every practitioner. 1. Rhus radicans. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1481; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. iii. 17.—/?. Toxicodendron. Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. p. 205. Though Elliott and Nuttall consider the R. radicans and R. Toxicodendron as distinct spe- cies, the weight of botanical authority is on the other side, and Bigelow declares that he has " frequently observed individual shoots from the same stock, having the characters of both varieties." The difference, however, in their appearance, is sufficiently striking to have led to the adoption of different common names, the R. radicans being usually called poison vine, and the R. Toxicodendron, poison oak. The former has a climbing stem, rising to a great height upon trees, rocks, and other objects, to which it ad- heres by strong rooting fibres, which it throws out from its sides. The leaves, which stand upon long footstalks, are ternate, with broad ovate or rhomboi- dal, acute leaflets, smooth and shining on both sides, sometimes slightly hairy on the veins beneath, entire, or irregularly lobed and toothed. The flowers are small, greenish-white, dioecious, and grow in lateral, usually axillary panicles, or compound racemes. The male flowers have five sta- mens, and the rudiments of a style; the female, which are of only half the size and on a different plant, have abortive stamens, and a short erect style, standing on a roundish germ, and terminating in three stigmas. The fruit consists of roundish, pale-gieen or whitish berries. The R. Toxicodendron, or poison oak, has the form of a shrub from one to three feet high, with leaflets angularly indented, and pubescent beneath. But this character of the foliage is probably not constant; and the stunted 59 686 Toxicodendron. part i. growth may be owing to peculiarities of situation. Dr. Bigelow states that the young plants of the R. radicans do not put forth rooting fibres until they are several years old, and that they are influenced in this respect by the con- tiguity of supporting objects. This species of Rhus grows in woods, fields, and along fences from Ca- nada to Georgia. It flowers in June and July. When wounded, it emits a milky juice, which becomes black on exposure to the air, and leaves upon linen or other cloth a stain, which cannot afterwards be removed by washing with soap and water, or by alcohol either hot or cold, but deepens by age. It has been proposed as an indelible ink. Ether dissolves it. The juice applied to the skin frequently produces inflammation and vesi- cation; and the same poisonous property is possessed by a volatile principle which escapes from the plant itself, and produces in persons who come into its vicinity an exceedingly troublesome erysipelatous affection, particularly of the face. Itching, redness, a sense of burning, tumefaction, vesication, and ultimate desquamation, are some of the attendants of this poisonous action. The swelling of the face is sometimes so great as almost entirely to obliterate the features. The effects are experienced soon after exposure, and usually begin to decline within a week. A light cooling regimen, with saline pur- gatives, and the local use of cold lead water, are the best remedies. All per- sons are not equally liable to the affection, and the great majority are wholly unsusceptible of it from any ordinary exposure. 2. Rhus Vernix. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1479; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 96. The swamp sumach is a beautiful shrub or small tree, usually ten or fifteen feet high, but sometimes rising thirty feet. The bark of the trunk is dark gray, of the branches lighter, of the extreme twigs and petioles beauti- fully red. The leaves are pinnate, with four or five pairs of opposite leaflets, and an odd terminal one. These are oblong or oval, entire or slightly sinuated, acuminate, smooth, and except the one at the end, nearly sessile. The flowers, as in the preceding species, are dioecious. They are very small, greenish, and arranged in loose axillary panicles. The berries are small, roundish, and greenish-white. The tree grows in swamps and low grounds, from Canada to Carolina, and flowers in June and July. It is thought to be identical with a species of Rhus which grows in Japan, and furnishes a fine black varnish, much used in that country. Dr. Bigelow found that the opaque whitish juice which exudes from our native plant when wounded, and which becomes permanently black on exposure, may be made to afford a brilliant, glossy, durable varnish, by boiling it sufficiently before applying it. . The Rhus Vernix produces much more powerfully than the R. radicans, the poisonous effects already described. Persons coming within its in- fluence are much more apt to be affected with the poison, and generally suffer more severely. The whole body is sometimes enormously swollen, and the patient for many days scarcely able to move; but the complaint almost always spontaneously subsides without destroying life. As in the former instance, the susceptibility to the influence of the poison is exceed- ingly various, and some persons may handle the plant with perfect im- punity. 3. Rhus pumilum. Michaux, Flor. Americ. i. 182. This is a southern species, growing in Upper Carolina, and not more than a foot in height. It is characterized by its pubescent branches and petioles; its pinnate leaves, with many pairs of oval, nearly acuminate, incised dentate leaflets, downy beneath; and by its silky fruit. According to Pursh it is the most poisonous of the genus. part i. Toxicodendron.— Tragacantha. 687 It is probable that all parts of the Rhus radicans (R. Toxicodendron) are possessed of active properties; but the leaves only are directed in the Phar- macopoeia, under the title of Toxicodendron. These are inodorous, have a mawkish acrid taste, and yield their virtues to water. The presence of tannin and gallic acid has been detected in them; but they have not been accurately analyzed. Medical Properties and Uses. These leaves appear to be stimulant and narcotic, producing when swallowed more or less irritation of the stomach and bowels, and promoting the secretory function of the skin and kidneys. Orfila found them to act in the manner of the acrid poisons, and to produce a stupifying effect upon the nervous system. They were successfully used by Du Fresnoy, in France, in the cure of obstinate cutaneous diseases. Dr. Anderson, of Hull in England, effected cures with the medicine in several cases of palsy. A sense of heat and pricking, with irregular twitchings, were excited by it in the affected parts. Dr. Horsfield, and other physicians of this country, have used it in consumption and dropsy, but not with any very encouraging success. The dose of the leaves recommended by Dr. Anderson, was half a grain or a grain three times a day; but this is much too small. Dr. Duncan gave it in larger doses, with little other than a laxative effect. Dr. Horsfield administered a teacupful of the strong infusion without disadvantage. In France the extract is recommended in doses of fifteen or twenty grains, re- peated two or three times a day, and gradually increased to one or two drachms. Some of Du Fresnoy's patients took an ounce without effect. The probability is, that the active principle is volatile, and that the extract is less efficient than the leaves themselves. The risk of experiencing the poisonous effects of the plant upon the system, will probably prevent its extensive employment as a remedy, unless it should prove much more useful than the trials hitherto made give us reason to expect. W. TRAGACANTHA. U. S., Lond. Tragacanth. " Astragalus verus. Succus concretus. The concrete juice." U. S. Off. Syn. ASTRAGALI TRAGACANTHA GUMMI. Ex variis Tra- gacanthae speciebus. Ed.; TRAGACANTHA GUMMI. ASTRAGALUS CRETICUS. Gummi. Dub. Gomme Adraganthe, Fr.; Tragant, Germ.; Drag-ante, Ital; Gomo tragacanto, Span. Astragalus. Sex. Syst. Diadelphia Decandria.—Nat. Ord. Legumi- nosae. Gen. Ch. Legume two-celled, more or less gibbous, with the lower suture turned inwards. Carina blunt. Loudon's Encyc. of Plants. Numerous species belonging to this genus yield a gummy matter having the properties of tragacanth. The drug known in commerce by that name has been ascribed, on the authority of Toumefort, to the A. Tragacantha of Linnaeus (A. Creticus of Lamarck,) which grows in Crete and Ionia; and on that of Olivier to the A. verus which inhabits Asia Minor, Armenia, and Northern Persia. Labillardiere described a species by the name of A. gum- mifer, which he found growing on Mount Libanus in Syria, and from which tragacanth exudes, though not that of commerce. Sieber denies that any one of these species yields the officinal tragacanth, which he ascribes to the 688 Tragacantha. part i. A. aristatus growing in Anatolia, especially upon Mount Ida, where the gum is most abundantly collected. This plant, however, is not the A. aris- tatus of Villars, which, according to Sibthorp, furnishes tragacanth in Greece. (Merat and De Lens.) The fact seems to be, that the commercial drug is collected from various sources; and it is affirmed that all the species of Astragalus with thorny petioles are capable of producing it. These form a natural group, and so closely resemble each other, that botanists have found some difficulty in distinguishing them. As the A. verus is designated in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, and that of the London College, we shall briefly describe it. Astragalus verus. Olivier, Voy. dans VEmpire Ottoman, v. 342. pi. 44. This is a small shrub, not more than two or three feet high, with a stem an inch in thickness, and numerous very closely crowded branches, covered with imbricated scales, and spines which are the remains of former petioles. The leaves, which are little more than half an inch long, consist of several pairs of opposite, villous, stiff, pointed leaflets, with a midrib terminating in a sharp yellowish point. The flowers are papilionaceous, small, yellow, axillary, aggregate, and furnished with cottony bractes. This species yields the gum collected in Persia, and thence transmitted southward to India through Bagdad and Bassora, northward to Russia, and westward to Aleppo. Tragacanth exudes spontaneously during the summer from the stems and branches, hardening as it exudes, and assuming various forms according to the greater or less abundance of the juice. Properties. It is in tortuous, vermicular filaments, rounded or flattened, rolled up or extended, of a whitish or yellowish-white colour, somewhat translucent, resembling horn in appearance. Sometimes the pieces are irre- gularly oblong or roundish, and of a slightly reddish colour. It is hard and more or less fragile, but difficult of pulverization, unless exposed to a freez- ing temperature, or thoroughly dried, and powdered in a heated mortar. The powder is very fine and white. Tragacanth has no smell, and very little taste. Its sp. gr. is 1.384. Introduced into water it absorbs a certain proportion of that liquid, swells very much, and forms a soft adhesive paste, but does not dissolve. If agitated with an additional quantity of water, this paste forms a uniform mixture; but in the course of one or two days the greater part separates, and is deposited, leaving a portion dissolved in the su- pernatant fluid. Tragacanth is wholly insoluble in alcohol. It appears to be composed of two different constituents, one soluble in water and resembling if not identical with gum Arabic, the other capable of swelling in water, but not dissolving. The latter, which, according to Bucholz, constitutes 43 per cent, of tragacanth, is ranked by some among the peculiar proximate princi- ples with the title of trugacanthin. It is probably identical with bassorin. It has the property of becoming blue with iodine, which is not the case with bassorin; but this property is ascribed to the presence of a small quantity of insoluble starch. According to M. Guerin, 100 parts of tragacanth contain 53.3 parts of arabin or pure gum, 33.1 of bassorin and insoluble starch, and 11.1 of water, and yield when burned 2.5 parts of ashes. To separate the soluble entirely from the insoluble part, requires agitation with separate portions of water, which are to be decanted and filtered; and the process is to be conti- nued till water ceases to dissolve anything. Berzelius considers tragacanth as a variety of mucilage. (See Linum.) Medical Properties and Uses. Tragacanth is demulcent, but on account of its difficult solubility, is not often given internally. The great viscidity which it imparts to water, renders it useful for the suspension of heavy in- PART I. Triosteum. 689 soluble powders; and it is also employed in pharmacy to impart consistence to troches, for which it answers better than gum Arabic. Off.Prep. Confectio Opii, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Mucilago Astragali Tra- gacanthae, Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Tragacantha? Compositus, Lond. W. TRIOSTEUM. U.S. Secondary. Fever-root. " Triosteum perfoliatum. Radix. The root." U.S. Triosteum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Caprifo- liaceae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five cleft, persistent, nearly the length of the corolla; segments linear, acute. Corolla tubular, five-lobed, subequal, base nectari- ferous, gibbous. Stigma somewhat five-lobed, capitate. Berry three-celled, three-seeded, crowned with the calyx. Nuttall. Triosteum perfoliatum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 990; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 90; Barton, Med. Bot. i. 59. This plant is indigenous and peren- nial. Several stems usually rise from the same root. They are simple, erect, round, hairy, fistulous, herbaceous, and from one to four feet high. The leaves are opposite, large, mostly connate, oval, acuminate, entire, abruptly narrowed at the base, and pubescent on their under surface. The flowers are of a dull purple colour, axillary, sessile, rarely solitary, some- times in pairs, generally in triplets or five together in the form of whorls. The germ is inferior, and the style projects beyond the corolla, into the tube of which the stamens are inserted. The berry is oval and of a deep orange colour, containing three hard, bony seeds. The fever-wort, fever-root, or wild ipecac, as this plant is variously called, though not very abundant, is found in most parts of the United States, pre- ferring a limestone soil and shady situations. Its flowers appear in June. The whole plant has a bitter taste; but the root is most active, and is the only officinal part. It is horizontal, long, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, thicker and tuberculated near the origin of the stem, of a yellowish or brownish colour externally, whitish within, and furnished with fibres which may be considered as branches of the main root. When dry it is brittle and easily pulverized. It has a sickening odour and a bitter nauseous taste. Both water and alcohol take up its active properties, which are retained in the extract. Medical Properties and Uses. Fever-root is cathartic, and in large doses emetic. The late Professor Barton observed it also to produce a diuretic effect. The bark of the root is the part which has been usually employed. In the quantity of twenty or thirty grains it ordinarily acts upon the bowels; and may be given alone or in combination with calomel at the commence- ment of fevers. The extract may be given in half the dose. W. 59* 690 Triticum Hybernum. part i. TRITICUM HYBERNUM. Scminum farina. Dub. Wheat-Jlour. Off. Syn. FARINA. Triticum hybernum. Seminum farina. Lond. Farine de froment, Fr.; Waizenmehl, Germ.; Farina di frumento, Ital; Flor del trigo, Acemite, Span. Triticum. Sex. Syst. Triandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Gramineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx two-valved, solitary, transverse, many-flowered, on a flexuose, toothed receptacle Rees's Cyclopaedia. Triticum hybernum. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 477. The common winter wheat has a fibrous root, and one or more erect, round, smooth, jointed stems, which rise from three to five feet in height, and are furnished with linear, pointed, entire, flat, many-ribbed, rough, somewhat glaucous leaves, and jagged bearded stipules. The flowers are in a solitary, terminal, dense, smooth spike, two or three inches long. The calyx is four-flowered, tumid, even, imbricated, abrupt, with a short compressed point. In the upper part of the spike it is more elongated; and in this situation the corolla is more or less awned. The grain is imbricated in four rows. The native country of wheat is unknown; but its cultivation is supposed to have spread from Sicily over Europe. It is now an object of culture in almost all countries which enjoy a temperate climate. Sown in the autumn, it stands the winter, and ripens its seed in the following summer. Numerous varieties have been produced by cultivation, some of which are usually de- scribed as distinct species. Among these may perhaps be ranked the T. sssfivum, or spring wheat, distinguished by its long beards, and the T. com- positum, or Egyptian wheat, by its compound spikes. It is asserted that the latter changes in Great Britain into the common single-spiked wheat. (Loudon's Encyc.) The seeds are too well known to need description. They are prepared for use by grinding and sifting, by which the interior farinaceous part is separated from the husk. The former is divided accord- ing to its fineness into different portions, but so far as regards its medical relations may be considered under one head, that of farina or flour. The latter is called bran, and constitutes from 25 to 33 per cent, according to the variety of wheat. Flour is white, inodorous, and nearly insipid. Its chief constituents are starch, gluten, saccharine matter, and gum, the proportions of which are by no means constant. Vauquelin obtained, as an average product, from eight varieties of flour which he examined, 10.25 per cent, of water, 10.80 of gluten, 68.08 of starch, 5.61 of sugar, and 4.11 of gum. The ashes of wheat, which amount only to about 0.15 per cent., contain, according to Henry, superphosphates of soda, lime, and magnesia. The gummy sub- stance found in wheat flour is not precisely identical with ordinary gum, as it contains nitrogen, and does not yield mucic acid by the action of nitric acid. The starch, which is by far the most abundant ingredient, is much employed in a separate state. (See Amylum.) The gluten, however, is not less important; as it is to the large proportion of this principle which wheat flour contains, that it owes its superiority over that of other grains for the pre- paration of bread. The gluten here alluded to is the substance first noticed as a distinct principle by Beccaria. It is the soft viscid fibrous mass which remains, when wheat flour, enclosed in a linen bag, is exposed to the action of a stream of water, and at the same time pressed with the fingers, till the liquor comes away colourless. But this has been ascertained to consist, in PART I. Triticum Hybernum. 691 fact, of two different substances. An Italian chemist, of the name of Taddei, found that by boiling it in alcohol a portion was dissolved, while another por- tion remained unaffected. Considering these as distinct principles, he gave the name of gliudine to the soluble, and zymome to the insoluble portion. But he had been anticipated in his experiments by the German chemist Ein- hof, who appears to have established the fact, that the part of the glutinous mass left behind by alcohol is identical with vegetable albumen, while the dissolved portion only is strictly entitled to the appellation of gluten, which had been previously conferred on the whole mass. As these two principles are contained in numerous vegetable products, and as they are frequently re- ferred to in this work, it is proper that they should be briefly noticed. They both contain nitrogen, and both, when left to themselves in a moist state, undergo putrefaction. From these circumstances, and from their close re- semblance to certain proximate animal principles in chemical habitudes and relations, they are sometimes called in works on chemistry, vegeto-animal substances. They are separated from each other, as they exist in the mass originally denominated gluten, by boiling this mass with successive portions of alcohol, till the liquid, filtered while yet hot, ceases to become turbid on cooling. The gluten dissolves, and may be obtained by adding water to the solution, and distilling off' the alcohol. Large cohering flakes float in the liquor, which, when removed, form a viscid elastic mass, consisting of the substance in question with some slight impurity. The part left behind by the alcohol is the albumen in a coagulated stale. Gluten, as thus procured, is a pale yellow, adhesive, elastic substance, which by drying becomes of a deeper yellow colour and translucent. It is almost insoluble in water, and quite insoluble in ether and in the oils both fixed and volatile. Hot alcohol dissolves it much more readily than cold; and from its solution in ordinary alcohol at the boiling temperature, it is pre- cipitated unchanged when ihe liquor cools. It is soluble in the dilute acids, and in caustic alkaline solutions, in consequence of forming soluble com- pounds with the acids and alkalies. With the eaiths and metallic oxides it forms nearly insoluble compounds, which are precipitated when the earthy or metallic salts are added to the solution of gluten in liquid potassa. Corro- sive sublimate precipitates it from its acid as well as alkaline solutions, and added in solution to moist gluten, forms with it a compound, which, when dry, is hard, opaque, and incorruptible. Gluten is also precipitated by infu- sion of galls. It bears a close resemblance to animal fibrin. Its name ori- ginated in its adhesive properly. Gluten exists in most of the farinaceous grains, and in the seeds of some leguminous plants. Vegetable albumen is destitute of adhesiveness, and when dried, is opaque, and of a white, gray, or brown colour. Before coagulation, it is soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol. By heat it coagulates and becomes insolu- ble in water. It is dissolved by the solutions of the caustic alkalies. Most of the acids, if added to its solutions in excess, precipitate compounds of the acids respectively with the albumen, which, though soluble in pure water, are insoluble in that liquid when acidulated. It is not, however, precipitated by an excess of the phosphoric or acetic acid. Its relations with the earthy and metallic salts are similar'to those of gluten. Corrosive sublimate pre- cipitates it from its solutions, except from those in phosphoric and acetic acids, and when added in a state of solution to moist albumen, forms with it a hard, opaque compound. It is also precipitated by infusion of galls. This principle derived its name from its very close resemblance to animal albumen. It is associated with gluten in most of the farinaceous grains, is a constituent 692 Triticum Hybernum. part i. of all the seeds which form a milky emulsion with water, and exists in all the vegetable juices which coagulate by heat. The mixture of gluten and albumen which constitutes the gluten of Bec- caria, exercises an important influence over starch, which, with the presence of water and the aid of a moderate heat, it converts partly into gum and partly into sugar. The production of saccharine matter in the germination of seeds, and in the formation of malt, which is an example of germination, is thus accounted for. The gluten itself becomes acid in the process, and loses the property of reacting on starch. It is scarcely necessary to state, that bread is formed by making flour into a paste with the addition of yeast, setting it aside to ferment, and then expos- ing it to the heat of an oven. The fermentation excited by the yeast, is ac- companied with the extrication of carbonic acid gas, which, being retained by the tenacity of the gluten, forms innumerable little cells through the mass, and thus renders the bread light. It is important to recollect that common salt is always added; as this ingredient is incompatible with some of the substances which are occasionally directed to be made into pills with the crumb of bread. Medical Properties and Uses. Wheat flour in its unaltered state is seldom used in medicine. It is sometimes sprinkled on the skin in erysipelatous inflammation, and various itching or burning eruptions, particularly the nettle-rash; though rye flour is generally preferred for this purpose. In the state of bread it is much more employed. An infusion of toasted bread in water is a pleasant, somewhat nutritive drink, very well adapted to febrile complaints. Within our experience, no drink has been found more grateful in such cases than this Infusion, sweetened' with a little molasses, and flavoured by lemon-juice. Boiled with milk, bread constitutes the com- mon suppurative poultice, which may be improved by the addition of a small proportion of perfectly fresh lard. Slices of it steeped in lead-water, or the crumb mixed with the fluid and confined within a piece of gauze, afford a convenient mode of applying this preparation to local inflamma- tions. The crumb—mica panis—is, moreover, frequently used to give bnlk to minute doses of very active medicines administered in the form of pill. It should be recollected, however, that the common salt which it contains is wholly incompatible with the nitrate of silver, which is frequently pre- scribed in this way, and the dose of which is so minute that no loss can be afforded. Bran is sometimes used in decoction, as a demulcent in catarrhal aflections and complaints of the bowels. It has, when taken in substance, laxative properties, and is used by some persons habitually and with great advantage to prevent costiveness. Bran bread, made from the unsifted flour, forms an excellent laxative article of diet in some dyspeptic cases. The action of the bran is probably altogether mechanical, consisting in the irritation produced upon the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels by its coarse particles. Off. Prep. Cataplasma Fermenti, Lond., Dub. W. PART I. Tussilago. 693 TUSSILAGO. Lond. Coltsfoot. " Tussilago Farfara." Lond. Off. Syn. TUSSILAGINIS FARFARiE FLORES et FOLIA. Ed.; TUSSILAGO FARFARA. Folia. Flores. Dub. Tussilage, Pas d'&ne, Fr.; Gemeiner Huflattig, Germ.; Tossilagine, Ital; Tusilago, Span. Tussilago. Sex. Syst. Syngenesia Superflua.—Nat. Ord. Compositae Corymbiferae. Gen. Ch. Receptacle naked. Pappus simple. Calyx scales equal, as long as the disk, submembranaceous. Florets of the ray ligulate or tooth- less. Willd. Tussilago Farfara. Willd. Sp. Plant, iii. 1967; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 45. t. 18. Coltsfoot is a perennial herb, with a creeping root, which early in the spring sends up several leafless, erect, simple, unifloral scapes or flower-stems, five or six inches high, and furnished with appressed scale- like bractes of a brownish-pink colour. The flower, which stands singly at the end of the scape, is large, yellow, compound, with hermaphrodite florets in the disk, and female florets in the ray. The latter are numerous, linear, and twice the length of the former. The leaves do not make their appear- ance until after the flowers have blown. They are radical, petiolate, large, cordate, angular and toothed at the margin, bright green upon their upper surface, white and downy beneath. The plant grows spontaneously both in Europe and North America. In this country it is found upon the banks of streams in the Middle and North- ern States, and flowers in April. The whole of it is directed by the London College, the leaves and flowers only by those of Edinburgh and Dublin. The leaves are most frequently employed. They should be gathered after their full expansion, but before they have attained their greatest magnitude. (London Dispensatory.) The flowers have an agreeable odour, which they retain after desiccation. The dried root and leaves are inodorous, but have a rough bitterish mucila- ginous taste. Boiling water extracts all their virtues. Medical Properties and Uses. Coltsfoot exercises little sensible influence upon the human system. It is, however, demulcent, and is sometimes used in chronic coughs, consumption, and other affections of the lungs. The expectorant properties which it was formerly thought to possess are not ob- vious. The leaves were smoked by the ancients in pulmonary complaints; and in some parts of Germany they are at the present time said to be sub- stituted for tobacco. Cullen states that he found the expressed juice of the fresh leaves, taken to the extent of some ounces every day, beneficial in several cases of scrofulous sores; and a decoction of the dried leaves, as re- commended by Fuller, answered a similar purpose, though it often failed to effect a cure. The usual form of administration is that of decoction. An ounce or two of the plant may be boiled in two pints of water to a pint, of which a tea- cupful may be given several times a day. W. 694 Ulmus. PART I. ULMUS. Lond. Elm Bark. " Ulmus campestris. Cortex." Lond. Off. Syn. ULMI CAMPESTRIS CORTEX. Cortex interior. Ed.; ULMUS CAMPESTRIS. Cortex interior. Dub. Ecorce d'ornie, Fr.; Ulmenrinde, Germ.; Scorza del olmo, Ital; Corteza de olmo, Span. Ulmus. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Digynia.—Nat. Ord. Amentaceae, Juss.; Ulmaceae, Mirbel, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla none. Capsule (Samara) compressed, membranaceous. Willd. Ulmus campestris. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1324; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 710. t. 242. This species of elm is characterized by its doubly serrate leaves, unequal at their base, by its nearly sessile, clustered, pentandrous flowers, and its smooth fruit. It is a large tree, with strong spreading branches, and a rough, cracked bark. It is a native of Europe, where the wood is highly esteemed for certain purposes in the arts. The inner bark of its young branches, which is the officinal portion, is thin, tough, of a brownish-yellow colour, inodorous, and of a mucilaginous bitterish taste. It imparts to water its taste and mucilaginous properties. The tincture of iodine indicates the presence of starch. A peculiar vegetable principle called ulmin, now believed to be a constituent of most barks, was first discovered in the matter which spontaneously exudes from the bark of the European elm. It is a dark-brown almost black substance, without smell or taste, insoluble in cold water, sparingly soluble in boiling water which it colours yellowish-brown, soluble in alcohol, and readily dissolved by alka- line solutions. Medical Properties and Uses. The bark of the European elm is demul- cent, and said to be diuretic. It has been recommended in cutaneous affec- tions of the leprous and herpetic character; but is not at present very highly esteemed. It is usually given in the form of decoction, and must be long continued to produce beneficial results. Off. Prep. Decoctum Ulmi, Lond., Dub. W. ULMUS. U.S. Slippery Elm Bark. " Ulmus fulva. Liber. The inner bark." U. S. Ulmus. See ULMUS. Lond. Ulmus fulva. Michaux, Flor. Americ. i. 172.—Ulmus rubra. F. An- drew Michaux, N. Am. Sylv. iii. 89. The slippery elm, called also red elm, is a lofty tree, rising fifty or sixty feet in height, with a stem fifteen or twenty inches in diameter. The bark of the trunk is brown, that of the branches rough and whitish. The leaves are oblong ovate, acuminate, nearly equal at the base, unequally serrate, pubescent and very rough on both sides, four or five inches in length by two or three in breadth, and supported on short footstalks. The buds, a fortnight before their develop- ment, are covered with a dense russet down. The flowers, which appear before the leaves, are sessile, and in clusters at the extremity of the young part i. Ulmus.— Uva Passa. 695 shoots. The bunches of flowers are surrounded by scales, which are downy like the buds. The calyx also is downy. There is no corolla. The stamens are five in number, short, and of a pale rose colour. The fruit is a mem- branaceous capsule or samara, enclosing in the middle one round seed, destitute of fringe. This species of elm is indigenous, growing in all parts of the United States north of Carolina, but most abundantly west of the Alleghany moun- tains. It flourishes in open, elevated situations, and requires a firm dry soil. From the white elm, U. Americana, it is distinguished by its rough branches, its larger, thicker, and rougher leaves, its downy buds, and the character of its flowers and seedsi Its period of flowering is in April. The inner bark is the part used in medicine, and is brought to the shops separated from the epidermis. It is in long, nearly flat pieces, from one to two lines in thickness, of a fibrous texture, a tawny colour which is reddish on the inner surface, a peculiar sweetish not unpleasant odour, and a highly mucilaginous taste when chewed. By grinding, it is reduced to a light, grayish-fawn coloured powder. It abounds in mucilaginous matter, which it readily imparts to water. Medical Properties and Uses. Slippery elm bark is an excellent demul- cent, applicable to all cases in which this class of medicines is employed. It is especially recommended in dysentery, diarrhoea, and diseases of the urinary passages. Like the bark of the common European elm, it has been em- ployed in leprous and herpetic eruptions; but neither in these nor in any other complaints does it probably exert any greater powers than such as belong to the demulcents generally. Its mucilage is highly nutritious; and we are told that it has proved sufficient for the support of life in the absence of other food. The instance of a soldier is mentioned, who lived for ten days in the woods on this bark and sassafras; and the Indians are said to resort to it for nutriment in extreme emergencies. It is usually employed as a drink in the form of infusion. (See Infusum Ulmi.) The powder may be used, stirred in hot water, with which it forms a mucilage, more or less thick according to the proportion added. The bark also serves as an emollient application, in cases of external in- flammation. For this purpose the powder may be formed into a poultice with hot water, or the bark itself may be applied, previously softened by boiling. Dr. McDowell, of Virginia, has recommended the use of slippery elm bark in the dilatation of fistulas and strictures. (Med. Examiner, i. 244, from the West. Jour, of Med. and Phys. Sci.) Off. Prep. Infusum Ulmi, U. S. W. UVA PASSA. U.S. Raisins. " Vitis vinifera. Fructus siccatus. The dried fruit." U. S. Off. Syn. UVA. Vitis vinifera. Baccse exsiccatse demptis acinis. Lond.; VITIS VINIFER^E FRUCTUS. Fructus siccatus. Ed.; VITIS VINI- FERA. Fructus siccatus. Dub. Raisins sees, Fr.; Rosinen, Germ.; Uve passe, Ital; Pasas, Span. Vitis. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Vites. Gen. Ch. Petals cohering at the apex, withering. Berry five-seeded, superior. Willd. 696 Uva Passa. part r- Vitis vinifera. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1180; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 144. t. 57. The vine is too well known to require description. This particular species is distinguished by the character of its leaf, which is lobed, sinuated, and naked or downy. The leaves and tendrils are somewhat astringent, and were formerly used in diarrhoea, hemorrhages, and other morbid discharges. The juice which flows from the stem was also thought to be possessed of medicinal virtues, and the prejudice still lingers among the vulgar in some countries. The unripe fruit has a harsh sour taste, and yields by expression a very acid liquor, called verjuice, which was much esteemed by the an- cients as a refreshing drink, when diluted with water. It contains malic and tartaric acids. The grape, when quite ripe, is among the most pleasant and grateful fruits brought upon the table, and is admirably adapted, by its refreshing properties, to febrile complaints. If largely taken, it proves diuretic and gently laxative. The ripe fruit differs from the unripe in con- taining more sugar and less acid, though never entirely destitute of the latter. A peculiar acid has been found in grapes called by some chemists racemic acid, by Berzelius paratartaric acid, from its resemblance to the tartaric, with which it agrees in composition, though differing from it in properties. The plant is supposed to have been derived originally from Asia; but it has been cultivated in Europe and Northern Africa from the remotest antiquity, and is now spread over all the temperate civilized regions of the globe. The fruit is exceedingly influenced by soil and climate; and the varieties which have resulted from culture or situation are innumerable. Those which yield the raisins of commerce are confined to the basin of the Mediterranean. Raisins are prepared either by partially cutting the stalk of the bunches before the grapes are perfectly ripe, and allowing them to dry upon the vine; or by picking them in their mature state, and steeping them for a short time previously to desiccation in an alkaline ley. Those cured by the first method are most highly esteemed. Several varieties of raisins are known in commerce. The best of those brought to this country are the Malaga raisins, imported from Spain. They are large and fleshy, of a purplish-brown colour, and sweet agreeable taste. Those produced in Calabria are similar. The Smyrna raisins are also large, but of a yellowish-brown colour, slightly musky odour, and less agreeable flavour. They are originally brought from the coast of Syria. The Corinthian raisins, or currants as they are commonly called in this country, are small, bluish-black, of a fatty appearance, with a vinous odour, and a sweet slightly tartish taste. Their name was derived from the city in the vicinity of which they were formerly cultivated; at present they are procuied chiefly from Zante, Cephalonia, and the other Ionian Islands. In the older Pharmacopoeias they are distinguished by the title of uvae passse minores. Radius contain a larger proportion of sugar than recent grapes. This principle, indeed, is often so abundant that it effloresces on the surface, or concretes in separate masses within the substance of the raisin. The sugar of grapes differs slightly from that of the cane, and is said to be identical with that produced by the action of sulphuric acid upon starch. It is less sweet than common sugar, less soluble in cold water, much less soluble in alcohol, and forms a syrup of less consistence. Medical Properties and Uses. The chief medical use of raisins is to flavour demulcent beverages. Taken in substance they are gently laxative; PART I. Uva Passa.— Uva Ursi. 697 but are also flatulent and difficult of digestion; and when largely eaten some- times produce unpleasant effects, especially in children. Off. Prep. Decoctum Althaeae, Ed., Dub.; Decoctum Guaiaci Composi- tum, Ed.; Decoctum Hordei Compositum, Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Carda- momi Composita, Lond.; Tinctura Rhei et Sennae, U.S.; Tinctura Sennae Composita, Lond. W. UVA URSI. U.S., Lond. Uva Ursi. "Arbutus uva ursi. Folia. The leaves." U.S. "Arctostaphylos Uva ursi. Folia." Lond. Off. Syn. ARBUTI UViE URSI FOLIA. Ed.; UVA URSI. AR- BUTUS UVA URSI. Folia. Dub. Busserole, Raisin d'ours, Fr.; Biirentraube, Germ.; Corbezzolo, Uva Ursina, Ital; Gayuba, Span. Arbutus. Sex. Syst. Decandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Ericeae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Corolla ovate, with a mouth, pellucid at the base. Berry five-celled. Willd. Arbutus Uva Ursi. Willd. Sp. Plant, ii. 618; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. i. 66.—Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi. Adanson; Sprengel.—The uva ursi, or bearberry, is a low evergreen shrub, with trailing stems, the young branches of which rise obliquely upwards for a few inches. The leaves are scattered, upon short petioles, obovate, acute at the base, entire, with a rounded mar- gin, thick, coriaceous, smooth, shining, and of a deep green colour on their upper surface, paler and covered with a net-work of veins beneath. The flowers, which stand on short reflexed peduncles, are collected in small clus- ters at the ends of the branches. The calyx is small, five-parted, of a red- dish colour, and persistent. The corolla is ovate or urceolate, reddish-white, or white with a red lip, transparent at the base, contracted at the mouth, and divided at the margin into five short reflexed segments. The stamens are ten, with short filaments and bifid anthers; the germ round, with a style longer than the stamens, and a simple stigma. The fruit is a small, round, depressed, smooth, glossy, red berry, containing an insipid mealy pulp, and five cohering seeds. This humble but hardy shrub inhabits the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America. It is also found in the lofty mountains of Southern Europe, such as the Pyrennees and the Alps; and, on the American conti- nent, extends from Hudson's Bay as far southward as New Jersey, in some parts of which it grows in great abundance. It prefers a barren soil, flour- ishing on gravelly hills, and elevated sandy plains. The leaves are the only part used in medicine. They were formerly imported from Europe; but are now collected chiefly within our own limits; and the market of Phila- delphia is supplied exclusively from New Jersey. They should be gath- ered in autumn, and the green leaves only selected. In Europe the uva ursi is often adulterated with the leaves of the Vac- cinium Vitis Idsea, which are wholly destitute of its peculiar properties, and may be distinguished by their rounder shape, their revolute edges which are sometimes slightly toothed, and the appearance of their under surface, which is dotted, instead of being reticulated as in the genuine leaves. These 60 69S Uva Ursi.— Valeriana. PART !• distinguishing characters are given, as parcels of the drug may sometimes reach this country from abroad. Leaves of the Chimaphila umbellata may sometimes be found among the uva ursi as it exists in our own markets. They may be readily detected by their greater length, their cuneiform lan- ceolate shape, and their seirate edges. The leaves of the uva ursi are inodorous when fresh, but acquire a smell not unlike that of hay when dried and powdered. Their taste is bitterish, strongly astringent, and ultimately sweetish. They afford a light brown, greenish-yellow powder. Water extracts their active principles, which are also soluble in officinal alcohol. Among their ingredients are tannin, bitter extractive, resin, gum, and gallic acid; and the tannin is so abundant that they are used for tanning in some parts of Russia. Neither this prin- ciple nor gallic acid exists in the leaves of the Vaccinium Vitis Idsea. Medical Properties and Uses. Uva ursi is astringent and tonic, and is thought by some to have a specific direction to the urinary organs, for the complaints of which it is chiefly used. Others deny that it possesses any peculiar tendency of this kind, and ascribe all its effects to its astringent and tonic action. Though known to the ancients, it had passed into almost entire neglect, till its use was revived by De Haen about the middle of the last century. It has acquired some reputation as an antilithic, and has undoubtedly been serviceable in gravel, probably by giving tone to the digestive organs, and preventing the accumulation of principles calculated to produce a secretion or precipitation of calculous matter. In chronic neph- ritis it is also a popular remedy, and is particularly recommended when there is reason to conjecture the existence of ulceration in the kidneys, blad- der, or urinary passages. Diabetes, catarrh of the bladder, incontinence of urine, gleet, leucorrhcea, and menorrhagia, are also among the diseases in which it has occasionally proved serviceable; and testimony is not wanting to its beneficial effects in phthisis pulmonalis. The dose of the powder is from a scruple to a drachm, to be repeated three or four limes a day; but the form of decoction is usually preferred. (See Decoctum Uvse Ursi.) Off. Prep. Decoctum Uvae Ursi, U.S. Lond.; Extractum Uvse Ursi, Lond. W. VALERIANA. U.S., Lond. Valerian. " Valeriana officinalis. Radix. The root." U. S. " Valeriana Officinalis. (Sylvestris.) Radix." Lond. Off. Syn. VALERIANAE OFFICINALIS RADIX. Ed.; VALERIA- NA OFFICINALIS. Radix. Dub. Valeriane, Fr.; Wilde Baldrianwurzel, Germ.; Valeriana silvestre, Ital; Valerian sil- vestre, Span. Valeriana. Sex. Syst. Triandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Valerianeae, De Cand., Lindley. Gen. Ch. Calyx very small, finally enlarged into a feathery pappus. Corolla monopetalous, five-lobed, regular, gibbous at the base. Capsule one-celled. (Loudon's Encyc. of Plants.) Stamens exserted, one, two, three, and four. (Auttall.) Valeriana officinalis. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 177; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. PART I. Valeriana. 699 77. t. 32. The officinal, or great wild valerian, is a large handsome her- baceous plant, with a perennial root, and an erect, round, channeled stem, from two to four feet high, furnished with opposite pinnate leaves, and ter- minating in flowering branches. The leaves of the stem are attached by short broad sheaths, the radical leaves are larger and stand on long foot- stalks. In the former the leaflets are lanceolate and partially dentate, in the latter elliptical and deeply serrate. The flowers are small, white or rose- coloured, odorous, and disposed in terminal corymbs, interspersed with spear-shaped pointed bractes. The number of stamens in this species is three. The fruit is a capsule containing one oblong ovate, compressed seed. The plant is a native of Europe, where it grows either in damp woods and meadows, or on dry elevated grounds. As found in these different situations, it presents characters so distinct as to have induced some botanists to make two varieties. That which affects a dry soil is not more than two feet high, and is distinguished by its narrow leaves. It is superior to the other variety in medicinal virtue. The root, which is the officinal portion, is collected in spring before the stem begins to shoot, or in the autumn when the leaves decay. It should be dried quickly, and kept in a dry place. It consists of numerous long, slen- der, cylindrical fibres, issuing from a tuberculated head. As brought to this country it frequently has portions of the stem attached. The best comes from England. Properties. The colour of the root is externally yellowish or brown, in- ternally white. The powder is yellowish-gray. The odour, which in the fresh root is slight, in the dried is strong and highly characteristic, and though rather pleasant to many persons, is very disagreeable to others. Cats are said to be strongly attracted by it. The taste is at first sweetish, afterwards bitter and aromatic. Valerian yields its active properties to water and alco- hol. Trommsdorf found it to consist of 1.2 parts of volatile oil; 12.5 of a peculiar extractive matter, soluble in water, insoluble in ether and alcohol, and precipitated by metallic solutions; 18.75 of gum; 6.25 of a soft odorous resin; and 63 of lignin. Of these constituents the most important is the essential oil, in which the virtues of the root chiefly reside. It is of a pale greenish colour, of the sp. gr. 0.934, with a pungent odour of valerian, and an aromatic taste. It becomes yellow and viscid by exposure. Trommsdorf has ascertained that it contains a peculiar volatile acid, upon which the name of valerianic acid has been conferred. This, when separated from the oil, is a colourless liquid, of an oleaginous consistence, having an odour analo- gous to that of valerian, and a very strong, sour disagreeable taste. It com- bines with salifiable bases, forming salts, which retain, in a diminished degree, the odour of the acid. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 316.) The roots of the Valeriana Phu and V. dioica are said to be sometimes mingled with those of the officinal plant; but the adulteration is attended with no serious consequences, as though much weaker than the genuine valerian, they possess similar properties. The same cannot be said of the roots of several of the Ranunculacese, which, according to Ebermayer, are sometimes fraudulently substituted in Germany. They may be readily de- tected by their want of the peculiar odour of the officinal root. Medical Properties and Uses. Valerian is gently stimulant, with an espe- cial direction to the nervous system, but without narcotic effect. In large doses it produces a sense of heaviness and dull pain in the head. It is use- ful in cases of irregular nervous action, when not connected with inflamma- tion or an excited condition of the system. Among the complaints in which 700 Valeriana.— Veratrum Alburn. parti. it has been particularly recommended, are hysteria, hypochondriasis, epi- lepsy, hemicrania, and low forms of fever attended with restlessness, morbid vigilance, or other symptoms of nervous derangement. It has also been used in intermittents combined with Peruvian bark. At best, however, it is an uncertain remedy. It may be given in powder or infusion. In the latter form, it is said by Professor Joerg of Leipsic, who has experimented with it, to be less apt to irritate the alimentary canal than when administered in substance. The dose of the powder is from thirty to ninety grains, repeated three or four times a day. The tincture is also officinal. As the virtues ot valerian reside chiefly in the volatile oil, the medicine should not be given in decoction or extract. The distilled water is used on the continent of Eu- rope; and the volatile oil is occasionally substituted with advantage for the root. The dose of the oil is four or five drops. Off. Prep. Infusum Valerianae, U.S., Lond. Dub.; Tinctura Valerianae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Valerianae Ammoniata, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. w- VERATRUM ALBUM. U.S. White Hellebore. "Veratrum Album. Radix. The root," U.S. Off Syn. VERATRUM. Veratrum album. Radix. Lond.; VERATRI ALBI RADIX. Ed.; VERATRUM ALBUM. Radix. Dub. Ell^bore blanc, Fr.; Weisse Niesswurzel, Germ.; Eleboro bianco, Ital; Veratro bianco, Span. * Veratrum. Sex. Syst. Polygamia Monoecia.—Nat. Ord. Junci, Juss.; Melanthaceae, R. Brown, Lindley. Gen. Ch. Hermaphrodite. Calyx none. Corolla six-petaled. Stamens six. Pistils three. Capsules three, many-seeded. Male. Calyx none. Co- rolla six-petaled. Stamens six. Pistils a rudiment. Willd. Botanists who reject the class Polygamia of Linnaeus, place this genus in the class and order Hexandria Trigynia, with the following character. " Polygamous. Corolla six-parted, spreading, segments sessile and without glands. Stamens inserted upon the receptacle. Capsules three, united, many- seeded." Nuttall. Besides the Veratrum album, and V. viride, which are officinal plants, another species—the Veratrum Sabadilla—is noticed in medical works. It is a Mexican plant, and is interesting chiefly as the source of a drug known by the name of cevadilla. (See Sabadilla, p. 580.) Veratrum album. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 895; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 754. t. 257. This is an herbaceous plant, with a perennial, fleshy, fusiform root, yellowish-white externally, pale yellowish-gray within, and beset with long cylindrical fibres of a grayish colour. The stem is three or four feet high, thick, round, erect, and furnished with alternate leaves, which are oval, acute, entire, plaited longitudinally, about ten inches long by five in breadth, of a yellowish-green colour, and embrace the stem at their base. The flowers are greenish, and arranged in a terminal panicle. The white hellebore is a native of the mountainous regions of continental Europe, and abounds in the Alps and Pyrennees. All parts of the plant are said to be acrid and poisonous; but the root only is officinal. This ia brought to us from Germany in the dried stale, in pieces from one to three PART I. Veratrum Jllbum. 701 inches long by an inch or less in mean diameter, cylindrical or in the shape of a truncated cone, internally whitish, externally blackish, wrinkled, and rough with the remains of the fibres which have been cut off near their origin. Sometimes the fibres continue attached to the root. They are nu- merous, yellowish, and of the size of a crow's quill. Properties. The fresh root has a disagreeable odour, which is lost by drying. The taste is at first sweetish, afterwards bitterish, acrid, burning, and durable. The powdered root is grayish. Analyzed by Pelletier and Caventou, white hellebore was found to contain an oily matter consisting of olein, stearin, and a volatile acid; supergallate of veratria; a yellow colour- ing matter; starch; gum; lignin; silica, and various salts of lime and' po- tassa. The medicinal properties of the root reside in the veratria, which was first discovered in the seeds of the Veratrum Sabadilla, and proba- bly exist/in other plants belonging to the same family. For an account of Veratria, see Sabadilla, p. 580, and the article Veratria, among the Pre- parations. Medical Properties and Uses. White hellebore is a violent emetic and cathartic, capable of producing dangerous and fatal effects when incautiously administered. Even in small doses it has sometimes occasioned severe vo- miting, hypercatharsis with bloody stools, and alarming symptoms of gene- ral prostration. Applied externally upon a portion of the surface denuded of the cuticle, as upon ulcers for example, it gives rise to griping pain in the bowels, and sometimes violent purging. When snuffed up the nostrils, it occasions great irritation with violent sneezing, and its use in this way is not free from danger. It was employed by the ancients in dropsy, mania, epilepsy, leprosy, elephantiasis, and other obstinate disorders, not without occasional advantage; but the severity of its operation has led to its general abandonment as an internal remedy. It is sometimes used as an errhine, diluted with some mild powder, in cases of gutta serena and lethargic affec- tions; and in the shape of decoction, or of ointment prepared by mixing the pulverized root with lard, has been found beneficial as an external appli- cation in the iich, and in other cutaneous eruptions. From the resemblance of its operation to that of the eau medicinale d'Husson, so celebrated for the cure of gout, it has been conjectured to be the chief constituent of that remedy—a reputation which has also been enjoyed by colchicum. A mix- ture of the wine of white hellebore and the wine of opium, in the propor- tion of three parts of the former to one of the latter, was introduced into use by Mr. Moor of London as a substitute for the eau medicinale, and has been considerably employed in gouty and rheumatic affections. In whatever way white hellebore is used, it requires cautious manage- ment. It has been given in doses varying from one grain to a scruple. Not more than two grains should be. administered at first. When employed as an errhine it should be mixed with five or six parts of pulverized liquorice root or other inactive powder. Ten or twelve grains of the mixture may be snuffed up the nostrils at one time. Veratria acts in a similar manner with the white hellebore, but is much more powerful. One-twelfth of a grain may be given in the form of pill or alcoholic solution, and repeated three or four times in the twenty-four hours, till it purges. For an account of its practical applications, the reader is referred to Veratria, among the Preparations in the second part of this work. Off. Prep. Decoctum Veratri, Lond., Dub.; Tinctura Veratri Albi, Ed.; Unguentum Veratri Albi, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Unguentum Sulphuris Com- positum, Lond.; Vinum Veratri Albi, U.S., Lond. W. 60* 702 Veratrum Alburn.— Veratrum Viride. part i VERATRUM VIRIDE. U.S. American Hellebore. " Veratrum viride. Radix. The root." U.S. Veratrum. See VERATRUM ALBUM. Veratrum viride. Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 896; Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. ii. 121. The American hellebore, known also by the names of Indian poke, poke root, and swamp hellebore, has a perennial, thick, fleshy root, the upper portion of which is tunicated, the lower solid and beset with numerous whitish fibres or radicles. The stem is annual, round, striated, pubescent, and solid, from three to six feet in height, furnished with bright green leaves, and terminating in a panicle of greenish-yellow flowers. The leaves gradually decrease in size as they ascend. The lower are from six inches to a foot long, oval, acuminate, plaited, nerved, and pubescent; and embrace the stem at their base, thus affording it a sheath for a considerable portion of its length. Those on the upper part of the stem, at the origin of the flowering branches, are oblong lanceolate. The panicle consists of numerous flowers distributed in racemes with downy peduncles. Each flower is accompanied with a downy pointed bracte much longer than its pedicel. There is no calyx, and the corolla is divided into six oval acute segments, thickened on the inside at their base, with the three alternate segments longer than the others. The six stamens have recurved filaments, and roundish two-lobed anthers. The germs are three, with recurved styles as long as the stamens. Some of the flowers have only the rudiments of pistils. Those on the upper end of the branchlets are barren, those on the lower portion fruitful. The fruit consists of three cohering capsules, separating at top, opening on the inner side, and containing flat imbricated seeds. This indigenous species of Veratrum is found from Canada to Carolina, inhabiting swamps, wet meadows, and the banks of mountain streamlets. Early in the spring, before the stem rises, it bears a slight resemblance to the Symplocarpus foetidus, with which it is very frequently associated, but the latter sends forth no stem. From May to July is the season for flower- ing. The root should be collected in autumn, and should not be kept longer than one year; as it deteriorates by time. The root of the American hellebore has a bitter acrid taste, leaving a per- manent impression in the mouth and fauces. In sensible properties it bears a close resemblance to white hellebore; and from this circumstance, as well as from the strong botanical affinity of the two plants, it is highly probable that it contains veratria. The experiments of Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Worth- ington, of Philadelphia, go to strengthen this probability. (See Amer. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 181. and x. 89.) Medical Properties and Uses. American hellebore resembles its Eu- ropean congener in its effects upon the system, though asserted by Dr. Os- good to be wholly destitute of cathartic properties. In addition to its emetic action, which is often violent and long continued, it is said to increase most of the secretions, and, when freely taken, to exercise a powerful influence over the nervous system, indicated by faintness, somnolency, vertigo, head- ach, dimness of vision, and dilated pupils. According to Dr. Osgood, it reduces the frequency and force of the pulse, sometimes, when taken in full doses, as low as thirty-five strokes in the minute. It may be safely substituted for the European root in most cases in which the latter is employed; and is highly recommended as a substitute for colchicum by Dr. 'Fully of New part l. Veratrum Viride.— Verbascum Thapsus. 703 Haven. Gouty, rheumatic, and neuralgic affections are those to which it appears best adapted. For an account of what may be said upon the medical properties and applications of the American hellebore, the reader is referred to a paper by Dr. Charles Osgood, of Providence, in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. xvi. p. 296. It may be used in substance, tincture, or extract. Dr. Osgood states the dose in which it will generally prove emetic at from four to six grains of the powder, one or two fluidrachms of a tincture made in the proportion of six ounces of the fresh root to a pint of alcohol, and one or two grains of an extract made by inspissating the juice of the root. The medicine, however, should, in most cases, be given in doses insufficient to vomit. Off. Prep. Unguentum Veratri Viridis, U.S. W. VERBASCUM THAPSUS. Folia. Dub. Mullein Leaves. Verbascum. Sex. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Solaneae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five-parted. Corolla rotate, five-lobed, unequal. Stamens declined, bearded. Stigma simple. Capsule two-celled, valves inflected, many-seeded. Nuttall. Verbascum Thapsus. Willd. Sp. Plant, i. 1001; Woodv. Med. Bot. p. 202. t. 75. This is a biennial plant, with an erect, round, rigid, hairy stem, which rises from three to six feet in height, and is irregularly beset with large sessile, oblong or oval, somewhat pointed leaves, indented at the margin, woolly on both sides, and decurrent at the base. The flowers are yellow, and disposed in a long, close, cylindrical, terminal spike. The mullein is common throughout the United States, growing along the road-sides and in neglected fields, and springing up abundantly in newly cleared places, at the most remote distance from cultivation. It is neverthe- less considered by many botanists as a naturalized plant, introduced originally from Europe, where it is also abundant. It flowers from June to August. The leaves and flowers have been employed; but the former only are directed by the Dublin College. Both have a slight, somewhat narcotic smell, which in the dried flowers becomes agreeable. Their taste is mucilaginous, herba- ceous, and bitterish, but very feeble. They impart their virtues to water by infusion. Medical Properties and Uses. Mullein leaves are demulcent and emollient, and are thought to possess anodyne properties, which render them useful in pectoral complaints. On the Continent of Europe, an infusion of the flowers, strained in order to separate the rough hairs, is considerably used in mild ca- tarrhs. Dr. Home found a decoction of the leaves useful in diarrhcea. The leaves are also employed externally, steeped in hot water, as a feebly anodyne emollient. An ointment is prepared from them in the recent state, and used for the same purposes. It may be made in the same manner as ointment of stramonium, by boiling the leaves in lard. It will be found advantageous to moisten them with water previously to the boiling. W. 704 Veronica.— Vinum. part i. VERONICA. U.S. Secondary. Veronica. " Veronica Virginica. Radix. The root." U.S. Several species of Veronica, common to Europe and this country, have been medicinally employed, under the impression that they possessed altera- tive and antiscorbutic properties. Among these are the Veronica officinalis or speedwell, and V. Beccabunga or brooklime, the latter of which has but recently been discharged from the officinal catalogue of the Dublin College. None of them are now employed. The Veronica Virginica of Linnasus, the root of which is the officinal Veronica, has been separated from this genus by Mr. Nuttall, and erected into a new one with the title of Leptandra, which is now generally acknowledged. The proper name, therefore, of the plant under consideration, is Leptandra Virginica. Leptanora. Sex. Syst. Diandria Monogynia.—Nat. Ord. Scrophula- rineae. Gen. Ch. Calyx five parted, segments acuminate. Corolla tubular-cam- panulate, border four-lobed, a little ringent, unequal, the lower lamina nar- rower. Stamens and at length ihe pistil much exserted; filaments below, and tube of the corolla pubescent. Capsule ovate, acuminate, two-celled, many-seeded, opening at the summit. Nuttall. Leptandra Virginica. Nuttall, Gen. of N. Am. Plants, i. 7; Rafinesque, Med. Flor. vol. ii. This plant, sometimes called Culver's physic, has a perennial root, with an herbaceous stem three or four feet high, furnished with leaves in whorls, and terminating in a long spike of white flowers. A variety was seen by Pursh with purple flowers. This is described and figured as a distinct species by Rafinesque, under the title of L. purpurea. The plant grows throughout the United States, affecting particularly cal- careous hills and sunny exposures, and flowering in August. The root, which is the part used, is bitter and nauseous, and yields its active proper- ties to boiling water. Medical Properties and Uses. When recent it is said to act violently as a cathartic, and sometimes as an emetic. In the dried state it is more uncer- tain. The dose of the powder is from twenty grains to a drachm. It is one of the medicines which will probably be omitted on a future revision of the Pharmacopoeia. W. VINUM. U.S. Wine. "Vinum album Teneriffe dictum. 77ie white wine called Teneriffe." U. S. M Off Syn. VINUM XERICUM. Lond. VINUM ALBUM HISPA- NUM. Anglice, Sherry. Ed.; VINUM ALBUM HISPANUM. Dub. Vin, Fr.; Wein, Germ.; Vino, Ital, Span. Wine is the fermented juice of the grape, the fruit of the Vitis vinifera of botanists, an important plant, the description of which will be found under another head. (See Uva Passa.) The juice of sweet grapes consists of a considerable quantity of sugar, a peculiar matter of the nature of ferment or PART I. Vinum. 705 yeast, and a small portion of mucilage, tannic acid, supertartrate of potassa, tartrate of lime, common salt, and sulphate of potassa; the whole dissolved or suspended in a large quantity of water. Sour grapes contain, in addition, a peculiar acid isomeric with the tartaric, called paratartaric acid. Grape juice, therefore, embraces all the ingredients essential to the production of the vinous fermentation, and requires only the influence of the atmosphere and a proper temperature to convert it into wine. The theory of the vinous fermentation, and the agency of sugar in the process, have been explained under Alcohol. Preparation. Though the art of making wine varies in different countries, it is, nevertheless, regulated by general rules which require to be observed! When the grapes are ripe, they are gathered, and trodden under foot in wooden vessels with perforated bottoms, through which the juice, called the must, runs into a vat placed beneath. The temperature of the air being about 60°, the fermentation gradually takes place in the must, and becomes fully established after a longer or shorter period. In the mean time, the must becomes sensibly warmer, and emits a large quantity of carbonic acid, which, creating a kind of effervescence, causes the more solid parts to be thrown to the surface in a mass of froth having a hemispherical shape called the head. I he liquor, from being sweet, becomes vinous, and assumes a deep red co- lour it the product of red grapes. After a while the fermentation slackens, when it becomes necessary to accelerate it by thoroughly mixing the contents ot the yat. When the liquor has acquired a strong vinous taste, and become perlectly clear, the wine is considered as made, and is racked off into casks. But even at this stage of the process, the fermentation is not completed, but continues for several months longer. During the whole of this period, a frothy matter is formed, which, for the first few days, collects round the bung, but afterwards precipitates along with colouring matter and tartar, forming a deposite which constitutes the wine-lees. Division and Nomenclature. Wines, according to their colour, are di- vided into the red and white; and, according to their taste and other quali- ties, are either spirituous, sweet, dry, light, sparkling, still, rough, or acidu- lous. Med wines are derived from the must of black grapes, fermented with their husks; white wines, from white grapes, or from the juice of black grapes fermented apart from their skins. The other qualities of wines above enumerated, depend on the relative proportions of the constituents of the must, and on the mode in which the fermentation is conducted The essential ingredients of the must as a fermentable liquid, are water, sugar, and a ferment. If the juice be very saccharine, and contain sufficient ferment to sustain the fermentation, the conversion of the sugar into alcohol will pro- ceed until checked by the production of a certain amount of the latter, and there will be formed a spirituous or generous wine. If, while the jui'ce is highly saccharine, the ferment be deficient in quantity, the production of alcohol will be less and the redundancy of sugar proportionably greater and a sweet wine will be formed. When the sugar and ferment are in consider- able amount, and in the proper relative proportions for mutual decomposition, the wine will be strong-bodied and sound, without any sweetness or acidity] and of the kind called dry. A small portion of sugar can give rise only to a small portion of alcohol, and consequently the less saccharine arapes will generate a comparatively weak, or light wine, which will be sound" and stable in its constitution, in case the ferment is not in excess, but otherwise liable to pass into the acetous fermentation and become acescent. In case the wine is bottled before the fermentation is fully completed, the process will continue slowly in the bottles, and the carbonic acid aenerated, 706 Vinum. part i. not having vent, will impregnate the wine, and render it effervescing and sparkling. The rough or astringent wines owe their flavour to a portion of tannic acid derived from the husks of the grape; and the aci- dulous wines, to the presence of carbonic acid or an unusual proportion of tartar. Several of the above qualities often co-exist. Thus a wine may be spirituous and sweet, spirituous and rough, rough and sweet, light and sparkling, &c. Wines are made in many countries, and are known in commerce by vari- ous names according to their source. Thus, Portugal produces port and lisbon: Spain, sherry, saint lucar, malaga, and tent; France, champagne, burgundy, hermitage, vin de grave, sauterne, and claret; Germany, white rhenish, hock, and moselle; Hungary, tokay; Sicily, marsala or Sicily madeira, and lissa; the Cape of Good Hope, constantia; Madeira and the Canaries, madeira and teneriffe. In the United States, a small portion of wine is made, for the most part of inferior quality. The best is manufac- tured near Vevay, a Swiss settlement on the banks of the Ohio. The con- sumption of this country is accordingly supplied almost entirely from abroad; and the wines most extensively imported are madeira, teneriffe, sherry and port, and the claret wines of France. Properties. Wine, considered as the designation of a class, may be charac- terized as a spirituous liquid, the result of the fermentation of grape-juice, and containing mucilage, aroma, and some other substances, which are either combined or intimately blended with the spirit. All its other quali- ties vary with the nature of each particular wine. It will not be necessary to describe all the wines that have been enumerated; but only such as are commonly used for medicinal purposes. Under this denomination may be included the officinal wines teneriffe and sherry, together with madeira, port, and claret. Teneriffe, the officinal wine of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, is a white wine, of a slightly acid taste, and, when of good quality, of a fine aromatic fla- vour. It ranks among the stronger white wines, and contains between 19 and 20 per cent, by measure of alcohol of sp. gr. 0.825. It is made from the same grape as madeira, to which it bears a close resemblance. Sherry is of a deep amber colour, and when good possesses a dry aro- matic flavour and fragrancy, without any acidity. Its average strength is about the same as that of teneriffe. This is the officinal wine of the Lon- don and Edinburgh Colleges, and is probably the " Spanish white wine" intended by the Dublin College. It is prepared in the vicinity of Xeres in Spain, and hence its English name, sherry. This wine is supposed to have been the sack of Shakspeare, so called from the word sec (dry), in allusion to its being a dry wine. Its dryness or freedom from acidity is said to arise from the use of lime in its manufacture. Madeira is the strongest of the white wines in general use. Like tene- riffe, it is a slightly acid wine, and, when of proper age and in good condi- tion, has a nutty, rich, aromatic flavour. As it occurs in the market, how- ever, it is of very variable quality, on account both of the less care taken in its manufacture than formerly, and of the adulterations and mixtures to which it is subjected after importation. The madeira consumed in this country is generally much better than that used in England, its adulteration being practised to a less extent with us, and our climate being more favoura- ble to the improvement of the wine. Port is of a deep purple colour, and, in its new state, is a rough, strong, and slightly sweet wine. When kept a certain length of time in bottle, it deposites a considerable portion of its astringent matter, loses the greater PART I. Vinum. 707 part of its sweetness, acquires more flavour, and retains its strength. If too long kept, it deposites the whole of its astringent and colouring matter, and becomes deteriorated. Considerable quantities of brandy are almost always added to it, which causes its heating quality on the palate. It is the strong- est of all the wines in common use. Claret, called in France vin de Bordeaux, is also a red wine, and from its moderate strength is ranked as a light wine. It has a deep purple co- lour, and when good a delicate taste, in which the vinous flavour is blended with those of slight acidity and astringency. The most esteemed kinds are the Medoc clarets, called Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux, and Chateau Latour. Another celebrated variety is the Chateau Haut Brion of the Pays de Grave. Claret is the only French wine extensively consumed in the United States. It is made in large quantities in the country around Bor- deaux, from which port it is shipped. Adulterations. Wines are very frequently adulterated, and counterfeit mixtures are often palmed upon the public as genuine wine. Formerly the wine dealers were in the habit of putting litharge into wines that had be- come acescent. The oxide of lead formed with the acetic acid acetate of lead, which, being sweet, corrected the defect of the wine, but at the same time rendered it poisonous. At the present day, however, this criminal practice is wholly abandoned, on account of the facility with which the adulteration is detected by chemical reagents, particularly by sulphuretted hydrogen, which causes a black and flocculent precipitate. Mr. Brande assures us, that among the numerous samples of wine of suspected purity which he had examined, he had not found one containing any poisonous in- gredient fraudulently introduced. Lead, in minute quantity, according to this writer, may often be detected in wines; but it is derived invariably from shot in the bottle, or some analogous source. Spurious mixtures, frequently containing very little of the fermented juice of the grape, which are sold for particular wines, may not be poisonous; but are notwithstanding highly pernicious in their effects upon the stomach, and always produce mischief and disappointment, when depended on as medicinal agents. The wines most frequently imitated are port and madeira; and cider is generally the chief ingredient in the spurious mixtures. English port is sometimes made of a small portion of real port mixed with cider, juice of elder berries, and brandy, coloured and rendered astringent with logwood and alum. In the United States, of latter years, the cheapness of genuine wines has left little motive for manufacturing these factitious imitations. Composition. Wine, throughout all its varieties, has the same general composition. It consists of a large quantity of water, a variable portion of alcohol, a little mucilage, a blue and yellow colouring matter, tannic and acetic acid, supertartrate of potassa (tartar), tartrate of lime, and occasionally other salts, such as common salt and sulphate of potassa. There is also present in wine a peculiar principle upon which the delicate flavour and odour called the bouquet depend. This principle is supposed by some to be a volatile oil, but it has never been isolated. The different kinds of wine derive their various qualities from it, as well as from the mode of fermenta- tion, the nature of the grape, and the soil and climate in which it may have grown. The alcohol in pure wine is that which results from the vinous fer- mentation, and is intimately united with the other ingredients of the liquor; but with almost all the wines of commerce a certain portion of brandy has been mixed, the stale of union of which is different from that of the natural alcohol of the wine. This seems to be proved by the experiments of Fab- roni, who found, upon adding a large portion of carbonate of potassa to 708 Vinum. PART I. wine containing extraneous brandy, that the latter was thrown up to the surface so as to form a stratum; whereas from a pure wine, a similar treat- ment had no effect in separating the natural alcohol which it contained. The intoxicating ingredient in all wines is the alcohol which they contain; and hence their relative strength depends upon the quantity of this sub- stance entering into their composition. The alcohol, however, naturally in wine, is so blended with its other constituents, as to be in a modified state, which renders it less intoxicating and less injurious than the same quantity of alcohol separated by distillation and diluted with water. Mr. Brande has published a very interesting table, giving the percentage by measure of alcohol of sp. gr. 0.825 in different kinds of wine. The following ab- stract contains his principal results. Alcohol Alcohol per cent. per cent. Lissa, average • - 25.41 Cape muschat - . 18.25 Raisin wine, average - 25.12 Cape madeira, average 20.51 Marsala, [Sicily madi iira,] Grape wine - 18.11 average - - 25.09 Calcavella, average - 18.65 Port - - 25.83 Vidonia - - 19.25 Ditto - - 24.29 Alba flora - 17.26 Ditto - - 23.71 Malaga - - 17.26 Ditto - - 23.39 White hermitage - 17.43 Ditto - - 22.30 Rousillon, average - 18.13 Ditto - - 21.40 Claret - 17.11 Ditto - - 19.00 Ditto - 16.32 Average - - - 22.96 Ditto - 14.08 Madeira - - 24.42 Ditto - 12.91 Ditto - - 23.93 Average - - 15.10 Ditto (Sercial) - - 21.40 Malmsey madeira - 1640 Ditto - • 19.24 Lunel - 15.52 Average - - 22.27 Sheraaz - - 15.52 Sherry - - - 19.81 Syracuse - 15.28 Ditto" - - - 19.83 Sauterne - 14.22 Ditto - - 18.79 Burgundy, average - 14.57 Ditto - - 18.25 Hock, average - 12.08 Average - - - 19.17 Nice - 14.63 Teneriffe - - 19.79 Barsac - 13.86 Colares - - - 19.75 Tent - 13.30 Lachryma Christi - - 19.70 Champagne, average 12.61 Constantia, white - - 19.75 Red hermitage - 12.32 Ditto, red - - 18.92 Vin de grave, average 13.37 Lisbon - - - 18.94 Frontignac, Rivesalte 12.79 Bucellas - - 18.49 Cote rdlie - 12.32 Red madeira, average - 20.35 Tokay - - 9.88 Besides the grape, a number of other fruits yield a juice susceptible of the vinous fermentation. The infusion of malt, also, is capable of undergoing this process, and becomes converted into the different kinds of porter and ale. The product in all these cases, though not commonly called a wine, is nevertheless a vinous liquor, and may be classed among the wines properly so called. The following is a list of these vinous liquors, together with the percentage of alcohol which they contain, as ascertained by Mr. Brande.— Currant wine, 20.55; gooseberry wine, 11.84; orange wine, 11.26; elder wine, 8.79; cider, from 5.21 to 9.87; perry, 7.26; mead, 7.32; Burton ale, PART I. Vinum. 709 8.88; Edinburgh ale, 6.20; brown stout, 6.80; London porter, 4.20; small beer, 1.28. Medical Properties and Uses. Wine is consumed in most civilized coun- tries; but in a state of health it is at least useless, if not absolutely pernicious. The degree of mischief which it produces, depends very much on the cha- racter of the wine. Thus the light wines of France are comparatively innocuous; while the habitual use of the stronger ones, such as port, madeira, sherry, garbled' as U is termed' befor* they are in Ik n f11 1«" T" ^ 1S l? bC SCparated fr°m the Stalks and 4>mes; lichen from moss, leaves, and sticks; myrrh from bdellium, &c; gum Sene- fenetfrom*™" *"" "? a#.tor!bin*»^ -sin; flaxseed from cfover seed; uoS^ST,^ fr°"? ,he s*™>™*^"*nd serpentaria barfs asso ed hpf ,h Ser°°nS °f cinch°na should be "amincdf and the ttrbed 11/ h6y arC Put b>' f0r USe- Gums and gvrn-resins should be garbled, and the clear transparent tears preserved separately. mpU,?i f Measures. A precise acquaintance with the recognised measure, of weight and capacity is essential to the operations of the apothe- cary. I he weights used by him in compounding medicines, are the troy part ii. Weights and Measures.Specific Gravity. 725 pound and its divisions; those by which he buys and sells, the pound avoir- dupois and its divisions. The former contains 5760 grains, the latter 7000 grains, so that 11 troy pounds are nearly equivalent to 9 pounds avoirdupois. The troy pound contains 12 ounces of 480 grains; the avoirdupois pound 16 ounces of 437 £ grains, eleven of the former being nearly equal to twelve of the latter. The troy ounce is divided for the use of the apothecary, into 8 drachms of 60 grains each, and the drachm into 3 scruples of 20 grains each. The United States and British Pharmacopoeias all recognise the troy weights, and whenever in this work any term is used expressive of weight, it is to be understood as being of this denomination. The measures used by the apothecary, in this country, are the wine pint and the gallon. The wine pint contains 28.875 cubic inches. The weight of a pint of distilled water at 62° Fahrenheit and 30° of the barometer, is 7289.7 grains, or I pound 3 ounces 1 drachm 29.7 grains troy, or 1 pound 289.7 grains avoir- dupois. The gallon is divided into 8 pints, the pint into 16 fluidounces, the fluidounce into 8 fluidrachms, and the fluidrachm into 60 minims. The weight of a fluidounce of water is 455| grains, being 18 grains more than an avoirdupois ounce. A drop is generally tbongh incorrectly considered as equivalent to the minim. Drops vary in size according to the nature of the fluid, and the size and shape of the lip from which they fall. A drop of water nearly equals a minim. A fluidrachm of antimonial wine will make, on an average, about 72 drops, one of laudanum 120 drops, and one of alcohol 138 drops. For a table showing the relative value of minims and drops, see the Appendix. Measures are employed by the United States, London, and Dublin Phar- macopoeias to express the quantity of liquids in nearly alt their formulae. The Edinburgh College employs weights exclusively. This should be borne in mind in comparing the formulae of the different Pharmacopoeias. Fluids are to be dispensed from graduated measures, of which those hold- ing from a fluidounce to a pint are hollow inverted cones; and those holding a fluidrachm, and graduated to every five minims, are cylindrical. For smaller quantities than five minims, a slender tube holding a fluidrachm may be used, having the aliquot parts divided off and marked with a diamond. Care should be taken to verify these instruments. The following approxi- mate measures are used in prescribing medicines, viz. a wineglassful con- taining two fluidounces, a tablespoonful containing half a fluidounce, a des- sertspoonful two fluidrachms, and a teaspoonful containing a fluidrachm. Specific Gravity. The specific gravity of fluids affords one of the best tests of iheir purity. The instrument commonly used by the apothecary for ascertaining this is Baume's hydrometer. This is a glass bulb loaded at one end and drawn out at the other into a tube on which the scale is marked. That used for alcohol is graduated by loading it until it sinks to the foot of the stem (which is marked zero) in a solution of one part of salt in nine parts of water. It is then put into water, and the place to which it sinks marks 10° of the scale, which is constructed from these data. The hydro- meter for liquids heavier than water is made by loading it, so that in distilled water it shall sink to nearly the top of the stem. The place to which it sinks in a solution of 15 parts of salt in 85 parts of water is then marked as 15°, and the scale divided off. For a table exhibiting the value of these scales in specific gravities, see the Appendix. The hydrometers commonly imported are so carelessly made that scarcely any two will agree, and little dependence is to be placed on their accuracy. A more certain method consists in weighing the liquid at a uniform temper- ature in a bottle, the capacity of which, in grains of distilled water, has 724 Specific Gravity.—Mechanical Division. part ii. been previously ascertained. If a bottle is selected which will hold exactly 1000 grains of water at 60°, the weight in grains of the quantity of any liquid which it will hold will be the specific gravity of that liquid. Such bottles are sold in the shops. If one is not attainable, an ordinary vial may be used, and the specific gravity obtained by dividing the weight of the liquid examined by the weight of the water. Gay-Lussac's centesimal alcoholmeter is a very useful instrument, being graduated so as to indicate the percentage of absolute alcohol in any mixture of spirit and water. The specific gravity of a solid is ascertained by first weighing it in air and then in water, and dividing the former weight by the difference between the two. Mechanical Division. One of the simplest means of preparing medi- cines, is their reduction, by mechanical means, to a state of minute division. This includes the various operations of pulverization, levigation, grinding, filing, rasping, sifting, bruising, slicing, &c. The principal drugs which are sold in the state of powder, are pulverized by persons who pursue that occupation for a livelihood. The apothecary, therefore, is chiefly interested in knowing the loss sustained in this process. The following statement has been abbreviated from a table prepared by MM. Henry and Guibourt. One thousand parts of the substances mentioned yielded, when pulverized— Roots. Vegetable Products Jalap ... 940 Cinnamon 890 Aloes ... 960 Rhubarb 920 Angustura 825 Tragacanth 940 Columbo 900 Leaves. Opium 930 Liquorice 900 Hemlock 800 Gum Arabic 925 Valerian 860 Savine 800 Scammony 915 Elecampane • 850 Digitalis 790 Catechu 900 Gentian 850 Belladonna 785 Liquorice (extract) 810 Florentine Orris 850 Senna ... 720 Animal Substances Rhatany 850 Henbane 530 Castor ... 900 Calamus 840 Flowers. Spanish flies 850 Virginia Snakeroot 800 Chamomile - 850 Mineral Substances Ipecacuanha 750 Saffron 800 Red Oxide of Mercury 980 Squill (bulb) 820 Fruits. Red Sulphuret of Mer- Barks. Mustard 950 cury 950 Cinchona, pale 875 Black pepper 900 Arsenious Acid 950 --------, red 880 Nux Vomica 8.50 Sulphuret of Antimony 950 --------, yellow - 9001 Colocynth 500 Tin 825 For the greater part of those drugs that are powdered in the shops, iron, brass, glass, or Wedgwood mortars are to be used; the two former for hard substances requiring repeated blows; the latter for those which are friable and can be reduced to powder by trituration. The interior surface of the mortar should be concave and nearly spherical, and care should be taken not to impede the operation by overloading and clogging the pestle. In powdering acrid substances, the mortar should be covered with a board perforated in the centre for the pestle, or with a large piece of pliable leather tied round the top of the mortar and the handle of the pestle, so as to allow of the free motion of the latter. The operator should guard himself against the fine particles of very acrid substances, by standing with his back to a current of air, and covering his nostrils with a wet cloth. Various means are used to facilitate the operation of powdering. All vegetable substances must be carefully and thoroughly dried. Resins, gum-resins, and gums, must be powdered in cold frosty weather. Tragacanth and nux vomica part ii. Separation of Solids from Liquids. 725 must be dried in a stove heat, and powdered while hot. The fibrous roots, as liquorice and marshmallow, should be previously shaved into thin transverse slices. Agaric is to be powdered by beating it into a paste with water, then drying and triturating it. Cloves and the aromatic seeds may be ground in a hand mill and afterwards triturated. Squill and colocynth, the comminu- tion of which is sometimes aided by soaking them in mucilage of tragacanth and then drying, are best powdered in a dry atmosphere, after being tho- roughly dried in a stove heat. Camiphor requires the addition of a few drops of alcohol. The efflorescent salts may be obtained in the state of fine powder by exsiccation, and those which are insoluble in alcohol, may be precipitated by it, in an impalpable powder, from their aqueous solutions. Care should be taken in powdering, previously to separate the inert por- tions and impurities, and to mix intimately the whole of the powder which is reserved for use. The central woody fibre of ipecacuanha and other roots, the virtues of which reside in the bark, is to be rejected. The first portions of those barks to which lichens and the dead epidermis adhere, are inert; as are also the last particles of the fibrous roots and barks. The outer coat of the aromatic seeds is to be reserved, and the inner albuminous part rejected as inodorous. In the operation of powdering, the fine particles are to be separated from time to time by sifting. Fine sieves should be made of that sort of raw silk called bolting cloth; coarser ones of wire, hair cloth, or gauze, Valuable or aromatic powders should be passed through box sieves, which are sieves provided with covers for the top and bottom, that shut up so as to prevent all waste. Ivory, horn, nux vomica, wood, and iron, are prepared for pharmaceutic purposes by filing or rasping; guaiacum wood by turning in a lathe; roots, stalks, and leaves by cutting with a large pair of shears, such as is used by the tinplate workers; or with a large knife fixed in a frame at one end, and furnished with a long handle at the other. Tin and zinc are granulated by melting them, and strongly agitating whilst they are cooling; carbonate of potassa by stirring the concentrated solution with a rod as it hardens. Earthy insoluble substances are conveniently reduced to powder by levi- gation. This is performed by moistening them with alcohol or water, and rubbing them on a hard flat stone with a muller or rubber of the same mate- rial. The powder may be rendered impalpable by agitating it with a large quantity of water, and pouring off the liquid to settle, after ihe coarser parti- cles have subsided. The fineness jof the powder depends on its specific gravity and the length of time which elapses before the liquid from which it subsides is drawn off. This last operation is termed elutriation, and the thick pasty mass which remains, is usually dropped on an absorbent surface, and dried in the shape of small cones. Vanilla, mace, and other oily aro- matic substances, may be rubbed to powder with sugar; magnesia and white lead, by friction on a wire or hair sieve. Separation of Solids from Liquids. This is another mechanical opera- tion which is frequently resorted to in practical pharmacy. It includes the processes of decantation, filtration, straining, expression, clarification, &c. Solids may be separated from fluids, when there exists no chemical action between them, by being allowed to subside. The supernatant liquid may then be carefully poured off; or it may be drawn off by a syphon; or sepa- rated by filtering. Either the last operation, or expression by a stronger force, is necessary to separate the whole of the liquid. Jars larger at bottom than at the top, and furnished with a lip for pouring, are sold in the shops, and will be found very useful for precipitations. 62* 726 Separation of Solids from Liquids. part H- When the powder subsides very slowly, the precipitation may be greatly hastened by the addition of a small quantity of the solution of gelatin. Gelatinous precipitates, such as alumina, must be filtered to clear them from the adhering liquid. The most convenient material for a filter is unsized paper. This is to be folded into a cone and placed in a glass funnel. It will serve for filtering tinctures, wines, saline solutions, watery infusions, and essential oils. In some cases it may be necessary to place a small cone of the same material outside of the large one, in order to strengthen it. When the liquid is too viscid to pass readily through paper, a cotton or woollen bag of a conical shape may be used. Acids may be filtered through a layer of fine siliceous sand, supported in the neck of a glass funnel by pieces of glass gradually decreasing in size. Castor oil, syrups, and oxymels may be readily filtered through coarse paper made entirely of woollen shreds. Melted fats, plasters, resins, and wax, may be strained through muslin stretched over a square frame or a hoop. Small sieves of fine bolting cloth serve for straining emulsions, decoctions, and infusions; and a temporary strainer for these purposes may be made by fastening a piece of muslin between the upper and lower parts of a common pill box, and then cutting off the ends so as to leave the rim only of the box around the muslin. The filtration of viscid substances is facilitated by heat. Filtration through bone black, is practised for muddy or dark coloured liquids. Much inconvenience is often experienced in the filtration of hot saturated saline solutions, by the cooling of the liquid and consequent crystallization of the salt in the filter and neck of the funnel. To obviate this, the tin apparatus represent- ed in the wood cut, has been contrived by Professor Hare. The vessel is filled with hot water, which is kept at a boil- ing heat by a spirit lamp placed under the cavity having the shape of an in- verted funnel. A glass funnel with a filter is placed in the other cavity, and the liquid passes through rapidly. In filtering alcoholic solutions, it is neces- sary to protect the liquid from the flame of the lamp, and for this purpose the partition underneath has been added. No apothecary should be without this useful apparatus. Frames of various sizes for holding funnels and filters will be found very useful; the wood cut represents the one commonly used. The efflo- rescence of saline solutions on the edge of the filtering paper may be prevented by dipping it in melted tallow or lard. The filtration of liquids, which are altered by exposure to the air, requires much caution. A very simple method of accomplishing it, is to in- sert a slender tube of glass into the funnel, long enough to reach below the neck, while the upper part is nearly as high as the top of the funnel. The space between the tube and the neck must be filled with bits of glass and fine sand, so as to form a good filtering bed; the liquid is to be poured in, and the top of <=> Q part n. Separation of Liquids.—Application of Heat. 727 the funnel covered with a plate of glass. If this be luted on, and the funnel luted into the neck of the bottle, the process will be performed with perfect acc£racy# . m^^ Expression is required to separate the last portions of tinctures or infu- sions from the dregs. A screw press is used for this purpose. The sub- stance to be pressed is put into a cylinder of strong sheet tin, the sides of which are pierced with small holes. This is placed on a square tray of tin having a lip for pouring. A block of wood fits into the cylinder and is placed on the top, and the whole is put under the screw press, the pressure of which is gradually brought to bear upon it. This press is to be used for expressing the juices of fresh plants, which, previously to being pressed, must be well beaten in a mortar, and water added to those which are hard and dry. The expressed oils are obtained by bruising the seeds which contain them, and enclosing the bruised mass in strong bags which are placed in a firm hollow frame and subjected to strong sudden pressure by driving up a wedge. Expressed oils are clarified from mucilage by boiling them with water. Liquids in general are rendered clear by the addition of some coagulable substance, such as milk or an aqueous solution of ichthyocolla. The white of an egg beaten up with water, will coagulate by a gentle heat, and clarify any liquid with which it has been mixed. The vegetable acids will clarify many of the expressed juices of plants. Separation of Liquids. Liquids which have no chemical affinity, and differ in specific gra- vity, may be separated by allowing them to re- main at rest in the separating funnel represented in the annexed figure, and then drawing off the heavier fluid. Another very convenient method of separating fluids is by means of the separa- tory figured in the wood cut in the margin. The last drops of the heavier fluid may be drawn off by means of this instrument. Application of Heat. The most efficient and economical means of obtaining heat is a sub- ject of great importance to the pharmaceutist, on account of the variety of processes in which it is required. With the small furnaces, which are now made of fire clay, of various patterns and sizes, almost all the operations of the laboratory which require heat, can be performed. The fuel used is charcoal, although anthracite will burn in those of a larger size, and is to be preferred where a uniform heat is ne- cessary for several hours. The apothecary should be pro- vided with a complete set of these useful utensils, including one with a dome for a reverberatory furnace. By adding a pipe several feet in length to this, and urging the fire with a pair of double bellows, the heat may be raised to that of an air furnace. A small pipe of sheet iron with a cone at the lower end, as in the figure, to fit on the furnace, will be found an excellent means of obtaining an intense heat in those of the smallest size. For operations on a smaller scale, the most con- venient means of obtaining heat is by an alcoholic lamp. Al- cohol burns without smoke or smell, and is almost as cheap a fuel as oil, to which it is on every other account preferable. \us 728 Application of Heat. part ii- The annexed figures represent the usual forms of spirit lamps. The larger one will be found very useful in heating spatulas A for spreading plasters. For ___________ffij supporting the substance J^£\ to be heated, iron tripods ---■ ---*1 of various heights and sizes ___________^J must be provided. These should be furnished with sets of concentric rings as in the figure, for vessels of different sizes. A very convenient support is the stand and ring figured in the wood cut, which will answer either for a spirit lamp, or a small furnace made from a black lead cru- cible as iu the figure. The tempera- ture required in pharmaceutical processes, sel- dom exceeds a red heat; and the vessels used are crucibles of silver, porce- lain, Wedgwood ware, black lead, and fire clay (Hessian crucibles). Silver is used for the fusion of polassa, porcelain for nitrate of silver, and black lead and Hessian crucibles for the metals, glass of antimony, sulphuret of potassium, and the ordinary operations which require a great heat. They are each liable to objec- tions; silver fuses too readily; porcelain and Wedgwood ware do not bear sudden changes of temperature; black lead, which bears these changes, is destroyed by saline substances, and burns in a current of air; and the Hessian crucibles are so porous as to absorb and waste much of the fused substance. The crucibles should be covered with a lid or an inverted cruci- ble, and should be supported at a little distance from the bottom of the grate, and surrounded and covered with ignited coals. Liquefaction is performed in open earthen, copper, or iron vessels, and care must be taken not to raise the heat so as to char or inflame the substance. A sand bath is an indispensable part of the pharmaceutic apparatus. It is usually an iron pot or a shallow vessel of sheet iron capable of holding sand to the depth of four or six inches. It serves to regulate the action of the heat on vessels which do not bear a rapid change of temperature. It is sometimes heated to a red heat, as in preparing the mineral acids, though more frequently used for the evaporation of saline solutions and vege- table juices. The water bath is to be used in all cases in which a heat above that of boiling water would be injurious. A very convenient one, figured in the wood cut, consists of two copper vessels, the upper one of which is well tinned. Where a temperature above that of boiling water part ii. Application of Heat. 729 IOJ and not exceeding 228° is required, the water bath may be filled with a saturated solution of common salt. The common still and worm, the vessels in general use for distillation, are too well known to need description. A convenient still or alembic for small operations, which may be heated by a spirit lamp, is figured in the wood cut. The top of the head is kept filled with cold water, and all escape of vapour is prevented by having an inner ledge to the still, and filling the space in which the head fits with water. The condensation of all the vapour is secured by adapting a worm or a long tube to the apparatus. The boiler of this still may hold one or two gallons, and it will be found a very useful means of recover- ing the alcohol in making alcoholic extracts. It may easily be converted into a water bath by fitting on the top of the boiler a vessel of convenient form. For the extrication and condensation or absorp- tion of gaseous fluids, a retort and a series of three necked (or Woulfe's) bottles are used. The bottles are partly filled with water and become satu- rated in succession. As the tubes which convey the gas are plunged nearly to the bottom of the liquid in the bottles, there is danger, when the operation is complete, and a vacuum formed in the retort, of the water being driven by the atmospheric pressure in the last bottle, back through the whole series, so as to fill the retort. To prevent this, safety tubes must be fitted to the retort and the bottles. Those for the bottles are straight tubes, dipping a small depth into the liquid; that for the retort is the common Welter's tube of safety. When the common glass retort and receiver are used for the distillation of fluids, care should be taken not to apply the luting until the atmospheric air is expelled. The chief objects to be aimed at are to keep the body of the retort hot and the neck and receiver cool. A hood of pasteboard or tin, as represented in the figure, will much facilitate the former; and the latter will be gained by keeping the neck and receiver wrapt in wet cloths, on which a stream of cold water is kept running. This may be conveniently done, by means of a syphon made by dipping one end of a strip of cotton or woollen cloth in a vessel of water and allowing the other end to hang down upon cloths bound loosely around the receiver or the neck of the retort. When the object of distillation is to preserve the residuum, and this is liable to injury from heat, as is the case with vegetable extracts, the opera- tion is best performed in vacuo. For this purpose the still and recipient are made so as to form an air-tight apparatus, and the latter is furnished with a stop cock, which is kept open until the whole of the atmospheric air is expelled by the vapour. It is then closed, and a vacuum formed and main- tained in the recipient by surrounding it with cold water. The distillation is carried on in this manner at a much lower temperature than ordinary. The vapours of some volatile solids have the property of condensing into the solid form, either in mass, or in a state of the most minute division. The operation in which this occurs, is called sublimation. When the pro- duct is compact, it is called a sublimate, when slightly adhering, it is called flowers. The operation is generally performed in'a sand bath, and the 730 Lutes. PART II. apparatus consists of two vessels fitting each other, one being inverted over the other. The shape, size, and depth of the vessels, and the degree of heat to be applied, are regulated by the nature of the substance operated on. Lutes. The most precious material for the chemist is glass, the trans- parency, insolubility, and hardness of which fit it for almost every purpose. It is often necessary to strengthen it by means of lutes, which will bear a heat at which glass would soften; and the application of lutes for this pur- pose, and for securing the junctures of tubes and vessels, is also an impor- tant part of the pharmaceutic art. Those lutes which are required for coating vessels exposed to a great heat, are made of Stourbridge clay. The clay is made into a paste with water mixed with chopped straw, and successive coats applied as they become dry. Earthenware vessels may be rendered impervious to air or vapours, by brushing over them a thin paste made of slaked lime and a solution of borax containing an ounce to the half pint. This is allowed to dry, and the vessel is then coated with slacked lime and linseed oil, beaten till the mixture becomes plastic. Earthenware retorts thus coated, may be safely used more than once, the coating being renewed every time. Fat lute is applied to the joinings of apparatus to prevent the escape of corrosive vapours. It is made like glazier's putty, pipe clay being substi- tuted for whiting. It will bear a considerable heat, and great care must be taken that the part where it is applied be perfectly dry. If it is to be exposed to heat, slips of moistened bladder must be wrapped round it and secured with twine. Roman cement and plaster of Paris may be applied in the same manner as fire clay. When used for securing the joinings of apparatus, a coating of oil or wax will render them air-tight. A very useful lute is formed by beating the white of an egg thoroughly With an equal quantity of water, and mixing with it some slaked lime in the state of fine powder, so as to form a thin paste. This must be spread imme- diately on slips of muslin and applied to the cracks or joinings intended to be luted. It soon hardens, adheres strongly, and will bear a heat approach- ing to redness without injury. A leak in this lute is readily stopped by the application of a fresh portion. Solution of glue, or any liquid albuminous mailer may be used in place of the white of eggs. An excellent cement for surfaces of iron, consists of one part of sulphur, two of sal ammoniac, and eighty of iron filings, mixed together and slightly moistened. It is rammed or caulked into the joints, and solidifies perfectly in time. White lead ground in oil, is an excellent cement for broken glass. Spread upon linen, it forms a good coating for a cracked surface, but dries slowly. Strips of bladder macerated in water, adhere well to glass, and are very useful. A mixture of whiting and paste or gum water, spread upon strips of paper, forms an excellent luting for joinings not exposed to acrid vapours or a great heat. A useful lute is formed by spreading a solution of glue on strips of cloth, and coating them, after they are applied, with drying oil. Linseed meal beaten into a uniform mass with milk, lime-water, rye paste, or thin glue, and applied in thick masses, adheres well; and when dry, will resist most vapours. Cap cement is made of six parts of resin, one part of yellow wax, and one of Venetian red. It is a very useful cement for fastening metals or wood to glass, and for rendering joints impervious to water. Soft cement is used for part 11. Lutes.—Chemical Operations. 731 the same purposes, and is made of yellow wax melted with half its weight of turpentine, and coloured with a little Venetian red. It is very useful for rendering the stoppers of bottles perfectly air-tight. Chemical Operations. Some of the chemical processes conducted by the apothecary, have been explained in the former part of this introduction. It remains to notice some others in constant or frequent use. Infusion is the subjecting of a substance containing soluble principles to the action of a menstruum, which is usually water. Hot infusions are made by pouring boiling water on the substance, and allowing it to remain in a covered vessel till cold. Cold infusions are made with cold water, and require several hours to attain their full strength. Maceration is the term employed to denote the action of liquids upon medicines, when allowed to remain upon them for several days, at a heat of from 60° to 90°. Digestion is the name given to the same operation, when conducted at a temperature of between 90° and 100°. It is commonly performed in glass bottles or flasks, and a common fire or stove heat is employed. Decoction, or boiling, is sometimes employed in extracting the virtues of plants, but is often disadvantageous, as most of the proximate principles of vegetables are altered by it, especially when long continued. Where it is practised, the ebullition should generally be continued for a few minutes only, and the liquid be allowed to cool slowly in a close vessel. From the solutions of vegetable principles obtained by these different pro- cesses, extracts are prepared by slow evaporation, so as to inspissate the liquid. This process should, as has already been mentioned, be always conducted at a heat not exceeding that of boiling water. Evaporation at a gentle heat is also performed for the concentration of saline solutions, in order to promote their crystallization. The proper degree of concentration is attained, if a drop of the liquid on a cold glass plate deposites crystals. The slower the evaporation and the cooling, and the greater the quantity operated on, the larger will be the crystals. Water which is saturated with any salt is still capable of dissolving other salts. It is in this way, by washing crystals of impure salts with their own saturated solutions, that the crystals are purified. Fine silky crystals, which retain their mother water by capillary attraction, must be dried by strong expression in a linen bag. The finest silky crystals may be entirely freed from their adhering liquid by placing them in a funnel which fits closely to one of the necks of a double mouthed bottle, and fitting a tube to the other, through which air is drawn. The current of air, in passing through the funnel, carries the water with it, and dries the crystals perfectly. Lixiviation is a process used for separating a soluble from a porous inso- luble body. It consists in placing the substance to be lixiviated in a vessel, the bottom of which is covered with straw, &c, pouring water upon it, allowing the water to remain until saturated, and then drawing it off through an opening at the bottom of the vessel. It is found that if fresh water be poured on without disturbing the mixture in the vessel, it does not mix with the liquid already there, but percolates the solid particles, driving the saturated liquid before it; so that, for example in lixiviating wood ashes, if a gallon of water had been poured upon the ashes, and allowed to become saturated with the alkali, we shall obtain by this mode of proceeding, a gallon of strong ley, and immediately thereafter the water will become almost tasteless. This fact has been applied to the service of the pharmaceutist, and has led the way to some valuable improvements in the mode of extracting the medicinal quali- ties of plants. The operation is called by the French the method of displacement. 732 Chemical Operations. part ii- The figure in the margin represents Boullay's filter, constructed on this principle. It consists of a long tin vessel, nearly cylindrical, but narrower at the lower end, which has a funnel shaped termination, for the purpose of being inserted in the neck of a bottle. A metallic plate pierced with holes, like a cullender, and having a handle in the centre, fits accurately in the lower part of the cylinder. Upon this, previously covered with a thin layer of carded cotton, is placed the substance upon which it is intended to operate, and which should be coarsely powdered or mashed in a mill. It must then be saturated with the menstruum, which is done by pouring on the liquid from time to time until it will absorb no more, and then al- lowing them to remain for a few hours in contact. On the top of the powder is placed another similarly pierced plate, and fresh portions of the menstruum are gradually and successively added, until all the sensible properties are extracted. The first portion, that with which the powder was mixed, flows off very highly concentrated, while the next is^much less so, and the successive infusions rapidly become weaker. A single example will show the value of this process. The Messrs. Boullay, by subjecting four ounces of bruised cinchona to displacement with half a pint of water, and then adding four half pints in succession, obtained the following results: 1st. Half pint yielded 3 drs. 48 grs. dry extract. 2d. Do. " I dr. 5 grs. Do. 3d. Do. " 15 grs. Do. 4th. Do. " 9 grs. Do. 5th. Do. " 7 grs. Do. Cylinders 14 inches long by 1\ in width at the base of the cone, 14 inches by 4, and 17 by 6, are convenient sizes for ordinary use. When it is wished to operate upon a fine powder, it will be found advisable to increase the height of the column of liquid by making the top of the cylinder air-tight, and inserting a tin tube several feet long, which must be kept filled with the liquid. All the substantial advantages of this method may, however, be generally ob- tained without pressure, by using the filter of Boullay. For operating upon small quantities of a substance, an adapter or the broken neck of a retort may be used by loosely stopping the lower and smaller end with a piece of cotton. The same principle may be applied in the preparation of infusions. The vessel figured in the margin is to be made of stoneware. A stone or earthenware plate, pierced like a cullender, is supported within by projections from the side of the vessel. A stop-cock is fitted to a hole near the bot- tom, and the top is covered by a tight lid. When the substance is saturated with the menstruum, fresh liquid is carefully applied, until the requisite quantity drains off". Precipitation is sometimes mechanical, as in the process of levigating and elutriating the carbonate of lime, and sometimes chemi- cal, as in the preparation of this salt by de- composing the muriate of lime. When a mmmmmm PART II. Chemical Operations. 733 precipitant is directed to be added until no further precipitation takes place, the fact may be ascertained by taking a drop of the liquid on a glass plate, and trying it with the precipitant. The formation of a precipitate is often much assisted by agitation or by heat. The separation of the supernatant liquid from the precipitate is most effectually accomplished by means of a syphon. When the liquid is a saline solution, it is necessary to wash the precipitate until the water exhibits no trace of the salt. In doing ihis, great care must be taken to select the purest and clearest water, and the ultimate drying of the precipitate must be performed in a filter, or on a porous stone. The apparatus figured in the margin is very convenient for procuring a constant and gentle stream of water in the washing of precipitates, and in clearing crystals of the impurities of their mother water. It consists of a syphon having legs of equal length, one of which is inserted in an air-tight bottle nearly filled with water, and the other dips into the funnel. A straight open tube is also inserted in the bottle, the lower end of which is about half an inch or an inch above the end of the syphon. It is obvious that the water will run from the syphon no longer than till the water in the funnel is level with the end of the straight tube. The operations which require a heat greater than that used in digesting, are liquefaction, fusion, calcination, ustulation, incineration, distillation, and sublimation. Liquefaction is the melting of those substances that become soft previ- ously to fusion, as wax, tallow, plasters, &c. The heat employed is always below that at which charring takes place. Fusion is the melting of those substances which pass immediately from the solid to the fluid state. It is employed in pharmacy in preparing the nitrate of silver and caustic potassa for casting into cylinders. The former must be melted in a porcelain, the latter in an iron crucible. The moulds in which they are cast are formed of two thick plates of cast iron, wiih semi- cylindrical grooves that fit accurately to each other. Fusion is also used in preparing the glass of antimony. Calcination is a term applied to the changes produced in mineral sub- stances by intense heat, not attended with fusion and leaving a solid residue, and is often synonymous with oxidation. The term ustulation is restricted to the metallurgic operations of roasting ores, to drive off the volatile mat- ters, as arsenic, &c. Calcination is ofien used to express the ustulation or burning of carhonate of magnesia. This is to be performed in an earthen vessel at a red heal. Exposure to the heat of a potter's furnace during the burning of the kiln, is an excellent mode of performing the operation. More commonly, the magnesia is burnt in an iron pot, which is objec- tionable, as the heal soon oxidates the iron, and the oxide scales off' and mixes with the magnesia, which is seldom free from iron when prepared in this way. Incineration, as the name expresses, is the operation of burning sub- stances for the sake of their ashes. It is performed in obtaining the phos- phate of lime—the Cornu Ustum of the London Pharmacopoeia. The bones are burnt in an open tire until all the inflammable matter is consumed. Distillation and sublimation have already been spoken of. The former 63 734 Dispensing of Medicines. part ii. is used for separating a more volatile liquid, as ether or alcohol, from one less so; for impregnating a liquid with the volatile principles of plants, to the exclusion of other principles, as in the preparation of aromatic spirits and waters; and for separating, by means of aqueous vapour, the essential oils and volatile proximate principles of the vegetable kingdom. The first process is termed rectification. When the second process is repeated with the same liquid and a fresh quantity of the plant, the operation is termed cohobation. In submitting the solid parts of vegetables to distillation in the two latter processes, it will be found advisable to expose them to the ac- tion of vapour on a grate or in a basket, so as to preserve them from touch- ing the bottom of the still, where they would be liable to be heated so as to become empyreumatic. Distillation is also used for obtaining the volatile products which result from the decomposition by heat of substances of animal or vegetable origin. The oils which are obtained in this manner are called empyreumatic oils. Sometimes the result is an acid, as the succinic acid, and sometimes the volatile alkali, as in the destructive distillation of animal substances. Dispensing of Medicines. A large portion of the operations of the apo- thecary is performed in the shop extemporaneously. In dispensing medi- cines from the counter, he is continually called upon to put his previous knowledge in practice, and often to substitute extemporaneous for the regular officinal formulae. There is no part of his business which requires for its proper performance so much ready knowledge and so accurate a judgment. A few directions, suggested by running the eye over the list of preparations of the Pharmacopoeia, may be found useful. It may sometimes be necessary for the apothecary to make extemporane- ously an aromatic water, which is not usually kept in the shops. In this case, he is to prepare it by rubbing a drop of essential oil with one or two grains of carbonate of magnesia, for every fluidounce of water, and filtering. It is sometimes desirable to apply plasters prepared from the narcotic herbs. These may be made extemporaneously by mixing the soft extracts of the plant with about an equal weight of melted adhesive plaster, keeping the mixture soft, and stirring it until the moisture is evaporated. The most suitable material on which to spread plasters is soft white leather. A mar- gin of half an inch should be allowed to remain around the plaster. The plaster iron or spatula may be heated in the large spirit lamp, figured in page 728. A skilful apothecary will be able to spread the plaster uniformly and evenly, without over- heating it so as to penetrate or corrugate the leather. A convenient instrument for determin- ing the size and preserving a straight edge, con- sists of two squares made of tin and graduated to inches, as in the annexed figure: or pieces of paper may be cut out and pasted on the i-tti leather, so as to enclose a space of the required dimensions. The plaster should first be melted on a piece of brown paper, and then transferred to the leather, in order to prevent its being ap- plied at too great a heat. Decoctions and infusions are often ordered in prescriptions in the quantity of a few ounces. A very convenient vessel for preparing them in is the common nursery lamp, which consists of a cylindrical vessel, open at the side for a spirit lamp, and at the top to receive a tea pot or tin boiler. Infusions and decoctions may be kept during the hot weather, and for many UL -'■'■■■■■'■'■'■'' '■'■ i|'h|i|'l' IM'I'I' part ii. Dispensing of Medicines. 735 months, by straining them while hot, and pouring them at once into bottles provided with accurately ground stoppers. The bottle must be entirely filled, the stopper being made to displace its own bulk of the liquid. A common bottle with a perforated cork stopper may be used, provided the hole be in- stantly closed, and the cork covered with sealing wax. The hotter the liquid and the freer from air bubbles the better will the infusion be preserved. The neutral mixture is known to be saturated perfectly, when it does not affect litmus paper, either in its blue state or when reddened by acid. For preparing this and the effervescing draught, it is advisable to keep in the shop a solution of carbonate of potassa, containing an ounce to the pint. The silica which this salt contains precipitates after a few weeks, and leaves a perfectly clear solution, whereas that prepared at the time it is to be used, always becomes turbid after being saturated. The carbonic acid which is extricated on preparing the neutral mixture, combines at first without effer- vescence with the remaining carbonate and forms a bisalt. This circum- stance may lead, unless the solution be tested, to the supposition that the mixture is saturated. Powders are often mixed together with difficulty, by means of a pestle and mortar, on account of their differing greatly in weight, or of their softness and compressibility. In these cases, frequent stirring with a pallet knife becomes necessary to prodtace a perfect mixture. In dividing powders into doses, it is very desirable to fold the packages neatly and of a uniform size; the powder folder represented in the figure is very useful for this purpose. It may be made of mahogany or other hard wood. It is important to the apothecary to ascertain the best means of combining substances which have no affinity for each other. This can often be done by means of a third substance. Water can be saturated with camphor by means of magnesia, and an aqueous mixture of any strength may be made with it, by triturating the camphor with magnesia and shaking the mixture before using it. Camphor softens the gum-resins and solid fats and oils, and may be rendered permanently miscible in water in considerable quantity, by trituration with a fifth part of myrrh. In preparing oily emulsions in which gum Arabic or gum and sugar are the medium, a sufficient quantity of water must be added to convert them into a thick mucilage before adding the oil, which must then be thoroughly mixed with it, and the remaining water added gradually with great care. Sulphuric ether is rendered more soluble in water by trituration with spermaceti. The mixture should be filtered to separate the superfluous spermaceti. Mixtures that contain the resinous tinctures, should also contain syrup, with which the tincture should first be mixed, and the water then added very gradually. If a mixture contains laudanum and a fixed oil, the former should be first mixed with the syrup, and the oil afterwards incorporated, and lastly the water; the mixture will not otherwise be uniform. In ordering pills, care must be taken to avoid the use of deliquescent salts, and to deprive those which are efflorescent of their water of crystallization. The mass must be thoroughly incorporated previously to being divided; and this is particularly important when extracts of different degrees of hardness enter into the composition. A section of the mass should be throughout of uniform colour and consistency. Pills are to be rolled and preserved in pow- dered liquorice root, which ought to be kept for use in a tin box with a per- forated lid, like a pepper box. When pills are of too soft a consistence, a little liquorice powder may be incorporated with them to render them more I 736 Dispensing of Medicines. part ii. firm. Pills, into the composition of which gum Arabic enters, should be softened with syrup and not with water, as the latter renders the mass dif- ficult to roll. The proper cleanliness of his vessels is an object of great importance to the apothecary. Open vessels, as mortars and measures, are easily cleansed, and should be wiped dry immediately after being washed. Fats and resins are easily removed by pearlash, or tow and damp ashes, or sand. Red pre- cipitate and other metallic substances, may be removed by a little nitric or muriatic acid. Bottles may be cleansed from the depositions which accu- mulate on their sides and bottom from long use in the shop, by a few shreds of grocers' paper and a little clean water. They are to be shaken so as to give the paper and water a centrifugal motion, which effectually removes the dirt from the sides. They may be freed from oil by means of a little strong nitric acid, after the action of which water will thoroughly clean them. Long sticks, with sponge or dry cloth at the end, should be provided for wiping dry the interior of flasks and bottles. A wire, bent at the end into a sort of hook, will be found useful for getting corks out of bottles. A loop of twine will also be found a very convenient means of effecting the same object. When the glass stopper of a bottle is fast, it may often be loosened by gently tapping its sides alternately with the handle of a pallet knife. Sometimes a drop or two of oil, alcohol, or water, will soften or dissolve the cementing substance. It will sometimes answer to wrap the stopper in a cloth, insert it in a crevice or hole in a table or door, and twist the bottle gently and dex- terously. Sometimes the stopper may be loosened by quickly expanding the neck in the flame of a lamp, and tapping the stopper before the heat has reached it. When the stopper of a bottle containing caustic alkali adheres in consequence of the neck not having been wiped thoroughly dry, it is almost impossible to loosen it, and the neck must be cut off. The apothecary should be provided with pallet knives of wood, bone, and horn, as well as of steel. It should be an invariable rule to clean every knife and graduated measure immediately after it is used, and to put the dirty mortars apart from those which are clean. Too much particularity and order in all the minute details of the shop cannot be practised. The counters and scales should be cleaned once a day, and brushed as often as they become dusty. The bottles should be replaced as soon after being taken down and used as possible, and should on no account be changed from their accus- tomed place on the shelf. For the proper preservation of leaves, flowers, aromatic powders, calomel, and other medicines to which light is injurious, the bottles should be coated with tin foil or black varnish. No apothecary should be destitute of a set of troy weights; as without them he will find it difficult to comply with the officinal directions for the preparation of his medicines. In dispensing medicines, no vial or parcel should be suffered to leave the shop without its appropriate label; and this, in the case of prescriptions, should always be the physician's direction as to the manner of taking it, and not the name of the medicine, unless it be so directed by him. The prescription or a copy of it should be retained and numbered, and the same number marked on the bottle or parcel. Every thing connected with the shop, and the dispensing and putting up of medi- cines and parcels, should be characterized by neatness, accuracy, system, and competent knowledge. The apprentice who desires to qualify himself for his business should carefully study Turner's Elements of Chemistry, and Faraday's invaluable treatise on Chemical Manipulation, which may be termed the hand-books of his profession. D. B.S. part ii. General Officinal Directions. 737 As all the processes of the British Colleges are either described or fully detailed in the following pages, it is proper that the prefatory explanations of the several Pharmacopoeias should be introduced in this place, in order that the reader may be prepared to understand the precise signification of the terms employed. The Pharmacopoeias recognised in this work unite in the use of the troy pound, and its divisions of ounces, drachms, scruples, and grains, for the expression of weights; and the Edinburgh College employs no other measure of quantity, whether of solids or liquids. In the United States Pharmacopoeia, and in those of London and Dublin, the quantity of fluids is generally indicated by the liquid measure, consisting of the gallon and its divisions of pints, fluidounces, fluidrachms, and minims. (See tables of weights and measures in the Appendix.) It is highly necessary that the apothecary should understand that this distinction is rigidly observed in all the details which follow, and that whenever the simple terms pound, ounce, and drachm are employed, they must be considered as belonging to the denomination of troy weight. This caution is the more necessary, as these terms are often confounded with the corresponding divisions of liquid mea- sure, viz. the pint, fluidounce, and fluidrachm. The London College, in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia, A. D. 1836, have adopted the imperial gallon and its divisions, instead of the wine gallon which they before employed. In the United States and Dublin Pharmacopoeias the wine gallon is still retained. This discrepancy is very unfortunate, as no one denomination of the imperial measure corresponds exactly with the same denomination of the wine measure; and the formula? of the London College, therefore, so far as measures are concerned, when they agree in terms with those of the United States and Dublin Pharma- copoeias, differ from them in reality; while in other cases, though differing in terms, they may be quite 01 very nearly identical. It is very important that the apothecary should bear this distinction in mind; and, when he has occasion to carry into effect one of the London formulae, that he should make the due allowances. He will find, among the Tables in the Appendix of this work, a statement of the relative value of the several denominations of the imperial and wine measures, and, by consulting this statement, will be enabled to convert the former into the latter without difficulty. The mea- sures kept in his shop should be graduated according to the divisions of the wine gallon; as this is recognised by our own officinal standard. The London College, in giving the specific gravity of bodies, considers them at the temperature of 62° of Fahrenheit, the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges at 60°; and the latter is the degree intended by the United States Pharmacopoeia, though not expressly stated. The London College explains the term gentle heat as signifying a tem- perature between 90° and 100°; the Edinburgh College, between 90° and 110°. The Dublin College employs the terms superior, medium, and inferior heat, the first signifying a temperature between 200° and 212°, the second between 100° and 200°, and the third between 90° and 100°. Maceration, according to the Edinburgh College, is performed at ordi- nary temperatures; according to the Dublin, at a temperature between 60° and" 90°. Digestion is performed by the latter College at an " inferior heat;" by the former, at about 100°, when not otherwise expressed. The London College directs that acid, alkaline, earthy, and metallic pre- parations, and salts of every kind, be kept in stopped glass bottles; the Dublin College, that mortars, measures, funnels, and other vessels in which 63* 738 Aceta. part i. medicines are prepared, should be made of materials containing neither copper nor lead. Earthen vessels, therefore, glazed with lead, are improper. Whenever mention is made, by the London College, of the saturation of acids or alkalies, they wish it to be ascertained, by the test of litmus or turmeric, whether or not the saturation is complete. The same College directs that, unless otherwise ordered, bibulous paper should be used both for filtering liquors and drying crystals. W. ACETA. Vinegars. Under this title, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, are included both Distilled Vinegar and those preparations usually denominated Medicated Vinegars. The latter are infusions or solutions of various medicinal sub- stances in vinegar or acetic acid. The advantage of vinegar as a menstruum is that, in consequence of the acetic acid which it contains, it will dissolve substances not readily soluble or altogether insoluble in water alone. It is an excellent solvent of the vegetable alkalies, which it converts into acetates, thereby modifying in some measure, though not injuriously, the action of the medicines of which they are ingredients. As ordinary vinegar contains principles which promote its decomposition, it should be purified by distilla- tion before being used as a solvent. Infusions prepared with it, even in this state, are apt to spoil in a short time; and a portion of alcohol is usually added to contribute to their preservation. A small quantity of acetic ether is said to result from this addition; and, on the continent of Europe, the place of the alcohol is frequently supplied by an equal amount of concen- trated acetic acid. In consequence of their liability to change, the medi- cated vinegars should be made in small quantities, and kept but for a short time. W. ACETUM DESTILLATUM. U.S., Lond.; Acidum Aceticum Tenue. Ed.; Acetum Distillatum. Dub. Distilled Vinegar. " Take of Vinegar a gallon. Distil the Vinegar, by means of a sand-bath, from a glass retort into a glass receiver. Reject the first pint, and preserve the five pints which next come over." U.S. The London process is as follows. Take of vinegar a gallon. Distil in a sand-bath from a glass retort into a glass receiver. Keep the seven pints first distilled for use. The Edinburgh College rejects the first eighth in the distillation, and preserves the succeeding five-eighlhs; but it continues the distillation afterwards, so long as colourless acid is obtained; and this last portion, being mixed with the first rejected portion, is kept to be ap* plied to various chemical purposes. The Dublin College distils wine- vinegar. The first tenth which comes over is rejected, the next eight-tenths are the "distilled vinegar," having the sp.gr. 1.005, and one-tenth is left behind in the retort. Vinegar is a very heterogeneous liquid, containing colouring matter, mu- cilage, alcohol, &c; and the object of its distillation is to purify it. (See Acetum.) The first portion which distils contains alcohol and pyroacetic spirit, these being the most volatile ingredients; next the acetic acid comes over much purified, but weaker than it exists in the vinegar, on account of its being less volatile than water; and there remains in the retort a liquid of PART II. Aceta. 739 a deep brown colour, very sour and empyreumatic, and containing free tar- taric and malic acids, bitartrate of potassa, and extractive. This statement explains why the first portion which comes over is rejected, and why the last portion is not distilled, or, if drawn off as directed by the Edinburgh College, is reserved for other than medicinal purposes. The proportion preserved by the Pharmacopoeias is different. According to those of the United States and Edinburgh, it is five-eighths of the vinegar employed, according to the London seven-eighths, and according to the Dublin eight- tenths. The distillation should certainly be continued as long as the product is free from empyreumatic taste; and we are assured by Dr. Barker, the commentator on the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, that eight-tenths of the vinegar may be distilled without empyreuma. The proportion distilled is greater than this in the London formula; but the product, according to Mr. Phillips, is empyreumatic. The residuary liquid in the retort, if diluted with an equal bulk of hot water, and mixed with pure animal charcoal in the proportion of half an ounce to the pint, may be made to yield, by a fresh distillation, an additional quantity of weak acetic acid, of about the strength and purity of officinal distilled vinegar. (See Carbo Animalis.) The different Pharmacopoeias direct the distillation of vinegar to be con- ducted in glass vessels; but it is generally distilled in a copper alembic furnished with a pewter worm as a refrigerator. The use of these metals, however, is hazardous, on account of the danger of metallic impregnation. Mr. Brande has suggested that the refrigerator might be made of very thin silver, a metal not acted on by acetic acid of any strength. If this cannot be procured, the head and worm should be of glass or earthenware. Empy- reuma is effectually prevented by distilling by means of steam. In Great Britain the purification of vinegar by distillation is nearly superseded by the use of purified pyroligneous acid in a dilute state. One pound of this acid, mixed with five pounds of water, furnishes a dilute acid of the sp. gr. 1.009, which is about the strength of distilled vinegar. Properties. Distilled vinegar is a limpid, colourless liquid, of a weak acid taste and smell, less agreeable than those of common vinegar. Its sp- gr. varies from 1.005 to 1.009. When its density is 1.007, a fluidounce will saturate 28 grains of carbonate of ammonia, 35 grains of carbonate of potassa, and 58£ grains of crystallized carbonate of soda. It is not a perfectly pure solution of acetic acid in water; but contains a portion of mucilage which rises in the distillation. It is on account of the partial decomposition of this impurity, that distilled vinegar, when saturated with an alkali, is liable to become of a reddish or brownish colour. When distilled in metallic vessels, it is apt to contain traces of copper, lead, and tin. Copper is easily detected, after saturating it with ammonia, by the addition of ferrocyanuret of potassium, which produces a brown cloud; lead, by iodide of potassium, which occasions a yellow precipitate; and tin, by a solution of chloride of gold, which causes a purplish appearance. The two latter metals are discovered also by sulphuretted hydrogen, which occasions a dark-coloured precipitate. Distilled vinegar should not have an empyreu- matic taste nor a sulphureous smell. Malt vinegar contains a small proportion of sulphuric acid; but when it is distilled, this acid does not come over. If, however, sulphuric acid should be accidentally present in distilled vinegar, it may be detected by a solution of chloride of barium. Distilled vinegar is not of uniform strength. When of the sp.gr. 1.007, it contains 3.42 per cent, of anhydrous acid, and 4.73 per cent, of the same acid, when its density is 1.009. Medical Properties and Uses. The medical properties of distilled vine- 740 Aceta. PART II- gar are the same as those of common vinegar (see Acetum); but the former being purer, and not liable to spontaneous decomposition, is preferable for pharmaceutical purposes. It is employed as the basis, with but few excep- tions, of the two classes of preparations called " Vinegars" and " Oxymels." Off. Prep. Emplastrum Ammoniaci, Lond., Ed.; Hydrargyri Acetas, Dub.; Liquor Ammonite Acetatis, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Plumbi Subacetatis Liquor, Dub.; Oxymel, Ed., Dub.; Plumbi Acetas, Dub., Ed.; Potassa? Acetas, Dub., Ed.; Soda? Acetas, Dub.; Syrupus Allii, U.S.; Unguentum Plumbi Compositum, Lond. B. ACETUM CANTHARIDIS. (Epispasticum.) Lond. Vinegar of Spanish Flies. (Epispastic.) " Take of Spanish Flies, in powder, two ounces; Acetic Acid a pint. Macerate the Spanish Flies with the Acid for eight days, occasionally shaking. Finally express and filter." Lond. This preparation was introduced into the last Edition of the London Pharmacopoeia as a speedy epispastic. It is said, when lightly applied by a brush, to act as a rubefacient; and when rubbed freely upon the skin for three minutes, to be followed, in two or three hours, by full vesication. The pain produced by the application, though more severe, is also more transient than that which results from the blistering cerate. W. ACETUM COLCHICI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Vinegar of Mea- dow-saffron. " Take of [dried] Meadow-saffron Root, sliced, two ounces; Distilled Vinegar two pints; Alcohol a fluidounce. Macerate the Meadow-saffron Root with the Vinegar, in a close glass vessel, for seven days; then express the liquor, and set it by that the dregs may subside; lastly, pour off the clear liquor, and add the Alcohol." U.S. The London College directs an ounce of the fresh bulb, sixteen fluid- ounces of distilled vinegar, and a fluidounce of proof spirit; the Dublin Col- lege, an ounce of the fresh bulb, a pint of distilled vinegar, and a fluidounce of proof spirit; both macerate for three days. The resulting preparations may be considered as identical with each other, and with the American; as the dried bulb of our shops is probably not on an average stronger than the fresh bulb in Europe, and the proof spirit of the British Colleges is equiva- lent to litde more than half its bulk of our officinal alcohol. Vinegar is an excellent solvent of the active principle of colchicum; and the organic alkali of the latter loses none of its efficacy by combination with the acetic acid of the former. The use of the alcohol is simply to retard the spontaneous decomposition to which this, like most of the other medicated rinegars, is liable. Medical Uses. This preparation has been extolled as a diuretic in dropsy; and may be given in gout, rheumatism, and neuralgia; but the wines of col- chicum are usually preferred. The dose is from thirty drops or minims, to a fluidrachm. Off. Prep. Syrupus Colchici, U.S. W. ACETUM OPII. Dub. Vinegar of Opium. " Take of Turkey Opium four ounces; Distilled Vinegar a pint. Rub the Opium into a pulp with a little of the Vinegar, then add the remainder of the Vinegar. Macerate the mixture in a close vessel for seven days, fre- quently shaking. Pour off the supernatant liquor: lastly filter." Dub. The vinegar of opium was introduced into the last edition of the Dublin Pharmacopaeia, as a substitute for the preparation in common use under the name of black drop, the purposes of which it is calculated to answer, with- part ii. Aceta. 741 out being liable to the same objections. We prefer, however, the Tinctura Opii Acetataof the United States Pharmacopoeia, which has taken the place of the Acetum Opii of the first edition of that work. From the want of alcohol, the Dublin preparation must be liable to spontaneous decomposition, and consequently to variation in strength; and we suspect that there is some waste of opium, as Dr. Montgomery, in his observations upon the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, slates that twenty drops are equivalent to thirty of the com- mon tincture of opium, though in the preparation of the latter, somewhat less than one-third the quantity of opium is used. For further remarks in relation to the black drop, the reader is referred to the article Tinctura Opii Acetata. W. ACETUM SCILLiE. U.S., Lond., Dub. Acidum Aceticum Scilliticum. Ed. Vinegar of Squill. " Take of Squill, sliced, four ounces; Distilled Vinegar two pints; Alco- hol a fluidounce. Macerate the Squill with the Vinegar, in a close glass vessel, for seven days; then express the liquor, and set it by that the dregs may subside; lastly, pour off the clear liquid, and add the Alcohol." U.S. The London College directs fifteen ounces of recently dried squill, six pints (Imperial measure) of distilled vinegar, half a pint (Imp. meas.) of proof spirit, and maceration with a gentle heat for twenty-four hours. The Edinburgh College directs an ounce of dried squill, fifteen ounces-of weak acetic acid (distilled vinegar), an ounce and a half of Alcohol, and maceration for seven days. The Dublin College takes half a pound of recently dried squill, three pints of vinegar, and four fluidounces of rectified spirit; and macerates for seven days. The process of the last edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia, is a great improvement upon that of 1820. In the latter, which was intended to be identical with the Edinburgh process, the proportion of vinegar was increased by the inadvertent adoption of a pint as equivalent to the troy pound; and the liability to spontaneous decomposition was rendered greater by the substitution of vinegar boiled with charcoal, and improperly called " purified vinegar," for the distilled. In the revised process, the proportion of the squill and solvent is very nearly the same as in the London and Dublin processes, and the desirable object of uniformity is thus promoted, while a stronger preparation is secured. The quantity of alcohol, which was before unnecessarily large, has been much diminished, and, though rather less than that directed by any of the British Colleges, is deemed suffi- cient—exceeding considerably the amount ordered in the Paris Codex. The only object of the alcohol is to retard the decomposition of the vinegar of squill; while its presence is medically injurious by rendering the preparation too stimulating. It is best, therefore, to prepare the vinegar frequently, and in small quantities, so as to require little alcohol for its preservation. In the preparation of the oxymel and syrup of squill, for which purpose the vinegar is chiefly used in this country, it should be employed without alcohol. The vinegar of squill deposites, upon standing, a precipitate which consists, ac- cording to Vogel, of citrate of lime and tannin. Medical Uses. This preparation has all the properties of the squill in substance, and is occasionally prescribed as a diuretic and expectorant in various forms of dropsy and of pulmonary disease; but the oxymel and syrup are usually preferred, as they keep better and are less unpleasant to the taste. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms; but the latter quantity would be apt to produce vomiting. It should be given in cinnamon- water, mint-water, or some other aromatic liquid calculated to conceal its taste and obviate its nauseating effect. 742 Aceta.—Acida. part ii. Off.Prep. Mistura Cascarillae Composita, Lond. Oxymel Sillae, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Syrupus Scilla?, U.S., Ed. W. ACIDUM ACETICUM AROMATICUM. Ed. Aromatic Ace- tic Acid. " Take of dried Rosemary Tops, dried Sage Leaves, each, an ounce; dried Lavender Flowers half an ounce; Cloves, bruised, half a drachm; Weak Acetic Acid [Distilled Vinegar] two pounds. Macerate for seven days, express the liquor, and filter it through paper." Ed. This is a solution of various volatile aromatic oils in distilled vinegar, and serves as a grateful refreshing perfume in the chambers of the sick. It was intended as a simplification of the thieves' vinegar—vinaigre des quatres voleurs—formerly esteemed a prophylactic against the plague and other contagious diseases. In the present state of knowledge, it is hardly necessary to observe, that neither the original nostrum, nor its substitute, has any other power of protecting the system against disease, than such as may depend on its slightly stimulant properties, and its influence over the imagination. W. ACIDUM ACETICUM CAMPHORATUM. Ed., Dub. Cam- phorated Acetic Acid. " Take of Acetic Acid six fluidounces [six ounces, Ed.~\; Camphor half an ounce; Rectified Spirit a sufficient quantity. Reduce the Camphor to powder by means of the spirit; then add the acid, and dissolve." Dub. The use of the alcohol is simply to facilitate the pulverization of the camphor, and a few drops are sufficient. Acetic acid in its concentrated state readily dissolves camphor. In this preparation, the whole of the cam- phor is taken up by the acid. In consequence of the powerful chemical agency of the solution, and its extreme volatility, it should be kept in glass bottles accurately fitted with ground stoppers. The camphorated acetic acid is an exceedingly pungent perfume, which, when snufled up the nostrils, produces a strongly excitant impression, and may be beneficially resorted to in cases of fainting or nervous debility. It is an officinal substitute for Henry's aromatic spirit of vinegar. W. ACIDA. Acids. Acids, in chemical classification, are those compounds which are capable of uniting in definite proportions with alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, with the effect of producing a combination, in which the properties of its constituents are mutually destroyed. Such combinations are said to be neu- tral, and are denominated salts. Most acids have a sour taste, and possess the power of changing vegetable blues to red; and though these properties are by no means constant, yet they afford a ready means of detecting acids, applicable in practice to most cases. The above explanation of the nature of an acid is that usually given; but, according to strict definition, acids are com- pounds having a strong electro-negative energy, and, therefore, possessing a powerful affinity for electro-positive compounds, such as alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides. It is this antithesis in the electrical condition of these two great classes of chemical compounds that gives rise to their mutual affinity; PART II. Adda. 743 which is so much the stronger, as their contrast in this respect is greater. In the majority of cases, the electro-negative compound or acid, is an oxidized body, but by no means necessarily so. When it does not contain oxygen, this element is usually replaced by hydrogen. These peculiarities in com- position have given rise to the division of acids by some writers into oxacids and hydracids. Vegetable acids, for the most part, contain both oxygen and hydrogen. A small number only of the acids are used in medicine; but among these are to be found examples of the three kinds above indicated. 3 B. ACIDUM ACETICUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Acidum Aceticum Forte. Ed. Acetic Acid. " Take of Acetate of Soda, in powder a pound; Sulphuric Acid half a pound. Pour the Sulphuric Acid into a glass retort, and gradually add the Acetate of Soda; then, by means of a sand-bath, distil the Acetic Acid, with a gentle heat, till the residuum becomes dry. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.0634." U.S. " Take of Acetate of Soda two pounds; Sulphuric Acid nine ounces; Distilled Water nine fluidounces [Imperial measure]. Add the Sulphuric Acid, first mixed with the Water, to the Acetate of Soda put into a glass retort; then let the acid distil from a sand-bath. Care is to be taken that the heat be not too great towards the end." Lond. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.048. One hundred grains of it saturate eighty-seven grains of crystallized carbonate of soda. " Take of Acetate of Potassa one hundred parts; Sulphuric Acid fifty- two parts. Put the acid into a tubulated retort, and at different intervals of time, add the Acetate of Potassa, waiting after each addition until the mixture becomes cool. Lastly, with a moderate heat, distil the acid until the resi- duum is dry. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.074." Dub. " Take of Dried Sulphate of Iron a pound; Acetate of Lead ten ounces. Having rubbed them together, put them into a glass retort, and distil by means of a sand-bath, with a moderate heat, so long as any acid comes over." Ed. These processes are intended to furnish a strong acetic acid. The United States, London, and Dublin formulae are similar, consisting in the decom- position of the acetate of soda or of potassa by sulphuric acid. A sulphate of the alkali is formed, and the disengaged acetic acid distils over. The acetate of soda, however, is on several accounts the best salt for decomposi- tion. Its advantages are, its uniform composition in the crystallized state, its giving rise to a residuary salt (sulphate of soda) easily washed out of the retort, and the abundance in which it can be obtained from the manufacturers of pyroligneous acid. (See Sodse Acetas.) On the other hand, acetate of potassa is a deliquescent salt, and, therefore, liable to contain a variable quantity of water, and to yield an acid of variable strength. Besides, the residue of the process (sulphate of potassa) is not so easily removed from the retort. In either process the acetic acid is apt to pass over, contaminated with a small quantity of sulphurous acid, which, however, may be removed by a redistillation from a little acetate of lead. In the process of the Edin- burgh College, a double decomposition first takes place, resulting in the formation of sulphate of lead and acetate of iron. Subsequently the latter salt is decomposed, and yields its acetic acid, which distils over; while the sulphate of lead, mixed with sesquioxide of iron, remains in the retort. This College does not state the specific gravity or saturating strength of its acid. Of the different officinal acids, the density of which has been specified, the acid of the Dublin College is the strongest, that of the London, the 744 Acida. part ii. weakest, while the acid of the United States Pharmacopoeia is intermediate in its strength. The Dublin acid, when properly prepared, is necessarily stronger than that of our national Pharmacopoeia; because acetate of potassa contains but two, while acetate of soda contains six equivalents of water; and it is from the water present in the acetate employed, together with that in the liquid sulphuric acid, that the acetic acid obtained, derives the water with which it is diluted. The comparative weakness of the London acid arises from the use of water to dilute the sulphuric acid, in the new formula which the London College has adopted. Its strength has been made to conform with that of the corresponding acid of their former Pharmacopoeia, which was placed in the list of the Materia Medica, and directed to be dis- tilled from wood. Besides the methods above mentioned, there are several others for pro- curing strong acetic acid. Thus it may be obtained from acetate of lead; and this, according to Berzelius, is the least expensive process. This method consists in distilling with a gentle heat, from a glass retort into a receiver, perfectly effloresced acetate of lead with three-tenths of its weight of concentrated sulphuric acid; the materials being stirred immediately with a glass rod, in order that they may be thoroughly mixed. Acetic acid, ob- tained in this way, has always the odour of sulphurous acid, from which it may be freed by the addition of a small portion of peroxide (brown oxide) of lead. This converts the sulphurous into sulphuric acid, which imme- diately combines with the lead reduced to protoxide, and forms a sulphate, insoluble in the acetic acid. Another method for oblaining this acid, adopted in the French Codex, is by the destructive distillation of the acetate of copper (crystals of Venus). The distillation must be performed in a stone- ware retort, and is described in detail by Thenard. The water of crystalliza- tion of the salt being evaporated before the acid begins to rise, there is a deficiency of the former liquid, necessary to hold the elements of the acetic acid together. Accordingly, a part of the acid is decomposed, being resolved into water, ani a peculiar volatile compound called pyroacetic spirit, or acetone, which gives to the acid product a peculiar fragrant sineU. The sp. gr. of the acid thus obtained is 1.075. Both the methods for obtaining acetic acid, last described, are liable to the objection that the product is apt to contain metallic matter; and hence the acid, when thus procured, is generally directed to be purified by a new distillation. But even after this step, some doubt may be entertained as to its entire safety for medicinal employment. Properties. The acetic acid of the Pharmacopoeias is a limpid and colour- less liquid, possessing a very sour and acrid taste, and a fragrant pungent smell. It unites in all proportions with water, and dissolves to a certain extent in alcohol. It possesses the property of dissolving a number of sub- stances, such as the volatile oils, camphor, gluten, resins and gum-resins, fibrin, albumen, &c. It is incompatible with the alkalies and alkaline earths, both pure and carbonated, with metallic oxides, and most substances acted on by other acids. When well prepared, it should not form a precipitate wiih the soluble salts of baryta, and should evaporate completely in a glass or platinum capsule, without leaving any residue. The presence of copper, lead, or tin, may be detected by neutralizing the acid with ammonia, and testing succes- sively with ferrocyanuretof potassium, iodide of potassium, and sulphuretted hydrogen, in the manner explained under Acetum Deslillatum. This acid consists of the strongest liquid acetic acid (radical vinegar) diluted with a varia- ble quantity of water. The acid of the London College contains about 64 per cent, of water of dilution; that of the United Slates Pharmacopoeia about 50 part ti. Adda. 745 per cent.; and that of the Dublin, about 34 per cent. In this estimation, the water in a state of combination in the radical vinegar, and essential to its existence in the liquid state, is not included. Admitting 50 per cent, of water of dilution in the U. S. acid, it would contain 42.5 per cent, of abso- lute or dry acetic acid. Acetic acid as concentrated as possible, or radical vinegar, is a colourless, volatile liquid at the temperature of 60°, possessing a strongly acid and corrosive taste, and an acid, pungent, and refreshing smell. At the tempera- ture of about 40° it becomes a crystalline solid. Its sp. gr. is 1.063. In the state here described, it consists of one equiv. of dry acid 51.48, and one of water 9=60.48. When diluted with water, its density increases until it reaches 1.079, when its sp. gr. is at the maximum, after which further dilu- tion renders it lighter. This statement shows that specific gravity is not an accurate test of the strength of this acid; but as the ordinary samples of the acid are not likely to be deficient in density from extreme concentration, they may without risk of error be estimated as stronger in proportion as this is greater. The best means, however, of determining the strength of the acid, is by ascertaining its saturating power, as this method is not liable to any ambiguity. This acid is one of the few vegetable acids that volatilize with- out decomposition. Its boiling point is somewhat higher than that of water. When boiled in open vessels, it takes fire and burns with a blue flame like alcohol. As it attracts humidity from the atmosphere, it should be preserved in well-stopped bottles. Its combinations with salifiable bases are called acetates. It consists, as a dry acid, of three equivalents of hydrogen 3, four of carbon 24.48, and three of oxygen 24=51.48. Medical Properties and Uses. Acetic acid acts as a stimulant and rube- facient. Owing to its volatility and pungency, its vapour is frequently ap- plied to the nostrils as an excitant in syncope, asphyxia, and headach. When employed in this manner, it is generally added to a small portion of sulphate of potassa, so as to moisten the salt, and the mixture is put in small glass bottles with ground stoppers. As a rubefacient it operates with considerable activity, producing burning heat and much redness and inflammation, which terminates by the pealing off of the cuticle. It is sometimes employed as a substitute for a fly blister, where the speedy production of a counter-irri- tant impression is desired; as for example, in croup, sorethroat, and other cases of internal inflammation. It may be applied by means of blotting paper or cambric moistened with the acid. It is also a good application to warts and corns, the vitality of which it frequently destroys. Off. Prep. Acetum Cantharidis, Lond.; Acidum Aceticum Camphoratum, Ed., Dub.; Acidum Aceticum Dilutum, U.S.; Extractum Colchici Aceti- cum, Lond.; Morphiae Acetas, U.S., Lond.; Oxymel, Lond.; Plumbi Acetas, Lond.; Potassa? Acetas, Lond. B. ACIDUM ACETICUM DILUTUM. U.S. Diluted Acetic Acid. " Take of Acetic Acid half a pint; Distilled Water five pints. Mix them." The acid resulting from the above formula is peculiar to the United States Pharmacopoeia. The object of having this preparation, is to possess a weak solution of pure acetic acid, which may be substituted for distilled vinegar in all formulae in which nicety is required. Distilled vinegar contains a portion of mucilage, which is always darkened or precipitated when this acid is saturated with an alkali, an occurrence which cannot take place when the dilute acetic acid of our Pharmacopoeia is employed. As the Acidum Aceticum (U.S.) contains 42.5 per cent, of dry acid, it is easily determined 64 746 Acida. PART II. by calculation that the Diluted Acetic Acid will contain 3.86 per cent, of the same acid. Fifteen parts by weight of the London acetic acid, mixed with eighty-five of water, will form an acid having, according to Mr. Phillips, the strength of distilled vinegar, and containing about 4.6 per cent, of real acid. Off.Prep. Liquor Ammoniae Acetatis, U.S. B. ACIDUM BENZOICUM. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Benzoic Acid. "Take of Benzoin any quantity. Put the Benzoin into a glass vessel placed in a sand-bath; and with a heat of 300° gradually increased, sublime until nothing more ascends. Wrap the sublimed matter in bibulous paper, and press it, that it may be separated from the oily part; then again suhjime with a heat not exceeding 400°." U.S. In the process of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, a pound of benzoin is taken, introduced into a suitable vessel, and treated as above directed, except that neither in the first nor second sublimation is a particular degree of heat specified. The Edinburgh College gives the following. Two pounds of benzoin, previously triturated with eight ounces of carbonate of soda, are boiled in sixteen pounds of water, with constant agitation, for half an hour. The de- coction is then strained; and the residue of the benzoin is boiled with other six pounds of water, which are also strained. The decoctions are mixed, and evaporated to two pounds. The remaining liquid is filtered, and dilu- ted sulphuric acid dropped into it so long as any precipitate is afforded. The precipitated benzoic acid is dissolved in boiling water; and the solution while still hot is strained through linen, and set aside to crystallize. The process is completed by washing the crystals with cold water, and drying them. According to the Dublin process, five parts of benzoin, triturated with one part of fresh quicklime, are boiled in one hundred and thirty parts of water for half an hour, the mixture being constantly stirred with a rod. After having cooled, the clear liquor is decanted, and the residue is boiled with seventy parts of water, which is also decanted when cold. The liquors having been mixed are evaporated to one-half, and filtered through paper; and one part of muriatic acid is gradually added. The precipitate produced is separated from the supernatant liquid, washed with a small quantity of cold water, dried with a gentle heat, and submitted to sublimation in a pro- per apparatus. Of the above processes, the first is most simple and easy. The acid, which exists in the benzoin combined with resin, is volatilized by the heat, and condensed in the upper part of the apparatus. Unless the temperature is very carefully regulated, a portion of the resin is decomposed, and an oily sub- stance generated, which rises with the acid and gives it a brown colour, from which it cannot be entirely freed by bibulous paper; and this result sometimes takes place even with the greatest caution. The process for subliming benzoic acid is usually conducted in a glazed earthen vessel, sur- mounted by a cone of paper, or by another vessel with a small opening at top, and a band of paper pasted round the place of junction. After the heat has been applied for an hour, the process should be suspended till the condensed acid is removed from the upper vessel or paper cone, when it may be renewed, and the acid again removed, and thus alternately till coloured vapours rise. The remaining acid of the benzoin may be extracted, if deemed advisable, by treating the balsam with lime or carbonate of soda. PART II. Adda. 147 From this mode of preparing benzoic acid it was formerly called flowers of benzoin. By the Edinburgh and Dublin processes, the acid is extracted from the benzoin by combining it with a salifiable base, and is subsequently precipi- tated by an acid. It is purified, in the one case, by dissolving it in boiling water, which throws it down upon cooling; in the other, by sublimation, which gives it the peculiar silky lustre which distinguishes it. The process of the Dublin College is essentially that of Scheele, the process of the Edin- burgh College that of Gren. They both afford a purer product than that obtained by sublimation, but not preferable in a medicinal point of view, as the small quantity of oil present in the sublimed acid adds to its stimulant properties, and at the same time renders it pleasant to the smell. Several other modes of extracting the acid have been recommended by different chemists. The following is the process of Stolze. One part of the balsam is dissolved in three parts of alcohol, the solution filtered and in- troduced into a retort, and the acid saturated by carbonate of soda dis- solved in a mixture of eight parts of water and three of alcohol. The alcohol is distilled off; and the benzoate of soda contained in the residuary liquid is decomposed by sulphuric acid, which precipitates the benzoic acid. This is purified by solution in boiling water, which lets fall the acid when it cools. By the above process Stolze obtained 18 per cent, of acid from benzoin containing 19.425 per cent. By the process of Scheele (that of the Dublin College) he obtained 13.5 per cent.; by the agency of carbonate of soda, as in the Edinburgh process, 12 per cent.; by sublimation only 7.6 per cent. Nevertheless Mr. Brande says that the last process is on the whole the most economical. According to this author, good benzoin affords by sublimation from 10 to 12 per cent, of the acid contaminated with empyreumatic oil, and about 9 per cent, of the purified acid. Properties. Sublimed benzoic acid is in soft, white, feathery crystals, of a silky lustre, and not pulverulent. From solution the acid crystallizes in transparent prisms. When quite pure it is inodorous; but prepared by sub- limation from the balsam, it has a peculiar agreeable aromatic odour, depend- ent on the presence of an oil, which may be separated by dissolving the acid in alcohol, and precipitating it with water. Its taste is warm, acrid, and acidulous. It is unalterable in the air, but at 230° melts, and at a some- what higher temperature rises in suffocating vapours. It is inflammable, burning without residue. It is very sparinglytsoluble in cold, but is dissolved by about twenty-four parts of boiling water. It is soluble in alcohol, and in concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids, from which it is precipitated by water. The fixed oils also dissolve it. Its solution reddens litmus paper, and it forms salts with salifiable bases; but its acid properties are not pow- erful. From the experiments of Wohler and Liebig it may be inferred, that benzoic acid is composed of a peculiar hypothetical body, called benzule, and oxygen; and in the uncombined state it always contains water. Ben- zule consists of fourteen equivalents of carbon 85.68, five of hydrogen 5., and two of oxygen 16=106.68. The crystallized acid contains one equiv. of benzule 106.68, one of oxygen 8, and one of water 9= 123.68. It cannot be deprived of its water by heat, but sometimes loses it in combination. Benzoic acid is a characteristic constituent of the balsams, and has been found in various other vegetable, and some animal products. Medical Properties and Uses. Benzoic acid is stimulant, and has been thought to be expectorant; but it is not now used internally except as a con- stituent of one or two officinal preparations. The dose is from 10 to 30 748 Adda. t». part if. grains. It is an ingredient in some cosmetic washes, and has been employed by way of fumigation as a remedy in affections of the skin. Off. Prep. Tinctura Opii Ammoniata, Ed.; Tinctura Opii Camphorata, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. U.S. Acidum Hydrocyani- cum Dilutum. Lond. Acidum Prussicum. Dub. Hydrocyanic Acid. Prussic Acid. " Take of Cyanuret of Mercury an ounce; Distilled Water eight fluid- ounces and a half; Carbonate of Lead a sufficient quantity. Dissolve the Cyanuret of Mercury, with a gentle heat, in the Distilled Water; pass Hy- drosulphuric Acid through the solution, in a proper vessel, till it is fully saturated; then filter through paper. To the filtered liquor add a quantity of Carbonate of Lead more than sufficient to saturate any excess of Hydro- sulphuric Acid, and agitate them well together. Lastly, again filter through paper. " The Hydrocyanic Acid prepared by this process, is of the same density with that of Scheele. " Hydrosulphuric Acid is obtained from the Sulphuret of Iron, and Sul- phuric Acid diluted with four times its weight of water." U.S. *' Take of Ferrocyanuret of Potassium two ounces; Sulphuric Acid an ounce and a half; Distilled Water a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Mix the Acid with four fluidounces of the Water, and to these when cooled and put into a glass retort, add the Ferrocyanuret of Potassium, first dissolved in half a pint of the Water. Pour eight fluidounces of the water into a cooled receiver; then, the retort being fitted on, let six fluidounces of acid pass into this water, distilled with a gentle heat in a sand-bath. Lastly, add six more fluidounces of distilled water, or as much as may be sufficient, that 12.7 grains of nitrate of silver dissolved in distilled water, may be accurately saturated by 100 grains of this acid. " Diluted Hydrocyanic acid may be also prepared, when it is more imme- diately wanted, from forty-eight grains and a half of Cyanuret of Silver, added to a fluidounce [Imp. meas.] of distilled water, mixed with thirty-nine grains and a half'of Hydrochloric Acid. Shake all these in a well-stopped vial, and after a short interval pour off the clear liquor into another vessel. Keep this for use, the access of light being prevented." Lond. One hundred grains of this acid, when solution of nitrate of silver is added, afford a precipitate of ten grains of cyanuret of silver, which are readily dis- solved by boiling nitric acid. In one hundred grains of it there are contained two grains of real hydrocyanic acid; and to this standard, in whatever mode it is distilled, the London College directs it to be reduced. " Take of Cyanuret of Mercury an ounce; Muriatic Acid seven flui- drachms; Water eight fluidounces. From a glass retort, distil into a re- frigerated receiver, eight fluidounces, to be kept in a well stopped bottle, in a cool and dark place. The specific gravity of this acid is 0.998." Dub. Hydrocyanic or prussic acid was first brought into general notice as a remedy by Magendie in 1817. It was admitted as an officinal into the French Codex in 1818, into the first edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia in 1820, into the Dublin Pharmacopoeia in 1826, and into that of London in 1836. As yet it has not been recognised by the Edinburgh College. The process of the United States Pharmacopoeia of 1820 for obtaining the acid, was that of Scheele; but as this process produced an acid of varia- ble strength, it was thought advisable, in the revision of 1830, to substitute the process of Proust, generally attributed to Vauquelin. By this process PART II. Adda. 749 the cyanuret (bicyanuret) of mercury, in solution of definite strength, is de- composed by a stream of hydrosulphuric acid gas (sulphuretted hydrogen). The proportions for mutual decomposition, are one equiv. of the bicyanuret, and two of hydrosulphuric acid. Two equiv. of hydrogen from the acid, combine with the two equiv. of cyanogen in the bicyanuret, forming two equiv. of hydrocyanic acid which dissolve in the water; while the two equiv. of sulphur form with the one equiv. of mercury, one equiv. of bisulphuret of mercury, or cinnabar, which precipitates. Filtration would now com- plete the process, were it not that the filtered solution is apt to retain a little hydrosulphuric acid. To remove this, an excess of carbonate of lead is added, which converts it into insoluble sulphuret of lead. By a new filtra- tion, the sulphuret, as well as any excess of carbonate of lead is removed, and the clear liquor consists of hydrocyanic acid, diluted to a certain extent with water. The process of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia is liable to the objection, that the acid product is apt to contain a little oxide of lead, even after the most care- ful filtration. This may arise from the presence of some oxide in the car- bonate of lead employed; or possibly the hydrocyanic acid may decompose a small portion of the carbonate itself. To obviate this objection to the process, it would, perhaps, be an improvement, if the acid, as obtained by the offici- nal directions, were submitted to distillation, which would effectually free it from the impurity in question. The process adopted by the London College is thus explained by Mr. Everitt. (Lond. and Ed. Phil. Mag., Feb. 1835). The reaction takes place between six equivalents of sulphuric acid, and two of the ferrocyanuret. Now, two equivalents of ferrocyanuret of potassium consist of four equiva- lents of cyanuret of potassium, two of cyanuret of iron, and six of water. (See Potassii Ferrocyanidum, Lond.) Three equivalents only of the cy- anuret of potassium are decomposed, which, by reacting with three equiva- lents of water, generate three equivalents of hydrocyanic acid and three equivalents of potassa. The three equivalents of potassa unite with the six equivalents of sulphuric acid, so as to form three equivalents of bisulphate of potassa. The three remaining equivalents of water of the cyanuret of potassium, the six equivalents iu the sulphuric acid, and the water used for dilution in the formula, distil over with the hydrocyanic acid. There re- main to be accounted for one equivalent of cyanuret of potassium and two of cyanuret of iron. These unite to form a peculiar salt, in constitution precisely the converse of that of the ferrocyanuret of potassium. Mr. Everitt terms it yellow salt; but Mr. Pereira, who prepared it with the greatest care, always found it white. The rationale of the London process for obtaining hydrocyanic acid ex- temporaneously is exceedingly simple. The reacting materials are single equivalents respectively of cyanuret of silver and muriatic acid. These, by double decomposition, generate hydrocyanic acid which dissolves in the water, and chloride of silver which subsides, and from which the acid is poured off when clear. (See Argenti Cyanidum, Lond.) The Dublin process is that of Gay-Lussac, with the use of a certain amount of water of dilution. The rationale is precisely similar to that given for the United States process, chlorine being substituted for sulphur. Two equivalents of hydrogen from two equivalents of muriatic acid form two equivalents of hydrocyanic acid with the two equivalents of cyanogen; while the two equivalents of chlorine form one equivalent of bichloride of mer- cury, or corrosive sublimate, with the one equivalent of mercury. The 64* 750 Adda. PART II- Dublin College uses a little more than the equivalent quantity of muriatic acid, to ensure the complete decomposition of the bicyanuret. The acid obtained by the Dublin formula is stated to be equivalent in strength to that procured by Scheele's process; but this statement is not very definite, as we have already mentioned that Scheele's process gives an acid of variable strength. To remove uncertainty on this point, we had the pro- cess of the United States Pharmacopoeia repeated, and the acid obtained was found to have the sp. gr. 0.998 at the temperature of 60°, which is the same density as that of the Dublin acid. That made at Apothecaries' Hall, London, weighs 0.995. The process pursued at that establishment is to put a pound of bicyanuret of mercury into a tubulated retort with six pints of water, and a pound of muriatic acid of the sp. gr. 1.15. A capacious cold receiver is luted on containing one pint of water, and five pints are distilled over. This process, therefore, resembles that of the Dublin College. The French Codex of 1837 gives the following process for hydrocyanic acid, in place of the three formerly given in that work. Take of bicyanuret of mercury thirty parts; muriatic acid (sp. gr. 1.17) twenty parts. Reduce the bicyanuret to powder, and introduce it into a small tubulated glass retort, placed over a furnace. Adapt to its neck a tube, about 13 inches long, and half an inch in diameter, and filled one-half with pieces of marble, and the remainder with chloride of calcium. To this tube, arranged nearly hori- zontally, adapt a smaller tube, bent at a right angle, and plunging into a graduated tube, surrounded with a mixture of common salt and pounded ice. The apparatus being thus arranged, and the junctures well luted, add the muriatic acid; and, having allowed the action to take place for a few mo- ments in the cold, apply the heat gradually and cautiously. When the action is over, drive forward any acid which may have condensed in the large tube, by means of a live coal brought near to it throughout its whole length. The quantity of acid found in the graduated tube is mixed with either six times its bulk, or eight and a half times its weight of distilled water. In case the acid is weighed, the operator must carefully avoid its deleterious vapours. The above process is Gay-Lussac's, and, therefore, the same in principle as the Dublin. In the first part of it, Gay-Lussac's strong acid is obtained in the graduated lube, and this is afterwards diluted to a given extent with water. We have not found it stated what is the sp. gr. or saturating strength of the Codex acid; but, from the method of preparation, we should suppose it to be much stronger than is safe for a medicinal acid* The object of the marble and chloride of calcium is to detain, the former muriatic acid, the latter water; so that it is probable that the acid in the graduated tube, if not anhy- drous, is at least pretty strong. Another process for obtaining medicinal hydrocyanic acid, proposed by Dr. Clarke, and adopted by Mr. Laming, is by the reaction of tartaric acid on cya- nuret of potassium in solution. Mr. Laming's formula is as follows. Dissolve twenty-two grains of the cyanuret in six fluidrachms of distilled water, and add to this solution fifty grains of crystallized tartaric acid, dissolved in three fluidrachms of rectified spirit. Crystallized bitartrate of potassa pre- cipitates, and each fluidrachm of the clear decanted liquor contains pne grain of pure hydrocyanic acid. (Pereira, Elem. Mat. Med. i. 238.) The reac- tion in this process takes place between two equiv. of tartaric acid, one of cyanuret of potassium, and one of water. The water is decomposed, and the tartaric acid, potassium, and oxygen unite to form the bitartrate, and the cyanogen and hydrogen to form the hydrocyanic acid. Mr. Pereira objects to this process, which, however, he says, has several advantages, on account PART II, Acida. 751 of the trouble and expense of obtaining the cyanuret pure, and its liability to undergo spontaneous decomposition. (See Cyanuret of Potassium, in the Appendix.) The processes which we have thus far given, are intended to furnish a dilute hydrocyanic acid for medicinal purposes. The methods of obtaining the anhydrous or pure acid are somewhat different. Vauquelin's process is to pass a current of hydrosulphuric acid gas over the bicyanuret of mer- cury contained in a glass tube, connected with a refrigerated receiver. The first third only of the tube is filled with the bicyanuret; the remaining two- thirds being occupied, half with carbonate of lead, and half with chloride of calcium. This process is precisely similar to Proust's, only performed in the dry way. The hydrocyanic acid being generated in the first third of the tube, is driven forward by a gentle heat into the refrigerated receiver. By passing through the carbonate of lead and chloride of calcium, it is succes- sively freed from any traces of hydrosulphuric acid or water. Gay-Lussac's process for the anhydrous acid, is essentially the same as that by which the strong acid is procured in the graduated tube, in the French Codex process. Another process for the anhydrous acid, less expensive than the above, is that of Gautier, the details of which are thus given by Berzelius. The ferrocyanuret of potassium is fused without access of air, whereby it is con- verted into a mixture of cyanuret of potassium and carburet of iron. The mass obtained, after being pulverized and placed in a flask, is slightly mois- tened with water, and acted on with muriatic acid, added by small portions at a time. The flask is then plunged into hot water, which causes the hydrocyanic acid to be disengaged in the form of vapour. This is passed through a tube containing chloride of calcium, and finally received in a small flask, kept cold by a,freezing mixture, where it is condensed. Berze- lius inclines to give the preference to this process over all others for obtain- ing the anhydrous acid; as the salt employed is cheap, and as the tempera- ture of the hot water, while it is competent to volatilize the hydrocyanic acid, is not sufficient to drive over any muriatic acid. Properties of the Medicinal Acid. Hydrocyanic acid, in the dilute state in which it is used in medicine, is a transparent, colourless, somewhat volatile liquid, possessing a taste at first cooling, afterwards somewhat irri- tating, and a smell resembling that of bitter almonds. It is liable to undergo decomposition if exposed to the light; but is easily kept if the bottle con- taining it is covered with black paint, or black paper. The French generally use bottles of blue glass. Its most usual impurities are sulphuric and muriatic acids; the former of which may be detected by evaporating a small portion of the suspected acid, when this impurity will remain; and the latter by precipitating with nitrate of silver; when so much of the precipitate as may be chloride of silver will be insoluble in boiling nitric acid, while the cyanuret of silver is readily soluble. The presence of these impurities is injurious only in so far as they render the strength of the acid uncertain; for they confer the advantage of rendering it much less liable to decomposition. Dr. Christison asserts that the acid prepared from the ferrocyanuret of potassium will keep for years, owing, as he supposes, to the presence of a little sulphuric acid; and Mr. Barry, of London, adds a small portion of muriatic acid to all his medicinal hydrocyanic acid, in order to preserve it. (Pereira.) If lead be present, it may be detected by means of hydrosulphuric acid gas, which will cause a blackish precipitate. It is incompatible in pre- scriptions with nitrate of silver, the salts of iron and copper, and most of the salts of mercury. The medicinal acid is of different strengths, as ordered by different pharmaceutical authorities; its particular strength being denoted 752 Acida. part ii- by the specific gravity, which is always lower in proportion as it is stronger. The taking of the specific gravity, however, is not a mode of determining the strength, which is convenient for the majority of apothecaries; as slight differences in density indicate very material differences in strength. It is on this account that Dr. Ure has proposed another method, which consists in ascertaining the quantity of red oxide of mercury which a given weight of the acid will dissolve. In applying this test, any convenient weight of the acid, for example one hundred grains, are to be taken, and forty or fifty grains of the mercurial oxide, well pulverized and dried, are weighed out. The latter is then to be added to the former, by small portions at a time, as long as it is dissolved; the solution being assisted by agitation. What re- mains of the oxide unexpended, deducted from the whole quantity weighed out, will give the portion dissolved. The equivalent quantities of oxide and acid for mutual decomposition, are one equiv. of the former 218, to two of the latter 54.78; as these proportions contain the proper quantities of mercury and cyanogen to form a bicyanuret. Consequently, the peroxide dissolved will be to the anhydrous acid present, as 218 to 54.78, or as 4 to 1 nearly. Hence we have the simple rule of dividing the weight of oxide dissolved by 4, and the quotient will represent, with sufficient precision, the quantity of anhydrous acid present. This method of testing the strength of the acid pre-supposes the absence of muriatic acid, which, if present, would consume a proportion of the red oxide. The strength of the medicinal acid may also be ascertained by nitrate of silver, which forms a precipitate, every 134.39 parts of which, provided it be soluble in boiling nitric acid, indicate 27.39 of real acid. The strength of the different medicinal acids, expressed by indicating the percentage of anhydrous acid, varies considerably. Thus the United States and Dublin acids contain about 1.6 per cent, of real acid, the London 2 per cent., and that made at Apothecaries' Hall, about 2.9 per cent. The French Codex acid is much stronger. Properties of the Anhydrous Acid. Hydrocyanic acid, perfectly free from water, is a colourless, transparent, inflammable liquid, of extreme vol- atility, boiling at 80°, and congealing at 5°. Its sp. gr. as a liquid is 0.6969, at the temperature of 64°; and as a vapour 0.9423. Its taste is at first cool- ing, afterwards burning, with an after-taste in the throat like that of bitter almonds; but from its extremely poisonous nature, it must be tasted with the utmost caution. Its odour is so strong as to produce immediate headach and giddiness; and its vapour so deleterious that it cannot be inhaled without the greatest danger. Both water and alcohol dissolve it readily. It is much more prone to undergo decomposition than the dilute acid. In the course of a few hours it sometimes begins to assume a reddish-brown colour, which becomes gradually deeper, till at length the acid is converted into a black liquid, which exhales a strong smell of ammonia. It is a very weak acid in its chemical relations, and reddens litmus but slightly. With salifiable bases it forms salts called hydrocyanates, which are very liable to decomposition. Though usually a product of art, it exists in nature in the cherry-laurel, bitter almond, bird-cherry, peach, and some other plants. It is, however, a matter of doubt, in many cases in which it is extracted from vegetables, whether it is an educt or a product. (See Amygdala.) Composition, fyc. Hydrocyanic acid consists of one equiv. of cyanogen 26.39, and one of hydrogen 1=27.39; or in volumes, of one volume of cyanogen and one volume of hydrogen without condensation. Cyanogen is a colourless gas, of a strong and penetrating smell, inflammable, and burn- ing with a beautiful bluish-purple flame. Its sp. gr. is 1.8157. It was dis- covered in 1815, by Gay-Lussac, who considers it a compound radical, PART II. Adda. 753 which, when acidified by hydrogen, becomes hydrocyanic acid. It consists of two equiv. of carbon 12.24, and one of nitrogen 14.15=26.39; or in volumes, of two volumes of the vapour of carbon, and one volume of nitro- gen, condensed into one volume. The ultimate constituents of hydrocyanic acid are, therefore, two equiv. of carbon, one of nitrogen, and one of hy- drogen. Hydrocyanic acid, in a dilute state, was discovered in 1780 by Scheele, who correctly stated its constituents to be carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen; but the peculiar way in which they are combined was first demonstrated by Gay-Lussac, by whom also the anhydrous acid was first obtained. Medical and Toxicological Properties. Hydrocyanic acid is the most deadly poison known, proving, in many cases, almost instantaneously fatal. One or two drops of the pure acid are sufficient to kill a vigorous dog in a few seconds. Notwithstanding its tremendous energy as a poison, it has been ventured upon in a dilute state as a medicine. Though occasionally resorted to as a remedy previously to 1817, it did not attract much attention until that year, when Magendie published his observations on its use in diseases of the chest, and recommended its employment to the profession. When given in medicinal doses gradually increased, it produces the follow- ing symptoms in different cases:—peculiar bitter taste; increased secretion of saliva; irritation in the throat; nausea; disordered respiration; pain in the head; giddiness; faintness; obscure vision and tendency to sleep. The pulse is sometimes quickened, at other times reduced in frequency. Occasionally salivation and ulceration of the mouth are produced. It has been most highly recommended and extensively used in complaints of the respiratory organs; and is supposed to exert a control over pulmonary inflammation, after the excitement has been diminished by blood-letting; and no doubt, in some instances, has been found beneficial under such circumstances. In tuberculous phthisis, though at one time boasted of as a remedy, it has no power whatever, except as a palliative for the cough. In the various affec- tions of the chest, however, attended with dyspnoea or cough, such as asthma, hooping cough, and chronic catarrh, its use has often been decidedly beneficial, by allaying irritation or relaxing spasm. In hypertrophy of the heart, and aneurism of the aorta, it has also been used with advantage. In various affections of the stomach, attended with pain and spasm, but uncon- nected with inflammation, hydrocyanic acid has proved beneficial in the hands of some practitioners. Sometimes it is used externally, diluted with water, as a wash in cutaneous diseases. Dr. A. T. Thomson, from his personal experience, insists particularly on its efficacy in allaying the itching and tingling in impetiginous affections. The dose of medicinal hydrocyanic acid is from one to six or eight drops dissolved in distilled water, or rubbed up with mucilage of gum Arabic or almond emulsion. It requires to be administered with the greatest caution, on account of the minuteness of the dose, and the great variableness in strength of the acid as found in the shops. The proper plan, therefore, is to begin with a small dose, one drop for example, and gradually to increase the quantity, until some obvious impression is produced. If giddiness, weight at the top of the head, sense of tightness of the stomach, or faintness come on, its use should be discontinued. In all cases in which a fresh portion of medicine is used, the dose should be lowered to the minimum, lest the new sample might prove stronger than that previously employed. When resorted to as a lotion, from thirty minims to a fluidrachm may be mixed with a fluidounce of distilled water. Hydrocyanic acid is so rapidly fatal as a poison, that physicians have sel- 754 Adda. part ii. dom to treat its effects. When not immediately fatal, the symptoms pro- duced are sudden loss of sense, trismus, difficult and rattling respiration, cold- ness of the extremities, a smell of bitter almonds proceeding from the mouth, smallness of the pulse, swelling of the neck, dilatation and immobility of the pupils, convulsions, &c. The antidotes and remedies most to be relied on, according to Pereira, are, chlorine, ammonia, cold affusion, and artificial respiration. Chlorine, in the form of chlorine water, or weak solutions of chloride of lime or of soda, may be exhibited internally, or applied externally. Water of ammonia, largely diluted, may be given, when chlorine is not at hand, and the vapour arising from it cautiously inhaled. A case is related in the Dublin Med. Journal, for Nov. 1835, of poisoning by this acid, in which the diluted aromatic spirit of ammonia applied to the mouth, although not swallowed on account of the teeth being clenched, and the solid carbo- nate assiduously applied to the nostrils, produced speedy beneficial effects. After death from suspected poison, it is sometimes necessary, in medico- legal investigations, to ascertain whether the event was caused by this acid. The best test, in ordinary cases, is a solution of nitrate of silver, which gives a white curdy precipitate of cyanuret of silver, distinguishable from the chloride by its exhaling the peculiar odour of prussic acid on the addition of muriatic acid. In cases in which the liquid, supposed to contain the poison, is dis- guised by colouring and animal matter, M. Ossian Henry recommends that it should be distilled into a pure weak solution of the nitrate; when, if the suspected acid be present, the cyanuret of silver will be precipitated. In order to render it certain that the precipitate is the cyanuret, in cases where its quantity is very minute, M. Henry recommends that it be converted into the ferrocyanuret of sodium, which salt can be detected by characteristic preci- pitates with a sesquisalt of iron, or the sulphate of copper. The conversion is effected by heating the cyanuret moderately with half its weight of common salt, which generates chloride of [silver, and cyanuret of sodium. This latter is then taken up by water, and the solution filtered. To this is added a small portion of the freshly hydrated oxide of iron, obtained by precipitating a solution of sulphate of iron by potassa. The solution is again filtered, and moderately heated. Ferrocyanuret of sodium is thus formed, the least trace of which strikes a blue colour with the sesquisulphate of iron, and a brown one with the sulphate of copper. (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 236, from the Journ. de Pharm.) Off. Prep. Argenti Cyanidum, Lond. B. ACIDUM MURIATICUM DILUTUM. Dub. Acidum Hydro- chloricum Dilutum. Lond. Diluted Muriatic Acid. " Take of Muriatic Acid, by measure, ten parts; Distilled Water, by measure, eleven parts. Mix. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.080." Dub. " Take of Hydrochloric Acid four fluidounces; Distilled Water twelve fluidounces. Mix them." Lond. This dilute acid, as made by the Dublin College, contains about sixteen per cent, of real acid. It is twice and eight-elevenths as strong as the cor- responding acid of the London Pharmacopoeia, now first introduced into that work. It is convenient to have an officinal dilute muriatic acid; but it is to be regretted that the two Colleges have not agreed in its strength. A flui- drachm (Imperial measure) of the London acid saturates, very nearly, thirty- two grains of crystallized carbonate of soda. For an account of the medi- cinal properties of muriatic acid, see Acidum Muriuticum. The dose of the Dublin dilute acid is from ten to fifty drops, of the London twice or thrice PART II. Acida. 755 that quantity, mixed with water or other convenient vehicle. The Dublin College employs it in the preparation of the Calcis Phosphas Praeeipita- tum. B. ACIDUM NITRICUM DILUTUM. Lond., Dub. Acidum Ni- trosum Dilutum. Ed. Diluted Nitric Acid. " Take of Nitric Acid a fluidounce; Distilled Water nine fluidounces. Mix them." Lond. " Take of Nitric Acid, by measure, three parts; Distilled Water, by measure, four parts. Mix, avoiding the noxious vapours. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.280." Dub. " Take of Nitrous Acid and of Water equal weights. Mix them, taking care to avoid the noxious vapours." Ed. These formulae are intended to furnish a nitric acid of convenient strength for medicinal use. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia has no corresponding prepara- tion. The British Colleges do not agree in the strength which they direct for it. The acid of the London College contains 14.3 per cent, of strong nitric acid, saturates 31 per cent, of crystallized carbonate of soda, and has a sp.gr. of 1.08; that of the Dublin College contains nearly 48 per cent., and that of the Edinburgh, 50 per cent. The acid, therefore, of the Dublin and Edinburgh Colleges is more than three times as strong as that of the London Pharmacopoeia. These discrepancies are to be regretted; but we incline to the opinion that the strength of the London acid is the most con- venient. The formula of the Edinburgh College would seem to give a diluted nitrous, instead of nitric acid; but the fact is, that nitric oxide, the presence of which forms the essential character of the pharmaceutical nitrous acid, is extricated during the dilution. The medicinal properties of the diluted acid are the same as those of the strong acid. (See Acidum Nitricum.) The dose of the London acid is from twenty to forty drops three times a day; that of the other Colleges, one third this quantity. It is employed pharmaceutically by the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges in preparing nitrate of silver, subnitrate of bismuth, red precipitate, acetate of mercury, and precipitated calomel. B. ACIDUM NITROMURIATICUM. Dub. Nitromuriatic Acid. " Take of Nitric Acid, by measure, one part; Muriatic Acid, by measure, two parts. Mix the Acids in a refrigerated vessel, and keep the mixture in a well stopped bottle, in a cool and dark place." Dub. This is the aqua regia of the earlier chemists, so called from its pro- perty of dissolving gold. Nitric and muriatic acids, when mixed together, mutually decompose each other. The equivalent quantities, necessary to render the decomposition complete, are one equiv. of each. One equiv. of hydrogen of the muriatic acid forms water with one equiv. of oxygen of the nitric acid, which consequently becomes reduced to the state of nitrous acid, and chlorine is set free. The preparation, therefore, after the reaction has taken place, consists of a solution of nitrous acid and chlorine in water. As the acids, considered dry, must be used in the proportion of their equivalents, it is easy to calculate in what proportions the officinal acids of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia must be mixed, so as to contain equivalent quanti- ties of the dry acids. Thus 67.7 parts of the U.S. nitric acid, and 114.4 parts of the U.S. muriatic acid, contain respectively one equiv. of dry acid. It hence follows that the U.S. officinal acids, for complete decomposition, must be mixed in the proportion of 67.7 parts by weight of nitric acid to 114.4 of muriatic acid, or of 10 to 17 nearly; and the mixture will contain 756 Adda. PART II. by calculation somewhat less than 20 per cent, of free chlorine, assuming that none is lost by effervescence. As the Dublin and U. 9. officinal muri- atic acids coincide in sp. gr., and their nitric acids differ in density only as 1.49 to 1.5, the above calculations are virtually applicable to the Dublin acids; and by a calculation it may be easily determined, that the proportion given in the Dublin formula of one measure of nitric acid to two of muriatic is, theoretically, nearly correct, being in weight as 10 to 16 nearly; which numbers give a slight excess of the nitric acid, an error on the right side, as it insures the total decomposition of the muriatic acid. The affinity of chlorine and nitrous acid for water being much less than that of muriatic and nitric acids for the same liquid, the mixture of the strong acids is always attended with the production of effervescence; and great care should be taken to preserve the nitromuriatic acid, thus formed, in strong vessels, and in a cool, dark place. To prevent the loss of chlorine, Dr. Duncan recommends the immediate dilution of the mixture, with an equal quantity of water. On account of these objections to the use of the strong acids, it is best to employ good ordinary acids of commerce. The strength of these may be stated as averaging 1.15 for muriatic, and 1.34 for nitric acid; and the proportions in which they should be mixed is about 26 parts by weight of the former to 25 of the latter. The mixture contains about 15 per cent, of chlorine. The decomposition, in this case, takes place slowly, and the resulting solution of chlorine may be kept with perfect safety. Properties. Nitromuriatic acid has a golden-yellow colour, and emits the smell of chlorine. It requires to be kept in a cool, dark place, on account of its liability to lose its chlorine by heat, or to have it converted, by the action of light, into muriatic aeid, in consequence of the decomposition of water. The nitric and muriatic acids, as occasionally sold in the shops, are so weak that when mixed they will not readily act on gold-leaf. When this is the case, their solvent power may be rendered effective by the addition of a little sulphuric acid, which, by its superior attraction for water, concen- trates the others, and produces an immediate action, accompanied by the evolution of chlorine. Medical Properties and Uses. Nitromuriatic acid has been introduced into the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, probably on account of the favourable report of its efficacy as an external remedy in hepatitis, made by Dr. Scott, formerly of Bombay. When thus employed, it produces a tingling sensation in the skin, thirst, a peculiar taste in the mouth, and occasionally soreness of the gums and plentiful ptyalism; and at the same time stimulates the liver, as is evinced by an increased flow of bile. It is used either by sponging, or in the form of bath. When applied in the former way, the acid is first diluted so as to have the acidity of strong vinegar. When used as a bath, three gallons of water contained in a deep, narrow, wooden tub, may be acidulated with six fluidounces of the acid. In this the feet and legs are to be im- mersed for twenty minutes, or half an hour. The bath may be employed at first daily, and afterwards twice or thrice a week; and the sponging may be used at the same time. The bath is said to be effective in promoting the passage of biliary calculi. The acid may be used also internally, principally in hepatic and syphilitic diseases. The dose in this case is three or four drops, sufficiently diluted with water.* * For farther information the reader is referred to a paper on nitromuriatic acid, in the third volume of the Journ. of the Phil. College of Pharmacy, by Daniel B. Smith of Philadelphia, to whom we are indebted for the principal chemical facts and calculations contained in this article. PART II. Acida. 757 ACIDUM PHOSPHORICUM DILUTUM. Lond. Diluted Phosphoric Acid. "Take of Phosphorus an ounce; Nitric Acid four fluidounces; Distilled Water ten fluidounces [Imperial measure]. Add the Phosphorus to the Nitric Acid mixed with the Water in a glass retort placed in a sand-bath; then apply heat until eight fluidounces are distilled. Put these again into the retort, that eight fluidounces may distil, which are to be rejected. Evaporate the remaining liquor in a platinum capsule until only two ounces and six drachms remain. Lastly, add to the acid, when it is cold, as much distilled water as may be sufficient to make it accurately measure twenty-eight fluidounces." Lond. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.064. One hundred grains of it saturate forty-two grains of carbonate of soda. The process for this new officinal of the London College may be thus explained. Phosphorus, when added to strong nitric acid, decomposes it with explosion and rapid combustion; but when distilled with the diluted acid the action takes place slowly, the phosphorus gradually melts and becomes oxidized, and nitric oxide is evolved. Before, however, the whole of the phosphorus is acidified, the nitric acid will have distilled over; and hence the necessity of returning it into the retort, as directed by the College, in order to complete the acidification of the phosphorus. When this has been completed, all remains of nitric acid are driven off by the evaporation in the platinum capsule; and the residue, which contains all the phosphoric acid that can be generated from an ounce of phosphorus, is brought to a standard degree of dilution, by the addition of sufficient distilled water to make it measure twenty-eight fluidounces. (See Acidum Nitricum and Phosphorus.) Properties. Diluted phosphoric acid is a colourless, inodorous, sour liquid, acting strongly on litmus, and possessing powerful acid properties. Although evaporated so as to become dense, it does not act upon animal and vegetable matter like sulphuric acid. From its saturating power it is shown to contain 10.5 per cent, of real phosphoric acid. With chloride of barium and nitrate of silver it forms precipitates, (the phosphates of baryta and silver,) which are readily soluble in nitric acid. If the tests mentioned give a pre- cipitate not soluble in this acid, they prove the presence—the chloride of barium, of sulphuric acid or a sulphate; the nitrate of silver, of muriatic acid or a chloride. If carbonate of soda causes a precipitate, phosphate of lime, or some other phosphate insoluble in water, is probably held in solution. When the diluted acid is evaporated to dryness and heated to redness, it becomes a transparent, white, brittle, fusible solid, formerly called glacial phosphoric acid, now denominated metaphosphoric acid, and consisting of one equiv. of phosphoric acid and one of water. Phosphoric acid, considered dry, consists of two equiv. of phosphorus 31.4 and five of oxygen 40=71.4. Medical Properties and Uses. Diluted phosphoric acid, like the other mineral acids, is deemed tonic and refrigerant. It is preferable in point of flavour to the diluted sulphuric acid, and is less apt to disturb the digestive functions. Various powers have been ascribed to it, such as allaying pain and spasm, strengthening the sexual organs, preventing the morbid secretion of bony matter, as in exostosis and ossification, and correcting phosphatic deposites in the urine, on the ground of its power of dissolving phosphate of lime. It has been recommended in leucorrhcea, when the secreted fluid is thin and acrid, in hysteria, and diabetes. In the latter disease Dr. Paris found it to allay the thirst more effectually than any other acid drink. The dose is from twenty minims to a fluidrachm, sufficiently diluted with water. B. 65 758 Acida. part n. ACIDUM SUCCINICUM. #r/.,-Of/A. Succinic Acid. "Take of Amber reduced to powder, and of Sand, equal parts. Mix them, and put the mixture in a glass retort, of such a size as to be only half filled by it. Then adapt a receiver, and distil, by means of a sand-bath, with a fire gradually increased. At first a watery liquor will come over, with a little yellow oil; then a yellow oil with an acid salt; and lastly, a reddish and black oil. Pour the liquor out of the receiver, and separate the oil from the water. Press the Succinic Acid, collected from the neck of the retort and sides of the receiver, between folds of blotting paper, to free it from adhering oil; then purify it by solution in warm water, and crystalli- zation." Ed. "Take of Amber reduced to coarse Powder, and of pure Sand, each one part. On the application of heat gradually increased, an acid liquor, an oil, and the acid in the crystallized form will distil over. The latter should be received on bibulous paper, and exposed to a strong pressure to expel the oil, and again sublimed. By filtration through bibulous paper, the oil may be obtained separate from the acid liquor." Dub. The above formulae have for their object to obtain the oil of amber, as well as succinic acid; but our remarks will be confined, in this place, to the acid, the oil being described under another head. (See Oleum Succini.) Am- ber contains succinic acid united wiih a peculiar oily matter. When dis- tilled, it swells considerably, and a slightly coloured liquid first comes over; after which the succinic acid sublimes, and condenses in needles in the neck of the retort and on the sides of the receiver. At last the matter suddenly ceases to swell, and the process is finished; for afier this time, very Utile succinic acid is disengaged, but a thick and dark coloured oil rises, which renders the acid impure. The Colleges direct the admixture of sand, to prevent the inconvenience of the amber swelling too much by the heat. Several processes have been proposed to purify succinic acid. The best is that of Morveau, which consists in dissolving the acid in twice its weight of nitric acid, and evaporating the solution to dryness. In this way the oil is decomposed, while the succinic acid remains unaltered. This is then washed in a little ice-cold water, next dissolved in boiling water, and crys- tallized. Properties. Succinic acid, when pure, is a white, transparent solid, crys- tallizing in prisms, and having a somewhat acrid taste. It reddens litmus strongly. Exposed to heat it melts, and above the boiling point of water is partly sublimed and partly decomposed. It dissolves in five times its weight of cold, and twice its weight of boiling water. It is soluble also in cold alcohol, and much more so in boiling alcohol. It consisis of two equiv. of hydrogen 2, four of carbon 24.48, and three of oxygen 24 = 50.48. It differs, therefore, from acetic acid, only in containing one equiv. less of hy- drogen. Succinic acid is at present never used in medicine, and ought to be ex- punged from the Pharmacopoeias. B. ACIDUM SULPHURICUM AROMATICUM. U.S., Ed, Dub. Aromatic Sulphuric Acid. Elixir of Vitriol. "Take of Sulphuric Acid three fluidounces and a half; Ginger, bruised, an ounce; Cinnamon, bruised, an ounce and a half; Alcohol two pints. Drop the Acid gradually into the Alcohol, and digest in a close vessel for three days; then add the Ginger and Cinnamon, and macerate for a week; lastly, filter through paper." U.S. " Take of Stronger Alcohol ta>o pounds [Rectified Spirit two pints, Dub.~\\ PART II. Acida. 759 Sulphuric Acid star ounces. Add the Acid gradually to the Alcohol. Digest the mixture with a very gentle heat, in a covered vessel, for three days, and then add Cinnamon Bark, bruised, an ounce and a half; Ginger Root, bruised, an ounce. Digest again in a covered vessel for six days,°and then filter through paper placed in a glass funnel." Ed. This valuable preparation, commonly called elixir of vitriol, is a simpli- fication of the acid elixir of Mynsicht, and was adopted from the Edinburgh College, in the first United States Pharmacopoeia, and afterwards by the Dublin College, in their revised edition of 1826. The only change in the Edinburgh formula, made by the United States Convention, is the substitu- tion of the nearest equivalent measures for the weights of the liquid ingre- dients. In the Edinburgh directions, the acid is to the alcohol in weight as 1 to 4; in the United States Pharmacopoeia, (the measures being turned into weights,) as 1 to 4.15, which is a sufficiently near coincidence for all prac- tical purposes. The Dublin College has adopted the Edinburgh formula throughout, with the exception of substituting two pints of alcohol for two pounds: a change which renders the preparation considerably weaker in acid, as two pints of officinal alcohol weigh more than two pounds. Properties. Aromatic sulphuric acid is a reddish-brown liquid, of a pe- culiar aromatic odour, and, when sufficiently diluted, of a grateful acid taste. It has been supposed by some to be a kind of ether, its main ingredients justifying such a suspicion; but the late Dr. Duncan, who originally held this opinion, satisfied himself that the alcohol and sulphuric acid, in the proportions here employed, do not produce a single particle of ether. It must, therefore, be viewed merely as sulphuric acid diluted with alcohol, and containing the essential oils of ginger and cinnamon. Medical Properties and Uses. It is tonic and astringent, and affords the most agreeable mode of administering sulphuric acid. It is very much employed m debility with night sweats, in loss of appetite, and in the con- valescence from fevers, especially those of the intermittent type. It is often given in conjunction with cinchona, the taste of which it serves to cover, and, by increasing the solubility of the febrifuge principles of the bark, ap- pears to increase its efficacy. In haemoptysis and other hemorrhages, when not attended with obvious inflammation, it frequently proves useful in stop- ping the flow of blood. The dose is from ten to thirty drops in a wineglassful of water, repeated two or three times a day. = £$. ACIDUM SULPHURICUM DILUTUM. U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Diluted Sulphuric Acid. " Take of Sulphuric Acid afliddounce; Water thirteen fluidounces. Add the Acid gradually to the Water in a glass vessel, and mix them." U.S. " Take of Sulphuric Acid afliddounce and a half; Distilled Water four- teen fluidounces and a half. Add the Acid gradually to the Water, and mix them." Lond. " Take of Sulphuric Acid one part; Water seven parts. Mix them." Ed. " Take of Pure Sulphuric Acid one part; Distilled Water seven parts. Gradually add the Acid to the Water. The specific Gravity of this acid is 1.084." Dub. This preparation is sulphuric acid diluted to such an extent as to make it convenient for medical use. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges agree in making the strong acid one-eighth part of the mixture by weight; and in the U. States Pharmacopoeia, these proportions are followed, as nearly as they can be approached in measures. The exact proportions of these Colleges 760 Acida. part II. expressed in measures, would be 1 fluidounce of acid to 12.9 fluidounces of water, which is sufficiently near the proportion of I to 13, to justify the adoption of the latter numbers. There is accordingly a virtual agreement in the strength of the acid by the three processes just mentioned; but unfortu- nately the formula of the London College gives an acid considerably stronger. The coincident processes afford an acid containing between 12 and 13 per cent, of the strong liquid acid; while the London acid contains 16 per cent. According to Mr. Phillips, a fluidrachm (Imp. meas.) of the London acid contains about ten grains of the strong acid, and will saturate twenty-eight grains of crystallized carbonate of soda. The strong acid is added gradually to the water, to guard against the too sudden production of heat, which might cause the fracture of the vessel. During the dilution, when commer- cial sulphuric acid is used, the liquid becomes slightly turbid, and in the course of a few days deposites a grayish-white powder, which is sulphate of lead, and from which the diluted acid should be poured off for use. This noxious salt is thus got rid of, but sulphate of potassa, another impurity in the strong acid, still remains in solution. To avoid these impurities, the Dublin College directs pure sulphuric acid and distilled water. The pre- sence of a small portion of sulphate of potassa will do no harm; but if it should be fraudulently introduced into the strong acid to increase its specific gravity, its amount may be ascertained by saturating the acid, after dilution, with ammonia and expelling the sulphate of ammonia formed by a red heat. Whatever sulphate of potassa is present will remain behind. Medical Properties and Uses. Diluted sulphuric acid is tonic, refrigerant, and astringent. It is given in low typhoid fevers, and often with advantage. In the convalescence from protracted fevers, it often acts beneficially as a tonic^exciting the appetite and promoting digestion. As an astringent, it is employed in colliquative sweats, passive hemorrhages, and diarrhoeas de- pendent on a relaxed state of the mucous membrane of the intestines. In gravelly affections attended with phosphatic sediments, it is the proper remedy, being preferable to the muriatic acid, as less apt, by continued use, to disorder the stomach. Externally, it is used as an ingredient in gargles for ulcerated sorethroat and for checking excessive ptyalism, and as a wash for cutaneous eruptions and ill-conditioned ulcers. The dose is from ten to thirty drops three times a day, in a wineglass or two of plain or sweetened water. It is added with advantage to infusions of cinchona, the organic alkalies of which it tends to hold in solution. As it is apt to injure the teeth, it is best taken by sucking it through a quill. It is much less used in the United States than the elixir of vitriol, which possesses nearly the same medical properties. (See Acidum Sulphuricum and Acidum Sulphuricum Aromaticum.) This acid is employed as a chemical agent for preparing the benzoic, citric, and tartaric acids, the organic alkalies, aconitina, strychnia, and vera- tria, and the precipitated sulphuret of antimony. Off. Prep. Infusum Rosas Compositum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Mor- phias Sulphas, U.S.; Quininae Sulphas, Dub.; Solutio Sulphatis Zinci, Ed.; Zinci Sulphas, Lond. B. ACIDUM SULPHURICUM PURUM. Dub. Pure Sulphuric Acid. " Take of Commercial Sulphuric Acid a pound. Put the acid into a retort of flint glass, attach a receiver of the same kind, and with the junc- tures of the vessels left open, let heat be applied to the retort until one-twelfth part of the liquor shall have distilled over: this, as it contains water, should PART II. Acida.—Aconitina. 761 be rejected. The receiver being again applied, the residuum is to be dis- tilled to dryness. A few slips of platinum put into the acid in the retort, will restrain the ebullition, which otherwise would be too violent. The specific gravity of this acid is 1.845. Let the acid be kept in well closed vessels." Dub. The object of this process is to obtain a pure sulphuric acid. The com- mercial acid contains the sulphates of lead and potassa, amounting not unfre- quently to three or four per cent.; and these salts, not being volatile, are effectually got rid of by distillation. The explanation of the several steps of the process for distilling this acid has been given at page 43, under the head of Acidum Sulphuricum, and need not be repeated here. This preparation is peculiar to the Dublin College, and has been adopted in their last Pharmacopoeia, to avoid the risk of introducing sulphate of lead into the preparations of sulphuric acid. But this acid is never used in a concentrated form; and in the dilute state in which it is employed, it always lets fall this metallic salt. Admitting, however, that there is some danger of metallic impurity from using the commercial acid, the Dublin College have committed the double error of omitting to use their pure acid, where on their principles it is necessary, and of employing it in formulae in which it is not needed. The only officinal preparation of the pure acid is the Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum; but it would seem equally required in the elixir of vitriol, where the commercial acid may be considered as directed. On the other hand, the diluted sulphuric acid is employed uselessly in the processes for citric acid and the precipitated sulphuret of antimony, where it acts merely as a chemical agent. Off. Prep. Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum, Dub. B. ACONITINA. Lond. Aconitina. " Take of Aconite Root, dried and bruised, two pounds; Rectified Spirit three gallons; Diluted Sulphuric Acid, Solution of Ammonia [water of am- monia, U.S.], Purified Animal Charcoal, each, a sufficient quantity. Boil the Aconite with a gallon of the Spirit, for an hour, in a retort with a receiver fitted to it. Pour off the liquor, and again boil the residue with another gallon of the Spirit and with the spirit recently distilled, and pour off the liquor also. Let the same be done a third time. Then press the Aconite, and having mixed all the liquors and filtered them, distil the spirit. Evapo- rate the remainder to the proper consistence of an extract. Dissolve this in water and filler. Evaporate the solution with a gentle beat, so that it may thicken like syrup. To this add of Diluted Sulphuric Acid, mixed with dis- tilled water, sufficient to dissolve the aconitina. Next rlrop in Solution of Ammonia, and dissolve the Aconitina which is thrown down, in Diluted Sul- phuric acid, mixed as before with water. Then mix in the Animal Charcoal, occasionally shaking for a quarter of an hour. Lastly filter, and having again dropped in Solution of Ammonia so as to precipitate the Aconitina, wash and dry it." Lond. The name adopted by the London College for the alkaline principle ex- tracted from aconite is objectionable, as of unnecessary length, and not in accordance with the general nomenclature of the vegetable alkalies. Aconitia is a preferable name. The principle probably exists in the plant combined 65* 762 Aconitina. part n. with a vegetable acid, forming a soluble salt. In the above process, this is first extracted by alcohol, then taken up from the alcoholic extract by water, and afterwards converted into a sulphate by the addition of dilute sulphuric acid. The sulphate is decomposed by ammonia which precipitates the aconitia, and this is purified by being once more combined with sulphuric acid, then decolorized by animal charcoal, and again precipitated by ammo- nia. Care is requisite, in conducting the process, not to add too great an excess of the water of ammonia, which diminishes the product, probably by dissolving the aconitia. Properties. Aconitia, when freshly precipitated, is said to be white and in the form of a hydrate; but it speedily parts with its water, and forms a brownish, brittle mass. (Soubeiran's Trait, de Pharm. ii. 716.) It is thought not to be crystallizable. Obtained by evaporating its alcoholic solution, it is described as being in the form of a transparent, colourless mass, having a glassy lustre. In powder, it is white with a yellowish tinge. It is inodorous, and of a bitter and acrid taste, producing a benumbing impression on the tongue. The acrimony, however, is ascribed by some to a distinct principle associated with it, from which it may be freed by repeated solution in dilute acids and subsequent precipitation. It is unalterable in the air, and fusible by a gentle heat. It is sparingly soluble in water, requiring for solution 100 parts of cold and 50 of boiling water. (Phillips.) Alcohol and ether dissolve it readily. It neutralizes the acids; but its salts are not crystallizable. That it contains nitrogen is proved by the evolution of ammonia, when it is de- composed by heat. Medical Properties and Uses. This vegetable principle exercises a powerful influence over the animal economy. One-fiftieth of a grain dis- solved in alcohol destroyed a sparrow in a few minutes, and one-twentieth of a grain instantaneously. It has not been used internally as a remedy; but Dr. Turnbull has advantageously resorted to its external application. According to this writer, it produces in the skin a sensation of heat and prickling, followed by numbness and a feeling of constriction; and the effect continues, according to the quantity applied, from two to twelve hours or more. He found it not to act as a rubefacient, or at least but slightly so. The affections in which he employed it with benefit, were neuralgia, gout, and rheumatism. He recommends it either in alcoholic solution, in the pro- portion of a grain to a fluidrachm, or in the form of an ointment made by rubbing up two grains of the alkali first with six drops of alcohol and then with a drachm of lard. These proportions are sufficiently large to begin with, but may be gradually increased to four or five, or even eight grains to the drachm. The preparation should be applied by friction over the part affected, which should be continued till the peculiar sensation above de- scribed is produced, and may be repeated three or four times, or more fre- quently, during the day. No good can be expected unless the sensation alluded to be experienced in a greater or less degree. Care should be taken not to apply the medicine to an abraded surface, or to a mucous membrane, for fear of dangerous constitutional effects. W. part ii. AElherea. 763 tETHEREA. Ethers. Ethers are peculiar, fragrant, sweetish, very volatile, and inflammable liquids, generated by the action of acids on alcohol. Their composition varies with the acid employed in their formation. Sometimes this merely acts on the alcohol as a chemical agent, without entering into the composi- tion of the ether generated; in which case the ether consists of water and etherine. ln other instances the acid employed unites with water and etherine (the ether just mentioned), or with etherine simply. On the basis of these differences of composition, the medicinal ethers may be divided into three kinds: 1. those consisting of water and etherine; 2. those consisting of an acid, water, and etherine; and 3. those composed of an acid and ethe- rine only. Sulphuric ether is an example of the first kind, nitric ether of the second, and muriatic ether of the third. In medicine, the sulphuric and nitric ethers, and their modifications, are those most commonly employed; though occasionally the acetic and muriatic have been used. Ethers, from their extreme inflammability, ought never to be decanted in the vicinity of flame. Hence it is prudent not to pour them out near a lighted candle. They should be kept in accurately stopped bottles in a cool place; otherwise they are liable to considerable loss by evaporation. B. ESTHER SULPHUR1CUS. U.S. Liquor JEthereus Sulphu- ricus. Dub. Unrectified Sulphuric Ether. " Take of Alcohol two pounds and a half; Sulphuric Acid a pound and a half. Pour a pound and a half of the Alcohol into a glass retort, and gradually add the Acid, shaking them frequently, and taking care that the temperature, during the mixture, do not exceed one hundred and twenty degrees. Place the retort very cautiously in a sand-bath, previously heated to two hundred degrees, so that the liquor may boil as speedily as possible, and the ether may pass over into a tubulated receiver, to which another receiver, kept cold by ice or water, is adapted. Distil the liquor until a heavier portion begins to pass over, and appears under the ether at the bottom of the receiver. To the liquor which remains in the retort, add the residue of the Alcohol, and repeat the distillation in the same man- ner." U.S. " Take of Rectified Spirit and of Sulphuric Acid, each, thirty-two ounces by weight. Pour the Spirit into a glass retort adapted to bearing a sudden heat, and then pour on the acid in a continued stream; mix them gradually, and let twenty fluidounces of the liquor be distilled, with a sudden and suffi- ciently strong heat, into a receiver kept cold. If sixteen ounces of rectified spirit be poured upon the acid remaining in the retort, sulphuric ethereal liquor will again come over by distillation." Dub. The preparation obtained by these processes is sulphuric ether contami- nated with alcohol, water, sulphurous acid, and the oil of wine. In this state it is proper only for external use. For internal exhibition it is freed from these impurities, and then becomes a distinct preparation, called Recti- fied Sulphuric Ether, or, simply, Sulphuric Ether. This is described in the next article, in which the properties and composition of sulphuric ether, and the theory of its formation will be given. Off.Prep. iEther Sulphuricus Rectificatus, U.S., Ed., Dub. B. 764 AHlherea. part ii. .ether SULPHURICUS RECTIFICATUS. U.S. ^ther Sulphukicus. Loud., Ed., Dub. Rectified Sulphuric Ether. " Take of Sulphuric Ether fourteen fluidounces; Potassa half an ounce; Distilled Water eleven fluidounces. Dissolve the Potassa in two fluidounces of the Water, and add the Ether to the solution, shaking them well till they are mixed; then, at a heat of about one hundred and twenty degrees, distil from a large retort into a cooled receiver twelve fluidounces of Rectified Ether. Shake the distilled liquor with nine fluidounces of the Water, and set them by that the Water may subside. Lastly, pour off the supernatant Rectified Ether, and preserve it in a well-stopped bottle." U. S. " Take of Rectified Spirit three pounds; Sulphuric Acid two pounds; Carbonate of Potassa, previously ignited, an ounce. Pour two pounds of the spirit into a glass retort, add the acid to it, and mix. Afterwards place it on sand, and raise the heat so that the liquor may quickly boil, and the Ether pass into a receiver cooled with ice or water. Let the liquor distil until some heavier portion begins to pass over. To the liquor which re- mains in the retort, after the heat has subsided, pour the remainder of the Spirit, that Ether may distil in the same manner. Mix the distilled liquors, then pour off the supernatant portion, and add to it the Carbonate of Potassa, shaking them frequently during an hour. Lastly, distil the Ether from a large retort, and keep it in a slopped vessel." Lond. The specific gravity of this ether is 0.750. " Take of Sulphuric Acid, and of Stronger Alcohol [Rectified Spirit], each, thirty-two ounces. Pour the Alcohol into a glass retort capable of sustaining a sudden heat, and add to it the acid in an uninterrupted stream. Mix them by degrees, shaking them gently and frequently, and instantly distil from sand, previously heated for the purpose, into a receiver kept cool with water or snow. The heat must likewise be so managed, that the liquor shall boil as soon as possible, and continue to boil till sixteen ounces are drawn off, when the retort is to be removed from the sand. To the dis- tilled liquor add two drachms of potassa, and distil from a very high retort, with a very gentle heat, into a cool receiver, until ten ounces have been drawn off. If sixteen ounces of Stronger Alcohol be poured upon the acid remaining in the retort after the first distillation, and the distillation be re.- peated, more ether will be obtained; and this may be repealed seveial times." Ed. " Take of Sulphuric Ethereal Liquor twenty fluidounces; Carbonate of Potassa, dried and powdered, two drachms. Mix them, and from a very high retort, distil, by a very gentle heat, twelve fluidounces into a receiver kept cold. The specific gravity of the liquor is 0.765." Dub. The object of these processes is to obtain a pure sulphuric ether. The first and fourth formulas are intended to purify the unrectified sulphuric ether, which is officinal only in the United States and Dublin Pharmacopoeias. In the second and third processes the ether is formed and purified at one operation. Thus the London and Edinburgh Colleges have no preparation corresponding to the unrectified ether of the U. S. and Dublin Pharmaco- poeias. By an unfortunate confusion in nomenclature, the title "Aether Sulphuricus" means unrectified ether in the United States Pharmacopoeia, and rectified in those of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. The generation and rectification of sulphuric ether may be considered as different steps of one chemical operation; and are, therefore, most conve- niently treated of under the same head. In the U. S. process for preparing it, the acid is gradually added to the alcohol to prevent too great a heat, which PART II. AUtherea. 765 would generate a portion of ether before the arrangements are completed for collecting it. After the receivers have been attached, and the junctures luted, the retort is placed in a sand-bath, previously heated to 200°, for the purpose of forming the ether quickly; for if the retort were gradually heated, the greater part of the alcohol would distil over, without being converted into ether, and the process would furnish a comparatively small product. The lutings are best made with common paste, spread on strips of muslin, which are first applied, and afterwards, when dry, covered over with slips of moistened bladder. The receiver is refrigerated on account of the great volatility of ether, a part of which, without this precaution, would be lost. A convenient mode for keeping the receivers cold is to lay across them a number of strips of woollen cloth, one end of which is immersed in cold water placed higher than the receivers. By this arrangement the water is made continually to trickle over them, whereby they are kept cool; and at the same time the progress of the distillation may be seen, which is not the case when they are immersed in water. The moment when the heavier portion begins to pass over, which is the signal for discontinuing the pro- cess, is indicated by the appearance of white vapours in the retort. If the distillation were continued after this, very little ether would be obtained; but there would be generated, sulphurous acid, oil of wine, defiant gas, carbonic acid, and a large quantity of carbonaceous matter, blackening and rendering thick the residuary liquid. The foregoing remarks apply to the formula of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. The processes of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Colleges are in prin- ciple the same, and do not require a separate explanation. The process for forming ether, however, is most advantageously performed on a large scale. At Apothecaries' Hall, where the operation is conducted in this way, the apparatus employed is thus described by Mr. Brande. It "consists of a leaden still, heated by means of high-pressure steam carried through it in a contorted leaden pipe. A tube enters the upper part of the still, for the pur- pose of suffering alcohol gradually to run into the acid. The still-head is of pewter, and is connected, by about six feet of tin pipe, with a very capacious condensing-worm, duly cooled by a current of water. The receivers are of pewter, with glass lids, and have a side tube to connect them with the deli- vering end of the worm-pipe." (Manual of Chem., 4th ed., p. 1081.) The rectification of ether is intended to purify it from sulphurous acid, oil of wine, and alcohol, and is variously conducted according to the differ- ent Pharmacopoeias. The distillation with a gentle heat from potassa has the effect of separating the sulphurous acid and oil of wine, and the greater part of the alcohol. The remainder of the alcohol passes over with the ether, and is afterwards separated in the United States process by agitation- with water. This liquid having a stronger affinity than ether for alcohol, unites with the latter, and forms a combination which sinks, while the pure ether floats above it. Eiher, thus treated, is called washed ether; but in the process of washing, it takes up about a tenth part of water, from which it may be separated by distillation from well-burned lime. The Edinburgh College adds the potassa to the impure ether in the solid state, which is pre- ferable to dissolving it previously in water. The London and Dublin Col- leges perform the rectification by a distillation from carbonate of potassa. This salt is usually employed by the manufacturing chemist, the distillation being continued so long as the ether comes over of a sufficiently low specific gravity. Properties. Rectified sulphuric ether is a colourless very limpid liquid; of a strong and sweet odour, and hot pungent taste. It reddens litmus 766 AUtherea. PART II. slightly. When as pure as possible, its sp. gr. is about 0.700; but the ether used ,„ medicine^ ,s never of so high a strength. The officinal strength of the London rectified ether is 0 750, of the Dublin 0.765. That sold ?„ ihe shops varies from 0.733 to 0.765. The United States and Edinburgh Phar- macopoeias have not indicated its specific gravity. I,s sp. gr., as uireclei| by the French Codex, is 0.758. For medicinal purposes, its densitv should not exceed 0 750. It is a very volatile liquid, and when of the sp. gr. 0.720, boils at about the temperature of 98°, and forms a vapour which has the density of 2.5817. Its extreme volatility causes it to evaporate speedily in the open air, with the production of a considerable degree of cold. Its in- flammability is very great, and the products of its combustion are water and carbonic acid. In consequence of this property, the greatest caution should be used not to bring it in the vicinity of flame, as for example, a lighted candle, for fear of its taking fire. One of the great advantages of usincr steam as a source of heat is, that it obviates, in a great measure, the danger of its accidental inflammation When too long kept, it undergoes decomposition, and becomes converted in part into acetic acid. Phosphorus and sulphur are slightly soluble ,„ ,t, and the former is generally exhibited in ethereal solution, (bee Phosphorus.) Water dissolves a tenth of its weight of ether and reciprocally ether takes up about the same proportion of water. It unites in all proportions with alcohol. Con^sitio and Theory of its Production. Sulphuric ether consists, in ultimate constituents, of five equiv. of hydrogen 5, four of carbon 24.48, and one of oxygen 8 = 37.48; or in volumes, of five volumes of hydrogen, four volumes of the vapour of carbon, and half a volume of oxygen, condensed into one volume of ether vapour. Its proximate constituents are one equiv. „f eihenne 28.48, and one of water 9=37.48; or in volumes, one volume of ethenne vapour, and one volume of the vapour of water, con- densed into one volume. The sp. gr. of its vapour, calculated on this consfi- t:zz eu,r n2-5817, Thich is ve:y near 2-586'ihe m,mber °bta-d by expt,imen. By some, however, the constituents of the etherine, to- gether w„h the hydrogen of the alleged water, are supposed to form a pecu- •ar carburelted hydrogen, consisting of four equiv. of carbon a.uI five of hydrogen and to which the name of ethule has'been given. 0„ ihi- view m I ■ P, Xlde °f et'U,le- B? this stal^ent of the composition ot to what it, name would seem to imply. The fact is, that it is called sui phunc ether, merely in allusion to the agency of the acid usual y eZlTed in its preparation; but an identical ether may be obtained by the action of certain other acids on alcohol. The French chemists, in aVusiontothe With a view to determine in what manner sulphuric acid acts upon alco- be i st;;:; :d ^r*1 i,,to ether'ii is, ressar' *«a --p-r^ d be instituted between the compaction of the two latter. It has already been ^ :"f P»f «• lhat lh'S ,iq"id' ^"'^ t0 -odern "vie " iTt menSonecf T"' fT *"" lW° eqi'iV' °f Waler; and elher' as ;;e'Tls composed of one equiv. of e.herine and one equiv. of wa er It thu, appears lhat alcohol to be converted into ether, only requires to lo»e one equiv of water, that is, half the water present in it/ On this v evv, hen, etherification consists in the abstraction from alcohol of half the essential water which it contains. The agent in effecting this abstraction is evidently he sulphuric acid, which is known to have a Long affinity for water; but its action is not direct as originally supposed, but intermediate, PART II. Allherea. 767 as was first pointed out by Mr. Hennell. This chemist found that when two equiv. of sulphuric acid and one of alcohol were merely mixed, the acid lost a portion of its saturating power, and a new acid was formed, to which he gave the name of sutphovinic acid (the ethereo-sulphuric acid of Liebig). In view of its composition it may be called a bisulphate of alcohol, or, which is the same thing, a bisulphate of etherine, with two equiv. of water. When one equiv. of this acid is heated it is decomposed; the two equiv. of sulphuric acid with one equiv. of water remain in the retort, while the one equiv. of etherine unites with the remaining equiv. of water to form the ether, which distils over. If the original proportions of acid and alcohol continued the same through- out the whole of the distillation, all the alcohol would be resolved into water and ether; but, during the progress of the process, the alcohol is constantly diminishing, and of course the relative excess of the acid becoming greater; and at last a point of time arrives when the excess of acid is so great that the generation of ether ceases. As these results depend upon the relative deficiency of the alcohol, while the acid remains but slightly changed in amount, it is easy to understand why a second distillation may be practised, as directed in the Pharmacopoeias, by adding a fresh portion of alcohol to the residue in the retort; for by this addition, the proper relative proportion of the alcohol to the acid is restored. But the repetition of the distillation in this manner has its limit; as the acid becomes at last too dilute to react upon the alcohol. Medical Properties and Uses. Ether is a powerful diffusible stimulant, though transient in its operation. It is also esteemed antispasmodic and narcotic. Its vapour when breathed from a bladder in which a few teaspoon- fuls have been put, produces a transient intoxication, resembling that caused by respiring nitrous oxide, but very dangerous if carried too far. In some stages of low fevers attended with subsultus tendinum, ether sometimes proves beneficial as a stimulant and antispasmodic. It is useful also in ner- vous headach unattended with vascular fulness, some states of hysteria, and generally in nervous and painful diseases which are unaccompanied by inflammation. In catarrhal dyspnoea, and spasmodic asthma, its vapour may be inhaled with advantage by holding in the mouth a piece of sugar, to which a few drops of ether have been previously added. In nausea it is given as a cordial, and in cramp of the stomach and flatulent colic it some- times acts with singular efficacy. It is also useful, given alone, or mixed with oil of turpentine, in relieving the pain or spasm caused by the passage of biliary calculi. According to Mr. Brande, a small teaspoonful of ether mixed with a glass of white wine, is often a most effectual remedy for allay- ing the distressing symptoms of sea-sickness. When externally applied it may act either as a stimulant or refrigerant. If its evaporation be repressed, it operates as a powerful rubefacient, and may even vesicate; but when its evaporation is allowed to take place freely, it is refrigerant in consequence of the great degree of cold which it produces. In the latter way it is some- times employed in strangulated hernia. Dr. A. T. Thomson has found ether sometimes to produce immediate relief when dropped in the ear in earach. For external use, the unrectified ether may be employed. The dose of rectified ether is from half a fluidrachm to two fluidrachms, to be repeated frequently when the full effect of the remedy is desired. It may be perfectly incorporated with water or any aqueous mixture, by rubbing it up with spermaceti, employed in the proportion of two grains for each fluidrachm of the eiher. The ether and spermaceti are to be rubbed together in a mortar, until the \atter is perfectly dissolved; and to the solution thus 768 A2therea. part n. formed the water or mixture is to be added, while the whole is constantly stirred. The incorporation being finished, the operation is completed by passing the mixture through a piece of muslin to separate the spermaceti. (Durand, Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 202.) Off.Prep. Spiritus jEtheris Sulphurici, U.S., Ed. B. OLEUM iETHEREUM. U.S., Lond. Liquor iETHEREUS Oleosus. Dub. Ethereal Oil. Oil of Wine. "After the distillation of Sulphuric Ether, carry on the distillation with a less degree of heat, until a black froth begins to rise; then immediately remove the retort from the fire. Add water to the liquor in the retort, that the oily part may float upon the surface. Separate this and add to it suffi- cient Lime-water lo neutralize the acid present, and shake them together. Lastly, when the oil has separated, remove it." U.S. " Take of Rectified Spirit two pounds; Sulphuric Acid four pounds; So- lution of Potassa, Distilled Water, each, a fluidounce [Imperial measure], or as much as may be sufficient. Mix the Acid cautiously with the Spirit. Let the liquor distil until a black froth arises; then immediately remove the retort from the fire. Separate the lighter supernatant liquor from the heavier one, and expose the former to the air for a day. Add to it the Solution of Potassa first mixed with Water, and shake them together. Lastly, when sufficiently washed, separate the Ethereal Oil which subsides." Lond. The specific gravity of this oil is 1.05. "Take what remains in the retort after the distillation of Sulphuric Ether. Distil down to one half with a moderate heat." Dub. After the distillation of sulphuric ether has been completed, the residue in the retort contains a large excess of sulphuric acid compared with the alcohol; and if the distillation be continued, a peculiar oleaginous matter called oil of wine is generated, which is the officinal ethereal oil. The same oil may be obtained by an independent process, provided the proper relative excess of sulphuric acid be directed, as has been done in the new London formula. The U.S. formula is copied from the directions of the old London process; but as it is unproductive and difficult of execution, our explanation will relate to the steps of the new London process. The products of the distillation are ether, water, sulphuric acid, and the oil which floats upon the water. The source of the ether and water has been explained under Sulphuric Ether. The sulphurous acid and black froth arise from the mutual decomposition of a portion of sulphuric acid and alcohol. The oil, being poured off, is ex- posed to the air, in order to lose by evaporation the ether with which it is mixed, and is then subjected to the action of the potassa, to purify it from sulphurous acid. The Dublin formula is altogether defective. By distilling the residue of the sulphuric ether process "down to one half with a moderate heat," the oil of wine is no doubt generated; but it is mixed with various substances, from which no directions are given in the formula for its sepa- ration. The nature and mode of formation of the oil of wine are not well under- stood. It has been explained in the preceding article, that, in the early stage of the distillation of a mixture of sulphuric acid and alcohol, sulphovinic acid, or the bisulphate of etherine is formed in the retort. Now it appears that at a later period of the process,?the neutral sulphate of etherine, distils over, consisting of two equiv. of acid, two of etherine, and one of water,* which is the officinal ethereal oil, or heavy oil of wine. * Some chemists consider the oil to consist of two equiv., severally, of acid, etherine, and water, which makes it a sulphate of ether. part ii. AHlherea. 769 Sulphovinic acid combines with bases, forming salts called sulphovinates, which may be viewed as double sulphates of etherine and the added base. When a sulphovinate, as for example the sulphovinate of lime, is heated in a retort, furnished with a receiver, sulphate of lime is left behind, while a portion of the sulphate of etherine, or heavy oil of wine, distils over un- changed. If this, after being purified, be exposed to heat, covered with a stratum of water, in a matrass with a long neck, it will entirely disappear, being resolved into sulphovinic acid which will dissolve in the water, and a light oily matter which will float on its surface. This oily matter consists of a liquid and a solid principle, separable from each other by the application of a freezing temperature; the former being called the light, the latter, the concrete oil of wine. Thus chemists recognise at present three oils of wine —the heavy or sulphate of etherine, the light, and the concrete. The first, or the officinal oil, alone contains sulphuric acid; the other two are isomeric with etherine, and devoid of this acid. Properties. The officinal ethereal oil is a yellow liquid, possessing an oleaginous consistency, an aromatic odour, and pungent taste. Its sp. gr., as given by the London College after Hennell, is 1.05, but Dumas states it to be 1.133. Sparingly soluble in water, it is very soluble in alcohol and ether. Though containing sulphuric acid, it has no acid reaction, its acid being completely neutralized by the etherine with which it is united. It is not precipitated by chloride of barium, showing that the sulphuric acid is in intimate union with the other constituents of the oil. The light oil of wine has a slightly yellow colour, and an aromatic odour, which is developed by rubbing it between the fingers. It communicates a greasy stain to paper. Its density at 51° is 0.917, and its boiling point very high. The concrete oil crystallizes in long transparent and brilliant prisms. It has no taste, and a smell like that of the light oil. Its density is 0.960. It melts at 230°, and volatilizes without change at 500°. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and ether. The officinal oil is not used in medicine in a separate state, but enters into the composition of the compound spirit of sulphuric ether, or Hoffmann's anodyne. Off Prep. Spiritus iEtheris Sulphurici Compositus, U.S., Lond. B. SPIRITUS ^ETHERIS SULPHURICI. U.S. .Ether Sul- phuricus cum Alcohole. Ed. Spirit of Sulphuric Ether. "Take of Rectified Sulphuric Ether half a pint; Alcohol a -pint. Mix them." U.S. "Take of Sulphuric Ether one part; Stronger Alcohol two parts. Mix them." Ed. This preparation is merely rectified ether diluted with twice its volume or weight of alcohol. When prepared with materials of proper strength, its sp. gr. is 0.816. Its medical properties are similar to those of ether. The dose is from one to three fluidrachms, given with a sufficient quantity of water. B. SPIRITUS ^ETHERIS SULPHURICI COMPOSITUS. U.S., Lond. Compound Spirit of Sulphuric Ether. Hoffmann's Ano- dyne Liquor. " Take of Spirit of Sulphuric Ether a pint; Ethereal oil two fluidrachms. Mix them." U.S. " Take of Sulphuric Ether eight fliddounces; Rectified Spirit sixteen fluidounces; Ethereal Oil three fluidrachms. Mix them." Lond. 66 770 AZtherea. part IT. This preparation is intended as a substitute for the anodyne liquor of Hoffmann, which it closely resembles. In addition to the stimulating and antispasmodic qualities of the ether which it contains, it possesses anodyne properties, highly useful in nervous irritation, and want of sleep arising from this cause. These additional virtues it derives from the officinal or heavy oil of wine, which is a more important substance than is generally supposed. Mr. Brande asserts that the only effect of it, in the preparation under notice, is to alter the flavour of the Sulphuric Ether. In this assertion he is cer- tainly in error. Dr. H ore, in his Chemical Compendium, reports the opinion of Drs. Physick and Dewees, in favour of the efficacy of the officinal oil of wine, dissolved in alcohol, in certain disturbed states of the system as a tranquilizing and anodyne remedy. Such indeed are'the generally admitted effects of Hoffmann's anodyne, when made with a due admixture of the ethereal oil; but the Spirit of Sulphuric Ether is often improperly sold for it. When properly prepared, it becomes milky on being mixed with water, in consequence of the precipitation of the oil; but it may be added that its becoming milky does not prove its goodness, as the same property may be given to it by the addition of various essential oils. It is on many occasions a useful adjunct to laudanum, to prevent the nausea which is excited by the latter in certain habits. Its dose is from half a fluidrachm to two fluidrachms in any proper vehicle. B. iETHER SULPHURICUS CUM ALCOHOLE AROMATI- CUS. Ed. Aromatic Sulphuric Ether with Alcohol. " Take of Cinnamon Bark, bruised, Lesser Cardamom Seeds, bruised, each, an ounce; Long Pepper, in powder, two drachms; Sulphuric Ether with Alcohol, two pounds and a half. Digest for seven days, and filter through paper " Ed. This is merely the Spirit of Sulphuric Ether, rendered more grateful by aromatics. Its medical properties and dose are the same as those of the preparation which forms its basis. It is very rarely if ever prescribed. B. EITHER NITROSUS. Dub. Nitrous Ether (Nitric Ether). " Take of Purified Nitrate of Potassa, dried, and coarsely powdered, a pound and a half; Sulphuric Acid a pound; Rectified Spirit nineteen fluid- ounces. Put the Nitrate of Potassa into a tubulated retort, placed in a bath of cold waier, and pour on it, by degrees and at intervals, the Sulphuric Acid and Spirit, previously mixed, and cooled after their mixture. Without almost any external heat, or at most a very gentle one, (as of warm water added to the bath,) the ethereal liquor will begin to distil without the appli- cation of fire. In a short time, the heal of the retort will increase sponta- neously, and a considerable ebullition will take place, which must be mode- rated by reducing the teiiiperature of the bath with cold water. The receiver must also be kept cold with water or snow, and furnished with a proper ap- paratus for transmitting the highly elastic vapour, (bursting from the mixture with great violence if the heat be too much increased,) through a pound of Rectified Spirit contained in a cooled bottle. " The ethereal liquor thus spontaneously distilled, is to be received into a phial with a ground glass stopper; and then must be added by degrees (closing the phial after each addition) as much very dry and powdered car- bonate of potassa as will suffice to saturate the excess of acid, using litmus as the test. This is effected by the addition of about a drachm of the salt. In a short time the Nitrous Ether will rise to the surface, and is to be sepa- rated by means of a funnel. PART II. AStherea. 771 " If the Ether be required very pure, distil it again to one-half, from a water-bath at a temperature of 140°. Its specific gravity is 0.900." Dub. The Dublin is the only Pharmacopoeia commented on in this work, which embraces nitrous (nitric) ether among its preparations. The mutual reac- tion of nitric acid and alcohol is so violent, that the formation of this ether has justly been regarded as a process of difficulty. The method adopted by the Dublin College, in their formula, was contrived by Wolfe, and is com- mended by Pelletier, as well adapted for obtaining this ether with facility and safety. The alcohol is not mixed directly with nitric acid, but with the materials necessary for generating it. Upon the addition of the mixture of sulphuric acid and alcohol to the nitre, this salt is decomposed, and the dis- engaged nitric acid gradually reacts upon the alcohol, and generates the ether in question. The saline residue in the retort is sulphate of potassa. The heat evolved upon mixing the materials is so considerable, that the applica- tion of extraneous heat becomes unnecessary, and even hazardous. Indeed, as the action advances, the temperature of the mixture must be moderated by the application of cold water. The violent action arises from the vast quantity of gases and vapours suddenly given off. These are nitrogen, nitrous and nitric oxide, carbonic acid, and the vapours of water, nitrous acid, and of the nitric ether itself. Notwithstanding the cold employed, a portion of the nitric ether escapes condensation in the receiver, and hence the Dublin Col- lege, to save this portion, directs a cooled bottle to be connected with it, con- taining a pound of alcohol, into which the uncondensed ether is allowed to pass. The alcohol thus impregnated is subsequently employed in the Dub- lin formula for sweet spirit of nitre. (See Spiritus JEtheris Nitrici.) The ether condensed in the receiver is not pure, but contains a little nitrous, nitric, and acetic acids. To remove these, the ethereal product is shaken with carbonate of potassa, which has the effect of saturating them. Nitric ether is prepared by Thenard according to the following process. Equal weights of alcohol and nitric acid, contained in a retorl having a capacity double their volume, are distilled by a moderate heat, into a Wolfe's appa- ratus of five bottles, the first of which is empty, and the four others half filled with saturated brine. Each bottle is placed in an earthen pan contain- ing a mixture of ice and salt. The apparatus being thus arranged, a few live coals are placed under the retort, whereupon the liquid enters quickly into ebullition. The fire must then be immediately withdrawn, and the ebullition moderated, by allowing some water pressed from a sponge to flow over the retort. The process is terminated when the spontaneous ebullition ceases; at which time the liquid in the retort forms a little more than a third of the quantity of alcohol and acid employed. In the first bottle, a lar^e quantity of yellow liquid will be found, consisting of much weak alcohol, of ether, and nitrous, nitric, and acetic acids; in the second, a pretty thick stra- tum of ether, containing a little acid and alcohol, and swimming on the sur- face of the brine; in the third, a very thin stratum, of the same nature as that in the second, and so on for the rest. The several layers of ether are then separated by means of a funnel, mixed together, and redistilled with a mode- rate heat, into a refrigerated receiver. The first product is the ether, which, to be perfectly pure and devoid of acidity, must be allowed to remain in a bottle for half an hour, in contact with powdered lime. From 500 parts of alcohol, and 500 of acid, Thenard obtained 100 of excellent ether. Dr. Hare has contrived an apparatus for generating nitric ether, which he has found to answer very well. He employs a three-necked bottle, the outer orifices of which are furnished with open glass tubes, ground or luted to fit air-light, and tapering so as to terminate in a capillary orifice near the 772 AZtherea. part n. bottom of the bottle. The central orifice is occupied by a bent tube, con- nected with another tube passing perpendicularly through an open-necked inverted receiver, into a bottle surrounded with a mixture of ice and salt. The tube in the open-necked receiver is also surrounded with a freezing mixture. As much alcohol is then introduced through one of the open tubes as will cover the bottom of the bottle; and through the other sufficient strong nitric acid to cause an effervescence. Should the effervescence threaten to become explosive, it must be checked by the further addition of alcohol; and when the reaction declines too much, it may be re-excited by adding more acid. In this way, without applying heat, a portion of nitric ether will soon be condensed in the refrigerated bottle, swimming upon the surface of an acid liquor, from which it must be carefully separated. (Chemi- cal Compendium, p. 482.) The late Dr. Duncan stated in his Dispensatory, that he had " repeatedly prepared nitric ether with great facility and safety, by putting alcohol into a tubulated retort having a small long-tubed funnel introduced through a cork in the tubulature, so that the end of the funnel was immersed in the alcohol, pouring nitrous acid through this slowly, until reaction commenced, and waiting till it ceased before more acid was added in successive portions, until the whole proportion intended was added. After the spontaneous action had ceased, heat was cautiously applied as long as ether was pro- duced." To condense the products, a Wolfe's apparatus was used, kept very cold. The first bottle was empty, and in it the principal part of the ether condensed; the second contained water, and the third alcohol. From this last a tube proceeded to give exit to the gases. This method of Dr. Duncan is probably a good one, and has the merit of being easily executed. Properties. Nitrous or nitric ether as it is variously called, is a yellowish- white liquid, of an acrid and burning taste, and a smell resembling that of sulphuric ether, but much stronger. When simply washed with water, Dr. Duncan found its sp. gr. to be 0.912; but in this state it contained acid. When this was removed, its density became 0.896, and when recti- fied by a new distillation it fell to 0.866. The Dublin College directs its sp. gr. to be 0.900. This ether, therefore, is much heavier than the sulphuric, and even heavier than alcohol. When agitated with water it is divided into three portions; a small portion dissolves, a second evaporates, and a third is decomposed. The aqueous solution becomes immediately acid, and acquires the smell of apples. Nitric ether is soluble in all propor- tions in alcohol; and with a variable portion of the latter forms the spirit of nitric ether, or sweet spirit of nitre. It is more volatile than sulphuric ether, entering into ebullition at 70°. It is highly inflammable, and burns with a white flame, without residue. It is very liable to spontaneous decomposi- tion, becoming acid after the lapse of a few days. It should be kept in full bottles in a dark cool place, and prepared in small quantities at a time. Composition. Nitric ether consists of one equiv. of hyponitrous acid 38.15, and one of ether 37.48=75.63. Admitting this composition to be correct, its proper name would be hyponitrous ether, or hyponitrite of ether. Medical Properties and Uses. Nitric ether is seldom used in medicine. Its medical virtues are probably ihe same as those of sulphuric ether. B. SPIRITUS .ETHERIS NITRICI. U.S., Lond. Spiritus iETHERis Nitrosi. Ed. Spiritus ^Ethereus Nitrosus. Dub. Spirit of Nitric Ether. Sweet Spirit of Nitre. " Take of Nitrate of Potassa, in powder, two pounds; Sulphuric Acid PART II. AUtherea. 775 a pound and a half; Alcohol nine pints and a half; Diluted Alcohol a pint; Carbonate of Potassa an ounce. Mix the Nitrate of Potassa and the Acid in a glass retort, and, having gradually poured in the Alcohol, digest with a gentle heat for two hours; then raise the heat, and distil a gallon. To the distilled liquor add the Diluted Alcohol and Carbonate of Potassa, and again distil a gallon." U.S. " Take of Rectified Spirit three pounds; Nitric Acid four ounces. Add the Acid gradually to the Spirit and mix them; then distil thirty-two fluid- ounces [Imperial measure]." Lond. "Take of Stronger Alcohol [Rectified Spirit] three pounds; Nitrous Acid a pound. Pour the Alcohol into a capacious phial, placed in a vessel full of cold water, and add the Acid by degrees, constantly agitating them. Let the phial be slightly covered, and placed for seven days in a cool place; then distil the liquor with the heat of boiling water, into a receiver kept cool with water or snow, until about three pounds come over." Ed. " Add to the matter which remains after the Distillation of Nitrous Ether, the Rectified Spirit employed in that operation for condensing the elastic vapour, and distil till the residuum be dry, with the superior heat of a water- bath. Mix the distilled liquor with the alkaline liquor which remains after the separation of the Nitrous Ether, and add, moreover, as much well dried Carbonate of Potassa as shall be sufficient to saturate the predominant acid. This is made evident by the test of litmus. Lastly, distil as long as any drops come over by the medium heat of a water-bath. The specific gravity of this liquor is 0.850. " Nitrous Ethereal Spirit may also be prepared by adding gradually two ounces of Nitric Acid to a pint of Rectified Spirit, and distilling twelve ounces with a proper apparatus and the application of a gentle heat." Dub. The Spirit of Nitric Ether is a mixture, in variable proportions, of nitric ether (hyponitrous ether) and alcohol. Nitric ether is always generated by the mutual reaction of nitric acid and alcohol; and it matters not whether the alcohol be mixed with nitric acid directly, or with the materials for generating it, namely, nitre and sulphuric acid. When the materials for forming the ether contain an excess of alcohol, this distils over with the ether, and forms the preparation under consideration. The processes given above differ considerably. The U. S. and Dublin Pharmacopoeias obtain the requisite nitric acid by using the materials for generating that acid; while the London and Edinburgh Colleges mix the acid ready formed with the alcohol. The different formula? will be noticed in the order just named. The United Stales formula is modeled after a recipe communicated by Mr. John Carter, manufacturing chemist, to the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and recommended for adoption by a committee of that body. It is in fact the Dublin process for obtaining nitric ether, explained in the pre- ceding article, with the use of alcohol in excess. The nitre and sulphuric acid being placed in the retort, the materials are ready for generating the nitric acid. The alcohol being gradually added, and a gentle heat applied, the nitric acid is set free, and by reacting on a part of the alcohol produces the ether. Upon the subsequent increase of the heat, this ether and the remainder of the alcohol distil over as the spirit of nitric ether. The dis- tilled product, however, contains some acid, and hence is rectified by a dis- tillation from carbonate of potassa. The diluted alcohol is added before commencing this distillation, to enable the operator to obtain a quantity of distilled product equal to that procured at first, without distilling to dryness, which would endanger the production of empyreuma. The sulphuric acid 66* 774 ALtherea. part ii. and alcohol are added successively to the nitre, and not previously mixed; as by ihe latter plan, the sulphuric acid would be converted in part into sul- phovinic acid, and the risk would be run of generating some sulphuric ether. The retort should be of such a capacity as to be capable of holding twice the amount of the materials employed. It would be an improvement in this formula, if the nitre were directed to be bruised, rather than powdered; as the more slowly the nitric acid is liberated, the more safely the process may be conducted. The above process, as conducted by Mr. Carter on a large sdale, is per- formed in a copper still of about twenty gallons capacity, and furnished with a pewter head and worm. The materials for the first distillation are 18 pounds of purified nitre, 12 gallons of alcohol of 34° Baume (0.847), and 12 pounds of sulphuric acid; and 10 gallons are drawn off. The dis- tilled product is then mixed with a gallon of diluted alcohol, and rectified by a new distillation from lime or a carbonated alkali; the same quantity being distilled as at first. When large quantities of this preparation are thus ob- tained, the several portions require to be mixed in a large glass vessel, to render the whole of uniform strength; as the portion which first comes over in the rectification is strongest in nitric ether. Previous to the redistillation, the head and worm must be washed thoroughly with water, to remove a little acid which comes over in the first distillation. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. i. 308.) A similar process to the above for making sweet spirit of nitre, is adopted in the principal laboratories of Philadelphia. As the use of metallic vessels is attended with some risk, it would be an improvement in the above process, if an earthenware still and worm were employed, as is done at Apothecaries' Hall, London; the still being heated by the slow application of steam to its outer surface. In order to insure the purity and uniform composition of this important preparation, Dr. Hare has proposed to mix pure nitric ether, first with so much alcohol as may be necessary to render it soluble in water, and after- wards with sufficient water to make the nitric ether one-twelfth of the mix- ture, which he considers would be about the strength of officinal sweet spirit of nitre. The proportions which he recommends are one part of nitric ether, seven of alcohol, and four of water. In order to understand the process of the Dublin College for preparing sweet spirit of nitre, it will be necessary to revert to their formula for ob- taining nitric ether, and the explanations connected with it. The residue of the latter process consists of sulphate of potassa, free nitric acid not con- sumed in the generation of the nitric ether, and, perhaps, a portion of alcohol. To this residue is added the pound of alcohol which had been employed in the process for nitric ether, for the purpose of absorbing the ether which escapes condensation in the receiver. Of course, after this addition, all the conditions are fulfilled which are necessary for the generation of spirit of nitric ether, namely, nitric acid in contact with more alcohol than is necessary to form ether. Accordingly, upon distillation, the nitric ether comes over mixed with a certain portion of alcohol, forming the spirit in question. But at the same time, a portion of acid is distilled over, to separate it from which, the product is redistilled from an alkaline carbonate at a medium heat (between 100° and 200°) as long as any drops come over. To save the alkaline solution used in purifying nitric ether, it is directed to be applied, as far as it will go, to the purpose of saturating the acid of this preparation. From the explanations here and previously given, it is obvious that the PART II. AStherea. 775 formula; for nitric ether and sweet spirit of nitre of the Dublin College form in fact but one process; and whenever it is desirable to obtain nitric ether, it is no doubt economical to use the residue and part of the products of this process for procuring sweet spirit of nitre. But the fact is, that nitric ether is seldom or never employed in medicine, and has very few other uses; and hence the Dublin formula for the sweet spirit of nitre is ineligible, as in- cluding the preparation of another substance which may not be wanted. It is, no doubt, on this account, that the College has appended to its principal process another formula, similar to that of the London College, indicating the mode by which sweet spirit of nitre may be obtained independently of any other product. The London and Edinburgh processes for this preparation are in principle the same, namely, the addition of nitric or nitrous acid, ready formed, to alcohol; but the proportions employed are very different. In the London formula, the acid is to the alcohol as 1 to 9; in the Edinburgh, as 1 to 3. The proportion of nitric acid to alcohol for mutual reaction in the U.S. formula, is nearly the same as in the London process, if we suppose that the nitre, by its decomposition, yields a pound and a quarter of acid which is about the quantity obtained in practice. This coincidence may be assumed with the greater confidence, as the preparation obtained by these two formulae has about the same specific gravity. The proportion of alcohol in the Edinburgh formula is so deficient, that the product must be very strong in nitric ether. The directions of this College to keep the acid and alcohol mixed for seven days, answers no useful purpose, and is, therefore, a waste of time. The proportion of the spirit drawn off to the alcohol employed is different in the different formula?. It is a little over two-thirds in the Lon- don formula, five-sixths in that of the U.S. Pharm., and exactly equal to the alcohol employed in the Edinburgh. When the distillation is pushed too far, the product is high-coloured, specifically heavier than it should be, and apt to be contaminated with acid. This risk is avoided almost entirely by the London College, by distilling only two-thirds of the weight of the rec- tified spirit; but if accidentally the distillation be continued too long, a very acid liquor comes over. By following the directions of the Edinburgh for- mula, the acidity of the product would seem to be almost inevitable. From these considerations, we think that the London and Edinburgh Colleges have erred in not directing a rectification, as is ordered in the U.S. and Dublin Pharmacopoeias. Properties. Spirit of nitric ether is a colourless liquid, of a grateful ethereal odour, and, when recently prepared, of a very pungent, and slightly sweet and bitter taste. When kept for a few weeks, it acquires a decided acidity, and becomes sourish to the taste. WThen thus changed, it may be rectified by saturating the acid present with lime-water, and redistilling. It is very inflammable and volatile, but less so than sulphuric ether. It is readily soluble in water, and unites with any additional portion of alcohol to that which it already contains. Its sp. gr. is necessarily variable, as obtained by different formulae. The density prescribed for it by the Dublin College is 0.850; by the London, 0.834, which differs very little from the density of the officinal alcohol or rectified spirit, which weighs 0.835. The pre- paration as obtained by Mr. Carter's formula has the sp. gr. 0.833 at 65°. Unfortunately, however, specific gravity is not a criterion of its quality; as its appropriate density may be preserved, even after it has been weakened by a large quantity of alcohol. When tincture of guaiac is added to it a peculiar blue tint is produced, which soon passes into various shades of green, with- out disturbing its transparency. Perhaps this tincture might afford the means 776 ASlherea.—Alcohol. part n. of determining the quantity of sweet spirit of nitre. Some test of this kind would be a highly desirable acquisition, on account of the extensive use made of this preparation, and the frequent sophistications to which it is subjected. It is stated on good authority, that it has been variously diluted, according to the views of the vender, wiih twice, thrice, and even four times its wtjght of alcohol and water. In some shops a strong and a weak prepara- tion have been kept, to suit the views of customers as to price. Some of the wholesale druggists are in the habit of diluting it, either upon the plea that the physician's prescriptions are written in contemplation of the use of a weak preparation, or for the purpose of affording it at a low price. All this confusion in regard to an important medicine would disappear, if the diffe- rent manufacturing chemists in the Union would comply with the recom- mendation of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and adopt for its preparation the formula of the United States Pharmacopoeia. A uniform preparation being in this way furnished to the druggists, all that would be necessary on their part would be carefully to abstain from weakening it by the admixture of alcohol and water. Sweet spirit of nine is very prone to become acid by keeping; and a slight acidity is almost unavoidable. It is best preserved by being kept in accu- rately stopped half-pint bottles in a cool place. Its specific gravity ought not to exceed 0.834, the density directed by the London College. If it be higher than this, water, or excess of nitric acid, or both, are probably pre- sent. If acid be present in considerable amount, it may be detected by the taste, by its acting strongly on litmus, or by the occurrence of effervescence on the addition of a crystal of carbonate of soda. Medical Properties and Uses. Sweet spirit of nitre is diaphoretic, diu- retic, and antispasmodic. It is deservedly much esteemed as a medicine, and is extensively employed in febrile affections, either alone, or in conjunc- tion with tartar emetic, for the purpose of promoting the secretions, especially those of sweat and urine. It often proves a grateful stimulus to the stomach, relieving nausea and removing flatulence, and not unfrequently allays rest- lessness and promotes sleep. On account of its tendency to the kidneys, it is often conjoined with other diuretics, such as squill, digitalis, nitre, &c, for the purpose of promoting their action in dropsical complaints. The late Dr. Duncan praised a combination of it with a small portion of aromatic spirit of ammonia, as eminently diaphoretic and diuretic, and well suited to certain states of febrile disease. The dose is about a teaspoonful, given every two or three hours in a portion of water. B. ALCOHOL. Preparations of Alcohol. ALCOHOL DILUTUM. U.S. Spiritus Tenuior. Lond., Dub. Alcohol Dilutius. Ed. Diluted Alcohol. Proof Spirit. "Take of Alcohol, Distilled Water, each, a pint. Mix them." U.S. The British Colleges have placed diluted alcohol or proof spirit in the list of the Materia Medica. The London College directs its sp. gr. to be 0.920. When of this strength, it contains 49 per cent, of pure alcohol, and may be formed by mixing five measures of their rectified spirit with three of distilled water at the temperature of 62°. In the Dublin Pharma- copoeia, it is ordered of the sp. gr. 0.919, and the statement is made in a part ii. Alcohol.—Alumen. 777 note, that spirit of almost the same specific gravity may be formed by mixing five and a quarter measures of the rectified spirit of that work with three of distilled water. Such a spirit will contain a little more than 49 per cent, of absolute alcohol, and will agree very nearly in strength with the correspond- ing spirit of the London College. The directions of the Edinburgh College are more explicit; for it first explains that "Alcohol Dilutius" means "Al- cohol Fortius" mixed with an equal measure of water, and then states its if'^Vi? be °'935, II is Percieved, therefore, that the diluted alcohol of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia corresponds precisely with that of the Edinburgh Col- lege ; being alcohol of the same strength diluted to an equal extent. °Its sp. gr. must consequently be identical, or 0.935 also. Such spirit will contain only 42 per cent, of absolute alcohol, and forms the weakest officinal diluted alcohol. Medical and Pharmaceutical Uses. The medicinal effects of alcohol in a diluted and modified state, as it exists in brandy and other ardent spirits, have been detailed under other heads. (See Alcohol and Vinum.) As a pure diluted spirit, however, consisting solely of alcohol and water in deter- minate proportions, its use is exclusively pharmaceutical. It is employed as an addition to some of the distilled waters and preparations of vinegar, in order to preserve them from decomposition; as a menstruum for extract- ing the virtues of some plants, preparatory to their being brought to the state of extracts and syrups; and in preparing many of the spirits. But it is in forming the tinctures that diluted alcohol is principally employed. Many of these are formed with the officinal alcohol (rectified spirit), but the majority, with diluted alcohol (proof spirit) as the menstruum. As the latter contains more than half its weight of water, it is well fitted for acting on those vegetables, the virtues of which are partly soluble in water and partly in alcohol. The apothecary, however, is, on no account, to substitute the commercial proof spirit for diluted alcohol, even though it should be of the same strength. On this point, the authors of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia have very correctly remarked, that " almost all the spirit which is sold under the name of proof spirit, is contaminated with empyreumatic oil, and unfit for medical use." But when it is recollected how variable the so called proof spirits are in strength, the objection to their use in pharmacy becomes still stronger. Thus, according to Mr. Brande, gin contains 51.6 per cent, of alcohol of 0.825; and the percentage of the same alcohol is 53.39 in brandy, 53.68 in rum, 53.90 in Irish whiskey, and 54.32 in Scotch whiskey. The alcohol on which these results are based already contains 11 per cent, of water. B. ALUMEN. Preparations of Alum. ALUMEN EXSICCATUM. U.S., Lond., Ed. Alumen Sic- catum. Dub. Dried Alum. "Take of Alum any quantity. Melt it in an earthen or iron vessel over the fire, and continue the heat till it becomes dry; then rub it into powder." U.S. "Melt Alum in an earthen vessel over the fire; then increase the heat until ebullition has ceased." Lond. The Edinburgh and Dublin processes agree with that of the U.S. Phar- 778 Alumen.—Ammonia. part ii. macopoeia. When alum is heated, it quickly dissolves in its water of crys- tallization, which, if the heat be continued, is gradually driven off; and the salt swells up exceedingly, so as to make it expedient to use a vessel, the capacity of which is at least equal to three times the bulk of the alum ope- rated on. When the boiling up has ceased, it is a sign lhat all the water has been driven off, and the preparation is finished. Properties. Dried alum is in the form of an opaque white powder, pos- sessing a more astringent taste than the crystallized salt. Before pulveriza- tion, it is a light, white, opaque, porous mass. During the exsiccation, it loses from 41 to 46 per cent, of its weight in dissipated water. If, however, the heat be very strong, some of the acid is driven off, and the loss becomes still greater. Dried alum resists the action of water for a long time, showing that the process to which it has been subjected has altered its state of aggre- gation. In composition, it differs from crystallized alum merely in the absence of water. (See Alumen.) Medical Properties and Uses. Dried alum has occasionally been given to the extent of a scruple in obstinate constipation, with the effect of gently moving the bowels, and of affording great relief from pain; but its principal medical use is as an escharotic for destroying fungous flesh. B. LIQUOR ALUMINIS COMPOSITUS. Lond. Compound So- lution nf Alum. " Take of Alum, Sulphate of Zinc, each, an ounce; boiling Water three pints [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Alum and Sulphate of Zinc together in the Water, and afterwards strain." Lond. This was formerly called aqua aluminosa Bateana, or Bates's alum water. It is a powerful astringent solution, and is employed for cleansing and stimulating foul ulcers, and as an injection in gleet and leucorrhcea. It is also sometimes employed as a collyrium in ophthalmia after depletion; but when used in this way it must be diluted. A convenient formula is half a fluidounce of the solution mixed with six and a half fluidounces of rose water. B. AMMONIA. Preparations of Ammonia. ALCOHOL AMMONIATUM. U.S., Ed. Spiritus Ammonijs. Lond., Dub. Ammonia ted Alcohol. Spirit of Ammonia. " Take of Alcohol [Rectified Spirit] two pints and a half; Lime, re- cently burnt, a pound; Muriate of Ammonia eight ounces; Water six fluidounces. From these let the Ammoniated Alcohol be prepared in the manner directed for Water of Ammonia." U.S. " Take of Stronger Alcohol [Rectified Spirit] thirty-two ounces; fresh Lime twelve ounces; Muriate of Ammonia eight ounces; Water six ounces. Pour the Water on the pounded Lime in an iron or earthenware vessel; then cover the vessel until the lime falls to powder and becomes cold. Then mix the Muriate in very fine powder with the Lime, and rubbing them to- gether in a mortar, immediately introduce them into a glass retort. Place the retort in a sand-bath, and fil on closely a receiver furnished with a tube which passes to the bottom of a bottle containing the alcohol, and of such a size as only to be two-thirds full. Lastly, apply heat, aud gradually increase PART It Ammonia. 779 it until the bottom of the iron pot becomes red, and continue it as long as gas and liquid come over." Ed. " Take of Hydrochlorate [Muriate] of Ammonia ten ounces; Carbonate of Potassa sixteen ounces; Rectified Spirit, Water, each, three pints [Impe- rial measure]. Mix them, and distil three pints." Lond. " Take of Rectified Spirit three pints; Carbonate of Ammonia, coarsely powdered, three ounces and a half. Mix them, and dissolve the salt with a medium heat; then filter the liquor." Dub. The product of these processes is considerably different. The process of the United States Pharmacopoeia is in effect the same as that of the Edin- burgh College, the nearest measures for the liquids being merely substituted for weights. These two processes consist simply in the saturation of recti- fied spirit with gaseous ammonia, extricated from a mixture of lime and muriate of ammonia. On the other hand, the London and Dublin formulae yield preparations in which carbonated ammonia is dissolved in diluted alcohol. In the London process a double decomposition takes place between the muriate of ammonia and carbonate of potassa, resulting in the formation of the regular carbonate of ammonia, which distils over with the spirit, and chloride of potassium, which remains behind in solution. Part, however, of the carbonate formed remains undissolved in the receiver, in an imperfectly crystalline state, the spiiit not being competent to dissolve the whole which comes over. The Dublin process is peculiar, and is characterized by Dr. A. T. Thomson as simple and elegant. It consists in dissolving the officinal carbonate in heated rectified spirit (Alcohol, U.S.). The officinal carbonate is a sesquicarbonate; and during its solution in the spirit, just so much car- bonic acid is disengaged with effervescence, as to convert it into the regular carbonate, of which thirty grains dissolve in each fluidounce. The spirit thus obtained, therefore, contains the ammonia, carbonated to the same ex- tent in which it exists in the London preparation. Properties. Ammoniated Alcohol, as obtained by the United States and Edinburgh formulae, is a colourless liquid, of an exceedingly pungent smell and acrid taste. It consists of caustic ammonia dissolved in alcohol. The London and Dublin preparations have the same general properties, but in a much milder degree, as they are solutions of carbonated ammonia in the same menstruum. They are more pungent and alkaline than if they con- tained the sesquicarbonate, as the ammonia present is combined with one- third less carbonic acid. They are capable, as well as the two former pre- parations, of dissolving camphor and the volatile oils. Medical Properties and Uses. These preparations are exceedingly stimu- lant, especially those of the United States and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias. They are sometimes given in flatulent colic and nervous debility, in doses of from twenty to sixty drops, in a wineglassful of water. The stronger pre- parations, when saturated with camphor, form a very highly stimulating liniment. Ammoniated alcohol is principally employed for the purpose of forming the class of preparations called Ammoniated Tinctures. B. ALCOHOL AMMONIATUM AROMATICUM. U.S. Spiritus Ammonia Aromaticus. Land., Dub. Tinctura Aromatica Am- moniata. Ed. Aromutic Ammoniated Alcohol. Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia. " Take of Ammoniated Alcohol a pint; Oil of Rosemary, Oil of Lemons, each, two fluidrachms; Oil of Cloves, Oil of Cinnamon, each, half a fluidrachm. To the Oils, previously mixed, add the Ammoniated Alcohol, 780 Ammonia. part ii. and pour upon them so much water, that, after distillation, sufficient may remain to prevent empvreuma; then, with a gentle heat, distil a pint." U.S. " Take of Hydrochlorate [Muriate] of Ammonia five ounces; Carbonate of Potassa eight ounces; Cinnamon, bruised, Cloves, bruised, each, two drachms; Lemon Peel four ounces; Rectified Spirit, Water, each, four pints [Imperial measure]. Mix them, and distil six pints." Lond. " Take of Ammoniated Alcohol eight ounces; Volatile Oil of Lemon Peel a drachm; Volatile Oil of Rosemary a drachm and a half; Mix them, that the Oils may be dissolved." Ed. " Take of Spirit of Ammonia two pints; Essential Oil of Lemons two drachms; Nutmegs, bruised, half an ounce; Cinnamon Bark, biuised, three drachms. Macerate in a covered vessel for three days, shaking occasionally; then distil a pint and a half." Dub. These processes all furnish ammoniated alcohol, impregnated with volatile oils. In the United States and Dublin formulae, the ammoniated alcohol or spirit of ammonia is distilled with the aromatics; in the London, the mate- rials for forming it are thus distilled; while the Edinburgh College dissolves the aromatics in the menstruum, without resorting to distillation. The pro- cess of the United States Pharmacopoeia has been found to afford a pleasant preparation. In the London process, four pints of rectified spirit are taken, but six pints of product are drawn off; showing that the London preparation is a solution of carbonate of ammonia in diluted rectified spirit, impregnated with aromatics. The Dublin preparation is the same, except that the men- struum is undiluted rectified spirit. The Edinburgh process is objection- able on account of the omission to distil; for if the volatile oils contain im- purity, the preparation which results will be coloured and turbid, a defect which is avoided by distillation, as the impurities are thus left behind. Medical Properties and Uses. These preparations, though analogous, are by no means identical, differing considerably in strength, according as the alcoholic menstruum contains caustic or carbonated ammonia. They are much more used than the preceding preparations, on account of their more grateful taste, derived from the aromatics; but their medical effects are simi- lar. The dose is from twenty to sixty drops, in one or two wineglassfuls of water. They are compatible with sulphate of magnesia, and may be use- fully added to aperient draughts of that salt, to render them less offensive to the stomach. Off. Prep. Tinctura Guaiaci Ammoniata, U.S., Dub., Lond.; Tinctura Valeriana? Ammoniata, U.S., Dub., Lond. B. AMMONLE CARBONAS. U.S., Dub. Ammonije Sesquicar- bonas. Lond. Sub-Carbonas Ammonia. Ed. Carbonate of Am- monia. Mild volatile alkali. " Take of Muriate of Ammonia a pound; Carbonate of Lime, dried, a pound and a half. Pulverize them separately; then mix them thoroughly, and sublime from a retort into a receiver kept cold." U.S. " Take of Muriate of Ammonia one part; Softer Carbonate of Lime, dried, two parts. Having triturated them separately, mix them thoroughly, and sublime from a retort into a refrigerated receiver." Ed. " Take of Muriate of Ammonia, pulverized and well dried, Dried Carbo- nate of Soda, each, one part. Put the mixture into an earthenware retort, and with a heat gradually increased, sublime the Carbonate of Ammonia into a refrigerated receiver." Dub. The London differs from the United States process, in ordering the heat PART II. Ammonia. 781 to be increased gradually, and in not specifying the kind of vessels to be employed; this being left to the discretion of the operator. In the above processes, by the reciprocal action of the salts employed, the carbonic acid unites with the ammonia, generating carbonate of ammonia, and the muriatic acid with the lime or soda, so as to form water and chloride of calcium, or the same liquid and chloride of sodium. The carbonate and water sublime together as a hydrated carbonate of ammonia, and the residue is chloride of calcium, or, in the case of the Dublin formula, chloride of sodium, or common salt. In conducting this process, the retort should be of earthenware, and have a wide cylindrical neck; and the receiver should be cylindrical, to facilitate the extraction of the sublimate. The relative quantities of chalk and muriate of ammonia for mutual decomposition, are 50.62 of the former and 53.57 of the latter, or one equiv. of each. The different Pharmacopoeias, therefore, use a great excess of chalk. An excess is desirable, to ensure the perfect decomposition of the muriate of ammonia, any redundancy of which would sublime along with the carbonate, and render it impure. The employment of carbonate of soda, in the Dublin process, affords a product of greater whiteness, but is objectionable on the score of expense. The proportions of the muriate and alkaline carbonate, directed by this College, correspond almost precisely with the equivalents; but in practice, the quantity of carbonate of soda is found insufficient. Carbonate of ammonia is obtained on a large scale, generally by subliming the proper materials from an iron pot, into a large earthen or leaden receiver. Sulphate of ammonia may be substituted for the muriate with much economy, as has been shown by Payen. Large quantities of this carbonate are also manufactured from the products of the distillation of coal in gas works; but the salt thus obtained is apt to have a slight odour of tar, and to leave a blackish carbonaceous matter when dissolved in acids. Properties. Carbonate (sesquicarbonate) of ammonia, recently prepared, is in white, moderately hard, translucent masses, of a fibrous and crystalline appearance, a pungent smell, and a sharp penetrating taste. It possesses an alkaline reaction, and when held under a piece of .turmeric paper changes it to brown, owing to the escape of regular carbonate of ammonia. When long or carelessly kept, it gradually passes into the state of bicarbonate, be- coming opaque and friable, and devoid of smell. It is soluble in about four times its weight of cold water, and is decomposed by boiling water with effervescence. According to Dr. Barker, (Observations on the Dublin Phar- macopoeia,) it dissolves abundantly in diluted alcohol, as also in heated alco- hol of the sp. gr. 0.836, with effervescence of carbonic acid. When heated on a piece of glass, it ought to evaporate without residue, and if turmeric paper held over it undergoes no change, it has passed into bicarbonate. It is decomposed by acids, the fixed alkalies and their carbonates, lime-water and magnesia, solution of chloride of calcium, alum, acidulous salts, such as bitartrate and bisulphate of potassa, solutions of iron (except the tartrate of iron and potassa), corrosive sublimate, the acetate and subacetate of lead, and the sulphates of iron and zinc. Composition. It consists of three equiv. of carbonic acid 66.36, two of ammonia 34.3, and two of water 18 = 118.66; or which comes to the same thinff, of one equiv. of bicarbonate 61.39, and one of the regular carbonate 39.27, combined with the same quantity of water. The medicinal carbonate of ammonia, is, therefore, when perfect, a hydrated sesquicarbonate, as it is now correctly called by the London College. When converted into bicar- bonate by exposure to the air, each equiv. of the medicinal salt loses one equiv. of regular carbonate, a change which leaves the acid and base in the 67 782 Ammonia. part n. proper proportion to form the bisalt. The mutual decomposition of the salts employed in its preparation, would generate, if no loss occurred, the regular carbonate, and not the sesquicarbonate. The way in which the latter salt is formed may be thus explained. By the mutual decomposition of three equiv. of muriate of ammonia and of chalk respectively, three equiv. of car- bonate of ammonia, three of water, and three of chloride of calcium would be generated. During the operation, however, one equiv. of ammonia and one of water are lost; so that there remain to be sublimed, three equiv. of carbonic acid, two of ammonia, and two of water, or in other words, the exact constituents of the hydrated sesquicarbonate. Medical Properties and Uses. Carbonate of ammonia is stimulant, dia- phoretic, antispasmodic, powerfully antacid, and in large doses emetic. Under certain circumstances it may prove expectorant; as when, in the last stages of phthisis, it facilitates, by increasing the muscular power, the ex- cretion of the sputa. As a stimulant, it is exhibited principally in typhus fever, and very frequently in connexion with wine whey. Its principal advantage, in this disease, is its power to increase the action of the heart and arteries without unduly exciting the brain. It is employed, with a view to the same effect, and as an antacid, in certain stages of atonic gout, and in the derangements of the stomach supervening on habits of irregularity and debauchery. As a diaphoretic, it is resorted to in gout and chronic rheuma- tism, particularly the latter, in conjunction with guaiac. It is very seldom used as an emetic; but is said to act with advantage, in this way, in some cases of paralysis. As an external application, it is rubefacient, and may be employed in several ways. Reduced to fine powder, and mixed with some mild ointment, it is useful in local rheumatism. One part of it, incorporated with three parts of extract of belladonna, forms a plaster very efficacious in relieving local and spasmodic pains. Coarsely bruised, and scented with oil of lavender, it constitutes the common smelling salts, so much used as a nasal stimulant in syncope and hysteria. The dose as a stimulant, is from five to ten grains, every two, three, or four hours, in the form of pill, or dissolved in some aqueous vehicle; and as an emetic, thirty grains, to be repeated if necessary, and assisted by free dilution. It should never be given in powder, on account of its volatile nature. Pills of it may be made up with some vegetable extract, as of chamomile for example, and should be dispensed in a wide-mouthed phial, and not in a box. Carbonate of ammonia is used in the new formula of the London College for obtaining the oxide of zinc. Off.Prep. Cuprum Ammoniatum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Liquor Ammoniae Acetatis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Liquor Ammoniae Sesquicar- bonatis, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Spiritus Ammoniae, Dub. B. LIQUOR AMMONITE SESQUICARBONATIS. Lond. So- lutio Sub-Carbonatts Ammonia. Ed. Ammonia Carbonatis Aqua. Dub. Solution of Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia. " Take of Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia four ounces; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia in the Watpr, and strain." Lond. "Take of Carbonate of Ammonia four parts [one part, Ed.']; Distilled Waterflfteenparts [four parts, Ed.]. Dissolve the Carbonate of Ammonia in the Water, and filter through paper. The specific gravity of this solution is 1.090." Dub. ° * ' b J This preparation may be viewed as a saturated aqueous solution of car- bonate of ammonia. The wine pint of water, formerly ordered by the Lon- PART II. Ammonia: 783 don College, was not, according to Mr. Phillips, sufficient to dissolve the salt. The pint now directed is the Imperial, and is adequate for that purpose. This preparation is very properly omitted in the United States Pharmaco- poeia; as it is liable to change by keeping. The dose is from half a fluidrachm to a fluidrachm, given in any bland liquid. This solution is used by the London College in preparing the tartrate of potassa and iron. Off. Prep. Ammoniae Bicarbonas, Dub.; Linimentum Ammoniae Sesqui- carbonatis, Lond. B. AMMONITE BICARBONAS. Dub. Bicarbonate of Ammonia. "Take of Water of Carbonate of Ammonia any quantity. Expose it, in a suitable apparatus, to a stream of carbonic acid gas, evolved during the solution of white marble in Diluted Muriatic Acid, until the alkali is satu- rated. Then let it rest to form crystals, which are to be dried without heat, and kept in a closely stopped vessel." Dub. This salt has been made officinal in the last revision of the Dublin Phar- macopoeia, and is peculiar to that work. The process by which it is formed consists in saturating the sesquicarbonate (officinal carbonate) with carbonic acid, whereby this salt becomes a bicarbonate. The sesquicarbonate con- sists of three equiv. of acid, two of ammonia, and two of water; and, by gaining one equiv. of carbonic acid, becomes a bicarbonate, consisting of four equiv. of acid, two of ammonia, and two of water. These proportions reduced to their lowest terms give for the composition of this bisalt, two equiv. of carbonic acid, one of ammonia, and one of water. The above is the rationale of the formation of this salt given by Dr. Barker, the com- mentator on the Dublin Pharmacopoeia; but it is probable that the bicar- bonate obtained by the Dublin process, as it is crystallized from solution, contains more than one equiv. of water. Bicarbonate of ammonia, as prepared by this process, is in the form of crystals, which are much less ammoniacal in taste and smell, and more per- manent in the air, than the sesquicarbonate. It is also less soluble in water, requiring eight times its weight of that liquid to dissolve it. It possesses, though in an inferior degree, the medical properties of the sesquicarbonate. As it furnishes the practitioner with the means of prescribing ammonia in a convenient and palatable form, Dr. Barker deems its introduction into the officinal list of the Dublin College, a valuable improvement. It ought to have been shown, however, in what respect the Dublin preparation differs from the bicarbonate, obtained by exposing the sesquicarbonate to the air; for if they be identical, it cannot be necessary to resort to the Dublin formula for preparing this bisalt. The dose of bicarbonate of ammonia is from six to twenty-four grains, dissolved in cold water, as hot water de- composes it. B. AQUX AMMONIM. U.S., Ed. Liquor Ammonije. Lond. Am- monia Caustics Aqua. Dub. Water of Ammonia. Solution of Ammonia. "Take of Muriate of Ammonia, in very fine powder, a pound; Lime, recently burnt, a pound and a half; Distilled Water a pint; Water nine fluidounces. Break the Lime in pieces, and pour the Water upon it, in an earthen or iron vessel; then cover the vessel, and set it aside till the Lime, falls into powder, and becomes cold. Mix this thoroughly with the Muriate of Ammonia in a mortar, and immediately introduce the mixture into a glass retort. Place the retort upon a sand-bath, and adapt to it a receiver, previously 7S4 Ammonia. part ii. connected, by means of a glass tube, with a quart bottle containing the Dis- tilled Water. Then apply heat, to be gradually increased till the bottom of the iron vessel containing the sand becomes red hot; and continue the pro- cess so long as the Ammonia comes over. Remove the liquor contained in the quart bottle, and preserve it in small phials well stopped. The specific gravity of Water of Ammonia is 0.944." U.S. "Take of Hydrochlorate [Muriate] of Ammonia ten ounces; Lime eight ounces; Water two pints [Imperial measure]. Put the Lime slacked with Water into a retort; then add the Hydrochlorate of Ammonia broken into small pieces, and the remainder of the Water. Distil fifteen fluidounces [Imperial measure] of Solution of Ammonia." Lond. The specific gravity of this Solution is 0.960. " Take of Muriate of Ammonia, in powder, three parts; Lime, recently burnt, two parts; Water ten parts. Pour one part of the Water, previously heated, on the Lime, placed in an earthen vessel, and cover it. Dissolve the salt in the remainder of the Water, also heated. When the lime has fallen into powder and become cool, put it into a retort, and add to it the saline solution also cold. Then distil five parts with a medium heat into a refrigerated receiver. The specific gravity of this Solution is 0.950." Dub. The Edinburgh process for this preparation is nearly the same with that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia; the latter having been copied from the former, with the unimportant differences of substituting a pint of distilled water for a pound, and nine fluidounces of water for nine ounces, changes which cause the U.S. preparation to be somewhat weaker than the Edinburgh, which has the sp. gr. 0.939. The object of the above processes is to obtain a weak aqueous solution of the alkaline gas ammonia. The muriate of ammonia is decomposed by the superior affinity of the lime for its acid, ammonia is disengaged, and the lime combining with the acid, forms chloride of calcium and water. The ammonia is either evolved from the dry materials, and passed into water, by which it is absorbed, as in the U. S. and Edinburgh processes, or distilled over in connexion with water, as directed by the London and Dublin Col- leges. The lime is slacked to render it pulverulent, in which state it acts more readily on the muriate of ammonia. The receiver directed in the United States process is intended to retain any water holding in solution undecomposed muriate, or oily matter sometimes contained in this salt, which may be driven over by the heat; while the pure gas passes forward through the glass tube into the bottle containing the distilled water, which should not more than half fill it, on account of the increase of bulk which it acquires during the absorption of the gas. The tube should continue down to near the bottom of the bottle, and pass through a cork, loosely fitting its mouth. To prevent the regurgitation of the water from the bottle into the receiver, the latter should be furnished with a Welter's tube of safety. Large bottles are improper for keeping the water of ammonia obtained; as when partially empty, the atmospheric air contained within them is apt to furnish some carbonic acid to the ammonia. In the process of the London Pharmacopoeia, which has been very much changed in the revision of 1836, a given measure of water of ammonia is dis- tilled over from the materials employed. The muriate of ammonia is directed to be broken into small pieces, instead of being pulverized, in order to avoid the loss of gas which the powdered form of the salt is apt to occasion from the too sudden extrication of the ammonia. The present is a decided im- provement on the last London process. Time is saved in conducting it, the boiling of part of the water is omitted, straining the mixed solution is dis- P ART ii. Ammonia. 785 pensed with, and a larger proportional amount of the water of ammonia is obtained from the materials. By the old process Mr. Phillips states that "at least fifty measures of a mixed solution of ammonia and chloride of cal- cium were subjected to distillation in order to procure twelve measures of product. In the present Pharmacopoeia the same quantity is obtained by heating only thirty-two measures of the mixed solution." The general plan of the Dublin process is the same as that of the London. The differences consist in heating the portions of water intended to slack the lime, and dissolve the muriate, and in adding the saline solution instead of the solid salt to the lime. Dr. Barker objects to the Dublin formula that the ammonia is apt to be generated in the retort faster than the water present can take it up, which circumstance causes a loss. He, therefore, believes it would be an improvement to direct that part of the water should be placed in the receiver. Another objection to the formula is the use of heated water; for lime will slack, and muriate of ammonia dissolve in cold water. The proportion of lime is very different, as used in the different formulae. The equivalent proportions are 53.57 of salt and 28.5 of lime, a quantity of the lalter only a little more than half the weight of the former. By the numbers expressing the proportions of the ingredients employed, it is shown, therefore, that all the Pharmacopoeias use an excess of lime, the excess being least in the Dublin. The earth is particularly in excess in the U. S. and Edinburgh processes, and Mr. Phillips alleges that its bulk is an inconveni- ence by requiring large vessels; but Dr. Hope contends that the excess of lime is useful by accelerating the disengagement of the ammonia, and by rendering a less elevated temperature necessary. The excess of lime, to the extent directed by the Dublin College, is stated by Dr. Barker to be necessary to compensate for the impurities in ordinary lime. The use of no more lime than is absolutely required, has the incidental advantage of rendering the residual solution of chloride of calcium less impure; an object of some importance where it is reserved for purification, as is done by the Dublin College. Properties. The properties of strong water of ammonia have already been indicated. (See Ammonise Liquor Fortior. Lond.) Those of the officinal water of ammonia, described in this place, are the same in kind, but weaker in degree. Itssp. gr. as prepared according to the different Pharma- copoeias has been mentioned in connexion with the several processes. It is incompatible with acids, and with acidulous, and most earthy and metallic salts; but it does not decompose the salts of lime, baryta, or strontia, and those of magnesia only partially. When saturated with nitric acid it should give no precipitate with sesquicarbonate of ammonia or nitrate of silver. A precipitate with the former shows earthy matter; with the latter, muriatic acid or a soluble chloride. Composition. Water is capable of absorbing a third of its weight, or 430 times its volume of ammoniacal gas, and increases in bulk about two-thirds. But the officinal water of ammonia is by no means saturated. Thus the percentage of ammonia contained in the preparations of the different Phar- macopoeias is nearly as follows:—London 10 per cent.; Dublin 12^; U.S. 14|-; and Edinburgh 15.8. For the percentage of ammonia in the London Ammoniae Liquor Fortior, see that title. The following table, constructed by Sir H. Davy, gives the percentage of ammoniacal gas in aqueous solutions of different specific gravities. 67* 786 Ammonia. part xi. Specific i Ammonia 1 Specific Ammonia Specific Ammonia Gravity. per cent. Gravity. per cent. Gravity. per cent. 0.8750 32.50 0.9326 17.52 0.9545 11.56 0.8875 29.25 0.9385 15.88 0.9573 10.82 0.9000 26.00 0.9435 14.53 0.9597 10.17 0.9054 25.37 0.9476 13.46 0.9619 9.60 0.9166 22.07 0.9513 12.40 0.9692 9.50 0.9255 19.54 Medical Properties and Uses. Water of ammonia is stimulant, antacid, and rubefacient. It is rarely used internally, other ammoniacal preparations being preferred, the dose of which is larger and more easily managed. As a stimulant, it is occasionally employed in paralysis, hysteria, syncope, asphyxia, and similar affections, with a view to rouse the vital powers. In the same complaints it is often applied to the nostrils with advantage. As an antacid, it is one of the best remedies in heartburn, and for the relief of sick headach, when dependent on acidity of stomach. In these cases it acts usefully also as a stimulant. Externally applied, it may be made to act either as a rubefacient or vesicatory. As a rubefacient it is employed united to oil in the form of volatile liniment. (See Linimentum Ammoniae.) As a vesi- catory, it is applied by means of a piece of linen wet with it. (See Am- monise Liquor Fortior, Lond.) The dose is from five to twenty drops, largely diluted with water to prevent its caustic effect on the mouth and throat. In graduating the dose, the particular officinal preparation employed must be taken into the account; as these differ considerably in strength. It is on account of the high strength of the water of ammonia of the Edinburgh College, considered as a medicine, that a diluted preparation is directed by that College under a separate name. (See Aqua Ammonise Diluta, Ed.) When swallowed in an over-dose, its effects are those of a corrosive poison. The best antidote is vinegar, which acts by neutralizing the ammonia, and which must be promptly applied to be useful. The consecutive inflammation must be treated on general principles. Pharm. Uses. To prepare Aconitina, Lond.; Calcis Phosphas Praeeipita- tum, ifoo.; Morphia, U.S., Lond.; Morphias Hydrochloras, Lond.; Quinia? Disulphas, Lond.; Strychnia, Lond.; Veratria, Lond.; Zinci Oxidum, U.S. Off. Prep. Aqua Ammoniae Diluta, Ed.; Hydrargyri Ammonio-Chlori- dum, Lond., Dub.; Linimentum Ammoniae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Linimentum Camphorae Compositum, Lond., Dub.; Linimentum Hydrar- gyri Compositum, Lond.; Liquor Ammoniae Hvdrosulphatis, U. S., Ed., Dub. B. AQUA AMMONIA DILUTA. Ed. Diluted Water of Am- monia. " Take of Water of Ammonia one part; Distilled Water two parts. Mix them." Ed. * The Edinburgh College, considering their water of ammonia to be incon- veniently if not dangerously strong for internal exhibition, have directed this formula for its dilution. It is true that the strong preparation is always di- luted at the moment it is taken; but the objection to it still holds, that it is exceedingly pungent, and its dose, being only a few drops, is not so conve- nient to apportion, and may be given by mistake, unduly concentrated. This preparation is, of course, one-third of the strength of the strong water of ammonia of'this College, or will contain about 5.3 per cent, of ammonia. Its dose is from fifteen to thirty drops, sufficiently diluted with water. B. PART II. Ammonia. 787 LIQUOR AMMONIJE ACETATIS. U.S., Lond. Aqua Ace- tatis Ammonije. Ed. Ammonia Acetatis Aqua. Dub. Solution of Acetate, of Ammonia. Spirit of Mindererus. " Take of Diluted Acetic Acid a pint; Carbonate of Ammonia, in powder, a sufficient quantity. Add the Carbonate of Ammonia gradually to the Acid, stirring constantly,' until effervescence ceases." U.S. " Take of Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia four ounces and a half, or as much as may be sufficient; Distilled Vinegar four pints [Imperial measure]. Add the Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia to the Vinegar to saturation." Lond. " Take of Sub-Carbonate of Ammonia, in powder, any quantity; Weak Acetic Acid [Distilled Vinegar] a sufficient quantity. Add the Acid gradu- ally until the Sub-Carbonate is accurately saturated." Ed. " Take of Carbonate of Ammonia one part. Add gradually, and with frequent agitation, as much warm Distilled Vinegar as may be necessary to saturate the ammonia, namely, about thirty parts. The saturation may be ascertained by means of litmus." Dub. This preparation is an aqueous solution of acetate of ammonia. The pro- cess by which it is formed constitutes a case of single elective affinity. The acetic acid decomposes the sesquicarbonate, combines with the ammonia, forming the acetate of ammonia, and disengages the carbonic acid, the escape of which causes the effervescence. The British Colleges employ distilled vinegar, while, according to the United States Pharmacopoeia, the saturation is effected with a pure acetic acid, diluted to a determinate extent with wa- ter. (See Acidum Aceticum Dilutum, U.S.) The use of the acid in the latter form is a decided improvement; for besides furnishing the solution of the acetate of uniform strength, a result which cannot be attained by the employment of distilled vinegar, it avoids the production of a brownish solu- tion, which uniformly follows the use of the latter, especially when it has been condensed in a metallic worm. The quantity of sesquicarbonate of ammonia necessary to saturate a given weight of the acid of average strength, cannot be laid down with precision, on account of the variable quality of this salt. When the acid is of the sp. gr. 1.009, Mr. Phillips found a pint of it to require for saturation within a few grains of seven drachms. The addi- tion of the salt to the acid, as directed in the U.S. and London Pharmaco- poeias, is more convenient than the contrary order; as the point of satura- tion is thus more easily attained. This point is best ascertained by the alternate use of turmeric and litmus paper; and it is a good rule to allow rather a slight acidity to prevail, which will be due to carbonic acid dissolved in the liquid, and will disappear as soon as this acid is dissipated by time. Properties. Solution of acetate of ammonia, when made of pure mate- rials, is a limpid and nearly colourless liquid. Its taste is saline and resem- bles that of a mixture of nitre and sugar. It should not be made in large quantities at a time, as its acid becomes decomposed, and a portion of car- bonate of ammonia is generated. As formerly prepared, under the name of spiritus Mindereri, it was made from the impure carbonate of ammonia, containing animal oil, which modified the product by giving rise to a portion of ammoniacal soap. When pure it is not coloured by hydrosulphuric acid, nor precipitated by nitrate of silver or chloride of barium. It is incompati- ble with acids, the fixed alkalies and their carbonates, lime-water, magnesia, sulphate of magnesia, corrosive sublimate, the sulphates of iron, copper, and zinc, and nitrate of silver. When it contains free carbonic acid, it produces with the acetate or subacetate of lead, a precipitate of carbonate of lead, which being mistaken for the sulphate, has sometimes led to the erroneous 788 Ammonia. part n. belief that sulphuric acid was present in the distilled vinegar, when this has been employed. Acetate of ammonia, the salt in solution in this preparation, is difficultly crystallizable, and very deliquescent. Ii may be obtained by sublimation, from a mixture of equal parts of dry acetate of potassa or of lime, and muriate of ammonia. It consists of one equiv. of acetic acid 51.48, and one of ammonia 17.15=68.63. When crystallized it contains seven equiv. of water 63. Medical Properties and Uses. Solution of acetate of ammonia is a valu- able diaphoretic, much employed in febrile and inflammatory diseases. Ac- cording to the indications to be answered by its use, it is variously combined with nitre and anlimonials, camphor and opium. If, instead of promoting its determination to the skin by external warmth, the patient walk about in a cool air, its action will be directed to the kidneys. It is sometimes used externally as a discutient. Mr. Brande speaks of it as an excellent appli- cation in mumps, applied hot upon a piece of flannel. Mixed in the propor- tion of a fluidounce with seven fluidounces of rose-water, and two flui- drachms of laudanum, it forms a useful collyrium in chronic ophthalmia. Dr. A. T. Thomson has used it as a lotion with the best effect in a case of porrigo affecting the scalp. The dose is from half a fluidounce to a fluid- ounce and a half, every three or four hours. It proves sometimes very grateful lo febrile patients, when mixed with an equal measure of carbonic acid water. B. LIQUOR AMMONITE HYDROSULPHATIS. U.S. Hydro- Sulphuretum Ammonia. Ed. Ammonle Hydrosulphuretum. Dub. Solution of Hydrosulphate of Ammonia. Hydrosulphuret of Ammonia. " Take of Water of Ammonia four fluidounces. Pass Hydrosulphuric Acid through the Water of Ammonia, in a suitable vessel, to perfect satura- tion. Let the solution be kept in a well stopped bottle. " Hydrosulphuric Acid is obtained from the Sulphuret of Iron, and Sul- phuric Acid diluted with four times its weight of water." U.S. " Take of Water of Ammonia, Sulphuret of Iron, each, four ounces; Muriatic Acid eight ounces; Water two pounds and a half. Pour the Acid, previously mixed with the Water, upon the Sulphuret, and pass the Gas extricated from them through the Water of Ammonia. Keep the solution in a phial, very well stopped." Ed. " Take of Sulphuret of Iron, in coarse powder, five parts; Sulphuric Acid seven parts; Water thirty-two parts; Water of Caustic Ammonia four parts. Put the Sulphuret into a retort; then gradually pour on the Acid, previously diluted with the Water, and in a suitable apparatus, trans- mit the gas evolved through the Water of Ammonia. Towards the end of the process, apply a gentle heat to the retort." Dub. This preparation is a solution of hydrosulphate of ammonia in water, and is formed by passing a stream of hydrosulphuric acid gas (sulphuretted hydrogen) through a portion of water of ammonia, usually contained in a Wolfe's bottle. In the United States and Dublin processes, the hydrosul- phuric acid is generated by the action of dilute sulphuric acid on sulphuret of iron. The water yields its oxygen to the iron forming protoxide of iron, with which the sulphuric acid combines; while the hydrogen of the water, uniting with the sulphur, gives rise to the hydrosulphuric acid. In the Edinburgh formula, the same acid is formed by'the action of dilute muriatic acid on sulphuret of iron; in which case a double decomposition takes place, resulting in the formation of hydrosulphuric acid and protochloride of iron. part ii. Ammonia.—Antimonium. 789 In the Edinburgh and Dublin processes, the ingredients, in certain specified quantities, for producing the hydrosulphuric acid, are enumerated in the formula; in the United States process, the mode of obtaining it is explained in a general way in an appended paragraph. In the two former processes, the gas extricated from the given weight of ingredients is supposed to be all absorbed by the water of ammonia; in the latter, the limit to the generation of the gas is the accomplishment of the complete saturation of the alkali, which is the better rule. Sulphuric acid is to be preferred to muriatic acid for extricating the gas, as well on account of its cheapness, as of its fixed nature, which makes it less liable than muriatic acid to come over and con- taminate the product. Properties. Solution of hydrosulphate of ammonia is a liquid of a green- ish-yellow colour, very fetid smell, and acrid, disagreeable taste. It is cha- racterized by giving coloured precipitates with neutral metallic solutions, for which it is much used as a test. It is decomposed by acids, which cause the escape of hydrosulphuric acid with effervescence, and the deposition of sulphur. It consists of one eq. of hydrosulphuric acid 17.1 and one of am- monia 17.15=34.25. Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation acts on the system as a powerful sedative, lessening the action of the heart and arteries in a remark- able degree, and producing nausea and vomiting, vertigo, and drowsiness. It has been used in diabetes mellitus, in which disease it was proposed as a remedy by Mr. Cruickshank, for the purpose of lessening the morbid appe- tite, which often attends that affection, and has been employed by Dr. Rollo and others. The dose is from five to six drops in a tumblerful of water three or four times a day, to be gradually increased until giddiness is pro- duced. gt ANTIMONIUM. Preparations of Antimony. ANTIMONII OXYDUM NITROMURIATICUM. Dub. Ni- tromuriatic Oxide of Antimony. Powder of Algaroth. " Take of Prepared Sulphuret of Antimony twenty parts; Muriatic Acid one hundred parts; Nitric Acid one part. Add the Sulphuret gradually to the Acids, previously mixed in a glass vessel, avoiding the vapours. Digest with a heat gradually increased, until the effervescence cease, and then boil for an hour. Receive the cooled and filtered liquor in a gallon of water. Wash the Oxide of Antimony, after it has subsided, repeatedly, in a suffi- ciently large quantity of water, until the liquor poured off be perfectly free from acid, as known by the test of litmus. Lastly, dry the oxide on bibu- lous paper." The object of this process is to obtain the oxychloride of antimony, consisting of sesquioxide and sesquichloride of antimony, formerly called powder'of Algaroth. When sesquisulphuret of antimony is dissolved, by the aid of heat, in muriatic acid, a double decomposition takes place, result- ing in the formation of sesquichloride of antimony (butter of antimony) and hydrosulphuric acid (sulphuretted hydrogen), which by its evolution causes the effervescence. When the sesquichloride is poured into a large quantity of water, part of it is converted into muriatic acid and sesquioxide, the former remaining in solution united with the major part of the undecomposed 790 Antimonium. part ii. sesquichloride, the latter falling in union with a small portion of the same chloride, as a white flocculent precipitate, constituting the oxychloride, or powder of Algaroth. The precipitate is washed for the purpose of freeing it from adhering muriatic acid. The heat should be applied moderately at first, for fear the materials should unduly swell; but towards the close of the process it ought to be increased, to ensure the complete action of the acid. The small portion of nitric acid used by the College, is not essential to ihe success of the process; but is useful for decomposing any remains of hydro- sulphuric acid which may exist in the solution, and which, by its presence, would impair the whiteness of the oxychloride, when precipitated in the next step of the process by the water. The employment of nitric acid, for the purpose of giving whiteness to the product of this formula, originated with Dr. Perceval of Dublin. There exists a defect in the formula; inasmuch as the ingredients are taken in parts, which are relative quantities, while the water is directed in the absolute quantity of a gallon. Properties. Oxychloride of antimony is in the form of a white powder. When exposed to a red heat, it enters into fusion, and forms a yellow liquid, which, on cooling, concretes into a grayish crystalline mass, of a pearly aspect. It consists mainly of sesquioxide, being composed of nine equiv. of sesquioxide 1378.8 and two of sesquichloride 470.92=1819.72. (Turner.) Medical Properties and Uses, Src. Powder of Algaroth was formerly used in medicine, but, owing to its unequal operation, has been laid aside. It is employed in pharmacy in the preparation of tartar emetic, for which purpose it is placed among the preparations of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia. It is also applied to the same use in the United Stales Pharmacopeia, but without being recognised under a distinct name, being formed as one step of the process adopted in that work for preparing tartar emetic. The name given to this oxide by the Dublin College is very exceptionable. It is not formed on correct chemical principles; neither has it any pharmaceutical convenience to recommend \u Off. Prep. Antimonii et Potassae Tartras, Dub. B. ANTIMONII ET POTASS JE TARTRAS. U.S. Antimonii et Potasse Tartras sive Tartarum Emeticum. Dub. Anti- monii Potassio-Tartras. Lond. Tartras Antimonii. Ed. Tar- trate of Antimony and Potassa. Tartarized Antimony. Emetic Tartar. " Take of Prepared Sulphuret of Antimony two ounces; Muriatic Acid twelve ounces aad a half; Nitric Acid a drachm; Water a gallon. Having mixed the acids together in a glass vessel, add by degrees the Sulphuret of Antimony, and digest the Mixture, with a gradually increasing heat, till effervescence ceases; then boil for an hour. Filter the liquor when it is cold, and pour it into the water. Wash the precipitated powder frequently with water, till it is entirely freed from acid, and then dry it. Take of this Powder two ounces; Supertartrate of Potassa, in very fine powder, two ounces and a half; Distilled Water eighteen fluidounces. Boil the Water in a glass vessel; then add the powders, previously mixed together, and boil for half an hour; lastly, filter the liquor through paper, and set it aside to crystallize." U.S. "Take of Nitromuriatic Oxide of Antimony four parts; Bitartrate of Potassa, in very fine powder, five parts; Distilled Water thirty-four parts. Boil the Water in a glass vessel; then gradually throw into it the Oxide and Bitartrate of Potassa, previously mixed, and boil for half an hour; then filter the liquor through paper, and crystallize by slow cooling." Dub. PART II. Anlimonium. 791 "Take of Sesquisulphuret of Antimony, rubbed to powder, Nitrate of Potassa, powdered, each, two pounds; Bitartrate of Potassa, powdered, fourteen ounces; Hydrochloric [Muriatic] Acid four fluidounces; Distilled Water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Mix the Sesquisulphuret of Antimony, accurately, with the Nitrate of Potassa; the Hydrochloric Acid being then added, and the powder spread upon an iron plate, ignite it. Rub what remains, when it is cold, to very fine powder, and wash it frequently with boiling water until it is free from taste. Mix the powder thus prepared with the Bitartrate of Potassa, and boil for half an hour in a gallon of Distilled Water. Strain the liquor while yet hot, and set it aside that crystals may form. These being removed and dried, let the liquor again evaporate that it may yield crystals." Lond. " Take of Sulphuret of Antimony and Nitrate of Potassa equal weights; Supertartrate of Potassa a sufficient quantity. Powder the Sulphuret and Nitrate separately, and having mixed them thoroughly, throw them into a red-hot crucible. When the deflagration is finished, separate the reddish matter obtained from the while crust, and rub it into a very fine powder, which is to be washed with abundance of warm water, and then dried. Mix this powder, by trituration, with an equal weight of Supertartrate of Po- tassa, and boil the mixture in a glass vessel, with four times its weight of Distilled Water, for an hour; then filter through paper, and evaporate the filtered liquor, so that crystals may form." Ed. This preparation is a double salt, consisting of the tartrate of potassa, united with the tartrate of the sesquioxide of antimony. The principle of its formation is exceedingly simple, being merely the saturation of the excess of acid in the bitartrate of potassa (cream of tartar), with sesquioxide of antimony. The various officinal processes for its preparation all agree in boiling cream of tartar with some form of antimonial sesquioxide, and only differ in the particular one selected, and in some minor details of manipulation. The United States Pharmacopoeia, following the Dublin, employs the oxychloride, (nitromuriatic oxide, Dub.) while the London and Edinburgh Colleges use the crocus of antimony. The nitromuriatic oxide has been described under another head, to which the reader is referred for its mode of preparation and properties. (See Antimonii Oxydum Nitromuriaticum.) In the London and Edinburgh formulae, the crocus is not prepared by a separate formula, but formed in the first part of the process. It is generated during the defla- gration of the sesquisulphuret of antimony with the nitrate of potassa. The nitric acid of the nitre is decomposed, and by furnishing oxygen to part of the sesquisulphuret, converts its constituents into sulphuric acid and sesqui- oxide of antimony. The sulphuric acid then combines with the potassa of the nitre, to form sulphate of potassa; while the sesquioxide unites or mixes with the undecomposed portion of the sesquisulphuret to constitute the crocus. From its constituents, therefore, the crocus may be called an oxy- sulphuret of antimony; but its composition is not always uniform. The London formula has the peculiarity of adding to the materials for deflagration, a portion of muriatic acid, the object of which is to neutralize some free potassa, and to decompose a portion of sulphuret of potassium, with the result of forming chloride of potassium. (Phillips.) The object of the washing is to remove the sulphate of potassa and chloride of potassium. In the Edin- burgh formula the deflagration is performed in a red-hot crucible instead of on an iron plate. A white crust (sulphate of potassa) is directed to be sepa- rated, and the reddish matter to be well washed. The washing here may be supposed to remove the remains of the sulphate of potassa, as also free potassa and sulphuret of potassium; but the potassa combines with, and 792 Antimonium. part ii. renders soluble in boiling water, a portion of the sesquioxide, and hence a portion of this oxide is washed away when the potassa is not neutralized by muriatic acid. The drying of the whole of the washed powder, as directed by the Edinburgh College, is unnecessary; as the drying of a small portion of it will furnish the means of calculating what the whole would weigh if dry. In the London process, there is no occasion to know the weight of the crocus formed, and hence the drying is dispensed with. In the London formula the fusion of the crocus is very properly avoided; as in that state it is less easily pulverizable, and, therefore, less readily soluble in the bitartrate of potassa. Crocus of antimony, after having been washed, is in the form of a saffron-brown powder. In the first part of the United States formula, directions are given for pro- curing the Dublin nitromuriatic oxide of antimony, a preparation not recog- nised under a distinct name, nor obtained by a separate process, in our national Pharmacopoeia. The directions are nearly the same as those of the Dublin College, the acids being employed in the same proportions; but the quantity of sulphuret of antimony is less in the United States process, in the proportion of sixteen to twenty. The latter part of the formula is an exact transcript, as to the quantities taken, of the process of the former Dub- lin Pharmacopoeia, which, with the exception of a slight difference in the amount of water, is adopted in the revision of that work in 1826. Thus the proportions of the United States formula are, nitromuriatic oxide 2 ounces, cream of tartar 2j ounces, water 18 fluidounces. Now 18 fluidounces of water weigh almost precisely 17 ounces. Substituting this weight, the pro- portions are as 2, 2^, and 17, or when doubled, 4, 5, and 34, which are the identical numbers used in the Dublin formula. Assuming the United States and Dublin formulae as identical, and the quantity of crocus generated in the London process to be equal to the amount of cream of tartar employed, then the following table will represent the proportions in which the materials for making tartar emetic are used in the four Pharmacopoeias noticed in this work. The measured portion of water of the London process is converted into its nearest corresponding weight; and the amount of antimonial oxide is assumed at the common quantity of four parts in each formula. Authority. Form of Sesquioxide employed. Proportion of Sesquioxide. Proportion of Cream of Tartar. Proportion of Water. U.S. &?r>i S Dublin y Pharm- I London do. Edinburgh do. Nitromuriatic oxide. Crocus. Do. 4 4 4 5 4 4 34 42 32 The U.S., London, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias direct the ebullition to be continued for half an hour, filter the solution while hot, and set it aside to crystallize. The London College directs a second evaporation, that a new crop of crystals may be obtained. The Edinbnrgh College boils for an hour, filters while hot, and evaporates to crystallize. In judging of the relative eligibility of these processes, several circum- stances are to be taken into view; such as the proportions employed, the length of the ebullition, and the relative advantages of the antimonial oxide selected. The cream of tartar ought not to be in excess; as in this case it is apt to crystallize upon cooling with the tartar emetic. To avoid such a result it is better to have a slight excess of antimonial oxide. Upon inspect- PART II. Antimonium. 795 termine how much of the moist oxide must be taken, to be equivalent to a given weight of the dry. Properties. Tartrate of antimony and potassa is a colourless, inodorous salt, possessing a nauseous, styptic taste, and crystallizing usually in rhom- bic octohedrons. When prepared from the nitromuriatic oxide, it crystal- lizes in tetrahedrons, and the crystals are often an inch or more in diameter. As it occurs in the shops it is in the form of a white powder, formed by the pulverization of the crystals. The crystals, when exposed to the air, effloresce slightly and become opaque. They are insoluble in alcohol, but soluble in about fourteen times their weight of cold, and twice their weight of boiling water. Dr. Perceval of Dublin, however, asserts that good tartar emetic dissolves in twelve times its weight of cold water. Dr. Barker found that water saturated with this salt at the boiling temperature, would retain more of it when cooled than it is capable of taking up at common temperatures. Its aqueous solution reddens litmus, and undergoes spontaneous decomposition by keeping. Sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acid, added to its solution, dis- turbs its transparency, and the alkalies and their carbonates precipitate the sesquioxide of antimony. It is decomposed also by some of the metals and their oxides, by lime-water, chloride of calcium, acetate and subacetate of lead, and hydrosulphuric acid and its compounds. The decoctions and in- fusions of many plants, especially of those which are astringent and contain tannin, such as cinchona, rhubarb, galls, and catechu, precipitate it, with the effect of rendering it nearly or quite inert, and ought not to be associated with it in prescriptions. Other substances, such as tamarind-water, lemon- ade, whey, &c, decompose it, and give rise to new combinations, which, though not inert, are less active than the original salt. The best tests for detecting this salt in minute quantity in solution are a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen and hydrosulphate of ammonia, which precipitate the red hydrated sesquisulphuret of antimony. To render the former test efficient, a little muriatic acid must be added to the solution after the gas has been passed through it. When tartar emetic is pure, it should exhibit its appropriate crystalline form, and be entirely soluble in water. Its entire solubility in water, how- ever, does not prove the absence of cream of tartar; for Mr. Hennell ascer- tained that it might contain ten per cent, of this impurity, and yet dissolve in the proper quantity of water. (Phillips.) Its solution should not be pre- cipitated by chloride of barium, oxalate of ammonia, acidulous nitrate of sil- ver, or acidulous acetate of lead. A precipitate by the first reagent indicates sulphuric acid; by the second, lime; by the third, muriatic acid; and by the fourth, uncombined cream of tartar. The latter may be detected, also, by adding a few drops of a solution of carbonate of soda to a boiling solution of the antimonial salt. This will cause a precipitate which will be immedi- ately redissolved if cream of tartar be present. (Hennell, as quoted by Phil- lips.) The most usual impurities which it contains, are uncombined cream of tartar, arising either from the use of an excess of this salt in its prepara- tion, or from its fraudulent admixture; tartrate of lime; silica and iron; and sulphate of lime. The tartrate of lime is derived from the cream of tartar, which always contains this impurity. It is liable to form on the surface of the crystals of tartar emetic in crystalline tufts, which are easily brushed off. Silica and iron are apt to be present when glass of antimony has been em- ployed in preparing the antimonial salt, and the evaporation has been carried too far. Sulphate of lime is sometimes an impurity, when tartar emetic has been prepared by means of the subsulphate of antimony. According to Se- rullas, all the antimonial medicines, except well crystallized tartar emetic, 794 Antimonium. PART II. very little followed, as the salt obtained by it requires repeated crystalliza- tions to free it from the tartrates of lime and iron. It has been already mentioned that M. Henry preferred the use of ihe nitromuriatic oxide for making tartar emetic; in other words, the Dublin process. He has thought, however, that it was susceptible of some improve- ments, and has given a process on a large scale, which he prefers. As this formula may be useful to the manufacturing chemist, we subjoin it, turning the French weights into the nearest apothecaries' weights and mea- sures. Take of prepared sulphuret of antimony, in very fine powder, three pounds four ounces; muriatic acid, marking 22° (sp. gr. 1.178), eighteen pounds and a half; nitric acid two ounces and a half. Introduce the sul- phuret into a glass matrass, of a capacity double the volume of the mixture to be formed, and add to it from three to five pounds of the acids previously mixed, so that the sulphuret may be thoroughly penetrated by them; then add the remainder of the acids. Place the matrass on a sand-bath, and heat the mixture gradually to ebullition; avoiding the vapours, which are disen- gaged in large quantity. Continue the heat, until the vapours given off are so far deprived of sulphuretted hydrogen, as not to blacken white paper, moistened with the solution of acetate of lead; after which allow the liquor to cool, and to remain at rest until it has become clear. Decant the clear liquid, and to obtain the portion of it which may be retained by the moist residue, mix this with a small portion of muriatic acid, and again decant. Mix the decanted liquids, which consist of a solution of chloride of antimony, and add them to a large quantity of water, in order that the nitromuriatic oxide may be precipitated; taking care, during their addition, to stir con- stantly in order that the precipitated powder may be more minutely divided, to facilitate its subsequent washing. To determine whether the water has been sufficient to decompose the whole of the chloride, a part of the super- natant liquid, after the subsidence of the powder, is to be added to a fresh portion of water; and if a precipitate takes place, more water must be added to the mixture, so as to obtain the largest possible quantity of the nitromu- riatic oxide. The precipitation being completely effected, wash the powder repeatedly with water, until this no longer affects litmus, and then place it on linen to drain for twenty-four hours. The quantity of nitromuriatic oxide thus obtained will be about three pounds and a half in the moist stale, or two pounds nine ounces when dry. Assuming it to be this quantity, mix it with three pounds eleven ounces of cream of tartar, in fine powder, and add the mixture to two gallons and five pints of boiling water, contained in an iron kettle. Concentrate the liquor rapidly until it marks 25° of Baume's hydro- meter for salts, and then filter. By repose, the liquor furnishes a crop of very pure crystals, which require only to be dried. The mother waters are treated in the following manner. Saturate the excess of acid with chalk, filter, and concentrate to 25°. By cooling, a second crop of crystals is ob- tained; and by proceeding in a similar manner, even a third crop. But the crystals thus obtained are somewhat coloured, and must be purified by re- crystallization. With regard to the above process, it may be observed, that the propor- tions of the cream of tartar and antimonial oxide must be adjusted according to the numbers given, on the assumption that the latter is dry; but it by no means follows that the whole of the oxide should be dried, which would cause a waste of time. The mode of proceeding is to weigh the whole of the moist oxide, and afterwards to weigh off a small part of it, and to ascer- tain how much this loses in drying. Then by a calculation it is easy to de- PART II. Antimonium. 795 termine how much of the moist oxide must be taken, to be equivalent to a given weight of the dry. Properties. Tartrate of antimony and potassa is a colourless, inodorous salt, possessing a nauseous, styptic taste, and crystallizing usually in rhom- bic octohedrons. When prepared from the nitromuriatic oxide, it crystal- lizes in tetrahedrons, and the crystals are often an inch or more in diameter. As it occurs in the shops it is in the form of a white powder, formed by the pulverization of the crystals. The crystals, when exposed to the air, effloresce slightly and become opaque. They are insoluble in alcohol, but soluble in about fourteen times their weight of cold, and twice their weight of boiling water. Dr. Perceval of Dublin, however, asserts that good tartar emetic dissolves in twelve times its weight of cold water. Dr. Barker found that water saturated with this salt at the boiling temperature, would retain more of it when cooled than it is capable of taking up at common temperatures. Its aqueous solution reddens litmus, and undergoes spontaneous decomposition by keeping. Sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acid, added to its solution, dis- turbs its transparency, and the alkalies and their carbonates precipitate the sesquioxide of antimony. It is decomposed also by some of the metals and their oxides, by lime-water, chloride of calcium, acetate and subacetate of lead, and hydrosulphuric acid and its compounds. The decoctions and in- fusions of many plants, especially of those which are astringent and contain tannin, such as cinchona, rhubarb, galls, and catechu, precipitate it, with the effect of rendering it nearly or quite inert, and ought not to be associated with it in prescriptions. Other substances, such as tamarind-water, lemon- ade, whey, &c, decompose it, and give rise to new combinations, which, though not inert, are less active than the original salt. The best tests for detecting this salt in minute quantity in solution are a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen and hydrosulphate of ammonia, which precipitate the red hydrated sesquisulphuret of antimony. To render the former test efficient, a little muriatic acid must be added to the solution after the gas has been passed through it. When tartar emetic is pure, it should exhibit its appropriate crystalline form, and be entirely soluble in water. Its entire solubility in water, how- ever, does not prove the absence of cream of tartar; for Mr. Hennell ascer- tained that it might contain ten per cent, of this impurity, and yet dissolve in the proper quantity of water. (Phillips.) Its solution should not be pre- cipitated by chloride of barium, oxalate of ammonia, acidulous nitrate of sil- ver, or acidulous acetate of lead. A precipitate by the first reagent indicates sulphuric acid; by the second, lime; by the third, muriatic acid; and by the fourth, uncombined cream of tartar. The latter may be detected, also, by adding a few drops of a solution of carbonate of soda to a boiling solution of the antimonial salt. This will cause a precipitate which will be immedi- ately redissolved if cream of tartar be present. (Hennell, as quoted by Phil- lips.) The most usual impurities which it contains, are uncombined cream of tartar, arising either from the use of an excess of this salt in its prepara- tion, or from its fraudulent admixture; tartrate of lime; silica and iron; and sulphate of lime. The tartrate of lime is derived from the cream of tartar, which always contains this impurity. It is liable to form on the surface of the crystals of tartar emetic in crystalline tufts, which are easily brushed off. Silica and iron are apt to be present when glass of antimony has been em- ployed in preparing the antimonial salt, and the evaporation has been carried too far. Sulphate of lime is sometimes an impurity, when tartar emetic has been prepared by means of the subsulphate of antimony. According to Se- rullas, all the antimonial medicines, except well crystallized tartar emetic, 796 Antimonium. PART II. are liable to contain a minute portion of arsenic. The crystalline form of this salt being one of the best tests of its purity, it ought always to be pur- chased by the apothecary in crystals. As a further test of its having been properly prepared, one or two crystals may be dropped into a solution of hydrosulphuric acid, when an orange-coloured deposite will be formed on them. Tartar emetic is sometimes sold in powder to conceal its imperfec- tions. Composition. Tartar emetic consists of two equiv. of tartaric acid 132.96, one of potassa 47.15, one of sesquioxide of antimony 153.2, and two of water 18=351.31. According to some authorities, it contains three equiv. of water. It is evident that it contains tartaric acid and potassa in the pre- cise proportions to form bitartrate of potassa or cream of tartar; and ac- cordingly, it may be viewed as a compound of one equiv. of cream of tartar, and one of antimonial sesquioxide. The excess of acid in the bi- tartrate may be considered as saturated by the sesquioxide; and in that view it is a double salt, composed of the tartrate of potassa united with the tar- trate of the sesquioxide of antimony. The name, therefore, of the U. S. and Dublin Pharmacopoeias is the most correct. Medical Properties and Uses. Tartrate of potassa and antimony is the most important of the antimonials, and is capable of fulfilling numerous indi- cations in disease. Its general action is that of a sedative upon the circula- tion; while, on the contrary, it excites most of the secretions. According to the dose in which it is given, and the peculiar circumstances under which it is administered, it acts variously, as an alterative, diaphoretic, diuretic, ex- pectorant, purgative, and emetic. In minute doses, it is employed either alone, or conjoined with calomel, with a view to its alterative effects, and has been found useful in diseases of the skin. In small doses, mostly asso- ciated with saline remedies, such as nitrate or sulphate of magnesia, and assisted by copious dilution, it is frequently resorted to in febrile complaints, for the purpose of producing perspiration, which is often copiously induced, especially if the remedy creates nausea. If the surface be exposed lo cool air, so as to constrict the pores, the tendency will be to the kidneys, with the effect of producing an increased flow of urine. On the principle of ex- citing the secretions, it proves useful, on many occasions, in pulmonary and bronchial disease as an expectorant; and with a view to its action in this way, it is frequently conjoined with squill, ammoniac, and similar remedies. In full doses, it acts as an emetic, and as such is characterised by certainty, strength, and permanency of operation. It remains longer in Ihe stomach than ipecacuanha, produces more frequent and longer continued efforts to vomit, and exerts a more powerful impression upon the system generally. The nausea and attendant prostration are often very great. As an emetic, its use is indicated where the object is not merely to evacuate the stomach, but to agitate and compress the liver and other abdominal viscera. By the extension of its action to the duodenum, it causes copious discharges of bile, and hence forms an appropriate remedy in those diseases, in which there is an accumulation of that secretion. It is employed as an emetic in the com- mencement of fevers, especially those of an intermittent or bilious character, in jaundice, hooping cough, and croup, and in several diseases of the nervous system, such as mania, amaurosis, tic douleureux, &c. In efforts to reduce old dislocations, its relaxing power is taken advantage of, in order to facilitate the operation. As an incidental effect to its diaphoretic and emetic operation, tartar emetic often produces purging. Taking advantage of this tendency, practitioners are frequently in the habit of adding it to purgatives, the opera- tion of which it promotes in a remarkable degree. It is contra-indicated in PART II. Anlimonium. 797 diseases of great debility, in the advanced stages of febrile affections, and in fevers attended with extreme irritability of stomach. Of late years, on the continent of Europe, tartar emetic has been given in large doses in inflammatory diseases, with a view to its sedative, or, as it is usually termed, contra-stimulant operation. This practice originated with Rasori in Italy, and has been followed to a considerable extent in that coun- try and in France. As yet it has had but few imitators in Great Britain and the United States. The chief diseases in which tartar emetic has been thus used are bronchitis, inflammation of the chest, acute rheumatism, chorea, hydrocephalus, and apoplexy. It is directed in doses varying from a grain to two grains and a half every two hours, dissolved in a small quantity of water; the patient being restricted in the use of drinks, whilst under its ope- ration. It is stated, that when the medicine is thus given in diseases of high action, it seldom produces vomiting, an effect which the authors of the prac- tice wish to avoid. The use of tartar emetic in the doses mentioned is cer- tainly hazardous, and we cannot, therefore, recommend an imitation of the practice. It cannot with propriety supersede the use of blood-letting, which is a safer and more efficient means of reducing inflammation. In cases, how- ever, in which bleeding, both local and general, has been carried as far as the circumstances of the case will safely permit, and inflammatory action con- tinues but partially subdued, the use of tartar emetic, in rather large doses may sometimes prove beneficial. Externally, tartar emetic is sometimes employed as a counter-irritant, mixed with lard or cerate, or sprinkled in very fine powder on adhesive plaster. (See Unguentum Tartari Emetici, Dub.) It causes, after a longer or shorter interval, a burning sensation, accompanied by a peculiar and pain- ful pustular eruption. This mode of producing counter-irritation is exceed- ingly serviceable in a number of diseases; but particularly in deep-seated pains, hooping cough, and chronic inflammation of the chest threatening con- sumption. Care must be taken, when the salt is applied by means of a plaster, that the pustular inflammation does not proceed too far; as in that event, it produces very painful deep seated ulcerations, difficult to heal. It acts by destroying the skin and subjacent cellular tissue in spots, without being absorbed. Tartar emetic is almost always given in solution, and in an amount which varies with the intention in view in its administration. Its dose as an altera- tive, is from the sixteenth to the eighth of a grain; as a diaphoretic or expec- torant from an eighth to a sixth of a grain; and as a nauseating sudorific, from a quarter to half a grain; in each case, repeated once every one, two, or four hours. As an emetic, the full dose is from two to three grains, though it is usually given in divided portions of a grain dissolved in a tablespoonful of water, every ten or fifteen minutes until it vomits, the operation being aided by warm water, or warm chamomile tea. It is often conjoined with ipecacuanha, in the proportion of one or two grains to twenty of the vege- table emetic. For convenient administration in small doses, the Pharmaco- poeias order it dissolved in wine. (See Vinum Antimonii.) Toxicological Properties. The effects produced by a poisonous dose of tartar emetic are an austere metallic taste; nausea; copious vomiting; fre- quent hickup; burning pain in the stomach; colic; frequent stools; fainting; small, contracted, and accelerated pulse; cold skin; sometimes intense heat; difficult respiration; loss of sense; convulsive movements; very painful cramps in the legs; prostration, and death. To these effects is sometimes added difficulty of deglutition. Vomiting and purging do not always take place; and when they are absent, the other symptoms are aggravated. If 798 Antimonium. part ii. the patient has not vomited, immediate recourse must be had to tickling the throat with a feather, and the use of abundance of warm water. The ad- ministration of large quantities of oil will sometimes favour vomiting, and may prove useful. If vomiting be not quickly induced, it is necessary to give immediately large doses of Peruvian bark, mixed with water or in decoction, with a view to decompose the poison. If the bark be not at hand, decoctions of common tea should be administered, until the former can be obtained. Alkaline sulphurets, according to Orfila, augment the irritation of the poison. Nevertheless, the late Dr. Duncan has recoided one case in which the sulphuret of potassa was completely successful. If the vomiting prove excessive, laudanum should be employed either by the mouth or by injection; and to combat the consecutive inflammation which is apt to be ex- cited, bleeding, both local and general, and other antiphlogistic measures, should be resorted to. Off.Prep. Mel Scillae Compositum, U.S.; Vinum Antimonii, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Unguentum Tartari Emetici, Dub, Lond. B. VINUM ANTIMONII. U.S. Vinum Antimonii Potassio-Tar- tratis. Lond.; Vinum Tartratis Antimonii. Ed. Liquor Tar- tari Emetici. Dub. Antimonial Wine. " Take of Tartrate of Antimony and Potassa a scruple; Wine [Tene- riffe] ten fluidounces. Dissolve the Tartrate of Antimony and Potassa in the Wine." U. S. The London College directs two scruples of the salt to be dissolved in a pint [Imperial measure] of Sherry Wine. The Dublin College dissolves one scruple of the salt in eight fluidounces of boiling distilled water, and adds two fluidounces of Rectified Spirit. By the Edinburgh process, twenty-four grains are dissolved in a pound of Sherry wine. In the first edition of the United States Pharmacopoeia, the proportion of tartar emetic was four grains to the fluidounce of wine. In the revision of 1830, the quantity was reduced to two grains; and, as this is very nearly the proportion directed by the British Colleges, the highly important object has been accomplished, of uniformity in the strength of this very popular preparation. The seeming discrepancy between the London formula and the Dublin and U. S. formulae will disappear when it is considered, that the imperial pint, adopted by the London College in their Pharmacopoeia of 1836, contains twenty fluidounces, each very nearly equal to the fluidounce of the ordinary apothecaries' measure; and the slight difference between the troy ounce of the Edinburgh formula, and the fluidounce of the others, is scarcely deserving of notice in a practical point of view. The U.S. officinal name was adopted as most convenient, sufficiently expressive, and in accordance with the nomenclature of several other metallic preparations, such as Ceratum Arsenici, Emplastrum Ferri, Mistura Ferri Composita, fyc. Difficulty is often experienced in effecting a solution of tartar emetic in wine; and precipitation is very apt to occur after the solution has been effected. These results are attributable either to impurity in the antimonial salt, which frequently contains supertartrate of potassa and various insoluble substances, or to inferiority in the character of the wine, which holds in solution vegetable principles that form insoluble compounds with the sesqui- oxide of antimony. Dr. Paris states that he has seen the decomposition of the tartar emetic so complete, that no traces of the salt could be detected in the supernatant liquid. The difficulty is not avoided by the plan directed in the old Pharmacopoeia, of first dissolving the antimonial in water, and then adding the wine; for even allowing that the solution may be accomplished, PART IT. Anlimonium. 799 the same ingredients are present, and their mutual reaction must ultimately result in the same effects. The proper course is to select perfectly pure crystallized tartar emetic, and sound Teneriffe or Sherry wine, which make a permanent solution. To obviate the risk of decomposition and conse- quent inequality of strength, the Dublin College directs water and rectified spirit in about the proportions in which these exist in the wines just men- tioned. The only objection to this menstruum is the want of colour, which renders the preparation liable to be confounded with less active liquids. The advantages of antimonial wine are, that it affords the means of admi- nistering minute doses of tartar emetic, and is more permanent than an aque- ous solution of that salt, which is liable to spontaneous decomposition. It is usually administered in small doses as a diaphoretic or expectorant, or as an emetic in infantile cases. Where a considerable quantity of tartar emetic is requisite, it should always be given in extemporaneous aqueous solution. The dose of the wine as an expectorant or diaphoretic, is from ten to thirty drops, given frequently; as an emetic for children, from thirty drops to a fluidrachm, repeated every fifteen minutes till it operates. W. ANTIMONII SULPHURETUM PRAEPARATUM. U.S.,Dub. Sulphuretum Antimonii Praeparatum. Ed. Prepared Sulphuret of Antimony. " Take of Sulphuret of Antimony any quantity. Prepare it in the man- ner directed for Carbonate of Lime." U.S. " Powder Sulphuret of Antimony in an iron mortar, levigate it upon a porphyry stone with a little water, and put it into a large vessel. Then pour water on it, and, after frequently agitating the vessel, pour it off, loaded with the fine powder. Allow the water to remain at rest, and when the powder has subsided, dry it. The coarse powder, which the water could not sus- pend, is to be again levigated, and treated in the same way." Ed. " Take of Sulphuret of Antimony any quantity. Reduce it to powder, and separate for use the impalpable particles, in the manner directed for the preparation of Chalk." Dub. Sulphuret of antimony in mass is placed in the Materia Medica list of all the Pharmacopoeias noticed in this work. But for use in medicine, and for some pharmaceutical processes, it requires to be levigated, and hence the necessity of the above formulae. Properties. Prepared sulphuret of antimony is in the form of a dull inso- luble powder, without taste or smell; usually of a blackish colour, but, when perfectly pure, reddish-brown. By exposure to air, it absorbs, according to Buchner, a portion of oxygen, and becomes partially converted into sesqui- oxide. Its usual adulterations and its composition are given under another head. (See Antimonii Sulphuretum.) Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation is very uncertain in its operation; sometimes appearing to be almost inert, at other times, if it meet with acid in the stomach, acting with extreme violence, producing vomiting and hypercatharsis. The effects usually attributed to it are those of a diapho- retic and alterative; and the diseases in which it is principally recommended, are scrofida, glandular obstructions, cutaneous diseases, and chronic rheuma- tism. It is very little employed by physicians in the United States, its use in this country being almost exclusively confined to veterinary practice. The dose is from ten to thirty grains, given in powder or bolus. Off. Prep. Antimonii et Potassa? Tartras, U.S.; Antimonii Oxydum Nitro- muriaticum, Dub.; Antimonii Sulphuretum Praeeipitatum, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Antimonialis, Dub. B. 800 Antimonium. part ir. ANTIMONII SULPHURETUM PRjECIPITATUM. U.S. Antimonii Oxysulphuretum. Lond. Sulphuretum Antimonii Prjecipitatum. Ed. Sulphur Antimoniatum Fuscum. Dub. Pre- cipitated Sulphuret of Antimony. " Take of Prepared Sulphuret of Antimony two pounds; Solution of Po- tassa four pints; Distilled Water, Diluted Sulphuric Acid, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix the Sulphuret of Antimony with the Solution of Potassa, and three pints of Distilled Water, and boil them over a gentle fire for three hours, constantly stirring, and occasionally adding Distilled Water so as to preserve the same measure. Strain the liquor immediately through a double linen cloth, and gradually drop into it, while yet hot, sufficient Diluted Sul- phuric Acid to precipitate the powder; then wash away the Sulphate of Potassa with hot water, dry the Precipitated Sulphuret of Antimony, and rub it into a fine powder." U.S. " Take of Sesquisulphuret of Antimony, powdered, seven ounces; Solu- tion of Potassa four pints [Imperial measure]; Distilled Water two gallons [Imperial measure]; Diluted Sulphuric Acid a sufficient quantity. Mix the Sesquisulphuret of Antimony, Solution of Potassa, and Water together, and boil with a slow fire for two hours, frequently stirring, Distilled Water being often added, that it may fill about the same measure. Strain the liquor, and gradually drop into it as much Diluted Sulphuric Acid as may be sufficient to throw down the Oxysulphuret of Antimony; then wash away the Sulphate of Potassa with water, and dry what remains with a gentle heat." Lond. " Take of Water of Potassa four parts; Water three parts; Prepared Sulphuret of Antimony two parts; Diluted Sulphuric Acid a sufficient quantity. Mix the Sulphuret with the Water of Potassa and the Water; then boil them in a covered iron pot over a gentle fire for three hours, fre- quently stirring with an iron spatula, and adding water as it may be required. Strain the hot liquor through a doubled linen cloth, and add to it, when strained, as much of the Acid as may be necessary to precipitate the Sul- phuret which must be well washed with warm water." Ed. " Take of Prepared Sulphuret of Antimony one part; Water of Caustic Potassa eighteen parts; Diluted Sulphuric Acid eleven parts, or a sufficient quantity. Add the Sulphuret of Antimony to the Water of Caustic Potassa, and boil for an hour. Strain the hot liquor through a double linen cloth, and drop into it the Diluted Sulphuric Acid. Wash away the Sulphate of Po- tassa with warm water. Dry the Brown Antimoniated Sulphur, and rub it into fine powder." Dub. As the theory of the formation of the precipitated sulphuret of antimony is intimately connected with that for forming the substances called kermes minerul, and golden sulphur, we shall first describe the latter substances, as introductory to our account of the former. Kermes mineral, according to Thenard, may be obtained by three distinct processes—by treating the sesquisulphuret of antimony with a boiling solu- tion of the carbonated alkalies, with a boiling solution of the caustic alkalies, or with the carbonated alkalies at a red heat. These several processes give brown powders, which vary in their shade of colour, and which, though usually considered as identical, differ in composition. The kermes obtained by the first process is an oxysulphuret, that is, a mixture of sesquioxide of antimony with hydrated sesquisulphuret; while the product of the other two is essentially a hydrated sesquisulphuret, though containing occasionally a little oxysulphuret. In France the process by the use of the carbonated alkalies in solution, is preferred for preparing the kermes; and the alkali selected is soda as giving PART II. Antimonium. 801 a handsomer product. The formula of Cluzel is to boil for half an hour one part of pulverized sesquisulphuret of antimony with twenty-two or twenty- three parts of crystallized carbonate of soda, in two hundred and fifty parts of water, to filter the liquor and receive it in warm earthen pans, which must be covered, and allowed to cool slowly. At the end of twenty-four hours, the kermes is deposited. It is then collected on a filter, washed with boiled water, cooled without contact of air, dried at the temperature of 77°, and kept in bottles well stopped. This formula is substantially the same with that given in the French Codex of 1837. The rationale of the formation of kermes by this process is as follows. A portion of the carbonate of soda is converted, by a transfer of carbonic acid, into caustic soda and sesquicarbonate. By a double decomposition taking place between a part of the sesquisulphuret of antimony and the caustic soda, sesquioxide of antimony, and sulphuret of sodium are formed. The sesquioxide then dissolves in the solution of carbonate of soda, and the un- decomposed portion of the sesquisulphuret in that of the sulphuret of sodium. The sesquioxide and sesquisulphuret, being both more soluble in these menstrua hot than cold, precipitate together as the liquid cools, and consti- tute this variety of kermes. When thus obtained, the kermes is light, velvety, of a dark reddish-purple colour, brilliant in the sun, and of a crys- talline appearance. It consists, according to M. Henri, jun., of sesqui- sulphuret of antimony 62.5, sesquioxide 27.4, water 10, soda a trace. In consequence of the presence of a considerable amount of sesquioxide of an- timony in this variety of kermes, it must be far ra^re active than the other kinds which contain comparatively little of this oxide; and it ought, therefore, to be preferred for medical use. Kermes, when obtained by means of the caustic alkalies, may be formed by boiling for a quarter of an hour, two parts of the sesquisulphuret of anti- mony with one part of caustic potassa in twenty-five or thirty parts of water, filtering the liquor, and allowing it to cool, whereupon the kermes precipi- tates. In this process, one portion of the sesquisulphuret, by reacting with a portion of the potassa, gives rise to sesquioxide of antimony and sulphuret of potassium. A second portion dissolves in the sulphuret of potassium formed, and a third forms an insoluble compound with a part of the sesqui- oxide. The remainder of the sesquioxide unites with the potassa, forming a compound, which, being but sparingly soluble, is only in part dissolved. The filtered liquor, therefore, consists of a solution of this compound in water, and of sesquisulphuret of antimony in sulphuret of potassium. By refrigeration, the sesquisulphuret in a hydrated state falls down, free, or nearly free from sesquioxide, this latter being still held in solution by means of the caustic alkali with which it is united. Kermes is obtained by the third method, or in the dry way, by rubbing together two parts of sesquisulphuret of antimony and one part of potassa of commerce, fusing the mixture in a crucible by a red heat, and treating the oreenish-yellow mass formed with boiling water. On the cooling of the liquor, the kermes is deposited, the rationale of its formation being nearly the same with that for forming the second variety of kermes. Kermes mineral is an insipid, inodorous powder, of different shades of brown. By the action of air and light it gradually becomes lighter coloured, until at last it attains a yellowish-white tint. It first came into use as a remedy in France about the beginning of the last century. Its mode of preparation was possessed as a secret by a French surgeon named La Ligerie, from whom, in 1720, the recipe was purchased by the French government, and made public. 802 Antimonium. part ii. Golden Sulphur is formed by the addition of an acid to the liquor which remains after the precipitation of the kermes. According to the directions of the French Codex, acetic acid is employed for this purpose. The liquor, when caustic potassa has been used, is at first a solution chiefly of sesqui- sulphuret of antimony in sulphuret of potassium, but in part also of ses- quioxide in potassa. By the action of the air on the liquor, however, the sulphuret of potassium passes to a higher state of sulphuration; and conse- quently, the addition of an acid, while it throws down the sesquisulphuret and sesquioxide of antimony, will precipitate at the same time the excess of sulphur in the sulphuret of potassium. Agreeably to this explanation, the golden sulphur may be considered as a sesquisulphuret and sesquioxide of antimony mixed with more or less sulphur. It is in the form of a powder of a golden yellow colour. It may be worth while to mention, that the kermes liquor, after the use of the carbonated alkalies, gives very little golden sulphur; while the liquors resulting from the two other processes yield it in abundance. M. Musculus (Journ. de Pharm. for May, 1836) recommends the follow- ing process for preparing golden sulphur and kermes mineral by the method of displacement. He takes 6 parts of slacked lime, 4 of carbonate of potassa, or of dried carbonate of soda, 2 of finely powdered sesquisulphuret of antimony, 1 of flowers of sulphur, and 8 of well washed and dried sand. These are accurately mixed and put into a glass or stoneware displacement apparatus, the bottom of which is covered with little pebbles, or coarsely powdered glass. (See $. 732, where a displacement apparatus is figured.) The mixture being covered with a layer of sand, cold water is poured upon it until the liquid which passes is no longer precipitated by muriatic acid. The liquid obtained is then diluted with pure water, and treated with muri- atic acid, which throws down the golden sulphur. This is carefully washed and dried, and amounts to about the quantity of sesquisulphuret employed. In preparing the kermes the same method is pursued, except that the sul- phur is omitted, and the liquid obtained precipitated by a solution of bicar- bonate of soda. M. Boullay, who repeated the above process, speaks of it with commen- dation, as enabling the apothecary to operate on a small scale, and without the employment of heat. The golden sulphur was very handsome, but the kermes was heavy and imperfect in colour. These defects in the latter, he found might be remedied by using exclusively the dried carbonate of soda, and by diluting the liquid with an equal volume of river water deprived of air by boiling, before precipitating. The kermes was now abundant, light, and of a very intense and beautiful colour. The editors of the Annalen der Pharmacie also repeated the process with good results. They remark, however, that it is indispensable that the sand employed should be free from iron. From the explanations which have been given, the reader is prepared to understand that the method of preparing the precipitated sulphuret of anti- mony of the United States and British Pharmacopoeias, combines the process for forming the kermes mineral by means of the caustic alkalies, with that for obtaining golden sulphur; for while the refrigeration of the solution would of itself cause the precipitation of the second variety of kermes, or that which contains little or no antimonial oxide, the sulphuric acid added would throw down more or less of the golden sulphur. This view would make the officinal precipitated sulphuret, a mixture of sesquisulphuret, sesqui- oxide, and free 6ulphur, differing from the true golden sulphur, merely in PART II. Antimonium. 803 containing less free sulphur. This constitution of precipitated sulphuret, when obtained by the London formula, is confirmed, so far as the sesqui- oxide is concerned, by an analysis made by Mr. Phillips; according to which, it consists, in the 100 parts, of sesquioxide 12, sesquisulphuret 76.5, and water 11.5; corresponding most nearly with one equiv. of sesquioxide, five of sesquisulphuret, and sixteen of water. On the ground of its contain- ing sesquioxide, the London College have changed the name of this prepa- ration to oxysulphuret. No further explanations are deemed necessary of the formulae placed at the head of this article. Properties of the Precipitated Sulphuret. This substance is a bright orange-coloured, insoluble powder, without smell, and possessing a slightly styptic taste. When heated it readily catches fire, burning with a greenish- blue flame, and giving off sulphurous acid, while the metal remains behind in the state of a grayish oxide. When pure it is not acted on by dilute sul- phuric acid; and hence, if it effervesce with this acid, its adulteration with chalk may be suspected. It is totally soluble in nitro-muriatic acid, emitting hydrosulphuric acid. It should readily dissolve in solutions of the caustic fixed alkalies. Medical Properties. The precipitated sulphuret is diaphoretic or emetic according to the dose. It is, however, an uncertain medicine, as well from the want of uniformity in its composition, as from its liability to vary in its action with the state of the stomach. It is seldom given alone, but generally in combination with calomel and guaiac, in the form of Plummer's pill, as an alterative in secondary syphilis and cutaneous eruptions, or conjoined with henbane or hemlock, in chronic rheumatism. (See Pilulae Hydrargyri Chloridi Compositae, Lond.) During its use the patient should abstain from acidulous drinks. Its dose as an alterative is from one to two grains twice a day in the form of pill; as an emetic, from five grains to a scruple. Kermes obtained by means of the carbonated alkalies, being a more active preparation, must be used in a smaller dose; while, on the. other hand, the true golden sulphur, containing a greater excess of sulphur than the preci- pitated sulphuret, would perhaps require to be given in larger amount. Off. Prep. Pilulae Hydrargyri Chloridi Compositae, Lond., Ed., Dub. B. PULVIS ANTIMONIALIS. Dub. Pulvis Antimonii Compo- situs. Lond. Oxidum Antimonii cum Phosphate Calcis. Ed. Antimonial Powder. " Take of Sesquisulphuret of Antimony, in powder, a pound; Horn shavings two pounds. Mix, and throw them into a red-hot crucible, and stir constantly until vapour ceases to arise. Rub the residue to powder, and put it into a proper crucible. Then apply heat, and raise it gradually to redness, and keep it so for two hours. Rub the residue into a very fine powder." Lond. " Take of Sulphuret of Antimony, in coarse powder, Hartshorn shavings, each, equal parts. Mix, and put them into a shallow iron pot, heated to redness, and stir the mixture constantly, until it becomes of an ash-gray colour, and having removed it from the fire, reduce it to powder and put it into a coated crucible. Lute to this crucible another inverted over it, and perforated with a small hole in the bottom, and apply heat, which is to be gradually raised to whiteness, and then kept at that temperature for two hours. Lastly, reduce the matter, when cold, to a very fine powder." Ed. The Dublin College uses the proportions of the London; but treats the materials in the manner directed in the Edinburgh formula. 804 Antimonium. PART II. This preparation, which consists of phosphate of lime, or bone-earth, mixed with antimony in an uncertain state of oxidation, is intended to fur- nish a substitute for the celebrated empirical remedy of Dr. James, an Eng- lish physician, after whom the original composition was called James's powder. Dr. Pearson, of London, found the genuine powder, on analysis, to consist of phosphate of lime and oxidized antimony; and, guided by his results, devised the formula adopted by the British Colleges for producing an imitation of it. By burning the materials directed, while they are con- stantly stirred, the sulphur is expelled in the form of sulphurous acid, and the antimony oxidized; while the hartshorn, which is of the nature of bone, has the greater part of its animal matter consumed. By the subse- quent calcination, the remainder of the animal matter is dissipated, leaving only the phosphate of lime mixed with the oxidized antimony. This mix- ture constitutes the antimonial powder. The only material difference be- tween the processes of the Colleges, is that the London and Dublin use two parts of horn shavings to one of sulphuret; while the Edinburgh College employs equal parts which are also the proportions adopted in the French Codex. The use of the larger proportion of horn is said to obviate the in- convenience of the vitrification of part of the antimony; but the late Dr. Dun- can alleged that the product thus obtained did not correspond so nearly with James's powder, as analyzed by Dr. Pearson, as when the smaller propor- tion was employed. In consequence of the variable nature of antimonial powder, as obtained in the processes of the Colleges by the agency of fire, Mr. Chenevix pro- posed to form it in the humid way, by dissolving equal weights of nitromu- riatic oxide of antimony and precipitated phosphate of lime, in the smallest possible quantity of muriatic acid, and precipitating this solution by adding it to diluted water of ammonia. The solvent 'power of the muriatic acid being destroyed by the ammonia, the precipitate will be an intimate mixture, in determinate proportions, of sesquioxide of antimony and phosphate of lime. This precipitate, Mr. Chenevix states, is soluble in any acid capable of dissolving its constituents separately. On the other hand, 28 per cent, of James's powder, and about 44 per cent, of the London antimonial powder, resist the action of all acids. It is hence evident that Mr. Chenevix's pow- der would prove far more active than those for which it is proposed as a substitute. This objection to it might be obviated by increasing the pro- portion of phosphate of lime; but still it is liable to the inconvenience, according to Mr. Brande, of becoming horny or gritty, and difficult to powder. Properties, 4-c. Antimonial powder has a dull-white colour, is tasteless and inodorous, and insoluble in water. It is only partially soluble in acids; the phosphate of lime, and any sesquioxide of antimony present being dis- solved, and a variable amount of antimonious acid (deutoxide of antimony) remaining behind. Its activity as a medicine will depend upon the propor- tion of sesquioxide present, the quantity of which may be judged of by dropping the muriatic solution obtained from the preparation into water, whereby the sesquioxide will be precipitated. Its composition varies ex- ceedingly, a circumstance which is a strong objection to it as a medicine. Mr. Phillips analyzed two specimens, and found one to contain 35, the other 38 per cent, of antimonious acid, the remainder being phosphate of lime. Mr. Brande has generally obtained a greater discordance of results, and oc- casionally detected as much as 5 per cent, of sesquioxide. From the James's powder, both Dr. Pearson and Mr. Phillips obtained from 56 to 57 per cent. of antimonious acid. A portion of this powder, derived from the heirs of PART 11. Anlimonium.—Aqua. 805 Dr. James, was found by Berzelius to contain nearly two-thirds antimonious acid, one-third phosphate of lime, and scarcely one per cent, of antimonite of lime soluble in water. When prepared according to the directions of the Colleges, it necessarily contains antimonious acid; and hence when it con- tains sesquioxide, in which case only it is active, its presence must arise from the materials having been exposed to a lower heat than that directed in the officinal formulae. Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation is stated to be alterative, diaphoretic, purgative, or emetic, according to the dose in which it may be given. Until within late years it was frequently used in febrile diseases, with a view to its diaphoretic effect. According to Dr. A. T. Thomson, it is advantageously given in acute rheumatism, conjoined with camphor, calomel, and opium, and with colomel and guaiac in several cutaneous affec- tions. The estimation in which this preparation is held is very various. The late Dr. Duncan characterized it as one of the best antimonials we possess; yet he acknowledged that its effects vary very much, either from idiosyncrasy, or variations in its composition. Dr. Thomson found it sometimes to answer his expectations, but as often to disappoint them. Mr. Brande admits its acti- vity sometimes, and entire inertness at others, differences which he attributes to the presence or absence of sesquioxide of antimony. Upon the whole, it appears that, whatever may be the occasional efficacy of this medicine, it is too variable in its composition, from circumstances in its preparation scarcely within the control of the pharmaceutical chemist, to make it a safe remedy. No therapeutical effect can be expected from it, which cannot be more certainly and safely produced by tartar emetic; and it seems to be the sentiment of some of the best practitioners, that this antimonial may in all cases be advantageously substituted for it. Considerations of this kind, no doubt, influenced the United States Medical Convention, in omitting it from our Pharmacopoeia of 1830. The dose of antimonial powder as a diaphoretic, is from three to eight grains every third or fourth hour, given in the form of pill. In larger doses it is purgative or emetic. It is impossible, however, to give precise direc- tions as to the dose; as it sometimes proves violently emetic, and at other times is without any obvious effect, even in doses of 100 grains. B. AQUA. Water. AQUA DESTILLATA. U.S., Lond., Ed. Aqua Distillata. Dub. Distilled Water. " Take of Water ten gallons. First distil four pints, [two pints, Lond.'] and throw them away; then distil four gallons, [eight gallons, Lond.] Keep the Distilled Water in a glass bottle." U.S. " Let Water be distilled in appropriate and very clean vessels, until about two-thirds have come over." Ed. " Take of Water twenty pounds. Put it into a glass retort, and having rejected the first pound which comes over, distil a gallon with a moderate heat." Dub. The purest natural water is not sufficiently pure for some pharmaceutical purposes; and hence the necessity of the above processes for its distillation. It is best to reject the first portion which comes over, as this may contain 69 806 Aqua.—Aquae Medicatae. part ii. carbonic acid and other volatile impurities, and the last portions of the water ought not to be distilled, lest it should pass over in an empyreumatic state. The Dublin College directs the distillation to be conducted in a glass retort; but it is usually performed with the ordinary still and condenser, and such an apparatus is evidently contemplated in the United States and London formulae. Mr. Brande states that distilled water often derives from the still a foreign flavour, which it is difficult to avoid. He therefore recommends that a still and condenser be exclusively kept for distilling water; or, where this cannot be done, that steam be driven through the condensing pipe for half an hour, for the purpose of washing it out before it is used; the worm- tub having been previously emptied. Properties, <^c. Distilled water, as usually obtained, has always a vapid and disagreeable taste. It is not perfectly pure; water, to be so, requiring to be distilled in silver vessels. The properties of pure water have already been given under the head of Aqua. Distilled water should undergo no change on the addition of tincture of soap, subacetate of lead, chloride of barium, oxalate of ammonia, nitrate of silver, or lime-water. It is uselessly employed in some formulae; but is essential in others. As a general rule, when small quantities of active remedies are to be given in solution, and in the preparation of collyria, distilled water should be employed. The follow- ing list contains the chief substances which require distilled water as a solvent;—tartar emetic, corrosive sublimate, nitrate of silver, muriate of baryta, acetate and subacetate of lead, the sulphates of iron and zinc, sulphate of quinia, and sulphate and acetate of morphia. B. AQU^E MEDIC AT jE. U.S. Medicated Waters. Under this head are included, in the United States Pharmacopoeia, all those preparations consisting of water impregnated with some medicinal substance, which are not arranged in any other class. Among them are the Distilled Waters of the British Pharmacopoeias, which therefore require some notice in the present place. Aqu-e Destillat.^. Lond. Aquje Stillatitije. Ed. Aque Dis- tillate. Dub. Many vegetables impart to water distilled from them their peculiar flavour, and more or less of the medical properties by which they are distinguished. The distilled waters chiefly used, are those pre- pared from aromatic plants, the volatile oil of which rises with the aqueous vapour, and is condensed with it in the receiver. But as water is capable of holding but a small proportion of the oil in solution, these preparations are generally feeble, and are employed rather as pleasant vehicles or cor- rigents of other medicines, than with a view to any remediate action of their own. In the preparation of the distilled waters, dried plants are sometimes used, because the fresh are not to be had at all seasons; but the latter, at least in the instances of herbs and flowers, should be preferred if attainable. Flow- ers which lose their odour by desiccation, may be preserved by incorporating them intimately with one-third of their weight of common salt; and in this state, according to M. Decroizilles, afford distilled waters of very delicate flavour. It is necessary to observe certain practical rules in conducting the process PART II. Aquae Medicatae. 807 of distillation. When the substance employed is dry, hard, and fibrous, it should be mechanically divided, and macerated in water for a short time previously to the operation. The quantity of materials should not bear too large a proportion to the capacity of the alembic, as the water might other- wise boil over into the receiver. The water should be brought quickly to the state of ebullition, and continued in that state till the end of the process. Care should be taken to leave sufficient water undistilled to cover the whole of the vegetable matter, lest a portion of the latter, coming in contact with the sides of the vessel, might be decomposed by the heat, and yield empy- reumatic products. If any volatile oil float upon the surface of the distilled water, it should be separated. But however carefully the process may be conducted, the distilled waters prepared from plants always have at first an unpleasant smoky odour. They may be freed from this by exposure for a short time to the air, before being enclosed in well-stopped bottles, in which they should be preserved. When long kept, they are apt to form a viscid ropy matter, and to become sour. This result has been ascribed to other principles, which rise with the oil in distillation, and promote its' decomposition. To prevent this decomposition, the London College orders the addition of proof spirit to the water employed in the process of distillation. For the same purpose, the Edinburgh Col- lege directs five ounces of diluted alcohol to be added to ten pounds of the distilled water; and the Dublin College, half an ounce of rectified spirit to the pound. But this addition is inadequate to the intended object. A better plan is to redistil the waters; as, when thus purified, it is said that they may be kept for several years unchanged. Robiquet considers the mucosity which forms in distilled waters as the result of a vegetative process, to which the presence of air is essential. He has found that, so long as the water is covered with a layer of essential oil, it undergoes no change; but that the oil is gradually altered by exposure to the air, and as soon as it disappears, the water begins to be decomposed. He states that camphor exercises the same preservative influence over the distilled waters by resisting the vegetation, and that those in which the odour of camphor is developed keep better on this account. Finally, he has observed that the more the distilled water is charged with volatile oil, the more abundant is the mucosity, when it has begun to form. Robiquet unites with Henry and Guibourt, and with Virey, in recommending, that all these waters, when intended to be kept for a considerable time, should be intro- duced, immediately after distillation, into bottles of a size proportionate to the probable consumption of the water when brought into use; and that the bottles should be quite filled, and then sealed or otherwise well stopped, so as entirely to exclude the air. Thus treated, they may be preserved with- out change for many years. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 402.) Another mode of preparing the distilled waters, is to substitute the volatile oil, previously separated from the plant, for the plant itself in the process. This mode is directed by the London and Dublin Colleges in several in- stances. It is said to afford a more permanent product than the preceding; but does not always so well preserve the flavour of the plant. In relation to most of the aromatics, the United States Pharmacopoeia dis- cards altogether the process by distillation, and directs that water should be impregnated with the volatile oil by trituration with magnesia, and subse- quent filtration. This is by far the most simple and easy process; and the resulting preparation is in all respects equal to that obtained by distillation from the oil. The aromatic solution is pure and permanent, and, notwith- standing the assertion of Dr. Paris to the contrary, is perfectly transparent, 808 Aquae Medicatae. PART II. the magnesia being separated by the filtration. The carbonate of magnesia, however, should be employed in preference to the pure earth; as the latter sometimes gives a brownish colour to the liquid, and requires to be used in larger proportion. A minute quantity, moreover, of the magnesia is dis- solved, and attracting carbonic acid from the air, becomes a carbonate, and is precipitated in a flocculent form. The object of the magnesia or its car- bonate is simply to enable the oil to be brought to a state of minute division, and thus presented with a larger surface to the action of the solvent. Chalk and sugar answer a similar purpose; but the latter, by being dissolved with the oil, renders the preparation impure. We are pleased to find that the London College, in the edition of their Pharmacopoeia for 1836, recognise the above mode of preparing the distilled waters. After directions for preparing them severally by distillation, they state that " Several of the Distilled Waters may be prepared in a very short time, when wanted for more speedy use, by carefully rubbing a drachm of any distilled oil with a drachm of Carbonate of Magnesia, and then with four pints [Imperial measure] of Distilled Water, and finally filtering the liquor." W. AQUA ACIDI CARBONICI. U.S. Carbonic Acid Water. Artificial Seltzer Water. " By means of a forcing pump, throw into a suitable receiver, nearly filled with Water, a quantity of Carbonic Acid equal to five times the bulk of the Water. " Carbonic Acid is obtained from the Hard Carbonate of Lime, by means of dilute Sulphuric Acid." U.S. This preparation, which is not adopted by the British Colleges, consists of water highly charged with carbonic acid. Water is found to take up its volume of this acid under the pressure of the atmosphere; and Dr. Henrv ascertained, from numerous experiments, that precisely the same volume of the compressed gas is absorbed under a higher pressure. From this law, the bulk taken up is constant, the quantity being different in proportion as there is more or less driven into a given space. As the space occupied by a gas is inversely as the compressing force, it follows that the quantity of the acid forced into the water will be directly as the pressure. A double pressure will force a double quantity into a given space, and, therefore, cause a double quantity to be absorbed; a treble pressure will drive a treble quantity into the same space, and cause its absorption; and so on for higher pressures, the bulk of the compressed gas absorbed always remaining the same. From the principles above laid down, it follows, that to saturate water with five times its volume of carbonic acid, as directed in the formula, it must be subjected to a pressure of five atmospheres. This is about the strength of the carbonic acid water manufactured in the United States. Carbonic acid water is familiarly called in this country " mineral water," and " soda water;" the latter name, originally applied to the preparation when it contained a small portion of carbonate of soda, being from habit con- tinued since the alkali has been omitted. As it is largely consumed, both as an agreeable beverage and as a medicine, it will be proper to give a sketch of the apparatus usually employed in its preparation. This consists of a generator, gasometer, forcing pump, reservoir or fountain, and refrigerator. The generator is usually formed of a wooden tub somewhat like a churn, into which the dilute sulphuric acid is put. On this is luted a small cylindrical wooden vessel, through the bottom of which passes a wooden stirrer. This vessel is filled with marble powder, which, by the movement of the stirrer, PART II. Aquae Medicatae. 809 is made gradually to fall into the acid below, generating the carbonic acid, which by a lead pipe is conducted into the gasometer. This is a large cy- lindrical tub, in which another is inverted suspended by a pulley. As soon as the gasometer is full, which should have five or six times the capacity of the reservoir, the operation of condensing the gas into the latter is com- menced. This is effected by a condensing pump, the chamber of which is made to communicate, by leaden tubes on opposite sides, with the gasometer and reservoir. The latter, usually called the fountain, is a very strong cylin- drical copper vessel, with hemispherical extremities, tinned on the inside, and, before receiving the carbonic acid, nearly filled with water. When the water has been duly charged with the acid gas, it is drawn off as it is wanted, by means of a stop-cock connected with a tube which passes to the bottom of the reservoir. The tube may be of any desired length, so as to draw off the water at a distance from the reservoir. The apparatus is usually placed in the cellar, and the tube from the reservoir is made to pass through the floor and counter of the shop, and terminate in a stop-cock, by means of which the carbonic acid water may be drawn off at pleasure. In order to have the liquid cool in summer, the tube from the cellar generally termi- nates in a strong metallic vessel of convenient shape, placed under the counter and surrounded with ice, and from this vessel the tube penetrating the counter proceeds. The acid gas for the impregnation of the water is always obtained from marble dust by the action of sulphuric acid; these being the cheapest mate- rials for the purpose. Chalk may also be used, but is objectionable on ac- count of its communicating an unpleasant smell to the carbonic acid. When sulphuric acid is employed, sulphate of lime is formed, which interferes with the action of the acid; and hence it is necessary to stir the mixture to render the decomposition of the carbonate complete. Properties. Carbonic acid water is a sparkling liquid, possessing an agree- able, pungent, acidulous taste. It reddens litmus feebly, and is precipitated by lime-water. Being impregnated with the acid gas under the influence of pressure, it effervesces strongly when freed from restraint. Hence, to pre- serve its briskness, it should be kept in strong well corked bottles, placed inverted in a cool place. Several natural waters are of a similar nature; such as those of Seltzer, Spa, and Pyrmont; but the artificial preparation has the advantage of a stronger impregnation with the acid gas. Carbonic acid water should be made with every precaution to avoid metallic impurity. Hence the necessity of having the reservoir or fountain well tinned on the inner surface. Even with this precaution, a slight metallic impregnation is not always avoided, especially in the winter season, when the water is less con- sumed as a drink, and, therefore, allowed to remain longer in the reservoir. Glass fountains are sometimes used with advantage at this season; and a patent has been taken out for a stoneware fountain enclosed in tinned copper, which has been found to answer a good purpose. When leaden tubes are employed to convey the water, it is liable to be contaminated with this metal, which renders it deleterious. A case of colica pictonum has occurred to one of the authors, arising from the daily use of the first draught of carbonic acid water from a fountain furnished with tubes of lead. Tin tubes are some- times employed, enclosed in lead ones to give them strength. Carbonic acid, formerly called fixed air, is a colourless gas, of a slightly pungent odour and acid taste. It reddens litmus feebly, and combines with salifiable bases, forming salts called carbonates, from which it is expelled by all the strong acids. It extinguishes flame, and is quickly fatal to animals when respired. All kinds of fermented liquors, which are brisk or sparkling, 810 Aquae Medicatae. part ii. such as champagne, cider, porter, &c, owe these properties to its presence. Its sp. gr. is 1.52. It is composed of one equiv. of carbon 6.12, and two of oxygen 16=22.12. Carbonic acid gas has been used by Professor Mojon, of Geneva, as an injection in dysmenorrhoea with the most soothing effects. It is applied by means of a flexible tube, inserted into the vagina, and proceeding from a bottle containing pieces of chalk and dilute sulphuric acid. The application is continued for five minutes and repeated several times a day. (Am. Journ. of the Med. Sci. xxii. 469, from the Bull. Gen. de Therap.) Medical Properties and Uses. Carbonic acid water is diaphoretic, diu- retic, and anti-emetic. It forms a very grateful drink to febrile patients, allaying thirst, lessening nausea and gastric distress, and promoting the secretion of urine. The quantity taken need only be regulated by the rea- sonable wishes of the patient. It also forms a very convenient vehicle for the administration of magnesia, the carbonated alkalies, sulphate of magnesia, and the saline cathartics generally; rendering these medicines less unplea- sant to the palate, and, in irritable states of the stomach, increasing the chances of their being retained. When used for this purpose, six or eight fluidounces will be sufficient. B. AQUA ANETHI. Lond. Dill Water. " Take of Dill [seeds], bruised, a pound and a half; Proof Spirit seven fluidounces; Water two gallons [Imperial measure]. Distil a gallon." Lond. This is seldom if ever used in the United States. AQUA AURANTII CORTICIS. U.S. Aqua Citri Aurantii. Ed. Water of Orange Peel. " Take of Fresh Orange Peel two pounds; Water a sufficient quantity; Diluted Alcohol four fluidounces. Pour upon the Orange Peel so much Water, that, after the distillation, sufficient may remain to prevent empy- reuma. Then distil a gallon, and add the Diluted Alcohol." U.S. The Edinburgh College directs ten pounds of the Water to be distilled from two pounds of the Peel. W. AQUA FLORUM AURANTII. Lond. Orange Flower Water. " Take of Orange Flowers ten pounds; Proof Spirit seven fluidounces; Water two gallons [Imperial measure]. Distil a gallon." Lond. AQUA CAMPHORS. U.S. Mistura Camphor2e. Lond., Dub. Emulsio Camphorje. Ed. Camphor Water. " Take of Camphor two drachms; Alcohol forty minims; Magnesia a drachm; Distilled Water two pints. Rub the Camphor first with the Alco- hol, afterwards with the Magnesia, and lastly with the Water gradually added; then filter through paper." U.S. The London College takes half a drachm of camphor, ten minims of alco- hol, and a pint of water [Imperial measure]; rubs the camphor first with the Spirit, and then with the Water gradually added; and strains through linen. The Dublin College orders a scruple of camphor, ten drops of alco- hol, a pint of warm water, and instead of the magnesia, half an ounce of sugar; and completes the process as directed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. The Edinburgh College directs a scruple of camphor and half an ounce of sugar, well rubbed together, to be beat with half an ounce of blanched sweet almonds, a pound and a half of water to be gradually added, and the mixture to he strained.. PART II. Aquae Medicatae. 811 In all these processes the object is to effect a solution of the camphor. Water is capable of dissolving but a small proportion of this principle; but the quantity varies with the method employed. Prepared according to the Edinburgh and Dublin processes, one pint of the water contains less than twenty grains of camphor; while our own officinal preparation contains about fifty grains to the pint, or more than three grains to the fluidounce. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 13.) The difference is attributable to the minute division effected in the camphor by trituration with the magnesia, which is afterwards separated by filtration. The use of the alcohol is simply to break down the cohesion of the camphor, and enable it to be more easily pulverized. The process of the United States Pharmacopoeia is much pre- ferable to the others, as it affords a permanent solution of sufficient strength to be employed with a view to the influence of the camphor on the system; while the British preparations have little more than the flavour of the nar- cotic, and are fit only for vehicles of other medicines. The camphor is separated by a solution of pure potassa, and, according to Dr. Paris, by sul- phate of magnesia and several other salts. Camphor water is chiefly employed in low fevers and typhoid diseases attended with restlessness, slight delirium, or other symptoms of nervous derangement or debility. It has this advantage over camphor in substance, that the latter is with difficulty dissolved by the liquors of the stomach; but it is not applicable to cases where very large doses of the medicine are required. It is usually given in the dose of one or two tablespoonfuls re- peated every hour or two hours. W. AQUA CARUI. Lond., Dub. Caraway Water. The London College prepares this in the same manner as Dill Water. (See Aqua Anethi.) The Dublin College takes a pound of bruised caraway seeds, and as much water as may be sufficient to prevent empyreuma, and distils a gallon. Caraway water has the flavour and pungency of the seeds, but is not used in this country. W. AQUA CHLORINII. Dub. Chlorine Water. " Take of dried Muriate of Soda one hundred parts; Oxide of Manganese thirty parts; Sulphuric Acid eighty-seven parts; Water one hundred and twenty-four parts. Add the Acid gradually to the Water, and when the mixture has grown cold, pour it on the Muriate of Soda and Oxide of Man- ganese, reduced to fine powder, well mixed, and put into a retort. Then with a proper apparatus and a moderate heat gradually increased, transmit the gas escaping from the mixture through two hundred parts of Distilled Water; the operation being concluded as soon as the effervescence in the retort has ceased. Chlorine Water should be kept in well stopped glass bottles, and in a place impervious to the rays of light." Dub. This formula is intended to furnish a saturated solution of chlorine in water. The materials employed are those usually taken for generating chlorine; and this, as it is extricated in a gaseous state, is passed into a portion of water, with a view to its being absorbed. The muriate of soda of the formula is the chloride of sodium of modern chemists. This, when acted on by dilute sulphuric acid and peroxide of manganese, is decomposed, the chlorine is extricated, and the sodium and peroxide of manganese, hav- ing been converted, by a transfer of oxygen from the latter to the former, into soda and protoxide, unite with the sulphuric acid, and form sulphate of soda and protosulphate of manganese, which remain behind. The water intended to receive the gas is most conveniently placed in a series of 812 Aquae Medicatae. PART n. Wolfe's bottles, the last of which should contain some 6laked lime, to absorb any excess of chlorine, which might otherwise produce inconvenience by its escape. Properties. Chlorine water has a yellowish-green colour, a harsh styptic taste, and the peculiar odour of the gas which it contains. Like gaseous chlorine, it destroys vegetable colours. When cooled to about the freez- ing point, it forms deep-yellow crystalline plates, consisting of hydrate of chlorine. At the temperature of 50° it contains about twice its volume of the gas. It is decomposed by light, with the production of muriatic acid, and the evolution of oxygen. It is on this account that it requires to be kept in a dark place. Chlorine is an elementary gaseous fluid, of a greenish-yellow colour, and characteristic and disagreeable smell and taste. Its sp. gr. is 2.47, and its equivalent number 35.42. It is a supporter of combusuon, but destructive of life in respiration. When the attempt is made to breathe it, even much diluted, it excites cough and a sense of suffocation, and causes a discharge from the nostrils resembling coryza. When breathed in considerable quan- tities, it produces spitting of blood, violent pains, and death. It is the agent almost exclusively employed in bleaching and disinfecting operations. Medical Properties and Uses. Chlorine water is stimulant and antiseptic. It is highly esteemed by some practitioners, but as yet is very little employ- ed. It has been used in typhus, and chronic affections of the liver; but the diseases in which it has been most extolled are scarlatina and malignant sorethroat. Externally it may be used, duly diluted, as a gargle in putrid sorethroat, as a wash for ill-conditioned ulcers and cancerous sores, and as a local bath in diseases of the liver; though for the latter purpose, the nitro- muriatic acid, which is in effect a solution of chlorine, is usually employed. As it depends upon chlorine for its activity, its medical properties coincide generally with those of chloride of lime, chloride of soda, and nitro-muri- atic acid. (See Calx Chlorinata, Liquor Sodae Chlorinatse, and Acidum Nitromuriaticum.) The dose of chlorine water is from one to two flui- drachms, diluted with eight fluidounces of water, and given in the course of the day. B. AQUA CINNAMOMI. U.S., Lond.t Dub. Aqua Lauri Cin- namomi. Ed. Cinnamon Water. " Take of Oil of Cinnamon half a fluidrachm; Magnesia half a drachm; Distilled Water two pints. Rub the Oil of Cinnamon first with the Mag- nesia, then with the Water gradually added, and filter through paper." U.S. "Take of Cinnamon, bruised, a pound and a half, or Oil of Cinnamon two drachms; Proof Spirit seven fluidounces; Water two gallons [Imperial measure]. Distil a gallon." Lond. The Dublin College takes a pound of cinnamon bruised and macerated for a day in water, or three drachms of the oil, and, with sufficient water to prevent empyreuma, distils a gallon. The Edinburgh College orders ten pounds of water to be distilled from a pound of the bark. Of these processes, that of the United States Pharmacopoeia is decidedly preferable, as much easier than the others, and affording a product in every respect equal, if not superior. Carbonate of magnesia, however, should be used instead of the pure earth, as the latter, in the quantity indicated, forms a semifluid mass with the oil, which is with some difficulty miscible with the water; and, though this disadvantage might be obviated by increasing the quantity of the magnesia, still the objection remains that the preparation is apt to have a brownish colour, which is not produced by the carbonate. PART II. Aquae Medicatae. 813 Besides, a minute proportion of magnesia is dissolved, sufficient to render andmTnY T ln™mPatlble with sm*U quantities of the sulphates of morphia ana quinia, for which it is sometimes employed as a menstruum ,PR,l"?arao" waU;r » a favourite chicle with many practitioners for other affec,,Pn„Ta^medliCineS; bUt Sh°uld be USed cautiously in inflammatory anections. * or ordinary purposes it is sufficiently strong when diluted with an equal measure of water. 6 n °ff-Prep. Mistura Calcis Carbonatis, U.S., Lond.; Mistura Guaiaci Lond.; Mistura Spiritus Vini Gallici, Lond. guaiaci, AQUA LAURI CASSLE. Ed. Water of Cassia. This is prepared from the variety of cinnamon called cassia, in the manner directed by the Edinburgh College for cinnamon water. The distinction is not recognised in our Pharmacopoeia. w AQUA CITRI MEDICO. Ed. Water of Lemon Peel. 1 he Edinburgh College directs ten pounds of water to be distilled from two pounds of the fresh peel duly macerated; sufficient water being left to prevent empyreuma. The preparation is almost unknown in this country. AQUA FUNICULI. Lond., Dub. Fennel Water. ^' ni11WntmifS C°Hege djrect* this t0 be PrePared in the same manner as Dill Water (See Aqua Anethi); the Dublin College, in the same manner as Caraway Water. (See Aqua Carui.) Fennel water is seldom used, as the infusion answers a better purpose. £?YA fLAURO-CERASI. Dub. Water of Cherry LattrTl rake of Fresh Leaves of Cherry Laurel a pound; Water three pints. Distil a pint, and instead of Rectified Spirit, add of Compound Spirit of Lavender an ounce.'' Dub. v 1 The substitution of the compound spirit of lavender for alcohol, is in order to impart colour to the preparation, and thus prevent it from being mistaken for common water. It is employed in Europe as a sedative narcotic, identi- cal in its properties with a dilute solution of hydrocyanic acid. The dose is from thirty minims to a fluidrachm. W". AQUA MENTHA PIPERITA. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Pep- permint Water. ' This is prepared, according to the United States Pharmacopoeia, from the oil of peppermint, in the manner directed for cinnamon water; but the cau- tion should in this instance also be observed, of substituting the carbonate of magnesia for pure magnesia. " Take of Peppermint, dried, two pounds, or Oil of Peppermint, too drachms; Proof Spirit seven fluidounces; Water two gallons [Imperial measure]. Distil a gallon. When the fresh herb is used the quantity should be doubled." Lond. 3 The Edinburgh College distils ten pounds of the water from three pounds of peppermint. The Dublin College proceeds as in the instance of Cara- way \\ ater, employing a pound and a half of the herb; or simply distils a mixture of three drachms of the oil and a gallon of water W AQUA MENTH.E PULEGII. Lond, Ed. Aqua Pulegii. Dub. Pennyroyal Water. This is prepared from the European pennyroyal or its oil, precisely in the manner directed by the British Colleges for peppermint water. It is not 814 Aquae Medicatae. part ii. used in this country, as we have not the plant. A water prepared from the Hedeoma pulegioides, or American pennyroyal, might be substituted. Pennyroyal water is employed for the same purposes as those of pepper- mint and spearmint. Off. Prep. Mistura Ammoniaci, Dub.; Mistura Assafcetidae, Dub. W. AQUA MENTHA VIRIDIS. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Spear- mint Water. This is prepared, according to the United States Pharmacopoeia, from the oil of spearmint, in the manner directed for cinnamon and peppermint waters. By the British Colleges it is also prepared in the manner directed by them for peppermint water. The two mint waters are among the most grateful and most employed of this class of preparations. Together with cinnamon water, they are used in this country, almost to the exclusion of all others, as the vehicle of medicines given in the form of mixture. They serve not only to conceal or qualify the taste of other medicines, but also to counteract their nauseating properties. The peppermint water is generally thought to have a more pleasant flavour than that of spearmint, but some prefer the latter. Their effects are the same. W. AQUA PICIS LIQUIDS. Dub. Tar Water. " Take of Tar two pints; Water a gallon. Mix, stirring with a wooden rod for fifteen minutes; then, after the Tar shall have subsided, strain the liquor, and keep it in well stopped bottles." Dub. Water takes from tar a small portion of acetic acid, empyreumatic oil, and resinous matter, acquiring a sharp empyreumatic taste, and the colour of Madeira wine. Thus impregnated it is stimulant and diuretic; and, though at present little used, was formerly highly extolled as a remedy in pulmonary consumption. It may be given with occasional advantage in chronic catarrhal affections, and complaints of the urinary passages. From one to two pints may be taken in the course of the day. W. AQUA PIMENTO. Lond., Dub. Aqua Mtrti Pimento. Ed. Pimento Water. " Take of Pimento, bruised, a pound, or Oil of Pimento two drachms; Proof Spirit seven fluidounces; Water two gallons [Imperial measure]. Distil a gallon." Lond. The Edinburgh College distils ten pounds of the water from half a pound of bruised pimento; the Dublin College, a gallon from the same quantity, previously bruised, and macerated for twenty-four hours in a pint of water; and both take care that sufficient water shall remain to prevent empyreuma. Pimento water is brownish when first distilled, and upon standing depo- sites a brown resinous sediment. It is used as a carminative. W. AQUA ROSiE. U.S., Lond., Dub. Aqua Rosje Centifolia. Ed. Rose Water. " Take of Fresh Hundred-leaved Roses six pounds; Water a sufficient quantity; Diluted Alcohol four fluidounces. Pour on the Roses so much Water, that, after the distillation, sufficient may remain to prevent empy- reuma. Then distil a gallon, and add the Diluted Alcohol." U.S. The Dublin College orders a gallon of the water to be distilled from eight pounds of the petals; the Edinburgh, ten pounds of the water from Bix pounds of the petals. The London College takes ten pounds of roses, part ii. Aquae Medicatae.—Argentum. 815 seven fluidounces of proof spirit, and two gallons [Imperial measure] of water, and distils a gallon. It should be observed that, in the nomenclature of the United States Phar- macopoeia, the term " Roses" implies only the petals of the flower. These are directed in the recent state; but it is said that when preserved by being incorporated with one-third of their weight of common salt, they retain their odour, and afford a Water equally fragrant with that prepared from the fresh flower. Rose water, when properly prepared, has the delightful perfume of the rose in great perfection. It is most successfully made on a large scale. Like the other distilled waters it is liable to spoil when kept; and the alco- hol which is added to preserve it is incompatible with some of the purposes to which the water is applied, and is even said to render it sour by pro- moting the acetous fermentation. It is best, therefore, to avoid this addition, and to substitute a second distillation. This distilled water is chiefly era- ployed on account of its pleasant odour in collyria and other lotions. It is wholly destitute of irritating properties, unless when it contains alcohol. Off. Prep. Mistura Ferri Composita, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Mistura Mos- chi, Lond.; Unguentum Aquae Rosae, U.S. W. AQUA SAMBUCI. Lond. Elder Water. " Take of Elder Flowers ten pounds, or of Oil of Elder two drachms; Proof Spirit seven fluidounces; Water two gallons [Imperial measure]. Distil a gallon." Lond. Elder flowers yield very little oil upon distillation; and if the water be needed, it may be best prepared from the flowers. In this country it is not used. W. ARGENTUM. Preparations of Silver. ARGENTI CYANIDUM. Lond. Cyanide of Silver. " Take of Nitrate of Silver two ounces and two drachms; Diluted Hydro- cyanic Acid, Distilled Water, each, a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Nitrate of Silver in the Water; then add the Diluted Hydrocyanic Acid, and mix. Wash the precipitate formed with Distilled Water, and dry it." Lond. This new officinal of the London Pharmacopoeia is introduced into that work for the purpose of being used in the extemporaneous preparation of diluted hydrocyanic acid. Its formation in the above process is a case of double decomposition between the oxide of silver of the nitrate, and the hy- drocyanic acid, resulting in the formation of water, and of cyanuret or cya- nide of silver, which falls as a white curdy precipitate. Properties. Cyanide of silver is a white powder, insoluble in water, soluble in hot and concentrated sulphuric or nitric acid, and readily decom- posable by muriatic or hydrosulphuric acid, or the hydrosulphates. It is not soluble in potassa or soda, but is readily soluble in ammonia. When well dried, it is decomposed by a red heat into silver and cyanogen gas; but when it contains water, it yields hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen, the residue being silver mixed with charcoal. It consists of one equiv. of cyanogen 26.39, and one of silver 108=134.39. It has no medical uses. 816 Argentum. part ii. Pharm. Use. To prepare Acidum Hydrocyanicum Dilutum, Lond. B. ARGENTI NITRAS. U.S., Lond. Nitras Argenti. Ed. Ar- genti Nitras Fusum. Dub. Nitrate of Silver. Lunar Caustic. " Take of Silver, flattened into plates and cut, an ounce; Nitric Acid five fluidrachms; Distilled Water two fluidounces. Mix the Acid with the Water, and dissolve the Silver in the mixture, on a sand-bath. Then gradu- ally increase the heat, so that the Nitrate of Silver may be dried. Melt this in a crucible over a gentle fire, and continue the heat till ebullition ceases; then immediately pour it into suitable moulds. Lastly, wrap it in white paper, and keep it in a well stopped bottle." U. S. " Take of Silver an ounce and a half; Nitric Acid afliddounce; Distilled Water two fluidounces [Imperial measure]. Mix the Nitric Acid with the Water, and dissolve the Silver in them on a sand-bath. Then increase the heat gradually that the Nitrate of Silver may be dried. Melt this in a cruci- ble with a slow fire, until, the water being expelled, ebullition has ceased; then immediately pour it into proper moulds." Lond. " Take of purest Silver, flattened into plates and cut in pieces, one part; Diluted Nitrous Acid two parts; Distilled Water one part. Dissolve the Silver in the Acid and Water, previously mixed, in a matrass, with a gentle heat, and evaporate the solution to dryness. Then put the mass into a large crucible, and place it on the fire, which should at first be moderate, and after- wards increased by degrees until the mass flows like oil; then pour it into iron moulds previously heated and anointed with tallow. Lastly, keep it in a glass vessel very well corked." Ed. " Dissolve Silver in Diluted Nitric Acid [in the manner described under Crystals of Nitrate of Silver]; then evaporate the solution to dryness. Melt the residuum, placed in a crucible, over a slow fire; then pour it out into proper moulds, and keep it in a glass phial." Dub. During the solution of silver in nitric acid, part of the acid is decomposed into nitric oxide which is given off and becomes red fumes by contact with the atmosphere, and oxygen which oxidizes the silver. The oxide formed then combines with the remainder of the acid, and generates the nitrate of silver in solution. The water is next driven off by heat, and the salt fused and cast into little cylinders about the size of a quill. The silver should be pure, and the acid diluted for the purpose of promoting its action. The so- lution takes place more rapidly if the pieces of silver are rolled in a coil; as a larger surface is thus exposed to the actidn of the acid. If the silver con- tain copper, it will form a solution of a greenish tint, not disappearing on the application of heat; and if a minute portion of gold be present, it will be left undissolved as a black powder. The acid also should be pure. The commercial nitric acid, as it frequently contains both muriatic and sulphuric acids, should never be used in this process. The muriatic acid gives rise to an insoluble chloride, and the sulphuric, to the sparingly soluble sulphate of silver. The proportion of acid employed by the Edinburgh College i3 un- necessarily large; an error avoided in the United States formula. In the former London Pharmacopoeia one-third of the nitric acid was in excess; but it has been reduced to the proper proportion in the revision of 1836. As the salt sinks into a common crucible, the fusion should be performed in a porcelain one, the size of which should be sufficient to hold five or six times the quan- tity of the dry salt operated on, in order to prevent its overflowing in conse- quence of the ebullition. Sometimes small portions of the liquid are spirted out; and the operator should be on his guard against this occurrence. PART II. Argentum. 817 When the mass flows like oil, as mentioned in the Edinburgh process, it is completely fused, and ready to be poured into the moulds. These should be warmed as well as greased, as otherwise the sticks will be very brittle. The object of the covering of paper is to protect thern from the decomposing influence of light, and to prevent them from discolouring the fingers. Properties. Nitrate of silver, as prepared by the above processes, is in the form of hard, brittle sticks, of a nray colour, and an austere, metallic taste. When broken across they exhibit a crystalline fracture, and their sur- face often becomes dark coloured, owing either to exposure to light, to fusion at too high a temperature, or to the presence of copper. This salt is soluble in its weight of cold water, and four times its weight of boiling alcohol. Its solution stains the skin of an indelible black colour. It is decomposed at a red heat, the acid being dissipated, and the oxide reduced. Hence it is ne- cessary to guard against the application of too high a heat during its fusion. When pure it is not deliquescent, and when it possesses this quality, the presence of copper may be suspected. This metal may be delected by the use of ammonia, which will cause a blue tinge if it be present. It may be separated by solution and crystallization, the pure nitrate of silver crystal- lizing to the exclusion of the nitrate of copper, which remains in the mother water. Nitrate of silver has been found sometimes to be adulterated to the extent of 75 per cent, with nitre. (Amer. Journ. of Phar. x. 25.) It is decomposed by common water, soaps, the fixed alkalies and their carbonates, the soluble chlorides, lime-water, sulphuric, muriatic, and tartaric acids and their salts, solution of arsenite of potassa, hydrosulphuric acid gas and its compounds, and the astringent vegetable infusions. It is an anhydrous salt, consisting of one equiv. of nitric acid 54.15, and one of oxide of silver 116 = 170.15. Medical Properties and Uses. Nitrate of silver, used internally, is tonic and antispasmodic. The principal diseases in which it has been employed are epilepsy, chorea, angina pectoris, and other spasmodic affections. In epilepsy it has gained some celebrity as a remedy; but, though sometimes beneficial, it often fails. Its effects have been found to be most favourable in this disease when it acts on the bowels. Whenever resorted to, caution must be exercised not to continue it too long, asvit is apt to weaken the stomach. Nevertheless, Dr. James Johnson has found it efficacious as a palliative and sedative in certain chronic affections of the stomach, such as scirrhus and cancer. Dr. Boudin, of Marseilles, has used a solution of this salt, of the strength of three or four grains in six fluidounces of water, with striking advantage, as an injection, repeated night and morning, in an epidemic typhus (follicular enteritis). It appeared to operate by promoting the cicatri- zation of the intestinal ulcers, and was found to extend its action as high up as the small intestines. (Amer. Journ. of Med. Sci. xix. 501.) An inci- dental disadvantage from the long continued use of nitrate of silver, is its oc- casional effect of giving the skin a dark hue, approaching to black, which is difficult to remove, but which is said to yield to a steady course of cream of tartar. Externally, this salt is employed as a vesicant, stimulant, and escha- rotic, either dissolved in distilled water, or in the solid state. In the propor- tion of about half a grain to the fluidounce of water, it has been recom- mended as a mouth wash, for healing ulcers produced by the use of mercu- rials. Dissolved to the extent of from one to five grains in the same quantity of water, it is used for the purpose of stimulating indolent ulcers, and as an injection for fistulous sores. A solution containing two grains to the fluidounce is an excellent application in ophthalmia with ulcers of the 70 818 Argent um. PART ii. cornea, in fetid discharges from the ear, in aphthous affections of the mouth, and in spongy gums. It is in general most conveniently applied to ulcers by means of a camel's hair pencil. A drachm of the salt dissolved in a fluidounce of water, forms an escharotic solution, which may often be re- sorted to with advantage. But nitrate of silver is most frequently employed, as an escharotic, in the solid state; and as it is not deliquescent, nor apt to spread, it forms the most manageable caustic that can be used. It is em- ployed to destroy strictures in the urethra, warts, fungous flesh and excres- cences, incipient chancres, and the surface of other unhealthy ulcers. It has also been used with good effect in the solid state, in leucorrhcea, and the gonorrhoea of women, and the pain produced is much less than might have been expected. It forms an efficacious application to certain ulcerations in the throat, and to punctured and poisoned wounds. In scald head the solid nitrate may be usefully applied to many cases. It has been recommended also in chilblains, slowly rubbed over the part after having been slightly moistened. Mr. Higginbottom insists upon its efficacy when freely applied to ulcers, so as to cover them with an eschar, as an excellent means of ex- pediting their cicatrization. He alleges, that if an adherent eschar is formed the parts underneath heal before it falls off. The dose of nitrate of silver is an eighth of a grain, gradually increased to four or five grains, three times a day. It may be given in pill or solution; but the former mode is preferable, on account of its strong and disagreeable taste, and because larger doses may thus be given. The pill is usually made with crumb of bread, but as this contains common salt, which is incompati- ble, some vegetable powder, with mucilage of gum Arabic, is preferable. As the fused nitrate in the form of sticks, as prepared for the use of the surgeon, is often very impure, the practitioner should employ exclusively the crystallized nitrate for internal exhibition. (See Argenli Nitratis Crys- talli, Dub.) Nitrate of silver, in an over-dose, produces the effects of the corrosive poisons. The proper antidote is a solution of common salt, which acts jy converting the poison into the insoluble and therefore inert chloride of silver. Consecutive inflammation must be combated by bleeding, both general and local, and other antiphlogistic remedies. Nitrate of silver is used by the London College in preparing the cyanide of silver. Off. Prep. Liquor Argenti Nitratis, Lond. B. LIQUOR ARGENTI NITRATIS. Lond. Solution of Nitrate of Silver. " Take of Nitrate of Silver a drachm; Distilled Water a fluidounce [Impe- rial measure]. Dissolve the Nitrate of Silver in the Water, and strain; then, the access of light being prevented, keep it in a well-closed vessel." Lond. The London College have made the above solution officinal in their Phar- macopoeia of 1836. According to Mr. Phillips, it is intended merely as a test for detecting the presence of muriatic acid and soluble chlorides, with which it gives a white curdy precipitate, insoluble in acids and the fixed alkalies, but readily soluble in ammonia. This solution, however useful as a test, is certainly out of place in a Pharmacopoeia. B. ARGENTI NITRATIS CRYSTALLI. Dub. Crystals of Ni- trate of Silver. " Take of Silver, laminated and cut in pieces, thirty-seven parts; Diluted Nitric Acid sixty parts. Put the Silver in a glass vessel, and pour the Acid upon it. Dissolve the metal with a heat gradually increased, and by part ii. Argentum.—Arsenicum. 819 evaporation and refrigeration let crystals be formed. Dry them without heat, and preserve them in a glass bottle in a dark place." Dub. The Dublin is the only Pharmacopoeia noticed in this work which has made the crystals of nitrate of silver officinal; and the motive for doing so is to have a purer salt for internal exhibition than the fused nitrate generally is. In the formula, the error of the Edinburgh College, of using an excess of acid, has been avoided. The crystals are in thin rhomboidal plates, often of large size. Their other properties, as well as their medical applications, are the same as those of the fused nitrate, to the article on which the reader is referred. B. ARSENICUM. Preparations of Arsenic. ARSENICI OXYDUM ALBUM SUBLIMATUM. Dub. Sub- limed White Oxide of Arsenic. " Reduce the Oxide of Arsenic to a coarse powder, and, avoiding the vapours, expose it to heat in a suitable vessel, that the White Oxide of Arsenic may sublime." Dub. The Dublin College, deeming the commercial white oxide of arsenic (Acidum Arseniosum, U. S., Lond.) not sufficiently pure for medicinal employment, has given the above formula for its purification. But as the commercial oxide itself has undergone a second sublimation, it would seem that this process is superfluous. The only precaution necessary to be taken on the part of the apothecary, is to purchase the oxide in lump; for when in powder it is liable to be adulterated with chalk or sulphate of lime. The chemical, medical, and toxicological properties of this substance have been given under the head of Acidum Arseniosum. Off. Prep. Liquor Arsenicalis, Dub. B. LIQUOR POTASSiE ARSENITIS. U.S., Lond. Liquor Arse- nicalis. Dub. Solutio Arsenicalis. Ed. Solution of Arsenite of Potassa. Fowler's Solution. " Take of Arsenious Acid, in very fine powder, Purest Carbonate of Potassa, each, sixty-four grains; Distilled Water a sufficient quantity; Compound Spirit of Lavender four fluidrachms; Boil the Arsenious Acid and Carbonate of Potassa with a pint of Distilled Water, till the Acid is entirely dissolved. To the solution, when cold, add the Spirit of Lavender, and afterwards sufficient Distilled Water to make it fill up exactly the mea- sure of a pint." U. S. " Take of Arsenious Acid, broken into small pieces, Carbonate of Potassa, each, eighty grains; Compound Tincture of Lavender five fluidrachms; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Boil the Arsenious Acid and Carbonate of Potassa with half a pint of the Water in a glass vessel until they are dissolved. Add the Compound Tincture of Lavender to the cooled liquor. Lastly, add besides, sufficient Distilled Water, that it may accurately fill a pint measure." Lond. The Dublin is the same as the U.S. formula, with the exception that the " Sublimed White Oxide of Arsenic," of the Dublin College is used instead of the commercial oxide, and that the quantity of the arsenious acid and car- bonate is reduced from sixty-four to sixty grains. The Edinburgh College takes the same quantities of acid and carbonate as are directed in Ihe United States formula, but adds half an ounce, instead of half a fluidounce, of the 820 Arsenicum. PART II. spirit of lavender, and uses sufficient water to make the whole solution weigh sixteen ounces. This preparation originated with Dr. Fowler, and was intended as a sub- stitute for the celebrated empirical remedy known under the name of " the tasteless ague drop." It is an arsenite of potassa dissolved in water, and is formed by the combination of the arsenious acid with the potassa of the car- bonate, the carbonic acid being evolved. The name, therefore, by which it is designated in the United States and London Pharmacopoeias, is obvi- ously the most correct. The spirit of lavender is added to give it taste, in order to prevent its being mistaken for simple water. The United States and London preparations are of about the same strength; for although the materials taken are one-fourth more in the London than in the U.S. formula, yet it is to be recollected that the London or Imperial pint is nearly one- fourth larger than the U. S. or wine pint. The Dublin solution is weaker, in consequence of the very injudicious alteration from the standard formula, of substituting sixty instead of sixty-four grains of arsenious acid to the pint of liquid. Dr. Barker, in his Observations on the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, informs us, that the reason for this change was the supposition that less danger of error would arise in weighing out sixty than sixty-four grains; as the former quantity could be weighed by a single weight. On this insuffi- cient ground, the Dublin College have made their preparation to contain one- sixteenth of arsenious acid less than the corresponding preparation of the London College. The Edinburgh preparation is also weaker than the London and United States solutions, on account of the quantity of the men- struum being greater; sixteen ounces of the liquid, the quantity prepared by the Edinburgh College, measuring about six-sevenths of a fluidounce more than a pint. To form a perfect arsenite of potassa, theory would call for 99.4 of acid to 138.54 of the carbonate, instead of equal parts; so that the quantity directed of the latter is deficient. In making this preparation, care should be taken that the arsenious acid be pure. Sulphate of lime is a common adulteration, and if present, will remain undissolved, and cause the solution to be weaker than it ought to be. Hence if the arsenious acid do not entirely dissolve, the preparation must be rejected. Properties. Solution of arsenite of potassa is a transparent liquid, having the colour, taste, and smell of the spirit of lavender. It is decomposed by the usual reagents of arsenic; such as nitrate of silver, the salts of copper, lime-water, hydrosulphuric acid, and hydrosulphates; and is incompatible with infusions and decoctions of cinchona. The salt which it contains is a diarsenite, consisting of one equiv. of arsenious acid 99.4 and two of potassa 94.3=193.7. Medical Properties and Uses. This solution has the general action of the arsenical preparations on the animal economy, already described under the head of Arsenious Acid. Its liquid form makes it convenient for exhi- bition and gradual increase; and it is the preparation generally resorted to, when arsenic is given internally. It is employed principally in intermittent fever. Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell, Professor of Materia Medica in the Uni- versity of Transylvania, has given the result of his experience, as to its efficacy and safety in this disease, when exhibited in the large dose of fifteen or twenty drops three times a day. (Med. Recorder, iv. 640.) It is a valuable resource in the intermittents of children, who are with difficulty induced to swallow sufficient quantities of bark or even sulphate of quinia. Dr. Dewees (Phil. Journ. of Med. and Phys. Sciences, xiv. 187.) relates the case of a child only six weeks old, affected with a severe tertian, in which this PART II. Arsenicum.—Baryta. 821 solution was given with success. A fluidrachm was diluted with twelve fluidrachms of water; and of this six drops were given every four hours. Fowler's solution, while partaking of the general therapeutical properties of the arsenical preparations, appears to be peculiarly adapted to the cure of several diseases. It has been employed with encouraging success in lepra and other inveterate cutaneous affections. Dr. S. Colhoun (Med. Recorder, iii, 347.) relates five cases of nodes, successfully treated by it; and in con- sequence of his success, Dr. Baer of Baltimore, and the late Professor Eberle, were induced to give the remedy a trial in this affection, and with satisfactory results. Several cases of chorea, cured by this remedy, are reported by Mr. Martin, Mr. Slater, and Dr. Gregory, in the Medico-Chirur- gical Transactions of London. Two interesting cures of periodical headach, performed by this solution, are related by Dr. Otto of Philadelphia, in the fourth and fifth volumes of the N. A. Medical and Surgical Journal. A diluted solution, in the proportion of a fluidrachm to the fluidounce of water, has been used with advantage as a topical application to foul ulcers, occa- sioned by the indiscreet use of mercury. Each fluidrachm of the solution contains half a grain of arsenious acid. The average dose for an adult is ten drops two or three times a day. For the peculiar effects which it produces in common with the other arsenical preparations, and for the signs by which the practitioner is warned that its further exhibition would be unsafe, the reader is referred to the article on Arsenious Acid. B. BARYTA. Preparations of Baryta. BARYTAE MURIAS. U.S., Dub. Barii Chloridum. Lond. Murias Barytje. Ed. Muriate of Baryta. Chloride of Barium. "Take of Carbonate of Baryta, in small fragments, a pound; Muriatic Acid twelve fluidounces; Water three pints. Mix the Acid with the Water, and gradually add the Carbonate of Baryta till effervescence ceases. Digest for an hour and filter; then evaporate the solution, and set it aside to crys- tallize. Repeat the evaporation and crystallization, so long as any crystals form." U.S. " Take of Carbonate of Baryta, broken into small pieces, ten ounces; Hydrochloric [Muriatic] Acid half a pint; Distilled Water two pints [Im- perial measure]. Mix the Acid with the Water, and add the Carbonate of Baryta gradually to them. Then, heat being applied, and the effervescence finished, strain, and boil down the liquor that crystals may form." Lond. " Take of Sulphate of Baryta ten parts; Wood Charcoal, in very fine powder, or Lampblack, one part. Roast the Sulphate of Baryta, and throw it while still red hot into water; then reduce it to a very fine powder in the manner directed for the preparation of chalk. Mix the powders intimately, put them into a crucible, and expose them to a red heat for four hours. Dissolve the mass when cold in Distilled Water, equal to ten times the weight of the Sulphate of Baryta, and filter the solution. Add to this, avoid- ing the vapours, as much Muriatic Acid as may be sufficient to saturate the Baryta. Then filter the liquor, and crystallize by evaporation and refrige- ration." Dub. By the above formulae, it is seen that, in the U.S. and London processes, 70* 822 Baryta. part li- the muriate of baryta, properly called chloride of barium, is obtained from the native carbonate; in that of the Dublin College, from the native sulphate. The Edinburgh College gives separate formulae for obtaining the salt in question from either of these native sources. The process in which the carbonate is used does not materially differ from that of the U.S. Pharma- copoeia; and the formula for obtaining the chloride from the native sulphate is in principle the same as the corresponding process of the Dublin College, and, therefore, need not be quoted. When the carbonate is used, the mu- riatic acid, by reacting with the baryta, forms chloride of barium and water, and the carbonic acid is expelled with effervescence. The process in which the sulphate of baryta is employed, is more complicated. The object of the roasting and quenching in water, is to render the sulphate more easily pul- verizable. The calcination with carbonaceous matter deoxidizes its consti- tuents, converting it into sulphuret of barium, the oxygen flying off in combination with the carbon, as carbonic oxide and acid. The sulphuret of barium, when dissolved in water, is decomposed on the addition of mu- riatic acid, hydrosulphuric acid gas being given off in large quantities, and chloride of barium formed in solution, from which, in the usual manner, the solid salt is obtained. Chloride of barium may be obtained also from the sulphate, by calcining it either with chloride of calcium, or carbonate of potassa. In the former case chloride of barium and sulphate of lime are generated; in the latter, carbonate of baryta is in the first instance formed, which is easily converted into the chloride by the action of muriatic acid. Of the officinal processes, that in which the native carbonate is used is the simplest and most convenient; but as it may happen that the operator possesses the native sulphate and not the carbonate, the additional process of the Edinburgh College may sometimes prove useful. Properties. Chloride of barium is a permanent white salt, possessing an acrid and disagreeable taste. It crystallizes in rhombic plates with beveled edges. It dissolves in about two and a half times its weight of cold, and in a less quantity of boiling water. It is scarcely soluble in absolute alcohol, but dissolves in spirit of wine. Alcohol, impregnated wiih it, burns with a yellow flame. When exposed to heat, it decrepitates, dries, and melts, and loses its water of crystallization. It is decomposed by the sulphates, oxa- lates, and tartrates, and the alkaline phosphates, borates, and carbonates; also by nitrate of silver, acetate and phosphate of mercury, and acetate of lead. When pure, it does not deliquesce. If strontia be present, its alcoholic solution will burn with a red flame. Like all the soluble salts of barium, it is poisonous. It consists of one equiv. of chlorine 35.42, one of barium 68.7, and two of water 18=122.12. It is used in medicine only in so- lution. Off. Prep. Liquor Barytae Muriatis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. B. LIQUOR BARYTiE MURIATIS. U.S. Liquor Barii Chlo- ridi. Lond. Solutio Muriatis Baryta. Ed. Baryta Muriatis Aqua. Dub. Solution of Muriate of Baryta. Solution of Chloride of Barium. " Take of Muriate of Baryta an ounce; Distilled Water three fluid- ounces. Dissolve the Muriate of Baryta in the Water." U.S. " Take of Chloride of Barium a drachm; Distilled Water a fluidounce [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Chloride of Barium, and strain." Lond. " Take of Muriate of Baryta one part; Distilled Water three parts. Dis- solve." Ed., Dub. " The sp. gr. of this solution should be 1.230." Dub. PART II. Baryta.—Bismuthum. 823 Chloride of barium not being used in the solid state, this solution is in- tended for its convenient exhibition. The Edinburgh and Dublin formulae agree in dissolving the salt in three times its weight of water. The U.S. preparation is somewhat stronger; inasmuch as three fluidounces weigh about a sixth of an ounce less than three ounces. The London solution is much weaker than the others; the salt being dissolved in seven and three- tenths times its weight of water, the Imperial fluidounce weighing 7.3 drachms. The plan of the Dublin College is a good one, of designating the strength by the specific gravity. The solution should be limpid and colour- less; and to make it so, the salt in crystals, and not in powder, should be employed. It is not saturated, which is an advantage; as otherwise it would be liable to grow weaker by a fall of temperature. Medical Properties and Uses. This solution is deobstruent and anthel- mintic, and in large doses poisonous, its action, according to some, being analogous to that of arsenic. It was introduced into practice by Dr. Craw- ford as a remedy for cancer and scrofula. Its value in the latter disease has been particularly insisted on by Hufeland. This physician considers it to act more particularly on the lymphatic system, in the irritated states of which he esteems it a valuable remedy. Hence he recommends it in the scrofu- lous affections of delicate and irritable organs, such as the eyes, lungs, &c. In the commencement of scrofulous phthisis, he views it as one of the best remedies to which we can have recourse. It is employed also in diseases of the skin, in ulcers, and ophthalmia. The dose for an adult of the U.S. solution is about five drops, given twice or thrice a day, and gradually but cautiously increased, until it produces nausea, or some other sensible im- pression. When taken in an over-dose it causes violent vomiting and purg- ing, vertigo, and other dangerous symptoms. To combat its poisonous effects, recourse must be had immediately to weak solutions of sulphate of magnesia or of soda, which act by converting the poison into the insoluble sulphate of baryta. If vomiting does not come on, it should be induced by tickling the fauces, or by the administration of an emetic. B. BISMUTHUM. Bismuth. BISMUTIII SUBNITRAS. U.S., Dub. Bismuthi Trisnitras. Lond. Subnitrate of Bismuth. White Oxide of Bismuth. " Take of Bismuth an ounce; Nitric Acid a fluidounce and a half; Distilled Water a sufficient quantity. Mix six fluidrachms of Distilled Water with the Nitric Acid, and dissolve the Bismuth in the mixture; then filter the solution. To the filtered liquor add three pints of Distilled Water, and set the mixture by that the powder may subside. Lastly, having poured off ihe supernatant fluid, wash the Subnitrate of Bismuth with Distilled Wa- ter, wrap it up in bibulous paper, and dry it with a gentle heat." U.S, " Take of Bismuth an ounce; Nitric Acid a fluidounce and a half; Dis- tilled Water three pints [Imperial measure]. Mix a fluidounce of the Water with the Nitric Acid, and dissolve the Bismuth in them. Then pour off the solution. To this add the remainder of the Water, and set by that the powder may subside. Afterwanls, pour off the supernatant liquor, wash the Trisnitrate of Bismuth with Distilled Water, and dry it with a gentle heat." Lond. 824 Bis mu I hum.— Calx. part 11. " Take of Bismuth, in powder, seven parts; Diluted Nitric Acid twenty parts; Distilled Water one hundred parts. Add the Bismuth gradually to the Acid, and dissolve by the assistance of heat. Mix the solution with the Water, and set the mixture by that the powder may subside. Wash this with distilled water, and dry it on bibulous paper with a gentle heat." Dub. When bismuth is added to dilute nitric acid, red fumes are copiously given off; and the metal, oxidized by the decomposition of part of the nitric acid, is dissolved by the remainder, so as to form a solution of the nitrate of bis- muth. This solution, after being filtered, is transparent and colourless, has a caustic, very styptic taste, and, upon the addition of water, is decomposed into the subnitrate which precipitates, and a supernitrate which remains in solution. In order to obtain a smooth and light powder, which is most es- teemed, it should be washed and dried as speedily as possible. In perform- ing the process, it is more convenient to add the nitric solution of the metal to the water, as is done by the Dublin College, than to mix in the contrary order. Properties. Subnitrate of bismuth is in the form of an insipid inodorous powder, of a pure white colour. It is slightly soluble in water, and readily so in the strong acids, from which it is precipitated by water. The fixed alkalies dissolve it sparingly, and ammonia more readily. It is darkened by hydrosulphuric acid gas and by exposure to light, and hence requires to be kept in well stopped bottles in a dark place. By the earlier chemists it was called magistery of bismuth. The perfumers, by whom it is sold as a paint for the complexion, denominate it pearl white. It consists of one equiv. of nitric acid 54.15, and three of protoxide of bismuth 237=291.15. It is hence called a trisnitrate by the London College. Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation is tonic and antispas- modic. It was originally introduced into practice by Dr. Odier of Geneva, and has been subsequently employed with advantage by several physicians both of this country and of Europe. It has been recommended in epilepsy, palpitation of the heart, and spasmodic diseases generally; but more par- ticularly in various painful affections of the stomach, dependent on dis- ordered digestion, such as cardralgia, pyrosis, and gastrodynia. Its use always blackens the stools, from the effect of the intestinal gases. The dose is five, gradually increased to twelve or fifteen grains, twice or thrice a day, and may be taken in pill, or mixed with powdered gum Arabic. In an over-dose it produces alarming gastric distress, nausea, vomiting, diarrhcea or constipation, colic, heat in the breast, slight rigors, vertigo, and drowsiness. The remedies are bland and mucilaginous drinks; and in case of inflamma- tion, bleeding by leeches or venesection, enemata, and emollient fomenta- tions. B. CALX. Preparations of Lime. LIQUOR CALCIS. U. S, Lond. Solutio Calcis, sive Aqua Calcis. Ed. Aqua Calcis. Dub. Lime-water. " Take of Lime four ounces, Distilled Water a gallon. Pour the Water upon the Lime and stir them together; then immediately cover the vessel and set it aside for three hours. Keep the solution, together with the undis- solved Lime, in stopped glass bottles, and pour off the clear liquor when it is wanted for use." U. S. PART II. Calx. 825 The process of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836 differs from the above only in taking half a pound of lime, and twelve pints [Imperial measure] of distilled water, and slaking the lime with a little of the water before adding the remainder. " Take of fresh burnt Lime half a pound. Sprinkle on it, in an earthen vessel, four ounces of Water, keeping the vessel covered while the lime grows hot and falls into powder; then pour on it twelve pounds of water, and mix the lime thoroughly with the water by agitation. After the lime has subsided, repeat the agitation, and do this about ten times, always keep- ing the vessel covered, that the free access of air may be prevented. Lastly, filter the water through paper, interposing glass rods between it and the funnel, lhat the solution may pass as quickly as possible. It should be kept in very closely stopped bottles." Ed. " Take of fresh burnt Lime, boiling Water, each, one part. Put the Lime into an earthen vessel, and sprinkle the Water upon it, keeping the vessel closed while the Lime grows hot and falls into powder; then pour upon it thirty parts of cold water, and having again closed the vessel, shake the mixture frequently for twenty-four hours; lastly, after the lime has subsided pour off the clear solution, and keep it in closely stopped bottles." Dub. A solution of lime in water is the result of these processes. The British Colleges first slake the lime, which is thus reduced to powder, and rendered more easily diffusible through the water employed to dissolve it. In other respects, the process of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia agrees with that of the London College, and is preferable to the Edinburgh or Dublin process. Ac- cording to the former, the solution is to be kept in bottles with a portion of undissolved lime, which causes it always to be saturated, whatever may be the temperature, and to whatever extent it may be exposed to the air. By taking care to have a considerable quantity of the solution in the bottle, and avoiding unnecessary agitation, the upper portion will always remain suffi- ciently clear for use. The employment of Distilled Water as the solvent may seem a useless refinement; and it certainly is unnecessary when pure spring or river water is attainable; but in many places the common water is very impure, and wholly unfit for a preparation, one of the most frequent uses of which is to allay irritability of stomach. Water dissolves but a minute proportion of lime, and contrary to the general law, less when hot than cold. The employment of hoiling water, directed in the original edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, is therefore, improper, or at least unnecessary. According to Mr. Phillips, a pint of water at 212° dissolves 5.6 grains of lime, at 60°, 9.7 grains, and at 32°, 11.0 grains. When a cold saturated solution is heated, a deposition of lime takes place. Properties. Lime-water is colourless, inodorous, and of a disagreeable alkaline taste, changes vegetable blues to green, and forms an imperfect soap with oils. Exposed to the air it attracts carbonic acid, and becomes covered with a pellicle of insoluble carbonate of lime, which, subsiding after a time, is replaced by another, and so on successively till the whole of the lime is exhausted. Hence the necessity of keeping lime-water either in closely corked bottles which should be full, or, what is more convenient, in bottles with an excess of lime. Medical Properties and Uses. Lime-water is antacid, tonic, and astrin- gent, and is very usefully employed in dyspepsia with acidity of stomach, diarrhoea, diabetes, and gravel attended with superabundant secretion of uric acid. Mixed with an equal measure of milk, which completely covers its offensive taste, it is one of the best remedies in our possession for nausea and vomiting dependent on irritability of stomach. We have found a diet 826 Calx. PART II. exclusively of lime-water and milk to be more effectual than any other plan of treatment in dyspepsia accompanied with vomiting of food. In this case one part of the solution to two or three parts of milk is usually sufficient. Lime-water is also thought to be useful by dissolving the intestinal mucus in cases of worms and other complaints connected with an excess of this secre- tion. Externally it is employed as a wash in tinea capitis and scabies, as an application to foul and gangrenous ulcers, as an injection in leucorrhcea and ulceration of the bladder or urethra, and, mixed with linseed or olive oil, as a liniment in burns and scalds. The dose is from two to four fluidounces taken several times a day. When employed to allay nausea, it is usually given in the dose of a tablespoonful mixed with the same quantity of new milk, and repeated every twenty or thirty minutes. If too long continued it debilitates the stomach. Off. Prep. Aqua Calcis Composita, Dub.; Infusum Sarsaparillae Compo- situm, Dub.; Linimentum Calcis, U.S., Ed., Dub. W. AQUA CALCIS COMPOSITA. Dub. Compound Lime-water. "Take of Guaicacum Wood, rasped, half a pound; Liquorice Root, sliced and bruised, an ounce; Sassafras Bark, bruised, half an ounce; Coriander Seeds three drachms; Lime-water six pints. Macerate without heat, for two days, in a close bottle, occasionally shaking, and filter." Dub. This is a very inert preparation, and should be ranked among the in- fusions, as the lime-water can scarcely fail to be decomposed during the process. W. CALCIS CARBONAS PRJECIPITATUM. Dub. Precipitated Carbonate of Lime. " Take of Water of Muriate of Lime five parts. Add three parts of Carbonate of Soda, dissolved in four times its weight of Distilled Water. Wash the precipitate three times with a sufficient quantity of water; then collect it and dry it on a chalk-stone, or on bibulous paper." Dub. In this process a mutual interchange of principles takes place, resulting in the production of chloride of sodium or muriate of soda which remains in solution, and carbonate of lime which precipitates. Of the crystallized car- bonate of soda, 143.42 parts decompose 55.92 of the chloride of calcium. The Dublin Water of Muriate of Lime contains two parts in nine of chloride of calcium. From these data it may be deduced, that the carbonate of soda in this formula is in very slight excess. The Precipitated Carbonate of Lime is very pure and finely divided, but probably has no such superiority over prepared chalk as to counterbalance its greater expensiveness. Off Prep. Hydrargyrum cum Creta., Dub. W. CALCIS CARBONAS PRAEPARATUS. U.S. Creta Pr2epa- rata. Lond., Dub. Carbonas Calcis Pr^paratus. Ed. Prepared Carbonate of Lime. Prepared Chalk. " Take of Carbonate of Lime a pound. Add a little Water to the Car- bonate of Lime, and rub it into a fine powder. Throw this into a large vessel full of water; then stir it, and, after a short interval, pour the super- natant liquor, while yet turbid, into another vessel, and set it by that the pow- der may subside; lastly, having poured off the water, dry the powder." U.S. The process of the London College is essentially the same as the above. " Carbonate of Lime, after having been rubbed to powder in an iron mor- tar, and levigated with a little water on a porphyry stone, is to be put into a large vessel, and water to be poured upon it, which, after the vessel has been frequently shaken, is to be poured off loaded with the fine powder. The sub- PART II. Calx. 827 tile powder, which subsides when the water is allowed to rest, is to be dried. The coarse powder, which the water could not suspend, may be again levi- gated, and treated in the same manner." Ed. "Take of Chalk any quantity. Rub it to powder in an earthenware mortar, with the addition of a little water; then mix it with a sufficiently large quantity of water by agitation, and after a short interval, when the coarser particles have subsided, pour off the liquor. This may be several times repeated, each time after trituration. Finally, collect the very fine powder, which after some time will subside, and dry it upon an absorbent stone or paper." Dub. The object of these processes is to reduce chalk to very fine powder. The mineral, previously pulverized, is rubbed with a little water upon a porphyry slab, by means of a rubber of the same material, and having been thus very minutely divided, is agitated with water, which upon standing a short time deposites the coarser particles, and oeing then poured off, slowly lets fall the remainder in an impalpable state. The former part of the pro- cess is called levigation, the latter elutrialion. The soft mass which re- mains after the decanting of the clear liquor, is made to fall upon an absorbent surface in small portions, which when dried have a conical shape. Medical Properties and Uses. This is the only form in which chalk is used in medicine. It is an excellent antacid; and as the salts which it forms in the stomach and bowels are not purgative, it is admirably adapted to diar- rhoea accompanied with acidity. It is frequently employed as an application to burns and ulcers, the ichorous discharge from which it absorbs, and thus prevents from irritating the diseased surface or the sound skin. It probably also does good, in these cases, by a peculiar action upon the part to which it is applied. It is given internally in the form of powder, or suspended in water by the intervention of gum Arabic and sugar. (See Mistura Calcis Carbonatis.) The dose is from ten to forty grains or more. Off.Prep. Confectio Aromatica, Lond., Dub.; Hydrargyrum cum Calcis Carbonate, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Mistura Calcis Carbonati's, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Cretae Compositus, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Pulvis Opiatus, Ed.; Trochisci Calcis Carbonatis, U.S., Ed. W. TESTA PR^EPARATA. U.S. Testje Preparat;e. Lond. Prepared Oyster-shell. " Take of Oyster-shell any quantity. Free it from extraneous matter, and wash it with boiling water; then prepare it in the manner directed for Carbonate of Lime." U.S. The London College gives similar directions. Prepared oyster-shell differs from prepared chalk in containing animal matter, which being very intimately blended with the carbonate of lime, is supposed by some physicians to render the preparation more acceptable to a delicate stomach. It is given as an antacid in diarrhcea, in the dose of from ten to thirty grains frequently repeated. W. LIQUOR CALCIS MURIATIS. U.S. Liquor Calcii Chlo- ridi. Lond. Solutio Muriatis Calcis. Ed. Calcis Muriatis Aqua. Dub. Solution of Muriate of Lime. Solution of Chloride of Lime. " Take of Hard Carbonate of Lime [White Marble], broken into pieces, nine ounces; Muriatic Acid sixteen ounces; Distilled Water a sufficient quantity. Mix the Acid with half a pint of the Distilled Water, and gra- dually add the Carbonate of Lime. When the effervescence shall have 828 Calx. part ii. ceased, digest for an hour; then pour off the liquor, and evaporate to dry- ness. Dissolve the residuum in its own weight and a half of the Distilled Water, and filter the solution." U.S. The London College dissolves four ounces of chloride of calcium in twelve fluidounces [Imperial measure] of distilled water, and filters through paper. The Edinburgh process is essentially the same as that of the U.S. Pharmacopaeia; which was copied from it with slight variations to adapt it to the plan of the work. The Dublin College dissolves two parts of muriate of lime (chloride of calcium) in seven parts of distilled water, and states the sp. er. of the solution at 1.202. By the U. S. and Edinburgh processes a chloride of calcium is first formed, and then, as in the processes of the London and Dublin Colleges, dissolved in a certain proportion of water. As the chloride may be considered as con- verted, by its union with the elements of water, into muriate of lime, the solution properly takes the name by which it is designated above. The U. S. and Edinburgh preparations agree very nearly in strength, containing 1 part of the chloride in 2.5 parts of the solution. Those of the London and Dublin Colleges are only about half as strong; the latter containing 1 part of the chloride in 4.5 of the solution. The solution of muriate of lime has a disagreeable, bitter, acrid taste. It is decomposed by sulphuric acid and the soluble sulphates; by potassa, soda, and their carbonates; by carbonate of ammonia, tartrate of potassa and soda, niirate of silver, nitrate and acetate of mercury, and acetate of lead. The mode of preparing chloride of calcium, and its chemical properties, are de- tailed under the head of Calcii Chloridum in the first part of this work. Medical Properties and Uses. Muriate of lime is considered tonic and deobstruent. It was first brought into notice as a remedy by Fourcroy, and was at one time much used in scrofulous diseases and goitre. It still continues to be a favourite with some physicians, but is less employed than formerly. When too largely taken it sometimes produces nausea, but is a much safer remedy than the muriate of baryta which has been recommended in the same complaints. The dose of the solution is from thirty minims or drops to a fluidrachm, to be repeated twice or three times a day, and gradu- ally increased to two, three, or even four fluidrachms. It may be given in milk or sweetened water. Off. Prep. Calcis Carbonas Praeeipitatum. Dub. W. CALCIS PHOSPHAS PRiECIPITATUM. Dub. Precipitated Phosphate of Lime. " Take of Burnt Bones, in powder, one part; Diluted Muriatic Acid, Water, each, two parts. Digest together for twelve hours, and filter the solution. Add as much Water of Caustic Ammonia as will be sufficient to precipitate the Phosphate of Lime. Wash this with a large proportion of water, and finally dry it." Dub. The muriatic acid dissolves the phosphate of lime of the bones, and lets it fall on the addition of ammonia, in a state of minute division. The ablu- tion is intended to free it from any adhering muriate of ammonia. Thus obtained, phosphate of lime is in the form of a white powder, without taste or smell, insoluble in water, but very soluble in nitric, muriatic, and acetic acids, from which it is precipitated unchanged on the addition of ammonia. If this preparation possesses any advantage over burnt hartshorn, it is in the state of minute division to which it has been brought by precipitation. It may be given in the same complaints and in the same dose; but is proba- bly quite inert. (See Cornu Ustum.) W. PART II. Calx. 829 CALX CHLORINATA. Lond. Chlorinated Lime. Chloride of Lime. Oxymuriate of Lime. Bleaching Powder. " Take of Hydrate of Lirne a pound; Chlorine as much as may be suffi- cient. Pass the Chlorine over the Lime, spread in a proper vessel, until it is saturated. " Chlorine is very readily evolved from Hydrochloric [Muriatic] Acid added to Binoxide [Peroxide] of Manganese, with a gentle heat." Lond. This substance was first introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia, on its revision in 1836. It was originally prepared and brought into notice as a bleaching agent, in 1798, by Mr. Tennant of Glasgow. Subsequently it was found to have valuable properties as a medicine and disinfecting agent. The London process is intended to obtain the chlorinated lime on a small scale, a pound only of the pulverulent hydrate of lime being subjected to a stream of chlorine, until it refuses to absorb any more. On a large scale it is made by means of a great variety of apparatus; but the following, employed at Glasgow, is, according to Dr. Ure, the simplest and best. A large cham- ber is constructed eight or nine feet high, built of siliceous sandstone, the joints being secured by a cement of pitch, rosin, and dry gipsum. At one end it is furnished with an air-tight door, and on each side, with a glass window, to enable the operator to inspect the process during its progress. The slaked or hydrated lime is sifted and placed on wooden trays, eight or ten feet long, two broad, and one inch deep. These are piled up within the chamber to the height of five or six feet on cross bars, which, by keeping them about an inch asunder, favour the circulation of the gas over the lime. The chlorine is generated in vessels nearly spherical, composed either entirely of lead, or the upper half of lead, and the lower half of iron. The vessel, when all of lead, has its lower two-thirds enclosed in a leaden or iron case, leaving an interstice of two inches in width, intended to receive steam for the purpose of producing the requisite heat. When of the other construction, the iron hemisphere has cast round its outer edge a groove, in which the lower edge of the leaden hemisphere rests, and is secured by Roman cement. The heat, in this case, is applied by exposing the bottom of the iron vessel directly to a gentle fire. In the leaden hemisphere are four apertures. The first is about ten or twelve inches square, and is closed by a leaden valve, the incurvated edges of which rest in a groove which is on the margin of the opening and filled with water: this aperture is intended to facilitate the adjustment of any interior derangement of the apparatus. The second aperture is in the centre of the top, and receives a tube which descends nearly to the bottom, and through which a vertical stirrer passes, intended to mix the materials, and furnished at the lower end with horizontal cross-bars of iron, or of wood sheathed with lead. A rotary motion is given to the stirrer, either by a winch turned by the hand, or by steam or water power. The third opening admits a syphon-shaped funnel, through which the sulphuric acid is introduced, and the fourth is connected with a pipe intended to lead off the gas. The pipes passing from the different generating vessels all terminate under water contained in a leaden chest or cylinder, where the gas, by passing through that liquid, is washed from muriatic acid. From this intermediate vessel, the chlorine finally passes, by means of a pretty large leaden pipe, through the ceiling of the chamber containing the lime. The process of impregnation generally lasts four days, in order to form a good bleaching powder. If the process be hastened, heat will be generated, which will favour the production of chloride of calcium, attended with a proportional diminution of chloride of lime. 71 S30 Calx. PART II. The proportions of the materials employed for generating the chloride vary in different manufactories. Those generally adopted, are 10 cwt. of salt, mixed with from 10 to 14 cwt. of peroxide of manganese; to which are added, in successive portions, from 12 to 14 cwt. of strong sulphuric acid, diluted before being used until its sp. gr. is reduced to about 1.65, which will be accomplished by adding about one-third of its weight of water. In manufactories in which sulphuric acid is also made, the acid intended for this process is brought to the sp. gr. of 1.65 only, whereby the expense of further concentration is saved. The nature and composition of chloride of lime are not well settled. From the analyses which we possess, it appears very variable in quality, contain- ing more or less loosely combined chlorine. From the results of Dr. Ure, it may be inferred, that, in the commercial samples of this compound, the chlorine is combined with between three and four times its weight of hydrate of lime. Hence it is easy to make a rough calculation of the quantity of the chloride which should result from the use of a ton of common salt. In this quantity of salt there are six-tenths of a ton of chlorine, which, if combined with three times its weight of hydrated lime, would furnish two and four- tenths of a ton of the compound. But in practice, the manufacturer gets only a ton and a half of good bleaching powder by the use of a ton of rock salt, instead of the quantity above indicated. The deficit arises, in a great degree, from the unavoidable loss of chlorine, both from its imperfect libera- tion from the salt, and from its waste in the combining chamber; but it is probably greater than it would be, if science directed the operation. The mode in which chloride of lime is manufactured in this country, cor- responds, in the general outline, with that pursued in Scotland, as above described. Properties. Chloride of lime is a dry, grayish-white, pulverulent substance, possessing a hot, penetrating taste, and a feeble odour of chlorine. When perfectly saturated with chlorine, it dissolves almost entirely in water; but as ordinarily prepared, a large proportion is insoluble, consisting of lime, containing a small portion of chlorine. When exposed to heat it gives out oxygen and some chlorine, and is converted into chloride of calcium. By the action of acids, the chlorine is disengaged, and hence this addition gives activity to the substance in bleaching and disinfecting. By exposure to the air it absorbs^moisture and deteriorates, being converted in part into chloride of calcium, at the expense of the chloride of lime. When moist it is of inferior quality, as this circumstance indicates the presence of chloride of calcium. It is incompatible with the mineral acids, with carbonic acid, and the alkaline carbonates. The acids evolve chlorine copiously, while the alkaline carbonates precipitate carbonate of lime, and form chlorides in solution. As chloride of lime is very variable in its quality, it becomes important to possess the means of testing its value. Welter proposed for this purpose a weak solution of indigo in sulphuric acid. It is used by observing what proportion of a solution obtained from a given weight of the chloride is necessary to discharge the colour of a solution of indigo of a determinate strength; and the value of the sample is inversely as this quantity. Of course, in making comparative experiments of this kind, care must be taken that the sulphate of indigo is of uniform strength, and that the solution ob- tained from the different samples of chloride is made under similar circum- stances. Another test, which was proposed by Mr. Dalton, is to add a solution of the bleaching powder to one of protosulphate of iron until the smell of chlorine is perceived; and the value of the samples will be in pro- PART II. Calx. 831 portion to the smallness of the quantity of the solution necessary to produce this effect. Dr. Thomson reports that Mr. Crum, a practical chemist of Glasgow, finds this method exact in its indications. Composition. Notwithstanding the bleaching powder has been studied by a number of able chemists, its composition is still involved in doubt. According to Brande, Grouvelle, and Phillips, when it has ceased to absorb gas, it is a compound of one equivalent of chlorine with two of hydrate of lime. Dr. Ure contends that the lime and chlorine are united in variable proportions, not correspondent to equivalent quantities; but Dr. Thomson asserts that the compound has been so much improved in quality of late years, that good specimens are almost entirely soluble in water, and consist of one equiv. of chlorine 35.42, and one equiv. of lime 28.5 = 63.92. Ber- zelius, however, takes a different view of the composition of this compound. He considers it to be a combination of quadroxide of chlorine, which he calls chlorous acid, with lime. According to this view, then, it is a chlorite of lime. Balard considers it a hypochlorite of lime. Medical Properties and Uses. Chloride of lime is a powerful disinfecting agent, and has been used with advantage in solution as an application to ill- conditioned ulcers, burns, and cutaneous eruptions, as a gargle in putrid sorethroat, and as a wash for the mouth to disinfect the breath, and for ulcerated gums. It has also been employed by Dr. Reid in the epidemic (typhoid) fever of Ireland; by the same practitioner in dysentery, both by the mouth and injection, with the effect of correcting the fetor, and im- proving the appearance of the stools; by Cima, both internally and exter- nally in scrofula; and by Dr. Varlez of Brussels in ophthalmia. In the febrile cases it was found to render the tongue cleaner and moister, to check diarrhoea, and induce sleep. The dose internally is from one to six grains, dis- solved in one or two fluidounces of water, filtered, and sweetened with syrup. As it occurs of variable quality in commerce, and must be used in solution more or less dilute according to the particular purpose to which it is to be applied, it is impossible to give any very precise directions for its strength as an external remedy. From one to four drachms of the powder added to a pint of water, and filtered, will constitute a solution within the limits of strength ordinarily required. For the cure of itch, M. Derheims has recom- mended a much stronger solution—three ounces of the chloride to a pint of water, the solution being filtered, and applied several times a day as a lotion. When applied to ulcers, their surface may be covered with lint dipped in the solution. When used as an ointment, to be rubbed upon scrofulous enlarge- ments of the lymphatic glands, it may be made of a scruple or drachm of the chloride to an ounce of lard. This preparation acts, without doubt, by means of the chlorine which it contains; but it is not so eligible for some purposes as the chloride of soda. (See Liquor Sodse Chlorinatse, Lond.) In consequence of its powers as a disinfectant, chloride of lime is a very important substance in its application to medical police. It possesses the extraordinary property of preventing or arresting animal and vegetable putre- faction, and of destroying pestilential and infectious miasms. It is conse- quently applicable to a great variety of purposes, more or less connected with the health or comfort of communities. It may be used with advantage for preserving bodies from exhaling an unpleasant odour before interment in the summer season. In juridical exhumations its use is indispensable, as it effectually removes the disgusting and insupportable fetor of the corpse. The mode in which it is applied in this case, is to envelop the body with a sheet completely wet with a solution, made by adding about a pound of 832 Calx. PART II. the chloride to a bucketful of water. It is employed also for disinfecting dissecting rooms, privies, common sewers, docks, and other places which exhale offensive effluvia. In destroying contagion and infection, it also ap- pears to be highly useful. Hence hospitals, alms-houses, jails, ships, &c, may be purified by its means. In short, all places which may be deemed infectious, from having been the receptacle of cases of virulent disease, may be more or less disinfected by its use, after they have undergone the ordinary processes of cleansing. The way in which chloride of lime acts, is exclusively by means of its chlorine, which, being loosely combined, is disengaged by the slightest affi- nities. All acids, even the carbonic, disengage it; and as this acid is a product of animal and vegetable decomposition, noxious effluvia furnish the means, to a certain extent, of their own disinfection by this chloride. But the stronger acids disengage the chlorine far more readily; and among these, sulphuric acid is the cheapest and most convenient. Accordingly the chlo- ride of lime may be dissolved in a very dilute solution of sulphuric acid, or a small quantity of this acid may be added to a solution of the chloride, in case a more copious evolution of chlorine is desired than that which takes place from the mere action of the carbonic acid of the atmosphere. Another way of effecting the same object, which is commended by Berzelius, is to mix the chloride with the bisulphate of potassa in powder, in which case it is only necessary to moisten the mixture to disengage the chlorine. The bisulphate, being a supersalt, here acts the part of an acid. Chloride of lime may be advantageously applied to the purpose of purify- ing offensive water, a property which makes it invaluble on long voyages. When used for this purpose, from one to two ounces of the chloride may be mixed with about sixty-five gallons of the water. After the purification is effected, the water must be exposed for some time to the air and allowed to settle before it is fit to drink. For further details the reader is referred to an article, by Mr. Elias Durand, on the chlorides of oxides, contained in the first vol. of the Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. B. CORNU USTUM. Lond. Pulvis Cornu Cervini Usti. Dub. Burnt Hartshorn. " Burn pieces of Hartshorn in an open vessel until they are thoroughly white; then powder them, and prepare them in the manner directed for Chalk." Lond. The Dublin College gives similar directions. The horn must not only be heated, but also burnt, in order that the animal matter may be entirely consumed. The operation may be performed in a common furnace or stove, the air being freely admitted. Care should be taken that the heat be not too violent, as otherwise the external surface of the horn may become vitrified, and prevent the complete combustion of the interior portion, while it is itself rendered less fit for use. Burnt hartshorn consists of phosphate of lime, with a minute proportion of lime, derived from the carbonate contained in the horns. It may be inferred, from the analysis of hartshorn by M. Guillot, that the proportion of free lime in this prepara- Hon is less than one per cent. (See Cornu Cervi Elaphi.) Medical Properties and Uses. The opinion formerly entertained, that burnt hartshorn was antacid, has been abandoned since the discovery of its chemical nature. Its composition suggested its application to the cure of rachitis and molhlies ossinm,of which the prominent character is a deficiency of phosphate of lime in the bones; and it is said to have been employed in part ii. Carbo Animalis.—Cataplasmata. 833 some cases, in connexion with phosphate of soda, with apparent success. Experience, however, has not confirmed the first report in its favour. It is probably altogether inert. The dose is twenty grains or more. Off. Prep. Pulvis Cornu Cervi cum Opio, Lond. W. CARBO ANIMALIS. Preparation of Animal Charcoal. CARBO ANIMALIS PURIFICATUS. Lond. Purified Ani- mal Charcoal. "Take of Animal Charcoal a pound; Hydrochloric [Muriatic] Acid, Water, each, twelve fluidounces [Imperial measure]. Mix the Hydro- chloric Acid with the Water, and pour it gradually upon the Charcoal; then digest for two days with a gentle heat frequently shaking them. Set by, and pour off the supernatant liquor; then wash the Charcoal very often with water, until nothing acid is perceptible; lastly, dry it." Lond. The nature and properties of animal charcoal have been explained under another head. (See Carbo Animalis.) As it is made by charring bones, it necessarily contains phosphate and carbonate of lime. The presence of these salts does no harm in some decolorizing operations; but in delicate chemical processes, such as those connected with the preparation of the organic alka- lies, they would be dissolved or decomposed, and thus be a source of im- purity. It is for these reasons that animal charcoal requires to be purified from the calcareous salts which it contains; and this is effectually accom- plished, by dilute muriatic acid, which dissolves the phosphate and decom- poses the carbonate. Pharmaceutical Uses. To prepare Aconitina, Lond.; Morphiae Hydro- chloras, Lond.; Quinae Disulphas, Lond.; Veratria, Lond. B. CATAPLASMATA. Cataplasms. Cataplasms or poultices are moist substances intended for external appli- cation, of such a consistence as to accomodate themselves accurately to the surface to which they are applied, without being so liquid as to spread over the neighbouring parts, or so tenacious as to adhere firmly to the skin. As they are in this country scarcely ever prepared by the apothecary, they were not deemed by the compilers of the United States Pharmacopoeia proper ob- jects for officinal direction. W. CATAPLASMA ALUMINIS. Dub. Alum Cataplasm. " Take the Whites of two Eggs; of Alum a drachm. Shake them to- gether so as to make a coagulum." Dub. A common mode of preparing the alum poultice, is to rub the whites of eggs briskly in a saucer with a lump of alum till the liquid coagulates. The curd produced by coagulating milk with alum is sometimes used as a sub- stitute. The alum cataplasm is an astringent application, occasionally employed in 834 Calaplasmata. PART II. incipient, purulent, or chronic ophthalmia. It is placed over the eye en- closed between folds of cambric or soft linen. It is also esteemed useful in chilblains when the skin is not broken. W. CATAPLASMA CARBONIS LIGNI. Dub. Charcoal Cata- plasm. " Take a sufficient quantity of Wood Charcoal red hot from the fire, and having extinguished it by sprinkling dry sand over it, reduce it to very fine powder, and incorporate it with the Simple Cataplasm in a tepid state." Dub. Charcoal, recently prepared, has the property of absorbing and neutraliz- ing those principles upon which the offensive odour of putrefying animal substances depends. In the form of poultice it is an excellent application to foul and gangrenous ulcers, correcting their fetor, and improving the condi- tion of the sore. It should be frequently renewed. W. CATAPLASMA CONII. Lond., Dub. Hemlock Cataplasm. "Take of Extract of Hemlock two ounces; Water a pint [Imperial mea- sure.] Mix, and add of bruised Flaxseed sufficient to produce a proper consistence." Lond. " Take of Dried Hemlock Leaves an ounce; Water a pint and a half. Boil down to a pint, and having strained the liquor, add as much of the pow- dered leaves as may be sufficient to form a cataplasm." Dub. This cataplasm may be advantageously employed as an anodyne applica- tion to cancerous, scrofulous, syphilitic, and other painful ulcers: but its lia- bility to produce narcotic effects by the absorption of the active principle of the hemlock, should not be overlooked. W. CATAPLASMA DAUCI. Dub. Carrot Cataplasm. " Take of the Root of the cultivated Carrot any quantity. Boil the root in water until it becomes sufficiently soft to form a cataplasm." Dub. Emollient poultices may be prepared from any of the tender culinary roots, from turnips and potatoes as well as carrots, by boiling them, remov- ing the external skin, and mashing them into a soft pulp, which may be ren- dered uniform by pressing it through a coarse sieve or cullender. But these poultices possess no specific power, and act on the same principle with those made with bread and milk, and flaxseed meal. The carrot cataplasm, when designed to produce a peculiar impression, should be made by grating the fresh roots into a pulp. In this state it pos- sesses a slightly stimulant property, which renders it useful in weak, flabby, ill-conditioned, and offensive ulcers. By boiling, this property is diminished, if not lost; and the carrot becomes a mild and nutritive article of food. W. CATAPLASMA FERMENTI. Lond. Cataplasma Fermenti Cerevisi.s:. Dub. Yeast Cataplasm. "Take of Flour.[wheat flour] a pound; Yeast half a pint [half a pound, Dub.] Mix and expose the mixture to a gentle heat until it begins to rise." Lond., Dub. By exposing a mixture of yeast and flour to a gentle heat, fermentation takes place, and carbonic acid gas is extricated, which causes the mixture to swell and is the source of its peculiar virtues. The yeast cataplasm is gently stimulant, and is sometimes applied with much benefit to foul and gangrenous ulcers, the fetor of which it corrects, while it is supposed to hasten the sepa- ration of the slough. W. part ii. Cataplasmata. 835 CATAPLASMA LINI. Lond. Flaxseed Cataplasm. " Take of boiling Water a pint; Flaxseed, powdered, sufficient to pro- duce a proper consistence. Mix them." Lond. CATAPLASMA SIMPLEX. Dub. Simple Cataplasm. " Take of the Powder for a Cataplasm any quantity; Boiling Water sufficient to form a tepid cataplasm, the surface of which should be covered with olive oil." Dub. The Dublin " Powder for a Cataplasm," consists of one part of flaxseed meal remaining after the expression of the oil, and two parts of oat meal. Flaxseed meal which has not been submitted to pressure is decidedly pre- ferable, and answers an excellent purpose when mixed with boiling water, without other addition, as in the London Flaxseed Cataplasm. Fresh lard or olive oil spread upon the surface of the poultice serves to prevent its adhe- sion to the skin, and to preserve its softness. The use of this and other emollient cataplasms is to relieve the tense condition of the vessels in inflammation, and to promote suppuration. They act simply by their warmth and moisture. The one most extensively em- ployed, perhaps because its materials are always at hand, is that prepared by heating together milk and the crumb of bread. The milk should be quite sweet, and fresh lard should be incorporated with the poultice. Mush made with the meal of Indian corn also forms an excellent emollient cata- plasm. W. CATAPLASMA SINAPIS. Lond., Dub. Mustard Cataplasm. " Take of Flaxseed, Mustard [seed], each, in powder, half a pound; Boiling Vinegar, sufficient to produce the consistence of a cataplasm." Lond. The Dublin College orders the same seeds in the same proportion, and states that the cataplasm may be made more stimulating by the addition of two ounces of scraped horse-radish. The simplest and most effectual mode of preparing a mustard poultice, is to mix the powdered mustard of the shops with a sufficient quantity of warm water to give it a due consistence. When a weaker preparation is required, an equal portion or more of rye or wheat flour should be added. Vinegar never increases its efficiency, and, in the case of the black mustard seed, has been ascertained by MM. Troupeau and Blanc to diminish its rubefacient power. A boiling temperature is also injurious by interfering with the development of the volatile oil. (See Sinapis.) These poultices are frequently called sinapisms. They are powerfully rubefacient, exciting a sense of warmth in a few minutes, and usually be- coming insupportably painful in less than an hour. When removed, they leave the surface intensely red and burning; and the inflammation fre- quently terminates in desquamation, or even blistering, if the application has been too long continued. Obstinate ulcers and gangrene also sometimes result from the protracted action of mustard, especially on parts possessed of little vitality. As a general rule, the poultice should be removed when the patient complains much of the pain; and in cases of insensibility should not, unless greatly diluted, be allowed to remain longer than one, or at most two hours; as violent inflammation, followed by obstinate ulceration, is apt to occur upon the establishment of reaction in the system. In children also particular care is necessary to avoid this result. The poultice should be thickly spread on linen, and may be covered with gauze or unsized paper in order to prevent its adhesion to the skin. If hairs are present they should 836 Cerala. part ii. be removed by the razor. Sinapisms may be employed in all cases in which it is desirable to produce a very speedy and powerful rubefacient impres- sion. \V. CERATA. Cerates. These are unctuous substances consisting of oil or lard, united with wax, spermaceti, or resin, to which various medicaments are frequently added. Their consistence, which is intermediate between that of ointments and of plasters, is such that they may be spread at ordinary temperatures upon linen or leather, by means of a spatula, and do not melt or run when applied to the skin. In preparing them, care should usually be taken to select the oil or lard perfectly free from rancidity. The fusion should be effected by a very gentle heat, which may be applied by means of a water bath; and during the refrigeration the mixture should be well agitated, and the portions which solidify on the sides of the vessel should be made to mix again with the liquid portion, until the whole assumes the proper consistence. When a large quantity is prepared, the mortar, or other vessel into which the mixture may be poured for cooling, should be previously heated by means of boiling water. W. CERATUM ARSENICI. U.S. Cerate of Arsenic. " Take of Arsenious Acid, in very fine powder, a scruple; Simple Cerate an ounce. Mix the Acid with the Cerate, previously softened by heat." This is sometimes employed as a dressing to cancerous ulcers. Its effects should be carefully watched; and if constitutional symptoms appear, its use should be suspended. W. CERATUM CANTHARIDIS.* U.S. Emplastrum Canthari- dis. Lond., Dub. Emplastrum Cantharidis Vesicatorije. Ed. Cerate of Spanish Flies. Emplastrum Epispasticum. Blistering Plaster. " Take of Spanish Flies, in powder, a pound; Yellow Wax, Resin, Olive Oil, each, eight ounces. To the Wax, Resin, and Oil, previously melted together, add the Spanish Flies, and stir the mixture constantly until cool." U.S. J The London College orders a pound of Spanish flies, a pound and a half of wax plaster, and half a pound of lard; the Edinburgh, equal weights of flies, suet, yellow wax, and white resin; and the Dublin, a pound of flies, a pound of yellow wax, four ounces of yellow resin, half a pound of suet, and half a pound of lard. This isfthe common blistering plaster of the shops. As it can be readily spread without the aid of heat, it is properly a cerate, and is therefore cor- rectly named in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, though essentially the same in character as prepared by the different processes, it varies somewhat in strength. The U.S. and London preparations have the same proportion of flies, but are stronger than those of the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges. One of the two former therefore is preferable, and our own has this advan- tage, that it does not require the previous preparation of the wax plaster. * This is a different preparation from the London Ceratum Cantharidis. PART II. Cerata. 837 Care is requisite in making the cerate not to injure the flies by heat. They should not, therefore, be added to the other ingredients until immediately before these begin to stiffen after having been removed from the fire. It is desirable also that the flies should be very finely powdered. The cerate is the most convenient form in which cantharides can be ap- plied for the purpose of raising a blister, and it is always effectual in ordi- nary conditions of the system, if the flies are good and not injured in the preparation. It should be spread on soft leather, though linen or even paper will answer the purpose when this is not to be had. An elegant mode of preparing it for use, is to spread a piece of leather of a proper size first with adhesive plaster, and afterwards with the cerate, leaving a margin of the former uncovered, in order that it may adhere to the skin. Heat is not re- quisite, and should not be employed in spreading the cerate. It is customary with some to sprinkle powdered flies upon the suiface of the plaster, press them lightly with a roller, and then shake off the portion which has not adhered; but if the flies originally employed were good, this addition is superfluous. Upon the application of the plaster, the skin should be moistened with warm vinegar or other liquid; and a good rule is to cover the surface of the plaster closely with very thin gauze or unsized paper, which prevents any of the cerate from adhering to the cuticle. In the cases of adults, when the full operation of the flies is desirable, and the object is to produce a permanent effect, the application should be continued for twelve hours, and upon the scalp for twenty-four hours. In very delicate persons, however, or those subject to strangury, or upon parts of a loose texture, or when the object is merely to produce a blister to be healed as speedily as possible, the plaster should remain no longer than is necessary for the production of full redness of the skin, which generally occurs in five or six hours, or even in a shorter time. It should then be removed, and followed by a bread and milk poultice, or some other emollient dressing, under which the cuticle rises, and a full blister is usually produced.* By this management the patient will generally escape strangury, and the blister will very quickly heal after the discharge of the serum. In young children, cantharides sometimes produce alarming and even fatal ulceration, if too long applied. From two to four hours are usually sufficient to answer any desirable purpose. When the head, or other very hairy part is to be blistered, an interval often or twelve hours should, if possible, be allowed between the shaving of the part and the application of the plaster; so lhat the abrasions of the cuticle may heal, and some obstacle be offered to the absorption of the active principle of the flies. After the blister has been formed, it should be opened at the most depending parts, and, the cuticle being allowed to remain, should be dressed with simple cerate; but if it be desirable to maintain the discharge for a short time, resin cerate should be used, and the cuticle removed, if it can be done without inconvenience. The effects of an issue may be obtained by employing savine ointment, or the ointment of Spanish flies, as a dressing. If much inflammation should take place in the blistered surface, it may be relieved by emollient poultices, or weak lead water. Where there is an obstinate indisposition to heal, we have found nothing so effectual as the cerate of subacetate of lead, diluted with an equal weight of simple cerate. When deep and extensive ulceration * Dr. M. B. Smith of Philadelphia has informed us that he has frequently employed uva ursi as a preventive of strangury from blisters, and has never found it to fail. He gives a small wineglassful of the officinal decoction, (see Decoctum Uvce Ursi,) every hour commencing two hours after the application of the blister. 838. Cerata. PART II- occurs in consequence of general debility, Peruvian bark or sulphate of qui- nia should be used with nutritious aliment. A solution of cantharidin in olive oil, applied to the skin by means of a piece of paper saturated with it, has been proposed by the French pharma- ceutists as a substitute for the ordinary blistering plaster; but if pure cantha- ridin is used, the preparation would be too expensive. A decoction of the flies in olive oil or oil of turpentine, would answer the same purpose; but is not likely to supersede the cerate. If very speedy vesication be desired, an infusion of cantharides in acetic acid may be advantageously employed. (See Acetum Cantharidis.) It is said that by ebullition in water, the flies are deprived of their pro- perty of producing strangury, while their vesicating powers remain unal- tered. (Paris's Pharmacologia.) Dr. Theophilus Beasly of Philadelphia, has been in the habit of employing a cerate made with cantharides prepared in this manner, and has never known it to produce strangury in more than two or three instances. He boils the unpowdered flies for fifteen minutes, esteeming a shorter time insufficient to deprive them of this property, while if the boiling be continued much longer, their blistering power is impaired, (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 185.) In a letter addressed to one of the authors by Dr. James Cooper of Newcastle, Delaware, a similar me- thod of preparing the flies is recommended as an expedient against strangury, both from his own experience and that of the late Dr. Groom of Elkton, Maryland, from whom he derived his knowledge of the plan. Dr. Groom's method was to pour upon the flies in their perfect state sufficient boiling water completely to cover them, to stir them for about five minutes, then to pour off the liquor, and dry them upon blotting paper in the sun, or by the heat of a stove-room. W. CERATUM CETACEI. U.S., Lond. Ceratum Simplex. Ed. Unguentum Cetacei. Dub. Spermaceti Cerate. " Take of Spermaceti an ounce; White Wax three ounces; Olive Oil six fluidounces. Melt together the Spermaceti and Wax; then add the Oil previously heated, and stir the mixture until cool." U. S. The London College directs two ounces of spermaceti, eight ounces of white wax, and a pint [Imperial measure] of olive oil; the Edinburgh, six parts of olive oil, three parts of white wax, and one part of spermaceti; the Dublin, half a pound of white wax, a pound of spermaceti, and three pounds of lard. The direction to heat the oil before adding it to the other ingredients is peculiar to our Pharmacopoeia. If added cold, it is apt to produce an irre- gular congelation of the wax and spermaceti, and thus to render the prepa- ration lumpy. This cerate is employed as a dressing for blisters, excoriated surfaces, and wounds; and as the basis of more active preparations. When the ingredients are pure and sweet, it is perfectly free from irritating pro- perties. Off. Prep. Ceratum Cantharidis, Lond.; Ceratum Carbonatis Zinci Im- puri, Ed. W. CERATUM HYDRARGYRI COMPOSITUM. Lond. Com- pound Cerate of Mercury. " Take of Strong Mercurial Ointment, Soap Cerate, each, four ounces; Camphor an ounce. Rub them together until they are incorporated." Lond. This cerate is intended as a discutient application to indolent tumours. W. PART II. Cerata. 839 CERATUM PLUMBI CARBONATIS. U.S. Cerate of Car- bonate of Lead. "■ Take of Plaster of Carbonate of Lead ten ounces; Olive Oil two fluidounces. Add the Oil to the Plaster previously melted, and stir them constantly until cool." U. S. This is useful as a desiccative and sedative application to excoriated and irritated surfaces. W. CERATUM PLUMBI SUBACETATIS. U.S. Ceratum Plum- bi Compositum. Lond. Cerate of Subacetate of Lead. Goulard's Cerate. " Take of Solution of Subacetate of Lead two fluidounces and a half; Yellow Wax four ounces; Olive Oil nine fluidounces; Camphor half a drachm. Mix the Wax, previously melted, with eight fluidounces of the Oil; then remove the mixture from the fire, and when it begins to thicken, gradually pour in the Solution of Subacetate of Lead, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula till it becomes cool. Lastly, add the Camphor dis- solved in the remainder of the Oil and mix." U. S. The above process is precisely that of the former London Pharmacopoeia. In the last edition of that work, three fluidounces of the solution of subace- tate of lead, and half a pint of olive oil, have been substituted for the quanti- ties before employed, the process remaining in other respects unaltered. But when it is considered that the London College now employs the Imperial, instead of the wine measure, the change will be seen to be less than it might otherwise appear. This preparation received the name by which it is commonly known, from M. Goulard, by whom it was employed and recommended. It is used to dry up excoriations, to relieve the inflammation of burns, scalds, and chilblains, and to remove cutaneous eruptions. We have found it more effectual than any other application to blistered surfaces indisposed to heal; and, on the recommendation of Dr. Parrish, have used it in the following combination with advantage in various cutaneous eruptions of a local char- acter. Take of cerate of subacetate of lead, simple cerate, each, half an ounce; calomel, powdered opium, each a drachm; mix them. The same preparation, without the opium, "was a favourite remedy with the late Dr. Wistar in similar complaints. W. CERATUM RESINS. U.S., Lond. Unguentum Resinosum. Ed. Unguentum Resinae Albje. Dub. Resin Cerate. " Take of Resin five ounces; Lard eight ounces; Yellow Wax two ounces. Melt them together, and stir them constantly until cool." U.S. The proportions directed by the Edinburgh College are the same as the above. The London College orders of resin and wax, each, a pound, and of olive oil sixteen fluidounces. The resin and wax are melted together over a slow fire, the oil then added, and the mixture while hot strained through linen. By the Dublin process, four pounds of lard, two pounds of white resin, and one pound of yellow wax are made into an ointment, and strained while hot through a sieve. As resin often contains impurities, the cerate should be strained before it cools. Resin cerate, commonly called basilicon ointment, is much used as a gently stimulant application to blistered surfaces, indolent ulcers, burns, scalds, and chilblains. We have found no application more effectual in disposing the ulcers which follow burns to heal. 840 Cera t a. PART II. Off.Prep. Ceratum Sabinae, U.S.; Linimentum Terebinthin.T, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Unguentum Cantharidis, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Unguen- tum Cupri Subacetatis, Dub., Ed. \V. CERATUM RES1N.E COMPOSITUM. U.S. Compound Re- sin Cerate. " Take of Resin, Suet, Yellow Wax, each, a pound; Turpentine half a pound; Flaxseed Oil half a pint. Melt them together, and stir them con- stantly until cool." U.S. This should be strained through linen before cooling, in order to separate the impurities. It is somewhat more stimulating than the preceding, but is applicable to similar purposes, particularly to the treatment of indolent ulcers. Under the name of Deshler's salve, it is popularly employed in some parts of the United States. W. CERATUM SABIN^S. U.S., Lond. Ceratum Juniperi Sabi- n.e. Ed. Unguentum Sabinae. Dub. Savine Cerete. " Take of Savine, in powder, two ounces; Resin Cerate a pound. Mix the Savine with the Cerate previously softened." U.S. The London College orders one pound of fresh savine, bruised, to be mixed with half a pound of wax and two pounds of lard previously melted together, and the whole to be strained through linen. The Edinburgh process is essentially the same. The Dublin College employs only half a pound of the leaves, which it directs to be boiled in the lard till they'become crisp; the lard is then to be strained with expression, the wax added, and the whole melted together. As the savine used in this country is generally brought from Europe in the dried state, we are compelled to resort to the mode of preparing the cerate directed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Nor have we found the pre- paration thus made to be "intolerably acrid and almost caustic," as Dr. Duncan describes it. On the contrary, it answers very well the purpose for which it is used—that of maintaining the discharge from blistered surfaces. A cerate prepared in the same manner from the leaves of the red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) is sometimes substituted for that of savine, but is less efficient. It was originally introduced into the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, but has been omitted in the last edition. Prepared according to the processes of the British Colleges, savine cerate has a fine deep-green colour, and the odour of the leaves. It should be kept in closely covered vessels, as its virtues are impaired by exposure. Savine cerate is preferable to the ointment of Spanish flies as a dressing for perpetual blisters, from the circumstance that it has no tendency to pro- duce strangury. The white coating which forms during its use upon the blistered surface should be occasionally removed, as it prevents the contact of the cerate. yy CERATUM SAPONIS. U.S., Lond. Soap Cerate. "Take of Soap eight ounces; Yellow Wax ten ounces; Semivitrified Oxide of Lead, in powder, a pound; Olive Oil a pint; Vinegar a gallon. Boil the Vinegar with the Oxide of Lead over a slow fire, constantly stirring, till the union is complete; then add the Soap, and again boil in a similar manner, until all the moisture is dissipated; lastly, with these ingredients mix the Wax previously melted with the Oil." U.S. The London College employs ten ounces of soap, twelve and a half ounces of wax, fifteen ounces of oxide of lead, a pint of olive oil, and a gallon of vinegar [Imperial measure], and proceed exactly as above directed. PART II. Cerata. 841 In this process, the subacetate of Lead formed by the action of the vinegar upon the litharge, is decomposed by the soap, the soda of which unites with the acetic acid, and the oleaginous acids with the oxide of lead in the same manner as in the formation of the Emplastrum Plumbi. The wax and oil subsequently added merely serve to give due consistence to the preparation. Soap cerate is thought to be cooling and sedative; and is sometimes used in scrofulous swellings and other instances of chronic external inflammations. It was formerly employed by Mr. Pott as a dressing for fractured limbs; but answers no other purpose in these cases than to yield mechanical support. Off. Prep. Ceratum Hydrargyri Compositum, Lond. W. CERATUM SIMPLEX. U.S. Ceratum. Lond. Simple Ce- rate. " Take of Lard eight ounces; White Wax four ounces. Melt them to- gether, and stir them constantly until cool." U.S. The London College directs that four fluidounces of olive oil be mixed with four ounces of wax previously melted. We prefer the formula of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Lard is preferable to olive oil, as it may always be had perfectly sweet, and is the mildest appli- cation which can be made to irritated surfaces. In the preparation of this cerate, peculiar care should be taken that the oleaginous ingredient be entirely free from rancidity, and that the heat employed be not sufficient to produce the slightest decomposition; for the Value of the preparation depends on its perfect blandness. It is used for dressing blisters, wounds, &c, in all cases in which the object is to exclude the external air and preserve the moisture of the part, and at the same time to avoid all irritation. It is some- times improperly employed as the vehicle of substances to be applied by inunction. For this purpose lard should be used in winter, and simple ointment in summer; the cerate having too firm a consistence. W. CERATUM ZINCI CARBONATIS. U.S. Ceratum Calami- ne. Lond. Ceratum Carbonatis Zinci Impuri. Ed. Unguentum Calaminje. Dub. Cerate of Carbonate of Zinc. Turner's Cerate. *' Take of Prepared Carbonate of Zinc, Yellow Wax, each, half a pound; Lard two pounds. Melt the Wax and Lard together, and when upon cool- ing they begin to thicken, add the Carbonate of Zinc, and stir the mixture constantly until cool." U. S. The London College orders half a pound of calamine, half a pound of wax, and sixteen fluidounces of olive oil; the Edinburgh, one part of the carbonate and five parts of lard; the Dublin, one pound of the carbonate, and five pounds of ointment of yellow wax. The process adopted in the last edition of our Pharmacopoeia is preferable to that of the original edition, in which the proportion of calamine was much too large. This cerate is an imitation of that recommended by Turner. It is mildly astringent, and is much used in excoriations and superficial ulcera- tions, produced by the chafing of the skin, irritating secretions, burns, or other causes. W. 72 842 Confectiones. PART II- CONFECTIONES. U.S., Lond. Confections. Conserve; Electuaria. Ed. Confectiones; Conserve; Elec- tuaria. Dub. Under the general title of Confections, the Pharmacopoeias of the United States and of London include all those preparations having the form of a soft solid, in which one or more medicinal substances are incorporated with saccharine matter, with a view either to their preservation or more conve- nient administration. The Edinburgh College retains the old division into Conserves and Electuaries; and, as there is some ground for the distinction, we shall make a few general remarks upon each division, before proceeding to the consideration of the individual preparations. Conserves consist of recent vegetable substances and refined sugar beat into a uniform mass. By means of the sugar, the vegetable matter is ena- bled to resist for some time the decomposition to which it would otherwise be exposed in the undried state, and the properties of the recent plant are thus retained to. a certain extent unaltered. But as active medicines even thus treated undergo some change, and those which lose their virtues by desiccation cannot be long preserved, the few conserves now retained are intended rather as convenient vehicles of other substances, than for separate exhibition. The sugar used in their preparation should be reduced to a fine powder by pounding and sifting, as otherwise it will not hiix uniformly with the other ingredient. Electuaries are mixtures consisting of medicinal substances, especially dry powders, combined with syrup or honey, in order to render them less unpleasant to the taste, and more convenient for internal use. They are usually prepared extemporaneously; and it is only when their complex na- ture renders it convenient to keep them ready made in the shops, or some peculiarity in the mode of mixing the ingredients requires attention, that they become proper objects for pharmaceutic direction. Their consistence should not be so soft, on the one hand, as to allow the ingredients to sepa- rate, nor so firm, on the other, as to prevent them from being swallowed without mastication. Different substances require different proportions of syrup. Light vegetable powders usually require twice their weight, gum- resins two-thirds of their weight, resins somewhat less, mineral substances about half their weight, and deliquescent salts not more than one-tenth. Should the electuary be found, after having been kept for a short time, to swell up and emit gas, it should be beat over again in a mortar, so that any portion of the sugar which may have crystallized may be again accurately incorporated with the other ingredients. Should it on the contrary, become dry and hard, from the mutual reaction of its constituents, more syrup should be added, so as to give it the requisite consistence. If the dryness result from the mere evaporation of the aqueous part, water should be added in- stead of syrup; and the same remark is applicable to the conserves. To prevent the hardening of electuaries, the French writers recommend the use of syrup prepared from brown sugar, which is less apt to crystallize than that made from the refined. Molasses would answer the same purpose; but its taste might be considered objectionable. Some employ honey, but this is not always acceptable to the stomach. W. PART II. Confectiones. 843 CONFECTIO AMYGDALA. U.S., Lond. Confectio Amyg- dalarum. Dub. Almond Confection. " Take of Almonds [Sweet Almonds, Dub.] an ounce; Gum Arabic, in powder, a drachm; Sugar [refined] half an ounce. Having macerated the Almonds in water, and deprived them of their external coat, beat all the in- gredients together till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S., Dub. " Take of Sweet Almonds eight ounces; Gum Arabic, in powder, an ounce; Sugar four ounces. Having macerated the Almonds in cold water, and deprived them of their external coat, beat all the ingredients together till they are thoroughly incorporated. The confection may be kept longer, if the Almonds, Gum Arabic, and Sugar, separately rubbed, should be after- wards mixed. Then, whenever the confection is to be used, beat the whole together until incorporated." Lond. This preparation was introduced into the last edition of our Pharmaco- poeia, from that of London, as affording a speedy method of preparing the almond mixture, which when made immediately from the almonds requires much lime, and which cannot be kept ready made in the shops. (See Mis- tura Amygdalae.) The U. S. Pharmacopoeia does not indicate the variety of almonds, whether sweet or bitter. The process will answer equally well for either; but the former should always be employed when the latter are not expressly ordered. W. CONFECTIO AROMATICA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Aromatic Confection. " Take of Aromatic Powder an ounce; Syrup of Orange Peel two ounces. Beat them together till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. The process of the Edinburgh College is essentially the same. "Take of Cinnamon, Nutmegs, each, two ounces; Cloves an ounce; Cardamoms half an ounce; Saffron tioo ounces; Prepared Chalk sixteen ounces; Sugar two pounds. Rub the dry ingredients together to a very fine powder, and keep them in a closed vessel. But when the confection is to be used, add water gradually, and mix till a thorough incorporation is effected." Lond. The Dublin formula corresponds with that of the former London Phar- macopoeia, which directed the same ingredients as in the present formula, but added a pint of water to the dry materials and incorporated the whole together at one time. The preparation of the United States Pharmacopoeia contains cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom, without carbonate of lime, which appears to us to be an unnecessary if not improper ingredient; as it is not always indicated in cases which call for the use of the confection, and may be added extem- poraneously when required. The aromatic confection affords a convenient method of administering the spices which enter into its composition. It is given in debilitated states of the stomach, alone or as an adjuvant to other medicines. The dose is from ten to sixty grains. W. CONFECTIO AURANTII CORTICIS. U.S. Confectio Au- rantii. Lond. Conserva Citri Aurantii. Ed. Confection of Orange Peel. "Take of Fresh Orange Peel, separated by grating, a pound; Sugar [refined] three pounds. Beat the Orange Peel with the Sugar gradually added, till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. The directions of the London and Edinburgh Colleges correspond with the above. By the London process, the beating is performed in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle. 844 Confectiones. PART II. This confection is sometimes used as a grateful aromatic vehicle or adjunct of tonic and purgative powders. CONFECTIO CASSLE. Lond. Electuarium Cassije Fistulje. Ed. Electuarium Cassia. Diib. Confection of Cassia. " Take of Cassia [pulp] half a pound; Manna two ounces; Tamarind [pulp] an ounce; Syrup of roses eight fluidounces. Bruise the Manna, and dissolve it in the Syrup; then mix in the Cassia and Tamarind [pulps], and evaporate to a proper consistence." Lond. The Edinburgh College orders four parts of the cassia pulp, one part of tamarind pulp, one part of manna, and four parts of the syrup of pale roses. The formula of the Dublin College corresponds with that of the London, except that syrup of orange peel is substituted for the syrup of roses. The confection of cassia is slightly laxative; but is seldom if ever pre- pared in this country, and might very properly be expunged from the cata- logue of Preparations, as it is both feeble and expensive. . W. ELECTUARIUM CATECHU COMPOSITUM. Ed., Dub. Compound Electuary of Catechu. " Take of Extract of Catechu [Catechu]/cmr ounces; Kino three ounces; Cinnamon Bark, Nutmegs, each, an ounce; Opium diffused in a sufficient quantity of Sherry Wine, a drachm and a half; Syrup of Red Roses boiled to the consistence of honey, two pounds and a quarter. Reduce the solids to powder; and mix them with the Opium and Syrup; so as to form an electuary." Ed. " Take of Catechuybur ounces; Cinnamon Bark two ounces; Kino three ounces. Rub these to powder and add of Turkey Opium diffused in Spanish White Wine, a drachm and a half; Syrup of Ginger, evaporated to the consistence of honey, two pounds and a quarter. Mix them." Dub. These preparations do not essentially differ. They are aromatic and as- tringent, containing one grain of opium in about two hundred grains of the mass; and may be advantageously given in diarrhoea and chronic dysentery, in the dose of half a drachm or a drachm more or less frequently repeated. They may be taken in the form of bolus, or difl'used in water. W. CONFECTIO OPII. U.S., Lond., Dub. Electuarium Opia- tum. Ed. Confection of Opium. " Take of Opium, in powder, six drachms; Aromatic powder six ounces; Tragacanth, in powder, two drachms; Syrup a pint. Rub the Opium with the Syrup previously heated; then add the other ingredients, and beat the whole together till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. In the Dublin formula, an ounce of long pepper, two ounces of ginger, and three ounces of caraway seeds, all in powder, hold the place of the six ounces of aromatic powder directed by the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. In other respects the processes are identical. The Edinburgh College directs six ounces of aromatic powder; three ounces of Virginia snake-root in fine powder; half an ounce of opium difl'used in a sufficient quantity of sherry wine; and a pound of syrup of ginger. The London College directs the same ingredients as the Dublin, but proceeds differently, first rubbing the dry materials into a very fine powder, which is kept in a close vessel, and afterwards mixing the powder with the heated syrup, when the confection is wanted for use. This confection was intended as a substitute for those exceedingly com- plex and unscientific preparations which were formerly known by the names of theriaca and mithridate, and which have been expelled from modern PART II. Confectiones. 845 pharmacy. It is a combination of opium with spices, which render it more stimulant, and more grateful to a debilitated stomach. It is given in atonic gout, flatulent colic, diarrhcea unattended with inflammation, and in various other diseases requiring the use of a stimulant narcotic. Added to Peruvian bark or sulphate of quinia it increases considerably the efficacy of this remedy in obstinate cases of intermittent fever. One grain of opium is con- tained in about thirty-six grains of the confection prepared according to the U.S., London, and Dublin processes, and in forty-three grains of the Edin- burgh electuary. W. CONFECTIO PIPERIS NIGRI. Lond., Dub. Confection of Black Pepper. " Take of Black Pepper, Elecampane, each, a pound; Fennel [seeds] three pounds; Honey, Sugar [refined], each, two pounds. Rub the dry ingredients together into a very fine powder, and keep them in a covered vessel. But whenever the Confection is to be used, add the Honey, and beat them until thoroughly incorporated." Lond. The Dublin College takes the same materials, in the same proportions, and in like manner reduces them to powder; but completes the process by immediately incorporating the honey with the other ingredients, as formerly directed by the London College. This preparation was intended as a substitute for Ward's paste, which acquired some reputation in Great Britain as a remedy in piles. To do good, it must be continued, according to Mr. Brodie, for two, three, or four months. The dose is from one to two drachms repeated two or three times a day. Its stimulating properties render it inapplicable'to cases attended with much inflammation. W. CONFECTIO ROSJE. U.S. Confectio RosiE Gallics. Lond. Conserva Rosje Gallick. Ed. Conserva RosiE. Dub. Confec- tion of Roses. Conserve of Roses. " Take of Red Roses, unblown, a pound; Sugar [refined] three pounds. Bruise the Roses; then, gradually adding the Sugar, beat the two together till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. This process agrees with those of the three British Colleges. The Lon- don College directs the beating to be performed in a stone mortar. The unblown petals only are used, and these should be deprived of their claws; in other words, the rose buds should be cut off a short distance above their base, and the lower portion rejected. This confection is slightly astringent, but is almost exclusively used as a vehicle of other medicines, or to impart consistence to the pilular mass. Off.Prep. Piluke Hydrargyri, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. CONFECTIO ROS^E CANINE. Lond. Conserva RosiE Ca- nine. Ed. Confection of the Dog-rose.. " Take of Dog-rose [pulp] apotmd; Sugar [refined], in powder, twenty ounces. Expose the Pulp to a gentle heat in an earthen vessel; then add the Sugar gradually, and rub them together until they are thoroughly mixed." Lond. " Beat the ripe Fruit of the Dog-rose, carefully cleansed from the seeds and down, to a pulp; and, while beating it, add gradually three times its weight of Refined Sugar." Ed. This preparation is acidulous and refrigerant, and is used in Europe for forming more active medicines Into pills and electuaries. W. 72* 846 Confecliones. part ii. CONFECTIO RUT.E. Lond. Conserva Rutje. Dub. Confec- tion of Rue. " Take of dried Rue, Caraway, Laurel Berries, each, an ounce and a half; Sagapenum half an ounce; Black Pepper two draehms; Honey [clari- fied] sixteen ounces. Rub the dry ingredients together to a very fine pow- der, and preserve them. Then, as often as the confection is to be used, add the Honey, and mix the whole together." Lond. The Dublin process differs only in the immediate addition of the honey to the other ingredients. The confection of rue is antispasmodic, and in Great Britain is employed in the form of enema in hysterical complaints and flatulent cholic; but in this country it is not used. From a scruple to a drachm may be administered, diffused in half a pint of warm mucilaginous fluid. W. CONFECTIO SCAMMONII. U.S., Lond. Electuarium Scam- monii. Dub. Confection of Scammony. " Take of Scammony, Ginger, each, in powder, an ounce; Oil of Cloves twenty minims; Syrup of Orange Peel a sufficient quantity. Rub together the Scammony and Ginger; then drop in the Syrup, and again rub them; lastly, add the Oil of Cloves, and beat the whole together, till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. The London and Dublin Colleges order an ounce and a half of powdered scammony; six drachms of bruised cloves; six drachms of powdered ginger; half a fluidrachm of oil of caraway; and a sufficient quantity of syrup of roses. In the London process, the dry ingredients are first rubbed together to a very fine powder; then, as often as the confection is to be used, the syrup is dropped in, and the mixture again rubbed; and finally, the oil of caraway is added, and all are mixed. The Dublin College immediately in- corporates the syrup and oil with the dry ingredients. This confection is actively cathartic in the dose of half a drachm or a drachm; but is very little used. The proportion of scammony is uncertain, from the indefinite quantity of syrup employed. W. CONFECTIO SENN^. U. S., Lond. Electuarium Sennje Compositum. Ed. Electuarium Sennae. Dub. Confection of Senna. Electuarium Lenitivum. Lenitive Electuary. " Take of Senna eight ounces; Coriander [seed] four ounces; Liquorice Root, bruised, three ounces; Figs a pound; Pulp of Prunes, Pulp of Ta- marinds, Pulp of Purging Cassia, each, half a pound; Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half; Water four pints. Rub the Senna and Coriander together, and separate ten ounces of the powder with a sieve. Boil the re- sidue with the Figs and Liquorice Root, in the Water, to one half; then press out the liquor and strain it. Evaporate the strained liquor by means of a water-bath to a pint and a half; then add the Sugar and form a syrup. Lastly, rub the Pulps gradually with the syrup, and having thrown in the sifted powder, beat the whole together till they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. The L,ondon process corresponds with the above. The Edinburgh Col- lege directs a pound of figs, and omits the cassia pulp. The Dublin Col- lege boils a pound of the pulp of prunes, and two ounces of the pulp of tamarinds, in a pint and a half of molasses, to the thickness of honey; then adds four ounces of senna in very fine powder, and, when the mixture cools, two drachms of oil of caraway; and, lastly, mixes the whole intimately. The confection of senna, when properly made, is an elegant preparation. The pulp of purging cassia is most .conveniently obtained by boiling the PART II. Confectiones.—Cuprum. 847 bruised pods m water, straining the decoction, and evaporating to the con- Z r?^ a" ele?,tl,ary- The PulP «f P™nes ™*Y be prepared by boiling the lruit in a small quantity of water to soften it, then pressing it through a nair sieve, and evaporating to a proper consistence. The tamarinds, when 100 ory lor immediate use, may by treated in the same manner. In each case, the evaporation should be completed by means of a water-bath, in order to prevent the pulps from being burnt. It is common to omit the cassia pulp in tne preparation of the confection, as the pods are not always to be found in the market. But as this is next to senna the most active ingredient the omission is to be regretted; and there is no doubt that a steady demand for the lruit would be met by an abundant supply from the West Indies. 1 his is one of our best and most pleasant laxatives, being admirably adapted to eases of habitual costiveness, especially in pregnant women and persons affected with piles. It is also very useful in the constipation which is apt to attend convalescence from fevers and other acute diseases. The mean dose is two drachms, to be taken at bed-time. W. CUPRUM. Preparations of Copper. CUPRI ACETAS PRiEPARATUS. U.S. Cupri Subacetas 1 k^paratum. Dub. Prepared Acetate of Copper. "Take of Acetate of Copper [verdigris] any quantity. Let it be prepared in the manner directed for Carbonate of Lime." U. S. " Let the Subacetate of Copper be ground to powder, and the finer parts separated m the manner directed for the preparation of Chalk." Dub. The object of this process is, by levigation and elutriation,'to reduce ver- digris to the state of a very fine powder. A chemical change is at the same tune produced, which was not originally contemplated. Verdigris is an im- pure diacetate of copper, consisting of one equivalent df acid, two equiv of protoxide, and six of water. By the action of water it is converted into the soluble neutral acetate and an insoluble triacetate. The latter, consisting of one equiv. of acetic acid, three equiv. of protoxide of copper, and one and a half of water, is the Prepared Acetate of Copper of the Pharmacopoeia, which therefore differs from commercial verdigris in composition as well as in its state of aggregation. (See Cupri Acetas.) This preparation is used only as an escharotic and stimulant application to unhealthy ulcers and ob- stinate cutaneous eruptions. rr °Jf-PJT 0xymel CuPri Subacetatis, Bub.; Unguentum Cupri Acetatis, U. S., Dub. * vy ' CUPRUM AMMONIATUM. U.S., Dub. Cupri Ammonio-Sul- phas. Lond. Ammoniaretum Cupri. Ed. Ammoniated Copper » Take of Sulphate of Copper half an ounce; Carbonate of Ammonia six drachms. Rub them together in a glass mortar till the effervescence ceases; then wrap the Ammoniated Copper in bibulous paper, and dry it with a gentle heat. Let it be kept in a well stopped glass bottle." U S The processes of the British Colleges are essentially the same as'the above, the ingredients, proportions, and general mode of operating beino- identical. The London College orders that the salt be dried in the air, and omits the direction as to the mode of keeping it; the Edinburgh directs that 843 Cuprum. part li- the product, after being wrapped in bibulous paper, should be dried first on a chalk stone, and afterwards by a gentle heat: and the Dublin orders the ingredients to be triturated in an earthenware mortar. When the two salts above mentioned are rubbed together, a reaction takes place between them, attended with the extrication of the water of crystalliza- tion of the sulphate of copper, which renders the mass moist, and the simul- taneous escape of carbonic acid gas from the carbonate of ammonia, which occasions an effervescence. The colour is at the same time altered, passing from the light blue of the powdered sulphate of copper to a beautiful deep azure. The nature of the chemical changes which take place is not precisely known. The blue vitriol parts with a portion of its acid to the ammonia of the carbonate, thus forming a subsulphate of copper and sulphate of ammonia, which are either mixed together, or, what is more probable, chemically united in the form of a double salt. With this view of its nature, the preparation might be called a sulphate of copper and ammonia, and consi- dered identical with the crystallized salt, obtained by dropping a solution of pure ammonia into a solution of sulphate of. copper till the subsalt first thrown down is dissolved, then concentrating, and precipitating by alcohol. But the ammonia of the carbonate employed in the process for preparing the ammoniated copper, is much more than sufficient to saturate the whole of the sulphuric acid of the sulphate of copper; and it is probable, therefore, lhat there is in the preparation an excess of carbonate of ammonia, which varies according to the temperature employed in drying the medicine. It is not, indeed, impossible, that, as stated by Brande, a carbonate of copper and ammonia may be among its constituents. In this uncertainty as to its precise nature, the name of ammoniated copper appears to be as appropriate for a pharmaceutical title as any that could be adopted. 7'his salt is of a fine blue colour, which, on exposure, becomes green, in consequence, probably, of the escape of ammonia. This change is apt to take place to a greater or less extent while it is drying; and it should not, therefore, be prepared in large quantities at a time, and should be carefully excluded from the air. It has the odour of ammonia, and a styptic, metallic taste. It is soluble in water; but, according to Mr. Phillips, is decomposed by this fluid when used in very large proportion. Potassa, lime-water, and the acids are incompatible with it. Medical Properties and Uses. Ammoniated copper is tonic, and has been much employed in epilepsy, in which it was recommended by Cullen. There is good reason to believe that it has occasionally effected cures; but like all other remedies in that complaint it very frequently fails. It has also been used in chorea, hysteria, and worms; and by Swediaur as an injection in gonorrhoea and leucorrhcea. In over-doses it produces vomiting, and the poisonous effects which result from the other preparations of Copper. (See Cuprum.) It is said, however, to be less apt to excite nausea. The dose is a quarter or half a grain, repeated twice a day, and gradually increased to four or five grains. It may be given in pill or solution. The medicine should not be very long continued without interruption; according to Cullen, not longer than a month. Off. Prep. Cupri Ammoniati Aqua, Dub., Lond. Wr. CUPRI AMMONIATI AQUA. Dub. Liquor Cupri Ammonio- Sulphatis. Lond. Solution of Ammoniated Copper. "Take of Ammonio-Sulphate of Copper a drachm; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Ammonio-Sulphate of Copper in the Water, and filter." Lond. part ii. Cuprum.—Decocta. 849 The Dublin College employs one part of the salt to one hundred parts of distilled water. By the quantity of water employed in these processes, the ammoniated copper, unless it contain an excess of carbonate of ammonia, is said by Mr. Phillips to be decomposed, with a precipitation of one-half of the oxide of copper. According to the same author, a smaller portion of water dissolves it perfectly. This solution is sometimes employed as a stimulant to foul and indolent ulcers, and, diluted with water, as an application to the cornea when affected with specks or opacity; but it is probably in no respect superior for these purposes to the solution of sulphate of copper, and scarcely deserves a place among the officinal preparations. SOLUTIO SULPHATIS CUPRI COMPOSITA. Ed. Com- pound Solution of Sulphate of Copper. "Take of Sulphate of Copper, Alum, each, three ounces; Water two pounds; Sulphuric Acid an ounce and a half. Boil the Sulphates in the Water that they may be dissolved; and then to the liquor filtered through paper add the Acid." Ed. No chemical reaction takes place between the ingredients of this solution, which might with great propriety be left to extemporaneous prescription. It has been used chiefly as a styptic to arrest hemorrhages, being applied to the bleeding surface by means of dossils of lint. It has been employed also in the purulent ophthalmia of infants, largely diluted with water. W. —"■»♦►♦© @ ©«*•*— DECOCTA. Decoctions. Decoctions are solutions of vegetable principles, obtained by boiling the substances containing these principles in water. Vegetables generally yield their soluble ingredients more readily and in larger proportion to water maintained at the point of ebullition, than to the same liquid at a lower tem- perature. Hence decoction is occasionally preferred to infusion as a mode of extracting the virtues of plants, when the call for the remedy is urgent, and the greatest possible activity in the preparation is desirable. The process should be conducted in a covered vessel, so as to confine the vapour over the surface of the liquid, and thus prevent the access of atmospheric air, which sometimes exerts an injurious agency upon the active principle. The boiling, moreover, should not, as a general rule, be long continued; as the ingredients of the vegetable are apt to react on each other, and thus lose, to a greater or less extent, their original character. The substance submitted to decoction, should if dry be either powdered or well bruised, if fresh should be sliced, so that it may present an extensile surface to the action of the solvent; and previous maceration for some time in water is occasionally useful by overcoming the cohesion of the vegetable fibre. All vegetable substances are not proper objects for decoction. In many the active principle is volatile at a boiling heat, in others it undergoes some change unfavourable to its activity, and in a third set is associated with inefficient or nauseous principles, which, though insoluble or but slightly soluble in cool water, are abundantly extracted by that liquid at the boiling temperature, and thus encumber, if they do not positively injure the prepa- 850 Decocta. part ii. ration. In all these instances, infusion is preferable to decoction. Besides, by the latter process, more matter is often dissolved than the water can retain in solution, so that upon cooling a precipitation takes place, and the liquid is rendered turbid. When the active principle is thus dissolved in excess, the decoction should always be strained while hot, so that the matter which separates on cooling, may be mixed again with the fluid by agitation at the time of administering the remedy. In compound decoctions, the ingredients may be advantageously added at different periods of the process, according to the length of boiling requisite for extracting their virtues; and, should any one of them owe its activity to a volatile principle, the proper plan is, at the close of the process, to pour upon it the boiling decoction, and allow the liquor to cool in a covered vessel. Decoctions, from the mutual reaction of their constituents, as well as from the influence of the air, are apt to spoil in a short time. Hence they should be prepared only when wanted for use, and should not be kept in warm weather, for a longer period than forty-eight hours. W. DECOCTUM ALOES COMPOSITUM. Lond., Dub. Com- pound Decoction of Aloes. "Take of Extract of Liquorice half an ounce; Carbonate of Potassa tioo scruples; Hepatic Aloes in powder, Myrrh in powder, Saffron, each, a drachm; Water a pint. Boil together to twelve ounces, and strain; then add four fluidounces of Compound Tincture of Cardamom." Dub. " Take of Extract of Liquorice seven drachms; Carbonate of Potassa a drachm; Aloes in powder, Myrrh in powder, Saffron, each, a drachm and a half; Compound Tincture of Cardamom seven fluidounces; Distilled Water a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Boil the Liquorice, Carbonate of Potassa, Aloes, Myrrh, and Saffron with the Water, to a pint, and strain; then add the Compound .Tincture of Cardamom." Lond. There is no essential difference between the two processes. That of the Dublin College is preferable for practical purposes in this country, as the measures correspond with our own; while those of the London College, adopted at the last revision of their Pharmacopoeia, being divisions of the British Imperial gallon, are wholly inapplicable here. The effect of the alkaline carbonate is, by combining with the resinous ingredient (apotheme, Berzelius,) of the aloes, to render it more soluble in water, while the liquorice assists in the suspension of the portion not actually dissolved. The tincture of cardamom is useful not only by its cordial pro- perty, but also by preventing spontaneous decomposition. Long boiling impairs the purgative property of aloes; and the same effect is thought to be produced, to a certain extent, by the alkalies, which cer- tainly qualify its operation, and render it less apt to irritate the rectum. This decoction, therefore, is milder as a cathartic than aloes itself, and not so liable to produce or aggravate hemorrhoidal disease. At the same time it is more tonic and cordial from the presence of the myrrh, saffron, and car- damom, and derives antacid properties from the carbonate of potassa. It is given as a gentle cathartic, tonic, and emmenagogue; and is especially useful in dyspepsia, habitual constipation, and those complicated cases in which suppressed or retained menstruation is connected with enfeebled digestion and a languid state of bowels. The dose is from half a fluidounce to two fluidounces. It should not be combined in prescription with acids, acidulous salts, or other saline bodies which are incompatible with the alkaline carbonate em- ployed in its preparation. W. part ii. Decocta. 851 DECOCTUM ALTHMJE. Dub. Decoctum Althaa Offici- nalis. Ed. Decoction of Marsh Mallow. " Take of the Herb and Root of Marsh Mallow, dried and bruised, four ounces; Raisins, stoned, two ounces; Water seven pints. Boil down to five pints, and strain the liquor; then set it by till the dregs have subsided, and decant." Dub. The Edinburgh College orders the roots only of the marsh mallow, and seven pounds of water. This decoction is a simple mucilage flavoured with raisins; and may be used advantageously as a drink, in all cases in which demulcents are indi- cated. W. DECOCTUM ANTHEMIDIS NOBILIS. Ed. Decoctum Cha- mameli Compositum. Dub. Decoction of Chamomile. "Take of dried Chamomile Flowers an ounce; Caraway Seeds, bruised, half an ounce; Water five pounds. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and strain." Ed. " Take of dried Chamomile Flowers half an ounce; Fennel Seeds two drachms; Water a pint. Boil for a short time, and strain." Dub. In preparing these decoctions, the aromatic should not be added till near the end of the process. They contain the bitter extractive of the chamo- mile, with little of its peculiar aroma, which is dissipated by the boiling. They are inferior, therefore, for internal use, to the infusion; and are calcu- lated only for fomentations and enemata. Wr. DECOCTUM CHIMAPHILA. Lond. Decoctum Pyrola. Dub. Decoction of Pipsissewa, or Winter Green. " Take of Pipsissewa an ounce; Distilled Water a pint and a half [Impe- rial measure]. Boil to a pint, and strain." Lond. " Take of Pipsissewa an ounce; Water two pints. Macerate for six hours; then take out the Pipsissewa, and having bruised it, return it to the liquor, and evaporate until enough remains to afford one pint of decoction strained with expression." Dub. The previous maceration directed by the Dublin College is quite super- fluous, especially in relation to the fresh leaves, which may almost always be obtained in this country. The medical properties and uses of Pipsissewa have been detailed under the head of Chimaphila. One pint of the decoc- tion may be taken in the course of twenty-four hours. W. DECOCTUM CINCHONA. U.S., Dub. Decoctum Cinchona Cordifolia. Decoctum Cinchona Lancifolia. Decoctum Cin- chona Oblongifolia. Lond. Decoctum Cinchona Lancifolia. Ed. Decoction of Peruvian Bark. " Take of Peruvian Bark, bruised, an ounce; Water a pint. Boil for ten minutes in a covered vessel, and strain the liquor while hot." U. S. The London College directs separate decoctions of the three varieties of bark, but in each case employs the same proportions and proceeds in the same way. Their process is essentially the same as ours. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges employ only the pale bark. The process of the for- mer differs from that of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia only in the quantity of water, which is a pound and a half instead of a pint. The latter, without specifying the length of boiling, orders an ounce of the bark, in coarse pow- der, and enough water to yield a pint of the strained decoction. As the red and yellow barks are certainly not less efficient than the pale, nor less adapted for decoction, we can discover no reason for restricting the 852 Decocta. part ii. process to one variety, and therefore decidedly prefer the American or Lon- don formula, which leaves to the physician the liberty of choice. The virtues of Peruvian bark, though extracted more rapidly by decoc- tion than by infusion, are materially impaired by long boiling, in conse- quence of the changes effected in its constituents, either by their mutual re- action, or by the agency of atmospheric oxygen, or by both causes united. To prevent this result, the process is directed to be performed in a covered vessel, and to continue only ten minutes. But even with these precautions a considerable precipitate takes place in the decoction upon cooling, which is thus rendered turbid. According to Pelletier, besides the kinates of cin- chonia and quinia, the water dissolves gum, starch, yellow colouring matter, kinate of lime, tannin, and a portion of cinchonic red, with a minute quan- tity of fatty matter. But the tannin and starch, at the boiling temperature, unite to form a compound insoluble in cold water; and, when the decoction is allowed to cool, this compound is precipitated, together with a portion of the cinchonic red and fatty matter, which carry with them also a considerable quantity of the alkaline principle of the bark. (Journ. de Pharm. vii. 119.) Hence the decoction is ordered to be strained while hot, so that the portion of active matter precipitated may be mingled by agitation with the liquor, and not be lost. Pelletier recommends that a larger proportion of water, sufficient to retain the alkali in solution, ne employed, that the decoction be filtered when cold, and then sufficiently concentrated by evaporation. But this process would be unnecessarily tedious. A better plan is to add to the liquid some acid which may form with the quinia and cinchonia compounds more soluble than the native salts. Lemon juice has been long employed as a useful addition to the decoction of cinchona, and we can now under- stand the manner in which it acts. Sulphuric acid in excess answers the same purpose. By acidulating the pint of water employed in preparing the decoction with one fluidrachm of the aromatic or diluted sulphuric acid, we shall probably enable the menstruum to extract all the virtues of the bark. The propriety of such an addition is confirmed by the experiments of MM. Henry, Jun. and Plisson, who have ascertained that portions of the alkalies exist in the bark connected with the colouring matter in the form of insolu- ble compounds, and that it is impossible, therefore, completely to exhaust the bark by water alone. There may, however, be some diversity of action between the different salts of quinia and cinchonia; and the native kinates may under certain circumstances be most efficient. As the bark is never completely exhausted by decoction in the ordinary way, it has been proposed to employ the residue for the extraction of quinia or cinchonia; but this could be done advantageously only in hospitals or great public establishments, where large quantities of the preparation are employed. Nnmerous substances produce precipitates with this decoction; but com- paratively few affect its activity as a medicine. (See Infusum Cinchonae.) Tannic, gallic, oxalic, and tartaric acids, and the substances containing them, should be excluded from the decoction; as they form salts with the alkaline principles of the bark, which are either insoluble or but slightly soluble in water. The alkalies, alkaline earths, and salifiable bases generally, should also be excluded, because, uniting with the kinic acid, they precipitate the quinia and cinchonia. The dose of the decoction is two fluidounces, to be repeated more or less frequently according to circumstances. Two drachms of orange peel added to the decoction while still boiling hot, improve its flavour, and render it more pleasant to the stomach. W. PART IL Decocta. 853 DECOCTUM CORNUS FLORIDA. U.S. Decoction of Dog- wood. " Take of Dogwood [bark], bruised, an ounce; Water a pint. Boil for ten minutes in a covered vessel, and strain the liquor while hot." U.S. This decoction has been proposed as a substitute for that of Peruvian bark; but, though possessed of analogous properties, it is much inferior in efficacy, and is not likely to be extensively employed so long as the Peru- vian tonic is attainable. The dose is two fluidounces. W. DECOCTUM CYDONIA. Lond. Decoction of Quince Seeds. " Take of Quince [seeds] two drachms; Water a pint. Boil over a slow fire for ten minutes; then strain." Lond. This decoction is viscid, nearly colourless, insipid, and inodorous; and consists chiefly of the mucilaginons principle of the quince seeds dissolved in water. For an account of the properties and uses of this mucilage see Cydonia. The decoction speedily undergoes decomposition, and should, therefore, be used immediately after being prepared. W. DECOCTUxM DULCAMARA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Decoction of Bittersweet. " Take of Bittersweet, bruised, an ounce; Water a pint and a half. Boil down to a pint and strain." U.S. The processes of the British Colleges correspond with the above. The slender twigs of the bittersweet are the part employed. Their pro- perties and uses have been already detailed under the head of Dulcamara. The dose of the decoction is from one to two fluidounces three or four times a day. W. DECOCTUM GEOFFROYA. Dub. Decoctum Geoffraa Inermis. Ed. Decoction of Cabbage-tree Bark. " Take of Cabbage-tree Bark, bruised, an ounce; Water two pints. Boil down to a pint, and to the strained liquor add two ounces of the Syrup of Orange Peel." Dub. " Take of Cabbage-tree Bark, in powder, an ounce; Water two pounds. Boil with a gentle fire down to one pound, and strain." Ed. This decoction has the colour of Madeira wine. It is powerfully anthel- mintic, and is a popular remedy in the West Indies. The disagreeable effects which are said to arise from an over-dose, or from drinking cold water during its operation, may be counteracted, according to Dr. Wright, by washing out the stomach with warm water, purging with castor oil, and administering lemonade freely. The dose for an adult is two fluidounces, for a child two or three years old, half a fluidounce, to be gradually increased at each successive administration till it produces nausea. W. DECOCTUM GLYCYRRHIZA. Dub. Decoction of Liquorice Root. " Take of Liquorice Root, bruised, an ounce and a half; Water a pint. Boil for ten minutes, and strain." Dub. This decoction may be used as a demulcent beverage, or as a vehicle for medicines of unpleasant flavour. DECOCTUM GRANATI. Lond. Decoction of Pomegranate. " Take of Pomegranate [rind] two ounces; Distilled Water a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Boil down to a pint and strain." Lond. The dose of this decoction is a fluidounce. For its uses see Granatum. 73 854 Decocla. PART II. DECOCTUM GUAIACI COMPOSITUM. Ed., Dub. Com- pound Decoction of Guaiacum Wood. "Take of Guaiacum Wood, rasped, three ounces; Raisins two ounces; Sassafras Root, sliced, Liquorice Root, bruised, each, an ounce; Water ten pounds. Boil the Guaiacum Wood and Raisins with the Water down to five pounds, adding, tojvards the end of the process, the Sassafras and Li- quorice Root; then strain." Ed. " Take of Guaiacum Wood, rasped, three ounces; Sassafras Root, sliced, ten drachms; Liquorice Root, bruised, two ounces and a half; Water ten pints. Boil the Guaiacum AVood in the Water down to one half; near the end of the boiling add the Liquorice and Sassafras, and strain the liquor." Dub. This is the old decoction of the woods. Notwithstanding its former reputation, it is little more than a demulcent drink; for water is capable of dissolving but a minute proportion of the active matter of guaiacum wood, and one ounce of sassafras root can impart no appreciable activity to five pints of menstruum. It was thought useful in chronic rheumatism and cuta- neous affections, and as an adjuvant to a mercurial course in syphilis, or an alterative course of antimonials. As the patient was directed to be kept warm during its use, it no doubt acted favourably in some instances as a mere diluent, by promoting perspiration. From one to two pints may be taken in the course of the day, in doses of about four fluidounces. W. DECOCTUM HAMATOXYLI. U.S. Decoction of Logwood. " Take of Logwood, rasped, an ounce; Water two pints. Boil down to a pint, and strain." U.S. This is an excellent astringent in diarrhcea, particularly in that form of it which succeeds the cholera infantum of this climate, or occurs as an original complaint in children during summer. The dose for an adult is two fluid- ounces, for a child about two years old, two fluidrachms, repeated several times a day. A little bruised cinnamon may often be added with advantage at the end of the boiling. W. DECOCTUM HORDEI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Decoctum Hordei Distichi. Ed. Decoction of Barley. " Take of [Pearl] Barley two ounces; Water four pints and a half. First wash away, with cold water, the extraneous matters which adhere to the Barley; then pour upon it half a pint of the Water, and boil for a short time. Haying thrown away this water, pour the remainder boiling hot upon the Barley; then boil down to two pints, and strain." U.S. The processes of the British Colleges do not essentially differ from the above. Barley water, as this decoction is usually called, is much employed as a nutritive drink in febrile and inflammatory complaints, and, from the total absence of irritating properties, is peculiarly adapted to cases in which the gastric or intestinal mucous membrane is inflamed. As the stomach of those for whom it is directed is often exceedingly delicate, and apt to revolt against any thing having the slightest unpleasantness of flavour, it is important that the decottion should be properly made; and though the office of preparing it generally falls to nurses, yet the introduction of the process into the Pharmacopoeia is not without advantage, as a formula is thus ever before the physician, by which he may give his directions, with the certainty, if obeyed, of having a good preparation. The use of the washing with cold water, and of the first short boiling, is completely to remove any musti- PART II. Decocta. 855 ness, or other disagreeable flavour, which the barley may have acquired from exposure. W. DECOCTUM HORDEI COMPOSITUM. Lond., Dub. Com- pound Decoction of Barley. "Take of Decoction of Barley two pints [Imperial measure]; Figs, sliced, two ounces and a half; Liquorice [root], sliced and bruised, five drachms; Raisins, stoned, two ounces and a half; Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Boil down to two pints [Imp. meas.], and strain." Lond. " Take of Decoction of Barley four pints; Raisins, stoned, Figs, sliced, each, two ounces; Liquorice root, sliced and bruised, half an ounce. Dur- ing the boiling, add first the Raisins, then the figs, and lastly the Liquorice Root a short time before it is finished, when the strained decoction ought to measure two pints." Dub. We prefer the London process, as it preserves the original strength of the simple decoction, which, according to the Dublin process, is, without any good reason that we can discover, concentrated to one half of its former bulk by evaporation. The compound decoction, in addition to the demul- cent and nutritive properties of the simple, is somewhat laxative, and may be preferably employed where there is a tendency to constipation. But it is so often necessary to vary the nature of the sapid ingredients to suit the taste of the patient, that it would be better to leave the preparation entirely to extemporaneous prescription; and the process has been accordingly omitted in the last edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. W. DECOCTUM LICHENIS. U.S. Decoctum Cetraria. Lond. Decoctum Lichenis Islandici. Ed., Dub. Decoction of Iceland Moss. " Take of Iceland Moss an ounce; Water a pint and a half. Boil down to a pint, and strain with compression." U.S. The London College orders five drachms of the moss with a pint and a half of water to be boiled to a pint and strained; but, as they use the Imperial measure, the proportion is in fact equivalent to about half an ounce to the apothecaries' pint. The Edinburgh College orders an ounce of the moss with two pounds of water to be boiled to sixteen ounces, and strained. By the Dublin process, half an ounce of the moss is digested for two hours in a close vessel with a pint of boiling water, then boiled for fifteen minutes, and the liquor strained while hot. As the bitter principle is dissolved along with the starch of the lichen, this decoction unites an unpleasant flavour to its demulcent properties; but the plan which has been proposed of first extracting the bitterness by macera- tion in water, or a very weak solution of an alkaline carbonate, and after- wards preparing the decoction, is inadmissible; as the peculiar virtues which distinguish the medicine from the ordinary demulcents are thus entirely lost. (See Lichen.) A pint of the decoction may be taken in divided doses during the twenty-four hours. W. DECOCTUM MALVA COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Decoction of Mallows. " Take of dried Mallows an ounce; dried Chamomile Flowers half an ounce; Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and strain." Lond. This is intended only for fomentations and enemata. 856 Decocta. part ii. DECOCTUM MEZEREI. Dub. Decoctum Daphnes Mezerei. Ed. Decoction of Mezereon. " Take of Bark of Mezereon Root two drachms; Liquorice Root, bruised, half an ounce; Water three pounds. Boil with a gentle fire down to two pounds, and strain." Ed. The Dublin process is essentially the same. This preparation affords a convenient mode of exhibiting mezereon, the acrimony of which is qualified by the demulcent principles of the liquorice root. For an account of its medical application, see Mezereum. The dose is from four to eight fluidounces four times a day. W. DECOCTUM PAPAVERIS. Lond., Dub. Decoction of Poppy. " Take of White Poppy Capsules, sliced, four ounces; \Yater four pints [two pints, Dub.]. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and strain." Lond. This decoction is used as an anodyne fomentation in painful tumours and superficial cutaneous inflammation or excoriation. It is recommended not to reject the seeds, as their oil, suspended in the water by the mucilage of the capsules, adds to the emollient virtues of the preparation. W. DECOCTUM QUERCUS. Lond., Dub. Decoctum Quercus Roboris. Ed. Decoction of Oak Bark. " Take of Bark of the Quercus Robur an ounce; Water two pints. Boil down to a pint, and strain." Dub. The London College boils ten drachms of oak bark with two pints of water to a pint; but as they use the Imperial measure the proportion is es- sentially the same as that of the Dublin College. The Edinburgh College directs two pounds and a half of water, and boils to sixteen ounces. This decoction contains the tannin, extractive, and gallic acid of oak bark. It affords precipitates with the decoction of Peruvian Bark, solution of ge- latin, and with most metallic salts, particularly those of iron. Alkaline solu- tions diminish or destroy its astringency. Its uses have been already detailed. The dose is a wineglassful, frequently repeated. W. DECOCTUM SARSAPARILLA. U.S., Dub. Decoctum Sarza. Lond. Decoctum Smilacis Sarsaparilla. Ed. Decoc- tion of Sarsaparilla. " Take of Sarsaparilla, sliced and bruised, six ounces; Water six pints. Boil down to four pints, and strain." U.S. " Take of Sarsaparilla, sliced, five ounces; Boiling Distilled Water four pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for four hours in a covered vessel, near the fire, then take out the Sarsaparilla and bruise it. Put it again into the liquor, and macerate it in the same manner for two hours more; then boil down to two pints [Imp. meas.] and strain." Lond. The Dublin College orders four ounces of the root, previously washed, and four pints of boiling water, and proceeds as directed by the London College, except that the second maceration is omitted. " Take of the Root of Sarsaparilla, sliced, six ounces; Water eight pounds. Digest for two hours with a heat of about 195°; then take out the Root, and having bruised it, return it to the liquor, boil down to four pounds, express and strain the decoction." Ed. Of these processes we decidedly prefer that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, both for its greater simplicity, and for the shorter continuance of the boiling. There can be no occasion for the maceration directed by the British Col- leges; as, if the root is sliced and well bruised, all its ingredients that are soluble in water may be extracted by a length of boiling sufficient to reduce PART II. Decocta. 857 the liquor to one-half. An idea was formerly entertained that the virtues of sarsaparilla resided in its fecula, the extraction of which was, therefore, the main object of the decoction. Hence the long boiling ordered by the Col- leges. But this opinion is now admitted to be erroneous. The activity of the root is believed to depend upon one or more acrid principles, soluble to a certain extent in water cold or hot, and either volatilized, or rendered inert by chemical change at the temperature of 212°. This fact appears to be demonstrated by the experiments of Pope,* Hancock,t Soubeiran,J and others. Hancock makes the following observations. "After long boiling, the peculiar odour which rises abundantly on the coction of good sarsa, is almost extinguished. From the sarsa prepared in this way, I found no sen- sible results upon any patient, nor were its peculiar nauseating, drowsy, and racking effects produced by a large quantity, although the decoction of six or eight ounces was tried at a dose. These experiments having been carried to a sufficient length, most of the same patients recovered under the use of the sarsa, taken from the same parcels as before, but now prepared by sim- ple maceration in hot water, i.e. affused in a boiling state, and kept near the boiling state for some hours. In all cases the sarsa was directed to be well bruised in large mortars, and in the mean time all other remedies were abstained from, which might, in any way, affect the result." M. Soubeiran macerated one portion of bruised sarsaparilla in cold water for twenty-four hours; infused another portion in boiling water, and digested with a mode- rate heat for two hours; boiled a third portion bruised, and a fourth un- bruised, in water for two hours; and in each instance used the same relative quantities. Testing these various preparations by the taste, he found the cold and hot infusion scarcely different in this respect; and both possessed of a stronger odour and more acrid taste than the decoctions, of which that prepared with the bruised root was the strongest. From all these facts the inference is obvious, that the best method of imparting the virtues of sarsa- parilla to water, is either by cold or hot infusion. Digestion for some hours in water maintained at a temperature of 180° or somewhat less, in a covered vessel, has the greatest weight of testimony in its favour. Decoction is the worst method; and the longer it is continued the weaker will be the prepa- ration. The process of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, which reduces the liquor only one-third by boiling, is, therefore, superior to those of the British Col- leges, which reduce it one-naif. It is probable that, as in the case of the Peruvian bark, a boiling of ten or fifteen minutes might be advantageously resorted to, when circumstances require the preparation to be made in less time than is requisite for infusion. In every instance the root should be thoroughly bruised, or reduced to a coarse powder, thus obviating the neces- sity for a long maceration, merely to overcome the cohesion of its fibres. Precipitates are produced by various substances with the decoction of sar- saparilla; but it has not been ascertained how far such substances interfere with its activity. Those which merely throw down the fecula do not injure the preparation. The simple decoction of sarsaparilla is chiefly used in the preparation of the compound decoction. If given alone, it may be administered in the dose of four or six fluidounces four times a day. W. * Trans, of the Medico-Chirurg. Society of Lond. vol. xii. p. 344. t Trans, of the Medieo-Botan. Society of Lond. See also Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vol. i. p. 295. The observations of Dr. Hancock are entitled to much credit, as he practised long in South America, in the neighbourhood of the best sarsaparilla regions. \ Journ. de Pharmacie, torn. xvi. p. 38. 73* 858 Decocta. part II. DECOCTUM SARSAPARILLA COMPOSITUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Compound Decoction of Sarsaparilla. " Take of Decoction of Sarsaparilla, boiling hot, four pints; Bark of Sassafras Root, sliced, Guaiacum Wood, rasped, Liquorice Root, bruised, each, an ounce; Mezereon, sliced, three drachms. Boil for a quarter of an hour, and strain." U.S. The London College takes four pints [Imperial] of the boiling-hot decoc- tion, ten drachms, each, of sassafras root, guaiacum wood, and liquorice root, and three drachms of mezereon; and then proceeds as above directed. The Dublin process is the same as that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, except that sassafras root is directed instead of the bark of the root. This decoction is an imitation of the celebrated Lisbon diet drink. The sarsaparilla and mezereon are the active ingredients; the guaiacum wood imparting scarcely any of its virtues; and the sassafras and liquorice serving little other purpose than to communicate a pleasant flavour. A better plan of preparing this decoction is to substitute for the four pints of decoction of sarsaparilla, six ounces of the root itself, thoroughly bruised or coarsely powdered, and four pints of water; and to allow the ingredients, after the completion of the boiling, to remain in a covered vessel in a warm place for two or three hours before straining. The boiling of fifteen minutes, and the subsequent maceration, would probably be sufficient to extract all the virtues of the sarsaparilla, which water alone, in the proportion indicated, is capable of taking up. If prepared with good sarsaparilla, and with a due regard to the practical rules which may now be considered as established, this docoction may be used with great advantage as a gentle diaphoretic and alterative in secondary syphilis, either alone, or as an adjuvant to a mercurial course; also in certain scrofulous and other depraved conditions of the system, in chronic rheumatism, and in various obstinate cutaneous affections. The dose is from four to six fluidounces three or four times a day. The patient during its use should wear flannel next the skin, and avoid unnecessary exposure to changes of temperature. W. DECOCTUM SCOPARII COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Decoction of Broom. " Take of Broom, Juniper Fruit, Dandelion, each, half an ounce; Dis- tilled Water a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Boil down to a pint [Imperial measure], and strain." Lond. This decoction may be used as an adjuvant to more powerful diuretics in dropsy. From half a pint to a pint may be taken during the day. W. DECOCTUM SENEGA. U.S., Lond.. Dub. Decoctum Poly- gala Senega. Ed. Decoction of Seneka. " Take of Seneka, bruised, an ounce; Water two pints. Boil down to a pint, and strain." U.S. The London College boils ten drachms of the root with two pints of dis- tilled water to a pint; but the relation of the Imperial measure used by this College to the common wine measure is such, that the proportions in the de- coction are essentially the same as those of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. The Edinburgh College directs two pounds of water, to be boiled down, with an ounce of Seneka, to sixteen ounces; the Dublin, a pint and a half of water, with three drachms of the root, to eight ounces. It is customary to add to the seneka an equal weight of liquorice root, which serves to cover its taste, and in some measure to obtund its acrimony. PART 11. Decocta. 859 The virtues and practical application of seneka have been already treated of. The dose of the decoction is about two fluidounces three or four times a day. W. DECOCTUM TARAXACI. Dub. Decoction of Dandelion. " Take of the Fresh Herb and Root of Dandelion four ounces; Water two pints. Boil down to a pint, and strain the expressed liquor." Dub. This decoction would be more efficient if prepared from the root alone. The dose is a wineglassful two or three times a day. (See Taraxacum.) DECOCTUM TORMENTILLA. Lond. Decoction of Tor- mentil. " Take of Tormentil, bruised, two ounces; Distilled Water a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Boil down to a pint and strain." Lond. This decoction is astringent, and may by given in the dose of one or two fluidounces, three or four times a day. W. DECOCTUM ULMI. Lond., Dub. Decoctum Ulmi Campes- tris. Ed. Decoction of Elm Bark. " Take of fresh Elm [bark], bruised, two ounces and a half; Distilled Water two pints [Imperial measure]. Boil down to a pint and strain." Lond. The Edinburgh College orders four ounces of the bark and five pounds of water to be reduced by boiling to two pounds and a half; the Dublin, two ounces of the bark and two pints of water, to be reduced to a pint. This decoction, being prepared from the bark of the European elm, is not used in this country. It had some repute in England as a remedy for certain cutaneous disorders; but has fallen into discredit. From four to six fluidounces were given two or three times a day. W. DECOCTUM UVA URSI. U.S. Decoction of Uva Ursi. " Take of Uva Ursi an ounce; Water twenty fluidounces. Boil down to a pint, and strain." U. S. This decoction contains the tannin, extractive, and gallic acid of the leaves. For an account of its uses see Uva Ursi. The dose is from one to two fluidounces three or four times a day. DECOCTUM VERATRI ALBI. U.S. Decoctum Veratri. Lond., Dub. Decoction of White Hellebore. " Take of White Hellebore, in powder, an ounce; Water two pints; Alcohol two fluidounces. Pour the Water upon the Hellebore and boil down to a pint; then strain the decoction, and after it has cooled add the Alcohol." U.S. The Dublin process corresponds with the above. The London College takes ten drachms of white hellebore, two pints [Imperial measure] of distilled water, and three fluidounces of rectified spirit; boils the root with the water down to a pint; then adds the spirit, expresses, and strains. The root of the white hellebore imparts its acrid properties to boiling water, and the decoction is powerfully cathartic and emetic; but, in conse- quence of the harshness of its action, it is not used internally. As an ex- ternal application it is employed in psora, tinaa capitis, lepra, and other cu- taneous eruptions, in which it sometimes proves highly beneficial. When the skin is very irritable, it should be diluted with an equal measure of water. Even externally applied it should be used with some caution; as the veratria, upon which its activity depends, may possibly be absorbed. As the plant 860 Emplastra. PART Il- ls not a native of this country, the Veratrum viride, which is similar in medical properties, may be advantageously substituted for it in the prepara- tion of the decoction. W". EMPLASTRA. Plasters. Plasters are solid compounds intended for external application, adhesive at the temperature of the human body, and of such a consistence as to ren- der the aid of heat necessary in spreading them. Most of them have as their basis a compound of olive oil and litharge, constituting the Emplas- trum Plumbi of the United States Pharmacopoeia; and it has been proposed by M. Deyeux to restrict the term plaster to those bodies which are formed by the mutual reaction of the metallic oxides and oil or fat. But this pro- position has not been adopted; and as the object of nomenclature is practical utility, there is an obvious propriety in retaining under the same officinal title, substances which, though differing in composition, are closely allied in all that relates to their pharmaceutic management. Those plasters which con- tain none of the compound of oil and litharge, owe their consistence and ad- hesiveness to resinous substances, or to a mixture of these with wax and oleaginous matter. Only two of this class have gained admission into our national Pharmacopoeia; several of those directed by the British Colleges having been rejected as superfluous, and the Emplastrum Cantharidis trans- ferred to the Cerates, to which class it properly belongs. In the preparation of the plasters, care is requisite that the heat employed be not sufficiently elevated to produce decomposition, nor so long continued as to drive off any volatile ingredient upon which the virtues of the prepa- ration may in a greater or less degree depend. After having been prepared, they are usually shaped into cylindrical rolls, and wrapped in paper to ex- clude the air. Plasters should be firm at ordinary temperatures, should spread easily when heated, and after being spread, should remain soft, plia- ble, and adhesive, without melting, at the heat of the human body. When long kept, they are apt to change colour and to become hard and brittle; and as this alteration is most observable upon their surface, it must depend chiefly upon the action of the air, which should therefore be as much as possible excluded. The defect may usually be remedied by melting the plaster with a moderate heat, and adding a sufficient quantity of oil to give ft the due consistence. Plasters are prepared for use by spreading them upon leather, linen, or muslin, according to the particular purposes they are intended to answer. Leather is most convenient when the application is made to the sound skin, linen or muslin when the plaster is used as a dressing to ulcerated or abra- ded surfaces, or with the view of bringing and retaining together the sides of wounds. The leather usually preferred is white sheep skin. A margin about a quarter or half an inch broad should usually be left uncovered, in order to facilitate the removal of the plaster, and to prevent the clothing in contact with its edges from being soiled. An accurate outline may be ob- tained by pasting upon the leather a piece of paper, so cut as to leave in the centre a vacant space of the required dimensions, and removing the paper when no longer required. The same object may sometimes be accomplished by employing two narrow rulers of sheet tin, graduated in inches, and so shaped PART II. Emplastra. 861 that each of them may form two sides of a rectangle. (See the figure, p. 734.) These may be applied in such a manner as to enclose within them any given rectangular space, and may be fixed by weights upon the leather while the plaster is spread. For any other shape, as in the instance of plasters for the breast, pieces of tin may be employed having a vacuity within, corresponding to the required outline. The spreading of the plaster is most conveniently accomplished by means of a peculiar iron instrument employed for the purpose; though a common spatula will answer. This may be heated by means of a spirit lamp. A sufficient portion of the plaster should first be melted by the heated instrument, and having been received on a piece of coarse stiff paper, should, when nearly cool, be transferred to the leather, and applied evenly over its extended surface. By this plan the melted plaster is prevented from penetrating the leather, as it is apt to do when applied too hot. When linen or muslin is used, and the dimensions of the portion to be spread are large, as is often the case with adhesive plaster, the best plan is to pass the cloth " on which the plaster has been laid, through a machine formed of a spatula fixed by screws, at a proper distance from a plate of polished steel." W. EMPLASTRUM AMMONIACI. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Am- moniac Plaster. " Take of Ammoniac five ounces; Vinegar half a pint. Dissolve the Ammoniac in the Vinegar, and strain; then evaporate the solution in an iron vessel, by means of a water-bath, stirring constantly until it acquires a pro- per consistence." U.S. The London College takes five ounces of ammoniac, and eight fluid- ounces of distilled vinegar; dissolves the ammoniac in the vinegar; and evaporates the solution, stirring constantly, to the proper consistence. The Edinburgh College orders five parts of purified ammoniac and eight of distilled vinegar, and proceeds as directed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, except that the straining of the acetic solution is omitted. In the Dublin process, the ingredients are in the same proportion as in ours; but pure ammoniac is directed, the vinegar of squill is substituted for common vine- gar, the straining is omitted, and the evaporation is conducted without the water-bath. As ammoniac is not usually kept purified in our shops, the straining of the solution in vinegar is directed as the most convenient method of sepa- rating impurities. Dr. Duncan says that the plaster, prepared in iron vessels, " acquires an unpleasant dark colour, from being impregnated with iron; whereas, when prepared in a glass or earthenware vessel, it has a yellowish- white colour, and more pleasant appearance." Medical Properties. The ammoniac plaster is stimulant, and is applied over scrofulous tumours, and swellings of the joints, to promote their resolu- tion. It often produces a papular eruption, and sometimes occasions consi- derable inflammation of the skin. Dr. Duncan has described a fatal case of diffuse inflammation following its use in a case of diseased knee-joint. W. EMPLASTRUM AMMONIACI CUM HYDRARGYRO. Lond., Dub. Plaster of Ammoniac with Mercury. " Take of Ammoniac a pound; Mercury three ounces; Olive Oil a fluidrachm; Sulphur eight grains. Add the Sulphur gradually to the heated Oil, constantly stirring with a spatula, until they unite; then rub the Mer- cury with them until the globules disappear; lastly, gradually add the Am- moniac previously melted, and mix the whole together." Lond. " Take of Pure Gum Ammoniac a pound; Purified Mercury three 862 Emplastra. part II. ounces; Common Turpentine two drachms. Rub the Mercury with the Turpentine until the globules disappear, then gradually add the Ammoniac previously melted, and with a moderate heat rub them all together till they unite." Dub. Of these processes the latter is preferable, as the unpleasant odour of the sulphurated oil is avoided, as well as the action of the sulphur upon the mercury, with which it must form an inactive sulphuret. But it should be recollected that the common turpentine of Great Britain is not the common white turpentine of our shops. The former is a thick liquid, the latter a soft solid. If the white turpentine be employed, it should be rendered sufficiently liquid by the admixture of Venice turpentine. As ammoniac is not fusible by heat, it must be brought to the proper consistence by dissolving it in a small quantity of hot water, straining and evaporating. Medical Properties and Uses. This plaster unites with the stimulant power of the ammoniac the specific properties of the mercury, which is sometimes absorbed in sufficient quantity to affect the gums. It is used as a discutient in enlargement of the glands, tumefaction of the joints, nodes, and other indolent swellings, especially when dependent on a venereal taint. It is sometimes, also, applied over the region of the liver in chronic hepatitis. W. EMPLASTRUM AROMATICUM. Dub. Aromatic Plaster. " Take of Frankincense [concrete juice of the Pinus Abies] three ounces; Yellow Wax half an ounce; Cinnamon Bark, in powder, six drachms; Oil of Pimento, Oil of Lemons, each, two drachms. Melt the Frankincense and Wax together, and strain. When, upon cooling, they begin to thicken, mix in the powdered Cinnamon previously rubbed with the oils, and make a plaster." Dub. As the virtues of this plaster depend chiefly upon volatile ingredients, it cannot be kept long without injury, and should therefore be extempora- neously prepared. It is not intended to be very adhesive, as, in order to maintain the due impression, its application must be frequently renewed. The volatility of the oils requires that it should be spread without being melted or heated more than is absolutely necessary to produce the proper degree of softness. We are therefore recommended to spread it with the fingers. Medical Properties and Uses. This is an elegant local stimulant, calcu- lated when applied over the region of the stomach to allay nausea and vomit- ing, to correct flatulence, and to relieve the gastric uneasiness attendant upon dyspepsia. \\r# EMPLASTRUM ASSAFOZTIDA. U. S. Emplastrum Assa- fostida. Ed. Assafetida Plaster. " Take of Assafetida, Lead Plaster, each, a pound [two parts, Ed.]; Gal- banum, Yellow Wax, each, half a pound [one part, Ed.]. Melt together the Plaster and Wax; then add the Assafetida and Galbanum, previously melted and strained, and mix the whole together," U.S. In the first edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, the ingredients of this plaster were simply directed to be melted together, and mixed; but expe- rience has shown that they cannot, in this mode, be made to combine pro- perly; and the directions of the Edinburgh College were therefore substi- tuted in the revised edition. Even as the process now stands, it requires some explanation. The galbanum melts sufficiently by the aid of heat to admit of being strained; but this is not the case with the assafetida, which must be prepared by dissolving it in a small quantity of hot water, straining, part ii. Emplastra. 863 and evaporating to the consistence of honey; and even the galbanum may be most conveniently treated in the same way. The assafetida may also be brought to the proper consistence by dissolving it in diluted alcohol in the proportion of half a pound to a pint, and evaporating by means of a water- bath. This plaster may be advantageously applied over the stomach or abdomen, in cases of hysteria attended with flatulence, and to the chest or between the shoulders in hooping cough. W. EMPLASTRUM BELLADONNA. Lond.t Dub. Plaster of Deadly Nightshade. " Take of Resin Plaster three ounces; Extract of Belladonna an ounce and a half. To the Plaster, melted by the heat of a water-bath, add the Extract, and mix them." Lond. " Take of the Inspissated Juice of the Deadly Nightshade [Extractum Belladonnas] an ounce; Soap Plaster two ounces. Make a plaster." Dub. The most convenient method of forming this plaster, is to rub the ingre- dients together in an earthenware mortar placed in hot water, and then, having removed the mortar from the water-bath, to continue the trituration till the mixture cools. The preparation is a useful anodyne application in neuralgic and rheumatic pains. We have seen the constitutional effects of belladonna result from its external use. W. EMPLASTRUM CANTHARIDIS. Lond., Dub. Emplastrum Cantharidis Vesicatoria. Ed. Plaster of Spanish Flies. See CERATUM CANTHARIDIS. U.S. EMPLASTRUM CANTHARIDIS VESICATORIA COMPO- SITUM. Ed. Compound Plaster of Spanish Flies. " Take of Venice Turpentine eighteen parts; Burgundy Pitch, Spanish Flies, each, twelve parts; Yellow Wax four parts; Sub-Acetate of Copper two parts; White Mustard Seeds, Black Pepper, each, one part. Having first melted the Pitch and Wax, add the Turpentine; and to these, still hot, add the other ingredients previously reduced to a fine powder and mixed, and stir the whole together till the mixture stiffens on cooling." Ed. This is intended to be a powerful and speedy blistering plaster, and may probably prove beneficial in very urgent cases attended with much torpor of the skin; but great care should be observed not to allow it to remain too long, as unpleasant and tedious ulceration, if not gangrene, might result. To the cases of children it is wholly inapplicable. W. EMPLASTRUM CERA. Lond. Emplastrum Simplex. Ed. Wax Plaster. " Take of AVax, Suet, each, three pounds; Resin a pound. Melt them together and strain." Lond. " Take of Yellow AVax three parts; Mutton Suet, Pine Resin, each, two parts. Melt them together with a gentle heat, and stir the mixture well till it stiffens on cooling." Ed. These plasters were originally intended for dressing blistered surfaces, in order to maintain a moderate discharge, for which purpose they are adapted by the stimulant properties of the resin. But their stiffness and adhesive- ness render them unpleasant and of difficult management; and they have been entirely superseded by the resin cerate. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Cantharidis, Lond. AV. 864 Emplastra. part ii. EMPLASTRUM FERRI. U.S. Emplastrum Oxidi Ferri Rubri. Ed. Emplastrum Thuris. Dub. Emplastrum Roborans. Iron Plaster. Strengthening Plaster. " Take of Red Oxide of Iron eight ounces; Lead Plaster tiro pounds; Resin six ounces; Yellow AVax, Olive Oil, each, three ounces. Rub the Red Oxide of Iron with the Oil; then add the other ingredients previously melted together by means of a water-bath, and mix the whole." U. S. The process of the Edinburgh College corresponds with the above in the proportions of the ingredients, and the general mode of proceeding. The Dublin College directs that two pounds of litharge plaster (Emplas- trum Plumbi) be melted with half a pound of frankincense (concrete juice of the Pius Abies), that three ounces of the red oxide of iron be afterwards added, and the whole stirred together, so as to form a plaster. This preparation has enjoyed some popular celebrity, under the impres- sion that it strengthens the parts to which it is applied; whence it has de- rived the name of strengthening plaster. It is used in those conditions of the loins, larger muscles, and joints, which, though usually ascribed to debility, are in fact most frequently dependent on rheumatic or other chronic inflam- matory aflections, and, if relieved by the plaster, are so in consequence of the gentle excitation which it produces in the vessels of the skin. It may also, in some instances, give relief by affording mechanical support; but neither in this, nor in any other respect, can it be deemed very efficient. Prepared according to the U. S. and Edinburgh process, it is deficient in the qualities which characterize a good plaster, and among others that of adhe- siveness. AVe should prefer the process of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, Bur- gundy pilch being substituted for frankincense. W. EMPLASTRUM GALBANI. Dub. Galbanum Plaster. " Take of Litharge Plaster [Emplastrum Plumbi] tivo pounds; Galbanum half a pound; Yellow AVax, sliced, four ounces. Add the Litharge Plaster and Wax to the Galbanum previously melted; then melt the whole together with a moderate heat, and strain." Dub. This is essentially the same in properties as the following, though some- what less stimulating. W. EMPLASTRUM GALBANI COMPOSITUM. U.S. Emplas- trum Galbani. Lond. Compound Galbanum Plaster. " Take of Galbanum eight ounces; Lead Plaster three pounds; Turpen- tine ten drachms; Burgundy Pitch, in powder, three ounces. Melt together the Galbanum and Turpentine; then add first the Burgundy Pitch, afterwards the Lead Plaster previously melted over a slow fire, and mix the whole together." U.S. The London process differs only in directing the common European tur- pentine instead of the white turpentine intended by our Pharmacopoeia, and the concrete juice or unprepared resin of the Pinus Abies, instead of Bur- gundy pitch or the prepared resin. Before being employed in this process, the galbanum should be purified, as it often contains foreign matters which must injure the plaster. It may be freed from these by melting it with a little water, straining, and evaporat- ing to the due consistence. There is no necessity for employing the Bur- gundy pitch in powder. This plaster is an excellent local stimulant in chronic scrofulous enlarge- ments of the glands and joints. AVe have employed it with apparent ad- vantage in some obstinate cases of this kind, which, after having resisted PART II. Emplastra. 865 general and local depletion, blistering, and other measures, have yielded under its use. As a discutient it is also employed in the induration which Bometimes remains after the discharge of abscesses. It is said to have been useful in rickets when applied over the whole lumbar region, and has been recommended in chronic gouty or rheumatic articular affections. It should not be employed in the discussion of tumours in which any considerable inflammatory action exists. W. EMPLASTRUM GUMMOSUM. Ed. Gum Plaster. " Take of Plaster of Semivitrified Oxide of Lead [Emplastrum Plumbi] eight parts; Gum Ammoniac, Galbanum, Yellow Wax, each, one part. To the melted Plaster and Wax, add the Gum-resins, previously melted and strained, and mix the whole thoroughly." Ed. The addition of ammoniac adds little to the virtues of this plaster, which closely resembles the compound galbanum plaster in its effects. The gal- banum and ammoniac are best prepared by dissolving them in a small quan- tity of hot water, straining the solution, and evaporating it to the proper consistence for mixing with the other ingredients. W. EMPLASTRUM HYDRARGYRI. U.S., Lond., Ed. Mercu- rial Plaster. " Take of Mercury six ounces; Olive Oil, Resin, each, two ounces; Lead Plaster a pound. Melt the Oil and Resin together, and when they have become cool, rub the Mercury with thein till the globules disappear; then gradually add the Lead Plaster, previously melted, and mix the whole together." U.S. The London College takes three ounces of Mercury, a pound of Lead Plaster, a fluidrachm of Olive Oil, and eight grains of Sulphur; gradually adds the Sulphur to the heated Oil, constantly stirring with a spatula until they unite; then rubs the Mercury with them until the globules disappear; and finally adds by degrees the Lead Plaster previously melted with a slow fire, and mixes the whole together. The Edinburgh process corresponds precisely, except in phraseology, with that of the United States Pharma- copoeia. The sulphurated oil employed by the London College is intended to facili- tate the extinguishment of the mercury; but as it operates by the union of the sulphur with the metal forming an inefficient sulphuret, it impairs the virtues of the plaster at least as much as it assists in its preparation. The melted resin and oil of the United States and Edinburgh process are deci- dedly preferable. This plaster is employed to produce the local effects of mercury upon venereal buboes, nodes, and other chronic tumefactions of the bones or soft parts, dependent on a syphilitic taint. In these cases it sometimes acts as a powerful discutient. It is frequently also applied to the side in chronic hepatitis or splenitis. In habits peculiarly susceptible to the mercurial in- fluence, it occasionally affects the gums. AW EMPLASTRUM OPII. Lond., Ed., Dub. Opium Plaster. " Take of Opium, in powder, half an ounce; Burgundy Pitch three ounces; Plaster of Semivitrified Oxide of Lead [Emplast. Plumbi] a pound. Add the Opium and Pitch to the Plaster, previously melted, and mix them thoroughly." Ed., Dub. " Take of Hard Opium, in powder, half an ounce; Resin of the Spruce- fir [unprepared concrete juice of the Pinus Abies], in powder, three ounces; Lead Plaster apound; Water eight fluidounces. To the melted Plaster add 74 866 Emplastra. part ii. the Resin, Opium, and Water; and boil down with a slow fire until the in- gredients unite into a proper consistence." Lond. The opium plaster is thought to relieve rheumatic and other pains in the parts to which it is applied. AV. EMPLASTRUM PICIS COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Pitch Plaster. " Take of Burgundy Pitch two pounds; Resin of the Spruce-fir [unpre- pared concrete juice of the Pinus Abies] a pound; Resin, Wax, each, four ounces; Expressed Oil of Nutmegs an ounce; Olive Oil, AVater, each, two fluidounces. To the Pitch, Resin, and Wax, melted together, add first the Resin of the Spruce-fir, then the Oil of Nutmegs, the Olive Oil, and the AVater. Lastly, mix the whole, and boil down to the proper consistence." Lond. The driest white turpentine may be substituted for the resin of the spruce- fir, which is not always to be obtained in this country. This is a rubefacient plaster applicable to catarrhal and other pectoral af- fections, chronic inflammation of the liver, and rheumatic pains in the joints and muscles. It often keeps up a serous discharge, which requires that it should be frequently renewed. The irritation which it sometimes excites is so great as to render its removal necessary. W. EMPLASTRUM PICIS CUM CANTHARIDE. U.S. Emplas- trum Calefaciens. Dub. Plaster of Pilch with Spanish Flies. Warming Plaster. " Take of Burgundy Pitch three pounds and a half; Cerate of Spanish Flies half a pound. Melt them together by means of a water-bath, and stir them constantly till they thicken upon cooling." U.S. The Dublin College employs the same proportions. This plaster is an excellent rubefacient, more active than Burgundy pitch, yet in general not sufficiently so to produce vesication. Still, however, in consequence of a peculiar susceptibility of the skin in some individuals, it occasionally blisters; and it has been recommended to diminish the propor- tion of the flies. But, while such a reduction would render the plaster in- sufficiently active in most cases, it would not entirely obviate the objection; as the smallest proportion of flies would vesicate in certain persons, and even the Burgundy pitch alone sometimes produces the same effect. In whatever mode, therefore, this plaster may be prepared, it cannot always answer the expectations which may be entertained; and the only plan, when the skin of any individual has been found to be very susceptible, is to ac- commodate the proportions to the particular circumstances of the case. Much, however, may be accomplished by proper care in the preparation of the plaster, towards obviating its tendency to blister. If the flie3 of the Ce- ratum Cantharidis should have been coarsely pulverized, the larger parti- cles, coming in contact with the skin, will exert upon the particular part to which they are applied their full vesicatory effect, while, if reduced to a very fine powder, they would be more thoroughly enveloped in the other ingredients, and thus have their strength very much diluted. Now the for- mer condition of the cerate when prepared for ordinary use is not objection- able, as the design in this case is to produce a blister. Hence particular care is neither necessary nor observed in powdering the flies under these circumstances. But as an ingredient of the warming plaster, the cerate should contain the cantharides as minutely divided as possible, and if that usually kept is not in the proper slate, a portion should be prepared for this particular purpose. PART II. Emplastra. 867 The warming plaster is employed in chronic rheumatism, and various chronic internal diseases attended with inflammation or an inflammatory ten- dency; such as chronic catarrh, asthma, pertussis, phthisis, hepatitis, and the sequelae of pleurisy and pneumonia. AV. EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI. U.S., Lond. Emplastrum Oxidi Plumbi Semivitrei. Ed. Emplastrum Lithargyri. Dub. Lead Plaster. Litharge Plaster. " Take of Semivitrified Oxide of Lead, in very fine powder, five pounds; Olive Oil a gallon; Water two pints. Boil them together over a gentle fire, stirring constantly until the Oil and Oxide of Lead unite in a Plaster. It will be proper to add a little boiling water, if that employed at the com- mencement be nearly all consumed before the end of the process." U.S. The above process was also precisely that of the old London Pharmaco- poeia. In the edition of that work for 1836, the quantities directed are six pounds of the oxide of lead, a gallon of olive oil, and two pints of water; but, as the Imperial measure is employed, the proportions are in fact nearly the same as before. The Edinburgh College orders one part of the semivitrified oxide of lead, two parts of olive oil, and a sufficient quantity of water. The Dublin process does not differ materially from that of the London and U.S. Phar- macopoeias. The importance of this plaster, as the basis of most of the others, requires that we should enter somewhat in detail into an account of the principles and manner of its preparation. It was formerly thought that the oil and oxide of lead entered into direct union, and that the presence of water was necessary only to regulate the temperature, and prevent the materials from being decomposed by heat. The discovery, however, was afterwards made, that this liquid was essential to the process; and that the oil and oxide alone, though maintained at a temperature of 220°, would not combine, while the addition of water, under these circumstances, would produce their immediate union. It was now supposed that the oil was capable of combining only with the hydrated oxide of lead, and that the use of the water was to bring the oxide into this state; and in support of this opinion, the fact was advanced, that the hydrated oxide of lead and oil would form a plaster when heated together without any free water. (See N. Am. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. i. p. 469.) But since the general reception of Chevreul's views in relation to oils and their combinations with alkalies and other metallic oxides, the former opinions have been abandoned; and it is now admitted that the preparation of the lead plaster affords a genuine example of saponification, as explained by that chemist. The elements of the oil undergo a new arrangement, one portion of them, though comparatively small, uniting with a portion of the water to form a sweetish substance called glycerin, and the remainder, constituting more than ninety parts in the hundred, combining among themselves to produce two acid bodies, the oleic and margaric acids, to which, when animal.fat is employed instead of olive oil, a third is added, namely, the stearic. The plaster is formed by a union of these acids with the oxide, and, prepared according to the directions of the Pharmacopoeias, is in fact an oleo-margarate of lead. The glycerine remains dissolved in the water or mechanically mixed with the plaster. That such is the correct view of the nature of this compound, is evinced by the fact, that if the oxide of lead be separated from the plaster by digestion at a moderate heat in very dilute 868 Emplastra. part n. nitric acid, the fatty matter which remains will unite with litharge with the greatest facility, without the intervention of water. Other oleaginous substances and other metallic oxides are susceptible of the same combination, and some of them form compounds having the con- sistence of a plaster; but, according to M. Henry of Paris, no oily matter except animal fat can properly be substituted for olive oil, and no metallic oxide, not even one of the other oxides of lead, for litharge. He ascertained, moreover, that the English litharge is preferable for the formation of the lead plaster to that obtained from Germany. Red lead, which is a deutoxide of lhat metal, forms a plaster with oil or fat, without the addition of water; but it is always of a deep brown colour, as if burnt. It is supposed, in this case, that the oil is acidified by the agency of the oxygen, which the deutoxide affords when heated. From recent experiments of Soubeiran, it appears that massicot or even minium may be substituted for litharge, and a plaster of good consistence be obtained; but that much longer time is required for completing the process than in the case of the officinal formula. When minium is used, the necessity for its partial deoxidation renders a longer continuance of the process necessary than with massicot. Lead plaster has also been prepared by double decomposition between soap and acetate or subacetate of lead; but the results have not been so ad- vantageous as to lead to the general adoption of this process. For particular information on the subject the reader is referred to the American Journal of Pharm. ix. 127, and to the Journal de Pharmacie, xxiii. 163 and 322. Preparation. The vessel in which the lead plaster is prepared, should be of such a size that the materials will not occupy more than two-thirds of its capacity. The oil should be first introduced, and the litharge then sprinkled in by means of a sieve, the mixture being constantly stirred with a spatula. The particles of the oxide are thus prevented from coalescing in small masses, which the oil would not easily penetrate, and which would therefore delay the process. Though water exerts an important chemical agency in the changes which occur, it is also useful by preventing too high a temperature, which would decompose the oil and cause the reduction of the metal. The waste must, therefore, be supplied by fresh additions as directed in the process; and the water added for this purpose should be previously heated, as otherwise it would not only delay the operation, but by produc- ing explosion might endanger the operator. During the continuance of the boiling, the materials should be constantly stirred, and the spatula should be repeatedly passed along the bottom of the vessel, from side to side, so as to prevent any of the oxide, which is disposed by its greater density to sink to the bottom, from remaining in that situation. The materials swell up considerably in consequence partly of the vaporization of the water, partly of the escape of carbonic acid gas, which is liberated by the oily acids from some carbonate of lead usually contained in the litharge. (Chevallier.) The process should not be continued longer than is sufficient to produce com- plete union of the ingredients, and this may be known by the colour and consistence of the mass. The colour of the litharge gradually becomes paler, and atl length almost white when the plaster is fully formed. The consistence increases with the progress of the boiling, and is sufficiently thick, when a portion of the plaster taken out and allowed to cool upon the end of a spatula, or thrown into cold water, becomes solid, without adhering in this state to the fingers. The portion thus solidified should not present, when broken, any red points, which would indicate the presence of a portion of uncombined litharge. AVhen the plaster is formed, it should be removed from the fire, and after a short time cold water should be poured PART II. Emplastra. 869 upon it; portions should then be detached from the mass and having been well kneaded under water, in order to separate the viscid liquid contained in the interior, should be formed into cylindrical rolls, and wrapped in paper. Medical Properties and Uses. This plaster, which has long been known under the name of diachylon, is used as an application to excoriated surfaces, and to slight wounds, which it serves to protect from the action of the air. It may also be beneficial by the sedative influence of the lead which enters into its composition. But its chief use is in the preparation of other plasters. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Assafcetidae, U.S., Ed.; Emp. Ferri, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Emp. Galbani, Dub.; Emp. Galbani Comp., U.S., Lond.; Emp. Gummosum, Ed.; Emp. Hydrargyri, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Emp. Opii, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Emp. Plumbi Carbonatis, U.S.; Emp, Resinae, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Emp. Saponis, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Emp. Saponis Comp., Dub. W. EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI CARBONATIS. U.S. Plaster of Carbonate of Lead. " Take of Carbonate of Lead a pound; Olive Oil two pints; Yellow Wax four ounces; Lead Plaster a pound and a half; Florentine Orris, in powder, nine ounces. Boil together the Oil and Carbonate of Lead, adding a little water, and constantly stirring, till they are thoroughly incorporated; then add the Wax and Plaster, and when these are melted sprinkle in the Orris, and mix the whole together." U. S. In the first edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, the oil and carbonate of lead were directed to be boiled together by means of a water-bath, till they were incorporated; but they cannot be made to unite in this manner, and the present directions were very properly substituted in the last edition. Ac- cording to the process as it now stands, a good plaster may be prepared, rather too soft, perhaps, at first, but soon acquiring the proper consistence. The plaster of carbonate of lead was introduced into our Pharmacopoeia as a substitute for Mahy's plaster, so much employed in some parts of the United States. It is an excellent application to surfaces inflamed or excori- ated by friction; and may be resorted to with great advantage in those trou- blesome cases of cutaneous irritation, and even ulceration, occurring upon the back and hips during long continued confinement to one position. Off Prep. Ceratum Plumbi Carbonatis, U. S. W. EMPLASTRUM RESINA. U.S., Lond. Emplastrum Resi- nosum. Ed. Emplastrum Lithargyri cum Resina. Dub. Em- plastrum Adhasivum. Resin Plaster. Adhesive Plaster. " Take of Resin, in powder, half a pound; Lead Plaster three pounds. To the Lead Plaster melted over a gentle fire add the Resin, and mix them." U. S., Lond. The Edinburgh College orders five parts of the lead plaster, and one of resin; the Dublin, three pounds and a half of the former, and half a pound of the latter. This preparation differs from the lead plaster in being more adhesive and somewhat more stimulating. It is the common adhesive plaster of the shops, and is much employed for retaining the sides of wounds in contact, and for dressing ulcers according to the method of Baynton, by which the edges are drawn towards each other, and a firm support is given to the granulations. It is usually spread for these purposes upon muslin; and the spreading is best accomplished, on a large scale, by means of a machine, as described in the general observations upon plasters. It is kept in the shops ready spread; 870 Emplastra. PART n but as the plaster becomes less adhesive by long exposure to the air, the supply should be frequently renewed. AVhen the skin is very delicate, it occasionally excites some irritation, and under these circumstances a plaster may be substituted, containing a smaller proportion of resin. That origi- nally employed by Baynton contained only six drachms of resin to the pound of lead plaster. In order to render the plaster more adhesive, and less brittle in cold weather, it is customary with many apothecaries to employ a considerable proportion of Burgundy pitch or turpentine in its preparation; but these ad- ditions are objectionable, as they greatly increase the liability of the plaster to irritate the skin, and thus materially interfere with the purposes for which the preparation was chiefly intended. If the remarks of Dr. Duncan on the compound soap plaster of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia may be relied on, this might be advantageously substituted for the resin plaster in winter. (See Emplastrum Saponis Compositum.) Off. Prep. Emplastrum Belladonnae. Lond. W. EMPLASTRUM SAPONIS. Lond., Dub. Emplastrum Sa- ponaceum. Ed. Soap Plaster. " Take of Soap, sliced, half a pound; Lead Plaster three pounds. Mix the Soap with the melted Plaster; then boil them down to the proper consist- ence." Lond., Dub. " Take of Plaster of Semivitrified Oxide of Lead [Emplastrum Plumbi] four parts; Gum Plaster two parts; Hard Soap, sliced, one part. To the Plasters melted together add the Soap; then boil a little, so as to form a plaster." Ed. In relation to the soap plaster of the London and Dublin Colleges, Dr. Montgomery, in his Observations upon the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, makes the following remark. "I am informed by Mr. Scanlan, who prepares this plaster in large quantities, that the quantity of soap is twice too great, the plaster being, when prepared by this formula, quite pulverizable, and falling into crumbs." After the addition of the soap to the melted lead plaster, it is only necessary to continue the heat for a short time, till the soap is incorpo- rated. Boiling is not necessary. Soap plaster is considered discutient, and is sometimes used as an applica- tion to tumours. Off. Prep. Emp. Belladonnas, Dub.; Emp. Saponis Comp., Dub. W. EMPLASTRUM SAPONIS COMPOSITUM vel ADHARENS. Dub. Compound Soap Plaster, or Adhesive Plaster. " Take of Soap Plaster two ounces; Litharge Plaster with Resin [Em- plast. Resinae] three ounces. Make a plaster, which is to be melted and spread on linen." Dub. Dr. Duncan, in his Dispensatory, makes the following observations in re- lation to this preparation. " The common resinous plaster is in cold weather too brittle, and apt to crack off from the linen on which it is spread; but by combining it in due proportion with soap plaster, it acquires greater pliabi- lity, without losing its adhesive property. In fact, this is the plaster com- monly spread by a machine on webs of linen, and sold under the name of adhesive plaster." AV. PART II. Enemata. 871 ENEMATA. Clysters. These can scarcely be considered proper objects for officinal direction; but having been introduced into the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, the plan of this work requires that we should notice them. They are sub- stances in the liquid form, intended to be thrown up the rectum, with the view either of evacuating the bowels, of producing the peculiar impres- sion of a remedy upon the lower portion of the alimentary canal and neigh- bouring organs, or of acting on the system generally through the medium of the surface to which they are applied. They are usually employed to assist the action of remedies taken by the mouth, or to supply their place when the stomach rejects them, or is insensible to their impression. Sometimes they are preferably used, when the seat of the disorder is in the rectum or its vicinity. As a general rule, three times as much of any remedy is re- quired to produce a given impression by enema, as when taken into the stomach; but this rule should be acted on with caution, as the relative sus- ceptibilities of the stomach and rectum are not the same in all individuals; and with regard to all very active remedies, the best plan is to administer less than the stated proportion. Attention should also be paid to the fact, that, by the frequent use of a medicine, the susceptibility of the stomach may be in some measure exhausted, without a proportionate diminution of lhat of the rectum. AVhen the object is to evacuate the bowels, the quantity of liquid adminis- tered should be considerable. For an adult from ten fluidounces to a pint, for a child of eight or ten years half that quantity, for an infant within the year from one to three fluidounces, are about the proper proportions. Much larger quantities of mild liquids may sometimes be given with safety and ad- vantage; as the bowels will occasionally feel the stimulus of distention, when they are insensible to impressions of an irritating character. When the design is to produce the peculiar impression of the remedy upon the neighbouring parts or the system, it is usually desirable that the enema should be retained; and the liquid vehicle should therefore be bland, and as small in quantity as is compatible with convenient administration. A solution of starch, flaxseed tea, or other mucilaginous fluid should be selected, and the quantity given should seldom exceed two or three fluid- ounces. In every case, the patient should be instructed to resist any immediate disposition to discharge the injected fluid; and his efforts to retain it should be assisted, if necessary, by pressure with a warm folded towel upon the fundament. The best instrument for administering enemata is an accurate metallic syringe. W. ENEMA ALOES. Lond. Clyster of Aloes. " Take of Aloes two scruples; Carbonate of Potassa fifteen grains; De- coction of Barley half a pint [Imperial measure]. Mix and rub them together." Lond. This is intended as a formula for the use of aloes in cases of ascarides in the rectum, and of amenorrhcea attended with constipation. W. ENEMA CATHARTICUM. Dub. Cathartic Clyster. " Take of Manna an ounce. Dissolve it in ten fluidounces of Compound 872 Enemata. part ii. Decoction of Chamomile, and add of Olive Oil an ounce, Sulphate of Mag- nesia half an ounce." Dub. The laxative enema most commonly employed in this country, and in all respects equal to the above, consists of a tablespoonful of common salt, two tablespoonfuls of lard or sweet oil, the same quantity of molasses, and a pint of warm water. It has the advantage of consisting of materials which are always at hand in families. W. ENEMA COLOCYNTHIDIS. Lond. Clyster of Colocynth. " Take of Compound Extract of Colocynth two scruples; Soft Soap an ounce; AVater a pint. Mix and rub them together." Lond. This may be employed whenever a very powerful purgative impression is required upon the lower bowels, as in cases of obstinate colic and constipa- tion. W. ENEMA FCETIDUM. Dub. Fetid Clyster. " This is made by adding to the Cathartic Clyster two drachms of Tinc- ture of Assafetida." Dub. It is carminative and antispasmodic, as well as laxative; but, when the peculiar influence of assafetida is desired by way of enema, we prefer the gum-resin itself rubbed up with hot water, in the proportion of one or two drachms to half a pint, of which the whole or a part may be given according to circumstances. W. ENEMA OPII. Lond., Dub. Clyster of Opium. " Take of Decoction of Starch four fluidounces; tincture of opium thirty minims. Mix them." Lond. The Dublin College mixes a fluidrachm of tincture of opium with six fluidounces of warm water. Of these processes that of the London College is decidedly preferable. In the Dublin formula there is too much both of the tincture and the vehicle. It must have happened to every one in the habit of prescribing opium in this way, to have seen a much greater effect produced by a certain amount of laudanum injected into the rectum than by one-third of the quantity swal- lowed. The fluidrachm contains at least one hundred drops of laudanum of the ordinary size, and not less than one hundred and twenty as they are often formed. From twenty to twenty-five drops are usually considered as a medium dose; so that the Dublin College orders five times as much by the rectum as is given by the mouth. Sixty drops, equivalent to about thirty minims, are abundantly sufficient. As the object is that the enema should remain in the rectum, the smaller the quantity of the vehicle the better; and a mucilaginous fluid is preferable to water, as it involves the tincture and prevents the irritation of the alcohol before the opium begins to take effect. The ordinary anodyne enema employed in this country consists of about sixty drops of laudanum and one or two fluidounces of flaxseed tea or solu- tion of starch. It is an admirable remedy in obstinate vomiting, strangury from blisters, painful affections of the kidneys, bladder, and uterus, and in the tenesmus of dysentery. It may also frequently be employed to produce the effects of opium upon the system; when circumstances prevent the administration of this medicine by the mouth. W. ENEMA TEREBINTHINA. Lond., Dub. Clyster of Tur- pentine. " Take of Oil of Turpentine a fluidounce; Yolk of Egg a sufficient PART II. Enemata.—Extracta. 873 quantity. Rub them together, and add of Decoction of Barley nineteen fluid- ounces." Lond. " Take of Common Turpentine half an ounce; the Yolk of one Egg. Rub them together, and add gradually ten ounces of AVater of a temperature not exceeding 100°." Dub. As the common turpentine alluded to in the Dublin formula is not usually kept in the shops of this country, we almost always employ the oil of tur- pentine, which is even more efficacious, and in no respect inferior for the purpose. (See Oleum Terebinthinae.) W. EXTRACTA. Extracts. Extracts, as the term is employed in the U.S. and London Pharmaco- poeias, are solid substances, resulting from the evaporation of the solutions of vegetable principles, obtained either by exposing'the vegetable to the ac- tion of a solvent, or by expressing its juice in the recent state. The Edin- burgh and Dublin Colleges make a distinction between those prepared from the infusions, decoctions, or tinctures, and those from the expressed juices of plants, calling the former Extracta, the latter Sued Spissati. But there is no such essential difference between these two sets of preparations, as to require that they should be separately classed; and something is gained in the simplicity of nomenclature, as well as of arrangement, which results from their union. AVe shall consider them under the same head, taking care, however, to detail distinctly whatever is peculiar in the mode of preparing each. The composition of extracts varies with the nature of the vegetable, the character of the solvent, and the mode of preparation. The object is gene- rally to obtain as much of the active principles of the plant, with as little of its inert matter as possible; though sometimes it may be desirable to separate the active ingredients from each other, when their effects upon the system are materially different; and this may be accomplished by employing a men- struum which, while it dissolves one, leaves the other untouched. The proximate principles most commonly present in extracts are gum, sugar, starch, tannin, extractive, colouring matter, salts, and ihe peculiar principles of plants; to which, when a spirituous solvent is employed, may usually be added resinous substances, fatty matter, and frequently more or less essential oil—gum and starch being excluded when the menstruum is pure alcohol. Of these substances, as well as of others which, being soluble, are some- times necessarily present in extracts, we have taken occasion to treat under various heads in the Materia Medica. There is one, however, which, from its supposed almost uniform presence in this class of preparations, and from the influence it is thought to exert upon their character, deserves particular consideration in this place;—we allude to extractive, or, as it is sometimes called, extractive, matter. It has long been observed, that in most vegetables there is a substance, soluble both in water and alcohol, which,, in the preparation of extracts, un- dergoes some chemical change during the process of evaporation, imparting to the liquid, even if originally limpid, first a greenish, then a yellowish- brown, and ultimately a deep brown colour, and becoming itself insoluble. This substance, originally called saponaceous matter by Scheele, afterwards received the more expressive name of extractive, derived from its very fre- 874 Extracla. PART II. quent presence in extracts. Its existence as a distinct principle is denied, or at least doubled by some chemists, who consider the phenomena supposed to result from us influence, as depending upon the mutual reaction of other principles; and in relation to Peruvian bark, it appears to have been proved, that the insoluble matter which forms during its decoction in water, is a compound of starch and tannin. A similar compound must also be formed in other cases when these two principles co-exist; but they are not always present in the same vegetable, nor can all the changes which have been attributed to the extractive, be accounted for by their union, even when they are present; so that till further light is shed on the subject, it is best to admit the existence of a distinct substance, which, though not the same in all plants, possesses sufficient identity of character to be entitled, like sugar, tannin! &c, to a distinctive name. The most interesting property of extractive is its disposition to pass, by the influence of atmospheric air at a high temperature, into an insoluble substance. If a vegetable infusion or decoction be evapo- rated in the open air to the consistence of an extract, then diluted, filtered, and again evaporated, and the process repeated so long as any insoluble matter is formed, the whole of the extractive will be separated from the liquid, which will then contain only the gum, sugar, saline matters, &c which may have existed in the plant. If chlorine be passed through an infusion or decoction, a similar precipitate is formed with much greater rapidity. The change is usually ascribed to the absorption of oxygen by the extractive, which has, therefore, been called, in its altered condition, oxidized extractive; but De Saussure ascertained, that though oxvgen is absorbed during the process, an equal measure of carbonic acid gas'is given out and the oxygen and hydrogen of the extractive unite to form water in su'ch a manner as to leave the principle richer in carbon than it was originally The name of oxidized extractive is, therefore, obviously incorrect, and Berzelius proposes to substitute for it that of apotheme, synonymous with deposite According to Berzelius, apotheme is not completely insoluble in water but imparts a slight colour to that liquid when cold, and is rather more soluble in boiling water, which becomes turbid upon cooling It is still more soluble in alcohol, and is freely dissolved by solutions of the alkalies and alkaline carbonates from which it is precipitated by acids. It has a great tendency when precipitated from solutions, to unite with other principles, and to carry them along with it, thus acquiring properties somewhat different, according to the source from which it is obtained. In this way also, even when the extractive of a plant is itself medicinally inert, its conversion into apotheme may be injurious, by causing a precipitation of a portion of the active prin- ciple; and in practical pharmaceutic operations, this change should always if possible, be avoided. With these preliminary views, we shall proceed to the consideration of the practical rules necessary to be observed in the preparation of extracts. AVe shall treat of the subject under the several heads 1. of the extraction of the soluble principles from the plant; 2. of the method of conducting the evaporation; 3. of the proper condition of extracts, the changes they are liable to undergo, and the best method of preserving them; them ^ dlrecti0nS of the several Pharmacopoeias in relation to 1. Extraction of the Soluble Principles. There are two distincts modes of obtaining, in a liquid state, the principles which we wish to extract; 1. by expression; 2. by the agency of a solvent. 1. By expression. This method is applicable only to recent vegetables. All plants cannot be advantageously treated in this way, as many have too PART II. Extracta. 875 little juice to afford an appreciable quantity upon pressure, and of those which are succulent, a considerable proportion do not yield all their active principles with their juice. Succulent fruits, and various acrid and narcotic plants, are proper subjects of this treatment. With the exception of the fruit of the Sambucus nigra, the inspissated juice of which is directed by the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges, all the vegetables from which officinal extracts are prepared in this way belong to the class of narcotics. The plants should be operated upon, if possible, immediately after their collection. Mr. Battley of London, recommends that if not entirely fresh, they should be revived by the immersion of the stalks in water for twelve or eighteen hours, and those only used which recover their freshness by this management. They should then be cut into pieces, and bruised in a stone mortar till brought to a pulpy consistence. When the plant is not very succulent, it is necessary to add a little water during this part of the process, in order to dilute the juice. After sufficient contusion, the pulp is introduced into a linen or canvas bag, and the liquid parts expressed. The juice thus obtained is opaque and usually green, in consequence of the presence of green wax or chlorophylle, and of a portion of the undissolved vegetable fibre in a state of minute division. By heating the juice to abont 160°, the albumen contained in it coagulates, and, involving the chlorophylle and vegetable fibre, forms a greenish precipitate. If the liquid be now filtered, it becomes limpid and nearly colourless, and is prepared for evaporation. The clarification, how- ever, is not absolutely necessary, and is generally neglected. Sometimes the precipitate carries with it a considerable por ion of the active principle; in which case it should be subsequently incorporated with the juice, when reduced by evaporation to the consistence of a syrup. 2. By solution. The active principles of dried vegetables can be ex- tracted only by means of a liquid solvent. The menstruum employed is either water or alcohol, or a mixture of the two. Water, on account of its cheapness, is always preferred, when circumstances do not strongly call for the use of alcohol. It has the advantage, moreover, that it may be assisted in its action, if necessary, by a higher degree of heat than the latter. Pump water is often unfit for the purpose, in consequence of the quantity of its saline matter, which, in some instances, may exert an unfavourable influence on the active principle, and must always be left in the extract. Rain or river or distilled water should be preferred. Alcohol is employed when the principles to be extracted are insoluble, or but slightly soluble in water, as in the case of the resins; when it is desirable to avoid in the extract inert substances, such as gum and starch, which are dissolved by water and not by alcohol; when the heat required to evaporate the aqueous solution would dissipate or decompose the active ingredients of the plant, as the volatile oils and the active principle of sarsaparilla; and finally, when the nature of the substance to be exhausted requires so long a maceration in water as to endanger spontaneous decomposition. The watery solution requires to be soon evaporated, as this fluid rather promotes than counteracts chemical changes; while an alcoholic tincture may be preserved unaltered for an indefinite period. An addition of alcohol to water is sufficient to answer some of the purposes for which the former is preferable; and the employ- ment of both fluids is essential, when the virtues of the plant reside in two or more principles, all of which are not soluble in either of these menstrua. In this case it is usually better to submit the vegetable to the action of the two fluids successively, than to both united. Extracts obtained by the agency of water, are called watery or aqueous extracts, those by means of afcohol rectified or diluted, alcoholic or spirituous extracts. 876 Extracta. part ii. The method of preparing the solution is by no means a matter of indif- ference. The vegetable should be thoroughly bruised, or reduced to the 6tate of coarse powder, so as to allow the access of the solvent to all its parts, and yet not so finely pulverized as to prevent a ready precipitation of the undissolved and inactive portion. AVhen water is employed, it is usual to boil the medicine for a considerable length of time, and if the first por- tion of liquid does not completely exhaust it, to repeat the operation with successive portions, till the whole of the active matter is extracted. This may be known by the sensible properties of the liquid, and by its influence upon reagents. But the boiling temperature produces the decomposition of many vegetable principles, or at least so modifies them as to render them inert; and the extracts prepared by decoction are usually less efficient than those prepared with a less degree of heat. From numerous experiments upon extracts, Orfila concluded that their virtues were less in proportion to the heat used in their preparation. It is recommended, therefore, to substi- tute for decoction, the process of maceration, digestion, or hot infusion; in the first of which the liquid acts without heat, in the second is assisted by a moderately increased temperature sustained for a considerable time, and in the third is poured boiling hot upon the vegetable matter, and allowed to stand for a short period in a covered vessel. AVhen the active principles are readily soluble in cold water, maceration is preferable to any other mode, as the starch which is inert, is thus left behind; but in many instances the preparation would spoil before the extraction would be completed. By digestion, though the solvent power of water is moderately increased, the advantage is more than counterbalanced by the increased disposition to spon- taneous decomposition. Infusion, therefore, is generally preferred when decoction is not resorted to. A convenient mode of performing this process, is to introduce the solid material into a vessel with an opening near the bot- tom temporarily closed, or into a funnel with its mouth loosely stopped, then to pour on the boiling water, and having allowed it to remain a sufficient length of time, to draw it off through the opening. This operation may be repeated till the water comes away without any obvious impregnation. M. Boullay's apparatus for filtration by displacement may be advantageously employed. (See page 732.) It is always desirable to obtain the solution in the first place as concentrated as possible, so as to prevent the necessity of long continued evaporation, which has a tendency to injure the extract. It is better, therefore, to incur the risk, both where decoction and infusion are employed, of leaving a portion of the active matter behind, than to obtain a very weak solution. When successive portions of water are employed, those which are least impregnated should be brought by evaporation to the strength of that first obtained before being mixed with it, as the latter thus escapes exposure to unnecessary heat. When alcohol is employed as a menstruum, the vegetable should be ma- cerated in it for one or two weeks, and care should be taken that the tincture be as nearly saturated as possible. The extraction may be hastened by sub- stituting digestion for maceration; as the moderate heat employed, while it facilitates the action of the alcohol, has in this case no effect in promoting decomposition, and the influence of the atmospheric air may be excluded by performing the process in close vessels. When alcohol and water are both used, it is best, as a general rule, to exhaust the vegetable with each separately, as the two menstrua require different modes of treatment. By whatever process the extraction is effected, it requires the assistance of occasional agitation; and when the vegetable matter is very porous, and absorbs large quantities of the solvent, expression must be resorted to. PART II. Extracta. 877 2. Mode of conducting the Evaporation. In evaporating the solutions obtained in the modes above described, atten- tion should always be paid to the fact, that the extractive matter is constantly becoming insoluble at high temperatures with the access of air, and that other chemical changes are going on, sometimes not less injurious than this, while the volatile principles are expelled with the vapour. The operator should, therefore, observe two rules; 1. to conduct the evaporation at as low a temperature as is consistent with other objects; 2. to exclude as much as possible the atmospheric air, and when this cannot be accomplished, to ex- pose the liquid the shortest possible time to its action. According to Ber- zelius, the injurious influence of the atmospheric air is much greater at the boiling point of water than at a less heat, even allowing for the longer ex- posure in the latter case; and, therefore, a slow evaporation at a moderate heat is preferable to the more rapid effects of ebullition. Bearing these prin- ciples in mind, we shall proceed to examine the different modes in practice. First, however, it is proper to observe, that decoctions generally let fall upon cooling a portion of insoluble matter; and it is a question whether this should be rejected, or retained so as to form a part of the extract. Though it is undoubtedly in many instances inert, as in that of the insoluble tannate of starch formed during the decoction of certain vegetable substances, yet, as it frequently also contains a portion of the active principle which a boil- ing saturated solution necessarily deposites on cooling, and as it is difficult to decide with certainty when it is active and when otherwise, the safest plan, as a general rule, is to allow it to remain. The method of evaporation usually resorted to in the case of the aqueous solutions is rapid boiling over a fire. The more quickly the process is con- ducted, the better, provided the liquid is to be brought to the boiling point; for the temperature cannot exceed this, and the length of exposure is dimin- ished. But even where this method is employed, it should not be continued till the completion of the evaporation; for when most of the water has es- caped, the temperature can no longer be kept down to the boiling point, and the extract is burnt. The caution, therefore, should always be observed of removing the preparation from the fire, before it has attained the consistence of thick syrup, and completing the evaporation either by means of a water- bath, or in shallow vessels at a moderate heat. But this mode of evapora- tion is always more or less objectionable, and should never be employed, except in cases where the principles of the plant are so fixed and unchange- able as to authorize their extraction by boiling. Evaporation by means of the water-bath, from the commencement of the process, is safer than the plan just mentioned, as it obviates all danger of burning the extract; but as the heat is not supplied directly from the fire, the volatilization of the water cannot go on so rapidly, and the temperature being the same, or very nearly so, when the water-bath is kept boiling, there is greater risk of injurious action from the air. The use of the va- pour-bath, as suggested by M. Henry, is perhaps preferable; as it requires a smaller consumption of fuel, and the heat imparted to the liquid, while sufficient to evaporate it, is less than 212°. AVe take the following descrip- tion of the apparatus employed at the Central Pharmacy of Paris, from M. Chevallier's highly useful Manual. It consists of a covered boiler, con- taining water, the vapour of which is conducted through a pipe into evapo- rating vessels, communicating with each other by means of metallic tubes. These vessels have the form of an ordinary copper basin, over the top of which is soldered a shallow tin capsule intended to contain the liquor to be 75 87S Extracta. PART II. evaporated. The vapour from the boiler circulates through these vessels, and the water into which it condenses is allowed to escape through a stop- cock attached to the bottom of each vessel. From the last one of the series a tube passes into a vessel of water; so as to afford a slight pressure against the escape of any excess of vapour. The liquid to be evaporated is first distributed in two or three capsules, but when considerably concentrated is transferred to a single one, where it is stirred towards the close of the pro- cess to hasten the evaporation. The heat applied to the liquid, if there are four vessels, is in that nearest the boiler about 198°F., in the fourth or most remote, about 135°. An incidental advantage of this apparatus is, that it affords a large supply of distilled water, which may be used for ex- tracting the active matter from fresh portions of the vegetable, or for other purposes. A good plan of evaporation, though slow, is to place the liquid in a broad shallow vessel, exposed in a stove or drying room to a temperature of about 100°, or a little higher, taking care that the air have free access, in order to facilitate the evaporation. This mode is particularly applicable to all those cases in which maceration or infusion is preferred to decoction for extract- ing the active principles. Berzelius says that we may thus usually obtain the extract in the form of a yellowish transparent mass, while those pre- pared in the ordinary way are almost black, and are opaque even in very thin layers. Even when the liquid is boiled at first, the process may often be advantageously completed in this manner. It has been proposed to effect the evaporation at the common temperature, by directing a strong current of air, by means of a pair of smiths' bellows, over the surface of the liquid; and in the case of those substances which are injured by heat and not by the action of atmospheric air, there is no doubt that the plan would be found useful. Plans have been proposed and carried into execution for performing evap- oration without the admission of atmospheric air. The apparatus for evap- oration in vacuo, invented by Mr. Barry, and described in the Lond. Journ. of Science and Arts, vol. viii. p. 360, is well calculated to meet this object, at the same time that, by removing the atmospheric pressure, it enables the water to rise in vapour more rapidly, and at a comparatively low tempera- ture. Another method is to place the liquid under an exhausted receiver, together with some concentrated sulphuric acid, or chloride of calcium, which, by its affinity for water, assists the evaporation of the liquid. But from the expense and trouble of these modes of evaporation, they are not calculated for general use. A more convenient plan of excluding the air, though it does not at the same time meet the object of reducing the requisite degree of heat, is to distil off the water in close vessels. Berzelius says that this is the best mode of concentration next to that in vacuo. Care, however, must be taken, that the fire be not too long applied, lest the extract should be burnt. The process should, therefore, be completed by means of the water-bath. In the concentration of alcoholic solutions, distillation should always be performed; as not only is the atmospheric air thus excluded, but the alcohol is recovered, if not absolutely pure, certainly fit for the purpose to which it was originally applied. Here also the water-bath should be employed to obviate any possible risk of injury from the fire. AVhen a decoction or in- fusion, and tincture of the same vegetable have been made separately, they should be separately evaporated to the consistence of syrup, and then mixed together, while they are of such a consistence as to incorporate without difficulty. The object of this separate evaporation is, that the spirituous PART II. Extracta. 879 extract may not be exposed to the degree of heat, or lengthened action of the air, which is necessary in the ordinary mode of concentrating the infu- sion or decoction. In every instance, care should be taken to prevent any portion of the ex- tract from becoming dry and hard on the sides of the evaporating vessel, as in this state it will not readily incorporate with the remaining mass. The heat, therefore, should be applied to the bottom, and not to the sides of the vessel. 3. Condition and Preservation of Extracts. Extracts are prepared of two different degrees of consistence, soft so that they may be readily made into pills, and hard that they may be pulverized. Those obtained from the expressed juices of plants are apt to attract mois- ture from the air, in consequence of the deliquescent nature of the salts ex- isting in the juice. They are thus rendered softer, anil more liable to be- come mouldy upon the surface. Others, especially such as contain much chlorophylle, harden by time, in consequence of the escape of their mois- ture; and it not unfrequently happens that small crystals of saline matter are formed in their substance. Most extracts, especially those containing azo- tized principles, when left to themselves, are capable of producing nitrates. The air, moreover, exercises an unfavourable chemical influence over the softer extracts, which are enfeebled, and ultimately become nearly inert, by the same changes which they undergo more rapidly in the liquid state at an elevated temperature. If an extract be dissolved in water, and the liquid be saturated with common salt, or any other very soluble salt of difficult decomposition, the greater part of it is precipitated, in consequence of the insolubility of this class of substances in saline solutions. The precipitate may be again dissolved in pure water. (Berzelius.) Extracts, in order that they may keep well, should be placed in glazed earthenware, glass, or porcelain jars, and completely protected from the ac- cess of the air. This may be effected by covering their surface with a layer of melted wax, or with a piece of paper moistened with strong spirit, then closing the mouth of the vessel with a cork, spreading wax or rosin over this, and covering the whole with leather, or a piece of bladder. (Duncan.) The dry extracts, being less liable to be affected by atmospheric oxygen, do not require so much care. The application of alcohol to the surface has a tendency to prevent mouldiness. A method of protecting extracts from the action of the air frequently resorted to, is to cover them closely with oiled bladder; but this, though better than to leave them uncovered, is not entirely effectual. Should the extract become too moist, it may be dried by means of a water-bath; should it, on the contrary, be too dry, the proper consistence may be restored by softening it in the same manner, and incor- porating with it a little distilled water. (Chevallier.) Extracts from recent plants should always be prepared at the season when the plant is medicinally most active; and a good rule is to prepare them once a year. 4. Officinal Directions. The Pharmacopoeia of the United States gives the following genera directions. " In the preparation of the extracts, evaporate the moisture, as quickly as possible, in a broad, shallow dish, by means of a water-bath, until they have acquired the consistence proper for forming pills; and towards the sso Extracta. part ii. end of the process, stir them constantly with a spatula. Sprinkle upon the softer Extracts a small quantity of Alcohol." U.S. The directions of the London College are similar, but qualified by the expression " unless otherwise ordered." The Edinburgh College gives separate directions for different classes of extracts under the heads of Sued Spissati, or inspissated juices; Extracta per Aquarn, or watery extracts; and Extracta per Aquam et Alcohol, or spirituous extracts. 1. -Sweet Spissati. " Bruise the fresh substance, and compress it strongly in a hempen bag that it may yield its juice, which is to be placed in shallow vessels heated in boiling water saturated with muriate of soda, and immedi- ately reduced to the consistence of thick honey. The mass, when cold, is to be placed in glazed earthen vessels, and moistened with stronger alco- hol." Ed. 2. Extracta per Aquam. " Having sliced and bruised the substance, pour upon it eight times its weight of distilled water. Boil to one-half, and strain with strong expression. Immediately evaporate the decoction to the consistence of thick honey, in a bath of boiling water saturated with muri- ate of soda." Ed. 3. Extracta per Aquam et Alcohol. " Upon a pound of the substance, in powder, pour four times its weight of stronger alcohol. Digest for four days, and pour off the tincture. Boil the residuum in five pounds of dis- tilled water for fifteen minutes, and strain the decoction, boiling hot, through linen. Repeat the boiling and filtration with an equal quantity of distilled water, and evaporate the liquor to the consistence of thin honey. Draw off the alcohol from the tincture by distillation, till it becomes equally thick; then mix the inspissated liquors; and in a bath of boiling water satu- rated with muriate of soda, evaporate to the proper consistence." Ed. The Dublin College also places the inspissated juices under a distinct head, and gives directions for the watery extracts, under the title of Ex- tracta Simpliciora, omitting, probably through inadvertence, the classifica- tion of the spirituous extracts which it also orders. 1. Sued Spissati. " The leaves used in the preparation of the inspis- sated juices should be gathered about the period when the herb begins to flower. The inspissation is best effected by evaporating the superfluous moisture with a medium heat by means of a vapour bath, and constantly stirring with a spatula towards the close of the process." Dub. 2. Extracta Simpliciora. "All simple extracts, unless otherwise or- dered, are to be prepared according to the following rule. Boil the vege- table matter in eight times its weight of water, till the liquid is reduced one- half; then express, and after the subsidence of the dregs filter; evaporate the liquor with a superior heat (between 200° and 212°) until it begins to thicken; finally, inspissate it with a medium heat (between 100° and 200°) obtained by a vapour-bath, frequently stirring, till it acquires the consistence proper for the formation of pills." Dub. AV. EXTRACTUM ACONITI. U.S., Lond. Succus Spissatus Aco- niti Napelli. Ed. Succus Spissatus Aconiti. Dub. Extract of Aconite. " Take of fresh Aconite [leaves] a pound. Bfuise it in a stone mortar, sprinkle on it a little water; then express the juice, and evaporate it to the proper consistence." U.S. The directions of the London and Dublin Colleges are the same as the above. The Edinburgh College orders all its inspissated juices, with the PART II. Extracta. 881 exception of that of elder berries, to be prepared according to its general formula. The reader will find the general officinal directions of the United States and British Pharmacopoeias, at the close of our introductory obser- vations in relation to extracts. Among these observations, he will also find rules which may be of practical use in regulating the various steps of the process under consideration. In relation to the preparation of this extract, as well as of all others de- rived from the expressed juices of narcotic plants, the following summary ot the plan pursued by Mr. Battley, an experienced apothecary of London, may be of service. Having passed the expressed juice through a fine hair sieve, he places it immediately upon the fire. Before it boils, a quantity of green matter rises to the surface, which in some plants is very abundant. This is removed by a perforated tin dish and preserved. It ceases to appear soon after the liquid begins to boil. The boiling is continued till rather more than half the fluid has been evaporated, when the decoction is poured into a conical pan and allowed to cool. An abundant dark green precipitate forms, from which the supernatant liquid is poured off, and having been re- duced one-half by a second boiling, is again allowed to stand. The pre- cipitate which now falls is less green than the first. The remaining fluid is once more placed over the fire, and allowed to boil till it assumes the consistence of syrup, when it is removed. The matter at first collected by filtration, together with that precipitated, is now incorporated with it, and the whole placed in a metallic pan, and by means of a water-bath evapo- rated to the consistence of an extract. In the latter part of the process, care is necessary to prevent any part of the extract from hardening on the sides of the vessel, as it thus loses its fine green colour and becomes pro- portionably feeble. The superiority of this plan over a continuous boiling is, that the por- tions of active matter which are deposited at different stages of the process, are subjected for a shorter time to heat than if allowed to remain in the liquor, and consequently are less deteriorated. The matter which coagu- lates before the fluid boils, is chiefly albumen, embracing portions of chlo- rophylle and of the undissolved vegetable fibre. It might probably be thrown away without diminishing the virtues of the extract; but as the chlo- rophylle, though itself inactive, has often associated with it a portion of the active principle, it is the most economical plan to incorporate it with the other matters. Mr. Brande states that one Cwt. of fresh aconite yields about five pounds of extract. According to Geiger, one pound yields an ounce and a half. AVhen properly prepared by means of a water-bath, this extract has a yellowish-brown colour, with a disagreeable narcotic odour, and the acrid taste of the plant. By the officinal process, however, which is that of Storck, the leaves are not exhausted of their active matter, as the residue after ex- pression is still very acrid. The Prussian Pharmacopoeia, therefore, directs the residue to be digested in alcohol, and the tincture to be mixed and evapo- rated with the expressed juice. The extract thus prepared is said to be more acrid and more active as a medicine. The extract of aconite may be given in the dose of one or two grains; but a safer plan is to begin with half a grain night and morning, to be gradually increased till the system is affected. Twenty grains or more have been given in the course of a day. Dr. Turn- bull states that he has tried several extracts of aconite made by evaporating the expressed juice, and found them almost inert. W. 75* S82 Extracta. PART n. EXTRACTUM ALOES PURIFICATUM. Lond. Extractum Aloes Hepatica. Dub. Purified Extract of Aloes. " Take of Aloes, in powder, fifteen ounces; Boiling Water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Macerate for three days with a gentle heat; then strain the liquor, and set it by that the dregs may subside. Pour off the dear liquor, and evaporate it to a proper consistence." Lond. The Dublin College prepares this extract according to the general direc- tions. (See page 880.) The object of this process is to separate from aloes the resinous matter, the apotheme of Berzelius, which is supposed to irritate the bowels, without possessing purgative properties; but the truth appears to be, that, when de- prived of a small proportion of adhering extractive, it is quite inert. It can- not, therefore, injuriously affect the virtues of the medicine; and as it exists in comparatively small proportion, and during the process a part of the extractive becomes insoluble, the preparation may be considered as at best unnecessary. The dose of the purified aloes is from five to fifteen grains. W. EXTRACTUM ANTHEMIDIS. U.S. Extractum Anthemidis Nobilis. Ed. Extractum Chamameli. Dub. Extract of Cha- momile. " Take of Chamomile [dried flowers] a pound; Water, a gallon. Boil down to four pints, and strain the liquor while hot; then evaporate to the proper consistence." U.S. For the mode of conducting the evaporation as directed in the United States Pharmacopoeia, and applied to all the extracts, see page 879. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges prepare this extract according to the general process of the former for watery extracts, of the latter for simple extracts. (See page 880.) According to Mr. Brande, one Cwt. of dried chamomile flowers affords upon an average 48 pounds of extract. This extract has a deep brown colour, and the bitter taste of chamomile, but is wholly destitute of aroma, the volatile oil having been entirely driven off during the process. It does not, therefore, possess the peculiar viitues of the flowers; but is simply a mild bitter, which may sometimes be ad- vantageously combined with laxatives and mineral tonics in debilitated states of the digestive organs. The dose is from ten to twenty grains. An ex- tract may be prepared, having the peculiar flavour as well as bitterness of chamomile, by macerating the flowers in water, and evaporating the infusion in vacuo. AV. EXTRACTUM ARTEMISIA ABSINTHII. Dub. Extract of Wormwood. This extract, which is directed only by the Dublin College, is prepared from the tops of Wormwood according to the general formula of that College for simple extracts. (See page 880.) It retains, to a certain extent, the bitterness of the plant, without the strong odour and peculiar taste dependent on the volatile oil which is driven off by the boiling. It is, however, in no respect superior to other bitter extracts, and is very seldom used. The dose is from ten to twenty grains. W. EXTRACTUM BELLADONNA. U.S., Lond. Succus Spisr satus Atropa Belladonna. Ed. Succus Spissatus Belladonna. Dub. Extract of Deadly Nightshade. This is prepared from the fresh leaves of the Atropa Belladonna in the PART II. Extracta. 883 manner directed for the extract of aconite. (See Extractum Aconiti.) From the experiments of MM. Solon and Soubeiran, it appears that, in relation to this extract, the insoluble matter separated from the expressed juice by filter- ing, and that coagulated by heat, are nearly if not quite inert; so that advan- tage might result from clarifying the juice by these means before evaporating it. (See General Observations on Extracts, p. 875.) Mr. Brande states that one Cwt. of fresh belladonna yields from 4 to 6 pounds of extract. According to M. Recluz, nearly ten parts may be ob- tained from one hundred. The extract of belladonna employed in this country is brought chiefly from England. It has usually a dark-brown colour, a slightly narcotic not un- pleasant odour, a bitterish taste, and a soft consistence which it long retains. Asparagin has been found in this extract. (Journ. de Pharm., xxi. 178.) Its medical properties and uses have been detailed under the head of Bel- ladonna. In relation, however, to its local employment, it may be proper to add to what we have already stated, that it is recommended by N. Chaus- sier and others in cases of protracted labour depending on rigidity of the os uteri. The extract, mixed with simple ointment, in the proportion of two drachms to an ounce, is applied at intervals directly to the neck of the uterus. With a similar view of producing relaxation, it has been employed locally in spasm of the urethra and painful constriction of the rectum; but care is requisite not to introduce it too freely into the bowel. It is often advantageously employed, in the shape of plaster or ointment, in local pains of a neuralgic or rheumatic character. (See Emplastrum Belladonnas.) The dose of the extract is uncertain on account of its exceedingly variable strength. The best plan is to begin with one-quarter or one-half of a grain, repeated two or three times a day, and gradually to increase the dose till the effects of the medicine are experienced. To a child two years old not more than one- twelfth of a grain should be administered at first. Off. Prep. Emplastrum Belladonnas. Dub. W. EXTRACTUM CINCHONA. U.S., Dub. Extractum Cin- chona Cordifolia. Extractum Cinchona Lancifolia. Ex- tractum Cinchona Oblongifolia. Lond. Extractum Cinchona Lancifolia. Ed. Extract of Peruvian Bark. " Take of Peruvian Bark, in powder, a pound; Alcohol four pints; Water a gallon. Macerate the Peruvian Bark with the Alcohol for four days, and pour off the tincture. Boil the residuum in four pints of the AVater for a quarter of an hour, and strain the liquor, while hot, through linen: repeat the boiling with the four remaining pints of AVater, and strain as before; then evaporate the decoction to the consistence of thin honey. Distil the Alcohol from the tincture till this attains a similar degree of thickness; then mix the inspissated liquors, and evaporate to the proper consistence." U.S. The Extract of the Edinburgh College, which is prepared according to their general directions for extracts by water and alcohol (see page 880) differs from ours only in being procured exclusively from the pale bark, while the United States Pharmacopoeia leaves the choice of the variety to the physician or apothecary. "Take of Cinchona Cordifolia, bruised, fifteen ounces; Distilled AVater four gallons [Imperial measure]. Boil down with a gallon of water to six pints, and strain the liquor while hot. In the same manner boil down with an equal measure of water four times, and strain. Lastly, having mixed all the liquors together, evaporate them to the proper consistence. Prepare the 8S4 Extracta. PART II. Extract of Cinchona Lancifolia, and Cinchona Oblongifolia, in the same manner as that of Cinchona Cordifolia." Lond. The Dublin College takes a pound of coarsely powdered pale bark and six pints of water; boils for fifteen minutes in a loosely covered vessel, and filters the decoction while hot; boils the residue again in an equal quantity of water, and filters as before; repeats the boiling and filtration in like man- ner a third time; then mixes the decoctions, and evaporates them to a proper consistence. The College also directs that the extract should be kept soft, so as to be fit for forming pills, and hard that it may be pulverized. Of the different officinal extracts of bark for which directions are given above, we decidedly prefer that of the United States and Edinburgh Pharma- copoeias. The extract of the London and Dublin Colleges is an injudicious preparation. In the first place, the water does not nearly exhaust the bark, and in the second, the boiling favours the formation of an insoluble com- pound of starch and tannin, which carries with it a portion of the alkaline principles, and though retained in the extract, is probably less efficient as a medicine than a more soluble compound containing an equal proportion of the active matter. According to the suggestion of M. Henry, Jun., it is not improbable that the different colouring matters in the bark act in relation to the quinia and cinchonia the part of an acid, sharing at a high temperature these bases with the kinic acid, and forming with them insoluble if not inert compounds. Besides, we cannot by any means be certain that a long con- tinued heat of 212° may not determine an actual decomposition of a portion of these alkalies, and the formation of new principles. The London process is more objectionable than the Dublin, in proportion as the boiling which it directs is longer continued. A very good extract of bark was formerly prepared, in the shops of Phi- ladelphia, by macerating the cinchona for a considerable length of time in a large proportion of water, and slowly evaporating the infusion, by a very moderate heat, in large shallow dishes placed upon the top of a stove. Be- fore the use of the sulphate of quinia had superseded that of most other preparations of bark, we employed this extract with success in the treatment of intermittents, and found ten grains of it equivalent to nearly a drachm of the powdered cinchona. Mr. Brande informs us that one cwt. of fine crown bark (best pale bark) yields, on an average, 28 pounds of watery extract, and 25 pounds of alco- holic extract. The same kind of bark gave to M. Recluz, out of 100 parts, by maceration with cold water, 12.5 parts on an average of extract, by infu- sion with boiling water about 9.4 parts, by decoction from 12.5 to 18.75 parts, and by maceration in diluted alcohol (22° B.) from 25 to 31.3 parts. But the length of time for which the bark is submitted to the action of the solvent must have considerable influence on the proportion extracted, and of this we are not informed in the table from which we have taken the above results. (See Diet, des Drogues.) It is best that the bark should be only coarsely powdered when submitted to decoction or maceration; as in this state it is sufficiently penetrable by the solvent, and more readily separated after being exhausted. The extract should always be brought to the hard dry state in which it may be pulve- rized; as it is thus less apt to be injured by exposure, and in the state of powder may be more uniformly incorporated with other substances. Medical Uses. The extract of Peruvian bark is at present much less em- ployed than before the discovery of quinia. It is still, however, occasionally prescribed as a tonic in combination with other medicines; and as it possesses, when properly prepared, most of the principles as they exist in the bark PART II. Extracta. 8S5 itself, it may be used in preference to the sulphate of quinia, whenever it is supposed that the latter is incapable of exerting all the curative influence of cinchona. The dose is from ten to thirty grains, equivalent to about a drachm of the powdered bark. W. EXTRACTUM COLCHICI ACETICUM. Lond. Acetic Ex- tract of Meadow-saffron. " Take of fresh Meadow-saffron Cormus [bulb] a pound; Acetic Acid three fluidounces. Bruise the Cormus, gradually sprinkling in the Acetic Acid; then express the juice, and evaporate it, in an earthen vessel not glazed with lead, to the proper consistence." Lond. The use of the acetic acid in this preparation, is to render more soluble the alkaline principle upon which the virtues of meadow-saffron are thought to depend. The dose of the extract is one or two grains, to be increased if necessary. AV. EXTRACTUM COLCHICI CORMI. Lond. Extract of Mea- dow-saffron Cormus. This is prepared in the manner directed for Extract of Aconite. There scarcely seems to be occasion for both this and the preceding ex- tract of meadow-saffron bulb. Neither of them can properly be prepared in this country, as we want the fresh bulb. The dose is one or two grains. W. EXTRACTUM COLOCYNTHIDIS. Lond. Extractum Colo- cynthidis simplex. Dub. Extract of Colocynth. " Take of Colocynth, sliced, a pound; Distilled AVater two gallons [Im- perial measure]. Mix them, and boil with a slow fire for six hours, occa- sionally adding Distilled Water, so that it may always fill the same measure. Strain the liquor while hot; and lastly, evaporate to the proper consistence." Lond. " Take of Pulp of Colocynth a pound; Water a gallon. Boil down to four pints, and strain the liquor while hot; then evaporate it to a proper consistence." Dub. In the formula of the Dublin College, which is the same as that of the former London Pharmacopoeia, the proportion of colocynth is too large, if the pulp only, without the seeds, is intended; as, in consequence of the porous nature of the medullary matter, it absorbs nearly the whole of the water, and almost precludes the possibility of boiling as directed. Dr. Duncan found half a pound of colocynth to contain 2770 grains of seeds, which boiled by them- selves yielded almost nothing to water, and 800 grains of pith, which was easily boiled in four pounds of water, but absorbed almost the whole of it. The decoction, when expressed, although it contained no starch, gelatinized on cooling. By boiling the residuum in four pounds of fresh water, he obtained a decoction, which, mixed with that previously obtained, yielded upon evaporation 360 grains of a pale-brown, semi-transparent, dry, elastic extract, of intense bitterness. The decoction is ordered to be strained while hot, because the gelatinous consistence which it assumes on cooling prevents it from readily passing through the strainer. The French Codex directs, instead of the decoction, an infusion prepared by maceration in cold water. But the aqueous extract of colocynth, however made, is not an eligible preparation; as water does not dissolve the active bitter principle in large proportion, while it takes up much inert matter, so that the extract is even feebler than colocynth itself, without having any peculiar merit to recommend it. Besides, according 8S6 Extracta. PART II. to Mr. Brande, it is invariably either mouldy, or so tough and hard as to resist trituration and formation into pills. It has no place in our national Pharmacopoeia, and might with propriety be discarded from those of Lon- don and Dublin. It is little used. The dose is from five grains to half a drachm. yy EXTRACTUM COLOCYNTHIDIS COMPOSITUM. U.S., Lond., Dub. Compound Extract of Colocynth. "Take of Pulp of Colocynth [without the seeds], sliced, six ounces; Aloes, in powder, twelve ounces; Scammony, in powder, four ounces; Car- damom, in powder, an ounce; Soap [Castile] three ounces; Diluted Alcohol a gallon. Macerate the Pulp of Colocynth in the Diluted Alcohol with a gentle heat, for four days. Strain the liquor and add to it the Aloes, Scam- mony, and Soap; then evaporate to the proper consistence, and, near the end of the process, mix the Cardamom with the other ingredients." U.S. The processes of the London and Dublin Colleges correspond with the above except in phraseology. The former College, however, directs the purified extract of aloes, the latter, hepatic aloes. Soap was not embraced in the formula of the first edition of our Pharma- copoeia; but has been added in imitation of the London process, in order to improve the consistence of the mass, which it renders more soluble in the liquors of the stomach when hardened by time. It may possibly also serve the purpose of qualifying the action of the aloes. Diluted alcohol is a much better solvent of the active principle of colocynth than water. The proper consistence alluded to in this process, is that which is adapted to the forma- tion of pills. This extract is an energetic and safe cathartic, possessing the activity of its three purgative ingredients, with comparatively little of the drastic cha- racter of the colocynth and scammony. It may be still further and advan- tageously modified by combination with rhubarb, jalap, calomel, &c , with one or more of which it is very often united in prescription. In such com- bination it is much employed wherever an active cathartic is desirable, par- ticularly in the commencement of fevers and febrile complaints, in conges- tion of the liver or portal system, and in obstinate constipation. In small doses it is an excellent laxative in that state of habitual costiveness depend- ing on a want of the due irritability of the bowels, which often occurs in old people. The dose is from five to thirty grains, according to the effect to be produced, and the susceptibility of the bowels. A very eligible com- b.natmn is in the compound cathartic pill of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Off. Prep. Pilulae Catharticae Compositae, U.S. W. EXTRACTUM CONII. U.S., Lond. Succus Spissatus Conii Maculati. Ed. Succus Spissatus Conii. Dub. Extract of Hem- Lack* This is prepared from the fresh leaves of the Conium maculatum, in the manner directed for extract of aconite. (See Extractum Aconili.) Mr. Brande observes, in relation to the inspissated juices generally, that ight pressure only should be employed in separating the juice from the leaves; as the extract is thus procured greener, of a less glutinous or viscid consistence and, in his opinion, more active than when considerable power is used in the expression. AVith regard to this particular extract, he states that its preparation " almost necessarily requires the use of a steam-appa ratus for in a water-bath the evaporation is so prolonged as to injure it, ; over the open fire it invariably suffers from too high a temperature." (Mt and Tan- PART II. Extracta. 887 ual of Pharmacy.) According to Christison, the active principle is decom- posed by too much heat into Ammonia and resinous matter, and the extract is inert. Long continued exposure to the air is productive of the same re- sult, so that old extracts are frequently destitute of activity. (Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 416.) No one of the extracts is more variable in its qualities than this. The season at which the herb is collected, the place and circum- stances of its growth, the method of preparing the extract, are all points of importance, and are all too frequently neglected. (See Conium.) In this country the process is often very carelessly conducted; and large quantities of an extract prepared by boiling the plant in water and evaporating the decoction, have been sold as the genuine drug. The apothecary should al- ways prepare the extract himself, or procure it from persons in whom he can have entire confidence. That imported from London is usually the best. The activity of any specimen of the extract may be judged of by rubbing it with potassa, which, disengaging the conia and rendering it volatile, gives rise to the peculiar odour of that principle. If no odour be evolved under these circumstances, the extract may be deemed inert. (Christison.) Extract of hemlock should have a fresh olive colour, a strong narcotic somewhat fetid odour, and a bitterish saline taste. According to Brande, from three to five pounds are obtained from one Cwt. of the leaves. M. Recluz got rather more than an ounce from sixteen ounces. Of the medi- cal properties and application of this extract, we have spoken under the head of Conium. The dose is three grains twice a day, to be gradually in- creased till evidences of its action upon the system are afforded. It may be administered in pill or solution. AV. EXTRACTUM DIGITALIS. Lond. Extract of Foxglove. This is prepared from the fresh leaves, in the manner directed by the London College for extract of aconite. (See Extractum Aconiti.) It is a new preparation of the London College, and appears to us, con- sidering the activity of the leaves themselves, and the at least equal uncer- tainty of the extract, to be quite superfluous. The dose is from half a grain to two grains. AV. EXTRACTUM GENTIANA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Extractum Gentiana Lutea. Ed. Extract of Gentian. The U. S. Pharmacopeia directs this to be prepared from bruised gentian, in the same manner as the extract of chamomile. (See Extractum An- themidis.) The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges prepare it according to the general process of the former for watery extracts, of the latter for simple extracts. (See page 880.) " Take of Gentian, sliced, two pounds and a half; Boiling Distilled AVater two gallons [Imperial measure]. Macerate for twenty-four hours; then boil down to a gallon, and strain the liquor while hot; lastly, evaporate to the proper consistence." Lond. The French Codex directs maceration in cold water, instead of decoction as ordered by the U. S. and British Pharmacopoeias for extracting the virtues of the root; and MM. Guibourt and Cadet de Vaux obtained by the former method an extract not only greater in amount, but more transparent, more bitter, and possessing more of the colour and smell of the root than that prepared by the latter. Guibourt attributes this result to the circumstance, that as gentian contains little, if any starch, it yields nothing to boiling which it will not also yield to cold water, while decoction favours the com- 888 Extracta. PART ii. bination of a portion of the colouring matter with the lignin. Gentian, ac- cording to Brande, yields half its weight of extract. As ordinarily procured, the extract of gentian is nearly inodorous, very bitter, of a dark brown colour approaching to black, shining, and tenacious. It is frequently used as a tonic in the form of pill, either alone or in con- nexion with metallic preparations. The dose is from ten to thirty grains. W. EXTRACTUM HAMATOXYLI. U.S., Lond. Extractum Hamatoxyli Campechiani. Ed., Dub. Extract of Logwood. The U.S. Pharmacopoeia directs this extract to be prepared from the raspings of logwood, in the same manner as extract of chamomile. (See Extractum Anthemidis.) The London College prepares it in the manner directed for extract of gentian. (See Extractum Gentianae.) The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges prepare it according to the general process of the former for watery extracts, of the latter for simple extracts. (See page 880.) The evaporation should be carried so far, that the extract may be dry and brittle when cold. About twenty pounds of it are obtained from one Cwt. of logwood. (Brande.) It is of a deep ruby colour, and an astringent sweet- ish taste; and possesses all the medical virtues of the wood from which it is procured. If given in pills, these should be recently made, as, when long kept, they are said to become so hard as sometimes to pass unchanged through the bowels. The extract, however, is best administered in solution. The dose is from ten to thirty grains. This extract is said to be prepared largely in Yucatan and other parts of Mexico. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 87.) W. EXTRACTUM HELLEBORI NIGRI. U.S., Ed. Extract of Black Hellebore. This is prepared from the bruised root of the Helleborus niger, in the manner directed for extract of chamomile. (See Extractum Anthemidis.) The virtues of black hellebore are either not completely extracted by boiling water, or are deteriorated by decoction; for the watery extract is little, if at all stronger than the root. It operates as a drastic purge in the dose of twelve or fifteen grains, but is seldom employed. The former French Codex contained a process for preparing the extract of hellebore, according to the method of Bacher. Two pounds of the root and half a pound of carbonate of potassa are digested, with a moderate heat, for twelve hours, in eight pounds of alcohol of 22° B.; the tincture is strained with expression; the residuum is again digested with eight pounds of white wine for twenty-four hours; the wine is expressed, and having stood four hours to settle is decanted; the liquors are then mixed, and with a gentle heat evaporated to the consistence of an extract. One ounce of this extract, mixed with the same quantity of myrrh, and with ten scruples of the pow- dered leaves of the Centaurea benedicta, and made into pills of one grain each, constitutes the preparation known as the tonic pills of Bacher, for- merly much used in amenorrhcea and dropsy, and probably not without ad- vantage, especially in the former of these diseases. The dose is from ten to twenty pills during the day. An additional quantity of diluted alcohol might, without disadvantage, be substituted for the wine in the preparation of the extract. AV. PART II. Extracta. 889 EXTRACTUM HUMULI LUPULI. Dub. Extractum Lu- puli. Lond. Extract of Hops. The London College prepares this extract in the manner directed for extract of gentian. (See Extractum Gentianae.) The Dublin College or- ders it to be prepared according to its general formula for simple extracts. (See p. 880.; Since the discovery of the fact that the active properties of hops reside chiefly in the lupulin, this extract has not been deemed an eligible prepara- tion, and has been little used. It has the peculiar bitterness of the strobiles, without their aroma. Lupulin may be advantageously substituted for it in all cases in which it was formerly employed. Mr. Brande says that the average product of one Cwt. of hops is forty pounds of the extract. The dose is from ten to thirty grains. W. EXTRACTUM HYOSCYAMI. U.S., Lond. Succus Spissatus Hyoscyami Nigri. Ed. Succus Spissatus Hyoscyami. Dub. Ex- tract of Henbane. This is prepared from the fresh leaves of the Hyoscyamus niger, in the manner directed for extract of aconite. (See Extractum Aconiti.) MM. Solon and Soubeiran have shown that the insoluble matter separated from the expressed juice of henbane by filtering, and that coagulated by heat, are nearly if not quite inert; so that the juice may be advantageously clarified before evaporation. (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 228.) Extract of henbane is seldom if ever made in this country, being derived chiefly from England.. Mr. Brande says that one Cwt. of the fresh herb affords between four and five pounds. M. Recluz obtained about one part from sixteen. The extract, as it reaches us, is of a dark olive colour almost black, of a narcotic rather unpleasant odour, and a bitterish, nauseous, slightly saline taste. It retains its softness for a long time; but' at the end of three or four years becomes dry, and exhibits, when broken, small crystals of nitrate of potassa and chloride of sodium. (Recluz.) Like all the inspissated juices it is of variable strength, according to its age, the care used in its prepara- tion, and the character of the leaves from which it was procured. (See Hy- oscyamus.) In its use, therefore, it is necessary to begin with a moderate dose, two or three grains for instance, and gradually to increase the quan- tity till some effect is experienced, and the degree of efficiency of the par- ticular parcel employed is ascertained. It is usually given in pill. W. EXTRACTUM JALAPA. U.S. Lond., Dub. Extractum Convolvuli Jalapa. Ed. Extract of Jalap. " Take of Jalap, in powder, a pound; Alcohoiybw pints; Water a gal- lon. Macerate the Jalap in the Alcohol for four days, and pour off the tincture. Add the Water to the residue, and boil down to two pints; then strain the tincture and decoction separately, and distil the former and evapo- rate the latter, till they acquire the consistence of thin honey. Lastly, mix them together, and evaporate to the proper consistence. " Of this Extract, let a portion be kept in a soft state, fit for the forma- tion of pills; and another hard, so that it may be pulverized." U.S. The processes of the London and Dublin Colleges for this extract cor- respond with the above in all essential points. The Edinburgh College prepares it according to their general formula for spirituous extracts, (see page 880,) which will afford a similar result. Infusion in water might be advantageously substituted for the decoction 76 890 Extracta. PART II- to which the residuum of the jalap, after having been treated with alcohol, is subjected; as the virtues of the root may be thus extracted without the amylaceous matter, which serves only to augment the bulk, and impede the filtration or straining. But, according to M. Cadet de Gassicourt, water at ordinary temperatures acts so slowly, that fermentation takes place before the active matter is all dissolved. It is, therefore, necessary to digest with a heat of about 90° or 100°F., which, while it is insufficient for the solu- tion of the starch, enables the water to take up all that it is desirable to ex- tract. By the previous removal of the resin by means of alcohol, it is pro- bable that the action of the water is facilitated. One Cwt. of jalap affords, according to Mr. Brande, about fifty pounds of aqueous extract and fifteen of resin. The product of the former is somewhat less by infusion than de- coction; and the extract is proportionably stronger. The extract of jalap is of a dark brown colour, slightly translucent at the edges, and tenacious when not perfectly dry. It has the medical properties of the root; but is not often exhibited alone, being chiefly used as an ingre- dient of purgative pills, for which it is adapted by the comparative smallness of its bulk. The dose is from ten to twenty grains, or rather more than half that of jalap. Off.Prep. Pilulae Catharticae Compositae, U.S.; Pulvis Scammonii Com- positus, Dub., Lond. W. EXTRACTUM JUGLANDIS. U.S. Extract of Butternut. This is prepared from the sliced inner bark of the root of the Juglans cinerea, in the manner directed for extract of chamomile. (See Extractum Anthemidis.) Most of this extract kept in the shops is prepared by the country peo- ple, who are said to use the bark of the branches, and even the branches themselves, instead of the inner bark of the root, as directed by the Phar- macopoeia. The heat is also improperly regulated, being applied too vigor- ously, or continued too long, so that the preparation is often injured. That it should have proved uncertain in the hands of many physicians is, there- fore, not a matter of surprise. It should always be prepared by the apothe- cary, and from the inner bark of the root gathered in May or June. The extract of butternut is of a black colour, sweetish odour, and bitter astringent taste. In the dose of twenty or thirty grains it acts as a mild cathartic. (See Juglans.) W. EXTRACTUM LACTUCA. Lond. Succus Spissatus Lactu- ca Sativa. Ed. Extract of Lettuce. This extract is prepared by the London College from fresh lettuce leaves in the same manner as extract of aconite. (See Extractum Aconiti.) The Edinburgh College prepares it from the plant, according to their general formula for the preparation of inspissated juices. (See page 880.) The extract of lettuce has been retained by the London College, though the lettuce itself from which it is prepared has been rejected. Its claims to favourable notice are at least very questionable. Consisting chiefly of the common sap of the plant, which is inert, with a variable, but always small proportion of the milky secretion, on which the activity of lettuce depends, it is at best a feeble and uncertain preparation; and might very well be dis- pensed with. Lactucarium possesses all its virtues, with much greater strength and uniformity of action. It is accordingly used in this country to the exclusion of the extract. The dose of the latter is from five to fifteen grains. W. PART II. Extracta. 891 SUCCUS SPISSATUS LACTUCA VIROSA. Ed. Inspissa- ted Juice of Strong-scented Lettuce. This is prepared from the plant, according to the general formula of the Edinburgh College for the preparation of their inspissated juices. (See page 880.) It is not used in this country. The inspissated juice of our own wild lettuce (Lactuca elongata) has been proposed as a substitute, but has not found a [dace among the officinal preparations. (See Lactuca Virosa and Lactuca Elongata.) EXTRACTUM NUCIS VOMICA. Dub. Extract of Nux Vomica. " Take of Nux Vomica, rasped, eight ounces; Proof Spirit two pints. Digest in a close vessel for three days; filter the liquor, and express the remainder by a press. Add to the residue one pint and a half of Proof Spirit, digest for three days, and express. Mix the liquors, and having re- duced them by distillation to one-fourth, evaporate to a proper consistence." Dub. This extract, which is peculiar to the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, is an active preparation of nux vomica, though not always of uniform strength, owing to the variable proportion of strychnia in the substance from which it is pre- pared. M. Recluz obtained from sixteen ounces of the nux vomica, the average product of one ounce and a quarter. The dose of the extract is from half a grain to two grains, to be repeated three times a day. W. EXTRACTUM OPII PURIFICATUM. Lond. Extractum Opii Aquosum. Dub. Extract of Opium. " Take of Opium, sliced, twenty ounces; Distilled Water a gallon [Im- perial measure]. Add a little of the Water to the Opium, and macerate for twelve hours that it may become soft; then, adding gradually the remainder of the Water, rub them until they are thoroughly mixed, and set the mixture by that the dregs may subside; lastly, strain the liquor, and evaporate it to a proper consistence." Lond. " Take of Opium, sliced, two ounces; Boiling AVater a pint. Rub the Opium with the Water for ten minutes, and, after a short interval, pour off the liquor. Triturate the remaining Opium with an equal quantity of boil- ing AVater, for the same length of time, and pour off the liquor as before. Repeat the trituration a third time; then mix the liquors, and expose the mixture to the air for two days in an open vessel. Lastly, filter through linen, and evaporate the filtered liquor slowly to the consistence of an ex- tract." Dub. Of these two processes, that of the Dublin College is undoubtedly the best, as water boiling hot extracts more of the soluble principle of opium than at a lower temperature. M. Recluz obtained from sixteen ounces of the drug an average product of nine ounces by hot water, and only six by cold. But we can discover no advantage which either preparation has over opium itself. Though the dose may be somewhat smaller, yet that of opium is sufficiently small; and if there be any distinct principle in this drug which modifies in an unpleasant manner the action of the morphia, it is not left behind in the preparation of the watery extract. Nor has this preparation the advantage of greater uniformity; as the gum, extractive, &c, taken up by the water, bear no fixed proportion to the anodyne principle. It is highly probable, moreover, that the opium is not completely exhausted by either process. It certainly is not by that of the London College; for morphia S92 Extracta. PART II. may be extracted from the residuum of the operation. (Brande.) In the preparation, therefore, of the extract of opium, there is a loss of time and of active matter, without any equivalent gain; and there is the further disad- vantage, that, as the extract does not possess equally with opium those ex- ternal characters by which its quality may be decided, it is more liable to adulteration. AAre should, therefore, in every instance, prefer opium to the extract; but it is necessary that the latter should be selected of good quality, and should be freed from all adhering extraneous matters. Under the impression that the stimulating and unpleasant effects of opium are owing to the narcotina, it has been proposed to separate this principle by submitting the extract to the operation of ether, which dissolves the narco- tina and leaves the morphia with the other ingredients. Robiquet employed cold ether; but M. Dublanc, convinced lhat the whole of the narcotina was not thus extracted, proposed the following plan. " Take of watery extract of opium 16 ounces; dissolve it in 8 ounces of distilled water; introduce the solution into the water-bath of a still; pour upon it 104 ounces of pure ethei; distil off 24 ounces of the ether; take apart the apparatus and decant the ether which floats on the top of the extract; wash the latter while hot with the distilled ether; concentrate the residual matter, dissolve it in dis- tilled water, filter the solution, and evaporate to a proper consistence." It is very doubtful, however, whether any useful end is gained by this expen- sive operation, as it is not by any means conclusively settled that narcotina does in fact produce the unpleasant effects which have been attributed to it; and even admitting the fact, the preparations of morphia, which are of uni- form strength, are greatly preferable to the denarcotized extract. The dose of the extract of opium prepared by the Dublin process is about one-half that of opium itself. The London extract, according to Brande, is never stronger, and is sometimes weaker than opium. W. EXTRACTUM PAPAVERIS. Lond. Extractum Papaveris Somniferi. Ed. Extract of Poppy. " Take of Poppy [capsules], freed from their seeds, and bruised, fifteen ounces; Boiling Distilled Water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Macerate for twenty-four hours, then boil down to four pints, strain the liquor while hot, and evaporate it to a proper consistence." Lond. The Edinburgh College prepares the Extract of Poppy from the cap- sules, without their seeds and bruised, according to their general formula for watery extracts. (See page 880.) Mr. Brande observes in relation to this extract, that if prepared over the open fire it is often nearly inert. He states, moreover, that it is apt to be of a troublesome consistence, too hard to be formed into pills, and too tough to be pulverized; and advises that it should always be carefully dried till it becomes sufficiently brittle to admit of being reduced to powder. One Cwt. of the capsules, without the seeds, yields, according to this author, the average product of 35 pounds of extract. This preparation is little used in the United States. It possesses the vir- tues of opium, but is much inferior and less uniform in strength. The dose is from five to ten grains. W. EXTRACTUM PAREIRA. Lond. Extract of Pareira Brava. This is prepared by the London College from bruised Pareira Brava in the manner directed for extract of gentian. (See Extractum Gentianae.) The dose is from ten grains to half a drachm. AV. PART II. Extracta. 893 EXTRACTUM PODOPHYLLI. U.S. Extract of May-apple. This is prepared from the powdered root of the Podophyllum peltatum, in the manner directed for the Extract of Jalap. (See Extractum Jalapae.) It is possessed of the purgative properties of the root, and may be given in the dose of from five to fifteen grains, but is little employed. It might be substituted in all cases for the extract of jalap. W. EXTRACTUM QUASSIA. U. S. Extract of Quassia. This is prepared from the raspings of Quassia, in the manner directed for the extract of chamomile. (See Extractum Anthemidis.) According to M. Recluz, sixteen ounces of quassia yield by infusion in water seven drachms of extract; by maceration in alcohol of 19° Baume, two ounces five drachms and a half. The difference between these quan- tities is so great that we suspect some mistake in the table of the Diction- naire des Drogues from which we quote. The extract of quassia is dark-brown or black, and excessively bitter. It is apt to become dry and disposed to crumble by time. It concentrates a greater amount of tonic power within a given weight than any other extract of the simple bitters; and may therefore be given with great advantage in cases in which it is desirable to administer this class of substances in as small a bulk, and with as little inconvenience to the patient as possible. The dose is about five grains, and should be given in the form of pill. AV. EXTRACTUM QUERCUS. Dub. Extract of Oak Bark. This is prepared from the bark of the Quercus Robur, according to the general formula given by the Dublin College for the preparation of the sim- ple extracts. (See page 880.) The Dublin College alone orders this preparation, which may be consi- dered as quite superfluous. The Quercus Robur, the bark of which is directed, is not a native of this country; but were it desirable to obtain the extract, the bark of our white oak—Quercus alba—might be advantage- ously substituted. The dose is from ten grains to a drachm. W. EXTRACTUM RHEI. Lond., Dub. Extract of Rhubarb. " Take of Rhubarb, in powder, fifteen ounces; Proof Spirit a pint [Impe- rial measure]; Distilled Water seven pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for four days with a gentle heat, then strain, and set the liquor by that the dregs may subside. Pour off the clear liquor, and evaporate it to the proper con- sistence." Lond. The Dublin College employs a pound of Rhubarb, a pint of Proof Spirit, and seven pints of Water; and proceeds as above. Rhubarb yields all its active matter to water and alcohol united; but as the proportion of the root insoluble in these fluids is only about 30 per cent. (20 according to Brande) the extract can be little stronger than rhubarb itself, even allowing that the active matter is not injured or dissipated in the process of its preparation. Unless the evaporation is performed with great care and with a very moderate heat, it is certain that this latter effect is produced to a greater or less extent, and the extract thus becomes even less efficient than the root. Among other consequences which result from the boiling temperature, is the formation of a compound of the tannin and starch which is insoluble in cold water, and upon its precipitation pro- bably carries with it a portion of the purgative principle. There is, more- over, reason to believe that this principle is volatizable by heat, and that a portion of it escapes with the vapour. This extract may, therefore, be very well dispensed with. It is not directed by the United States or Edinburgh 76* 894 Extracta. PART II. Pharmacopoeia. The only advantage, if it be one, which it possesses over powdered rhubarb is, that it may be given in solution; and the same object may be accomplished by employing the root itself in the state of infusion. The dose of the extract is from ten to thirty grains. AV. EXTRACTUM RUTA. Dub. Extractum Ruta Graveolen- tis. Ed. Extract of Rue. This is prepared by the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges from the herb, according to their respective general formulae for the preparation of the wa- tery or simple extracts. (Seepage 880.) The volatile oil, upon which the stimulant and antispasmodic properties of rue depend, is driven off in the preparation of the extract, which, there- fore, answers no other purpose than that of a bitter tonic; and even in this respect it is inferior to the other bitter extracts. It is not used in this country. The dose is from ten to twenty grains. W. SUCCUS SPISSATUS SAMBUCI. Dub. Succus Spissatus Sambuci Nigri. Ed. Inspissated Juice of Elder. This is prepared by the Dublin College from fresh ripe elder berries in the same manner with the inspissated juice of aconite. (See Extractum Aconiti.) The Edinburgh College orders five parts of the juice of ripe elder ber- ries to be mixed with one part of refined sugar, and evaporated by a gentle heat to the consistence of pretty thick honey. The elder berries employed in Europe are those of the Sambucus ni- gra; but the berries of the Sambucus Canadensis, which is a native of this country, will answer equally well. For the uses of this extract the reader is referred to the article Sambucus in the Materia Medica. EXTRACTUM SARSAPARILLA. Dub. Extractum Sar- za. Lond. Extract of Sarsaparilla. " Take of Sarsaparilla root, sliced, a pound; Boiling Water a gallon. Macerate for twenty-four hours, and boil down to four pints; then strain the liquor while hot, and evaporate to the proper consistence." Dub. The London College prepares this extract in the manner directed for extract of gentian. (See Extractum Gentianae.) The extract thus prepared can have little or'no effect upon the system, as the active matter of sarsaparilla is either destroyed by chemical change or driven off at the heat of boiling water. Besides, it appears from the experiments of Hancock and others, that water, unless in very large pro- portions, is incapable of exhausting the root, and waste would be incurred, even admitting that the extract possessed some efficiency. Very different quantities have been obtained from different varieties of sarsaparilla, and even from different parcels of the same variety; but as the matter taken up by boiling water consists chiefly of starch, no inference as to the relative value of any particular specimen of the root can be drawn from a know- ledge of the quantity of extract which it is capable of affording. From ten grains to a drachm of this preparation may be given for a dose. A spirituous extract of sarsaparilla has been proposed by M. Beral, which probably contains the active matter of the root, and which well de- serves the attention of pharmaceutists and physicians. It is prepared in the following manner. " Take of dilute alcohol of 20°B. [sp. gr. 0.9336] sixteen pounds; sarsaparilla, properly prepared, two pounds. Macerate the sarsaparilla in the dilute alcohol for a month; then decant, and filter through paper. Distil the tinctqre Sq as to draw off the alcohol, and concentrate the PART II. Extracta. 895 remaining liquid by means of a water-bath till it attains the consistence of a soft extract. The product is usually four ounces [a quarter of a pound]." (Journ. de Pharm. xv. 657.) The diluted alcohol extracts all the virtues of the root, leaving the inert fecula which encumbers the extract obtained by decoction; while the temperature requisite for the concentration of the tinc- ture is insufficient to destroy the active principle. As the product of this operation is about one-eighth of the sarsaparilla employed, a drachm of the extract represents an ounce of the root. From ten to twenty grains of it may be given three or four times a day. We have ascertained by actual observation that it possesses in a high degree the acrid taste of sarsaparilla. W. EXTRACTUM SARSAPARILLA FLUIDUM. Dub. Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla. " Take of the Root of Sarsaparilla, sliced, a pound; AVater twelve pints. Boil them together for an hour, and pour off the liquor; then add twelve pints of water, and boil and decant as before. Express the liquor strongly from the residuary matter, and having mixed the decoctions, set the mixture by that the dregs may subside; then evaporate by continued boiling to thirty ounces [fluidounces], and add two ounces [fluidounces] of Rectified Spi- rit." Dub. It has lately become very customary to employ a concentrated liquid pre- paration of sarsaparilla, under the name of fluid extract. It was probably in order to give some regularity to popular practice in this respect, that the Dublin College adopted the above process in the last edition of their Phar- macopoeia. It is, however, to be regretted, that the preparation is not more in conformity with our present knowledge in relation to the pharmaceutical management of this root. There can be little doubt as to the almost total inefficiency of the fluid extract of the Dublin College. We should ourselves prefer the solid extract prepared according to the formula of M. Beral, de- tailed under the last head, to any concentrated liquid preparation; as Ave cannot be certain that the active principle is held in solution by a very small proportion of water, and if it be merely suspended, there may be a risk that due agitation may not always be practised in dispensing and administering the medicine. But if the popular inclination to this mode of preparation must be gratified, we should give a decided preference to the following for- mula of William Hodgson, Jun., over any other which we have seen. "Take of Sarsaparilla Root, bruised, sixteen ounces; Liquorice Root, bruised, Guaiacum Wood, rasped, Bark of Sassafras Root, each, two ounces; Mezereon six drachms; Diluted Alcohol eight pints. Digest for fourteen days at a common temperature; then strain, express, and filter. Evaporate the tincture in a water-bath to twelve fluidounces; then add eight ounces of white sugar, and remove from the fire as soon as the sugar is dissolved." (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. ii. 285.) Mr. Hodgson observes, that during the process a small quantity of resin separates, and adheres to the sides of the vessel, apparently derived from the guaiacum wood. The advantages of this process are, that by means of the alcohol all the virtues of the root are extracted, while the low temperature required in its evaporation is not sufficient to impair these virtues. The preparation has been used in Philadelphia with great apparent advantage in secondary syphilis. The dose is a fluidrachm, equivalent to a drachm of the root, three or four times a day. W. 896 Extracta. part ii. EXTRACTUM SPARTII SCOPARII. Dub. Extract of Broom Tops. peThis is prepared from the tops of the Spartium Scoparium, according to the general formula of the Dublin College for the preparation of their sim- ple extracts. (See page 880.) It has laxative and diuretic properties; but is not employed in this country and seldom in Europe. The dose is from thirty grains to a drachm. W. EXTRACTUM STRAMONII. U.S., Lond., Dub. Extract of Thorn-apple. This is prepared, according to the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, from fresh thorn- apple leaves, in the manner directed for extract of aconite. (See Extractum Aconiti.) The London College prepares the extract from the seeds, according to the following formula. " Take of Thorn-apple Seeds, fifteen ounces; Boil- ing Distilled Water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Macerate for four hours in a covered vessel near the fire; then take out the seeds, and after having bruised them in a stone mortar, return them to the liquor. Boil down to four pints [Imperial measure], and strain the decoction while hot. Finally, evaporate to a proper consistence." The Dublin College gives the same process; but directs a pound instead of fifteen ounces of the seeds, indicates the AVine instead of the Imperial gallon, and directs undistilled water. The extract of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, like the other inspissated narcotic juices, is an uncertain preparation, varying in strength according to the care used in conducting the process, and to the season at which the leaves are collected. The insoluble matter separated from the expressed juice by filter- ing, and that coagulated by heat, may be advantageously rejected; as, accord- ing to the observations of MM. Solon and Soubeiran, they are nearly or quite inert. M. Recluz obtained half an ounce of the extract from sixteen ounces of the leaves. The dose is a grain night and morning to be gra- dually increased till it affects the system. The extract of the seeds is more active in the same dose than that of the leaves, and would probably be still more efficient if prepared by maceration in diluted alcohol, instead of decoction in water as ordered by the London and Dublin Colleges. According to the table of Recluz, sixteen ounces of the seeds afford two ounces and two drachms of extract by maceration in diluted alcohol, and one ounce and a half by decoction. The dose to begin with is a quarter or half a grain twice a day, to be gradually increased. W. EXTRACTUM TARAXACI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Extract of Dandelion. This is prepared, according to the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, from the fresh root of the Leontodon Taraxacum, in the manner directed for extract of chamomile. (See Extractum Anthemidis.) The London College prepares it in the manner directed for extract of gentian. (See Extractum Gentianae.) The Dublin College employs both the herb and root, and proceeds according to their general formula for the simple extracts. (See page 880.) This extract is undoubtedly stronger, prepared from the root alone than from the whole plant. The month of August is the proper season for pre- paring it. Mr. Houlton, in a communication to the London Medico-Botanical Society, states that at this period the bruised roots yield by pressure nearly one-third of their weight of a thick cream-coloured fluid, in which the medi- cal virtues reside. (Lond. Med. and Surg. Journ. vi. 78.) It is probable PART II. Extracta.—Ferrum. 897 that this juice would afford by inspissation an extract much stronger than that prepared by the ordinary method. The product, however, would be much smaller. Mr. Brande informs us that one cwt. of the fresh root affords from twenty to twenty-five pounds of extract by decoction in water. This extract deteriorates by keeping, and should, therefore, be renewed annually. It is most conveniently given dissolved in cinnamon or mint water. The dose is twenty or thirty grains three times a day. (See Taraxacum.) W. EXTRACTUM UVA URSI. Lond. Extract of Uva Ursi. The London College prepares this extract in the manner directed for extract of gentian. (See Extractum Gentianae.) The dose is from five to thirty grains. W. FERRUM. Preparations of Iron. LIMATURA FERRI PURIFICATA. Ed. Purified Iron Filings. " Place a sieve over Iron Filings, and apply a Magnet, so that the Filings may be attracted upwards through the sieve." Ed. The common iron filings, obtained from the workshops, are generally mixed with particles of brass and other substances, and hence require to be purified for medicinal use; but the above process effects this object imper- fectly. The magnet will unquestionably attract the particles of iron; but these will often have attached to them certain impurities, which are carried up with them. The only way to obtain pure iron filings is to file a piece of pure iron with a clean file. The French Codex directs iron in an impalpable powder, prepared by porphyrizing bright and clean iron filings without water. A dull black powder is formed, which must be carefully preserved from moisture. For the medical properties of iron filings, see Ferrum and Ferri Ramenta in the first part of this work. The dose is from five to twenty grains. Off. Prep. Sulphas Ferri, Ed.; Tartras Potassae et Ferri. Ed. B. FERRI OXYDUM NIGRUM. Dub. Oxidum Ferri Nigrum Purificatum. Black Oxide of Iron. Martial Ethiops. " Wash the Scales of the Oxide of Iron, found at the blacksmith's anvil, with water; and having dried them, separate them from impurities by means of a magnet. Then reduce them to powder, of which the finest particles are to be collected in the manner directed for the preparation of chalk." Dub. " Let the Scales of the Oxide of Iron, found at the blacksmith's anvil, be purified by the application of a magnet; so that the smaller and purer Scales alone may be attracted." Ed. The nature and composition of the scales of iron have been explained under the head of Ferrum. Oxydi Squamae. By washing, they are freed from accidental impurities; and as they are not at the maximum of oxidation, they are capable of further purification by the use of the magnet, after which they are reduced to an impalpable powder, or left in the form of scales. This preparation is not the regular black oxide, and besides, frequently contains metallic iron. A more uniform black oxide, and, therefore, prefera- 898 Ferrum. PART II. ble for medicinal use, is obtained by the following formula of the French Codex. Take of fine and pure iron filings any quantity. Place them in a stoneware dish, and add sufficient water to wet them perfectly and uniformly. Heap up the mixture, and abandon it to the action of the air. After it has become warm, stir it with a spatula, and add water to make up for that which may evaporate, so as to keep the mixture constantly moist. At the end of two or three days the oxidation will have terminated, when the pro- duct is to be put in a mortar, and strongly triturated, in order to separate the oxide from the iron. Throw the whole upon a fine hair sieve, and wash with abundance of water, until the washings no longer pass of a black colour. The water thus obtained contains the oxide, and must be decanted with rapidity, after agitation. The oxide, after having subsided from the decanted water, is put upon a linen cloth, drained, and pressed. It is then put between the folds of bibulous paper, and rapidly dried, in order, as far as possible, to avoid oxidation. M. Klauer, a German apothecary, has reported a method of making the real protoxide of iron, tolerably pure, by decomposing the protosulphate of iron, as prepared by Bonsdorff, by carbonate of soda, and mixing the pre- cipitated protocarbonate with sugar. He dissolves the salts in boiled water, and adds the solution of the latter in excess to the solution of the former contained in a bottle. This is then carefully stopped, and set by that the precipitate may subside. The precipitate, after the supernatant liquor has been poured off, is placed on a linen cloth, washed quickly with boiled water, and allowed to drain. It is then placed in an evaporating dish in the pulpy state, mixed with twice its weight of sugar, dried as quickly as possible, and reduced to powder, which is blackish-green. On the addition of the sugar, the pulp becomes liquid, assumes a blackish-green colour, and disen- gages carbonic acid. According to M. Klauer, this preparation contains about 18 per cent, of protoxide of iron, and 4.3 per cent, of sesquioxide; the balance being sugar which he supposes to be chemically united with the protoxide. (Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 86, from the Annalen der Pharm.) See an account of Vallet's protocarbonate of iron, rendered unchangeable by the use of saccharine matter, in the Appendix. Medical Properties and Uses. Black oxide of iron, when properly pre- pared, is of a deep velvet-black colour, without any shade of red, attracted by the magnet, and soluble, without effervescence, in muriatic acid. It is a compound of protoxide and sesquioxide. It dissolves readily in the stomach, and is one of the best ferruginous preparations we possess. Its general re- mediate powers coincide with those of the other chalybeates. (See Ferrum.) The dose is from five to twenty grains, two or three times a day. Off. Prep. Tinctura Muriatis Ferri. Ed. B. FERRI OXYDUM RUBRUM. U. S. Oxidum Ferri Rubrum. Ed. Ferri Oxydum Rubrum. Dub. Red Oxide of Iron. " Take of Sulphate of Iron any quantity. Put it in a crucible, and ex- pose it to an intense heat, till it is converted into a red substance. Wash this with boiling water, and afterwards dry it. U.S. The Edinburgh College directs its officinal dried sulphate of iron to be violently heated until it passes into a very red matter, and omits the ablution. " Expose Sulphate of Iron to heat, until the water of crystallization is expelled. Then roast it by an intense fire as long as acid vapours arise. Wash the red oxide until the washings, when examined by litmus, appear free from acid. Lastly, dry it on bibulous paper." Dub. When sulphate of iron, or green vitriol, is heated, it swells up, and un- PART II. Ferrum. 899 dergoes the aqueous fusion, and afterwards, by losing its water of crystalli- zation, becomes a dry white mass, consisting of anhydrous sulphate of iron. This, by the application of a strong heat, is decomposed; the iron becomes sesquioxidized at the expense of part of the acid, and sulphurous and sul- phuric acids are given off. The sesquioxide, however, is not perfectly pure, but still contains a small portion of acid, to remove which it requires to be washed. Properties, fyc. Red oxide of iron is a reddish-brown, tasteless, insoluble powder, called colcothar in commerce. It should not be deliquescent, and should dissolve in muriatic acid, without effervescence. If it contain cop- per, its muriatic solution will deposite this metal on a bright iron rod. It consists of two equiv. of iron 56, and three of oxygen 24=80. It is used only in the preparation of other compounds. Off.Prep. Emplastrum Ferri, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Ferrum Ammoniatum, U.S., Ed. B. FERRI ACETAS. Dub. Acetate of Iron. " Take of Carbonate of Iron one part; Acetic Acid six parts. Digest for three days, and filter." Dub. As the so called carbonate of iron contains both oxides of this metal, this preparation is a mixed solution of the two acetates of iron. From com- parative experiments made by Dr. Perceval of Dublin, it was found that the carbonate was more soluble in acetic acid than the oxides of iron or the metal, and hence it was selected for this formula. Of ten grains of the fol- lowing ferruginous preparations digested in two drachms of acetic acid, sp. gr. 1.065, half a grain was dissolved of the scales of iron, one and a quarter grains of the red oxide, three and a quarter of iron filings, and the whole of the carbonate. Properties, $-c. This solution has a deep red colour, and an acid and strongly chalybeate taste. When exposed to heat it yields acetic acid. It possesses the general medical properties of the preparations of iron. The dose is from ten to twenty-five drops, taken in water. It is not used in this country. B. FERRI ACETATIS TINCTURA. Dub. Tincture of Acetate of Iron. " Take of Acetate of Potassa two parts; Sulphate of Iron one part; Rectified Spirit twenty-six parts. Rub the Acetate of Potassa and sul- phate of Iron together in an earthenware mortar, until they unite into a mass. Dry this with a medium heat, and triturate it with the Spirit. Digest the mixture in a well stopped bottle for seven days, shaking it occasionally. Lastly, pour off the tincture from the sediment, and preserve it in a well stopped bottle." Dub. This preparation was introduced into the Dublin Pharmacopoeia by Dr. Perceval. In the process, a double decomposition takes place between the salts employed, resulting in the formation of the acetate of iron which dis- solves in the spirit, and sulphate of potassa which remains behind, being insoluble in that menstruum. The tincture also contains a portion of acetate of potassa; more of this salt being employed than is necessary to decom- pose the sulphate of iron. Properties. This tincture is a transparent liquid, of a deep claret colour, and strong chalybeate taste. AA'hen evaporated to dryness, it yields a saline matter, which is whitish from the presence of acetate of potassa. It is ex- tremely liable to spontaneous decomposition, and is decomposed by the alka- 900 Ferrum. PART II. lies and their carbonates, the strong acids, and the astringent vegetable infu- sions. Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation is represented to be an agreeable chalybeate; but it possesses no particular virtue, which can give it any advantage over other medicines of the same class. The dose is from one to two teaspoonfuls, mixed with water or other convenient vehicle. B. TINCTURA ACETATIS FERRI CUM ALCOHOL. Dub. Tincture of Acetate of Iron with Alcohol. "Take of Sulphate of Iron, Acetate of Potassa, each an ounce; Alcohol two pints. Rub the Acetate of Potassa and Sulphate of Iron together in an earthenware mortar, until they unite into a soft mass; then dry this with a medium heat, and as soon as it has grown cold, triturate it with the alcohol. Digest the mixture in a well stopped bottle for twenty-four hours, shaking it occasionally. Lastly, pour off the clear tincture from the sediment, and keep it in a well stopped bottle." Dub. This formula is nearly the same with the last; the points of difference being that equal weights of the saline materials are employed, and the men- struum is the alcohol of the Dublin College, and not rectified spirit. The double decomposition takes place as in the preceding preparation, and with the same results; but here, instead of there being an excess of acetate of potassa to enter into the tincture, there is an excess of sulphate of iron. The acetate of iron formed is a mixture of the acetates of the protoxide and sesquioxide; but the latter only is soluble in the strong alcohol of the Dublin College. Hence this tincture may be viewed as an alcoholic so- lution of the acetate of the sesquioxide of iron. It is necessary here not to confound the Dublin " alcohol," which has the sp. gr. 0.810, with the U. S. " alcohol," which corresponds with the rectified spirit of the British Colleges. This preparation is stronger, and less liable to spontaneous decomposition than the preceding; while its sensible and medical properties are nearly the same. A fluidounce of it, when evaporated, yields ten grains of a crimson coloured extract, which at first has the consistency of wax, but afterwards, when dried, is transparent. It is not easy to perceive the motive of the Dublin College for having two spirituous preparations of the acetate of iron. B. FERRI CARBONAS PRAC1PITATUS. U. S. Ferri Sesqui- oxydum. Lond. Carbonas Ferri Pracipitatus. Ed. Ferri Car- bonas Dub. Precipitated Carbonate of Iron. Sesquioxide of Iron. " Take of Sulphate of Iron eight ounces; Carbonate of Soda six ounces; Boiling Water a gallon. Dissolve the Sulphate of Iron and Carbonate of Soda severally in four pints of the Water; then mix the solutions, and set the mixture by that the powder may subside; lastly, having poured off the supernatant liquor, wash the Carbonate of Iron wi\h hot water, wrap it in bibulous paper, and dry it with a gentle heat." U.S. "Take of Sulphate of Iron four pounds; Carbonate of Soda four pounds and two ounces; Boiling Water six gallons [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Sulphate of Iron and Carbonate of Soda separately, in three gallons of Water. Then mix the solutions together, and set them by, that the powder may subside. Lastly, the supernatant liquor being poured off, wash the precipitate with water, and dry it." Lond. The Edinburgh College directs four ounces of sulphate of iron, five PART II. Ferrum. 901 ounces of subcarbonate of soda, and ten pounds of water; the Dublin, twenty-five parts of sulphate of iron, twenty-six parts of carbonate of soda. and eight hundred parts of water. The materials are then treated as in the U. S. formula. When the solutions of carbonate of soda and sulphate of iron are mixed together, a hydrated protocarbonate of iron of a green colour is thrown down, and sulphate of soda remains in solution. The equivalent quanti- ties of the crystallized salts for mutual decomposition are 130.1 of the sulphate and 143.42 of the carbonate; so that six ounces of the alkaline carbonate are not sufficient to decompose eight ounces of the ferruginous salt, the proportions of the U. S. formula. The Edinburgh formula gives an excess of the carbonate of soda, while the London and Dublin propor- tions are not far from accurate. The precipitate is altered by washing and drying, during which operations it absorbs oxygen, and loses nearly the whole of the carbonic acid, whereby it becomes converted almost entirely into hydrated sesquioxide of iron. This being its chemical nature, the London College, in their last Pharmacopoeia, have changed its name from subcarbonate to sesquioxide of iron. For a method of forming a true and permanent protocarbonate, see Protocarbonate of Iron of Vallet in the Ap- pendix. Either of the fixed alkalies will answer to decompose the fer- ruginous sulphate; but the carbonate of soda is preferred, because it gives rise to the sulphate of soda, which, from its greater solubility, is more readily washed away than the sulphate of potassa. Properties. Precipitated carbonate of iron is a reddish-brown powder, of a disagreeable, slightly styptic taste; insoluble in water, but dissolving readily in muriatic acid with very slight effervescence of carbonic acid. After precipitation by ammonia, which throws down the sesquioxide of iron, the supernatant liquor should give no indications of containing any foreign metal in solution. It is incompatible with acids and acidulous salts. Though generally called a carbonate, it is, strictly speaking, a mixture of hydrated sesquioxide of iron with a little protocarbonate. Medical Properties and Uses. Precipitated carbonate of iron is one of our best chalybeates. Its virtues are those of a tonic, alterative, and em- menagogue; and it is employed for all the purposes to which the prepara- tions of iron are generally applicable. It was recommended by Mr. Car- michael in cancer, and is said sometimes to prove useful. Mr. Hutchinson brought it into notice as a remedy for neuralgia; and an extensive experi- ence with it in that disease has established its value. It is also useful in chorea, and in lhat leucophlegmatic state of the system in which the blood is deficient in colouring matter. When prescribed as a tonic, the usual dose is from five to thirty grains three times a day, given in pill or powder, and frequently combined with aromatics and vegetable tonics. In neuralgia and chorea it is administered in doses of a drachm or more. We have given it in these diseases with success, and in doses of from one to two teaspoonfuls three times a day. No nicety need be observed in the dose; its only obvious effect in very large doses being a slight nausea, and a sense of weight at the stomach.' Its use gives the stools a black colour. Off.Prep. Ferri Acetas, Dub.; Ferri et Potassa? Tartras, U.S., Lond.; Ferri Ammonio-chloridum, Lond.; Tinctura Ferri Muriatis, U.S., Lond. B. 77 902 Ferrum. PART II. FERRI CARBONAS PRAPARATUS. U.S. Sub-Carbonas Ferri Praparatus. Ed. Ferri Rubigo. Dub. Prepared Car- bonate of Iron. Rust of Iron. " Take of Iron Wire, cut into pieces, any quantity. Expose the Iron to the air, frequently moistening it with Water, till it is converted into rust. Rub this in an iron mortar, and prepare it in the manner directed for carbo- nate of lime." U.S. '• Moisten Purified Iron Filings frequently with AVater, that they may be converted into rust, which is to be ground into an impalpable powder." Ed. The Dublin process is almost identical with that of the U.S. Pharma- copoeia. Rust of iron, according to Berzelius, is a hydrated sesquioxide of iron, containing frequenUy a little protocarbonate. It is formed in consequence of the decomposition of the water, the oxygen of which converts the iron chiefly into sesquioxide, but partly also into protoxide, the latter of which becomes protocarbonate by absorbing carbonic acid from the atmosphere. Iron, in the form of wire, is, on account of its greater purity, preferable to the filings for forming this preparation. Though called a carbonate and a subcarbonate, it is hardly entitled to either appellation; as it sometimes con- tains no carbonate, and this salt, when present, is in variable quantity. Properties, fyc. Prepared carbonate of iron is in the form of a red pow- der of a slightly styptic taste. Its medical properties and dose are the same as those of the precipitated carbonate; but from its difficult solubility in acids it is far less eligible, and might, without detriment, be expunged from the officinal catalogue. (See Ferri Carbonas Praecipitatus.) Off. Prep. Mdriatis Ferri Liquor. Dub, B. FERRI ET POTASSA TARTRAS. U.S. Ferri Potassio- Tartras. Lond. Tartras Potassa et Ferri. Ed. Ferri Tar- tarum. Dub. Tartrate of Iron and Potassa. " Take of Precipitated Carbonate of Iron half an ounce; Supertartrate of Potassa an ounce; Distilled Water a pint. Boil them together over a gentle fire, in a glass vessel, for an hour, and filter the solution through paper. After it has become cold, again filter it, and evaporate by means of a water-bath, till the Tartrate of Iron and Potassa is entirely dried. Rub this into powder, and keep it in a well stopped bottle." U.S. " Take of Sesquioxide [Precipitated Carbonate] of Iron three ounces; Hydrochloric {^Muriatic Acid] half a pint [Imperial measure]; Solution of Potassa/owr pints and a half or a sufficient quantity; Bitartrate of Potassa eleven ounces and a half; Solution of Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia a pint, or a sufficient quantity; Distilled AVater three gallons [Imp. measure]. Mix the Sesquioxide of Iron with the Acid, and digest for two hours in a sand-bath. To these add two gallons of the Water, and set aside for an hour; then pour off the supernatant liquor. The Solution of Potassa being added, wash what is precipitated frequently with water, and, while moist, boil it with the Bi- tartrate of Potassa, previously mixed with a gallon of the Water. If the liquor should be acid when tried hy litmus, drop into it the Solution of Ses- quicarbonate of Ammonia until it is saturated. Lastly, strain the liquor, and evaporate it with a gentle heat, so that the salt may remain dry." Lond, The Edinburgh College orders one part of purified iron filings, two parts of supertartrate, and one part of water, employs an earthen vessel, and ex- poses the mixture for fifteen days. The materials are then boiled for a short time with four times their weight of water, and the clear liquor poured off PART II. Ferrum. 90S from the dregs. This is evaporated to dryness by means of a water-"bath, and the dry mass reduced to powder and kept in close bottles. The Dublin College directs one part of fine iron wire, four parts of supertartrate, and eight parts or a sufficient quantify of distilled water, and treats the mate- rials nearly as directed in the Edinburgh formula; the differences being that the iron during exposure is not to be entirely covered with water, that filtration is substituted for decantation, and that the product is not reduced to powder. In these processes, the excess of acid in the supertartrate of potassa unites with sesquioxide of iron, so as to form a double salt composed of tartrate of sesquioxide of iron and tartrate of potassa. In the United States process, which is that of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia of 1807, the form of iron em- ployed is the precipitated carbonate. The small portion of protoxide present in ihis unites with the excess of acid in the cream of tartar, and forms a small amount of prototartrate, which becomes tartrate of the sesquioxide by the action of the air. The sesquioxide present, which forms, indeed, nearly the whole of the precipitated carbonate, does not unite with the excess of acid in the cream of tartar, on account of its not being in the fresh hydrated state. This process, therefore, furnishes but a small amount of the double salt, the circumstance which caused the Dublin College to abandon it. The process of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, which is a great im- provement on the old one, is adopted from Soubeiran with modifications. The first step is to dissolve the London sesquioxide in muriatic acid, whereby the sesquichloride of iron in solution is formed. This, when mixed with the solution of potassa, yields a precipitate of hydrated sesquioxide of iron, which, while still moist, is boiled with the bitartrate, with the effect of unit- ing with its excess of acid. If the solution should be a little acid, the ses- quicarbonate of ammonia is directed to be added to render it neutral. When this addition is made, it is to be presumed that the preparation contains a little tartrate of ammonia. In the Edinburgh and Dublin processes metallic iron is employed. It is proloxidized by the oxygen of the water, hydrogen being given off; and the protoxide formed unites with the excess of acid in the cream of tartar. By the action of the air the protoxide is converted into sesquioxide, so as to form the tartrate of sesquioxide of iron which unites with the tartrate of potassa. The wine of iron (Vinum Ferri), having been dismissed from the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, is no longer officinal in any of the Pharmacopoeias commented on in this work. Yet, as it is sometimes pre- scribed, it may be well to notice it in this place. The old process for making it was to macerate iron filings in wine. The French Codex, in which this plan is adopted, directs it to be made by macerating for six days in a mat- trass, an ounce of pure iron filings in thirty-two ounces of white Vine; stirring from time to time, and afterwards decanting and filtering the liquid. In the dismissed London formula one draehm of iron filings was mixed with six drachms of cream of tartar, and oxidized by exposure to air and moisture for six weeks, so as ultimately to form the double tartrate of iron and potassa, with excess of cream of tartar. This was then dried by a gentle heat, rub- bed to powder, dissolved in thirty fluidounces of distilled water, the solution filtered, and finally mixed with twenty fluidounces of proof spirit. AVhen this preparation is made by macerating iron filings in wine, a tartrate of iron and potassa may be supposed to be formed, on account of the tartar present in wine; but as this substance is present in variable proportions in difi'erent wines, the strength of the preparation, when thus made, must necessarily 904 Ferrum. PART II- vary. The preparation, as made by the old London formula, is also variable and at the same time deficient in strength. For these reasons we think the London College has acted wisely in discarding it. The dose is from half a fluidounce to two fluidounces, two or three limes a day. Dr. Ure has proposed the prototartrate of iron for medical use. He makes it by acting on clean iron filings, or bits of iron wire, with a solution of tartaric acid. The iron is protoxidized at the expense of the water, and uniting with the tartaric acid produces the prototartrate in the form of a powdery matter, which is obtained separate by diffusing it through the liquid, decanting, and washing on a filter. The salt formed is nearly white, pulverulent and insoluble, and possesses a mild chalybeate taste. Properties. Tartrate of iron and potassa is an olive-green powder, and, when properly prepared, has a sweetish not disagreeable taste. As made by the London formula it is brownish, with a shade of green. If it contain an excess of acid from the imperfect saturation of the cream of tartar, its taste is disagreeable. AVhen exposed to a damp atmosphere it becomes moist, and hence it requires to be preserved in close bottles. It is totally soluble in seven times its weight of water, forming a solution not liable to decomposi- tion for a considerable time. It is not decomposed by the fixed alkalies or their carbonates in the cold, by ammonia, pure or carbonated, at any tempera- ture, nor by ferrocyanuret of potassium. It is incompatible with astringent vegetable infusions, the strong acids, hydrosulphuric acid gas, lime-water, and acetate of lead. When imperfectly prepared, as by using the bitartrate and iron filings, it is apt to contain metallic iron, and a large portion of it is usually insoluble in water. Composition. According to Phillips, this double salt consists very nearly of two equiv. of tartrate of potassa, 227.26, and one of bitartrate of the ses- quioxide of iron 212.96=440.22. This composition gives, according to the same chemist, about eighteen per cent, of sesquioxide of iron. Medical Properties and Uses. Tartrate of iron and potassa is one of the most agreeable preparations of iron, and may generally be given in cases in which chalybeates are indicated. From its slight taste when well prepared, and its ready solubility, it forms one of the best ferruginous pre- parations for exhibition to children. The dose is from ten grains to half a drachm, given in solution, or combined with an aromatic or bitter in the form of bolus. B. FERRI IODIDUM. Lond. Iodide of Iron. " Take of Iodine six ounces; Iron Filings two ounces; Distilled AVater four pints and a half [Imperial measure]. Mix the Iodine with four pints of the Water, and to these add the Iron. Heat them in a sand-bath, and when it has acquired a greenish colour, pour off the liquor. AVash what remains with half a pint of boiling water. Evaporate the mixed and strain- ed liquors at a heat not exceeding 212° in an iron vessel, lhat the salt may be dried. Keep it in a well-stopped vessel, defended from the light." Lond. In forming this new officinal of the London College, iron is made to unite with iodine by the intervention of water. The mixture at first is orange- coloured, from the circumstance that all the iodine has not united with the iron; but after the application of heat it becomes fully saturated and limpid, and assumes a greenish colour. It is now a solution of iodide of iron, and yields the solid salt by evaporation. Properties. Iodide of iron is in the form of a deliquescent crystalline mass, of a greenish-black colour, and styptic taste. It crystallizes with dif- ART ir. Ferrum. 905 ficulty in green tabular crystals. AA'hen heated moderately it fuses, and on cooling becomes an opaque crystalline mass having an iron-gray colour and metallic lustre. At a higher temperature it gives off violet-coloured vapours. It is very soluble both in water and in alcohol. The aqueous solution is very liable to spontaneous decomposition, becoming reddish from the gene- ration of sesquiodide, and depositing sesquioxide of iron. To preserve it from these changes, it should be kept in a well-stopped bottle, with a coil of soft iron wire immersed in it. Iodide of iron is incompatible with the alkalies and their carbonates, with lime-water, and with all other substances by which sulphate of iron is decomposed. It consists of one equiv. of iodide 126.3, one of iron 28, and five of water 45=199.3. Medical Properties and Uses. Iodide of iron was employed as a medi- cine by Dr. Pierquin in 1824. (Memorial Pharmageutique.) It was first used in Philadelphia in 1832, by Dr. Samuel Jackson, at whose request it was prepared in solution by Mr. E. Durand. (Journ. Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 287—Jan. 1833.) Dr. A. T. Thomson, of London, presented it to the notice of the profession in England, as a remedy, in 1834. (Observ. on the Prep, and Medicinal Employment of loduret and Hydri- odate of Iron.) Its powers are those of a tonic, alterative, and emmena- gogue. AVhen given in medicinal doses it blackens the stools, and its con- stituents may be detected in the urine. It is chiefly employed in scrofulous complaints, visceral obstructions attended with deficient action, chlorosis, atonic amenorrhcea, and leucorrhcea. In the two latter diseases, Dr. Pier- quin has successfully employed it. (Journ. Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 178.) The dose is from one to two grains, gradually increased. Aqueous solution is the best form for administration, and that prepared by Mr. Durand, (a drachm of the salt to a fluidounce of water) is of convenient strength, and may be prescribed under the name of Liquor Ferri Iodidi. The dose of this solution is from five to ten drops, three times a day, given in a little water. Dr. Pierquin recommends its use in lozenges, made up with pow- dered saffron and white sugar, each containing a quarter of a grain of the solid salt. For enemata, injections into the vagina, and lotions, two drachms may be dissolved in a pint of water. On this iodide see the remarks of Mr. A. Duhamel, in the Journal of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 109, and x. 230. B. FERRI PHOSPHAS. U.S. Phosphate of Iron. " Take of Sulphate of Iron^ue ounces; Phosphate of Soda six ounces; Water a gallon. Dissolve the Sulphate of Iron and Phosphate of Soda severally in four pints of the AVater, then mix the solutions and set the mix- ture by that the powder may subside; lastly, having poured off the super- natant liquor, wash the Phosphate of Iron with hot water, and dry it with a gentle heat." U.S. The preparation is the result of a double decomposition between the saline materials employed. The sulphuric acid combines with the soda and remains in solution as sulphate of soda; while the phosphoric acid, uniting with the protoxide of iron, falls as phosphate of iron. The amount of water directed is useful to ensure a prompt and complete mutual reaction of the two salts. If the ferruginous sulphate be a perfect protosulphate, the precipitate, as first thrown down, will be white; but it quickly absorbs oxygen and becomes bluish-white. It is in the form of an insoluble powder of a bright slate colour. According to Berzelius, it consists of a mixture of the phosphates of the two oxides of iron. Medical Properties and Uses. Phosphate of iron possesses the general 77* 906 Ferrum. part ii properties of the ferruginous preparations, and has been given with advan- tage in amenorrhoea and some forms of dyspepsia. It was introduced into the U.S. Pharmacopoeia at the suggestion of Dr. Hewson of Philadelphia, who found it, after an extensive experience, to be a valuable chalybeate. The dose is from five to ten grains. B. FERRI SULPHAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Sulphas Ferri. Ed. Sulphate of Iron. Green Vitriol. " Take of Iron Wire, cut into pieces, Sulphuric Acid, each, eight ounces; Water four pints. To the Iron and AVater, previously introduced into a glass vessel, add by degrees the Sulphuric Acid. AVhen the effervescence shall have ceased, filter the solution through paper, and evaporate it so that crystals may form when it cools. Pour off the supernatant liquor, and dry the crystals upon bibulous paper." U.S. " Take of Iron Filings eight ounces; Sulphuric Acid fourteen ounces; AVater four pints [Imperial measure]. Mix the Sulphuric Acid with the Water, and add the Iron to them. Then apply heat, and when bubbles have ceased to escape, strain the liquor, and set it aside that crystals may form. Evaporate the liquor poured off that it may again yield crystals, and dry them all." Lond. " Take of Purified Iron Filings six ounces; Sulphuric Acid eight ounces; Water two pounds and a half Mix them, and when the effervescence is over, digest the mixture for some time on warm sand. Then filter the de- canted liquor through paper, and after due evaporation, set it aside to crys- tallize." Ed. " Take of Iron AVire four parts; Sulphuric Acid [Commercial?] seven parts; Water sixty parts. Dissolve the metal by the aid of heat, and filter the solution through paper. Lastly, after due evaporation, set aside the so- lution that crystals may form by slow refrigeration." Dub. In these processes, a pure sulphate of the protoxide of iron is intended to be formed. Sulphuric acid, in a concentrated state, acts but imperfectly on iron; but when diluted, a vigorous action takes place, the oxygen of the water converts the metal into protoxide, with which the sulphuric acid unites, and hydrogen is evolved. The equivalent quantities for mutual re- action are 28 of iron to 49.1 of acid, which are the proportions taken by the London and Dublin Colleges, and found to answer by Dr. Barker. In the other processes quoted, the iron is evidently in excess; but this is ah error on the safe side, as it tends to secure the production of a perfect pro- tosulphate, the portion of metal not dissolved being removed by the filtra- tion. The quantity of water directed in the formulae is sufficient to hold the salt in solution, and js necessary to enable the operator to comply with the direction to filter. A smaller quantity would be sufficient to form the salt, but would probably cause it to crystallize in mass, and thus interfere with the means of separating the impurities. The sillphate of iron, called Bonsdorffs, is the salt obtained extremely pure by the method of that chemist. By it pure iron filings are dissolved to saturation in pure diluted sulphuric acid by the aid of a moderate heat. The solution is poured into a matrass with a long neck having a narrow orifice, and, after the addition of a small excess of iron filings, is boiled until it ceases to dissolve any more metal, and commences to foam. It is then filtered through a funnel with a narrow beak, moistened on the outside with sulphuric acid, and reaching to the bottom of a glass capsule, which also must be moistened with the same auid, in the proportion of a drop for each fluidounce of solution to be filtered, The presence of this small portion of PART II. Ferrum. 907 acid effectually prevents any turbidness, or precipitation of sesquioxide. The solution, upon cooling, forms crystals, which are drained on a filter, and completely dried by being repeatedly pressed between the folds of bibulous paper. Sulphate of iron, under the name of copperas, is manufactured on the large scale, for the purposes of the arts, from the native sulphuret of iron, or py- rites, by roasting, oxidation by exposure to air and moisture, and lixiviation. The constituents of the mineral become sulphuric acid and protoxide of iron, which, by their union, form the salt in question. In this manner it is extensively manufactured at Stafford in Vermont, and at Cape Sable in Maryland. Sometimes, when the price of the salt will justify it, our manu- facturers of sulphuric acid make it from the unconcentrated acid, and scraps of old iron. The sulphate of commerce is always impure, containing sesquioxide of iron and various foreign bodies, such as copper, zinc, alumina, magnesia, &c. Copper may be detected and separated by its deposition on an im- mersed polished plate of iron; but the other impurities are not easily got rid of. The commercial sulphate is, therefore, altogether unfit for medicinal employment, and should never be substituted by the apothecary for the offi- cinal sulphate, which is made by the direct combination of its constituents, in order to ensure its purity. Properties. Sulphate of iron is bluish-green, and has a disagreeable styptic taste, and an acid reaction. As prepared by Bonsdorff's method, it is blue verging to green. AVhen it becomes more green than blue, or entirely green, it is an indication of its containing some sesquioxide. It crystallizes in ob- lique rhombic prisms, which, by exposure to the air, effloresce and absorb oxygen, and become, on the surface, first white, and afterwards yellow, passing gradually into the state of subsulphate of the sesquioxide. It dis- solves in twice its weight of cold, and in three-fourths of its weight of boiling water; but is insoluble in alcohol. AVhen heated moderately it undergoes the watery fusion, and afterwards becomes dry and white; and at a red heat loses its acid and is converted into the sesquioxide (red oxide) of iron. (See Sulphas Ferri Exsiccatus and Ferri Oxidum Rubrum.) It is incom- patible with the alkalies and their carbonates, soaps, lime-water, the chlorides of calcium and barium, the borate and phosphate of soda, nitrate of silver, and the acetates of lead. It is also decomposed by astringent vegetable infu- sions, the tannic and gallic acids of which strike a black colour with the oxide of the sulphate; but how far this change may interfere with its medical acti- vity is not well ascertained. When pure it is composed of one equiv. of acid 40.1, one of protoxide 36, and seven of water 63=139.1. In the shops, however, it is never found entirely free from sesquioxide. Medical Properties and Uses. Sulphate of iron is tonic and astringent. In large doses it is apt to produce nausea and vomiting, and griping of the bowels; and if its use be too long continued it injures the stomach. It is given in diseases attended with immoderate discharges, such as passive he- morrhages, colliquative sweats, leucorrhcea, gleet, &c. It has been recom- mended as a remedy for the scrofulous habit, conjoined with the extract of bark, ln amenorrhcea with deficient action, it is frequently resorted to with advantage, either alone, or conjoined with the fetid and stimulant gums. The dose is from one to five grains in the form of pill. If given in solution, the water should be previously boiled to expel the air, which, if allowed to re- main, would partially decompose the salt. Off.Prep. Ferri Carbonas Praecipitatus, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Ferri Oxidum Rubrum, U.S., Dub.; Ferri Phosphas, U.S.; Mistura Ferri Com- 908 Ferrum. part ir. posita, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Ferri Composita:, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Pilulae Sulphatis Ferri Compositae, Ed.; Sulphas Ferri Exsiccatus, Ed.; Fern Acetatis Tinctura, Dub.; Tinctura Acetatis Ferri cum Alcohol, Dub. B. SULPHAS FERRI EXSICCATUS. Ed. Dried Sulphate of Iron. "Take of Sulphate of Iron any quantity. Expose it to a moderate heat in an unglazed earthen vessel, until it becomes white and perfectly dry." Ed. This process is merely intended to deprive the salt of its water of crystal- lization. The heat should not exceed 212°, otherwise the salt itself would suffer decomposition. Dried sulphate of iron may be used internally in the form of pill, and is employed pharmaceutically by the Edinburgh College for making Acidum Aceticum Forte, and Oxidum Ferri Rubrum, which are its only officinal preparations. B. FERRI SULPHURETUM. U.S. Dub. Sulphuretum Ferri. Ed. Sulphuret of Iron. "Take of Iron Filings four ounces [Purified, three parts, Ed.]; Sulphur two ounces [Sublimed Sulphur one part, Ed.]. Mix, and expose them, in a covered crucible, to an obscure red heat, till they unite." U.S. " Expose a rod of Iron to the strongest heat of a forge, until it becomes white hot; and upon taking it from the fire, instantly apply it to a roll of sulphur. Receive the Sulphuret of Iron in water, separate it from the sul- phur, and, having dried it, keep it in a well-stopped bottle." Dub. Iron combines with sulphur in two principal proportions, forming a proto- sulphuret and sesquisulphuret, which are proportional, in composition, to the protoxide and sesquioxide of this metal. It is the protosulphuret that is formed in the processes given. In the first, which is the easier of the two, the iron, in a divided form, and mixed with the sulphur, is made to unite with it by the application of heat. At a particular temperature the mixture suddenly becomes incandescent, when the heat may be withdrawn. The operation may be performed in a Florence flask, one-third filled with the mixture, and heated with a chafing dish. AA'hen thus prepared the proto- sulphuret is apt to be mixed with sesquisulphuret and metallic iron. The Dublin process furnishes a purer product, but is not so easy of execution. On the application of the roll of sulphur to the heated iron, which should be at a white heat in order that the experiment may succeed well, the metal appears to become hotter, burns with scintillations in the vapour of the sul- phur, and forms instantly a protosulphuret, which, being comparatively fusi- ble, melts into globules, and drops into the water, which serves to extinguish them. The sulphuret thus obtained is stated by Berzelius to contain an excess of iron. The process recommended by him as the best, consists in heating, in a close vessel, a mixture of sulphur and the cuttings of thin sheet iron. At a full red heat, the iron burns in the gaseous sulphur, and becomes covered with a crust of the sulphuret. The heat is then maintained at red- ness until all excess of sulphur has been driven off. Upon the cooling of the vessel the pieces of iron are bent to and fro, which causes the superficial sulphuret to scale off. Properties, fyc. Sulphuret of iron has a yellowish colour and the metallic lustre. When pure it furnishes a yellow powder, and dissolves in dilute sulphuric or muriatic acid without leaving a residue of sulphur, and with the production of hydrosulphuric acid gas (sulphuretted hydrogen), free from admixture of hydrogen. It consists of one equiv. of sulphur 16.1, and one of iron 28=44.1. This preparation is employed in the Pharmacopoeias for PART II. Ferrum. 909 the production exclusively of hydrosulphuric acid gas, a necessary ingredient or agent in several formulae. It may be made to yield this gas by the action of diluted sulphuric acid. During the reaction water is decomposed; its hydrogen combines with the sulphur to form the hydrosulphuric acid, while the oxygen converts the iron into protoxide, with which the sulphuric acid combines. Hydrosulphuric acid is a colourless gas, having a smell like that of putrid eggs. Its sp. gr. is 1.1782. It reddens litmus and saturates bases, with which it forms salts called hydrosulphates or hydrosulphurets. It is generated in the processes for the following preparations:—Acidum Hydrocyanicum, U.S. Liquor Ammoniae Hydrosulphatis, U.S., Ed., Dub. Potassii lodidum, U.S., Dub. B. FERRUM AMMONIATUM. U.S. Ferri Ammonio-chlo- ridum. Lond. Murias Ammonia et Ferri. Ed. Ammoniated Iron. " Take of Red Oxide of Iron, Muriate of Ammonia, each, a pound. Mix them well together, and sublime quickly by the application of a strong heat; then rub the sublimed matter into powder." U. S. " Take of Sesquioxide of Iron [Precipitated Carbonate] three ounces; Hydrochloric Acid half a pint [Imperial measure]; Hydrochlorate of Am- monia two pounds and a half; Distilled Water three pints [Imp. measure]. Mix the Sesquioxide of Iron, in a suitable vessel, with the Hydrochloric Acid, and digest for two hours in a sand-bath; then add the Hydrochlorate of Ammonia previously dissolved in Distilled AVater; strain and evaporate all the liquid. Lastly, rub the residue to powder." Lond. " Take of Red Oxide of Iron, washed and dried, Muriate of Ammonia, each, equal weights. Mix them thoroughly, and sublime with a quick fire. Rub the sublimate into powder, and keep it in a well stopped phial." Ed. In the U. S. and Edinburgh processes, which are essentially the same, a portion of the muriate of ammonia is decomposed, the ammonia escaping, and the muriatic acid reacting upon the sesquioxide of iron, so as to form water and the sesquichloride of iron, the latter of which is sublimed with the undecomposed portion of the muriate of ammonia. In the London pro- cess a solution of the sesquimuriate of iron is first obtained; which, being evaporated in connexion with a solution of muriate of ammonia, yields a mixture of the latter salt with the sesquichloride of iron. Properties. Ammoniated iron, as usually found in the shops, is in crys- talline grains, of a yellow colour, a feeble odour, and a styptic saline taste. In this form it is probably a mixture of muriate of ammonia and sesquichlo- ride of iron, obtained by evaporating a solution of these compounds. Pro- cured by sublimation, as directed in the U. S. and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, it has an orange colour. In either form it is highly soluble and deliques- cent, and requires to be kept in well stopped bottles. The proportion of the sesquichloride of iron to the muriate of ammonia, in the sublimed prepara- tion, is very variable, but usually small. Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation unites aperient proper- ties with those belonging to the chalybeates generally, and is said to have been used with advantage in amenorrhcea, epilepsy, scrofula, rickets, &c; but it is at best uncertain, and is now very seldom prescribed. It was for- merly employed under the names of flores martiafes, and ens martis. From four to twelve grains may be given in the form of pill, electuary, or solution, several times a day. - ^ Off. Prep. Tinctura Ferri Ammonio-chloridi. Lond. AV. 910 Ferrum. PART II. TINCTURA FERRI AMMON10-CIILORIDI. Lond. Tincture of Ammoniated Iron. "Take of Ammonio-chloride of Iron [ Ammoniated Iron] four ounces; Proof Spirit a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Ammonio-chloride of Iron in the Spirit, and filter." Lond. This is simply a solution of the preceding preparation in diluted alcohol. It is feeble and uncertain as a chalybeate, and has no particular claims to attention. W. TINCTURA FERRI MURIATIS. U.S. Tinctura. Ferri Ses- quichloridi. Lond. Tinctura Muriatis Ferri. Ed. Muriatis Ferri Liquor. Dub. Tincture of Muriate of Iron. " Take of Precipitated Carbonate of Iron half a pound; Muriatic Acid a pint; Alcohol three pints. Pour the Acid upon the Carbonate of Iron, in a glass vessel, and shake the mixture occasionally for three days; then set it by that the dregs, if there be any, may subside; lastly, pour off the liquor, and to this add the Alcohol." U. S. " Take of Sesquioxide of Iron [Precipitated Carbonate] six ounces; Hy- drochloric Acid a pint [Imperial measure]; Rectified Spirit three pints [Imp. measure]. Pour the Acid upon the Sesquioxide of Iron in a glass vessel, and digest for three days, occasionally stirring. Then add the Spirit and filter." Lond. " Take of Purified Black Oxide of Iron, in powder, three ounces; Mu- riatic Acid about ten ounces, or as much as may be sufficient to dissolve the Oxide. Digest with a gentle heat, and when the p-wder is dissolved, add as much Alcohol as will make the whole quantity of liquor amount to two pounds and a half." Ed. " Take of Rust of Iron one perl; Muriatic Acid, Rectified Spirit, each six parts. Pour the Acid upon the Rust in a glass vessel, and shake the mixture occasionally for three days. Then set it by that the dregs may sub- side, and pour off the clear liquor. Evaporate this slowly to one-third, and when it is cold add the Spirit." Dub. The precipitated carbonate of iron of the shops consists of the sesqui- oxide of iron, mixed with a variable, but always small proportion of the protocarbonate. When acted on by muriatic acid, as in the U. S. and Lon- don processes, it is dissolved with effervescence, in consequence of the escape of carbonic acid; and a solution of the sesquimuriate of iron, with a little protomuriate, is obtained. AVhen the muriatic acid employed is of the officinal strength (sp. gr. 1.160), it dissolves nearly all the precipitated car- bonate, leaving behind, according to Mr. Phillips, less than one scruple, in- eluding accidental impurities. A reaction appears to take place between the muriatic acid and the alcohol, as the preparation has a decided ethereal odour. On exposure, the protoxide of iron of the protomuriate is converted by the absorption of oxygen into sesquioxide, which, requiring a.larger pro- portion of acid than the former for its saturation, is partly precipitated. A slight excess of acid would, therefore, not be amiss, as the sesquioxide would thus be held in solution, and the preparation be of more uniform strength. The black oxide of iron, employed by the Edinburgh College instead of the precipitated carbonate, yields with the muriatic acid a larger proportion of the protomuriate; and the solution is, therefore, still more apt, upon expo- sure, to deposite sesquioxide, than that of the U. S. and London Pharmaco- poeias. The Dublin process is liable to the objection of the great waste of acid, of which much more is employed than is necessary to dissolve the quantity of rust of iron directed, the excess being driven off by heat. It is PART II. Ferrum.—Gummi-resinae. 911 important that the apothecary should employ muriatic acid of the officinal specific gravity, as otherwise his preparation will be of uncertain strength. A want of attention to this circumstance is probably the cause that the tinc- ture, as found in the shops, is very unequal. Of four specimens examined by Mr. Phillips, one contained in half a fluidounce 20 grains of sesquioxide of iron, another 12.1 grains, a third 11.3 grains, and the fourth only 9.3 grains. A specimen prepared by himself, precisely according to the direc- tions of the former London Pharmacopoeia, which are at present those of our own national standard, had the sp. gr. 0.994, and contained in half a fluid- ounce, 16.8 grains of sesquioxide. Properties. The tincture of muriate of iron is of a reddish-brown, some- what yellowish colour, a sour and very styptic taste, and an odour resem- bling that of muriatic ether. The sesquichloride of iron, which results from its evaporation, is a deliquescent compound, of a dark orange colour, scarcely crystallizable, and consisting of two equiv. of iron 56, and three of chlorine 106.26=162.26. The tincture is decomposed by the alkalies, alkaline earths, and their carbonates, astringent vegetable infusions, and the mucilage of gum Arabic, which are, therefore, incompatible with it in pre- scriptions. Medical Properties and Uses. This is one of the most active and cer- tain preparations of iron, usually acceptable to the stomach, and much em- ployed for all the purposes to which the chalybeates generally are applied. It is particularly recommended as a tonic in scrofula, in which it is often given, conjointly with the solution of muriate of lime, or muriate of baryta. It has been employed also in gleet, and is said to be useful in dysury de- pendent on spasmodic stricture of the urethra, in the dose of ten drops re- peated every ten minutes, till some effect is experienced. In hemorrhages from the uterus, kidneys, and bladder, it is thought to act advantageously, but should be confined to those of a passive character, or employed only after sufficient depletion. Externally it has sometimes proved useful in the; destruction of venereal warts, and as a styptic in cancerous and fungous ulcers. The dose is from ten to thirty minims, which may be gradually increased to one, or even two fluidrachms, two or three times a day. It is given diluted with water. W. GUMMI-RESINA. Gum-resins. These are concrete natural juices of plants, obtained by spontaneous exu- dation or incision, and consisting of gum and resin, associated for the most part with more or less essential oil, and frequently with other substances, such as extractive, bassorin, starch, wax, and various salts. The gum and resin are essential ingredients, but exist in very different proportions in the different varieties. All the gum-resins are partially soluble in alcohol and in water, but completely so in neither of these liquids. Diluted alcohol, on the contrary, dissolves them almost entirely, especially if assisted by heat- With water they form an opaque emulsion; the resin, essential oil, and other insoluble constituents being held in suspension by the dissolved gum. The London College gives the following directions in relation to the gum-resins. " Those Gum-resins are to be preferred, which may be chosen so per* 912 Gummi-resinse.—Hydrargyrum. part ii. feci as not to require purification. But if they do not appear to be suffi- ciently pure, boil them in water until they soften, and express them throimh a hempen cloth; then set them by that the resinous part may subside. Pour off ihe supernatant liquid, and evaporate it by means of a water-bath, adding, towards the end of the process, the resinous portion, so as to incorporate it with the gum. "The Gum-resins which melt easily, may be purified by putting them into an ox bladder, and holding them in boiling water, until they become so soft as to be capable of being separated from their impurities by expression through a hempen cloth." The first of these processes is applicable to the gum-resins only when they are intended for external use; for the essential oil, upon which their medicinal virtues often in great measure depend, is more or less dissipated by the heat employed. The latter process is preferable whenever practica- ble, as it affects less the character of the medicine; but several of the gum- resins, such as assafetida and ammoniac, are not sufficiently fusible at the temperature of boiling water to admit of being strained with facility. It is always best to select those intended for internal exhibition, of such a qua- lity as not to require purification. As they are usually brittle and pnlveri- zable when very cold, they may be freed from the coarser impurities by powdering them in the winter season, and sifting the powder, which after- wards agglutinates with warmth. This plan is recommended by Mr. Brande, in relation to assafetida, ammoniac, and galbanum. The French pharmaceutists purify the gum-resins by dissolving them in diluted alcohol, filtering and evaporating the solution. This process, though liable in a still greater degree than that of the London College to the objection of di- minishing the virtues of the medicine by driving off the essential oil, has ihe advantage of completely separating all insoluble substances, however minutely divided, such as fine sand or other earth, which might pass through the pores of a hempen strainer. W. HYDRARGYRUM. Preparations of Mercury. HYDRARGYRUM PURIFICATUM. U.S., Dub. Hydrar- otrus Purificatus. Ed. Purified Mercury. " Take of Mercury any quantity. Pour it into an iron retort, and hav- ing applied heat, distil the Purified'Mercury." U.S. " Take of Mercury six parts; Iron Filings one part. Rub them together, and distil from an iron vessel." Ed. " Take of Mercury six parts. Draw off four parts by slow distilla- tion." Dub. The mercury of commerce is usually very pure; but occasionally it con- tains foreign metals, such as lead, tin, zinc, and bismuth, and hence the directions for its purification. Mercury being much more volatile than the contaminating metals, rises first in distillation, while they are left behind. But it is necessary to avoid pushing the distillation too far; for in that event, some of the foreign metals, particularly bismuth, are apt to be carried over. The Dublin Pharmacopoeia, on account of this danger, directs only two- thirds of the mercury to be drawn over; while the U.S. and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias distil the whole. The iron filings directed by the Edin- PART II. Hydrargyrum. 913 burgh College appear to be useless, as they have no affinity for the contam- inating metals. Considering the difficulty of purifying mercury by distilla- tion, it is better for the manufacturing chemist to purchase pure samples of the metal, which may be always had in the market, and thus supersede the necessity of this process. The London College, in their Pharmacopoeia of 1836, have thrown out the formula for purifying mercury by distillation, but explain in their " Notes," under the title " Hydrargyrum," that the purified metal is intended. Properties, fyc. Mercury is known to be pure when it is bright and per- fectly mobile. Its freedom from foreign metals may be ascertained by the negative indications of the tests mentioned under Hydrargyrum. Purified mercury is used in all the preparations of mercury requiring the metal, ex- cept the mercurial plaster of our Pharmacopoeia, in which the commercial metal is employed. B. HYDRARGYRI ACETAS. Dub. Acetas Hydrargyri. Ed. Acetate of Mercury. " Take of Purified Mercury, Acetate of Potassa, each, nine parts; Dilu- ted Nitric Acid eleven parts; boiling Distilled Water one hundred parts; Distilled Vinegar a sufficient quantity. Add the Nitric Acid to the Mer- cury, and when the effervescence shall have ceased, digest the mixture, so as to dissolve the metal. Dissolve the Acetate of Potassa in the Water, and add Distilled Vinegar until acidity predominates in the solution. To this, boiling hot, add the solution of the Mercury in the Nitric Acid, and strain the mixture quickly through a double linen cloth; then let it cool that crys- tals may form. Wash these with cold Distilled AVater, and dry them on paper with a very gentle heat. In every step of this process, glass vessels are to be used." Dub. The Edinburgh College orders three ounces of purified mercury, four ounces and a half of diluted nitrous acid, or a little more than sufficient to dissolve the mercury, three ounces of acetate of potassa, and dght pounds of boiling water, and treats the materials in a similar manner to the above, merely omitting to acidulate with distilled vinegar, and to strain through linen. The object of these processes is to obtain an acetate of the protoxide of mercury. By the solution of mercury in diluted nitric acid, in the propor- tions indicated, a protonitrate is formed; and this, when added to the boiling solution of acetate of potassa, causes a double decomposition, resulting in the formation of nitrate of potassa which remains in solution, and protace- tate of mercury which precipitates in crystals as the solution cools. The nitric acid is used diluted in order to avoid peroxidizing the metal; and for the same reason heat is not applied until the action of the acid has ceased in the cold, and then only moderately. Notwithstanding every precaution, it is very difficult to get a perfect protonitrate of mercury; and as water throws down a yellow subnitrate from the pernitrate if the solutions be neutral, the Dublin College orders the solution of the acetate of potassa to be acidulated with distilled vinegar, which effectually prevents this precipitation. The same object is gained in the Edinburgh formula, by using a slight excess of nitric acid for dissolving the mercury. The straining of the solution while hot, as directed by the Dublin College, is intended to separate any subni- trate which may be accidentally formed. As the crystals of the acetate of mercury may be contaminated with a little pernitrate, which is rendered yellow by the action of water, some authorities recommend that the washing should be performed with water acidulated with distilled vine- 78 914 Hydrargyrum. part ii. gar. The drying of the crystals is an operation which requires great care, as a slight heat is sufficient to decompose them. On this account it has been proposed to dry them by compression between the folds of bibu- lous paper. Properties, 4*c. Acetate of mercury is a white salt, in the form of thin elastic scales of a silvery lustre. Its taste is very disagreeable, but less so than that of most of the other soluble salts of mercury. Air has no effect on it, but it contracts a brown tinge by exposure to light. It is insoluble in alcohol, but dissolves readily, with partial decomposition, in boiling water, from which, being only sparingly soluble in cold water, it precipitates in crystals on cooling. AVhen it is a perfect protacetate, alkalies throw down from its solution a black precipitate of protoxide; but if it be contaminated with peracetate, the same reagents cause a yellowish precipitate. It consists of one equiv. of acetic acid 51.48, one of protoxide of mercury 210, and four of water 36=297.48. Medical Properties. Acetate of mercury was introduced into regular practice, in consequence of its having been supposed to be the active in- gredient in Keyser's pills, which were at one time esteemed to be a mild and safe antisyphililic remedy, and the mode of preparing which was made public by the French government, by whom it had been purchased. These pills, however, are very unequal in their operation, and have been ascer- tained by Robiquet to contain the acetate of the peroxide. The officinal ace- tate is intended to be a protacetate; but even in this state it possesses no peculiar powers which give it advantages over other mercurials in the treat- ment of syphilis; and it is at present very little used. The dose is a grain, given in the form of pill, twice a day. It is occasionally used as an exter- nal application to cutaneous eruptions, in the proportion of a grain dissolved in a fluidounce of rose-water. B. HYDRARGYRI CHLORIDUM CORROSIVUxM. U.S. Hy- drargyri Bichloridum. Lond. Murias Hydrargyri Corrosivus. Ed. Hydrargyri Murias Corrosivum. Dub. Corrosive Chloride of Mercury. Corrosive Sublimate. " Take of Purified Mercury two pounds; Sulphuric Acid thirty ounces; Chloride of Sodium four pounds. Boil the Mercury with the Sulphuric Acid, in a glass vessel, until the sulphate of mercury is left dry. Rub this, when cold, with the Chloride of Sodium, in an earthenware mortar; then sublime in a glass cucurbit, with a gradually increasing heat." U.S. "Take of Mercury two pounds; Sulphuric Acid three pounds; Chloride of Sodium a pound and a half. Boil down the Mercury with the Sulphuric Acid in a proper vessel, until the Bipersulphate of Mercury is left dry. Rub this, when cold, with the Chloride of Sodium, in an earthenware mortar; then sublime with a heat gradually increased." Lond. The Edinburgh process agrees with the U.S. formula in the proportions of the materials employed, and only differs from it slightly in phraseology. " Take of Persulphate of Mercury five parts; dried Muriate of Soda two parts. Rub them well together in an earthenware mortar, so as to reduce them to a very fine powder. Then, with a heat gradually raised, sublime the Corrosive Muriate of Mercury into a proper receiver." Dub. In order to understand the above processes, which are the same in prin- ciple, it is necessary to premise, that corrosive sublimate is a bichloride of mercury, consisting of two equiv. of chlorine and one of mercury. By boiling sulphuric acid on mercury to dryness, a white salt is formed, which is a bisulphate of the peroxide of mercury. (See Hydrargyri Persulphas, PART II. Hydrargyrum. 915 Dub.) When this is mixed with chloride of sodium (common salt), and the mixture exposed to a subliming heat, a mutual decomposition takes place; the chlorine of the common salt combines with the mercury, and sublimes as bichloride of mercury, while the sodium, oxygen of the peroxide of mer- cury, and sulphuric acid unite to form sulphate of soda, which remains behind. The quantities for mutual decomposition are two equiv. of chloride of sodium 117.44, consisting of two equiv. of chlorine 70.84, and two equiv. of sodium 46.6; and one equiv. of the bisulphate of the peroxide of mercury, consisting of one equiv. of mercury 202, two equiv. of oxygen 16, and two equiv. of sulphuric acid 80.2. The two equiv. of chlorine combine with the one equiv. of mercury, to form one equiv. of corrosive sublimate 272.84, and the two equiv. severally, of sodium, oxygen, and sulphuric acid, by their union, form two equiv. of dry sulphate of soda 142.8. In the U.S. formula, quoted above, a large excess of common salt is directed. It may be desirable to have an excess of salt; but so large a redundancy has no power of increasing the product of corrosive sublimate. The London Col- lege, in their new formula (Pharmacopoeia 1836), have corrected this error, by ordering only a pound and a half of common salt, which constitutes a sufficient excess, theory calling for a pound and a fifth only. This College also has advantageously increased the proportion of sulphuric acid. The Dublin formula for corrosive sublimate is peculiar in ordering the bisulphate of the peroxide of mercury ready formed, instead of preparing it as the first step of the process, as is done in the processes of the other Pharmacopoeias. As the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges adhere to the old theory of the na- ture of common salt and corrosive sublimate, namely that they are muriates, it may be well to explain the formation of the latter on that theory. According to the old theory, the reaction takes place between two equiv. of muriate of soda, and one equiv. of bisulphate of mercury. The two equiv. of soda combine with the two equiv. of sulphuric acid to form two equiv. of sulphate of soda; while the two equiv. of dry muriatic acid sublime in union with the one equiv. of peroxide of mercury, to form the oimuriate of the jafroxide— the corrosive muriate of these Colleges. Thus, while the new theory makes corrosive sublimate a bichloride of mercury, the old one considers it a bipermuriate. According to both views, the compound has the same equivalent number, and consists of one equiv. of mercury, combined with the same quantity of matter. This matter is considered to consist, according to the new theory, of two equiv. of a simple body called chlorine, but according to the old, of two equiv. of an imaginary body called dry muriatic acid, and two equiv. of oxygen. Considering the fact that the chloridic theory is now fully established, it is to be hoped that the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges, upon the next revi- sion of their Pharmacopoeias, will reform their names for the chlorides of mercury. The U.S. Convention, on the revision of our Pharmacopoeia in 1830, adopted a correct nomenclature for these compound*, and the London College, in their new Pharmacopoeia of 1836, have done the same. We think, however, that the London names, chloride of mercury for calomel, and bichloride for corrosive sublimate, are not sufficiently distinctive; and hence prefer the use of the adjunct "corrosivum" to the name of the latter, adopted in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, as serving to fix attention to its delete- rious nature. Preparation on the Large Scale, $c. According to Mr. Brande, the following proportions are employed at Apothecaries' Hall, London:—"50 lbs. of mercury are boiled to dryness with 70 lbs. of sulphuric acid: 73 lbs. 916 Hydrargyrum. PART ii. of bipersulphate of mercury are thus formed, which, being perfectly mixed wiih 120 lbs. of common salt, and sublimed, yield from 63 to 65 lbs. of corrosive sublimate." It is sometimes useful to a physician to know how to make a small quantity of corrosive sublimate on an emergency. This may be done by dissolving peroxide of mercury (red precipitate) in muriatic acid, evaporating the solution to dryness, dissolving the dry mass in water, and crystallizing. In this case a double decomposition takes place, resulting in the formation of water and the bichloride. Properties. Corrosive chloride of mercury, as obtained by sublimation, is in the form of white, semitransparent, crystalline masses, of the sp. gr. 5.2, permanent in the air, and possessing an exceedingly acrid, styptic, and durable taste. It dissolves in a little less than twenty parts of cold water, and in three of boiling water. A boiling saturated solution, upon cooling, lets it fall in a confused mass of crystals. It is soluble also in two and a third parts of cold alcohol, in about its own weight of boiling alcohol, and in three parts of ether. Sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids dissolve it without alteration. When heated it melts, and readily sublimes in dense, white, acrid vapours, which condense, on cool surfaces, in white, shining needles. Its aqueous solution renders green the syrup of violets, and is precipitated brick-red, becoming yellow, by the fixed alkalies and alkaline earths, and white by ammonia. (See Hydrargyrum Ammoniatum.) The former pre- cipitate is the hydrated peroxide of mercury, and is formed in the process for preparing the aqua phagedaenica of old pharmacy, which is obtained by mix- ing a drachm of corrosive sublimate with a pint of lime-water. Corrosive subli- mate forms with muriate of ammonia and chloride of sodium, compounds which are more soluble than the uncombined mercurial salt. It is on this account that aqueous solutions of sal ammoniac, or of common salt, dissolve much more corrosive sublimate than simple water. The combination of corrosive sublimate with muriate of ammonia was formerly called sal alem- broth, or salt of wisdom. (See Liquor Hydrargyri Bichloridi, Lond.) Corrosive sublimate has the property of retarding putrefaction in a re- markable degree. Animal matters, immersed in its solution, shrink, acquire firmness, assume a white colour, and become imputrescible. It is on ac- count of this property that it is often usefully employed for the preservation of anatomical preparations. Tests of Purity and Incompatibles. Pure corrosive chloride of mercury sublimes, when heated, without residue; and consequently, if a portion of any sample should not evaporate entirely, the presence of some impurity is proved. If calomel be present, it may be detected by its insolubility in water. Corrosive sublimate is incompatible with many of the metals, with the alkalies and their carbonates, with soap, lime-water, tartar emetic, nitrate of silver, the acetates of lead, the sulphurets of potassa and soda, and all the hydrosulphates. It is also decomposed by many vegetable and some animal substances. According to Dr. Thomson, (London Dispensa- tory,) it produces precipitates in infusions or decoctions of the following vegetable substances;—chamomile, horse-radish, columbo, catechu, cincho- na, rhubarb, senna, simaruba, and oak-bark. B. Medical Properties and Uses. Corrosive sublimate is the most power- ful of the mercurial preparations, operating quickly on the system, and, if not properly regulated, producing very violent effects. It is less apt to sali- vate than most other mercurials. In minute doses properly repeated, it exerts its peculiar influence without any obvious alteration of the vital func- tions, except, perhaps, a slight increase in the frequency of the pulse, and in the secretions from the skin and kidneys. Sometimes, however, it PART II. Hydrargyrum. 917 purges; but this effect may be obviated by combining it with a little opium. In larger doses it occasions nausea, vomiting, griping pain in the bowels, diarrhoea, and other symptoms of gastric and intestinal irritation; and in still larger quantities produces all the effects of a violent corrosive poison. It has long been used as a remedy in syphilis, in all stages of which it is highly recommended by some authors. It is said to remove the symptoms more speedily than other mercurials, while its action is less unpleasant, as ihe mouth is less liable to be made sore. For the latter reason it is much employed by empyrics, and is an ingredient in almost all those nostrums which have at various periods gained a temporary popularity as antivene- reals. But while it is extolled by some authors, others, among whom is Mr. Pearson of London, deny its extraordinary merits, and maintain that, though occasionally useful in arresting the progress of the complaint, parti- cularly in the secondary stage, it does not produce permanent cures, and, in the primary stage, often fails altogether. The general opinion at present is in favour of its employment in secondary syphilis, and there can be no doubt that it occasionally does much good. It is also used advantageously in cutaneous diseases of a leprous character, and in obstinate chronic rheu- matism. It is usually associated with alterative or diaphoretic medicines, such as the antimonials, and the compound decoction or syrup of sarsapa- rilla; and, in order to obviate the irritation it is apt to produce, it may often be advantageously united with opium, or extract of hemlock. There is no doubt that many of the substances in connexion with which it is employed, alter its chemical condition; but it does not follow that even in its altered state it may not be very useful as a remedy. As an external remedy, corrosive sublimate is stimulant and escharotic. A very weak solution in water, containing from an eighth to half a grain in the fluidounce, is employed as an injection in gleet, as a gargle in venereal sorethroat, and as a collyrium in chronic venereal ophthalmia. A stronger solution, containing one or two grains in the fluidounce, is a very efficacious wash in lepra, and other scaly cutaneous eruptions. Dissolved in water, in the proportion of five or ten grains to the fluidounce, it may be used with much benefit in venereal ulcers of the throat, to which it should be applied by means of a camel's hair pencil. With lime-water it forms the aqua pha- gedaenica of the older writers, employed as a wash in ill-conditioned ulcers. The powdered chloride has been used as an escharotic; but is, in general, inferior to nitrate of silver or caustic potassa. In onychia maligna, how- ever, it is employed with great advantage, mixed with an equal weight of sulphate of zinc, and sprinkled thickly upon the surface of the ulcer, which is then to be covered with a pledget of lint saturated with tincture of myrrh. The whole diseased surface is thus removed, and the necessity of resorting to the knife avoided. This practice was first introduced, we believe, by the late Dr. Perkins of Philadelphia, and was highly recommended by Dr. Physick. We have employed it in several instances with complete success. The dose of corrosive sublimate is from an eighth to a quarter of a grain, repeated three or four times a day, and given in pill, or dissolved in water or spirit. The pill, which is the preferable form, is usually prepared with crumb of bread, and care should be taken that the medicine be equally dif- fused through the pilular mass, before it is divided. Mucilaginous drinks are usually given to obviate the irritating effects of the medicine. Toxicological Properties. Swallowed in poisonous doses, it produces a sense of burning heat in the throat, excruciating pain in the stomach and bowels, excessive thirst, anxiety, nausea and frequent retching with vomiting of bloody mucus, diarrhoea and sometimes bloody stools, small and frequent 78* 918 Hydrargyrum. part ii. pulse, cold sweats, general debility, difficult respiration, cramps in the ex- tremities, faintings, insensibility, convulsions, and death. The mucous mem- brane of the stomach exhibits on dissection all the signs which mark the action of a violent corrosive poison. In the treatment of a case of poison- ing by corrosive sublimate, Orfila recommends the free use of the whites of eggs beat up with water. The albumen of the eggs forms an insoluble and comparatively innocent compound with the corrosive sublimate; and the liquid by its bulk dilutes the poison, and distends ihe stomach so as to pro- duce vomiting. It is, however, asserted by M. Lassaigne that this com- pound of albumen and corrosive sublimate, when recently precipitated, is soluble in acid and alkaline liquids, and in the solutions of the chlorides of potassium, sodium, and calcium. (See Journ. de Pharm. xxiii. 510.) It is, therefore, important, at the same time that the antidote is used, to evacuate the stomach, before the newly formed compound can be again dissolved. If eggs cannot be procured, wheat flour mixed with water may be substituted, gluten having, according to M. Taddei, the same effect as albumen. Should neither of these antidotes be at hand, mucilaginous drinks should be largely administered; and in any event, the patient should be made to drink co- piously, so long as vomiting continues, or till the symptoms are relieved. Should he be unable to vomit, the stomach should be washed out by means of the stomach pump. The consecutive inflammation should be treated with general or local bleeding, fomentations, and cooling mucilaginous drinks, and the attendant nervous symptoms should be alleviated by opiates. AV. Tests for Corrosive Sublimate. On account of the extreme virulence of this chloride as a poison, the reagents by which it may be delected form a subject of study of ihe utmost importance, as connected with medico- legal investigations. The best tests for it, according to Dr. Christison, are hydrosulphuric acid gas (sulphuretted hydrogen), iodide of potassium, pro- tochloride of tin, and nitrate of silver. A stream of hydrosulphuric acid, transmitted through a solution of corrosive sublimate, produces a black pre- cipitate of sulphuret of mercury, and acts as a delicate test. A solution of iodide of potassium gives rise to a very characteristic pale scarlet precipitate of biniodide of mercury. Protochloride of tin, the most delicate of all the tests, causes at first a white, and afterwards a grayish-black precipitate, and, as a test, is not liable to any fallacy. Nitrate of silver causes a heavy white precipitate of chloride of silver, which darkens by exposure to light. This test detects the chlorine of the corrosive sublimate, and serves to determine, after the other reagents have detected the mercury, by what means the metal is held in solution. In addition to these tests, the following may be mentioned. Lime-water throws down a yellow precipitate of peroxide. Ammonia produces a fine white flocculent precipitate. Ferrocyanuret of potassium gives rise to a white precipitate, becoming slowly yellowish, and at length a pale blue. A bright plate of copper immersed in the solu- tion is instantly tarnished, and after the lapse of half an hour becomes co- vered with a grayish-white powder. Lastly, a polished piece of gold, mois- tened with the mercurial solution, and touched, through the liquid, with a piece of iron, becomes silvery white. This test, which was proposed by Mr. Sylvester and simplified by Dr. Paris, is conveniently applied by mois- tening with the suspected solution, a gold coin or ring, and touching it through the moistened spot with the point of a penknife. The object of the iron is to form with the gold a simple galvanic circle, which enables the latter metal to precipitate the mercury on its suiface. By the combined indications of the foregoing tests, corrosive sublimate may be infallibly detected; unless it exists in very minute quantity, associ- PART II. Hydrargyrum. 919 ated with organic substances, by which its presence is often greatly obscured. When it exists in organic mixtures, made by boiling the contents or sub- stance of the stomach in distilled water, Dr. Christison recommends that a preliminary trial be made with the protochloride of tin, on a small portion filtered for the purpose. If this causes a grayish-black colour, he shakes the mixture, as recommended by Orfila, with a fourth of its bulk of sulphuric ether, which dissolves the chloride and rises lo the surface. The ethereal solution is then evaporated to dryness, and the dry salt obtained is dissolved in hot water, whereby a pure solution is procured, in which the corrosive sublimate may be readily detected by the ordinary tests. If the trial test should produce a light gray colour, the chloride is indicated in still less quan- tity, and Dr. Christison recommends to proceed in the following manner. Treat the unfiltered mixture with protochloride of tin, as long as any preci- pitate is formed, which will have a slate-gray colour. Collect, wash, and drain it on a filter, and, having removed it without being dried, boil it, in a glass flask, in a moderately strong solution of caustic potassa, until all the lumps disappear. The alkali will dissolve all animal and vegetable matter, and on allowing the solution to remain at rest, a heavy grayish-black powder will subside, which consists chiefly of metallic mercury, and in which small globules of the metal may sometimes be discovered, by the naked eye, or by the aid of a magnifier. For further details, see Christison on Poisons, 2d edit. Edinburgh, 1832. Off. Prep. Hydrargyri Binoxydum, Lond.; Hydrargyrum Ammoniatum, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Liquor Hydrargyri Bichloridi, Lond.; Sub-Murias Hydrargyri Miiis, Ed. B. LIQUOR HYDRARGYRI BICHLORIDI. Lond. Solution of Bichloride of Mercury. " Take of Bichloride of Mercury [Corrosive Sublimate], Hydrochlorate of Ammonia, each, ten grains; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Bichloride of Mercury and Hydrochlorate of Ammonia together in the Water." Lond. This solution-was intended to facilitate the dispensing of corrosive subli- mate in small doses. The muriate of ammonia has been substituted for the alcohol formerly added to the solution, probably in order to prevent the de- composition of the bichloride. A solution of corrosive sublimate in water alone, under the influence of light, deposites calomel, while muriatic and chloric acids remain in the water; nor is this decomposition prevented by the addition of alcohol. The dose of the solution, of which a fluidounce contains half a grain of corrosive sublimate, is from one to four fluidrachms taken in flaxseed tea. . AV. HYDRARGYRI CHLORIDUM MITE. U.S. Hfdrargyri Chloridum. Lond. Sub-Murias Hydrargyri Mitis, sive Calo- melas. Ed. Calomelas Sublimatum. Dub. Mild Chloride of Mercury. Sub-muriate of Mercury. Calomel. " Take of Purified Mercury four pounds; Sulphuric Acid thirty ounces; Chloride of Sodium a pound and a half. Boil two pounds of the Mercury with the Sulphuric Acid, in a glass vessel, till the sulphate of mercury is left dry. Rub this, when cold, with the remainder of the Mercury, in an earthenware mortar, so that they may be thoroughly mixed. Then add the Chloride of Sodium, and rub it with the other ingredients, till all the globules disappear; afterwards sublime. Reduce the sublimed matter to a very fine powder, pass it through a sieve, and wash it frequently with boiling distilled 920 Hydrargyrum. part ii. water, till this affords no precipitate upon the addition of water of ammonia. Lastly, prepare the powder in the manner directed for the carbonate of lime." U.S. The London formula is the same with the above, except that three pounds of sulphuric acid are used, the kind of vessel in which the sulphate is formed is not designated, and the sifting, testing, and preparation in the same manner as carbonate of lime are not directed. The omission to wash with a hot solution of muriate of ammonia is a decided improvement in the new London formula. " Take of Muriate of Mercury [Corrosive Sublimate] four parts; Puri- fied Mercury three parts. Rub the muriate into a fine powder, in a glass mortar, with a little water to prevent the acrid powder from rising; then add the Mercury, and rub again, until the metal is extinguished. Dry the mat- ter, and having put it in an oblong phial, of which it should fill only one- third, sublime from warm sand. Reduce the sublimate to powder, and sub- lime it a second time; then rub it into a very fine powder, and lastly, wash it with boiling distilled water." Ed. " Take of Persulphate of Mercury twenty-five parts; Purified Mercury seventeen parts; Dried Muriate of Soda ten parts. Triturate together the Persulphate of Mercury and Purified Mercury, in an earthenware mortar, until the metallic globules completely disappear. Then add the dried Mu- riate of Soda and mix them well; and from a suitable vessel, with a heat gradually raised, sublime the mixture into a receiver. Reduce the subli- mate to powder, and wash it wiih water so long as the decanted liquid is precipitated by Water or Caustic Potassa. Lastly, dry the Sublimed Cal- omel." Dub. The object of the above processes is to obtain a protochloride of mercury. This chloride consists of one equiv. of chlorine, and one of mercury, and consequently contains precisely half as much chlorine as corrosive subli- mate, combined with the same quantity of mercury. In the process of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, as in the case of corrosive sublimate, a bisulphate of the peroxide is first formed; but instead of being immediately sublimed with the chloride of sodium (common salt), it undergoes a preparatory tri- turation with the same quantity of mercury as was employed in forming it. This trituration may be conceived to take place between one equiv. of°the fiisulphate of the peroxide, and one equiv. of metallic mercury, which are thus converted into two equivalents of the neutral* sulphate of the protox- ide. This change will be easily understood, by adverting to the fact, that the bisulphate of the peroxide consists of two equiv. of sulphuric acid, two of oxygen, and one of mercury, and when rubbed up with one additional equiv. of mercury, the whole matter present becomes two equiv. of acid, two of oxygen, and two of mercury, evidently corresponding with two equiv. of the neutral protosulphate. The two equiv. of protosulphate thus formed, being heated with two. equiv. of common salt, the two equiv. of chlorine in the latter sublime in union with the two equiv. of mercury in the former, and generate two equiv. of protochloride of mercury; while the two equiv. severally, of sulphuric acid, oxygen, and sodium, unite together to form two equiv. of dry sulphate of soda, which remains as a fixed residue. It is hence apparent, lhat the residue in this process is the same as in that for corrosive sublimate. The calomel in mass as sublimed, is liable to contain a little corrosive * .By umt™1 is bere meant, neutral in composition, as Dr. Turner terms it; that is consisting of one equiv. of acid, and one of base. PART II. Hydrargyrum. 921 sublimate; and hence the necessity of the directions of the U.S. Pharmaco- poeia, to reduce the sublimed matter to a very fine powder, and to wash it with boiling distilled water until liquid ammonia produces no precipitate in the water. The ammonia occasions a white precipitate so long as the wash- ings contain corrosive sublimate; and when it ceases to produce this effect, the operator may rest satisfied that the whole of the poisonous salt has been removed. The London College merely prescribes a careful washing, omit- ting in the formula any directions for testing for corrosive sublimate, the proper tests for ascertaining the purity of the calomel being enumerated in the " Notes," prefixed to the " Preparations." The Edinburgh process for calomel is peculiar in directing the sublima- tion of a mixture of corrosive sublimate and mercury, and the mode in which it is formed is thus explained. One equiv. of corrosive sublimate consists of two equiv. of chlorine and one of mercury. When rubbed up with one equiv. of metallic mercury and sublimed, the whole becomes two equiv. of chlorine and two of mercury; that is, two equiv. of calomel. The propor- tions employed are nearly those of the equivalents, giving merely a slight excess of mercury. The process of the Dublin College is in effect the same as that of the U.S. and London Pharmacopoeias; the only difference being, that in the former the bipersulphate of mercury is used ready formed, as prepared by a distinct formula of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, instead of being made as the first step of the process itself. The Dublin College does not direct that the water employed for washing the calomel should be hot. This omission renders the directions somewhat incomplete; for it is obviously preferable to wash with boiling water. The water of caustic potassa with which the washings are tested, is intended to detect corrosive sublimate, and will cause a yellow cloud as long as this salt is present in them. The proportions em- ployed are nearly the equivalent quantities. The chemical changes which take place in the formation of calomel may be readily explained on the old theory of muriatic acid, which is sanctioned by the nomenclature of the Edinburgh College. By this theory, calomel is a neutral muriate of the protoxide of mercury. AVhen it is generated ac- cording to the first plan mentioned in this article (U.S., Lond., and Dub. process), it is formed in consequence of a double decomposition between the protosulphate of mercury and muriate of soda (common salt), which results in the generation of neutral protomuriate of mercury (calomel), and sulphate of soda. AVhen formed according to the second plan (Edinburgh process), one equiv. ofoimuriate of the peroxide of mercur)' (corrosive sublimate), is triturated with one equiv. of metallic mercury, and made to unite with it by sublimation. The whole, after combination, is evidenUy two equiv. of mu- riatic acid, two of oxygen, and two of mercury, which correspond precisely with two equiv. of the neutral protomuriate, or calomel. From these expla- nations it is evident, that the difference, according to the old theory, between the mercurial chlorides, is not merely that the base of calomel is a protoxide, while that of corrosive sublimate is a peroxide; but also that the base of the latter is combined with twice as much muriatic acid as is united with the base of the former. According even to the old theory, therefore, calomel is not a submarine, as it is called by the Edinburgh College; although, on the erroneous assumption that corrosive sublimate is the neutral muriate, the name is defensible as relatively correct, in allusion to the fact that calomel contains only half as much muriatic acid combined with the base. Preparation on the Large Scale. The process for making calomel by means of the bipersulphate of mercury, was originally practised at Apothe- 922 Hydrargyrum. part ii- earies' Hall, London. The proportions taken, and the mode of proceeding, in that establishment, are, according to Mr. Brande, as follows:—50 pounds of mercury are boiled to dryness with 70 pounds of sulphuric acid, in a cast iron vessel. Sixty-two pounds of the dry salt formed are triturated with 40^ pounds of mercury till the globules disappear, and the whole is mixed with 34 pounds of common salt. The mixture is then heated in earthen vessels, and the product is from 95 to 100 pounds of calomel. The sublimate is next ground to an impalpable powder, and washed with a large quantity of distilled water. The object of bringing calomel into a state of minute division, is more perfectly accomplished by the method of Mr. Jewell of London, for which he has taken out a patent. It consists in causing the calomel in vapour to come in contact with steam in the subliming vessel, whereby it is condensed in the form of an impalpable powder, and perfectly washed from corrosive sublimate, in the same operation. Calomel made by this process, some- times called Jewell's or Howard's hydrosublimate of mercury, is lighter than lhat ordinarily prepared in the proportion of three to five, (Paris's Pharmacologia,) and free from all suspicion of containing corrosive subli- mate; and as it is much finer than when obtained by levigation and elutria- tion, it probably possesses more activity as a medicine. This process has been included in the French Codex. Properties. Mild chloride of mercury is a tasteless, inodorous, insoluble substance, less volatile than corrosive sublimate, unalterable in the air, but blackening by long exposure to light. When in mass, its form and appear- ance depend upon the shape and temperature of the subliming vessel. In this state, it is generally in the form of a white crystalline cake, the interior surface of which is studded with shining transparent crystals, having the shape of quadrangular prisms, and a texture somewhat horny and elastic. When the mass is scratched it yields a yellow streak, which is very charac- teristic. Its sp. gr. is 7.2. The officinal form of this chloride is that of powder, in which state it always exists in the shops. The powder has a light buff or ivory colour, if obtained by the levigation of sublimed masses, but if condensed at once in the form of an impalpable powder, as is the case with Jewell's calomel, it is perfectly white. To protect it from the action of the light, it should be kept in a dark place, or in bottles painted black or covered with black paper. By the action of the alkalies or alka- line earths it immediately becomes black, in consequence of the formation of protoxide. (See Oxidum Hydrargyri Cinereum, and Hydrargyri Oxidum Nigrum.) The composition of calomel has already been mentioned. The first European writer by whom it was described was Beguin, in 1608; but the researches of Mr. Hatchett seem to prove that it was long known and prepared in Thibet. Tests of Purity and Incompatibles. Calomel, when pure, completely sublimes on the application of heat, and strikes a black colour, free from reddish tinge, by the action of the fixed alkalies. The buff colour indicates the absence of corrosive sublimate; but whiteness by no means shows the presence of impurity. Its freedom from the corrosive chloride may be de- termined by boiling a small portion of it in distilled water, and then testing the water with ammonia or sulphuretted hydrogen, the former of which will cause a white precipitate, the latter a blackish one, in case the water has taken up any of this chloride. Besides being incompatible with the alka- lies and alkaline earths, it is also decomposed by the alkaline carbonates, soaps, hydrosulphates, and, according to some authorities, by iron, lead, and copper. B. PART II. Hydrargyrum. 923 Medical Properties and Uses. Calomel unites to the general properties of the mercurials, those of a purgative and anthelmintic. It is the most valuable of the mercurial preparations, and in extent of employment is in- ferior to few articles of the Materia Medica. Whether the object is to bring the system under the general influence of mercury, or to produce its altera- tive action upon the hepatic or other secretory functions, calomel, on account both of its certainty and mildness, is preferred to all other preparations, with the single exception of the blue pill, which, though less certain, is still milder, and is sometimes preferably employed. When used with the above objects, the tendency to purge which it sometimes evinces, even in very small doses, must be restrained by combining it with opium. In sialagogue or alterative doses, it is often prescribed with other medicines, which, while they give it a direction to certain organs, have their own peculiar influence increased by its co-operation. Thus it renders squill more diuretic, nitre and the antimonials more diaphoretic, and seneka more expectorant. As a purgative, calomel owes its chief value to its tendency to the liver, the secretory function of which it powerfully stimulates. It is usually slow and somewhat uncertain in its cathartic effect, and though itself unirritating, sometimes occasions severe griping pain with bilious vomiting, attributable to the acrid character of the bile which it causes the liver to secrete. It is peculiarly useful in the commencement of bilious fevers, in hepatitis, jaun- dice, bilious and painters' colic, dysentery, especially that of tropical cli- mates, and all other affections attended with congestion of the portal system, or torpidity of the hepatic vessels. The difficulty with which it is thrown from the stomach, renders it highly useful in some cases of obstinate vomit- ing, when other remedies are rejected. In the cases of children, it is pecu- liarly valuable from-the facility of its administration; and in the febrile com- plaints to which they are subject, appears to exercise a curative influence, depending on some other cause than its mere purgative effect, and perhaps referrible to its action upon the liver. In the treatment of worms it is one of the most efficient remedies, acting probably not only as a purgative, but also as an irritant to the worms, either by its immediate influence, or that of the acrid bile which it causes to flow. The slowness and uncertainty of its action, and its liability to salivate if too long retained in the bowels, render it proper either to follow or combine it with other cathartics, in order to ensure its purgative effect. When given alone, it should be followed, if it do not operate in six or seven hours, by a dose of castor oil or sulphate of magnesia. The cathartics with which it is most frequently combined are jalap, rhubarb, aloes, scammony, colocynth, and gamboge. It is often added in small quantities to purgative combinations, with a view to its influence on the biliary organs. It is sometimes used as an errhine in amaurosis, mixed with twice its weight of sugar, or other mild powder; and in the same combination is oc- casionally employed to remove specks and opacity of the cornea. For this latter purpose, Dupuytren recommends particularly the calomel prepared ac- cording to the plan of Mr. Jewell. Calomel is also sometimes employed externally in herpetic and other eruptions, in the shape of an ointment. The dose as an alterative in functional derangement of the liver, is from half a grain to a grain every night, or every other night, followed in the morning, if the bowels are not opened, by a gentle saline laxative. When tiie stomach or bowels are very irritable, as in cholera and diarrhoea, from an eighth to a quarter of a grain may be given every hour or two, so as to amount to one or two grains in the course of the day. With a view to sali- vation, the dose is from half a grain to a grain three or four times a day, to 924 Hydrargyrum. part ii. be increased considerably in urgent cases. AVhen large doses are given with this view, it is often necessary to combine them with opium. As a purga- tive, from five to fifteen grains or more may be given. Calomel has the peculiarity that its cathartic action is not increased in proportion to the dose, and enormous quantities have sometimes been given with impunity. In yellow fever, tropical dysentery, &c, from twenty grains to a drachm have been given and repeated at short intervals, without producing hypercathar- sis; but this practice is justifiable only in cases of extreme urgency, in which salivation as well as purgation is indicated. Even in very small doses of not more than one, two, or three grains, calomel purges some individuals briskly. In these persons, large doses, though they do not proportionably increase the evacuation, often occasion excessive spasmodic pain in the sto- mach and bowels. For children, larger doses are generally required in proportion than for adults. Not less than from three to six grains should be given to a child two or three years old, and this quantity often fails to act on the bowels, unless assisted by castor oil, or some other cathartic. Calomel may be given in pill made with gum Arabic and syrup, or in powder mixed with syrup or molasses. Off.Prep. Hydrargyri Oxydum, Lond., Ed.; Hydrargyri Oxidum Ni- grum, U.S., Dub.; Pilulfe Catharticae Compositae, U.S.; Pilulae Hydrar- gyri Chloridi Mitis, U.S.; Pil. Hydrarg. Chloridi Comp., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. CALOMELAS PRiECIPITATUM. Dub. Sub-Murias Hy- drargyri Prjecipitatus. Ed. Precipitated Calomel. Precipi- tated Sub-Muriate of Mercury. " Take of Purified Mercury seventeen parts; Diluted Nitric Acid fifteen parts. Pour the Acid upon the Mercury in a glass vessel; and when the mixture shall have ceased to effervesce, digest with a medium heat, with occasional agitation for six hours. Then increase the heat that the liquor may boil for a short time, and afterwards pour it off from the residual Mer- cury, and quickly mix it with four hundred parts of boiling Water, con- taining seven parts of Muriate of Soda in solution. Wash the powder wtiich subsides with warm Distilled Water, as long as the liquor decanted from it is precipitated by the addition of a few drops of Water of Caustic Potassa; and, lastly, dry it." Dub. The Edinburgh College orders eight ounces, each, of diluted nitrous acid and purified mercury, four ounces and a half of muriate of soda; and eight pounds of boiling water, and treats the materials generally as directed in the Dublin formula. The method of forming calomel in the humid way, or by precipitation, was first proposed by Scheele. It consists of two steps; first, the forma- tion of the nitrate of protoxide of mercury by dissolving the metal in weak nitric acid, and secondly, the decomposition of this salt by means of a hot solution of chloride of sodium (common salt). The nitric acid combines with sodium and the oxygen of the protoxide, so as to form nitrate of soda in solution, while the chlorine and mercury unite to form protochloride of mercury which precipitates. Though this process is sufficiently simple in theory, the performance of it is attended with some difficulty. It is neces- sary, in the first place, to prepare a pure /jrofonitrate, an object which is apt to miscarry, in consequence of the liability of the metal to become peroxi- dized by the action of nitric acid. To guard against this result, weak nitric acid is employed, more mercury is ordered than the acid can dissolve, and a moderate heat applied, and that only after the effervescence has ceased. PART II. Hydrargyrum. 925 In the next place, the operator must guard against the precipitation of a subnitrate, which is always thrown down by the action of water upon the neutral nitrate. To prevent the production of this impurity, it is necessary slightly to acidulate the nitric solution of the mercury with nitric acid, or the solution of common salt with muriatic acid; for an excess of acid in either of the solutions effectually prevents the formation of the subnitrate. This necessary precaution has been omitted in the directions of the Dublin and Edinburgh Colleges. The reason why the peroxidation of the metal, and consequent production of bipernitrate are to be avoided, is that this salt, by double decomposition with the solution of chloride of sodium, generates corrosive sublimate. The result is thus explained. The two equiv. of nitric acid together with the two equiv. of oxygen in the peroxide of mercury unite with two equiv. of sodium to form two equiv. of nitrate of soda in solution; while the two equiv. of chlorine, thus set free from the common salt, combine with the one equiv. of mercury to form corrosive sublimate. The production of corrosive sublimate in this way in the process will not injure the precipitated calomel, provided this be thoroughly washed; but it is objectionable as diminishing its quantity. When, however, the subnitrate is allowed to be formed, it contaminates the precipitated calomel, and, from its insolubility, cannot be separated by washing. As, notwithstanding every precaution, corrosive sublimate will be formed in this process, the liquor poured off from the precipitated calomel should be reserved for preparing white precipitate, as is done by the Dublin College. (See Hydrargyrum Ammoniatum.) Properties, fyc. Precipitated calomel, when properly prepared, scarcely differs in properties from sublimed calomel. It is stated to be whiter, smoother, and lighter than when obtained by sublimation. Another dif- ference, according to Gottling, is that it produces a gray, while the sub- limed calomel causes a black colour, when triturated with lime-water. The presence of subnitrate may be detected by digesting the preparation in water containing a little nitric acid, and then testing the acid by an alkali, which will cause a precipitate, if any subnitrate has been taken up. Corrosive sublimate may be discovered in the manner stated under the head of sub- limed calomel, page 920. The medical properties of precipitated calomel are the same as those of the ordinary sublimed calomel. By some it is supposed to be more purgative. Upon the whole, it may be viewed as a superfluous preparation. B. HYDRARGYRI CYANURETUM. U.S., Dub. Hydrargyri Bicyanidum. Lond. Cyanuret of Mercury. Bicyanide of Mer- cury. Prussiate of Mercury. " Take of Red Oxide of Mercury three ounces; Ferrocyanate of Iron [Prussian Blue] six ounces; Distilled Water three pints. Put the Oxide of Mercury and the Ferrocyanate of Iron, previously powdered and tho- roughly mixed together, in a glass vessel; and pour upon them two pints of the Distilled AVater. Then boil the mixture, stirring constantly, till it be- comes of a yellowish colour; after which filter it through paper. Wash the residue in a pint of Distilled Water, and filter as before. Mix the solu- tions and evaporate by the fire till a pellicle appears; then set the liquor aside that crystals may form. To purify the crystals, dissolve them again in distilled water, filter and evaporate the solution, and set it aside to crys- tallize." U.S. " Take of Percyanide of Iron [Prussian Blue] eight ounces; Binoxide of Mercury ten ounces: Distilled Water four pints [Imperial measure]. 79 926 Hydrargyrum. part 11- Boil them together for half an hour, and strain. Evaporate the liquor that crystals may form. Wash what remains frequently with boiling Distilled Water, and again evaporate the mixed liquors that crystals may form. " Biryanide of Mercury may be otherwise prepared by adding as much Binoxide of Mercury, as will accurately saturate it, to Hydrocyanic Acid distilled from Ferrocyanide of Potassium with Diluted Sulphuric Acid." Lond. " Take of Cyanuret of Iron [Prussian Blue] six parts; Nitric Oxide of Mercury [Red Precipitate] five parts; Distilled Water forty parts. Mix the Cyanuret of Iron and Oxide of Mercury, and then add them to the Water previously warmed. Boil the mixture with constant stirring, for half an hour, and filter through bibulous paper. Wash the residue frequently with warm Distilled AVater. Lastly, filter the liquors, and evaporate them until they furnish crystals by refrigeration." Dub. The above processes are essentially ihe same; their object being to pre- sent cyanogen and mercury to each other under favourable circumstances for combination. The compound formed consists of two equiv. of cyanogen, and one of mercury. It is, therefore, properly speaking, a oicyanuret. As Prussian blue is a cyanuret of iron, the reaction which occurs is a case of double decomposition, resulting in the formation of bicyanuret of mercury, and the two oxides of iron. The several formulae present a great disparity in the quantity of Prussian blue employed, the proportion being smallest in the London and greatest in the U.S. process. The discrepancy in the two latter processes may be explained by the fact that the London College in- tends the use of pure Prussian blue; while the commercial substance is meant in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. The best rule, in conducting the process, is to add the red oxide of mercury at intervals to the boiling water containing the Prussian blue, until the blue colour is replaced by a bright brown, a change indicative of the complete decomposition of the ferruginous cyanuret. AVinckler prepares the bicyanuret of mercury by the following process. Mix 15 parts of ferrocyanuret of potassium in powder with 13 parts of con- centrated sulphuric acid, and 100 parts of water. Distil the mixture to dry- ness into a receiver, containing 30 parts of water. The ferrocyanuret is decomposed, sulphate of potassa is formed in the retort, and hydrocyanic acid distils over. Of the acid thus obtained reserve a portion, and mix the rest with 16 parts of red oxide of mercury in fine powder, and stir the mix- ture till the odour of hydrocyanic acid has entirely disappeared. Then de- cant the liquor, and add for the purpose of saturating it, the portion of acid that had been reserved. This process gives 12 parts of the bicyanuret. If the liquor were not treated with free hydrocyanic acid after naving acted on the red oxide, it would probably contain some of this oxide in excess, arid when evaporated would yield, instead of ihe bicyanuret, a peculiar salt, com- posed of this cyanuret and the red oxide, which crystallizes in small acicular crystals. This process is substantially the same with the second process given by the London College. Properties, fyc. Cyanuret of mercury is a white substance, permanent in the air, and crystallized in right square prisms, which are devoid of water of crystallization, and have a disagreeable styptic taste. It is but sparingly soluble in alcohol, but dissolves readily in cold water, and much more abun- dantly in hot. AVhen heated it yields cyanogen, and mercury remains be- hind. It acts on the animal economy as a potent poison. It has been occa- sionally tried as a remedy in syphilis, in doses of from an eighth to a sixth of a grain; but it was introduced into the Pharmacopoeias, for the purpose of being employed in the preparation of hydrocyanic acid. Its composition has PART II. Hydrargyrum. 927 been already given. For the properties and composition of cyanogen, see Acidum Hydrocyanicum. Off. Prep. Acidum Hydrocyanicum, U.S., Lond., Dub. B. HYDRARGYRI IODIDUM. Lond. Iodide of Mercury. " Take of Mercury an ounce;Tod'me five drachms; Alcohol a sufficient quantify. Rub the Mercury and Iodine together, adding the Alcohol gradu- ally, until globules are no longer visible. Dry the powder immediately with a gentle heat, without the access of light, and keep it in a well-stopped ves- sel." Lond. The iodides of mercury have been for the first time introduced into the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia. The process given above for the protiodide is a case of simple combination, the alcohol facilitating the union by dissolving the iodine. This iodide is sometimes prepared by precipitation, by adding a solution of iodide of potassium to one of protonitrate of mercury; but as it is difficult to prepare the protonitrate of mercury, without being mixed with some per- nitrate, the protiodide, when thus obtained, is apt to be contaminated with biniodide. A better way is to decompose calomel by iodide of potassium, in which case iodide of mercury and chloride of potassium are formed, the latter of which may be removed by washing. The formula recommended by M. Boutigny is to mix twenty-nine drachms of calomel with twenty of pulverized iodide of potassium in a glass mortar, and to pour upon them twelve ounces of boiling distilled water. After cooling, the liquid is decant- ed, and the precipitate washed on a filter with distilled water, and dried in the shade. (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 326, from the Bull. Gen. de Therap.) Properties. This iodide is in the form of a greenish-yellow powder, in- soluble in water, alcohol, or the solution of chloride of sodium, but soluble in ether. When exposed to the light it is partially decomposed, and be- comes of a dark olive colour. If quickly and cautiously heated, it sublimes in red crystals which afterwards become yellow. It is composed of one equiv. of iodine 126.3 and one of mercury 202=328.3. Med. Properties and Uses. Iodide of mercury has been given in scrofula and scrofulous syphilis. The dose is one grain daily, gradually increased to three or four. It is, however, chiefly employed in the form of ointment. Off. Prep. Pilulae Hydrargyri Iodidi, Lond.; Unguentum Hydrargyri Io- didi, Lond. B. HYDRARGYRI BINIODIDUM. Lond. Biniodide of Mercury. " Take of Mercury an ounce; Iodine ten drachms; Alcohol a sufficient quantify. Rub the Mercury and Iodine together, adding the Alcohol gradu- ally, until globules are no longer visible. Dry the powder with a gentle heat, and keep it in a well-stopped vessel." Lond. In this formula, as in that for iodide of mercury, the alcohol merely facili- tates the union of the metal with the iodine, by dissolving the latter. Ano- ther process for preparing the biniodide is to add a solution of iodide of potassium to one of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate). Chloride of potassium remains in solution, and the biniodide precipitates, which must be carefully washed with distilled water. The proper proportions are very nearly eleven parts of the iodide of potassium to nine of the bichloride. The precipitate formed is soluble in either of the reacting salts, and hence, a loss of part of it is incurred by an excess of either. It is best, however, to have a slight excess of the iodide of potassium, which is furnished by the above 928 Hydrargyrum. PART II- proportions; as then the decomposition of the whole of the corrosive subli- mate is insured, and its possible contamination of the biniodide prevented. Properties. Biniodide of mercury is a scarlet-red powder, of the sp. gr. of 6.3, insoluble in water, but soluole in alcohol, and in solutions of iodide of potassium, chloride of sodium, and of many of the mercurial salts. AVhen heated it fuses readily, and sublimes in yellow rhombic scales, which become red on cooling. It forms definitive compounds with the iodides of the alka- line metals. That formed with iodide of potassium has been used medici- nally. See lodo-hydrar gyrate of potassium in the Appendix. Medical Properties and Uses. Biniodide of mercury is a powerful irritant poison. It has been used in similar diseases with the protiodide (scrofula and syphilis); but is much more active. The dose is the sixteenth of a grain, gradually increased to a fourth, given in the form of pill, or dissolved in alcohol. Off. Prep. Unguentum Hydrargyri Biniodidi, Lond. B. HYDRARGYRI OXYDUM. Lond. Oxidum Hydrargyri Ci- nereum. Ed. Gray Oxide of Mercury. " Take of Chloride of Mercury [Calomel] an ounce; Lime-water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Mix and frequently shake them. Set aside the mix- ture, and when the Oxide shall have subsided, pour off the liquors. Lastly, wash it in distilled water till nothing alkaline can be perceived, and, having wrapped it in bibulous paper, dry it in the air." Lond. " Take of Sub-Muriate of Mercury half an ounce; Lime-water five pounds. Boil the Sub-Muriate in the Lime-water for a quarter of an hour in a lightly covered vessel. Pour off the supernatant liquor, wash the Oxide with dis- tilled water, and then dry it." Ed. The object of these processes is to obtain the protoxide or black oxide of mercury, which was at one time believed to be the active constituent of those preparations, in which the metal is minutely divided by trituration. AVhen calomel is agitated with lime-water, a portion of the water is decomposed, giving its hydrogen to the chlorine of the calomel to form muriatic acid which unites with the lime, and its oxygen to the metal to form protoxide of mer- cury. The muriate of lime remains in solution, and the oxide subsides. But it is extremely difficult completely to decompose calomel in this man- ner, on account of the obstacle which its insolubility and the dilute nature of the solution of lime presents to that close contact of particles which is essential to the chemical reaction of different bodies on each other. Hence the protoxide, in this preparation, is almost always mixed with a portion of calomel, which is greater or less, according to the care with which the pro- cess has been conducted. AVhen the proportion is large, the powder has a grayish colour; when very small, it scarcely differs in appearance or pro- perties from the oxide described under the following head. From the un- certainty of its composition, it should be discarded from the officinal lists, as it generally has been from practical use. Off. Prep. Unguentum Oxidi Hydrargyri Cinerei, Ed. AV. HYDRARGYRI OXIDUM NIGRUM. U.S. Hydrargyri Ox- ydum Nigrum. Dub. Black Oxide of Mercury. " Take of Mild Chloride of Mercury [Calomel], Potassa, each, four ounces; AA'ater a pint. Dissolve the Potassa in the AVater, and when the dregs shall have subsided, pour off the clear solution. To this add the Chlo- ride of Mercury, and stir them constantly together, till the Black Oxide is part ii. Hydrargyrum. 929 formed. Having poured off the supernatant liquor, wash the Black Oxide with distilled Water, and dry it with a gentle heat." U.S. " Take of Sublimed Calomel one part; Water of Caustic Potassa, heated, four parts. Rub them together until an oxide of a black colour is obtained; wash this frequently with water, and dry it upon bibulous paper with a me- dium heat." Dub. These processes afford the protoxide of mercury in a purer state than the preceding. Calomel is completely decomposed by the solution of potassa; its chlorine being converted by union with the hydrogen of the water into muriatic acid, which combines with the potassa and remains in solution, while the mercury unites with the oxygen of the water to form the protox- ide of that metal, which subsides. The U.S. and Dublin processes are essen- tially the same. In both, more potassa is employed than by calculation would seem to be requisite; but it has been ascertained by experiment, that a con- siderable excess is necessary for the complete decomposition of the calomel. In the U.S. process, however, the quantity is, perhaps, unnecessarily large; being more than double the proportion contained in the " water of caustic potassa," directed by the Dublin College. The use of the officinal solution of potassa is preferable, on the score of economy, to that of a solution ex- temporaneously prepared from the caustic alkali. In order to ensure the success of the process, the calomel, very finely levigated, should be rubbed quickly with the alkaline solution in a mortar; and the resulting oxide should be dried in the dark with a very gentle heat, as it is decomposed by the agency both of light and of an elevated temperature. For the same reason it should be preserved in an opaque bottle. This mode of preparing the black oxide of mercury was introduced into use by Mr. Donovan. The oxide may also be prepared by decomposing a solution of the proto- nitrate of mercury by the solution of potassa. The protonitrate may be ob- tained by treating twenty parts of mercury with eighteen parts of nitric acid of 25° Baume, adding, when nitrous vapours cease to rise, ten parts of warm distilled water, boiling for a short time, decanting the clear liquor, and setting it aside to crystallize. The mother waters by evaporation will furnish a new product of crystals of protonitrate. (Ratier's Pharm Frang.) The prepara- tion, formerly officinal in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia under the name of Pul- vis Hydrargyri Cinereus, made by adding carbonate of ammonia to a solu- tion of mercury in heated nitric acid, was a mixture of subnitrate of mercury and ammonia with the protoxide of mercury. Properties, fyc. As first prepared, this oxide is greenish-black; but as found in the shops it is almost always of an olive colour, owing, it is sup- posed, to the chemical changes which it undergoes. It is inodorous, taste- less, and insoluble in water; and consists of one equiv. of mercury 202, and one equiv. of oxygen 8=210. On exposure to light or heat it is decom- posed, one part assuming the metallic state, in consequence of the loss of its oxygen, which converts another part into the peroxide. The preparation, therefore, becomes a mixture of the protoxide, the peroxide, and metallic mercury, with which calomel is sometimes associated, in consequence of the incomplete decomposition of that originally employed in the process. When pure it is soluble in acetic, and entirely insoluble in muriatic acid. If it con- tain the peroxide, this is dissolved by muriatic acid, and may be detected in the solution by the production of a white precipitate with water of ammonia, and of a yellow one with solution of potassa. Calomel, if present, may be discovered by boiling the powder with a solution of potassa, thus forming a muriate of that base, which, when the solution is saturated with nitric acid, 79* 930 Hydrargyrum. part ii. will afford a white precipitate of chloride of silver on the addition of nitrate of silver. (Phillips.) Medical Properties and Uses. The black oxide is alterative, sialagogue, and purgative. It may be employed for the same purposes with calomel, over which, however, it has not in our hands exhibited any superiority, while, from the occasional presence of the peroxide, it must be liable to operate harshly. The idea under which it was introduced into use, that it was the basis of the blue pill, is probably erroneous. Made into an ointment with lard, according to the process of Donovan, it may be applied externally with good effect in bringing the system under the mercurial influence. (See Un- guentum Hydrargyri.) Its dose as an alterative is one-fourth or half a gram daily, as a sialagogue from one to three grains two or three times a day, given in the form of pill. W. HYDRARGYRI OXIDUM RUBRUM. U.S. Hydrargyri Ni- trico-Oxidum. Lond. Oxidum Hydrargyri Rubrum per Acidum Nitricum. Ed. Hydrargyri Oxydum Nitricum. Dub. Red Oxide of Mercury. Red Precipitate. " Take of Purified Mercury three pounds; Nitric Acid a pound and a half; Distilled Water two pints. Mix them in a glass vessel, and boil till the Mercury is dissolved, and a white mass remains after the evaporation of the Water. Rub this into powder, and throw it into a very shallow vessel; then apply a gentle heat, and gradually increase it, till red vapours cease to arise." U.S. The London process is essentially the same as the above. In the first step, however, a gentle heat is directed till the mercury is dissolved. "Take of Purified Mercury three parts; Diluted Nitrous Acid four parts. Dissolve ihe Mercury, and evaporate the solution, with a gentle heat, to a dry white mass; which, having been rubbed into powder, is to be put into a glass cucurbit, and covered with a thick glass plate. Then, a capital having been adapted, and the vessel placed in a sand-bath, let the contained matter be roasted by a gradually increased heat, until the matter is converted into small bright red scales." Ed. " Take of Purified Mercury two parts; Diluted Nitric Acid three parts. Dissolve the Mercury, and let heat be applied until the dried mass is con- verted into red scales." Dub. The white mass obtained in the first of these processes is either the perni- trate of mercury, or a mixture of the pernitrate and protonitrate. AVhen ex- posed to a strong heat it is decomposed, giving out red nitrous fumes, and assuming successively a yellow, orange, and brilliant purple-red colour, which becomes orange-red on cooling. These changes are owing to the gradual separation and decomposition of the nitric acid, by the oxygen of which the protoxide of the protonitrate, if any be present, is converted into peroxide, while nitric oxide gas escapes, and takes the form of nitrous acid vapour on contact with the air. The peroxide of mercury is left behind, but not entirely free from nitric acid, which cannot be wholly expelled by heat, without endangering the decomposition of the oxide itself, and the volatiliza- tion of the metal. The preparation is, in common language, called red pre- cipitate. The name of red oxide of mercury, by which it is designated in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, is appropriate, as the nitric acid exists merely as an incidental impurity; and there is no occasion to distinguish the prepara- tion from the pure peroxide obtained by calcining mercury, as the latter is not recognised in our Pharmacopoeia, and is never employed in this country. In ihe preparation of this mercurial, various circumstances influence in PART II. Hydrargyrum. 931 some measure the nature of the product, and must be attended to, if we de- sire to procure the oxide with that fine bright orange-red colour, and shining scaly appearance, which are usually considered desirable. Among these cir- cumstances is the condition of the nitrate of mercury submitted to calcination. According to Gay-Lussac, it should be employed in the form of small crys- talline grains. If previously pulverized, as directed in the U. S., London, and Edinburgh processes, it will yield an orange-yellow powder; if it be in the state of large and dense crystals, the oxide will have a deep orange colour. Care must also be taken that the mercury and acid be free from impurities. It is highly important that sufficient nitric acid be employed fully to saturate the mercury. The quantity directed in the U. S. and London Pharmaco- poeias is deficient by theory, and, as we have been informed, has not been found to answer in practice. M. Paysse, who paid great attention to the manufacture of red precipitate, recommends 70 parts of nitric acid from 34° to 38° Baume, to 50 parts of mercury. This, however, is an excess of acid. AVe have been told by a skilful practical chemist of Philadelphia, that he has found, by repeated experiment, 7 parts of nitric acid of 35° Baume, to be sufficient fully to saturate 6 parts of mercury. Less will not answer, and more would be useless. It is not necessary that the salt should be removed from the vessel in which it is formed; and it is even asserted lhat the product is always more beautiful when the calcination is performed in the same ves- sel. A matrass may be used with a large flat bottom, so that an extended surface may be exposed, and all parts heated equally. The metal and acid having been introduced, the matrass should be placed in a sand-bath, and covered with sand up to the neck. The solution of the mercury should be favoured by a gentle heat, which should afterwards be gradually increased till red vapours make their appearance, then maintained as equably as possi- ble till these vapours cease, and at last slightly elevated till oxygen gas be- gins to escape. This may be known by the increased brilliancy with which a taper will burn if placed in the mouth of the matrass, or by its rekindling if partially extinguished. Too high a temperature must be carefully avoided, as it decomposes the oxide, and volatalizes the mercury. At the close of the operation, the mouth of the vessel should be stopped, and the heat gradually diminished, the matrass being still allowed to remain in the sand-bath. These last precautions are said to be essential to the fine red colour of the prepara- tion. It is best to operate upon a large quantity of materials, as the heat may be thus more steadily and uniformly maintained. As the process is ordinarily conducted in chemical laboratories, the nitrate of mercury is decomposed in shallow earthen vessels, several of which are placed upon a bed of sand in the chamber of an oven or furnace provided with a flue for the escape of the vapours. Each vessel may conveniently contain ten pounds of the nitrate. There is always some loss in the operation con- ducted in this way. Properties, <$*e. Red precipitate, when well prepared, has a brilliant red rolour with a shade of orange, a shining scaly appearance, and an acrid taste. It is very slightly soluble in water, of which Dr. Barker found 1000 parts to take up only 0.62 of the oxide. Nitric acid dissolves it without efferves- cence. At a red heat it is decomposed and entirely dissipated. As before stated it is not a perfectly pure peroxide; but is mixed with a minute propor- tion of« nitric acid, probably in the state of subpernitrate. Perhaps it is to this salt, which is of a yellow colour, that red precipitate owes the orange tint which distinguishes it from the red oxide procured by heating metallic mercury. According to Brande, when rubbed and washed with a solution of potassa, edulcorated with distilled water, and carefully dried, it may be 932 Hydrargyrum. part ii. ragarded as a nearly pure peroxide. It is said to be sometimes adulterated with brickdust, red lead, &c; but these may be readily detected, as the oxide of mercury is wholly dissipated if thrown upon red hot iron. Medical Properties and Uses. This preparation is too harsh and irregu- lar in its operation for internal use, but is much employed externally as a stimulant and escharotic, either in the state of powder or of ointment. In the former state it is sprinkled on the surface of chancres, and indolent, flabby, or fungous ulcers; and mixed with 8 or 10 parts of finely powdered sugar is sometimes blown into the eye to remove opacity of the cornea. The powder should be finely levigated. The ointment is officinal. (See Ungueutum Hydrargyri Rubri.) Off. Prep. Hydrargyri Cyanuretum. U.S., Dub.; Unguent. Hydrarg. Oxid. Rub., U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. W. HYDRARGYRI OXYDUM RUBRUM. Dub. Red Oxide of Mercury. Precipitate per se. Calcined Mercury. " Take of Purified Mercury any quantity. Put it into an open glass vessel, with a narrow mouth and broad bottom, and expose it to a heat of about 600°, till it is converted into red scales." Dub. As mercury requires for its oxidation a temperature little short of its boil- ing point, it is necessary that the vessel in which it is heated be so construct- ed as to prevent the escape of the vapour which rises during the process. A glass matrass is usually employed, having a narrow neck, drawn out at top into an almost capillary orifice. But the arrangement which serves to confine the mercurial vapour, impedes also the free access of air, so that the process is exceedingly tedious. The mercury introduced should not be more than sufficient to cover the bottom of the vessel, which should be heated by mea'ns of a sand-bath till vapours begin to rise. These are con- densed in the upper part of the matrass, and by maintaining the tempera- ture steadily at this point, a constant circulation of vapour is kept up within the vessel. The metal very slowly combines with the oxygen, forming first a black, and then a red powder, molecules of which begin to appear after some days, and gradually increase till they cover the surface of the mercury. Care must be taken not to increase the heat too much, as not only is the mercury thus volatilized, but the oxide already formed is decom- posed. Several weeks are requisite for the complete oxidation of a small portion of metal, and the process is necessarily expensive. The prepara- tion is the hydrargyrum praeeipitatum per se, or precipitate per se of the older chemical writers. Properties, fyc. It is in minute, sparkling, crystalline scales, of a deep red colour becoming still deeper by heat, inodorous, of an acrid taste, very slightly soluble in water, and freely soluble in nitric, muriatic, and some other acids. Its aqueous solution changes the infusion of violets to green. It consists of one equiv. of mercury 202, and two of oxygen 16=218. At a red heat it is decomposed, oxygen being given off, and the mercury re- vived. Its solutions in tne acids afford, with potassa and soda, an orange- coloured precipitate of the peroxide, and with ammonia a white precipitate, consisting of the acid, peroxide, and ammonia. Its high price affords an inducement for adulteration, to avoid which it should be kept in the crystal- line state. If pure, it is wholly volatilized by a red heat. Medical Properties and Uses. It has the general properties of the mer- curial preparations, but is apt to vomit and purge, and to act otherwise vio- lently on the stomach and bowels. Though formerly used in the treatment of syphilis, it has been entirely abandoned. It has been employed exter- PART II. Hydrargyrum. 933 nally for the same purposes with the red precipitate; but is much more costly, without having any superiority. In this country it is almost un- known as a medicine. The dose may be from one-sixth of a grain to a grain. AV. HYDRARGYRI BINOXYDUM. Lond. Binoxide of Mer- cury. " Take of Bichloride of Mercury [corrosive sublimate] four pounds; Solution of Potassa tiventy-eightfluidounces [Imperial measure]; Distilled Water sixpints [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Bichloride of Mercury in the AVater, filter, and add the Solution of Potassa. Having poured off the liquor, wash the precipitated powder in distilled water, till nothing alka- line can be perceived, and dry it with a gentle heat." Lond. This preparation is chemically identical with the preceding, though some- what different from it in appearance. The process was introduced by the London College into the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia, as a substitute for the much more tedious one of oxidizing the mercury by the combined action of air and heat. When a solution of bichloride of mercury is mixed with a solution of potassa, a mutual interchange of principles takes place— the two equivalents of chlorine seizing upon two equiv. of potassium to form two equiv. of chloride of potassium, which remains in solution; while the liberated equivalent of mercury combines with the two liberated equiv- alents of oxygen, constituting the binoxide of mercury, which is deposited. Thus prepared, the binoxide of mercury is in the form of an orange-red impalpable powder, having the essential properties of the precipitate per se. According to Phillips, if it be of a brownish colour, the solution of po- tassa employed was deficient either in quantity or strength, and the prepara- tion contains oxychloride of mercury. If upon being dissolved in nitric acid and treated with nitrate of silver it afford a precipitate, the presence of a portion of undecomposed bichloride may be suspected. This preparation has the same medical properties, and may be employed for the same purposes and in the same doses as that last described. (See Hydrargyri Oxydum Rubrum.) AV. HYDRARGYRI PERSULPHAS. Dub. Persulphate of Mer- cury. " Take of Purified Mercury, Sulphuric Acid, each, six parts; Nitric Acid one part. Expose them to heat in a glass vessel, and increase the heat until the mass becomes white and perfectly dry." Dub. When an excess of sulphuric acid is boiled to dryness upon mercury, the metal is peroxidized at the expense of part of the acid, sulphurous acid is copiously evolved, and the peroxide formed unites with the undecomposed portion of the sulphuric acid, so as to form the fo'sulphate of the peroxide of mercury, which is the persulphate of the Dublin College. In the Dub- lin formula, the peroxidation of the metal is assisted by a small portion of nitric acid, the use of which, though not essential to the result, is stated by Dr. Barker to facilitate and shorten the process, and to afford a much whiter salt than when sulphuric acid alone is employed. When the nitric acid is used, orange-coloured fumes are given off on the first application of the heat, and the acid is totally decomposed. . Persulphate of mercury, as obtained by a separate formula, is peculiar to the Dublin Pharmacopoeia; but it is formed as the first step of the processes of the other Pharmacopoeias for obtaining corrosive sublimate and turpeth mineral, and of the U.S. and London Pharmacopoeias for procuring sub- 934 Hydrargyrum. part ii. limed calomel. The adoption of a separate formula and distinct officinal name for this salt, is certainly an improvement on the part of the Dublin College, as it obviates the necessity of repeating the directions for obtaining the same substance in several distinct formulae. On account of its impor- tant uses, it requires to be made on a large scale by the manufacturing che- mist, and the process is generally performed in a cast-iron vessel, which should be conveniently arranged for the escape and decomposition of the sulphurous acid fumes, which otherwise become a serious nuisance to the neighbourhood. The best way to effect this purpose is to allow them to pass off through a very lofty chimney mixed with abundance of coal smoke. Properties',\c. Persulphate of mercury is in the form of a white saline mass. It consists of two equiv. of acid 80.2 and one of peroxide of mer- cury 218=298.2. It has no medical uses. Off. Prep. Calomelas sublimatum, Dub.; Hydrargyri Murias Corrosi- vum, Dub.; Hydrargyri Oxydum Sulphuricum, Dub. B. HYDRARGYRI SULPHAS FLAVUS. U.S. Sub-Sulphas Hy- drargyri Flavus. Ed. Hydrargyri Oxydum Sulphuricum. Dub. Yellow Sulphate of Mercury. Turpeth Mineral. " Take of Purified Mercury four ounces; Sulphuric Acid six ounces. Mix in a glass vessel, and boil, by means of a sand-bath, till a dry white mass re- mains. Rub this into powder and throw it into boiling water. Pour off the supernatant liquor, and wash the yellow precipitated powder repeatedly with hot water; then dry it." U. S. The Edinburgh formula is the same as the above, except in phraseology. " Take of Persulphate of Mercury one part; AVarm AVater twenty parts. Rub them together in an earthenware mortar, and pour off the supernatant liquor. Wash the yellow powder with warm distilled Water so long as the decanted liquor is precipitated by the addition of a few drops of the Water of Caustic Potassa. Lastly, dry the Sulphuric Oxide of Mercury." Dub. By referring to the articles'on corrosive sublimate and calomel, it will be found that the peculiar salt which is generated by boiling sulphuric acid on mercury to dryness, is directed to be obtained as the first step of several of the processes; and here it is perceived that in the U. S. and Edinburgh for- mulae, the same salt is again directed to be formed. The Dublin College has very properly avoided these repetitions, by adopting a distinct formula and name for the salt in question. We have already mentioned that this com- pound is the bisulphate of the peroxide of mercury. When obtained as the first step in the processes for corrosive sublimate and calomel, the proportion of metal and acid adopted is as 4 to 5 in the U.S. formula, and as 4 to 6 in the London. When procured for making turpeth mineral it is also as 4 to 6; while the proportion directed in the separate formula of the Dublin Col- lege is equal parts. There can be no good reason for these discrepancies, and, therefore, some uniform proportion should be adopted. We incline to believe lhat 4 of metal to 6 of acid is the most eligible proportion. The Dub- lin College is justifiable in using less sulphuric acid; as, in their formula for the bipersulphate, the mercury is partly oxidized at the expense of the nitric acid employed. See the preceding article, where the formation of this salt is explained. When the bipersulphate of mercury is thrown into boiling or even warm water it is instantly decomposed, and an insoluble salt is precipitated, which is the turpeth mineral. The change which takes place is generally supposed to consist in the separation, by the action of the water, of one equiv. of sul- phuric acid; and, on this supposition, the preparation under consideration part ii. Hydrargyrum. 935 would be simply a sulphate of the peroxide of mercury. But it would appear that the water separates something more than sulphuric acid; for the super- natant liquid is found to contain mercury, and, when duly evaporated, will yield a salt in white,'crystalline, deliquescent needles. Berzelius is of opi- nion that the water resolves the bipersulphate into an insoluble subsesquisul- phate, and a soluble supersulphate containing six equiv. of acid to one of base; and this view corresponds better with the facts than the other. Properties, fyc. Yellow sulphate of mercury is in the form of a powder of a lemon-yellow colour, and possessing a somewhat acrid taste. It dis- solves in 2000 parts of cold water, and in about 600 parts at the boiling temperature. When exposed to a moderate heat, it becomes first red and afterwards brownish-red, but regains its original colour on cooling. (Barker.) At a red heat it is decomposed and dissipated without residue. It was origi- nally called turpeth mineral, from the resemblance of its colour to lhat of the root of the Ipomoea Turpethum, a plant formerly used in medicine. It consists, according to most authorities, of one equiv. of sulphuric acid and one of peroxide of mercury; but according to Berzelius, of one equiv. of sulphuric acid, and an equiv. and a half of peroxide. Though its composi- tion is not well settled, it is evidently not a mere oxide of mercury, as called by the Dublin College; and even if it were an oxide, the prefix of this Col- lege—sulphuric—is not in accordance with any recognised principle of no- menclature. Medical Properties and Uses. Turpeth mineral is alterative, and pow- erfully emetic and errhine. As an alterative, it has been given in leprous disorders and glandular obstructions. It has been employed with benefit as an emetic, repeated every few days, in chronic enlargements of the testicle; but it often operates with great violence, and is apt to excite severe ptyalism. It proves useful in these cases upon the principle of revulsion, and by impart- ing activity to the absorbents. As an errhine, it has been used with advan- tage in chronic ophthalmia, and in diseases of the head; and it sometimes pro- duces salivation when thus employed. The dose, as an alterative, is from a quarter to half a grain; as an emetic, from two to five grains. AVhen em- ployed as an errhine, one grain may be mixed with five grains of starch or powdered liquorice root. B. HYDRARGYRI SULPHURETUM NIGRUM. U.S. Dub. Hydrargyri Sulphuretum cum Sulphure. Lond. Sulphuretum Hydrargyri Nigrum. Ed. Black Sulphuret of Mercury. Sul- phttret of Mercury with Sulphur. Ethiops Mineral. " Take of Purified Mercury, Sulphur, each, a pound. Rub them together in a glass mortar till all the globules disappear." U. S. The London process is the same as the above, except that it does not de- signate the kind of vessel in which the trituration is to be performed. The Edinburgh College takes equal parts of the materials, and directs the use of a glass mortar and pestle, and, at the end of the formula, mentions that the pre- paration may be made with a double proportion of mercury. The Dublin College takes equal parts also, and orders the trituration to be performed in a stoneware mortar. Mercury and sulphur have a strong affinity for each other; as is shown by the fact, that when they are triturated together in quantities, the mixture grows hot, cakes, and exhales a sulphureous odour. When rubbed together in equal weights, as directed in the Pharmacopoeias, they are supposed to unite chemically; but the proportion of sulphur is much greater than is ne- cessary to form a definite compound. Only two sulphurets of mercury have 936 Hydrargyrum. part ii- been admitted by the generality of chemists, a protosulphuret, and a bisul- phuret or cinnabar; and the quantity of sulphur, directed in the above pro- cesses, is much more, than sufficient to form even the latter. Thus, it still remains an unsettled point, what is the exact nature of the officinal black sulphuret, or ethiops mineral. Mr. Brande, from his experiments, considers it to be a bisulphuret mixed with sulphur. Thus he found, that when boiled repeatedly in a solution of potassa, sulphur was dissolved, and a black inso- luble powder was left, which sublimed without decomposition, and gave a substance having all the characters of cinnabar. Ethiops mineral is sometimes obtained by melting the sulphur in a cruci- ble, and adding the mercury to it; but when thus prepared, the sulphur is apt to become acidified, and the preparation to acquire an activity which does not belong to it when obtained by trituration. The latter method, accordingly, should always be employed. Properties, iyc. Black sulphuret of mercury is in the form of an insoluble, tasteless, very black powder. When exposed to heat, it becomes of a dark violet colour, emits the excess of sulphur in sulphurous acid fumes, and sublimes in brilliant red needles without residue. When well prepared, no globules of mercury should be discernible in it when viewed with a magni- fier; and if rubbed on a gold ring, it should not communicate a white stain. Ivory black is detected in it, by throwing a small portion on a red-hot iron, when a white matter (phosphate of lime) will be left behind. Adulteration by sulphuret of antimony is shown, when muriatic acid boiled on a portion of the powder, acquires the property of causing a precipitate of oxychlo- ride of antimony when added to water. Adopting the views of Mr. Brande, ethiops mineral consists of one equiv. of bisulphuret of mercury, mixed with about ten and a half equiv. of sulphur in excess. Medical Properties and Uses. Ethiops mineral is supposed to be alter- ative, and as such is sometimes prescribed in glandular affections and cuta- neous diseases. It has been given in scrofulous swellings, occurring in chil- dren; and from the mildness of its operation is considered well suited to such cases. The dose generally given is from five to thirty grains, repeated several times a day; but it has often been administered in much larger doses, ■without producing any obvious impression on the system. The late Dr. Duncan stated that he had given it in doses of several drachms for a con- siderable length of time, with scarcely any effect. B. HYDRARGYRI SULPHURETUM RUBRUM. U.S., Dub. Hydrargyri Bisulphuretum. Lond. Sulphuretum Hydrargy- ri Rubrum. Ed. Red Sulphuret of Mercury. Bisulphuret of Mercury. Cinnabar. *' Take of Purified Mercury forty ounces; Sulphur eight ounces. Mix the Mercury with the Melted Sulphur over the fire; and, as soon as the mass begins to swell, remove the vessel from the fire, and cover it with con- siderable force, to prevent combustion; then rub the mass into powder, and sublime." U.S. The London College takes two pounds of mercury and five ounces of sulphur and treats them as in the U.S. process. " Take of Purified Mercury nineteen parts; Sublimed Sulphur three parts. Mix the Mercury with the Melted Sulphur; and if the mixture takes fire, extinguish the flame by covering the vessel. Reduce the mass to powder, and sublime it." Dub. The Edinburgh College has given no formula for this preparation, having included it in the list of the Materia Medica. PART II. Hydrargyrum. 937 a ™h2T "l. sulPhur'uwteLn heated t0Sether' unite with g^at energy, and of^er^V °b mei' Wh,Ch b7 sublimalion becom<* the red or bisulphuret is SI' a a °[d,f t0,render the combination more prompt, the sulphur whfiZt \ 3nd ^ add,t:°n °f the mercury should be ™** gradually, Sinhhp m? instantly stirred. Dr. Barker recommends the addU tion of the metal by straining it upon the melted sulphur through a linen eloth, whereby it falls in the form of a shower, in a minutely divided state When the temperature has arrived at a certain point, the combination takes place suddenly with a slight explosion, and with the inflammationof th w11 ,K.T f mU,St b6 extlnSuished b7 covering the vessel. A black mass ZJ5 ^ rT^' contua,mnS generally an excess of sulphur, which may hf.v? le uY gGntly h6ating the matter reduced t0 P°wder on a sand- bath After this treatment, it is in a better state for undergoing the sublima- tion directed by the Pharmacopoeias. The sublimation is belt performed on a small scale, m a loosely stopped glass matrass, which should be placed in a crucible containing sand, and, thus arranged, exposed to a red heat iAJ'f quantities f°r arming this sulphuret, are 32.2 of sulphur! ana zoz ol mercury. r /reparation on the Large Scale. Cinnabar is seldom or never prepared on a small scale, being made in large quantities for the purposes of the arts- ffica ifst asShCsCOhnt' *i 1S' PK6rhiapS'.?referably PlaCCd » the Ma^a SS dica list, as has been done by the Edinburgh College. In Holland, where lis principally manufactured, the sulphur is melted in a cast iron vessel and the mercury is added in a divided state, by causing it to pass through chamois leather. As soon as the combination has taVen plLe theTron vessel is surmounted by another, into which the cinnabar^subLed In proportion as the quantity of the materials employed in one operation is greater, will the product have a finer tint. It is also important in 5 e ma- nufacture to use the materials pure, and to drive off any uncombined Sul- phur which may exist in the mass, before submitting it to sublimation Properties *c. Red sulphuret of mercury is in the form of he?"; bril- liant, crystalline masses, of a deep red colour and fibrous texmre l[ is n. odorous and tasteless, and insoluble in water and alcohol. It is not acted on aiLrs^rrso,:bricoM ^™.™*>™ * «m™ old; solved i„ W^ S^two drachms, Oil of Spearmint three drops dis- Dub fan °Ume Oidounce] of Compound Tincture of Cardamom." ;n 7hlSAS 2" a.?reeable aromatic infusion, useful in allaying nausea and vomit- one or^oS: dVgible V1icle f0r ™Ple-* ™**ne.. The dosT is one or two tluidounces frequently repeated. \y pJ^&ft Boiling ?ist!tled Wate,r a r,int £Im' strain." Lond. ate lor lwo hours> ,n a lightly covered vessel, and The infusion of pareira brava is highly esteemed, by some English practi- tioners, as a remedy in irritation and chronic inflammation of the Srinarypas- PART II. lnfusa. ^ 94T sages, and has been found useful in catarrh of the bladder. The dose is one or two fluidounces. W. INFUSUM PRUNI VIRGINIANS. U.S. Infusion of Wild- cherry Bark. Take of Wild-cherry Bark, bruised; half an ounce; Water [cold] a pint. Macerate for twelve hours, and strain." U.S. This is a useful addition to the infusions first adopted as officinal in the for- mer edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. It is a peculiarly suitable object for officinal direction, as, in consequence of the volatile nature of one of its active ingredients, it is better prepared with cold water than in the ordinary mode. The period of maceration might with propriety be extended to twenty-four hours, or even longer in cold weather. The infusion, which is beautifully transparent, has the colour of Madeira wine, and the pleasant bitterness and peculiar flavour of the bark. The dose is two or three fluidounces three or four times a day, or more frequently when a strong impression is required. W. INFUSUM QUASSIA. U. S., Lond., Dub. Infusum Quassia Excelsa. Ed. Infusion of Quassia. " Take of Quassia, rasped, two drachms; Water [cold] a pint. Macerate for twelve hours, and strain." U.S. The London College takes two scruples of quassia sliced, and a pint [Im- perial measure] of boiling distilled water; the Dublin College, a scruple of quassia, and half a pint of boiling water; the Edinburgh College, half a drachm of quassia and eight ounces of boiling water; all macerate for two hours. The proportion of quassia directed in the British Pharmacopoeias is much too small. The London infusion contains the strength of only two grains of quassia in a fluidounce, the Dublin two grains and a half, and the Edinburgh three grains and three quarters in an ounce; while the dose of quassia in substance is from twenty grains to a drachm, and of the extract not less than five grains. We, therefore, prefer the proportions directed by our national Pharmacopoeia. Boiling water may be employed when it is desirable to ob- tain the preparation quickly; but cold water affords a clearer infusion. The dose is two fluidounces three or four times a day. W. INFUSUM RHEI. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Infusion of Rhu- barb. " Take of Rhubarb, sliced, a drachm; Boiling Water, half a pint. Mace- rate for two hours in a covered vessel, and strain." U.S., Dub. " Take of Rhubarb, sliced, three drachms; Boiling Distilled Water, a pint [Imperial measure]. Macerate for two hours, in a lightly covered ves- sel, and strain." Lond. "Take of Russian Rhubarb, bruised, half an ounce; Boiling Water eight ounces; Spirit of Cinnamon an ounce. Macerate the Rhubarb with the Water, in a close vessel, for twelve hours; then add the Spirit, and strain." Ed. In the latter process there is a great waste of a costly medicine, the Russian rhubarb commanding a very high price. We greatly prefer the first formula. In order, however, that the rhubarb may be exhausted, the maceration should be conducted near the fire at a temperature somewhat less than that of boiling water. It is customary to add some aromatic, such as cardamom, fennel-seed, or nutmeg, which improves the taste of the infusion, and renders it more 948 Infusa. part ii. acceptable to the stomach. One drachm of either of these spices may be digested in connexion with the rhubarb. This infusion may be given as a gentle laxative, in the dose of one or two fluidounces, every three or four hours, till it operates. It is occasionally used as a vehicle of tonic, antacid, or more active cathartic medicines. The stronger acids, and most metallic solutions, are incompatible with it. W. INFUSUM ROS/E COMPOSITUM. U.S., Lond. Infusum Rosa Gallica. Ed. Infusum Rosa Acidum. Dub. Compound Infusion of Roses. " Take of Red Roses [dried petals] half an ounce; Boiling Water, two pints and a half; Diluted Sulphuric Acid three fluidrachms; Sugar [refined] an ounce and a half. Pour the Water upon the Roses in a glass vessel; then add the Acid, and macerate for half an hour; lastly, strain the liquor and add the Sugar." U. S. The London College takes three drachms of dried red-roses, a fluidrachm and a half of diluted sulphuric acid, six drachms of sugar, and a pint [Im- perial measure] of boiling distilled water, and proceeds as above, except that it macerates for six hours instead of half an hour. The Dublin process corresponds with that of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, except that the petals are directed without their claws, and three pints of water are employed instead of two pints and a half. The Edinburgh Col- lege directs an ounce of the dried petals, two pounds and a half of boiling water, half an ounce of sulphuric acid, and an ounce of white sugar; mace- rates the petals with the water for four hours in an earthen vessel not glazed with lead; then adds the acid, and having strained the liquor, dissolves the sugar in it. The red roses serve little other purpose than to impart a fine red colour and a slight astringent flavour to the preparation, which owes its medicinal virtues almost exclusively to the sulphuric acid. It is refrigerant and astrin- gent, and affords a useful and not unpleasant drink in hemorrhages and colliquative sweats. It is much used by British practitioners as a vehicle for saline medicines; particularly sulphate of magnesia, the taste of which it serves to cover. It is also employed as a gargle, usually in connexion with acids, nitre, alum, or tincture of Cayenne pepper. The dose is from two to four fluidounces. W. INFUSUM SARSAPARILLA COMPOSITUM. Dub. Com- pound Infusion of Sarsaparilla. " Take of Sarsaparilla Root, previously cleansed with cold water and sliced, an ounce; Lime-water a pint. Macerate for twelve hours in a covered vessel, with occasional agitation, and strain." Dub. From the experiments of M. Soubeiran it appears, that, by maceration in cold water for twenty-four hours, the active principle of sarsaparilla is ex- tracted as effectually as by infusion in boiling water and digestion for two hours, and that in either case the infusion is stronger than the decoction; but the aqueous preparation which he found to possess most of the sensible properties of the root, was made by infusing in water the spirituous extract obtained according to the process of M. Beral. (See page 894.) In all his experiments, M. Soubeiran employed the same proportions of the root and of water. (Journ. de Pharm. xvi. 43.) A cold infusion of sarsaparilla may be considered an eligible preparation; but no advantage can result from the use of lime-water, as directed by the Dublin College. From two to four fluidounces of the infusion may be taken three times a day. W. PART II. lnfusa. 949 INFUSUM SCOPARII. Lond. Infusion of Broom. " Take of Broom an ounce; Boiling Distilled water a pint [Imperial measure]. Macerate for four hours, in a lightly covered vessel, and strain." Lond. Used occasionally as a diuretic and aperient in dropsy. The dose is from one to four fluidounces. W. INFUSUM SENNA. U.S. Infusum Senna Compositum. Lond., Dub. Infusum Cassia Senna. Ed. Infusion of Senna. " Take of Senna an ounce; Coriander [seed], bruised, a drachm; Boil- ing Water a pint. Macerate for an hour in a covered vessel, and strain." U. S. The London College orders fifteen drachms of senna, four scruples of sliced ginger, and a pint [Imperial measure] of boiling distilled water; the Edinburgh, six drachms of senna, a scruple of ginger, and nine ounces of boiling water; and the Dublin, an ounce of senna, a drachm of ginger, and a pint of boiling water; all macerate as above directed. We decidedly prefer the formula of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. The pro- portions of senna directed by the London and Edinburgh Colleges, are unnecessarily and wastefully large; and coriander is a better addition than ginger to an infusion very often giv.en in inflammatory affections. This infusion deposites, on exposure to the air, a yellowish precipitate, which is said to aggravate its griping tendency; it should, therefore, not be made in large quantities. Itis customary to connect with it manna and some one of the neutral salts, which both increase its efficacy and render it less painful in its operation. The following is a good formula for the preparation of senna tea. Take of senna half an ounce; sulphate of magnesia, manna, each, an ounce; fennel 6eed a drachm; boiling water half a pint. Macerate in a covered vessel till the liquid cools. One-third may be given for a dose, and repeated every four or five hours till it operates. The dose of the infusion of the U. S. Pharmacoposia is about four fluid- ounces. W. INFUSUM SENNA CUM TAMARINDIS. Dub. Infusum Senna Compositum. Ed. Infusion of Senna with Tamarinds. " Take of PreservedjTamarinds an ounce; Senna Leaves a drachm; Co- riander Seeds, bruised, a drachm; Brown Sugar half an ounce; Boiling Water eight ounces. Macerate for four hours, with occasional agitation, in a closed earthen vessel, not glazed with lead, and strain. "It may also be made with double, triple, &c, the quantity of senna." Ed. The process of the Dublin College corresponds closely with the above. In this infusion, the unpleasant taste of the senna is covered by the acidity of the tamarinds and sweetness of the sugar. Itis aperient and refrigerant, and is well adapted to febrile complaints when a laxative operation is desired. The dose is from two to four fluidounces. W. INFUSUM SERPENTARIA. U.S. Lond. Infusion of Vir- ginia Snakeroot. " Take of Virginia Snakeroot half an ounce; Boiling water a pint. Macerate for two hours in a covered vessel, and strain." U. S. The London College employs half an ounce of the root with a pint [Imperial measure] of boiling distilled water, and macerates for four hours. The proportion of serpentaria in this infusion, as directed in the first edi- tion of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, was twice as great as that now ordered; but it may be doubted whether the preparation was much stronger. A pint 81 950 Infusa. PART II. of water does not extract all the virtues of an ounce of the root, at least in the time specified by the Pharmacopoeia. The infusion, as at present di- rected, is quite strong enough. The dose is one or two fluidounces, repeat- ed every two hours in low forms of fever, but less frequently in chronic affections. W. INFUSUM SIMARUBA. Lond., Dub. Infusion of Sima- ruba: " Take of Simaruba [bark], bruised, three drachms; Boiling Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Macerate for two hours in a lightly co- vered vessel, and strain." Lond. The Dublin process differs only in the proportion of the ingredients, which is half a drachm of the bark to half a pint of boiling water. This preparation is little used in the United States. The dose is two fluidounces. W. INFUSUM SPIGELIA. U.S. Infusion of Pink-root. " Take of Pink-root half an ounce; Boiling Water a pint. Macerate for two hours in a covered vessel, and strain." U.S. The dose of this infusion for a child two or three years old, is from fouf fluidrachms to a fluidounce; for an adult, from four to eight fluidounces, re- peated morning and evening. A quantity of senna equal to that of the spi- gelia, is usually added in order to ensure a cathartic effect. W. INFUSUM TABACI. U.S., Dub. Enema Tabaci. Lond. Infu- sion of Tobacco. " Take of Tobacco a drachm; Boiling Water a pint. Macerate for an hour in a covered vessel, and strain." U.S., Dub. The London College takes a drachm of tobacco, and a pint (Imperial measure) of boiling distilled water, macerates for an hour, and strains. This is used only in the form of enema in strangulated hernia, obstinate colic, and retention of urine from spasm of the urethra. Only half of the pint should be employed at once; and if this should not produce relaxation in half an hour, the remainder may be injected, Fatal consequences have resulted from too free a use of tobacco in this way. W. INFUSUM ULMI. U.S. Infusion of Slippery Elm Bark. " Take of Slippery Elm Bark, sliced, an ounce; Boiling Water a pint. Macerate for twelve hours in a covered vessel, and strain." U.S. The period of maceration is unnecessarily long, unless cold water is em- ployed. This infusion may be used ad libitum, as a demulcent and nutri- tious drink in catarrhal and nephritic diseases, and in inflammatory affections of the intestinal mucous membrane. W. INFUSUM VALERIANA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Infusion of Valerian. " Take of Valerian half an ounce; Boiling Water a pint. Macerate for an hour in a covered vessel, and strain." U. S. The London College takes half an ounce of valerian, and a pint (Impe- rial measure) of boiling distilled water, macerates for half an hour in a lightly covered vessel, and strains. The Dublin College directs two drachms of valerian, in coarse powder, seven fluidounces of boiling water, digestion for an hour, and straining after the liquid has become cold. The dose of this infusion is two fluidounces, repeated three or four times a day, or more frequently. W^ PART II. Liniment a. 951 LINIMENTA. Liniments. These are preparations intended for external use, of such a consistence as to render them conveniently applicable to the skin by gentle friction with the hand. They are usually thicker than water, but thinner than the oint- ments; and are always liquid at the temperature of the body. LINIMENTUM AMMONIA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Oleum Ammoniatum. Ed. Liniment of Ammonia. " Take of Water of Ammonia half a fluidounce; Olive Oil two fluid- ounces. Mix them." U.S. The London College directs a fluidounce of " Solution of Ammonia" to two fluidounces of olive oil; the Edinburgh, one part of " Water of Ammonia" to eight parts of olive oil; the Dublin, two fluidrachms of " Water of Caustic Ammonia" to two fluidounces of the oil. The proportions of the alkali to the oil, directed by the several Pharma- copoeias, though very different, are not as much so in reality as they appear to be; the water of ammonia being strongest in those instances where the quantity is least. In our Pharmacopoeia, a mean proportion between the two extremes has been wisely adopted. In this preparation, the ammonia unites with the oil to form a soap, which is partly dissolved, partly suspend- ed in the water, producing a white opaque emulsion. This liniment is an excellent rubefacient, frequently employed in inflammatory affections of the throat, catarrhal and other pectoral complaints of children, and in rheumatic pains. It is applied by rubbing it gently upon the skin, or placing a piece of flannel saturated with it over the affected part. Should it occasion too much inflammation, as sometimes happens, it must be diluted with oil. W. LINIMENTUM AMMONIA SESQU1CARBONATIS. Lond. Liniment of Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia. "Take of Solution of Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia a fluidounce; Olive Oil three fluidounces. Shake them together until they unite." Lond. In this instance, as in the preceding, a kind of fluid soap is formed; but the union between the oil and alkali is less perfect, and after a short time the soapy matter separates from the water. The preparation is therefore less elegant; and as the end which it was probably intended to answer of affording a milder rubefacient, may be obtained by diluting the liniment of ammonia with olive oil, there seems to be no good reason for retaining it among the officinal remedies. W. LINIMENTUM CALCIS. U.S., Dub. Oleum Lini cum Calce, sive Linimentum Aqua Calcis. Ed. Liniment of Lime. " Take of Lime-water, Flaxseed Oil, each, a fluidounce. Mix them." U.S. The Edinburgh College directs equal parts of the same ingredients; the Dublin, three fluidounces of lime-water, and three fluidounces of olive oil. The lime forms a soap with the oil, of which there is a great excess, that separates upon standing. Olive oil, as directed by the Dublin College, is often substituted for that of flaxseed; but possesses no other advantage over it than that of having a less unpleasant odour. This is a very useful liniment in recent burns and scalds. It is sometimes called Carron oil, 952 Linimenta. PART II. from having been much employed at the iron works of that name in Scot- land, w. LINIMENTUM CAMPHORA. U.S., Lond. Oleum Campho- ratum. Ed., Dub. Camphor Liniment. " Take of Camphor half an ounce; Olive Oil two fluidounces. Dissolve the Camphor in the Oil." U.S., Lond. The London College directs an ounce of camphor to four fluidounces of olive oil; the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges direct one part of the former to eight of the latter. This is employed as an anodyne embrocation in sprains, bruises, rheu- matic or gouty affections of the joints, and other local pains. It is also sup- posed to have a discutient effect when rubbed upon glandular swellings. y "W. LINIMENTUM CAMPHORA COMPOSITUM. Lond., Dub. Compound Camphor Liniment. " Take of Camphor two ounces and a half; Solution of Ammonia seven fluidounces and a half; Spirit of Lavender a pint [Imperial mea- sure]. Mix the Solution of Ammonia with the Spirit; then, from a glass retort, with a slow fire, distil a pint; lastly, dissolve the Camphor in the distil- led liquor." Lond. The Dublin College takes two ounces of camphor, six fluidounces of solu- tion of ammonia, and a pint of spirit of lavender; and proceeds in the same manner. This preparation deserves a place rather among the Spirits or Tinctures than the Liniments. The distillation is an unnecessary refinement, as the ingredients may be immediately united; and the quantity of water contained in the solution of ammonia cannot materially diminish the efficacy of the liniment. Indeed, if prepared with the water of ammonia of the U.S. Pharma- copoeia, it would be too stimulant without dilution. It is used as a rubefa- cient and at the same time anodyne embrocation, in local pains, particularly of a rheumatic character. W. LINIMEx\TUM CANTHARIDIS. U.S. Liniment of Spanish Flies. "Take of Spanish Flies, in powder, an ounce; Oil of Turpentine half a pint. Digest for three hours in a water-bath, and strain." U.S. The oil of turpentine is an excellent solvent of the active principle of can- tharides, and when impregnated with it, acquires in addition to its own rube- facient properties, those of a powerful epispastic. In the first edition of the Pharmacopoeia, the directions were to simmer for three hours; but as the flies are injured by a heat above that of boiling water, the use of the water-bath is now ordered. This liniment was introduced into notice by Dr. Joseph Hartshorne of Philadelphia, who employed it with great advantage as an ex- ternal stimulant in the prostrate states of typhus fever. Caution, however, is necessary in its use, both to graduate its strength to the circumstances of the case, and not to apply it very extensively, lest it may produce severe and troublesome, if not dangerous vesication. (See Eclectic Repertory, vol. i. p. 94.) If too powerful in its undiluted state, it may be weakened by the addi- tion of olive or linseed oil. W. LINIMENTUM HYDRARGYRI COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Liniment of Mercury. " Take of Stronger Mercurial Ointment, Lard, each four ounces; Camphor PART II. Linimenta. 953 an ounce; Rectified Spirit a fluidrachm; Solution of Ammonia four fluid- ounces. Rub the Camphor first with the Spirit, then with the Lard and Mercurial Ointment; lastly, add gradually the Solution of Ammonia, and mix the whole." Lond. This is a stimulant liniment, employed for the discussion of chronic glan- dular swellings and venereal tumours, and to promote the absorption of col- lections of fluid. It is said to be more apt to salivate than mercurial oint- ment. One drachm of it is to be rubbed upon the affected part night and morning. W. LINIMENTUM SAPONIS CAMPHORATUM. U. S. Cam- phorated Soap Liniment. Opodeldoc. " Take of Common Soap three ounces; Camphor an ounce; Oil of Rose- mary, Oil of Origanum, each, a fluidrachm; Alcohol a pint. Dissolve the Camphor and Oils in the Alcohol; then add the Soap, and digest, by means of a sand-bath, till it is dissolved. This Liniment, when cold, is of the con- sistence of a soft ointment." U.S. This preparation is directed only by the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. It differs from the common soap liniment (Tinctura Saponis Camphorata) chiefly in being prepared with common white soap, made with animal fat, instead of Castile soap, which is made with olive oil. The latter will not coagulate upon cooling like the former, and is therefore unfit for the preparation of this liniment, which is intended to be in the solid state. It is customary, after the solution of the soap has been effected, to pour the liquor into small wide- mouthed glass bottles, containing about four fluidounces, in which it solidi- fies into a soft, semitransparent, uniform, yellowish-white mass. This lini- ment melts with the heat of the body, and therefore becomes liquid when rubbed upon the skin. It is much used, under the common name of opodeldoc, as an anodyne application in sprains, bruises, and rheumatic pains. W. LINIMENTUM SIMPLEX. Ed. Simple Liniment. " Take of Olive Oil four parts; White Wax one part. Melt the Wax in the Oil with a gentle heat, then stir the mixture well till it becomes stiff on cooling." Ed. This is little employed. It may be used for keeping the skin soft and smooth in cold weather. Off. Prep. Unguentum Oxidi Zinci, Ed.; Unguentum Oxidi Zinci Im- puri, Ed. W. LINIMENTUM TEREBINTHINA. U.S., Lond, Dub. Lini- ment of Turpentine. " Take Oil of Turpentine half a pint; Resin Cerate a pound. Add the Oil of Turpentine to the Cerate, previously melted, and mix them." U.S., Dub. «* Take of Soft Soap two ounces; Camphor an ounce; Oil of Turpentine sixteen fluidounces. Shake them together until they are mixed." Lond. This preparation, made according to the U.S. and Dublin formulae, is the liniment originally proposed by Dr. Kentish, and subsequently so highly lauded as a remedy in burns and scalds. It should be applied as soon after the occurrence of the accident as possible, and should be discontinued when the peculiar inflammation excited by the fire is removed. The best mode of ap- plication is to cover the burned or scalded surface with pledgets of patent lint saturated with the liniment. It should not be allowed to come in contact with the sound parts. The linimgnt of the London College, which has been substituted, in the last edition of their Pharmacopoeia, for the mixture of 81* 954 Magnesia. PART II. resin cerate and oil of turpentine, directed in the former edition, is a stimu- lating mixture, applicable wherever a powerful rubefacient impression is desired. , **• MAGNESIA. Preparations of Magnesia. MAGNESIA. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Magnesia. " Take of Carbonate of Magnesia any quantity. Put it into an earthen vessel, and expose it to a red heat for two hours, or till the addition of Vine- gar produces no effervescence." U.S. " Take of Carbonate of Magnesia/owr ounces. Burn it for two hours in a strong fire." Lond. "Let Carbonate of Magnesia be exposed, in a crucible, to a red heat for two hours; then let ii be kept in well-stopped vessels." Ed. " Take of Carbonate of Magnesia any quantity. Put it into a crucible, and subject it to a strong heat for two hours. When the Magnesia has be- come cool, preserve it in a glass vessel." Dub. By exposure to a red heat, the water and carbonic acid of the carbonate of magnesia are expelled, and the earth is obtained pure. According to Dr. Black, the carbonate loses seven-twelfths of its weight by calcination. Brande says that the loss varies from 50 to 60 per cent, of which from 15 to 20 per cent, is water. About the close of the process the earth exhibits a luminous or phosphorescent appearance, which is said to be a good criterion of its freedom from carbonic acid. (Duncan.) A more certain indication, however, is the absence of effervescence when muriatic acid is added to a little of the magne- sia, previously mixed with water. It is an error to suppose that a very in- tense heat is requisite in the calcination. The temperature of ignition is suffi- cient for the expulsion of the water and carbonic acid, and any increase serves only to render the magnesia harder, denser, less readily soluble in acids, and consequently less useful as a medicine. In order to ensure a pure product, care should be taken that the carbonate employed be free from lime. It should be rubbed to powder before being introduced into the pot or crucible; and as in consequence of its levity it occupies a very large space, the plan has been proposed of moistening and compressing it in order to reduce its bulk. The magnesia may thus be obtained of greater density; but this is an equivocal recommendation; and the French pharmaceutical writers direct, that the ves- sels employed should be sufficiently large to contain a considerable quantity of the carbonate, without the necessity of resorting to compression. The officinal direction, to keep the magnesia, after it has been prepared, in well stopped glass vessels, is founded on the fact that it absorbs carbonic acid and water from the air; but the absorption goes on slowly, and the caution is often neglected in the shops. Its great bulk renders its introduction into small bottles inconvenient. A four ounce bottle holds only about an ounce of the purest and finest magnesia. But its specific gravity is greatly increased by trituration; and four times the quantity may be thus got into the same space. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. 198.) The density of Henry's mag- nesia, which is at least four times that of the earth prepared in the ordinary way, has been ascribed to this cause. It has also been attributed to the influ- ence of intense heat employed in the calcination; and both causes may contri- PART II. Magnesia. 955 bute to it. The conjecture has even been advanced, that this magnesia, which has enjoyed so great a popularity in England and this country, is prepared by precipitating a solution of sulphate of magnesia by caustic potassa, as the earth afforded by this plan is comparatively dense. It is difficult to find any reasonable ground for the preference given to Henry's magnesia. If its den- sity be owing to the employment of an intense heat in the calcination, it is rather an objection than otherwise, as its solubility in acids is thus diminished. In France the earth is esteemed in proportion to its levity. It is asserted that the magnesia, prepared from the carbonate procured by precipitating the sul- phate of magnesia with carbonate of soda, is softer to the touch, and bears a closer resemblance to Henry's than that prepared from the ordinary carbonate. The fact is explained by the presence in common magnesia of a little sulphate of potassa, from which it is difficult entirely to free it in consequence of the sparing solubility of this salt, and of a portion of silica which originally ex- isted in the carbonate of potassa employed to decompose the sulphate of mag- nesia, and of which the carbonate of soda is destitute. Properties, S/-C. Pure magnesia is in the state of a very light, white, in- odorous powder, of a feeble alkaline taste. Its sp. gr. is commonly stated at 2.3. It was deemed infusible, till melted by means of the compound blowpipe of Dr. Hare. Water sprinkled upon it is absorbed to the extent of about 18 per cent., but with scarcely any increase of temperature. It is almost insoluble, requiring, according to Dr. Fyfe, 5142 parts of water at 60°, and 36,000 parts of boiling water for solution. Water thus impreg- nated has no effect on vegetable colours, but magnesia itself produces a brown stain by contact with moistened turmeric paper. Magnesia is a metallic oxide, consisting of one equivalent of magnesium 12.7, and one of oxygen 8=20.7. Magnesium is a white, very brilliant metal, resembling silver, malleable, fusible at a low temperature, and converti- ble into magnesia by the combined action of air and moisture. There is a hydrate of magnesia, consisting of one equiv. of the earth and one of water. Lime is the most common impurity in the magnesia of the shops, to which it imparts a more strongly alkaline and more disagreeable taste. It may be detected by the precipitate which it affords, when oxalate of ammonia is ad- ded to a neutral solution of the magnesia in a diluted acid. Magnesia forms with nitric and muriatic acids, salts which are soluble in alcohol and very deliquescent. It is precipitated from its saline solutions by the pure alkalies in the state of a hydrate, and by the carbonates of po- tassa and soda as a carbonate; but it is not precipitated by the alkaline bicar- bonates nor by common carbonate of ammonia. Medical Properties and Uses. Magnesia is antacid and laxative; and is much employed, under the name of calcined magnesia, in dyspepsia, sick headach, gout, and other complaints attended with sour stomach and con- stipation. It is also a favourite remedy in the complaints of children, in which acidity of the primae via; is often a prominent symptom. Its anta- cid properties render it very useful in gravel attended with an excessive secretion of uric acid. Its advantages over carbonate of magnesia are that it may be given in a smaller dose, and does not occasion flatulence. The dose as a laxative is from thirty grains to a drachm, as an antacid merely, or antilithic, from ten to thirty grains twice a day. When it meets with no acid, it is apt to linger in the stomach or bowels, and should in this case be followed by lemonade. It should be administered in water or milk, and should be thoroughly triturated so as to render the mixture uniform. ^ • 956 Magnesia.—Mellita. part ii. MAGNESIA SULPHAS PURUM. Dub. Pure Sulphate of Magnesia. "Take of Commercial Sulphuric Acid twenty-five parts; Water one hundred parts; Carbonate of Magnesia twenty-four parts, or as much as may be sufficient to saturate the Acid. Mix the Sulphuric Acid and Water, and then gradually add the Carbonate of Magnesia. Lastly, evaporate the filtered liquor, so lhat crystals may form when it cools." Dub. The sulphate of magnesia prepared in the large way is sufficiently pure for medical purposes; and the above process, therefore, is superfluous. W. MELLITA. Preparations of Honey. Honey is used in pharmacy only as the vehicle of more active medi- cines. It is said lo have this advantage over syrup, that its preparations are less apt to become candied; but as it contains principles which disagree with the stomachs of many persons, and as its variable consistence prevents the same exact precision in regard to proportion as is attainable with a solu- tion of pure sugar, it is at present little employed. The preparations in which honey and vinegar are combined, are called Oxymels. Medicated honeys are of a proper consistence, if, when a small quantity, allowed to cool upon a plate, is divided by the edge of a spoon, the portions do not readily coalesce. A more accurate criterion, however, is their spe- cific gravity, which should be 1.319 (35° B.) at ordinary temperatures, and 1.261 (30°B.) at the boiling point of water. W. MEL DESPUMATUM. U.S., Ed., Dub. Clarified Honey. " Take of Honey any quantity. Melt it by means of a water-bath, and then remove the scum." U.S., Ed., Dub. Honey by the heat of the water-bath becomes so fluid, that the wax and Other lighter impurities which it contains rise to the surface, and may be skimmed off; while the heavier substances which may have been ac- cidentally or fraudulendy added, such as sand or other earth, sink to the bottom. The following method of clarifying honey is commonly practised in France. Take of white honey 3000 parts; water 750 parts; carbonate of lime, powdered and washed, 96 parts. Mix them in a suitable vessel, and boil for three minutes, stirring constantly. Then add 96 parts of animal charcoal previously washed, heated to redness, powdered, and sifted, and boil for a few minutes. Lastly, add the whites of two eggs beat up with 500 parts of water, and bring the liquid to the boiling point. Withdraw the vessel from the fire, and after the mixture has cooled for fifteen minutes, strain it through flannel, and repeat the straining till the liquid passes per- fectly clear. Should it not have the proper consistence, it should be con- centrated sufficiently by a quick boiling. The following process for clarifying common honey was proposed by M. Borde, and approved by the Society of Pharmacy at Paris. Take of com- mon honey 5000 parts; vegetable charcoal, in powder, 320 parts; animal charcoal, in powder, 160 parts; nitric acid of 30° or 32° Baume 40 parts; water 320 parts. Rub the two kinds of charcoal in a porcelain mortar, with the water and acid; then add the honey, and put the whole into a tinned pan. Place the vessel over the fire, and allow it to remain for eight or ten minutes without suffering it to boil; then add 1600 parts of milk in part n. Mellita. 957 which the white of an egg has been beaten, and boil for four or five minutes. Remove the liquid from the fire, and pass it through a strainer in a warm place, repeating the straining if the first portions are not clear. Of the nitric acid employed in the process, a portion is saturated by the lime of the ani- mal charcoal, and the remainder unites with the caseous matter of the milk, which it thus causes to coagulate; none remains in ihe honey. (Diet, des Drogues.) Honey clarified by these processes is as clear and colourless as syrup made with sugar, but still retains a peculiar flavour. It is less disposed to ferment than crude honey, and is said not to be so liable to produce griping pain when swallowed. Off. Prep. Conserva Rutae, Dub.; Mel Boracis, Ed., Dub.; Mel Rosae, Ed., Dub.; Mel Scillae Compositum, U.S.; Oxymel, Ed., Dub.; Oxymel Colchici, Dub.; Oxymel Scillae, U.S., Dub. W. MEL BORACIS. Lond., Dub. Mel Sub-Boratis Soda. Ed. Honey of Borax. " Take of Borax [Borate of Soda, Dub.] in powder, a drachm; Honey [Clarified Honey, Dub.] an ounce. Mix them." Lond., Dub. " Take of Sub-Borate of Soda, in powder one part; Clarified Honey eight parts. Mix them." Ed. This preparation might well be left to extemporaneous prescription. It is used in aphthous ulcerations of the mouth. W. MEL ROSA. Lond., Dub. Mel Rosa Gallica, Ed. Honey of Roses. "Take of Red Roses, dried,four ounces; Boiling Water two pints and a half [Imperial measure]; Honey five pounds. Macerate the Petals of the Rose in the Water for six hours, and strain; then add the Honey, and by means of a water-bath, boil the liquor down to the proper consistence." Lond. The Edinburgh College directs an ounce of the red rose leaves* dried, a pound of boiling water, and sixteen ounces of clarified honey; and proceeds as above, without using the water-bath. The Dublin College employs the same proportions with the London, but uses unclarified honey, and directs that the scum which rises during the boiling should be removed. We prefer the process of the London College. The preparation has the flavour of the rose with its slight astringency, and forms a pleasant addition to the gargles employed in inflammation and ulceration of the mouth and throat. W. MEL SCILLA COMPOSITUM. U.S. Compound Honey of Squill. Hive-Syrup. " Take of Squill bruised, Seneka bruised, each, four ounces; Tartrate of Antimony and Potassa forty-eight grains; Clarified Honey two pounds; Distilled Water/our pints. Pour the Distilled Water upon the Squill and Seneka, and boil to one half; strain, and add the Clarified Honey; then boil down to three pints, in which dissolve the Tartrate of Antimony and Po- tassa." U. S. This is the preparation commonly known by the name of Coxe's Hive Syrup. The degree of evaporation directed by the Pharmacopoeia is insuf- ficient, and it has been found that the resulting preparation invariably fer- ments. It measures only 201° Baume, a degree of concentration which is by no means sufficient for syrups, and still less so for the preparations of honey. If boiled down to two pints instead of three, it will have a suitable consistence, measuring 30° Baume, and will be found to keep much better. 958 Mcllila, part ii. In this case, in order to preserve the due proportion of tartar emetic, only thirty-two grains should be added. The compound honey of squill combines the virtues of seneka, squilli and tartar emetic, of the last of which it contains one grain in every fluid- ounce. It is emetic, diaphoretic, expectorant, and frequently cathartic; and may be given with advantage in mild cases of croup, in the latter stages of severe cases when the object is to promote expectoration, and in other pec- toral affections in which the same indication is presented. As an emetic in inflammatory croup and infantile catarrh, we decidedly prefer a simple solu- tion of tartar emetic in water. The dose of the compound honey of squill is for children from ten drops to a fluidrachm, according to the age, and should be repeated in cases of croup every fifteen or twenty minutes till it operates. As an expectorant for adults the dose is twenty or thirty drops. w- OXYMEL. Lond., Ed., Dub. Oxymel. " Take of Honey ten pounds; Acetic Acid a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Mix the Acid with the Honey previously heated." Lond. The Edinburgh College orders three parts of clarified honey, and two parts of distilled vinegar, and directs them to be boiled, in a glass vessel, with a gentle fire, to the proper consistence. The Dublin College takes two pounds of crude honey, and a pint of distilled vinegar; and boils them to the consistence of syrup, removing the scum as it rises. This mixture of honey and vinegar forms a pleasant addition to gargles, and is sometimes used as a vehicle of expectorant medicines, and to impart flavour to drinks in febrile complaints. If it be prepared according to the London formula, care must be taken to employ the acetic acid of the strength directed by that college. W. OXYMEL COLCHICI. Dub. Oxymel of Meadow Saffron. " Take of the fresh Bulb of Meadow Saffron, cut into thin slices, an ounce; Distilled Vinegar a pint; Clarified Honey two pounds. Macerate the Meadow Saffron with the Vinegar, in a glass vessel, for forty-eight hours. Strain the liquor, with strong expression, from the Bulb, and add the Honey. Lastly, boil the mixture, frequently stirring it with a spatula, to the consis- tence of a syrup." Dub. This preparation is seldom used in this country, and could not indeed be conveniently prepared, according to the above directions, as we have not the fresh bulbs. It is in no respect superior to the wine of colchicum, by which it has been superseded. The dose is a fluidrachm, repeated twice a day, and gradually increased till it produces the desired effect. W. OXYMEL CUPRI SUBACETATIS. Dub. Linimentum Aru- ginis. Lond. Oxymel of Subacetate of Copper. " Take of Verdigris, in powder, [Prepared Subacetate of Copper, Dub.] an ounce; Vinegar [Distilled Vinegar, Dub.] seven fluidounces; Honey [Clarified Honey, Dub.] fourteen ounces. Dissolve the Verdigris in the Vinegar, and strain the solution through linen; then gradually add the Honey, d boil down to a proper consistence." Lond., Dub. This is an external stimulant and escharotic, and was formerly called met .Egyptiacum. It is employed either undiluted or mixed with some mild ointment, to destroy fungous granulations, or to repress their growth. In the latter state, it is a useful stimulant to flabby, indolent, and ill conditioned ulcers; and largely diluted with water has been used as a gargle in venereal ulcerations of the mouth and throat. W. PART II- Mellita.—Misturse. 959 OXYMEL'SCILLA. U. S., Lond., Dub. Oxymel of Squill. " Take of Clarified Honey three pounds; Vinegar of Squill two pints. Boil them in a glass vessel, by means of a water-bath, to a proper consist- ence." U.S. The London College takes three pounds of honey and a pint and a half (Imperial measure) of vinegar of squill; the Dublin, three pounds of clari- fied honey and two pints of vinegar of squill; both boil in a glass vessel, with a slow fire, to the proper consistence. This preparation has the virtues of squill, but is not superior in any re- spect to the syrup, while it is of a less definite strength, in consequence of the want of precision in the degree of evaporation. Prepared according to the directions of the London and Dublin colleges, it would be very liable to be injured by heat. It is chiefly used as an expectorant in chronic ca- tarrh, humoral asthma, hooping cough, and generally in those states of the pulmonary organs in which the bronchial tubes are loaded with a viscid mucus of difficult expectoration. The dose is from one to two fluidrachms. In large doses it is emetic, and as such may sometimes be given with advantage in infantile croup and catarrh. W. MISTURSE. Mixtures. This term should be restricted, in the language of pharmacy, to those prepa- rations in which insoluble substances, whether solid or liquid, are suspended in watery fluids by the intervention of gum Arabic, sugar, the yolk of eggs, or other viscid matter. When the suspended substance is of an oleaginous nature, the mixture is sometimes called an emulsion. The object of these preparations is usually to facilitate the administration, to conceal the taste, or to obviate the nauseating effects of unpleasant medicines; and their per- fection depends upon the intimacy with which the ingredients are blended. Some skill and care are requisite to the production of a uniform and perfect mixture. As a general rule, the body to be suspended should be thoroughly mixed by trituration with the substance intended to act as the intermedium, before the watery vehicle is added. In the case of the liquid balsams and oils, if gum Arabic be employed as the intermedium, it should be previously brought to the state of mucilage of the consistence directedin the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. The white of eggs is frequently ordered by physicians as the suspending substance, but it is inferior for this purpose to the yolk, or to gum Arabic. When the white is used it should be previously well beaten, and incorporated with the oleaginous or balsamic substance before the water is added.* Mixtures are generally the objects of extemporaneous prescrip- tion; but a few have been deemed of sufficient importance to merit a place in the Pharmacopoeias. They should be prepared only when wanted for use. MISTURA AMMONIACI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Ammoniac Mix- ture. " Take of Ammoniac two drachms; Water half a pint. Rub the Am- * For some good practical observations upon the preparation of mixtures, the reader is referred to a communication published in the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, vol. iv. p. 11, by W. Hodgson, Jun. 960 Misturae. PART II. moniac with the water gradually added, until they are thoroughly mixed." U S. The London College takes five drachms of ammoniac, and a pint [Impe- rial measure] of water, and proceeds as above. The Dublin College directs a drachm of ammoniac to be rubbed with eight fluidounces of pennyroyal water; and the mixture to be strained through linen. In this mixture the insoluble part of the ammoniac is suspended by means of the gum, imparting a milky appearance to the preparation, which, from this circumstance, was formerly called lac ammoniaci. The greater portion of the resin subsides upon standing. The mixture is slightly curdled by acids. The dose is from one to two tablespoonfuls. W. MISTURA AMYGDALA. U.S. Lond. Emulsio Acacia Arabica. Ed. Emulsio Arabica. Dub. Almond Mixture. " Take of Almond Confection an ounce; Distilled Water half a pint. Rub the Confection with the Water gradually added, until they are thoroughly mixed; then strain." U.S. The London College directs two ounces and a half of almond confection, and a pint [Imperial measure] of distilled water, and proceeds as above. " Take of mucilage of Gum Arabic two ounces; Almonds an ounce; Refined sugar half an ounce; Water two pounds and a half. Blanch the almonds by steeping them in hot water and peeling them; then beat them diligently in a stone mortar, first with the sugar, and afterwards with the Mucilage, gradually adding the Water; lastly, strain through linen." Ed. " Take of Gum Arabic, in powder, two drachms; Sweet Almonds, blanch- ed, Refined Sugar, each, half an ounce; Water a pint. Dissolve the Gum in the heated water, and when the solution is almost cold, gradually pour it upon the Almonds, previously well beaten with the sugar, triturating at the same time so as to form an emulsion; then strain." Dub. See the following article for observations on this preparation. EMULSIO AMYGDALI COMMUNIS. Ed. Mistura Amyg- dalarum. Dub. Almond Emulsion. " Take of Sweet Almonds an ounce; Refined Sugar half an ounce; Water two pounds and a half. Blanch the almonds by steeping them for a short time in hot water, and peeling them; then beat them diligently with the Sugar in a stone mortar, gradually adding the Water; and strain the liquor." Ed. " Take of Sweet Almonds, blanched, an ounce and a half; Bitter Al- monds two scruples; Refined Sugar half an ounce; Water two pints and a half. Triturate the Almonds with the Sugar, adding the water by degrees, and strain." Dub. As the almond mixture of the U. S. and London Pharmacopoeias is pre- pared from the almond confection, which contains gum Arabic, it arranges itself with the Arabic emulsion of the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges; while the almond emulsion of the Edinburgh College, and the almond mixture of the Dublin, containing no gum Arabic, properly come together. All the pre- ceding preparations, however, may be considered as identical in properties; for the gum Arabic is, like almonds, merely demulcent; and the proportion of bitter almonds in the mixture of the Dublin College is too small to pro- duce any sensible effect on the system. The oleaginous matter of the almonds is suspended, by means of their albumen and gum, in the water, forming a milky emulsion. When the almonds themselves are employed, as in the Edinburgh and Dublin pro- PART II. Misturte. 961 cesses, care should be taken to reduce them to the consistence of a paste previously to the addition of the water; and with each successive portion of fluid a uniform mixture should be formed, before another portion is added. The use of the confection, as directed in the U.S. and London Pharmaco- poeias, very much facilitates the process. Common water, when not very impure, may be properly substituted for the distilled. Great care should be taken to select the almonds perfectly free from rancidity. The mixture is not permanent. Upon standing, the oil rises like thick cream to the surface, and the separation is effected more quickly by heat, alcohol, and the acids, which coagulate the albumen. The preparation, in warm weather, soon becomes sour, and unfit for use. The almond mixture has a bland taste, and may be used as a pleasant demulcent in catarrhal and dysenteric affections, and irritation or inflamma- tion of the urinary passages. To be of any service it must be freely em- ployed. From two to eight fluidounces may be taken at once. It is occa- sionally employed as the vehicle of less pleasant medicines; but should not be used in connexion with any considerable quantity of tinctures, acidulous salts, or other substances containing an excess of acid. A preparation from almonds much employed in Europe, and sometimes in this country, is the syrup of orgeat, which is directed to be made in the following manner in the French Codex of 1837. " Take of sweet almonds 500 parts; bitter almonds 160 parts; refined sugar 3000 parts; river water 1625 parts; orange-flower water 250 parts. Deprive the almonds of their skin and reduce them to a very fine paste in a mortar, adding, during the operation, 125 parts of the water and 500 parts of the sugar prescribed; dilute the paste carefully with the remainder of the water; strain with strong expression; add to the emulsion the remainder of the sugar, and cause it to be dissolved, by means of a salt bath, with a very gentle heat; when the sugar is dissolved add the orange-flower water; strain the syrup, with ex- pression, through fine linen, and allow it to cool in a covered vessel; then enclose it in bottles well dried, which should be closely stopped, and kept inverted in the cellar." W. MISTURA ASSAFOZTIDA. U.S., Lond. Mistura Assafoe- tida. Dub. Assafetida Mixture. " Take of Assafetida two drachms; Water half a pint. Rub the Assa- fetida with the Water gradually added, until they are thoroughly mixed." U.S. The London College directs five drachms of assafetida and a pint [Impe- rial measure] of water; the Dublin College, one drachm of assafetida and eight fluidounces of pennyroyal water. This mixture, from its whiteness and opacity, is frequently called lac assafcetidse, or milk of assafetida. It is, as a general rule, the best form for the administration of this antispasmodic, being less stimulant than the tinc- ture, and more prompt in its action than the pill. Its excessively disagree- able smell and taste are, however, objections, which induce a frequent pre- ference of the last mentioned preparation. It is very often employed as an enema. The dose is from one to two tablespoon/uls, frequently repeated. From two to four fluidounces may be given by the rectum. W. MISTURA CALCIS CARBONATIS. U.S. Mistura Creta. Lond., Dub. Potio Carbonatis Calcis. Ed. Mixture of Carbo- nate of Lime. Chalk Mixture. " Take of Prepared Carbonate of Lime [prepared chalk] half an ounce; Sugar [refined], Gum Arabic in powder, each, two drachms; Cinnamoa 82 962 Misturse. PART II. Water, Water, each, four fluidounces. Rub them together till they are mixed." U.S. The London College orders half an ounce of prepared chalk, three drachms of sugar, a fluidounce and a half of mixture [mucilage] of gum Arabic, and eighteen fluidounces of cinnamon water; the Dublin College, half an ounce of prepared chalk, three drachms of refined sugar, an ounce of mucilage of gum Arabic, and a pint of water. The Edinburgh College takes an ounce of prepared carbonate of lime, half an ounce of refined sugar, and two ounces of mucilage of gum Arabic; and having rubbed them together, adds gradually two pounds and a half of water, and two ounces of spirit of cinnamon. This mixture is a convenient form for administering chalk, and is much employed in looseness of the bowels accompanied with acidity. Laudanum and kino or catechu are very often added to increase its astringency. The dose is a tablespoonful frequently repeated. W. MISTURA CAMPHORA CUM MAGNESIA. Dub. Mixture of Camphor with Magnesia. " Take of Camphor twelve grains; Carbonate of Magnesia half a drachm; Water six ounces [fluidounces]. Triturate the Camphor with the Magnesia, adding the Water gradually, and mix." Dub. This differs from the Aqua Camphorae of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, in which, though the camphor is dissolved by the intervention of magnesia, the latter is afterwards separated by filtration. In the above mixture the carbo- nate of magnesia is retained; and an anodyne, antacid, and laxative draught is formed, which, though it may sometimes be given with advantage, hardly deserves a place among the officinal preparations. W. MISTURA CASCARILLA COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Mixture of Cascarilla. " Take of Infusion of Cascarilla seventeen fluidounces; Vinegar of Squill a fluidounce; Compound Tincture of Camphor two fluidounces. Mix them." Lond. This mixture combines tonic, expectorant, and anodyne properties, and is said to have been employed advantageously in chronic bronchial inflamma- tion; but it would have been better left to extemporaneous prescription. The dose.is from one to two fluidounces twice or thrice daily. W. MISTURA FERRI AROMATICA. Dub. Aromatic Mixture of Iron. " Take of Crown Bark, in coarse powder, an ounce; Columbo Root, sliced, three drachms; Cloves, bruised, two drachms; Iron Filings half an ounce. Digest for three days in a close vessel, with occasional agitation, with such a quantity of Peppermint Water as will yield a mixture of twelve ounces after filtration; then add, of Compound Tincture of Cardamom three ounces; Tincture of Orange Peel three drachms." Dub. This is an aromatic infusion of Peruvian bark and columbo, and has not the slightest claim to the title given it in the Pharmacopoeia, as it contains but a very small proportion of iron, and that in a state of solution, not of mixture. In consequence of the action of some of the vegetable principles upon the filings, enough of the metal is taken up to impart a greenish-black colour to the liquor; but the quantity is not appreciable, as the filings seem to be scarce- ly diminished by the process. The preparation may be given as a tonic in the dose of one or two fluidounces. W. PART II. Misturse. 963 MISTURA FERRI COMPOSITA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Com- pound Mixture of Iron. " Take of Myrrh, in powder, a drachm; Carbonate of Potassa, twenty-five grains; Rose Water half a pint; Sulphate of Iron, in powder, a scruple; Spirit of Lavender half a fluidounce; Sugar [refined] a drachm. Rub to- gether the Myrrh, Carbonate of Potassa, and Sugar, and during the trituration, add gradually, first the Rose Water and Spirit of Lavender, and lastly the Sulphate of Iron. Pour the mixture immediately into a glass battle, which is to be well stopped." U.S. ".Take of Myrrh, in powder, two drachms; Carbonate of Potassa a drachm; Rose Water eighteen fluidounces [Imperial measure]; Sulphate of Iron, in powder, two scruples and a half; Spirit of Nutmeg a fluidounce; Sugar two drachms. Rub the Myrrh with the Spirit of Nutmeg and Carbo- nate of Potassa; and to these, while rubbing, add first the Rose Water with the Sugar, and then the Sulphate of Iron. Put the mixture immediately into a suitable glass vessel, and stop it." Lond. The Dublin College takes a drachm of myrrh, twenty-five grains of car- bonate of potassa, seven ounces and a half of rose-water, a scruple of sulphate of iron, half an ounce of spirit of nutmeg, and a drachm of refined sugar; and proceeds as directed by the London College. This is very nearly the same with the celebrated tonic or antihectic myrrh mixture of Dr. Griffith. The sulphate of iron is decomposed by the carbonate of potassa, with the production of sulphate of potassa and protocarbonate of iron; while the excess of the alkaline carbonate forms a saponaceous compound with the myrrh. The mixture is at first of a greenish colour, which it loses upon exposure to the air, in consequence of the conversion of the protoxide of iron of the protocarbonate into the red or sesquioxide. It may, however, be kept for some time without change, if the vessel in which it is contained be well closed; but the best plan is to prepare it only when it is wanted for use. The finest pieces of myrrh in lump should be selected, and rubbed down for the occasion with a little of the rose water, as the powdered myrrh of the shops is often impure, and does not make a good mixture. It is a good tonic in debility of the digestive organs, especially when at- tended with derangement of the menstrual function. Hence it is used with advantage in chlorosis and hysterical affections. Itis also much employed in the hectic fever of phthisis and chronic catarrh. It is contra-indicated by the existence of inflammation of the gastric mucous membrane. The dose is one or two fluidounces two or three times a day. W. MISTURA GENTIANA COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Mixture of Gentian. " Take of Compound Infusion of Gentian twelve fluidounces; Compound Infusion of Senna six fluidounces; Compound Tincture of Cardamom two fluidounces. Mix them." Lond. We can discover no propriety in making such formulae as the above offici- nal. Numerous combinations prescribed every day by physicians are quite as much entitled to a place in the Pharmacopoeia. The dose is one or two fluidounces. W. MISTURA GUAIACI. Lond. Mixture of Guaiac. li Take of Guaiacum Resin three drachms; Sugar half an ounce; Mixture of Gum Arabic half a fluidounce; Cinnamon Water nineteen fluidounces. Rub the Guaiac with the Sugar, then with the mixture of Gum Arabic, and to these, while rubbing, add gradually the Cinnamon Water." Lond. 964 Misturx.—Morphia. PART II. From one to three tablespoonfuls of this mixture may be given for a dose, and repeated two or three times a day, or more frequently. W. MISTURA MOSCHI. Lond. Musk Mixture. "Take of Musk, Gum Arabic in powder, Sugar, each, three drachms; Rose Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Rub the Musk with the Sugar, then with the Gum, adding gradually the Rose Water." Lond. The musk should be thoroughly rubbed with the gum and sugar before the addition of the water. The mixture will be more permanent if made with twice the quantity of gum directed. The dose is a fluidounce. W. MISTURA SPIRITUS VINI GALLICI. Lond. Brandy Mix- ture. " Take of Brandy, Cinnamon Water, each four fluidounces; the yolks of two Eggs; Sugar [refined] half an ounce; Oil of Cinnamon two minims. Mix them." Lond. A stimulant and nutritive draught, applicable to the sinking stage of low forms of fever, but scarcely entitled to a place in the Pharmacopoeia. W. MORPHIA. Preparations of Morphia. MORPHIA. U.S., Lond. Morphia. " Take of Opium, sliced, a pound; Distilled Water, six pints; Alcohol a gallon; Water of Ammonia, six fluidounces. Macerate the Opium with four pints of the Distilled Water, in a glass vessel, for six days, frequently stirring; then filter through paper. Wash the residue with the remainder of the Water, and filter as before. Mix the filtered liquors, and add first five pints of the Alcohol, and afterwards three fluidounces of the Water of Am- monia, previously mixed with half a pint of the Alcohol. After twenty-four hours, pour in the rest of the Water of Ammonia, mixed, as before, with half a pint of the Alcohol, and set the liquor aside for a day, that crystals may form. To purify these, boil them with the remainder of the Alcohol till they are dissolved, filter the solution while hot, and set it aside to crystallize." U.S. " Take of Hydrochlorate [muriate] of Morphia an ounce; Solution of Am- monia five fluidrachms; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. To the Solution of Ammonia, with an ounce of Distilled Water, add the Hydrochlo- rate of Morphia previously dissolved in a pint of Water, shaking them toge- ther. Wash the precipitate with distilled water, and dry it with a gentle heat." Lond. The London process consists in a simple decomposition of the muriate of morphia by means of ammonia, which takes the muriatic acid and remains in solution as muriate of ammonia, while the morphia, being insoluble, is de- posited. The process of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia will be better understood by a previous acquaintance with the properties and chemical relations of the substance in question. Morphia crystallizes in the form of small, colourless, shiningcrystals, which contain two equivalents of water, or about5.87 percent. It is inodorous and bitter. Exposed to a moderate heat it loses the crystalline form, becoming white and opaque. At a higher temperature it melts, forming a yellowish liquid, which becomes white and crystalline upon cooling. Heated in the PART II. Morphia. 965 open air it burns with a bright flame. It is insoluble in cold water, soluble in rather less than 100 parts of water at 212°, slightly soluble in cold alcohol, and freely so in boiling alcohol, which deposites it upon cooling. Itis dis- solved also by the fixed and volatile oils, but very slightly if at all by ether. Its solution restores the blue colour of litmus paper reddened by acids, and turns the yellow of turmeric to brown. With the acids it forms salts, which are generally soluble, and are decomposed by the alkalies. The solutions of potassa and soda are also capable of dissolving morphia, which is precipitated slowly on exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carbonic acid. Aqua ammoniae has to a certain extent the same solvent power; and hence the necessity, in precipitating morphia by this alkali, not to employ it in great excess. Morphia and its salts, by the contact of nitric acid, assume a blood- red colour, which ultimately changes to yellow. When added to a solution of iodic acid, or an acidulous iodate, they redden the liquid and set iodine free. (Serullas.) They assume a fine blue colour with the salts of the sesquioxide of iron, especially the sesquimuriate. According to Pelletier, however, there occasionally exists in opium a principle which he calls pseudo-morphia, which becomes red under the action of nitric acid, and changes the sesquisalts of iron blue, and yet is destitute of poisonous properties; so that the occur- rence of these phenomena, in any medico-legal case, cannot be considered as certain evidence of the presence of morphia. (See Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 77.) Morphia is precipitated from its solutions by the infusion of galls, and other vegetable astringent infusions, but not, according to Dublanc, by pure gallic acid. It consists of eighteen equivalents of hydrogen 18, thirty-four of carbon 208.08, six of oxygen 48, and one of nitrogen 14.15=288.23. Various processes for preparing morphia have been proposed. In most of them the morphia is extracted from the opium either in the state of meco- nate, or in combination with some acid added to the menstruum; is precipi- tated from its solution by ammonia or magnesia; and is then purified by the agency of alcohol, or by repeated solution in a dilute acid and precipitation. The processes may be considered under three heads; 1st, those in which ammonia is employed as the precipitant, and alcohol as the agent of purifi- cation; 2d, those in which magnesia is used instead of ammonia; and 3d, those in which the alkali is obtained pure without the agency of alcohol. 1. Sertiirner made an infusion of opium in distilled water, precipitated the morphia by ammonia in excess, dissolved the precipitate in dilute sul- phuric acid, precipitated anew by ammonia, and purified by solution in boil- ing alcohol and crystallization. The process adopted in the French Codex is a modification of that of Sertiirner. It is as follows. " Take of opium 1000 parts, water of ammonia a sufficient quantity Exhaust the opium, by means of cold water, of all its parts soluble in this menstruum. For this purpose it is sufficient to treat the opium, four times consecutively, with 10 parts of water to one of the drug, provided care be taken to macerate the opium for some hours, and to work it with the hands. Filter the liquors, and evaporate them to a quarter of their volume. Then add sufficient ammonia to render the liquor very sensibly alkaline. Boil for some minutes, always maintaining a slight excess of ammonia. Upon cooling, the morphia, impure and much coloured, will be precipitated in granular crystals, which are to be washed with cold water. Reduce this coloured morphia to powder, macerate it for twelve hours in alcohol of 24° Carder (sp. gr. about.900); then decant the alcoholic liquid; dissolve the residuary morphia, already in great measure deprived of colour by the cold alcohol, in boiling alcohol of 33° Carder (sp. gr. about .850); 82* 966 Morphia. PART II. add to the solution a little animal charcoal, and filter. Upon cooling, the morphia crystallizes in colourless needles. In this state the morphia always retains some narcotina, to free it from which, boil it with sulphuric ether in a matrass with a long neck surmounted by a refrigerator." The process of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia is an improvement upon the above, and is essentially the same with that of Dr. Edward Staples, pub- lished in the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, Vol. I. p. 15. Without repeating a description of the process, we shall make such remarks upon its several steps, as appear to us likely to be of practical advantage. The employment of water as the solvent is justified by the almost universal practice. It is true, that Sertiirner sometimes employed dilute acetic acid, and Vogel states that the product thus obtained is much greater than when water alone is used. Dr. Staples, also, recommends diluted vegetable acids in the treatment of opium of medium quality. But when the opium is pro- perly comminuted, either by being reduced to a coarse powder when dry, or by being finely sliced, in its ordinary state, water alone will be found suffi- ciently to extract the morphia, by a protracted digestion, such as that direct- ed in the Pharmacopoeia. The acids have this disadvantage, that they dis- solve more of the narcotina than pure water, and thus render the ultimate product more impure; for the narcotina which is originally taken up continues associated with the morphia in all the subsequent steps of the process. It has been proposed to expose the opium to fermentation with water and yeast, in order to facilitate the extraction of the morphia. By this plan M. Blon- deau succeeded in procuring more of the alkaline principle than he could obtain by the ordinary mode; and his results were confirmed by the experi- ments of MM. Robiquet and Guibourt. According to these latter chemists, no alcohol is produced during the fermentation, which appears to act merely by disengaging the morphia from the combinations in which it naturally exists, and which tend to counteract the solvent power of the menstruum. Alcohol has been proposed as the solvent by M. Guillermond, but it is liable to the objection that it dissolves also the resin, a portion of which is afterwards precipitated with the morphia and embarrasses the process. Much of the resin, however, may be separated by distilling most of the alcohol from the tincture, and then adding water. The resin is precipitated, and the liquor may now be treated in the same manner as the aqueous infusion. On the whole, the officinal mode of extraction will probably be found most satisfactory; and should the opium not be exhausted, maceration in succes- sive portions of water may be resorted to, and the mixed liquors reduced by evaporation to the quantity ordered in the Pharmacopoeia. The solution of opium having been prepared, the next object is to decompose the meconate or other salt of morphia, according as water alone, or a diluted acid has been employed as the menstruum. For this purpose water of ammonia is added, which seizes the acid and precipitates the vegetable alkali; but much colouring matter will be thrown down along with the latter, occasioning some trouble to separate it, unless measures are taken to obviate this effect. The object is gained by mixing the infusion with alcohol, pre- viously to the addition of the ammonia, and by employing the water of ammonia itself in connexion with alcohol, as directed in the Pharmaco- poeia. This is the peculiarity and chief merit of the process of Dr. Staples. By the presence of the alcohol in all parts of the liquor, the co- louring matter is dissolved as soon as \i is separated by the ammonia, and the morphia is thus precipitated in a much purer state. The advantage of adding the ammonia in separate portions is, that the morphia being thus more slowly disengaged, can be more completely deprived of its impurities PART II. Morphia. 967 by the alcohol of the mixture, than if the whole were liberated at once. It is necessary to be careful that the ammonia be not in great excess, as it has the property, under these circumstances, of dissolving the morphia, in some degree, and will therefore lessen the product, while waste is incurred by its own unnecessary consumption. The quantity of water of ammonia ordered by the Pharmacopoeia is too great, if it be used of the proper officinal strength (sp. gr. 0.944). Very little more should be added than is sufficient to saturate the acid present. Four fluidounces will be fouud abundantly sufficient for this purpose. But the water of ammonia of the shops is often much below the officinal standard, and this should always be attended to in the process. Alcohol is mixed with the ammonia before it is added, in order that every particle of the separated morphia may come in contact with the particles of this fluid, and thus have the opportunity of being de- prived of colouring matter. The crystals of morphia obtained by this first operation have a light yellowish colour, and are much purer than when no alcohol is added to the infusion before the precipitation by ammonia. Ac- cording to Dr. Staples, opium yields from 10 to 12s per cent, of these crys- tals. Their purification by solution in boiling alcohol, is the concluding step of the operation. The liquid, on cooling, deposites the morphia in a crystalline state and nearly free from colour. As cold alcohol retains a portion of the morphia in solution, it should not be employed in too large a quantity. Alcohol somewhat reduced by water, is preferable to the highly rectified spirit; as it is less capable of holding the morphia in solution when cold. It is sufficiently strong for the purpose at 25° Baume (sp. gr. 0.9032). The impure morphia remaining in the alcohol may be obtained by distilling off" the latter, and when sufficiently accumulated, may be purified by a separate operation. The crystals of morphia may also be purified by solution in dilute sulphuric acid, digestion with animal charcoal deprived of earthy mat- ter, filtration, and precipitation by ammonia. If alcohol be added to the solution previously to the ammonia, the digestion with animal charcoal may be dispensed with, as the alcohol retains the colouring matter. 2. The process in which magnesia is employed instead of ammonia to precipitate the morphia is that of Robiquet. It is as follows. Select the driest opium, divide it into small pieces, and macerate it with cold water for six days; then separate the infusion, and knead the residuary mass with a fresh portion of water, in order that all the soluble parts may be extracted. Unite the liquors, add magnesia in the proportion of 5 parts to 100 of the opium used, and boil for fifteen minutes. The magnesia decomposes the meconate of morphia, uniting with the acid and separating the morphia, which is precipitated with the excess of the earth, an insoluble submeconate of magnesia, and colouring matter. Collect the precipitate upon a filter, and having washed it with water, allovfr it to drain and dry; then remove it from the filter, reduce it to powder, and digest it with a gentle heat in alco- hol of 22° Baume (sp.gr. 0.9212). Decant the solution, and repeat the digestion in fresh portions of alcohol till this liquid ceases to extract any thing from ihe precipitate. Most of the colouring matter is thus removed. Place the residue upon a filter and allow it to drain; then remove it, treat it with strong boiling alcohol, and filter the alcoholic solution while boiling hot. Upon cooling, the solution deposites the morphia. Treat the impure residuary mass several times in the same manner with fresh portions of al- cohol. After the deposition of the morphia, the mother liquors may be made to furnish a fresh supply by evaporation at a low temperature. If the morphia, thus procured, be not colourless, it may be rendered so by boiling in alcohol with a small portion of pure animal charcoal, filtering the liquid while hot, and allowing it to crystallize. 968 Morphia. part II. The process of Robiquet occupies a longer time, requires the consump- tion of a larger proportion of alcohol, and is attended with a greater loss of morphia, in conseqoence of the frequent washings, than the processes in which ammonia is employed as the precipitant. Some one of the latter, therefore, is generally preferred. 3. A process for extracting morphia without the employment of alcohol was devised bv MM. Henry Jun. and Plisson, but is too tedious for prac- tical use. The process of Drs. Gregory and Robertson of Edinburgh, by which the muriate of morphia is first procured, is more convenient, and has been adopted, to a considerable extent, in Europe. The following account of it is from the fifth American edition of Turner's Chemistry. " The aqueous solution of opium is concentrated in a vessel of tinned iron, or other evapo- rator, to the consistence of a thin syrup,Jwhen a slight excess of chloride of calcium, neutral and quite free from iron, is added; the mixture is boiled for a few minutes, and then poured into an evaporating basin. When cold, the hydrochlorates [muriates] are taken up in water, which is added, until a copious separation of resinous flocks ensues, leaving the insoluble meconate and sulphate of lime with a good deal of colouring matter. The clear li- quid is again evaporated to a syrupy consistence, a little marble being added to ensure perfect neutrality, the warm fluid is poured off the sediment into a clean capsule, and is well stirred during crystallization. The mass is then put into a stout cloth, and the liquid part, containing chloride of cal- cium, the hydrochlorate [muriate] of narcotina, and colouring matter, is pressed out from the crystallized hydrochlorate [muriate] of morphia: this impure salt is redissolved in water at 70°, filtered through cloth, mixed with a little fresh chloride of calcium, crystallized, and compressed as before. It is taken up in hot water, digested for about 24 hours with animal charcoal, filtered, evaporated, crystallized, and squeezed in cloth as on former occasions; but in this part of the process a little free hy- drochloric [muriatic] acid may be added with advantage, as it holds in so- lution any remaining colouring matter, and renders the crystallization of the hydrochlorate [muriate] of morphia more perfect. The pure salt is then dried at a temperature of 150°, and amounts on the average to 10 per cent. of the opium used, corresponding to 9.43 per cent, of crystallized morphia." The muriate of morphia thus obtained has been proved by Robiquet to con- tain a portion of muriate of codeia, though, perhaps, not in sufficient quan- tity to interfere materially with its operation. This impurity may be sepa- rated by precipitating morphia from a solution of the muriate by means of ammonia, the codeia being left in solution. Morphia procured by this pro- cess is more free from narcotina, than that which results from either of the others described.' Various other processes, or modifications of those above described, have been proposed; but none which, in our opinion, combines the advantages of economy of time and richness of product equally with that of Dr. Staples. Morphia, obtained in the ordinary manner, contains a considerable propor- tion of narcotina. It is highly probable that this ingredient exercises no in- fluence, either beneficial or injurious, upon the operation of the morphia; but as the contrary has been supposed, various methods have been employed for separating it. The simplest and easiest is to submit the mixture to the ac- tion of sulphuric ether, which dissolves the narcotina and leaves the mor- phia. The agency of dilute acids, particularly the muriatic, may also be resorted to. As morphia is more soluble in .this acid than narcotina, it will be exclusively dissolved, provided the acid be very much diluted, and added in quantities barely sufficient to saturate this base. The morphia PART II. Morphia. 969 may then be obtained by the addition of water of ammonia to the solu- tion. Another mode is to dissolve the mixed bases in strong acetic acid, (of 7° Baume or sp. gr. 1.0511, for example,) and expose the solution to heat. The narcotina is precipitated, and the morphia, remaining in solu- tion, may be precipitated by diluting the liquid and adding ammonia. (See Journ. de Pharm. xvii. p. 640.) Wittstock advises one of the following methods. Dissolve the impure morphia in dilute muriatic acid, evaporate to the point of crystallization, and strongly express the crystals, which consist solely of the muriate of morphia, the narcotina being retained in the mother waters:—or, saturate the muriatic solution with common salt, which will render the liquor milky, and cause the narcotina to separate after some days; then precipitate the morphia by ammonia:—or, pour into the diluted muriatic solution a weak ley of caustic potassa, which, if in slight excess, will dissolve the morphia at the moment of its separation, while the narcotina is precipitated; then immediately filter the liquor, and separate the morphia by neutralizing the alkali. If the potassa be in con- siderable excess, a small portion of the narcotina is redissolved. (Berzelius. Traite de Chimie.) The quantity of pure morphia which Turkey opium is capable of afford- ing, varies from nine per cent, or less, to fourteen per cent., according lo the quality of the drug; but much less is often obtained, in consequence of the incomplete exhaustion of the opium, or the loss in the process for prepar- ing it. Medical Properties. There can be no doubt that morphia is the chief, if not the exclusive narcotic principle of opium, from which, however, it differs somewhat in its mode of action. Whether the difference arises from the peculiar state of combination in which morphia exists in opium, or from other narcotic principles being associated with it, has not been determined; but the former would seem to be the probable cause, from the circum- stance, that long before the discovery of this alkali, preparations of opium were habitually used, in which the properties of the medicine were some- what similarly modified by the agency of vinegar, lemon-juice, or other vegetable acid. In consequence of its insolubility in water, morphia in its pure state is less certain in its effects than some of its saline compounds; as the mode and degree of its action must, in some measure, depend on the presence or absence of acid in the stomach, and perhaps on the peculiar character of the acid. Its salts are therefore always preferred. The ace- tate, sulphate, and muriate, have been employed. Between these there is a great similarity of action, and what may be said of one, in regard to its therapeutical effects, will equally apply to the others. They have the ano- dyne, soporific, and diaphoretic properties of opium; but are less stimulant, less disposed to constipate the bowels, and less apt to leave behind them headach, nausea, or other unpleasant effect. They are usually also more acceptable to the irritated stomach, and will often be retained, when opium or its tincture would be rejected. They are applicable to all cases where the object is to relieve pain, quiet restlessness, promote sleep, or allay ner- vous irritation in any shape; but are less efficient than opium in the sup- pression of morbid discharges, and as stimulants in low forms of disease. We have found them especially useful in the mania arising from intemper- ance. A great advantage which they possess, is the convenience of their external application to blistered surfaces, and the certainty of their effects when thus applied. In cases which do not admit of the internal use of opium or its preparations, the acetate or sulphate of morphia, sprinkled, in triple the ordinary dose, upon a blistered surface denuded of the cuticle, will 970 Morphia. part ii. be found to exercise upon the system all the influence it is capable of ex- erting when taken into the stomach. Applied in this manner, these salts are peculiarly useful in relieving violent neuralgic pains, and controlling ob- stinate sickness of the stomach. When intended to act on the system through the medium of the skin, they should be applied preferably to the epigastrium; when to act locally, as near the affected part as possible. When given in doses nearly, but not quite sufficient to produce sleep, they sometimes give rise to a very troublesome condition of the brain, amounting almost to delirium; but this always subsides spontaneously, or vanishes im- mediately upon the increase of the dose. In over-doses, morphia and its salts produce the symptoms of narcotic poisons, though not perhaps in the same degree with a quantity of opium, equivalent in anodyne effect. The toxicological treatment is precisely the same as in the case of laudanum. (See Opium.) As the proportion of acid necessary to neutralize morphia is very small, the dose of the alkali is the same as that of its salts. One-sixth of a grain may be considered equivalent to a grain of opium of the medium strength. The acetate and sulphate of morphia are officinal according to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, and the acetate and muriate according to that of the London College. Off Prep. Morphiae Acetas, U.S., Lond.; Morphioe Sulphas, U.S. W. MORPHIA ACETAS. US, Lond. Acetate of Morphia. " Take of Morphia, in powder, an ounce; Distilled Water half a pint; Acetic Acid a sufficient quantity. Mix the Morphia with the Water; then carefully drop in the Acid, constantly stirring, until the Morphia is saturated and dissolved. Evaporate the solution by means of a water-bath, to the consistence of syrup; lastly, dry the Acetate of Morphia with a gentle heat, and rub it into powder." U.S. " Take of Morphia six drachms; Acetic Acid three fluidrachms; Dis- tilled Water four fluidounces. Mix the Acid with the Water and pour the mixture upon the Morphia to saturation. Evaporate the solution, with a gentle heat, so that crystals may form." Lond. Acetic acid is employed in the process in preference to vinegar, because it can leave no impurity in the resulting salt. The solution of the morphia in the water is an indication that it is saturated. A small excess of acid is attended with no inconvenience, as it is subsequently driven off by the heat. Care is requisite not to employ too great a heat in the evaporation, as the acetate is readily decomposed, a portion of the acetic acid escaping, and leaving an equivalent portion of uncombined morphia. With aitention to arrest the evaporation at a certain point, the acetate may be obtained in the state of crystals; but the crystallization is attended with some difficulty, and evaporation to dryness is almost universally preferred. Some recommend to dissolve the morphia in boiling alcohol, instead of suspending it in water, previously to the addition of the acetic acid. A less heat is thus required in the evaporation, and impurities in the morphia may often be detected, as they are apt to be insoluble in alcohol. To ascertain, in this case, whether the morphia is saturated, it is necessary to employ litmus paper, the blue colour of which should not be restored, if previously reddened by an acid. If the morphia used in preparing the acetate contain narcotina, it will be best to employ as the solvent distilled vinegar, or diluted acetic acid of the same strength, and to favour its solvent power by the application of heat. Under these circumstances it dissolves only the morphia, leaving the narco- part ii. Morphia. 971 Una nearly or quite untouched. (See notice by William Hodgson, Jun., in the Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vol. v. p. 35.) Acetate of morphia crystallizes in the form of slender needles united in fasciculi. It is readily dissolved by water, and less easily by alcohol. As ordinarily obtained, however, by evaporation to dryness, it is not entirely soluble in water, a portion of it being uncombined morphia. To render it soluble, all that is necessary is to add a little distilled vinegar. From an eighth to a quarter of a grain may be given for a dose, and re- peated, if necessary, in order to obtain the anodyne and soporific effect of the medicine. One-sixth of a grain is about equivalent to a grain of opium. It may be given in pill or solution. It is frequently employed externally, sprinkled on blistered surfaces, to obtain its effects upon the system. W. MORPHIA HYDROCHLORAS. Lond. Hydrochlorate of Morphia. Muriate of Morphia. " Take of Opium, sliced, a pound; Crystals of Chloride of Lead two ounces, or a sufficient quantity; Purified Ariimal Charcoal three ounces and a half; Hydrochloric [Muriatic] Acid, Distilled Water, Solution of Ammonia, each, a sufficient quantity. Macerate the Opium, for thirty hours, in four pints [Imperial measure] of Distilled Water, and bruise it; then di- gest it for twenty hours and press it. Macerate the residue a second and a third time in Water, so that it may be deprived of taste, and as often bruise and press it. Mix the liquors and evaporate them with a heat of 140° to the consistence of syrup. Then add three pints of Distilled Water, and, when all the dregs have subsided, pour off the supernatant liquor. To this add gradually, two ounces of Chloride of Lead, or a sufficient quantity, pre- viously dissolved in four pints of Distilled Water, until nothing more is thrown down. Pour off the liquor, and wash the residue frequently with Distilled Water. Then evaporate the mixed liquors, as before, with a gentle heat, and set them aside to crystallize. Press the crystals in a linen cloth, then dissolve them in a pint of Distilled Water, and, having digested with an ounce and a half of Animal Charcoal, at 120°, filter the solution. Finally, having washed the charcoal, cautiously evaporate the liquors, in order to obtain pure crystals. To the liquor poured off from the crystals first separated, add a pint of water, and gradually drop in, occasionally sha- king, sufficient Solution of Ammonia to precipitate all the morphia. To this, washed with Distilled Water, add Hydrochloric Acid, so as to saturate it; then digest with two ounces of Animal Charcoal and filter. Lastly, having thoroughly washed the charcoal, cautiously evaporate the liquors, so as to obtain pure crystals." Lond. In the above process, an impure solution of meconate of morphia is first obtained. This salt is decomposed by the chloride of lead, forming meco- nate of lead which is precipitated, and muriate of morphia which remains in solution. The latter salt is obtained in crystals by evaporating the solu- tion, and is subsequently decolorized by animal charcoal. The subsequent steps of the operation are in order to obtain the muriate of morphia existing in the mother waters. The reader is referred to page 968 for an account of the process of Drs. Gregory and Robertson of Edinburgh, for obtaining muriate of morphia. In the same place is indicated the mode of separating the codeia which is usually associated with the salt of morphia procured in this manner. Muriate of morphia crystallizes in tufts of feathery acicular crystals which are usually considered anhydrous. It is white, inodorous, bitter, soluble in 20 parts of water at 60°, and in much less boiling water, and soluble also in alcohol. 972 Morphia. part ii. This preparation of morphia is much used in Great Britain, but, in this country, less than either the sulphate or acetate. The dose of it, equiva- lent to a grain of opium, is about one-sixth of a grain. Off. Prep. Morphia, Lond. W. MORPHIA SULPHAS. U.S. Sulphate of Morphia. " Take of Morphia, in powder, an ounce; Distilled Water half a pint; Diluted Sulphuric Acid a sufficient quantity. Mix the Morphia with the Water, then carefully drop in the acid, constantly stirring, till the Morphia is saturated and dissolved. Evaporate the solution, by means of a water- bath, so that crystals may form when it cools. Dry the crystals upon bibu- lous paper." U.S. In this process the morphia is known to be saturated when it is wholly dissolved by the water. To ascertain whether the acid is added in excess, litmus paper may be resorted to. If the morphia employed contain narco- tina, this will remain in the mother liquor, and will not contaminate the pro- duct. The mother liquor remaining after the first crystallization may be eva- porated, so as to obtain a fresh supply of the sulphate; but if the morphia was not originally quite pure, the second product will contain the impurities, and should not be used till it has undergone further preparation. When impure morphia is employed, the mother liquor should be mixed with alcohol, or boiled with washed animal charcoal and filtered, and then decomposed by ammonia, which will precipitate the morphia. This may then be converted into the sulphate in the manner directed by the Pharmacopoeia. Another mode of obtaining sulphate of morphia, is to dissolve the alkali in boiling alcohol of 36° Baume (sp. gr. 0.8428), saturate it while hot with sulphuric acid, add animal charcoal previously washed with muriatic acid, boil for a few minutes, and filter the solution, while at the boiling temperature. Upon cooling, it deposites most of the sulphate; and the remainder may be obtained by evaporating the mother liquor. The sulphate of morphia crystallizes in beautifully white, minute, feathery crystals, which are soluble in twice their weight of boiling water. They contain, according to Liebig, in 100 parts, 14.29 of water, 10.33 of sulphuric acid, and 75.38 of morphia. By exposure to a heat of 248° F. they lose 9.66 parts of the water, but cannot be deprived of the remainder without de- composition. The dose of the sulphate of morphia is from an eighth to a quarter of a grain, which may be given in pill or solution. W. Off. Prep. Liquor Morphia? Sulphatis. LIQUOR MORPHIA SULPHATIS. U. S. Solution of Sul- phate of Morphia. " Take of Sulphate of Morphia eight grains; Distilled Water half a pint. Dissolve the Sulphate of Morphia in the^Distilled Water." U.S. The sulphate of morphia, as found in the shops, is not always entirely so- luble in water. This sometimes, perhaps, arises from adulterations; but more frequently, in all probability, from the mode in which the sulphate is prepared. In the preparation of this salt, the quantity of water employed for the suspension of the morphia is sometimes insufficient to hold the resulting sulphate in solution; and the consequence is that, upon the addition of sul- phuric acid, the crystallization of the sulphate takes place before the whole of the morphia has been saturated by the acid. A portion of uncombined morphia is therefore necessarily mixed with the salt; and this is probably the cause of the incomplete solubility of the sulphate of morphia alluded to. This explanation is rendered still more probable by the fact, that the addition of a little sulphuric acid usually remedies the defect and renders the whole part n. Morphia.—Mucilagines. 973 soluble. Pure sulphate of morphia is readily and entirely soluble in cold water. This solution is very convenient, by enabling the physician to prescribe a minute dose, which, in consequence of the great energy of the preparations of morphia, is very often necessary. It has the advantage that it may be kept for a very considerable length of lime unchanged. The full dose for an adult is from one to two fluidrachms, containing from an eighth to a quarter of a grain of the sulphate. W. MUCILAGINES. Mucilages. Mucilage, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and in the sense in which it is employed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, is an aqueous solution of gum or of substances closely allied to it. As used by the British Colleges it appears to signify any bland, viscid, aqueous, vegetable solution, resembling that of gum in sensible properties. W. MUCILAGO ACACIA. U.S. Mistura Acacia. Lond. Mu- cIlago Acacia Arabica. Ed. Mucilago Gummi Arabici. Dub. Mucilage of Gum Arabic. " Take of Gum Arabic, in powder, four ounces; Boiling Water half a pint. Add the water gradually to the gum, rubbing them together, till the mucilage is produced." U.S. The London College takes ten ounces of powdered gum Arabic, and a pint [Imperial measure] of boiling water, and proceeds as above. The Edin- burgh College directs one part of gum Arabic, in powder, to two parts of boiling waler; the Dublin, four ounces of the former, in coarse powder, to four fluidounces of the latter; both order the ingredients to be digested, with frequent agitation, till the gum is dissolved, and the resulting mucilage to be strained through linen. Straining through linen is necessary to separate the foreign substances which are often mixed with gum Arabic. This mucilage is semitransparent, almost colourless if prepared from good gum, viscid, tenacious, of a feeble, peculiar odour, and nearly tasteless. If the solution of gum should be co- loured, it may be rendered colourless by the addition of a concentrated solu- tion of chlorine; and, by boiling for about half an hour so as to drive off the chlorine and muriatic acid, it may be rendered fit for use. (Guerin.) By keeping, mucilage becomes sour in consequence of the spontaneous genera- tion of acetic acid; and this happens even though it be enclosed in well stopped botiles. But, according to M. Guerin, the aqueous solution of pure gum undergoes no change in vacuo. Mucilage is employed chiefly in the forma- tion of pills, and for the suspension or diffusion of insoluble substances in water. Off. Prep. Mistura Cretae, Lond., Dub.; Mistura Guaiaci, Lond.; Potio Carbonatis Calcis, Ed. W. MUCILAGO AMYLI. Ed., Dub. Decoctum Amvli. Lond. Mucilage of Starch. " Take of Starch four drachms; Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Rub 83 974 Mucilagines.—Olea Destillala. part ii. the Starch with the Water gradually added; then boil for a short time." Lond. The Edinburgh College takes three drachms of starch and a pound of wa- ter; the Dublin, six drachms of the former and a pint of the latter; both pro- ceed according to the directions of the London College. This mucilage has an opaline appearance, and gelatinous consistence, and is much used as a vehicle for laudanum and other active remedies given in the form of enema. In conseqence of its demulcent properties, it may be usefully employed as an enema in irritation and inflammation of the mucous coat of the rectum and large intestines. Its unpleasant flavour, when it is prepared from ordinary starch, precludes its employment by the mouth. W. MUCILAGO GUMMI TRAGACANTHA. Dub. Mucila- go Astragali Tragacantha. Ed. Mucilage of Tragacanth. '• Take of Tragacanth, in powder, two drachms; Water eight fluidounces. Macerate in a covered vessel till the gum is dissolved; then strain the muci- lage through linen." Dub. " Take of Tragacanth, in powder, two drachms; Boiling Water eight ounces. Macerate for twenty-four hours, then triturate the gum carefully that it may be dissolved, and strain the mucilage through linen." Ed. A part only of tragacanth is soluble in water. The remainder swells up and forms a soft tenacious mass, which may be mechanically mixed with water, but does not form a proper solution. Hence the trituration directed by the Edinburgh College is necessary to complete the incorporation of the ingredients. The mucilage is thick and very viscid, but not permanent, as the water separates from the insoluble portion of the tragacanth on standing. It is chiefly used in making pills and troches. In consequence of its great tenacity, it may be advantageously employed for the suspension of heavy insoluble substances, such as the metallic oxides, in water. W. OLEA DESTILLATA. Distilled Oils. For an account of the general properties of the volatile, essential, or dis- tilled oils, the reader is referred to the head of Olea Volutilia in the first part of this work. The following are ihe difi'erent officinal directions for preparing them. OLEA DESTILLATA. U.S. " Put the substance from which the Oil is to be extracted into a retort or other vessel suitable for distillation, and add enough Water to cover it, then disiil into a large refrigeratory. Separate the Distilled Oil from the Water which comes over with it. " In this manner prepare Oil of Anise, from Anise; Oil of Caraway, from Caraway; Oil of Wormseed, from Wormseed; Oil of Fennel, from Fennel-seed; Oil of Partridge-berry, from Partridge-berry [leaves]; Oil of Pennyroyal [Oleum Hedeomae], from Pennyroyal; Oil of Juniper, from Juniper [berries]; Oil of Lavender, from Lavender [flowers]; Oil of Peppermint, from Peppermint; Oil of Spearmint, from Spearmint; Oil of Horsemint, from Horsemint; Oil of Origanum, from Origanum [Marjo- ram]; Oil of Pimento, from Pimento; Oil of Rosemary, from Rosemary [tops]; Oil of Sassafras, from Bark of Sassafras Root." U.S. PART II. Olea Destillata. 975 OLEA DESTILLATA. Lond. " Oil of Anise, of Chamomile, of Caraway, of Juniper, of Lavender, of Peppermint, of Pennyroyal [Mentha Pulegium], of Spearmint, of Origanum, of Pimento, of Rosemary, of Elder Flowers. " The fruit of Anise, Caraway, and Juniper, the flowers of Chamomile, Lavender, and Elder, the berries of Pimento, the tops of Rosemary, and the fresh herb of the other plants are to be employed. Put any of these into an alembic, and add sufficient Water to cover it; then distil the Oil into a large refrigeratory." Lond. OLEA V0LATIL1A. Ed. " Only so much Water is to be added to the substance as will be sufficient to prevent it from being burnt when distilled. The distillation is to be commenced after due maceration, and the Oil is, lastly, to be separated from the Water. " In this manner are prepared the Volatile Oil of Chamomile, from the flowers; of Juniper, from the bruised berries; of Savine, from the leaves; of Lavender, from the flowers; of Sassafras, from the bruised root; of Peppermint, from the herb; of Pimento, from the bruised fruit; of Ori- ganum, from the herb; of Anise, from the seeds; of Rosemary, from the tops." Ed. OLEA ESSENTIALIA. Dub. " Oil of Aniseed, of Caraway, of Fennel, from the seeds dried with a medium heat; of Sassafras, from the bark and wood; of Juniper, of Pimento, from the berries; of Lavender, from the flowers; of Peppermint, of Spearmint, of Origanum, of Pennyroyal, of Rosemary, of Rue, from the leaves and flowers of the plant while in flower; of Savine, from the leaves. " Put the substance, previously macerated in Water, into an alembic; then, by means of the vapour of boiling water, distil into a receiver. Sepa- rate by a proper apparatus, the Oil which floats on the surface, or sinks to the bottom, according as it is lighter or heavier than water. In distilling the seeds of Caraway and Fennel, the leaves of Peppermint, Spearmint, and Pennyroyal, and the berries of Pimento, the liquor which comes over with the oil is to be kept for use in the manner directed under the head of Dis- tilled Waters." Dub. The substances from which the volatile oils are extracted, may be em- ployed either in the recent or dried state. Certain flowers, however, such as orange flowers and roses, must be used fresh, or preserved with salt, as they afford little or no oil after exsiccation. Most of the aromatic herbs also, as peppermint, spearmint, pennyroyal, and marjoram, are usually dis- tilled while fresh, and are directed in this state by the London College; although it is thought by some, that when moderately dried, they yield a larger and more grateful product. Dried substances, before being submitted to distillation, require to be macerated in water till they are thoroughly penetrated by this fluid; and to facilitate the action of the water, it is neces- sary that, when of a hard or tough consistence, they should be properly comminuted by slicing, shaving, rasping, bruising, or other similar mechani- cal operation. The water which is put with the subject of distillation into the alembic, answers the double purpose of preventing the decomposition of the vegetable matter by regulating the temperature, and of facilitating the volatilization of 976 Olea Destillala. PART II. the oil, which, though in most instances it readily rises with the vapour of boiling water, requires when distilled alone, a considerably higher tempera- ture, and is at the same time liable to be partially decomposed. Some oils, however, will not ascend readily with steam at 212°; and in the distillation of these it is customary to use water saturated with common salt, which does not boil under 230°. Others again may be volatilized with water at a tem- perature below the boiling point; and as heat exercises an injurious influence over the oils, it is desirable that the distillation should be effected at as low a temperature as possible. To prevent injury from heat it has been recom- mended to suspend the substance containing the oil in a basket, or to place it upon a perforated shelf, in the upper part of the alembic, so that it may be penetrated by the steam, without being in direct contact with the water. Another mode of effecting the same object, is to distil in vacuo. • Dr. Dun- can states, that the most elegant volatile oils he had ever seen were prepared in this manner by Mr. Barry, the inventor of the process. The quantity of water added is not a matter of indifference. An excess above what is necessary, acts injuriously by holding the oil in solution, when the mixed vapours are condensed; and, if the proportion be very large, it is possible that no oil whatever may be obtained separate. On the contrary, if ihe quantity be too small, the whole of the oil will not be distilled; and there will be danger of the substance in the alembic adhering to the sides of the vessel, and thus becoming burnt. Enough water should always be added to cover the solid material, and prevent this latter accident. Dried plants require more water than those which are fresh and succulent. The whole amount of materials in the alembic should not exceed three-fourths of its capacity; as otherwise there would be danger of the liquor boiling over. The form of the alembic has a considerable influence over the quantity of water distilled, which depends more upon the extent of surface than the amount of liquid submitted to evaporation. By employing a high and nar- row vessel, we may obviate the disadvantage of an excess of water. The broad shallow alembic, suitable for the distillation of alcohol and the spirit- uous liquors, will not answer so well in this case. Sometimes the propor- tion of oil contained in the substance employed is so small, that it is wholly dissolved in the water distilled, even though the proportion of the liquid in the alembic is not greater than is absolutely essential. In this case it is necessary to redistil the same water several times from fresh portions of the plant till the quantity of oil exceeds its solvent power. This process is called cohobation. The more volatile oils pass with facility along with the steam into the neck of the common still; but some which are less volatile are apt to condense in the head, and thus return into the alembic. For the distillation of the latter, a still should be employed with a large and very low head, having a rim or gutter around its internal circumference, into which the oils may be received as they condense, and thence pass into the neck. As, after the distillation of any one oil, it is necessary that the apparatus should be thoroughly cleansed before being used for the preparation of another, it is better that the con- densing tube should be straight, than spiral as in the ordinary still. It should be recollected, moreover, that certain oils, such as those of anise and fennel, become solid at a comparatively high temperature; and that in the distillation of these, the'water employed for refrigeration should not be below 42° F. The mixed vapours are condensed into a milky liquid, which is collected in a receiver, and after standing for some time separates into a clear solution of the oil in water, and into the oil itself, the latter floating on the surface, or sinking to the bottom, according as it is lighter or heavier than water. PART II. Olea Destillata. 977 The distillation should be continued so long as the fluid which comes over has this milky appearance. The last step in the process is to separate the oil from the water. For this purpose the Florence receiver may be used. This is a conical glass vessel, broad at the bottom, and narrow towards the top, and very near its base, furnished with a tubulure or opening, to which is adapted, by means of a pierced cork, a bent tube so shaped as to rise perpendicularly to seven- eighths of the height of the receiver, then to pass off from it alright angles, and near the end to bend downwards. The condensed liquid being admitted through the opening at the top of the receiver, the oil separates, and rising to the top, occupies the upper narrow part of the vessel, while the water remains at the bottom and enters the tubeaffixed to the receiver. When the surface of the liquid attains in the receiver a higher level than the top of the tube, the water will necessarily begin to flow out through the latter, and may be received in bottles. The oil thus accumulates so long as the process con- tinues; but it is evident that the plan is applicable only to the oils lighter than water. For the heavier oils, cylindrical vessels may be employed, to be renewed as fast as they are filled. But as all the water cannot be removed by these plans, it is necessary to resort to some other method of effecting a complete separation. An instrument called a separatory is usually employed for this purpose. It consists of a glass funnel, bulging at the top, where it is furnished with a stopper, and prolonged at the bottom into a very narrow tube. (See figure, page 727.) The lower opening being closed, the mixed liquids are introduced, and allowed to stand till they separate. The orifice at the bottom is then opened, and the stopper at lop being a little loosened so as to admit the air, the heavier liquid slowly flows out, and may be sepa- rated to the last drop from the lighter, which floats above it. If the oil is heavier than water, it passes out of the separatory; if lighter, it remains within. Another mode of separating the oil, is to introduce into the vessel containing the two liquids, one end of a cord of cotton, the other end hang- ing out and terminating in a suitable receptacle beneath the level of that im- mersed in the liquid. The oil at top passes through the cord, and may thus be wholly removed. The last drops may be collected by pressing the cord between the fingers. The water saturated with oil should be preserved for future distillations, as it can now dissolve no more of the oil, and will therefore yield a larger product. When first procured, the oil has a disagreeable empyreumatic odour, from which it may be freed by allowing it to stand for some days in vessels loosely covered with paper. It should then be introduced into small opaque bottles, which should be well stopped, so as to exclude the air. The volatile oils have the medical properties of the plants from which they are derived; and as their remedial application has been mentioned under the heads of these plants respectively, it will be unnecessary to treat of it in this place. They may be administered dropped on a lump of sugar; or tri- turated with at least ten times their weight of sugar, forming an oleosaccha- rum, and then dissolved in water; or made into an emulsion with water, sugar, and gum Arabic. They are frequently kept dissolved in alcohol under the name of essences. W. OLEUM ANISI. U.S., Lond, Dub. Oleum Volatile Pim- pinella Anisi. Ed. Oil of Anise. Recluz obtained from fresh anise seeds from 2.125 to 2.48 per cent, of oil; from the dried, 3.125 per cent. The oil employed in this country is 83* 978 Olea Destillata. part ii. « almost all imported. It is colourless or yellowish, with the peculiar odour and taste of the seed. At 50° it crystallizes in flat tables, and does not melt under 62°. Its sp. gr. is variously'stated from 0.9768 to 0.9903. Berze- lius gives it 0.9857 at 77° F. It is soluble in all proportions in alcohol of 0.806; but alcohol of 0 840 dissolves at 77° only 42 percent. It consists of two oils, one solid at ordinary temperatures and heavier than water (stear- optene), the other liquid and more volatile (eleoptene). Itis said to be some- times adulterated, with spermaceti, wax, or camphor. The first two may be detected by their insolubility in cold alcohol, the last by its odour. The dose of the oil is from five to fifteen drops. Its comparative mildness adapts it to infantile cases. The oil of star aniseed (oleum badiani), which resem- bles it in flavour, is frequently substituted for it in this country. Off. Prep. Syrupus Sarsaparilla?, U.S.; Tinctura Opii Camphorata, U.S., Lond., Dub. W. OLEUM ANTHEMIDIS. Lond. Oleum Volatile Anthemi- dis Nobilis. Ed. Oil of Chamomile. This is never prepared, and little used, in this country. Baume obtained thirteen drachms of the oil from eighty-two pounds of the flowers. It has the peculiar smell of chamomile, with a pungent somewhat aromatic taste. When recently distilled it is of a sky-blue colour, which changes to yellow on exposure. The sp. gr. of the English oil is said to be 0.9083. It has sometimes been used in spasm of the stomach, and as an adjunct to purgative medicines. The dose is from five to fifteen drops. On the continent of Europe, an oil extracted from the Matricaria Cha- momilla is employed under the name of oil of chamomile. It is dark blue, thick, and nearly opaque, becoming brown and unctuous by time. It has the odour of the plant from which it is derived, and an aromatic taste. W. OLEUM CARI. U S. Oleum Carui. Lond., Dub. Oil of Caraway. This oil is prepared to a considerable extent by our distillers. The fresh seeds yield on an average about 4.7 per cent. (Recluz); but the product is very variable. The oil of caraway is somewhat viscid, of a pale yellow colour, with the odour and taste of the seeds. Its sp. gr. is 0.946 according to Baume, 0.931 according to Brande. It is much used to impart flavour to medicines, and to correct their nauseating and griping effects. The dose is from one to ten drops. Off. Prep. Confectio Scammonii, Lond, Dub.; Electuarium Sennae, Dub.; Pilulae Aloes Compositae, Lond., Dub.; Pil. Rhei Composite. Lond. W. OLEUM CHENOPODII. U.S. Oil of W.ormseed. This oil is peculiar to the United States. It is of a light yellow colour when recently distilled, but becomes deeper yellow, and even brownish by age. It has in a high degree the peculiar flavour of the plant. Its. sp. gr. is 0.908. It is used as an anthelmintic, in the dose of from four to eight drops for a child, repeated morning and evening for three or four days, and then followed by a brisk cathartic, W. OLEUM FCENICULI. U.S. Oleum Funiculi Dulcis. Dub. Oil of Fennel. Fennel seeds yield about 2.5 per cent, of oil. That used in this country is imported. It is colourless or yellowish, with the odour and taste of the seeds. Its sp. gr. is 0.997. It congeals below 50° into a crystalline mass, PART II. Olea Destillata. 979 separable by pressure into a solid and liquid oil (stearoptene and eleoptene), the former heavier than water, and less volatile than the latter, which rises first when the oil is distilled. As found in the shops, therefore, the oil of fennel is not uniform; and Dr. Montgomery found lhat a specimen which he examined did not congeal at 22°. The dose is from five to fifteen drops. W. OLEUM GAULTHERIA. U.S. Oil of Partridge-Berry. This oil is known only in the United States. It is directed by the Phar- macopoeia to be prepared from the leaves of the Gaultheria procumbens; but the whole plant is usually employed. It is supposed to exist also in the bark of the Betula lenta, the root of the Polygala paucifolia, and the roots and stems of the Spiraea ulmaria, Spiraea lobata, and Gaultheria hispidula, which have its peculiar flavour. The oil of partridge-berry has a brownish- yellow colour, a sweetish, slightly pungent, peculiar taste, and a very agree- able characteristic odour, by which it may be readily distinguished from all other oils. It is the heaviest of the known essential oils, having the sp. gr. 1.17. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. 199.) This affords an easy method of ascertaining its purity. It is used chiefly on account of its plea- sant flavour, to cover the taste of other medicines. Off.Prep. Syrupus Sarsaparillae, U.S. W. OLEUM HEDEOMA. U.S. Oil of Pennyroyal. This, though analogous in properties to the European oil of pennyroyal, is derived from a distinct plant—the Hedeoma pulegioides—peculiar to North America. It has a light yellow colour, with the odour and taste of the herb. Its sp. gr. is 0.948. It may be used as a remedy in flatulent colic and sick stomach, to correct the operation of nauseating or griping me- dicines, and to impart flavour to mixtures. The dose is from two to ten drops. W. OLEUM JUNIPERI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Oleum Volatile Juniperi Communis. Ed. Oil of Juniper. The proportion of oil which juniper berries afford is stated differently by different authors, from 0.78 to 5 per cent. The greatest quantity obtained by Recluz was 2.34 parts from 100. The berries are most productive when bruised. The oil of juniper consumed in this country is brought from Eu- rope. It is colourless, or of a light greenish-yellow, with a terebinthinate odour, and a hot acrid taste. Its sp. gr. is 0.911. It is not very soluble in alcohol. The oil of turpentine is often fraudulently added, but may be de- tected by the specific gravity of the mixture, which is considerably less than that of the unadulterated oil of juniper. This oil is stimulant, carminative, and diuretic; and may be employed advantageously in debilitated dropsical cases, in connexion with other medi- cines, especially with digitalis. It is this oil which imparts to Holland gin its peculiar flavour and tendency to the kidneys. The dose is from five to fifteen drops two or three times a day, and may be considerably increased. W. OLEUM LAVANDULA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Oleum Vola- tile Lavandula Spica. Ed. Oil of Lavender. Dried lavender flowers yield on an average about 1.5 per cent, of a very fluid, lemon-yellow oil, having the fragrance of the flowers, and an aro- matic, burning taste. That met with in commerce has the sp. gr. 0.898 at 68° F., which is reduced to 0.877 by rectification. (Berzelius.) Ac- cording to Brande, the sp. gr. of the oil obtained from the whole herb is 9 80 Olea Destillata. part ii« 0.9206. Alcohol of 0.830 dissolves the oil of lavender in all proportions; that of 0.887, only 42 percent. (Berzelius.) Proust states that when al- lowed to stand in imperfectly stopped bottles, it lets fall a crystalline de- posite (stearoptene), which he considers identical with camphor, and which often amounts to one-fourth of the weight of the oil. It is said that the portion of oil first distilled is most agreeably fragrant, and is often kept sepa- rate, and sold at a higher price. The oil of lavender is used chiefly as a perfume, though possessed of carminative and stimulant properties, and sometimes useful in cases of nervous languor and headach. The dose is from one to five drops. The oil of spike is procured from the broad-leaved variety of the laven- der, which grows wild in Europe, the Lavandula Spica of De Candolle. Its odour is less fragrant than that of the common oil of lavender, and is somewhat analogous to that of the oil of turpentine, with which it is said to be often adulterated. It is much used by artists in the preparation of var- nishes. Off. Prep. Tinctura Ammoniae Composita. Lond. W. OLEUM MENTHA PIPERITA. U. S., Lond. Oleum Vo- latile Mentha Piperita. Ed. Oleum Mentha Piperitidis. Dub. Oil of Peppermint. Peppermint varies exceedingly in the quantity of oil which it affords. Four pounds of the fresh herb yield, according to Baume, from a drachm and a half to three drachms of the oil. The product is generally less than one per cent. This oil is largely distilled in the United States. It is of a greenish-yellow colour, a strong aromatic odour, and a warm, camphorous, very pungent taste, succeeded, when air is admitted into the mouth, by a sense of coolness. Its sp. gr. is stated differently from 0.907 to 0.920. Upon long standing it deposites a stearoptene, considered by Proust as identical with camphor. According to Giese, it is only the oil distilled from the herb gathered when in flower and dried, that yields this crystal- line precipitate. Berzelius states that at-8° F. it deposites small capil- lary crystals. The oil of peppermint is stimulant and carminative, and is much used in flatulence, nausea, spasmodic pains of the stomach and bowels, and as a cor- rigent or adjuvant of other medicines. The dose is from one to three drops, and is most conveniently given rubbed up with sugar and then dissolved in water. The oil is also very frequently employed in the form of essence of peppermint, prepared by dissolving two fluidounces in a pint of alcohol, and given upon sugar in the dose of ten or twenty drops. Off.Prep. Aqua Menthae Piperita?, U.S., Lond.; Pilulae Rhei Composi- tae, Ed.; Pilulae Sulphatis Ferri Comp., Ed; Spiritus Menthae Piperita?, Lond., Dub. W. OLEUM MENTHA PULEGII. Lond. Oleum Pulegii. Dub. Oil of European Pennyroyal. About 1 part of this oil on an average is obtained from 100 parts of the plant. When freshly distilled it is yellowish, but becomes reddish by age. Its sp. gr. is, according to Lewis, 0.978, to Brande 0.939. It possesses me- dical properties similar to those of the oil of peppermint; but is seldom used in ihis country. The dose is from one to five drops. Off. Prep. Aqua Mentha? Pulegii, Lond., Dub.; Spiritus Pulegii, Lond., Dub. PART II. Olea Destillata. 981 OLEUM MENTHA VIRIDIS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Oleum Volatile Mentha Viridis. Ed. Oil of Spearmint. According to Lewis, ten pounds of spearmint yield an ounce of oil; by others the product is stated not to exceed one part from five hundred. The oil is largely distilled in this country. It is greenish when recently prepared, but becomes red with age, and ultimately almost of a mahogany colour.' Its flavour is analogous to that of the oil of peppermint, but is less agreeable and ess pungent. Its sp. gr., according to Lewis, is 0.975, according to Brande, 0.9394. It is used for the same purposes as the oil of peppermint, in the dose of from two to five drops. An essence of spearmint is prepared by dissolv- ing two fluidounces of the oil in a pint of alcohol, and may be given in the quantity of from twenty to forty drops, upon a lump of sugar. Off.Prep. Aqua Mentha? Viridis, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Infusum Mentha; Compositum, Dub.; Spiritus Menthce Viridis, Lond., Dub. W. OLEUM MONARDA. Oil of Horsemint. This is prepared by our distillers from the fresh herb of the Monarda punctata. It has a reddish amber-colour, a fragrant odour, and a warm, very pungent taste. Applied to the skin it acts as a powerful rubefacient, quickly producing heat, pain, redness, and even vesication. This property of the oil was made known to the profession by Dr. Atlee of Philadelphia, who employ- ed it externally with advantage in low forms of typhus fever, cholera infantum, chronic rheumatism, and other aflections in which rubefacients are indicated. In ordinary cases it should be diluted before being applied. It may be given internally as a stimulant and carminative, in the dose of two or three drops mixed with sugar and water. W. OLEUM ORIGANI. U. S., Lend., Dub. Oil of Origanum. This is Obtained from the common marjoram, Origanum vulgare, and is frequently called oi7 of marjoram. The plant varies exceedingly in the pro- portion which it affords. The mean product may be stated at from four to six parts from a thousand. The iecent oil, when properly prepared, is of a yellow colour; but if too much heat is used in the distillation, it is said to be reddish, and it acquires the same tint by age. It has the odour of the plant, and a hot acrid taste. Its sp. gr., according to Lewis, is 0.940, according to Brande 0.909. It is sometimes used as an external irritant, and to allay the pain of toothach, by being introduced, on lint or cotton, into the cavity of a carious tooth. It is not employed internally. Off.Prep. Linimentum Saponis Camphoratum, U.S. W. OLEUM VOLATILE ORIGANI MAJORANA. Ed. Oil of Sweet Marjoram. It is somewhat doubtful, whether the Edinburgh College did not intend to direct, under this title, the oil of marjoram (Oleum Origani); at least the terms are considered as identical in their signification by the authors of the British Dispensatories. The oils of the two plants, however, are entirely distinct. The sweet marjoram yields when distilled from 2.5 to 6 parts of oil out of 1000 of the plant. This oil is of a lemon-yellow colour, light, and camphorous, and deposiies upon long standing a substance supposed t o b identical with camphor. It is not used in this country. W. OLEUM PIMENTA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Oleum Volatile Myrti Pimenta. Ed. Oil of Pimento. The berries yield from 1 to 4 per cent, of oil, which, as found in the shops, has a brownish-red colour, and the odour and taste ol'pimento, though warmer 9S2 Olea Destillata. part ii. and more pungent. It is said, when freshly distilled, to be colourless or yellowish. Nitric acid reddens it. Bonastre states that it combines with salifiable bases like the oil of cloves. Its sp. gr. is 1.021. It may be given for the same purposes with the other aromatic stimulant oils. The dose is from three to six drops. Off. Prep. Aqua Pimentae, Lond. Emplastrum Aromaticum, Dub. W. OLEUM ROSMARINI. U.S. Lond. Oleum Volatile Roris- marini Officinalis. Ed. Oleum Rorismarini. Dub. Oil of Rose- mary. The fresh leaves of rosemary yield, according to Baume, 26 per cent, of oil; but the product is stated very differently by different authors. This oil is colourless, with an odour similar to that of the plant, though less agreeable. Its sp. gr. is 0.911, but is reduced to 0.8886 by rectification. It is soluble in all proportions in alcohol of 0.830; but requires for solution at 64°, forty parts of alcohol of the sp. gr. 0.887. (Berzelius). Kept in bottles imperfectly stopped, it deposites a stearoptene, which is considered identical with cam- phor, and the proportion of which, according to Proust, amounts sometimes to one-tenth of the oil. Buchholz states that it affords camphor when digested with from one half its weight to an equal weight of potassa, and distilled. It is said to be sometimes adulterated with the oil of turpentine, which may be detected by mixing the suspected liquid with an equal volume of pure alco- hol. The oil of rosemary is dissolved, and that of turpentine left. This oil is possessed of stimulant properties, but is employed chiefly as an ingredient of rubefacient liniments. The dose is from three to six drops. Off.Prep. Alcohol Ammoniatum Aromaticum, U.S., Ed.; Linimentum Saponis Camphoratum, U.S.; Spiritus Rosmarini, U.S., Lond., Dub.; Tinc- tura Saponis Camphorata, U.S., Ed.; Tinctura Saponis et Opii, Ed. W. OLEUM RUTA. Dub. Oil of Rue. Rue yields a very small proportion of a yellow or greenish oil, which becomes brown with age. It has the strong unpleasant odour of the plant, and an acrid taste. According to Dr. A. Thomson it congeals at 40°, but Dr. Mont- gomery found it to remain liquid at 28° F. It is stimulant and supposed to be antispasmodic; and has been given in hysteria, convulsions, and amenorrhcea. The dose is from two to five drops. W. OLEUM SABINA. Dub. Oleum Volatile Juniperi Sari- na. Ed. Oil of Savine. Savine is very aoundant in volatile oil. The fresh leaves yield, according to Hoffman and Murray, between 15 and 16 per cent., the dried are much less productive. The oil is yellow, limpid, light, strongly odorous, and of an exceedingly acrid taste. It is stimulant, emmenagogue, and actively rube- facient; and may be given for the same purposes as the plant in substance. It has been much employed empirically in amenorrhcea, and with a view to produce abortion, and in some instances with fatal effects. The dose is from two to five drops. W. OLEUM SAMBUCI. Lond. Oil of Elder Flowers. Elder flowers yield but a very small proportion of volatile oil, which is of a butyraceous consistence when cold, and scarcely deserves a place in the Pharmacopoeia. Off.Prep. Aqua Sambuci, Lond. OLEUM SASSAFRAS. U.S., Dub. Oleum Volatile Lauri Sassafras. Ed. Oil of Sassafras. part ii. Olea Destillata. 983 The proportion of oil yielded by the root of sassafras is variously stated from 1.25 to 2 per cent. The bark of the root, directed by the U.S. Phar- macopoeia, would afford a larger quantity. The oil is of a yellow colour, be- coming reddish by age. It has the fragrant odour of sassafras, with a warm pungent aromatic taste. It is among the heaviest of the volatile oils, having the sp. gr. 1.094. According to Bonastre, it separates, by agitation with water, into two oils, one lighter, the other heavier than water. Berzelius states that the first is often nothing more than oil of turpentine existing as an adulteration in the oil of sassafras. Nitric acid colours it red, and fuming ni- tric acid inflames it more readily than most other oils. It has the useful pro- perty of dissolving caoutchouc. When kept for a long time it deposites trans- parent crystals, having the same odour as the liquid oil. It is stimulant, car- minative, and supposed to be diaphoretic; and may be employed for the same purposes with the bark from which it is derived. The dose is from two to ten drops. Off.Prep. Syrupus Sarsaparillae, U.S. W. OLEUM SUCCINI. U.S., Ed., Dub. Oil of Amber. " Take of Amber, in powder, any quantify. Put the Amber, previously mixed with an equal weight of sand, into a glass retort, which is to be only half filled; then distil, by means of a sand-bath, with a gradually increasing heat, an acid liquor, an oil, and a concrete acid impregnated with oil. Sepa- rate the oil from the other matters, and preserve it in well stopped bottles." U.S. The unrectified oil of amber is not among the preparations directed by the London College. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges obtain it by the same process by which they procure succinic acid. (See Acidum Succi- nicum.) The amber in this process undergoes decomposition, and affords, among other products, an empyreumatic oil which floats in the receiver upon the sur- face of an acid liquor. The heat requisite for the complete decomposition of the amber cannot be supported by a glass retort; and in order that all the oil which it is capable of yielding may be collected, the distillation should be performed in a tubulated iron or earthenware retort, which may be placed immediately upon the fire. The sand is added to prevent the amber from swelling too much. The oil may be separated from the acid liquor by means of the separating funnel. As first procured, it is a thick, very dark coloured liquid, of a peculiar strong empyreumatic odour. In this state it is occasion- ally employed as a liniment; but for internal use it should always be recti- fied. W. OLEUM SUCCINI RECTIFICATUM. U.S. Dub. Oleum Succini. Lond. Oleum Succini Purissimum. Ed. Rectified Oil of Amber. " Take of Oil of Amber a pint; Water six pints. Distil them from a glass retort, till four pints of the Water shall have passed over into the re- ceiver; then separate from the Water the Oil which has been distilled, and preserve it in well-stopped bottles." U. S. The Edinburgh College employs one part of oil of amber and six of water; the Dublin, a pound of the former and six pints of the latter; both distil until two-thirds of the water has passed into the receiver, and then separate the oil. " Put amber into an alembic, and distil from a sand-bath, with a heat gra- 984 Olea Destillata. PART ii. dually increased, an acid liquor, an oil, and a salt contaminated with oil; then distil the oil a second and a third time." Lond. By successive distillations the oil of amber is rendered thinner and more limpid, till at length it is obtained colourless. The first portions which dis- til are less coloured than those which follow, and may be separated for keep- ing, while the remainder is submitted to another distillation. For practical purposes, however, the oil is sufficiently pure when once redistilled, as di- rected in the processes of the U.S., Edinburgh, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias. As usually found in the shops, the rectified oil is of a light yellowish-brown or amber colour. When quite pure it is colourless, as fluid as alcohol, of the sp. gr. 0.758 at 75°, and boils at 186°. It has a strong, peculiar, unpleasant odour, and a hot, acrid taste. It imparts these properties in some degree to water without being perceptibly dissolved. It is soluble in eight parts of alcohol of the sp. gr. 0.847 at 55°, in five parts of the sp. gr. 0.825, and in all proportions in absolute alcohol. The fixed oils unite with it. On expo- sure to the light and air, it slowly changes in colour and consistence, becom- ing ultimately black and solid. Medical Properties and Uses. Rectified oil of amber is stimulant and an- tispasmodic; and occasionally promotes the secretions, particularly that of urine. It has been employed with,advantage in amenorrhcea, and in various spasmodic and convulsive affections, as tetanus, epilepsy, hysteria, hooping cough, and infantile convulsions from intestinal irritation, &c. The dose is from five to fifteen drops, diffused in some aromatic water by means of sugar and gum "Arabic. Externally applied, the oil is rubefacient, and is considera- bly employed as a liniment in chronic rheumatism and palsy, and in certain spasmodic disorders, as hooping cough and infantile convulsions. In the lat- ter affection it should be rubbed along the spine, and is highly recommended by Dr. Parrish of Philadelphia, mixed with an equal measure of laudanum and diluted with three or four parts of olive oil and of brandy. Off.Prep. Tinctura Ammoniae Composita. Lond. W. OLEUM TEREBINTHINA RECT1FICATUM. Lond., Dub. Oleum Volatile Pini Purissimum. Ed. Rectified Oil of Tur- pentine. " Take of Oil of Turpentine a pint; Water four pints. Carefully distil the Oil." Lond. " Take of Oil of Turpentine one part; Water four parts. Distil as long as any Oil comes over." Ed. " Take of Oil of Turpentine two pints; Water four pints. Distil a pint and a half of the Oil." Dub. The oil of Turpentine becomes impure by exposure, in consequence of the absorption of oxygen and the production of resin. From this it may be freed by distillation, as above directed, or by the agency of alcohol. (See Oleum Terebinthinae.) The process for distilling it is attended with some inconvenience, in consequence of the great inflammability of the vapour, and its rapid formation, which causes the liquid to boil over. In this coun- try, the apothecary can almost always purchase the oil sufficiently pure for medical use without the necessity of rectifying it. The presence of a small proportion of resin does not interfere with its efficiency as a medi- cine. W. PART II. Pilulae. 985 PILULE. Pills. These are small globular masses of a size convenient for swallowing. They are well adapted for the administration of medicines which are un- pleasant to the taste or smell, or insoluble in water, and do not require to be given in large doses. Deliquescent substances should not be made into pills, and those which are efflorescent should be previously deprived of their water of crystallization. Care should also be taken not to combine materials, the mutual reaction of which may result in a change of form. Some substances have a consistence which enables them to be made im- mediately into pills. Such are the softer extracts and certain gum-resins; and the addition of a little water to the former, and a few drops of spirit to the latter, will give them the requisite softness and plasticity, if previously wanting. Substances which are very soft, or in the liquid state, are formed into the pilular mass by incorporation with dry and inert powders, such as crumb of bread, wheat flour, starch, and powdered gum Arabic. Powders must be mixed with soft solid bodies, as extracts, confections, soap, &c, or wiih tenacious liquids, as syrup, molasses, honey, or mucilage. Heavy metallic powders are most conveniently made into pills with the former; light vegetable powders with the latter. Mucilage is very often used; but pills made with it are apt when kept to become hard and of difficult solu- bility in the liquors of the stomach, and if metallic substances are mixed with it, the mass does not work well. A mixture of syrup and powdered gum Arabic is not subject to the same inconveniences, and is an excellent material for the formation of pills. Many powders require only the addi- tion of water. Such are all those which contain ingredients capable of forming an adhesive or viscid solution with this liquid. Care should always be observed, that the matter added be not incompatible with the main ingredients of the pill. The materials should be accurately mixed together, and beat in a mortar till formed into a perfectly uniform and plastic mass. This should be of such a consistence, that the pills may preserve their form without being so hard as to resist the solvent power of the gastric liquors. As pills often be- come very hard by time, it is convenient, in some instances, to keep the mass in a state fit to be divided when wanted for use. This may be done by wrapping it in bladders, putting it in covered pots, and occasionally moist- ening it as it becomes dry. The mass, having been duly prepared, is made into pills by rolling it with a spatula into a cylinder of precisely the same thickness throughout, and of a length corresponding to the number of pills required. It is then divided as equally as possible by the hand, or more accurately by a ma- chine made for the purpose. The pills receive a spherical form by being rolled between the fingers. In order to prevent their adhesion to one ano- ther, or to the sides of the vessel in which they may be placed, it is cus- tomary to agitate them with some dry powder, which gives them an exter- nal coating, that serves also to conceal their taste. For this purpose, carbonate of magnesia, starch, or powdered liquorice root may be used. Carbonate of magnesia is sometimes incompatible with one of the ingre- dients of the pills, starch is almost too light, and liquorice root will, as a gene- ral rule, be found the best. The powder of Lycopodium is much employed 84 986 Pilulae. part li- on the continent of Europe; and it was formerly the custom to give the pill a coating of gold or silver leaf. It has recently been proposed by M. Garot to cover pills with gelatin, which answers the purpose of concealing their taste, without interfering with their solubility in the stomach. He dips each pill, sustained on the point of a pin, into melted gelatin, withdraws it with a rotary motion, then fixes the pin in a paste so as to allow the coating to dry in the air, and havin^ prepared about fifty pills in this way, proceeds to complete the ope- ration by holding the pin in the flame of a taper so as to melt the gelatin near its point, and then withdrawing it from the pill so as to close up the orifice. The purest glue should be selected for this purpose, melted with the addition of two or three drachms of water to an ounce of the glue, and kept in the liquid state by means of a salt-bath. (See Amer. Journ. of Pharm. x. 229.) Though the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, in every instance, orders the mass to be divided into pills; yet it should be understood rather as indicating the number of pills to be made from a certain quantity of the mass when parti- cular directions are not given by the physician, than as requiring the divi- sion to be made immediately after the materials have been mixed. It will generally be found convenient by the apothecary to keep a portion of the mass undivided. W. PILULA ALOES. U.S. Pilula Aloetica. Ed. Aloetic Pills. " Take of Aloes, in powder, Soap, each, an ounce. Beat them with water so as to form a mass, to be divided into two hundred and forty pills." U.S. The Edinburgh College directs equal quantities of aloes and soap to be beat with simple syrup into a mass fit for forming pills. The soap, in this formula, not only serves to impart a proper pilular con- sistence to the aloes, but is thought to qualify its operation, and diminish its liability to irritate the rectum. Five pills, containing ten grains of aloes, may be given with a view to their purgative effect; but the preparation is usually employed as a laxative in cases of habitual costiveness, in the quan- tity of one, two, or three pills, taken before breakfast, before dinner, or at bedtime. W. PILULA ALOES COMPOSITA. Lond., Dub. Compound Pills of Aloes. " Take of Aloes [Hepatic Aloes, Dub.], in powder, an ounce; Extract of Gentian half an ounce; Oil of Caraway forty minims; Syrup a suffi- cient quantity. Beat them together, till they are thoroughly incorporated." Lond., Dub. A reaction takes place between the aloes and extract of gentian when rubbed together, which renders the mass so soft as sometimes to require the addition of a light powder. The use of syrup is therefore unnecessary and improper. This combination is well adapted as a laxative to the costive- ness of sedentary and dyspeptic persons. The dose is from five to twenty grains, according to the degree of effect desired.* W. * The following is the formula for the aloetic pills usually called dinner pills, or Lady Webster''spills. They are the pilula stomachicce of the fifth edition of the Paris Codex, A. D. 1758. Take of the best Aloes six drachms; Mastich and Red Roses, each, two drachms; Syrup of Wormwood sufficient to form a mass, to be divided into pills of three grains each. Common syrup may be substituted for the syrup of wormwood. One or two of these pills taken shortly before a meal, will usually produce one free evacuation. The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy has adopted formulae for the compound aloetic PART II. Pilulse. 987 PILULA ALOES ET ASSAFCETIDA. U.S., Ed. Pills of Aloes and Assafetida. " Take of Aloes, in powder, Assafetida, Soap, each, half an ounce. Beat them with water so as to form a mass, to be divided into one hundred and eighty pills. U.S. The Edinburgh College takes equal parts of Socotrine aloes, assafetida, and soap, and beats them into a mass with mucilage of gum Arabic. These pills are peculiarly adapted, by the stimulant and carminative pro- perties of the assafetida, to cases of costiveness attended with flatulence and debility of the digestive organs. Each pill contains about four grains of the mass. From two to five may be given for a dose. W. PILULA ALOES ET MYRRHA. U.S., Ed. Pilula Aloes cum Myrrha. Lond., Dub. Pills of Aloes and Myrrh. " Take of Aloes, in powder, two ounces; Myrrh, in powder, an ounce; Saffron half an ounce; Syrup a sufficient quantity. Beat the whole together so as to form a mass, to be divided into four hundred and eighty pills." U.S. The directions of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia correspond with the above, Socotrine aloes being particularly indicated. Those of the London and Dublin Pharmacopoeias differ only in the proportion of saffron, which is doubled. The Dublin College directs hepatic aloes. This composition has been long in use, and is generally known by the name of Rufus's pills. It is employed as a warm stimulant cathartic in debilitated states of the system, attended with constipation and retention or suppression of the menses. From three to six pills, or from ten to twenty grains of the mass may be given for a dose. W. PILULA AMMONIARETI CUPRI, Ed. Pills of Ammoni- aret of Copper. " Take of Ammoniaret of Copper, in fine powder, sixteen grains; Crumb of Bread four scruples; Water of Carbonate of Ammonia a sufficient quan- tity. Beat them into a mass, to be divided into thirty-two equal pills. Ed. This is a convenient form for administering ammoniated copper. One pill, containing half a grain of the preparation of copper, may be given night and morning; and the dose gradually increased to five or six pills. W. PILULA ASSAFCETIDA. U.S. Assafetida Pills. " Take of Assafetida an ounce and a half; Soap half an ounce. Beat them with water so as to form a mass, to be divided into two hundred and forty pills." U.S. Each of these pills contains three grains of the gum-resin. They are a very convenient form for administering assafetida, the unpleasant odour and taste of which render it very offensive in the liquid state. W. preparations commonly called Hooper's and Anderson's pills, of which the following are copies. " Hooper's female pills. R Aloes Barbadensis §viij., Ferri Sulphatis Exsiccatigij., giss., vel Ferri Sulphatis Crystal, ^iv., Extracti Hellebori Nigri gij., Myrrhee, !|ij., Saponis gij., Canellse in pulv. tritoe ^j., Zingiberis in pulv. trit. §j.—Beat them well together into a mass with water, and divide into pills, each containing two and a half grains." Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. v. 25. " Anderson's Scots' Pills. R Aloes Barbadensis §xxiv., Saponis giv., Colocynthidis ^j., Gambogioe ^j., Olei Anisi f§ss. Let the aloes, colocynth, and gamboge be reduced to a very fine powder; then beat them and the soap with water into a mass, of a proper con- sistence to divide into pills, each containing three grains." Ibid. 988 Pilulas. PART II. PILULA CATHARTICA COMPOSITA. U.S. Compound Cathartic Pills. " Take of Compound Extract of Colocynth half an ounce; Extract of Jalap, in powder, Mild Chloride of Mercury [Calomel], each, three drachms; Gamboge, in powder, two scruples. Mix the powders togeiher; then with water form them into a mass, which is to be beat with the Extract of Colocynth, and divided into one hundred and eighty pills." U.S. This cathartic compound was first made officinal in the last edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. It was intended to combine smallness of bulk with efficiency and comparative mildness of purgative action, and a peculiar tendency to the biliary organs. Such an officinal preparation was much wanted in this country, in which bilious fevers, and other complaints attended with congestion of the liver and portal circle generally, so much abound. The object.of smallness of bulk was accomplished by employing extracts and the more energetic cathartics; that of a peculiar tendency to the liver, by the use of calomel; and that of efficiency with mildness of operation, by the union of several powerful purgatives. It is a fact abundantly proved by experience, that drastic cathartics become milder by combination, without losing any of their purgative power. Nor is it difficult, in this case, to re- concile the result of observation with physiological principles. Cathartic medicines act on different parts of the alimentary canal and organs secreting into it. In small doses, both the irritation which they occasion and their purgative effect are proportionably lessened. If several are administered at the same time, each in a diminished dose, it is obvious that the combined purgative effect of all will be experienced, while the irritation, being feeble in each part affected, and diffused over a larger space, will be less sensible to the patient, and will more readily subside. In the compound cathartic pills, most of the active purgatives in common use are associated together in proportions corresponding to their respective doses, so that an excess of any one ingredient is guarded against, and violent irritation from this cause pre- vented. The name of the preparation may at first sight seem objectionable, as it might be applied to any compound pills possessing cathartic properties; but when it is considered that the ingredients cannot all be expressed in the title, and no one is sufficiently prominent to give a designation to the whole, and that the preparation is intended as the representative of numerous cathar- tics, and calculated for a wide range of application, the name will not be considered an inexcusable deviation from ordinary medical nomenclature. Three of the pills, containing 10§ grains of the mass, are a dose for an adult. In this quantity are four grains of compound extract of colocynth, three of extract of jalap, three of calomel, and two-thirds of a grain of gam- boge. A single pill will generally be found to operate as a mild laxative. In a full dose, the preparation acts vigorously on the bowels, producing bilious stools, generally without much pain or disorder of the stomach. It may be employed in most instances where a brisk cathartic is required; but is particularly applicable to the early stages of bilious fevers, to hepatitis, jaundice, and all those derangements of the alimentary canal or of the general health which depend on congestion of the portal circle. VV. PILULA COLOCYNTHIDIS COMPOSITA. Ed., Dub. Com- pound Pills of Colocynth. " Take of Socotrine Aloes, Scammony, each, eight parts; Pulp of Colo- cynth four parts; Oil of Cloves, Sulphate of Potassa, each, one part. Re- duce the Aloes and Scammony, with the Sulphate, to powder; then mix in It . Pilulae. 989 the Colocynth rubbed to a very fine powder, and the Oil; lastly, beat the whole into a proper mass with Mucilage of Gum Arabic." Ed. " Take of Hepatic Aloes, Scammony, each, an ounce; Pulp of Colocynth half an ounce; Castile Soap two drachms; Sulphate of Potassa, Oil of Cloves, each, a drachm; Molasses a sufficient quantity. Reduce the Aloes and Scammony to powder with the Sulphate of Potassa; then mix the Pulp of Colocynth and the Oil, and lastly, rub all together into a mass with the Soap and Molasses." Dub. The sulphate of potassa, in these formulas, is intended to promote the more complete division of the aloes and scammony. The preparation is actively cathartic in the dose of from eight to sixteen grains. W. PILULA CONII COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Pills of Hemlock. " Take of Extract of Hemlock five drachms; Ipecacuanha, in powder, a drachm; Mixture [Mucilage] of Gum Arabic a sufficient quantity. Beat them together until they are incorporated." Lond. An anodyne and expectorant combination useful in chronic bronchial dis- eases. The dose is five grains three times a day. PILULA COPAIBA. U.S. Pills of Copaiba. "Take of Copaiba two ounces; Magnesia, recently prepared, a drachm. Mix them, and set the mixture aside till it concretes into a pilular mass, which is to be divided into two hundred pills. U.S. When copaiba is mixed with pure magnesia, it gradually loses its fluid consistence, forming at first a soft tenacious mass, and ultimately becoming dry, hard, and brittle. The quantity of magnesia, and the length of time requisite for the production of this change, vary with the condition of the copaiba, being greater in proportion to the fluidity of this substance, or, in other words, to the amount of volatile oil which it contains. The quantity of magnesia directed by the Pharmacopoeia, one-sixteenth of the weight of the copaiba, is sufficient to solidify the latter, as it is often found in the shops, in the course of six or eight hours; but when the copaiba is fresh, or has been kept in closely stopped bottles, and retains, therefore, nearly the whole of its volatile oil, it is necessary either to augment the proportion of magne- sia, or to expose the mixture for a much longer time, or to diminish the volatile oil of the copaiba by evaporation. According to M. Faure, the mag- nesia combines chemically with the resin, but, in relation to the volatile oil, acts merely as an absorbent; for when the solidified mass is submitted to the action of boiling alcohol, a part is dissolved, abandoning the magnesia with which it was mixed, while the resin combined with another portion of the earth remains undissolved. (Journ. de Pharm. xvii. 105.) In the pre- paration of the pills, care should be taken to divide the mass before it has become too hard. The advantage of this preparation is, that the copaiba is brought to the state of pill with little increase of its bulk. Each pill contains nearly five •rrains of copaiba, and from two to six may be taken for a dose twice or three times a day. W. PILULA FERRI COMPOSITA. U.S., Lond, Dub. Com- pound Pit Is of Iron. " Take of Myrrh, in powder, two drachms; Carbonate of Soda, Sulphate of Iron, each, a drachm; Syrup a sufficient quantity. Rub the Myrrh with the Carbonate of Soda; then add the Sulphate of Iron, and again rub them; 84* 990 Pilulse. PART II. lastly, beat them with the Syrup so as to form a mass, to be divided into eighty pills." U.S. The directions of the British Colleges are essentially the same as the above. The London College orders a drachm of molasses, the Dublin, a drachm of brown sugar, instead of the syrup. With brown su»ar alone, the reaction of the materials in our climate does not always produce sufficient moisture to give the mass a pilular consistence. The direction for dividing the mass into pills is peculiar to our Pharmacopoeia. This preparation is closely analogous to the Mistura Ferri Composita in properties and composition. It is a good emmenagogue and antiheclic tonic. As its peculiar advantages depend upon the presence of protocarbonate of iron, which speedily changes into the sesquioxide on exposure, it is proper that only so much of the mass should be prepared as may be wanted for im- mediate use. From two to six pills may be given at a dose, three times a day. w> PILULA GALBANI COMPOSITA. Lond., Dub. Pilula AssjEFfETiDA Composite. Ed. Compound Pills of Galbanum. "Take of Galbanum an ounce; Myrrh, Sagapenum, each, an ounce and a half; Assafetida half an ounce; Syrup a sufficient quantity. Beat them together till they are thoroughly incorporated." Lond. The Dublin College gives the same directions, substituting molasses for the syrup. The Edinburgh College takes of assafetida, galbanum, and myrrh, each, eight parts, and of rectified oil of amber one part; and beats them into a mass with simple syrup. This compound is given as an antispasmodic and emmenagogue in chlo- rosis and hysteria. The dose is from ten to twenty grains. W. PILULA GAMBOGIA COMPOSITA. Ed., Dub. Pilula Camrogia Composita. Lond. Compound Pills of Gamboge. " Take of Gamboge, in powder, a drachm; Aloes, in powder, a drachm and a half; Ginger, in powder, half a drachm; Soap two drachms. Mix the powders together; then add the Soap, and beat the whole together till they are thoroughly incorporated." Lond. The Dublin formula differs from the above only in the use of hepatic instead of Socotrine aloes, and in the addition of molasses to impart more readily the pilular consistence. The Edinburgh College takes of gamboge, Socotrine aloes, and com- pound powder of cinnamon (aromatic powder), each, a drachm, and of soap two drachms; and proceeds in the manner ordered by the London College. This is an active purgative pill; and may be given in the dose of ten or filteen grains. The formula is that of Dr. George Fordyce simplified. W. PILULA HYDRARGYRI. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Mercurial Pills. Blue Pills. " Take of Purified Mercury an ounce; Confection of Roses an ounce and a half; Liquorice Root, in powder, half an ounce. Rub the Mercury with the Confection till all the globules disappear; then add the Liquorice Root and beat the whole into a mass, to be divided into four hundred and eighty pills. U.S. 6 J The process of the London College is the same with the above, one quar- ter only of the quantity of materials being used. The Dublin process dif- lers from the London only in substituting extract of liquorice root for the PART* II. Pilulse. 991 root itself. Neither of these Colleges orders the mass to be divided into pills. "Take of Purified Mercury, Conserve of Red Roses, each, an ounce; Starch two ounces. Triturate the Mercury with the Conserve, in a glass mortar, till the globules disappear, adding occasionally a little Mucilage of Gum Arabic; then add the Starch, and with a little water beat the whole into a mass, to be immediately divided iuto four hundred and eighty equal pills." Ed. This preparation is very generally known by the name of blue pill. Made according to the directions of the U.S., London, and Dublin Pfcirmacopieias, it contains one grain of mercury in three of the mass; according to those of the Edinburgh, one grain in four. As the pill of our Pharmacopoeia con- tains three grains of the mass, and that of the Edinburgh four grains, the two may be considered equivalent, each having one grain of the metal. The condition of the mercury in this preparation is a point which has not yet been satisfactorily determined. There is no doubt that by far the greater portion is in a stale of minute mechanical division, and not chemically altered. Some maintain that the whole of the metal is in this state, others, that a small portion is converted during the trituration into the black or protoxide of mercury, and that this is the ingredient upon which the activity of the pill depends. The oxidation is attributed partly to the influence of the air upon the surface of the metal, greatly extended by the separation of its particles; partly to the action of the substance used in the trituration. All agree that the efficacy of the preparation is proportionate to the extinction of the mercury, in other words, to the degree in which the metallic globules disappear. This extinction may be effected by trituration with various sub- stances; and manna, syrup, honey, liquorice, mucilage, soap, and guaiac have been recommended, among others, for this purpose; but the confection of roses has been adopted in all the Pharmacopoeias, as affording greater facili- ties, and being less liable to objection than any other. The mercury is known to be completely extinguished, when, upon rubbing a small portion of the mass with the end of the finger upon a piece of paper or glass, no metallic globules appear. The powdered liquorice root is added in order to give the due degree of consistence to the mass. The Edinburgh College prefers starch for this purpose, as being less liable to become mouldy when the piils are kept. As the trituration- requires to be continued a considerable length of time, and renders the process very laborious, it is customary in Great Britain to prepare the mass by machinery; and at Apothecaries' Hall, in London, the trituration is effected by the agency of steam. The machine there employed consists of " a circular iron trough for the reception of the materials, in which revolve four wooden cylinders, having also a motion on their axis." The preparation slowly changes colour upon being kept, assuming a somewhat olive tint, in consequence, probably, of the further oxidation of the mercury. Much of the mercurial pill employed in this country is imported from England. It has been proposed to prepare mercitrial pills by rubbing the metal with extract of dandelion, and as the latter is thought to possess useful alterative properties in hepatic disease, the combination may sometimes be usefully employed; but it cannot take the place of the officinal preparation. Medical Properties and Uses. These pills are among the mildest of the mercurial preparations, being less liable than most of the others to act upon the bowels, and exercising the peculiar influence of the remedy upon the system with less general irritation. They are much employed for produ- cing the sialagogue and alterative action of mercury. For the former pur- 992 Pilulas. PART II. pose, one pill may be given two or three times a day; and if the case be ur- gent, the dose may be increased. Even this preparation sometimes disturbs the bowels. It should then be given combined with a small proportion of opium, or in very minute doses, as half a grain or a grain of the mass repeat- ed every hour or two through the day, so as to allow of its absorption before a sufficient quantity has been administerred to act as an irritant. With a view to the alterative effect of the preparation upon the digestive organs, one pill may be given every night, or every other night, at bedtime, and fol- lowed in the morning, if the bowels should not be opened, by a small dose of some laxative medicine. The blue mass may frequently be administered with advantage, suspended in water by the intervention of thick mucilage; and it forms an excellent addition to the chalk mixture in diarrhoea, particu- larly that of children, when the biliary secretion is deficient, or otherwise deranged. W. PILULA HYDRARGYRI CHLORIDI MITIS. U. S. Pills of Mild Chloride of Mercury. Calomel Pills. " Take of Mild Chloride of Mercury [Calomel] half an ounce; Gum Arabic, in powder, a drachm; Syrup a sufficient quantity. Mix together the Chloride of Mercury and the Gum; then beat them with the syrup so as to form a mass, to be divided into two hundred and forty pills." U. S. This is a convenient form for administering calomel, of which one grain is contained in each pill. Soap, which was directed in the preparation of this pill in the first edition of the Pharmacopoeia, is objectionable on account of its chemical incompatibility with calomel. Mucilage of gum Arabic alone does not form a sufficiently plastic mass; but gum and syrup united, as in the officinal formula, answer admirably well, forming a mass which is easily made into pills, and which readily yields to the solvent power of the stomach. W. PILULA HYDRARGYRI CHLORIDI COMPOSITA. Lond. PlLULA SUE-MURIATIS HrDRARGYRI COMPOSITA. Ed. PlLULA Calomelanos Composita. Dub. Compound Pills of Chloride of Mercury. Compound Calomel Pills. " Take of Chloride of Mercury, [Calomel], Oxysulphuret of Antimony, each, two drachms; Guaiacum resin, in powder, half an ounce; Molasses two drachms. Rub the Chloride of Mercury with the Oxysulphuret of Anti- mony; then with the Guaiacum resin and Molasses so that they may be in- corporated." Lond. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges agree with the above proportions, but employ only half the quantity of materials, and, for the half drachm of rectified spirit, substitute—the former, a sufficient quantity of mucilage of gum Arabic, the latter, of molasses. We prefer the name " Compound Calomel Pills" of the Dublin Pharma- copoeia; as, though not scientific, it is not, like the Edinburgh name, chemi- cally incorrect; nor, like the London, liable to be confounded with that of corrosive sublimate. The preparation was originally introduced to the no- tice of the profession by Dr. Plummer, who found it useful as an alterative, and upon whose authority it was at one time much employed under the name of Plummets Pills. The combination is well adapted to the treatment of chronic rheumatism, and of scaly and other eruptive diseases of the skin, especially when accompanied with a syphilitic taint. Four grains of the mass contain about one grain of calomel. From three to six grains or more may be given morning and evening. W. PART II. Pilulae. 993 PILULA HYDRARGYRI IODIDI. Lond. Pills of Iodide of Mercury. " Take of Iodide of Mercury a drachm; Confection of the Dog-Rose three drachms; Ginger, in powder, a drachm. Beat them together until ihey are incorporated." Lond. The dose of this preparation is from five to ten grains. W. PILULA IPECACUANHA COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Pills of Ipecacuanha. " Take of Compound Powder of Ipecacuanha three drachms; Squill, recently dried, Ammoniac, each, a drachm; Mixture [Mucilage] of Gum Arabic a sufficient quantity. Beat them together until they are incorpo- rated." Lond. An anodyne somewhat stimulant and expectorant combination, applicable to cases of chronic bronchial disease. The dose is from five to ten grains. W. PILULA OPII. U.S. Pilula Saponis Composita. Lond. Pi- lula Saponis cum Opio. Dub. Pilula Opiata. Ed. Pills of Opium. " Take of Opium, in powder, a drachm; Soap twelve grains. Beat them with water so as to form a mass, to be divided into sixty pills." U.S. The London and Dublin Colleges direct half an ounce of opium and two ounces of hard soap, to be beat together till thoroughly incorporated. The Edinburgh College takes one part of opium, seven parts of extract of liquorice, and two parts of pimento; and having beat the opium and soap into a pulp, adds the pimento, previously powdered, and forms the whole into a mass. The object of these preparations is different. The process of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia is designed merely to furnish a convenient formula for put- ting opium into the pilular form, preferable to the mode sometimes practised of making the pills directly from the unpowdered mass of opium as found in commerce. The soap answers no other purpose than to give a due con- sistence, and is therefore in small proportion. Each pill contains a grain of opium. The processes of the British Colleges are designed to afford a preparation, in which the opium, bearing a small proportion to the whole amount of ingredients, may be conveniently administered, by a division of the pilu- lar mass, in small fractions of a grain. The additions in the Edinburgh preparation, while they dilute the opium, serve also to cover its taste. The name adopted by the London College was probably intended to conceal the nature of the preparation from the patient; that of the Dublin College is inap- propriate, as opium, though in small proportion as to quantity, is yet the ingre- dient of greatest importance, and that which gives character to the pill. The London and Dublin preparation contains one grain of opium in five of the mass, lhat of Edinburgh one grain in ten. W. PILULA QUINIA SULPHATIS. U. S. Pills of Sulphate of Quinia. "Take of Sulphate of Quinia, an ounce; Gum Arabic, in powder, two drachms; Syrup a sufficient quantity. Mix together the Sulphate of Qui- nia and the Gum; then beat them with the Syrup so as to form a mass, to be divided into four hundred and eighty pills." U. S. Each pill contains a grain of sulphate of quinia, and twelve are equivalent to an ounce of good Peruvian bark. W . 994 Pilulse. , PART II- PILULA QUINIA SULPHATIS IMPURI. U.S. Pills of Impure Sulphate of Quinia. " Take of Impure Sulphate of Quinia an ounce. Beat it wiih water so as to form a mass, to be divided into two hundred and forty pills." U. S. Each pill contains two grains of the impure sulphate, and may be con- sidered as equivalent in medical power, to one grain of the pure sulphate of quinia. W. PILULA RHEI COMPOSITA. U.S., Lond., Ed. Compound Pills of Rhubarb. " Take of rhubaib, in powder, an ounce; Aloes, in powder, six drachms; Myrrh, in powder, half an ounce; Oil of Peppermint, half a fluidrachm; Syrup of Orange Peel, a sufficient quantity. Beat the whole together so as to form a mass, to be divided into two hundred and forty pills." U. S. The Edinburgh College employs the same ingredients, in the same pro- portions; but specifies the Socotrine aloes as the variety to be used, and does not divide the mass into pills. The London College has adopted this prepa- ration, employing the rhubarb, aloes, and myrrh in the same proportions, and completing the formula by the addition of a drachm of soap, half a fluidrachm of the oil of caraway, and a sufficient quantity of syrup. This is a warm tonic laxative, useful in costiveness with debility of sto- mach. From two to four pills, or from ten to twenty grains of the mass, may be taken twice a day. W. PILULA SAGAPENI COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Pills of Sagapenum. " Take of Sagapenum an ounce; Aloes half a drachm; Syrup of Ginger a sufficient quantity. Beat them together until they are incorporated." Lond. A stimulant, antispasmodic, and laxative preparation, which may be used in cases of flatulent colic, with costiveness, dependent on deficient irrita- bility of the bowels. The dose is from ten to thirty grains. W. PILULA SCILLA COMPOSITA. Lond., Dub. Pilula Scillitica. Ed. Compound Pills of Squill. " Take of recently dried Squill, in powder, a drachm; Ginger, in pow- der, Ammoniac, in powder, each, two drachms; Soap three drachms; Syrup a sufficient quantity. Mix the powders together; then beat them with the Soap, and add Syrup so as to give the proper consistence." Lond. The Dublin College employs the same ingredients, but adds the ammo- niac without previously powdering it, and gives the due consistence by molasses, instead of simple syrup. The Edinburgh College takes of pow- dered squill a scruple, powdered ammoniac, cardamom, and liquorice, each, a drachm; and forms them into a mass with simple syrup. This is a stimulant expectorant compound, depending for its virtues chiefly on the squill, and applicable to the treatment of chronic affections of the bronchial mucous membrane. From five to ten grains may be given three or four times a day. The preparation should be made when wanted for immediate use, as the squill which it contains is liable to be injured by keeping. W. PILULA E STYRACE. Dub. Pilula Styracis Composita. Lond. Storax Pills. "Take of Purified Storax three drachms; Turkey Opium, Saffron, each, a drachm. Beat them together till they are thoroughly mixed." Dub. PART II. Pilulae.—Plumbum. 995 The London College has introduced this preparation into the Pharmaco- poeia for 1836, with merely verbal alterations. In these pills the storax and saffron are added merely to conceal the taste and smell of the opium, as the name of the pills is intended to conceal their real character. This contrivance is esteemed necessary; as some individuals have a prejudice against the use of opium, which reason cannot overcome. Five grains of the mass contain a grain of opium. W. PILULA SUB-CARBONATIS SODA. Ed. Pills of Subcar- bonate of Soda. " Take of Dried Sub-Carbonate of Soda [carbonate of soda] four parts; Hard Soap three parts. Beat them into a mass with Simple Syrup." Ed. The carbonate of soda being efflorescent, should always be deprived of its water of crystallization before being made into pills. This form of ad- ministering it may sometimes be advantageously resorted to, when the palate or stomach rejects the solution. W. PILULA SULPHATIS FERRI COMPOSITA. Ed. Com- pound Pills of Sulphate of Iron. " Take of Sulphate of Iron, in powder an ounce; Extract of Chamomile an ounce and a half; Oil of Peppermint a drachm. Beat them into a mass with Simple Syrup." Ed. This is a good tonic pill, applicable to most complaints in which chaly- beates are administered. The sulphate should be dried before being used. About two grains of the salt are contained in a pill of five grains. W. PLUMBUM. Preparations of Lead. LIQUOR PLUMBI SUBACETATIS. U.S. Liquor Plumbi Diacetatis. Lond. Plumbi Subacetatis Liquor. Dub. Solu- tion of Subacetate of Lead. " Take of Acetate of Lead, Semivitrified Oxide of Lead, each, eight ounces; Distilled Water two pints. Mix in a glass vessel, and boil for twenty minutes; then filter through paper." U.S. " Take of Acetate of Lead two pounds and three ounces; Oxide of Lead E Litharge], rubbed into powder, a pound and four ounces; Water six pints Imperial measure]. Boil for half an hour, occasionally stirring, and when the solution has cooled, add enough Distilled Water to make it fill six pints; lastly filter." Lond. " Take of Semivitrified Oxide of Lead one part; Distilled Vinegar twelve parts. Boil together in a glass vessel until eleven parts of the fluid remain, then let the liquor rest, and when the impurities have subsided, let it be fil- tered." Dub. Crystallized acetate of lead consists of one equivalent of acetic acid 51.48, one of protoxide of lead 111.6, and three of water 27= 190.08. Litharge as usually found in the shops is an impure protoxide of lead. When a solu- tion of the former is boiled with the latter, a large quantity of the protoxide is dissolved, and a subacetate of lead is formed which remains in solution. The precise composition of the subacetate varies with the proportions of 996 Plumbum. PART II. acetate of lead and of litharge employed. When the quantity of the latter exceeds that of the former by one-half or more, the acetic acid of the acetate unites, according to the highest chemical authorities, with two additional equivalents of protoxide, forming a trisacetate; when the two substances are nVixed in proportions corresponding to their equivalent numbers, that is, in the proportion of 190.08 of salt to 111.6 of oxide, or 10 to 6 nearly, only one additional equivalent of protoxide unites with the acid, and a diacetate of lead, according to Dr. Thomson, is produced. As the quantity of litharge directed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia is intermediate between these proportions, it is probable that the solution which results contains both the diacetate and tris- acetate. The litharge should be employed in the state of very fine powder, and, according to Thenard, should be previously calcined in order to decom- pose the carbonate of lead, which it always contains in greater or less pro- portion, and which is not dissolved by the solution of the acetate. We have found by experiment, that the solution is diminished about four fluidounces by the boiling, and that when prepared it has the sp. gr. 1.285 at 60°. The London College, which formerly prepared this solution by boiling together vinegar and litharge, has in the last edition of its Pharmacopoeia, adopted a process analogous to that of our national standard—using the acetate of lead and litharge in such proportions as to form a solution of the diacetate. The sp. gr. of the London solution is 1.260. The process of the Dublin College also results in the production of a subacetate of lead, one equivalent of the acetic acid of the vinegar combin- ing directly with two equivalents of the protoxide of the litharge, to form a diacetate. That a trisacetate is not produced may be inferred from the fact ascertained by Dr. Barker, lhat distilled vinegar dissolves only about one- twelfth of its weight of the litharge, which is not nearly sufficient to afford three equivalents of protoxide to one of the acid. Besides, according to Phillips and Duncan, the resulting salt has been proved by the analysis of Dr. Bostock to be composed of one equivalent of acid and two of base. The strength of the solution necessarily varies with the strength of the vinegar, and this is an objection against the Dublin process, to which the others are not equally liable. We are told by Phillips, that the sp. gr. of the solution prepared with distilled vinegar of 1.007 is 1.220, with that of 1.009 is 1.309; while Dr. Barker states the specific gravity of the saturated solution prepared by himself with distilled vinegar, to be only 1.118 at 68°. Common vinegar yields a dark brown solution, and is therefore not em- ployed. ■Properties. The solution of subacetate of lead of the U.S. and London Pharmacopoeias is colourless, that of the Dublin College has a pale greenish- straw colour, arising from impurities in the distilled vinegar. Its taste is sweetish and astringent. When concentrated by evaporation, it deposites on cooling crystalline plates, which, according to Dr. Barker, are flat rhom- boidal prisms with dihedral summits. It has an alkaline reaction, tinging the syrup of violets green, and reddening turmeric paper. One of its most striking properties is the extreme facility with which it is decomposed. Carbonic acid throws down a white precipitate of carbonate of lead, and this happens by mere exposure to the air, or by mixture even with distilled water, if this has had an opportunity of absorbing carbonic acid from the atmosphere. It affords precipitates also with the alkalies, alkaline earths, and their carbonates, with sulphuric and muriatic acids free or combined, with hydrosulphuric acid and the hydrosulphates, and, according to The- nard, with solutions of all the neutral salts. Solutions of gum, tannin, most vegetable colouring principles, and many animal substances, produce PART II. Plumbum. 997 with it precipitates consisting of the substance added and oxide of lead. It should be kept in well stopped bottles. Medical Properties and Uses. This solution is astringent and sedative; but is employed only as an external application. It is highly useful in inflammation arising from sprains, bruises, burns, blisters, &c, to which it is applied by means of linen cloths, which should be removed as fast as they become dry. It always, however, requires to be diluted. From four fluidrachms to a fluidounce, added to a pint of distilled water, forms a solu- tion sufficiently strong in ordinary cases of external inflammation. When applied to the skin denuded of the cuticle, the solution should be still weaker, as constitutional effects might result from ihe absorption of the lead. Para- lysis is said to have been produced by its local action; but we have not witnessed such an effect. The solution has the common name of Goulard's extract, derived from a surgeon of Montpellier by whom it was introduced into notice. W. LIQUOR PLUMBI SUBACETATIS DILUTUS. U.S. Li- quor Plumbi Diacetatis Dilutus. Lond. Plumbi Subacetatis Liquor Compositus. Dub. Diluted Solution of Subacetate of Lead. Lead-water. " Take of Solution of Subacetate of Lead a fluidrachm; Distilled Water a pint. Mix them." U.S. The London College mixes a fluidrachm and a half of the solution with a pint [Imperial measure] of distilled water, and two fluidrachms of proof spirit. The Dublin process differs from that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia only in adding a fluidrachm of proof spirit to the other ingredients. This preparation is convenient, as in consequence of the subsidence of the carbonate of lead usually formed on the dilution of the strong solution, it enables the apothecary to furnish clear lead-water when it is called for. The strength, however, is hardly sufficient for the ordinary purposes to which lead-water is applied. The old French Codex directed two drachms of the strong solution to a pound of distilled water, and an ounce of alco- hol of 22° Baume; and thus formed the vegeto-mineral water of Goulard. The minute proportion of proof spirit added by the British Colleges can have little sensible effect. W. PLUMBI CHLORIDUM. Lond, Chloride of Lead. " Take of Acetate of Lead nineteen ounces; Boiling Distilled Water three pints [Imperial measure]; Chloride of Sodium six ounces. Dissolve sepa- rately the Acetate of Lead and Chloride of Sodium, the former in three pints of Distilled Water, the latter in one pint of Distilled Water. Then mix the solutions, and wash the precipitate, after it has become cool, with Distilled Water, and dry it." Lond. In this process, a mutual decomposition of the acetate of lead and chlo- ride of sodium takes place, the sodium of the latter changing place with the lead of the former, so as to produce acetate of soda which remains in solu- tion, and chloride of lead which is precipitated. Chloride of lead is soluble in thirty parts of water at 60° and in twenty- two parts at 212°, and from its saturated boiling solution separates in small, brilliant, anhydrous crystals. It is colourless and fusible, and, upon cooling after fusion, assumes a horn-like appearance, from which it has received the name of horn lead. It was introduced into the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia merely as one of the substances employed in die preparation of muriate of morphia. W. 85 998 Plumbum. part ii. PLUMBI IODIDUM. Lond. Iodide of Lead. " Take of Acetate of Lead nine ounces; Iodide of Potassium seven ounces; Distilled Water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Acetate of Lead in six pints of the Water and filter; and to these add the Iodide of Potas- sium previously dissolved in two pints of the Water. Wash the precipitate and dry it." Lond. The acetate of lead, in this process, gives up its metal to the iodine from which it receives the potassium—the operation taking place between single equivalents of the several ingredients. The acetate of potassa thus formed remains in solution, while the iodide of lead is precipitated. In order to prevent the formation of a portion of oxyiodide of lead, which results from the presence of a small quantity of subacetate of lead in the ordinary ace- tate, it is proper to add a little acetic acid to the solution of the latter salt before introducing the iodide of potassium. As produced by the above process, iodide of lead is in the form of a bright yellow powder. It is soluble in 1235 parts of cold water (Soubei- ran Trait, de Pharm.), and is somewhat more soluble in boiling water, which, on cooling, deposites it in minute, shining, yellow, crystalline scales. It melts by heat, and is dissipated in vapours which are at first yellow and ultimately violet. It consists of one equivalent of iodine 126.3, and one of lead 103.6=229.9. Medical Properties and Uses. This compound is supposed to have the resolvent properties of iodine, combined with those which are peculiar to lead, and was at one time recommended in tuberculous diseases, in which, however, it has proved wholly inefficient. It is said to have been usefully employed in the discussion of scrofulous tumours, and other indolent swellings; and for this purpose has been used both internally, and locally in the form of an ointment. The dose is half a grain to be gradually increased. Dr. O'Shaughnessy states that ten grains are borne without inconvenience. Off. Prep. Unguentum Plumbi Iodidi, Lond. W. PLUMBI OXYDUM HYDRATUM. Lond. Hydrated Oxide of Lead. " Take of Solution of Diacetate of Lead six pints; Distilled Water three gallons; Solution of Potassa six pints, or as much as may be required to precipitate the oxide. Mix them, and wash the precipitate with water until nothing alkaline remains." Lond. In this process the potassa takes the acetic acid of the diacetate and sepa- rates the oxide of lead, which becomes a hydrate by uniting with a portion of water at the moment of separation, and, being insoluble, is precipitated in the form of a white powder. It was introduced by the London College into their Pharmacopoeia as one of the substances employed in their pro- cess for preparing sulphate of quinia; but as this process has not been practically adopted, the hydrated oxide of lead may be considered as altoge- ther useless in Pharmacy. W. PART II. Potassa. 999 POTASSA. Preparations of Potassa. LIQUOR POTASSA. U.S., Lond. Aqua Potassa. Ed. Po- tassa Caustic a Aqua. Dub. Solution of Potassa. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa a pound; Lime, fresh burnt, half a pound; Boiling Distilled Water a gallon. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in two pints of the Water, and add the remainder to the Lime. Mix the hot liquors; then set the mixture aside in a covered vessel, and when cold strain it through a cotton cloth. If effervescence be produced upon the addition of a diluted acid, more lime should be added, and the liquor again strained. A pint of this solution should weigh sixteen ounces." U.S. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa^/ifcen ounces; Lime eight ounces; Boil- ing Distilled Water a gallon [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in half a gallon of the VVater. Sprinkle a little of the Water upon the Lime in an earthen vessel, and, the Lime being slacked, add the re- mainder of the Water. The liquors being immediately mixed together in a close vessel, shake them frequently until they are cold. Then set the mixture by, that the carbonate of lime may subside. Lastly, pour off the supernatant liquor, and keep it in a well-stopped green glass bottle." Lond. " Take of recently burnt Lime eight ounces; Sub-Carbonate of Potassa six ounces; Boiling Water twenty-eight ounces. Pour upon the Lime, in an iron or earthen vessel, twenty ounces of the Water. After the ebullition has ceased, immediately add the Salt, dissolved in eight ounces of the Water; and having thoroughly mixed the materials, cover the vessel until they cool. When the mixture has cooled, stir it well, and pour it into a glass funnel, the throat of which is obstructed with a piece of clean linen. Cover the upper orifice of the funnel and insert its tube into another glass vessel, so that the Water of Potassa may gradually drop, through the linen, into the lower vessel. As soon as it ceases to drop, pour into the funnel some ounces of water, but cautiously, so that it may swim above the matter in the funnel. The Water of Potassa will again begin to drop; and the affusion of water is to be repeated in the same manner, until three pounds have dropped, which will happen in the space of two or three days. Then mix the superior and inferior parts of the liquor together by agitation, and keep it in a well stopped bottle." Ed. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa from Pearlash, fresh-burnt Lime, each, two parts; Water fifteen parts. Sprinkle one part of the Water, previously heated, on the Lime, placed in an earthen vessel; and when it is slacked, mix the salt with it immediately, and then add the remainder of the Water. When the mixture has cooled, put it into a well stopped bottle, and shaking it frequently, keep it for three days. When the Carbonate of Lime has sub- sided, decant the supernatant liquor, and keep it in green glass bottles, well stopped. The specific gravity of this solution is 1.080." Dub. The object of these processes is to separate carbonic acid from the carbo- nate of potassa, so as to obtain the alkali in a caustic state. This is effected by hydrate of lime; and the chemical changes which take place are most intelligibly explained by supposing the occurrence of a double decomposition. The lime of the hydrate of lime, by its superior affinity, combines with the carbonic acid, and precipitates as carbonate of lime; while the water of the hydrate unites with the potassa, and remains in solution as the hydrate of 1000 Potassa. part ii. potassa. The proportion indicated by theory for this decomposition would be 69.27 of the carbonate to 28.5 of lime, or one equiv. of each; but in practice it is found necessary to use an excess of lime. In the U.S. formula the alkaline salt is treated with half its weight of lime; in the London, with eight-fifteenths; in the Dublin, with its own weight; and in the Edinburgh, with one and a third times its weight; proportions, the lowest of which ex- ceeds the theoretical quantity. From the experiments of Dr. Barker it ap- pears, that the carbonate of potassa, to be fully decomposed, requires at least five-sixths of its weight of lime, with the aid of a sufficient quantity of water to promote the chemical reaction. Hence it may be inferred, that the me- dium proportion of lime ordered by the Dublin College is the most eligible in practice. The Edinburgh proportion is certainly excessive; and any de- fect in the preparation, arising out of the deficient action of the lime in the U.S. formula, is remedied by the direction to add more lime, in case the solution, at first obtained, should effervesce with acids. The disadvantages of using a large excess of lime are the necessity of employing larger vessels, on account of the bulk of the materials, and the loss of a portion of alkaline solution which is retained by the spongy residuum. The proportion of wa- ter employed has a decided influence on the result. If the water be deficient in quantity, the decomposing power of the lime, on account of its sparing solubility, will be lessened; and more of it will be required to complete the decomposition of the carbonate, than if the solutions had been more dilute. The quantity ordered in the U. S. and London formulae is ample, but is de- ficient in the Edinburgh process. The plan of agitation and decantation, pursued by the London and Dublin Colleges, is better than straining or filtra- tion; as these latter operations give rise to a longer exposure to the air, and consequently increase the liability of the solution to absorb carbonic acid. Filtration, however, may be performed, so as to prevent the contact of any air, except that contained in the filtering apparatus itself, by pursuing the method described at page 726. The direction of the London and Dublin Colleges to keep the solution of potassa in green glass bottles is judicious; as white flint glass is slightly acted on. As the solution of potassa is frequently made by the manufacturing chemist in considerable quantities, the following details as to the best mode, accord- ing to Berzelius, of conducting the process, may not be without their use. Dissolve one part of carbonate of potassa in from seven to twelve parts of water, in a bright iron vessel, and decant the solution after it has become clear by standing. Boil the solution in an iron vessel, and while it is boil- ing, add, at intervals, small quantities of slacked lime reduced to a thin paste with water; allowing the solution to boil a few minutes after each addition. One and a half parts of pure lime will be more than sufficient to decompose one part of the carbonate. When about half the hydrate of lime has been added, take out about a teaspoonful of the boiling solution, and after dilution, and filtration through paper, test it by adding it to some nitric acid, or by mixing it with an equal bulk of lime-water. If the solution has not been completely freed from carbonic acid, the first reagent will cause an efferves- cence, and the second a milky appearance; in either of which events the ad- dition of the lime must be continued as before, until the above mentioned tests give negative indications. In performing this operation, two advan- tages are gained by keeping the solution constantly boiling. One is that the carbonate of lime formed is in this way rendered granular and heavy, and more disposed to subside; and the other, that it prevents the precipitated carbonate from coalescing into a mass at the bottom of the vessel, an occur- PART II. Potassa. 1001 rence which causes the ebullition, when subsequently renewed, to take place imperfectly and by jerks. Properties, Sfc. Solution of potassa is a limpid, colourless liquid, of an oleaginous appearance, without smell, and having a very acrid and caustic taste. It acts rapidly on animal and vegetable substances, and when rubbed between the fingers produces a soapy feel, in consequence of a partial solu- tion of the cuticle. It dissolves gum, resins, and extractive matter, and, by union with oily and fatty bodies, forms soap. The officinal solution is never perfectly pure, but contains either some undecomposed carbonate, or free lime, in addition to minute portions of sulphate of potassa, chloride of po- tassium, silica, and alumina, impurities usually present in the carbonate of potassa obtained from pearlash, which is used in its preparation. Unde- composed carbonate may be detected in the manner explained in the pre- ceding paragraph, and free lime, by the production of a milky appearance on the addition of a few drops of carbonate of potassa, which serves to precipi- tate the lime as a carbonate.' It is incompatible with acids, acidulous salts, and all metallic and earthy preparations held in solution by an acid; as also with all ammoniacal salts, and with calomel and corrosive sublimate. This solution, as it is intended for medicinal employment, should be of uniform strength. The weight which a pint of it is directed to have in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, indicates a sp. gr. of 1.056. The London solution has the density of 1.063, the Dublin, 1.08; while the density of the Edinburgh pre- paration is not designated. These solutions are quite dilute; for, according to a table given by Dalton, a solution having the sp. gr. 1.06, contains only 4.7 per cent, of alkali. On account of its strong attraction for carbonic acid, the solution of potassa should be carefully preserved from the contact of the air. B. Medical Properties and Uses. Solution of potassa is antacid, diuretic, and antilithic. It has been much employed in calculous complaints, under the impression that it has the property of dissolving urinary concretions in the kidneys and bladder; but experience has proved that the stone once formed cannot be removed by remedies internally administered, and the most that the alkaline medicines can effect, is to correct that disposition to the superabundant secretion of uric acid, or the insoluble urates, upon which gravel and stone often depend. For this purpose, however, the carbonated alkalies are preferable to caustic potassa, as they are less apt to irritate the stomach, and to produce injurious effects when long continued. It has been proposed to dissolve calculi by injecting immediately into the bladder the solution of potassa in a tepid state, and so much diluted that it can be held in the mouth; but this mode of employing it has not been found to answer in practice. This solution has also been highly recommended in lepra, psoriasis, and other cutaneous affections; and is said to have proved pecu- liarly useful in scrofula; but in all these cases it probably acts simply by its antacid property, and is not superior to the carbonate of potassa or of soda. Externally it has been used in a diluted state as a stimulant lotion in rachitis and arthritic swellings, and concentrated, as an escharotic in the bite of rabid or venomous animals. The dose is from ten to thirty minims, re- peated two or three times a day, and gradually increased in cutaneous affec- tions to one or two fluidrachms; but the remedy should not be too long continued, as it is apt to debilitate the stomach. It may be given in sweet- ened water or some mucilaginous fluid. Veal broth and table beer have been recommended as vehicles; but the fat usually present in the former, would be liable to convert it into soap, and the acid in the latter would neu- tralize it. In dyspeptic cases it may be associated with the simple bitters. 1002 Potassa. PART li- lt is employed pharmaceutically in the preparation of the Precipitated Sulphuret of Antimony, and by the Dublin College in forming the Black Oxide of Mercury. The London College also employs it in the preparation of the Hydrated Oxide of Lead. Off. Prep. Potassa, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Potassa cum Calce, Lond., Ed., Dub.; Potassii lodidum, U.S. W. POTASSA. U.S., Ed. Potassa Hydras. Lond, Potassa Caus- tic a. Dub. Potassa. Hydrate of Potassa. Caustic Potassa. " Take of Solution of Potassa a gallon. Evaporate the water in a clean iron vessel, over the fire, till ebullition ceases, and the Potassa melts. Pour this into suitable moulds." U.S. The London formula is essentially the same with the above. " Take of solution of Potassa any quantity. Evaporate it in a very clean covered iron vessel, until, on the ebullition ceasing, the saline matter flows gently like oil, which happens before the vessel becomes red hot. Then pour it out on a clean iron plate, and before it hardens, cut it into small pieces, which are immediately to be put into a well stopped bottle." Ed. " Take of Water of Caustic Potassa any quantity. Evaporate it over the fire in a perfectly clean silver or iron vessel, until the ebullition shall have ceased, and the saline matter, on increasing the heat, shall remain per^ fectly at rest in the vessel. Pour out the liquified Potassa on a silver or iron plate, and, whilst concreting, cut it into pieces of a proper size, which are immediately to be introduced into a well stopped bottle. The operator should carefully avoid the drops which are ejected from the vessel during the evaporation." Dub. The concrete alkali, obtained by these processes, is the hydrate of potassa, sufficiently pure for medical purposes. The solution of the alkali freed from carbonic acid having been obtained by another formula, (see Liquor Potassae,) the formation of the present preparation requires merely the evaporation of this solution, until the whole of its uncombined water is driven off. The evaporation is required to be performed in metallic vessels, as those of glass or earthenware are acted on by the alkali; and it should be completed as quickly as possible to abridge the period during which the solution would be liable to absorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere. When poured out on a metallic plate, the cake just as it concretes may be marked with a knife in the directions in which it is to be divided, and when cold it readily breaks in those directions. A better plan, however, is to run the fused alkali, as directed in the U.S. and London formulae, into suitable moulds. These should be made of iron and have a cylindrical shape, which is the most con- venient form of the alkali for the use of the surgeon. Green glass bottles with ground stoppers are the best adapted for preserving this preparation, as white flint glass is slightly acted on. Properties, fyc. In its officinal impure form, potassa has usually a dingy gray or green colour, occasionally a bluish tint, and the peculiar odour of slacking lime. It is extremely caustic and very deliquescent, and dissolves in less than its weight of water. It is also readily soluble in alcohol. When exposed to a low red heat it melts, and at bright redness is volatilized. On account of its deliquescent property, and its strong attraction for carbonic acid, it requires to be kept in very accurately stopped bottles. In the state here described, the alkali always contains combined water as a part of its composition. It contains also several impurities, such as sulphate of potassa, chloride and teroxide of potassium, sesquioxide of iron, lime, and a portion of the alkali itself still in a carbonated state. It may be freed from these im- part n. Potassa. 1003 purities by digestion in alcohol, which takes up only the pure hydrated alkali, evaporating the alcoholic solution to dryness, and fusing the dry mass obtained. Puie hydrate of potassa, when thus procured, is usually called alcoholic potassa. It is generally in the form of flat white pieces, which are dry, hard, and brittle, and extremely caustic. Its other properties are similar to those of the impure hydrate above described. It may be discrimi- nated from the other fixed alkalies (soda and lithia) by affording when in solution, a crystalline precipitate (cream of tartar) with an excess of tartaric acid, and a yellow one with chloride of platinum. The officinal potassa, apart from impurities, consists of one equiv. of dry potassa 47.15 and one of water 9 = 56.15. Dry potassa is formed of one equiv. of potassium 39.15 and one of oxygen 8=47.15. (See Potassium.) B. Medical Properties and Uses. This is the old causticum commune acerrimum, or strongest common caustic. It is a very powerful escharotic, quickly destroying the life of the part with which it comes in contact, and extending its action to a considerable depth beneath the surface. In this latter respect, it differs from the nitrate of silver or lunar caustic, to which it is, therefore, preferred for the purposes of forming issues and opening ab- scesses. It is sometimes used for removing stricture of the urethra; but in consequence of its tendency to spread, it may, unless carefully applied, produce such a destruction of the lining membrane, as to open a passage for the urine into the cellular membrane, and thus involve the patient in dan- ger. The most convenient mode of employing the caustic for the formation of an issue, is to apply to the skin a piece of linen spread with adhesive plaster, having a circular opening in its centre corresponding to the intended size of the issue, and then to rub upon the skin within the opening a piece of the caustic previously moistened at one end. The application is to be continued till the life of the part is destroyed, when the caustic should be carefully washed off by a wet sponge or wet tow, or neutralized by vinegar. The preparation is also employed for forming solutions of potassa of definite strength, whether for medicinal or pharmaceutic use. A solution of one drachm and a half of caustic potassa in two fluidounces of distilled water, is highly recommended by Dr. Hartshorne, as an application to the spine in tetanus. It may be applied by means of a sponge attached to the end of a stick, which should be drawn quickly along the back from the nape of the neck to the sacrum. It produces a very powerful rubefacient effect. The U.S. Pharmacopoeia employs caustic potassa in the preparation of the black oxide of mercury. Off. Prep. Potassa cum Calce. Lond. 'W, POTASSA CUM CALCE. Lond,, Ed. Potassa Caustica cum Calce. Dub. Potassa with Lime. " Take of Hydrate of Potassa, Lime, each, an ounce. Rub them toge- ther, and keep them in a well-stopped vessel." Lond. " Take of Water of Potassa any quantity. Evaporate it to one-third in a covered iron vessel; then mix with it as much newly slaked and powdered lime as will bring it to the consistence of a solid paste, which is to be pre- served in a well-stopped bottle." Ed. " Evaporate Water of Caustic Potassa to one-fourth; then add as much fresh-burnt Lime, in powder, as will form a mass of the proper consistence, which is to be preserved in a well-stopped bottle." Dub. For making this preparation the London College has introduced a new formula, consisting in the mixture of hydrate of potassa with lime, both in the 1004 Potassa. PART II- dry state. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges employ the solution of potassa, which is so far concentrated, that, upon the addition of the lime, and the cooling of the mixture, the whole becomes a granular mass, consisting of the mixed hydrates of potassa and lime. Potassa with lime, like the officinal potassa, is only used as a caustic; but it is more manageable than the latter preparation, owing to the presence of the lime, which renders it milder and slower in its operation, and also less deli- quescent, and, therefore, less liable to spread beyond the part intended to be affected. This preparation was formerly called causticum commune mitius, or milder common caustic. "• POTASSA CARBONAS. U.S., Lond. Sub-Carbonas Potas- sa. Ed. Potassa Carbonas e Lixivo Cinere. Dub. Carbonate of Potassa. Subcarbonate of Potassa. Carbonate of Potassa from Pearlash. " Take of Impure Carbonate of Potassa [pearlash], in powder, three pounds; Water two pints and a half. Dissolve the Impure Carbonate of Potassa in the Water, and filter the solution; then pour it into a clean iron vessel, and evaporate the Water over a gentle fire till the solution thickens; lastly, remove it from the fire, and stir it constantly with an iron spatula, till the salt granulates." U.S. "Take of Impure Carbonate of Potassa two pounds; Distilled Water a pint and a half [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Impure Carbonate of Potassa in the Water, and strain; then pour off the solution into a proper vessel, and evaporate the Water that the liquor may thicken; afterwards stir it constantly with a spatula until the salt concretes. " Carbonate of Potassa may be prepared more pure from the crystals of Bicarbonate of Potassa heated to redness." Lond. Expose Impure Sub-Carbonate of Potassa [pearlash], in a crucible, to a red heat; then triturate it well with an equal weight of water. Pour the solu- tion, after the impurities have subsided, into a very clean iron pot, and boil it to dryness; stirring the salt assiduously towards the end of the process, to prevent it from adhering to the vessel." Ed. " Take of Pearlash, in coarse powder, cold Water, each, one part. Mix them by trituration, and macerate for a week, in a wide vessel, with occa- sional agitation. Then filler the lixivium, and evaporate it to dryness in a very clean silver or iron vessel. Towards the end of the evaporation, stir the saline mass constantly with an iron spatula. Having in this manner re- duced it to a coarse powder, preserve it in close vessels. If the Pearlash is not sufficiently pure, roast it in a crucible until it becomes white, before dissolv- ing it in the Water." Dub. The object of the above processes is to purify the impure carbonate of potassa, or pearlash. This generally contains certain insoluble impurities, as well as small portions of sulphate and silicate of potassa, and chloride of potassium, as explained under another head. (See Potassae Carbonas Impu- rus.) By dissolving it in a due proportion of water, and filtering the solu- tion, the insoluble impurities are got rid of, as well as the greater part of the foreign salts, which being much less soluble than the carbonate of potassa, are excluded by the superior affinity of this salt for the water. The proper way of conducting the purification is to mix the impure carbonate with an equal weight of cold water, and to allow the mixture to stand for a day or two, stirring it frequently to promote the action of the water. The clear liquor, obtained by decantation or filtration, is then evaporated to dryness. The different officinal processes are conducted very much in this way; cold water PART II. Potassa. 1005 being employed, and equal weights of alkali and water being used in the Edinburgh and Dublin formulas, and about equal weights in the processes of the U.S. and London Pharmacopoeias. The prolonged contact of the water with the salt, and the occasional stirring of the mixture ordered by the Dub- lin College, are useful directions. In no case should the undissolved residue be washed with a fresh portion of water, as, by such a proceeding, the foreign salts, which it is the object of the process to separate, would be dissolved. Iron or silver vessels are directed, because these metals are not acted on by the alkali, while glass is attacked by it. In granulating the salt by stirring, it is belter to keep it on the fire until the process is finished, than to remove it at the moment it thickens. According to Berzelius, a more productive process for purifying pearlash, though the salt is not so pure as when obtained by the process just described, is to dissolve the impure salt in more than its weight of water, to evaporate the solution till it has the density of 1.52, and then to put it in a cool place, that the foreign salts, principally sulphate of potassa and chloride of potas- sium, may crystallize. The solution is then decanted, and evaporated to dryness. Properties, fyc. Carbonate of potassa, as found in the shops, is in the form of a coarse white granular powder, having a nauseous, alkaline taste, and act- ing as an alkali on vegetable colours. It is very soluble in water, dissolving in its weight of that liquid; but is insoluble in alcohol. It is extremely deli- quescent, and hence a portion of it, exposed to the air for some time, attracts so much water as completely to dissolve into an oily liquid, called by the older chemists, oleum tartari per deliquium. On account of this property, carbonate of potassa should be kept in bottles with accurately ground stoppers. If exposed, in its usual state, to a red heat, it retains its carbonic acid, but loses about sixteen per cent, of water. It should be completely soluble in water, and any insoluble residue is indicative of earthy impurity. The usual impurities are some earthy matter, and about three per cent, of sulphate of potassa and chloride of potassium, with a little silica in the state, probably, of silicated potassa; but the presence of these substances in so small an amount does not interfere with its medicinal efficacy. It is incompatible with acids and acidulous salts, muriate and acetate of ammonia, lime-water, chloride of calcium, sulphate of magfiesia, alum, tartar emetic, nitrate of silver, ammo- niated copper and ammoniated iron, sulphate of iron and tincture of muriate of iron, calomel and corrosive sublimate, acetate and subacetate of lead, and sul- phate of zinc. It is not decomposed by the tartrate of iron and potassa, and, therefore, may be associated with it in prescriptions. Composition. Carbonate of potassa, after exposure to a red heat, is an an- hydrous salt, consisting of one equiv. of carbonic acid 22.12. and, one of potassa 47.15=69.27. As obtained by the officinal formulae, it is, according to Mr. Phillips, a sesquihydrate, consisting of three equiv. of water, and two of the carbonate. As it is neutral in composition, the name by which it is designated in the U.S., London, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias is strictly cor- rect. The possession of an alkaline reaction cannot justify its beino- called a swficarbonate, as is done by the Edinburgh College; since, on the same ground, the bicarbonate would be a subcarbonate, as it possesses a slight alkaline re- action. B. Medical Properties and Uses. Purified pearlash is the form of carbo- nate of potassa usually employed in this country, where it is frequently, though incorrectly, called salt of tartar, the latter name being strictly ap- plicable to the purer carbonate, obtained by decomposing cream of tartar. It is occasionally used as an antacid in dyspepsia, as a diuretic in dropsy, 1006 Potassa. PART II- and as an antilithic in gravel attended with red deposites from the urine; but the purpose to which it is most commonly applied is the formation of the neutral mixture and effervescing draught. (See page 407.) It is worthy of observation, lhat its solution, on exposure to the air, or on the addition of an acid, deposites flocculi consisting of hydrate of silica, result- ing from the decomposition of the silicated potassa, which is always pre- sent as an impurity. The spontaneous deposition of silica is owing to the absorption of carbonic acid. Carbonate of potassa is also used with much advantage in some cases of jaundice, in which it probably operates by entering the circulation and directly exciting the hepatic function. The dose is from ten to thirty grains, given in some aromatic water sweetened with sugar. Off.Prep. Liquor Potassae, U.S., Lond., Ed.; Liquor Potassae Carbona- tis, U.S., Lond.; Magnesiae Carbonas, Dub., Ed.; Mistura Ferri Comp., U.S., Lond., Dub.; Potassae Acetas, Lond.; Potassae Bicarbonas, Lond., Dub.; Potassae Bisulphas, Dub.; Potassae Sulphas, Lond., Dub.; Potassae Sulphuretum, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Potassae Tartras, U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub.; Potassii Bromidum, Lond. W. POTASSA CARBONAS PURISSIMUS. U.S. Sub-Carbonas Potassa Purissimus. Ed. Potassa Carbonas e Taktari Crys- tallis. Dub. Purest Carbonate of Potassa. Carbonate of Po- tassa from Crystals of Tartar. Salt of Tartar. "Take of Supertartrate of Potassa [cream of tartar] two pounds; Nitrate of Potassa a pound. Rub them separately into powder; then mix, and throw them into a brass vessel heated nearly to redness, that they may un- dergo combustion. From the residue prepare the Purest Carbonate of Po- tassa, in the manner directed for the Carbonate." U.S. " Take of Impure Super-Tartrate of Potassa [crude tartar] any quantity. Wrap it up in moist bibulous paper, or put it into a crucible, and having surrounded it with live coals, burn it into a black mass. Reduce this to powder, and expose it, in an open crucible, to the action of a moderate fire, until it becomes white, or at least of an ash colour; care being taken that it do not melt. Then dissolve it in warm water, strain the solution through a linen cloth, and evaporate it in a clfean iron vessel, diligently stirring it towards the end of the process with an iron spoon to prevent the matter from adhering to the bottom of the vessel. A very white salt will remain, which is to be left a little longer on the fire, until the bottom of the vessel becomes nearly red. Lastly, when the salt has grown cold, keep it in well stopped glass vessels." Ed. " Take of Crystals of Tartar any quantity. Heat them to redness in a silver crucible, loosely covered, until they cease to emit vapours. Reduce the residue to a coarse powder, and roast it for two hours in the same cru- cible, without a cover, stirring it frequently; then boil it with twice its weight of water for a quarter of an hour, and after the requisite ub sidence, pour off the clear liquor. Repeat this three times. Filter the mixed solu- tions, and evaporate them in a silver vessel. Granulate the residual salt by frequently stirring it while it is becoming dry, and then heat it to dull red- ness. Before it is perfectly cold, take it out of the vessel, and preserve it n well stopped bottles." Dub. The product of the above processes is a carbonate of potassa, purer than that described under the preceding head. In the U.S. formula the salts employed undergo decomposition by the deflagration to which they are sub- jected; the tartaric and nitric acids are totally decomposed, and sufficient carbonic acid is formed, as one of the products of their decomposition, to PART II. Potassa. 1007 saturate the common base of the two salts, and thus to generate carbonate of potassa. This, however, is mixed with a portion of redundant charcoal, which gives the product a black colour; and from its colour and use in this state it was formerly called black flux. It is freed from carbonaceous mat- ter by being treated in the manner directed for purifying the carbonate ob- tained from pearlash. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges form this carbonate by incinerating the supertartrate without nitre. The tartaric acid, which consists of hydro- gen, carbon, and oxygen, is decomposed, and gives rise, among other pro- ducts, to carbonic acid, which combines with the potassa. The matter, after ignition, contains, besides carbonate of potassa, certain impurities de- rived from those pre-existing in the supertartrate. These are carbonate of lime, arising from the decomposition of tartrate of lime, alumina, silica, and minute portions of the oxides of iron and manganese; and being all insoluble in water, are left behind when the mass is acted on by that liquid, the alkaline carbonate alone being taken up. The insoluble matter is greater in the incinerated mass of the Edinburgh process than in that of the Dublin; as crude tartar is employed in the former, while crystals of tartar are used in the latter. The London College does not recognise a separate preparation under the name of " purest carbonate of potassa," but subjoins directions for obtaining the pure carbonate to the formula for preparing the ordinary carbonate. (See preceding article.) Properties, fyc. Carbonate of potassa obtained from tartar differs from the same salt procured from pearlash, only in containing fewer impurities. It was formerly called salt of tartar, in allusion to its source; but at pre- sent this name is familiarly applied to any carbonate of potassa of good quality, without reference to its mode of preparation. It may, indeed, be very much doubted whether the real salt of tartar is often kept in our shops; the carbonate as purified from pearlash being generally substituted for it, and answering every medicinal purpose that could be expected from the use of the purer salt. Medical Properties and Uses. These are precisely the same with those of the carbonate of potassa described in the preceding article. Off. Prep. Aqua Super-Carbonatis Potassa?, Ed.; Carbonas [Bicarbonas] Potassae, Ed.: Liquor Potassae Arsenitis, U.S., Ed., Dub.; Potassae Ace- tas, Dub.; Potassae Carbonatis Aqua, Dub. B. LIQUOR POTASSA CARBONATIS. U.S., Lond. Potassa Carbonatis Aqua. Dub. Solution of Carbonate of Potassa. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa a pound; Distilled Water twelve fluid- ounces. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in the Water, and filter the solution through paper." U.S. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa twenty ounces; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in the Water, and strain." Lond. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa from Crystals of Tartar one part; Dis- tilled Water two parts. Dissolve and filter. The specific gravity of this solution is 1.320." Dub. This is simply a solution of carbonate of potassa in water, and furnishes a convenient form for the administration of this salt. An ounce is dissolved in a fluidounce of vwter in the U. S. formula, and in an Imperial fluidounce in the London. This will be understood, when the fact is adverted to that the London pint contains twenty Imperial fluidounces. The London solu- 1008 Potassa. PART II. tion is somewhat stronger than that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia; because the Imperial fluidounce weighs a little less than a fluidounce, wine measure. Thus thesp.gr. of the London solution, is 1.473; of the U.S. solution, 1. 440. The Dublin process differs in using the purer form of the carbonate, and in furnishing a solution considerably weaker. This solution should be colour- less and inodorous, and possess the general alkaline qualities of the salt from which it is formed. The dose of the U.S. or London solution is from ten minims to a fluidrachm, sufficiently diluted with water or other bland liquid. Off. Prep. Potassae Bicarbonas, U.S.; Potassae Hydriodas, Dub. B. POTASSA BICARBONAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Carbonas Po- tassa. Ed. Bicarbonate of Potassa. " Take of Solution of Carbonate of Potassa, a gallon. Pass Carbonic Acid through the Solution, in a suitable vessel, till it is fully saturated; then filter, and evaporate the filtered liquor that crystals may form, taking care that the heat does not exceed one hundred and twenty degrees. Pour off the liquor, and dry the crystals upon bibulous paper. Carbonic Acid is obtained from Hard Carbonate of Lime, by the addition of Dilute Sulphuric Acid." U.S. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa six pounds; Distilled Water a gallon [Im- perial measure]. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in the Water; after- wards pass Carbonic Acid through the solution to saturation. Apply a gentle heat, so that whatever crystals have been formed may be again dissolved. Then set aside the solution, that crystals may be again formed; and, having poured off the liquor, dry them. Carbonic Acid is very easily obtained from Chalk, rubbed to powder, and mixed with water to the consistence of a Syrup, upon which Sulphuric Acid is then poured, diluted with an equal weight of water." Lond. " Take of Purest Sub-Carbonate of Potassa [salt of tartar], two parts; Water three parts. Dissolve the salt in the Water, and, in a suitable appa- ratus, pass through it a stream of Carbonic Acid gas. Filter the solution when it ceases to absorb acid, and afterwards evaporate it with a heat not exceeding one hundred and eighty degrees, so that crystals may form. Car- bonic Acid is easily obtained from equal weights of Carbonate of Lime in powder, and Sulphuric Acid diluted with much water." Ed, " Take of Carbonate of Potassa from Pearlash one part; Distilled Water two parts. Dissolve, and expose the solution, in a suitable apparatus, to a current of Carbonic Acid gas, evolved from white marble by the action of dilute Muriatic Acid, until the liquid becomes turbid. Then filter it, and again expose it to the stream of Carbonic Acid gas, until the alkali is satu- rated. Lastly, put the solution in a cool place, that it may form crystals, which are to be dried without heat, and kept in a well stopped bottle." Dub. In these processes, the regular carbonate of potassa, consisting of one equiv. of acid and one of base, erroneously called a subcarbonate by the Edin- burgh College, is combined with an additional equivalent of carbonic acid. The combination is effected by passing a stream of this acid through a solu- tion of the carbonate, so long as it is absorbed. The solution employed is directed of different strengths. In the U. S. formula, the officinal solution of the carbonate being ordered, the salt and water exist in nearly equal parts; in the Edinburgh formula, they are to each other as 2 to 3, and in the London and Dublin, as 1 to 2. The Edinburgh differs from the other Pharmacopoeias in using the purest form of the officinal carbonate for forming the solution. The saturation is best performed on a small scale in a Wolfe's apparatus, with wide connecting tubes to prevent their being obstructed by the crystals; PART II. Potassa. 1009 and on a large scale, in strong vessels, into which the carbonic acid may be driven by means of a forcing pump. During the progress of the saturation, the greater part of the silica which may happen to be associated with the alkali as an impurity, is precipitated; and hence the solution generally becomes turbid. It is to remove this earth that filtration is directed in several of the processes. In order to get rid of the silica entirely, a second crystallization is necessary. The U.S. and Edinburgh formulae have the defect of using the alkaline solution too strong. The carbonate should be dissolved in at least twice its weight of water, a quantity of menstruum necessary to accommodate the com- paratively sparing solubility of the bicarbonate. The disadvantages of using too little water are, that some sesquicarbonate is apt to be generated, and that the bicarbonate is inconveniently precipitated, in the form of a crystalline de- posite, in the progress of the operation. In all the processes except the Lon- don, filtering is used, and heat is applied in all except the Dublin. In the U. S. and Edinburgh processes, in consequence of the deficiency of the water, a good deal of the alkali, in the bicarbonated and sesquicarbonated state, is pro- bably removed by the filtration. The reason why the heat, when employed, must be moderate, is that at the boiling temperature, the salt loses one-fourth of its carbonic acid, and becomes a sesquicarbonate. According to Mr. Phillips, muriatic acid is preferable to sulphuric, for dis- engaging the carbonic acid from the carbonate of lime; inasmuch as the for- mer generates a soluble salt, while the latter, by giving rise to the insoluble sulphate of lime, interferes with the rapid and complete decomposition of the calcareous salt. This writer also suggests that the chloride of calcium may be decomposed by sulphuric acid, so as to recover the muriatic acid for future employment. In small operations, there can be no doubt that the muriatic acid, diluted with twice its bulk of water, is most convenient; but whenever the carbonic acid gas is required in large quantities, the comparative cheapness of sulphuric acid will always give it the preference; and the clogging effect of the resulting sulphate of lime may in a great measure be obviated by the use of a proper agitator. Mr. Brande reports the following proportions as suitable for the preparation of this bicarbonate on the large scale: " 100 lbs. of purified carbonate of po- tassa are dissolved in 17 gallons of water, which, when saturated with carbonic acid, yield from 35 to 40 lbs. of crystallized bicarbonate; 50 lbs. of carbonate of potassa are then added to the mother-liquor, with a sufficient quantity of water to make up 17 gallons, and the operation repeated." It is stated on the authority of Wohler, that charcoal, when mixed with the carbonate, facilitates, by its porosity, in a remarkable degree, the formation of the bicarbonate. Thus he found that when crude tartar was charred in a covered crucible, and the carbonaceous mass, after having been slightly moist- ened with water, was subjected to a stream of carbonic acid, the gas was absorbed with great rapidity, and heated the mass so considerably, as to ren- der it necessary to surround the vessel with cold water, to prevent the de- composition of the bicarbonate that had been formed. When the temperature diminished, the saturation was known to be completed. The mass was then lixiviated in the smallest quantity of water, at the temperature of from 85° to 100°, and the solution, after filtration and cooling, deposited the greater part of the bicarbonate in fine crystals. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 82, from the Annalen der Physik und Chemie.) According to Berzelius, the cheapest method of obtaining the bicarbonate of potassa is to suspend a concentrated solution of the purified carbonate, con- tained in a stoneware dish, within a cask over a liquid undergoing the vinous 86 1010 Potassa. PART II- fermentation. The alkali is thus surrounded by an atmosphere of carbonic acid, and by absorbing it, becomes bicarbonate in the course of five or six weeks, and crystallizes. The distillers particularly are enabled with great facility to prepare this salt by suspending the alkaline solution, over the wort, in the fermenting tun. The salt in powder called sal aeratus, which is made in the New England States and perhaps elsewhere, is, we believe, prepared in this way. It is, however, not a perfect bicarbonate. Properties, <$*c Bicarbonate of potassa is in the form of white inodorous crystals, permanent in the air, and having the shape of flat irregular eight- sided prisms with two sided summits. It has a slightly alkaline taste, and acts but feebly on vegetable colours. It dissolves in four times its weight of cold water, and in five-sixths of its weight of boiling water, by which it is partially converted into sesquicarbonate. It is insoluble in ah-ohol. Ex- posed to a low red heat, it loses half its carbonic acid, and the whole of its water of crystallization, and returns to the slate of carbonate, which, when thus obtained, is free from silica, and otherwise very pure. This method is now adopted by the London College for obtaining the pure carbonate. Dis- solved in nitric acid, it should give a clear solution, the transparency of which is not disturbed by nitrate of silver, or carbonate of soda. When perfectly saturated, its solution does not precipitate a solution of sulphate of magnesia. Willi this exception, its incompatibles are nearly the same as those of the carbonate; but calomel is not decomposed by it, and it produces a white preci- pitate with corrosive sublimate, instead of the brick-red one caused by the regular carbonate. It consists of two equiv. of carbonic acid 44.24, one of poiassa 47.15, and one of water 9=100.39. It is, therefore, properly a bi- carbonate, not a carbonate, as it is called by the Edinburgh College. By an unfortunate confusion in nomenclature, the name " carbonate of potassa" is used in a different sense in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia from that in which it is employed in the other Pharmacopoeias; and as this circumstance may cause some perplexity, we subjoin a tabular statement, which shows at one view the exact import of the different officinal names. Nature of the Preparation. U. S., London and Dublin. Edinburgh. Ordinary carbonate. Saturated carbonate. Potassa; Cnrbnnas. Potassae Bicnrbonas. Sub-Carbonas Pot^ssse. C.irlmrian Potassae. Thus it is perceived that the term "carbonate of potassa" means the ordinary carbonate when used in the U.S., London and Dublin Pharma- copoeias, and the saturated carbonate, when employed by the Edinburgh College. The medicinal properties of this salt are the same as those of the carbo- nate, to which it is preferable on account of its milder taste, and greater acceptability to the stomach. The dose is from twenty grains to a drachm. Off.Prep. I iquor Potassae Effervescens, Lond. B. LIQUOR POTASSA EFFERVESCENS. Lond. Efferves- cing Solution of Poiassa. " Take of Bicarbonate of Potassa a drachm; Distilled Water a pint [Im- perial measure]. Dissolve the Bicarbonate of Potassa in the Waier; and pass into it more Carbonic Acid, compressed by force, than is sufficient for saturation. Keep the solution in a well stopped vessel." Lond. This preparation, newly introduced into ihe London Pharmacopoeia, is similar in properties to the following. B. part ii. Potassa, 1011 AQUA SUPER-CARBONATIS POTASSA. Ed. Water of Super-Carbonate of Poiassa. " Take of Water ten pounds; Purest Sub-Carbonate of Potassa [salt of tartar] an ounce. Dissolve, and expose the solution to a s ream of Carbo- nic Acid gas, arising from Carbonate of Lime, in powder, Sulphuric Acid, each, three ounces, Water three pounds, gradually and cautiously mixed. " The chemical apparatus invented by Dr. Noolh is well adapted for this preparation. But if a larger quantity of the liquor is required, an apparatus must be used capable of producing sufficient pressure. The solution should be kept in well slopped bottles." Ed. This preparation, as well as the preceding one, may be considered as the bicarbonate of poiassa dissolved in carbonic acid water. They are, how- ever, altogether superfluous, in consequence of the general introduction into the shops of carbonic acid water (artificial Seltzer water), which may be readily employed for dissolving any desired proportion of the carbonate or bicarbonate, with the result of forming a much brisker preparation. These solutions have the general sparkling qualities and acidulous taste of carbonic acid water; the alkaline taste being covered in a great measure by the large excess of carbonic acid. The Edinburgh preparation is, however, consi- derably stronger in alkali than the London. (See Aqua Acidi Carbonici.) POTASSA NITRAS PURIFICATUM. Dub. Purified Ni- trate of Potassa. "Take of Nitrate of Potassa one part. Dissolve it in two parts of boil- ing Water, filter the solution, and set it aside, so lhat on cooling crystals may form." Dub. The purified nitre of commerce is sufficiently pure for medicinal pur- poses; so that this formula of the Dublin College is entirely unnecessary. The properties of nitre, and the manner in which it is purified, have been fully explained under another head. (See Potassae Nitras.) Off.Prep. iElher Nitrosus. Dub. B. SULPHAS POTASSA CUM SULPHURE. Ed. Sulphate of Potassa with Sulphur. " Take of Nitrate of Potassa, in powder, and of Sublimed Sulphur, equal weights. Mix them well together, and throw the mixture, by small por- tions at a time, into a red-hot crucible. When the deflagration is over, allow the salt to cool, and place it in a glass vessel well stopped." Ed. When the mixture, indicated in this formula, is thrown into a red-hot crucible, each successive portion melts, and the sulphur floats on the surface of the nitre with the appearance of a brown oil, burns vividly, and gives rise to a copious evolution of sulphurous acid gas. The product of the de- flagration is a white friable mass, intermixed apparently with undecomposed sulphur. The nature of this preparation has not been well determined. On the supposition that it is the sulphate of potassa, mixed with a portion of sulphur, as the Edinburgh name implies, its formation may be thus ex- plained. By the combined influence of the sulphur, and of the heat em- ployed, the nitric acid of the nitre is totally decomposed, and is thus enabled to furnish sufficient oxygen to convert a portion of the sulphur into sulphuric acid, which, as soon as formed, combines with the base of the nitre, to form the sulphate of potassa. This is left mixed with a portion of sulphur, which has escaped combustion; but the greater part of the 1012 Potassa. PART II. latter undergoes ordinary combustion, and is dissipated as sulphurous acid fumes. Supposing the saline matter to be a sulphate containing a little free sul- phur, this combustible is evidently used in great excess; but whether this excess is necessary to obtain the exact preparation desired by the Edin- burgh College, it is not easy to determine. The late Dr. Duncan ascertain- ed that the product amounted only to four-tenths of the materials employed. It is, therefore, smaller than it ought to be, even supposing that the residue consisted of nothing but sulphate of potassa. Dr. Duncan was of opinion that the preparation under consideration can- not be viewed as a sulphuretted sulphate, and for the following satisfactory reasons. In the first place, it is more soluble in water than sulphate of po- tassa, and forms a yellowish solution, the water leaving undissolved only a small residue of a black colour, which is not sulphur. In the second place, it exhales during solution a sulphureous smell, and its taste is sulphureous. These facts seem to show that a small portion of sulphite of poiassa is pre- sent in the preparation, or at least, some sulphurous acid in a state of loose combination. Properties, fyc. This salt has an acid and sulphureous taste, and an acid reaction with test paper. When pulverized, it yields a pale yellowish- white powder. It is soluble in eight times its weight of cold water. It is, however, not a uniform preparation; different specimens, apparently pre- pared with equal care, exhibiting some points of difference in properties. It was called by the earlier chemists, sal polychrestus Glaseri. Its other pro- perties coincide generally with those of sulphate of potassa, which may be considered as its basis. Medical Properties and Uses. The medical effects of this preparation differ but little, if at all, from those of sulphate of potassa. Its action on the system is stated by Dr. Duncan to resemble that of the sulphureous min- eral waters which contain a portion of neutral salt. The dose is from half a drachm to a drachm. B. POTASSA BISULPHAS. Lond,, Dub. Bisulphate of Po- tassa. "Take of the salt which remains after the distillation of Nitric Acid two pounds; Sulphuric Acid a pound; Boiling Water six pints [Imperial mea- sure]. Dissolve the salt in the water, and add the acid to it, and mix. Lastly, boil down the solution, and set it aside that crystals may form." Lond. " Take of Commercial Sulphuric Acid two parts; Carbonate of Potassa from Pearlash a sufficient quantity; Water six parts. Mix one part of the Sulphuric Acid with the Water, and saturate the mixture with the Carbonate of Potassa; then add the other part of the Acid to the liquor and evaporate it, so that on cooling crystals may form." Dub. The Dublin process for forming this bisalt is more precise than the Lon- don, but at the same time less economical. The object being to obtain a salt, containing twice as much sulphuric acid as exists in the neutral sulphate, it is plain that by dividing the acid employed into two equal parts, and satu- rating one of these parts with potassa, the resulting neutral sulphate must be converted into a bisulphate by the addition of the other part. In explaining the London formula, it is only necessary to recall to the reader's attention, a part of the explanations given under the head of Nitric Acid. It was there stated, that for the proper decomposition of nitre, for the purpose of obtain- ing nitric acid, it is necessary to use two equiv. of sulphuric acid to one of the salt. Consequently, the salt which remains after the distillation of nitric PART II. Potassa. 1013 acid by the London process is really a bisulphate, and would seem only to require to be dissolved, and the solution filtered and duly evaporated, in order to obtain the salt in crystals. But Mr. Phillips states that when the bisulphate of potassa is dissolved in water, and the solution is allowed to crystallize, some sulphate and much sesquisulphate are obtained instead of bisulphate, owing to the water retaining a part of the excess of acid in solu- tion. This result is prevented by the sulphuric acid which the London Col- lege now directs to be added, and, consequently, the real bisulphate is obtained in crystals. Properties, fyc. Bisulphate of potassa is a white salt, having the form of a right rhombic prism, so flattened as to be tabular, and an extremely acid, bitter taste. It is soluble in twice its weight of cold water, and in less than its weight of boiling water. Alcohol does not dissolve it, but when added to an aqueous solution, precipitates the neutral sulphate. Exposed to the air, it effloresces slightly on the surface, and, when moderately heated, readily melts, and runs like oil. At a red heat, it loses water and the excess of acid, and is reduced to the state of neutral sulphate. From its excess of acid, it acts precisely as an acid on the carbonates, causing them to effervesce. Itis incompatible with alkalies, earths, and their carbonates, and with many of the metals and most oxides. This salt was formerly called sal enixum. It consists of two equiv. of sulphuric acid 80.2, one of potassa 47.15, and two of water 18 = 145.35. Medical Properties and Uses. The bisulphate of potassa unites the pro- perties of an aperient with those of a tonic, and may be given in cases of constipation with languid appetite, such as often occur in convalescence from acute diseases. Dr. Paris states that it forms a grateful adjunct to rhubarb. It answers, also, according to Dr. Barker, for preparing an aperient effer- vescing draught at little expense. Equal weights, a drachm for instance, of the bisulphate and of carbonate of soda, may be dissolved separately, each in two fluidounces of water, then mixed, and taken in the state of effervescence. The dose of the bisulphate is one or two drachms. B. POTASSA SULPHURETUM. U. S, Dub. Potassii Sulphu- retum. Lond. Sulphuretum Potassa. Ed. Sulphuret of Po- tassa. "Take of Sulphur an ounce; Carbonate of Potassa two ounces. Rub the Carbonate of Potassa, previously dried, with the Sulphur; melt the mix- ture, in a covered crucible, over the fire; then pour it out, and when cold, put it into a bottle, which is to be well stopped." U.S. "Take of Sulphur an ounce; Carbonate of Potassa four ounces. Rub them together, and place the mixture over the fire in a covered crucible, until they unite." Lond. " Take of Sub-Carbonate of Potassa two parts; Sublimed Sulphur one part. Rub them together, and put them into a large coated crucible, and having fitted on the cover, surround it cautiously with live coals, so that at length Ihe mixture shall melt. Keep the mass in a very close phial." Ed. " Take of Carbonate of Polassa/our parts; Sublimed Sulphur one part. Having previously mixed them, put them in a crucible, fit a cover to it, and expose them to a heat gradually raised until they unite. Keep the Sulphu- ret in a well stopped bottle." Dub. When the carbonate of potassa is melted with an excess of sulphur, the carbonic acid is expelled. Three-fourths of the potassa are decomposed; its oxygen, by uniting with a part of the sulphur, generates sulphuric acid, which by union with the undecomposed potassa, produces sulphate of po- 86* 1014 Poiassa. part ii. tassa; while the potassium forms with the remaining sulphur a sulphuret of potassium, with more or less excess of sulphur. Thus the preparation under consideration, formerly called hepar sulphuris, or liver of sulphur, is not a sulphuret of potassa, but sulphuret of potassium, mixed with sulphate of potassa, and sulphur in excess. In the U.S. and Edinburgh formula the sul- phur is melted with twice its weight of the carbonate; in the London and Dublin, with four times its weight. Berzelius says that the true hepar is formed by melting 100 parts of the carbonate with at least 94 of sulphur, and that the sulphuret of potassium formed contains five equiv. of sulphur to one of metal. These proportions give a great excess of sulphur, compared with those adopted in the Pharmacopoeias. In the last London Pharmacopoeia the quantity of carbonate of potassa has been doubled, the proportions now coinciding with those of the Dublin formula, which, according to Dr. Bar- ker, furnishes a good preparation. The proportion of alkali to sulphur of four to one still gives an excess of sulphur, if the nature of the preparation is admitted as given above; yet, on the other hand, the proportion of two to one is recommended by M. Henry, and supported by the authority of the French Codex of 1837. When the latter proportion is employed, the pro- duct is stated in that work to be a mixture of tersulphuret of potassium with sulphate of potassa. The use of a large crucible, as directed by the Edin- burgh College, is proper; as otherwise the extrication of the carbonic acid is apt to cause the fused mass to swell up so as to overflow. When the fusion is completed, the mass should be poured out on a marble slab, and as soon as it concretes, should be broken into pieces, and immediately trans- ferred to a well slopped bottle. The different Pharmacopoeias use the carbonate of potassa from pearlash; but this is considered by some as not sufficiently pure. In the process of M. Henry, which is stated to be the best that has yet been devised, the purest carbonate of potassa is employed. His formula is as follows. Mix two parts of real salt of tartar with one of roll sulphur reduced to powder, and put the mixture into flat-bottomed matrasses, which should be only two-thirds filled by it. These are placed on a sand bath, at equal distances, and the fire is applied, so as, at first, to produce only a gentle heat, which is after- wards increased. Care must be taken that the necks of the matrasses do not become obstructed. The heat is continued until the matter is brought to the state of tranquil fusion, when it is allowed to cool. The mass obtained, which is compact, smooth, and of a fine yellow colour, is broken into pieces and preserved in well stopped bottles. Properties, fyc. Sulphuret of potassa, when properly prepared, is a hard brittle substance, having a nauseous, alkaline, and bitter taste. Its colour is liver-brown, and hence its former name of hepar sulphuris. It is inodorous when dry, but emits a slightly fetid smell when moist, owing to the extrica- tion of a small portion of hydrosulphuric acid gas. It is completely soluble in water, forming a liquid of a deep orange colour. By exposure to the air it attracts oxygen, and the sulphuret of potassium is gradually converted into sulphate of potassa, when the preparation becomes inodorous, and white on the surface. The solution is decomposed by the mineral acids, which ex- tricate hydrosulphuric acid, and precipitate the excess of sulphur in the state of hydrate. It is also incompatible with solutions of most of the metals, which are precipitated as sulphurets. B. Medical Properties and Uses. The sulphuret of potassa is said to be .diaphoretic. It acts, moreover, as an antacid, and produces the general ef- fects of sulphur upon the system. By some it is maintained to be sedative, arid directly to reduce the action of the heart. The complaints in which it PART II. Potassa. 1015 has been most advantageously employed are chronic rheumatism and gout, and various cutaneous affections. It has been given with less benefit in painters' colic, asthma, and chronic catarrh, and acquired a short-lived repu- tation as a remedy in croup, after the publication of the essay to which the prize offered by Napoleon for the best dissertation on this disease was awarded. It is said, in some cases of cancer, to have assisted the palliative operation of hemlock. In consequence of its property of forming insoluble sulphurets when mixed with the metallic salts, it has been proposed as an antidote for some of the mineral poisOns, such as corrosive sublimate, arse- nious acid, the salts of copper, and the preparations of lead. Orfila, how- ever, has proved that it does not prevent the effects of these poisons, but on the contrary is itself highly poisonous when given in large doses. Accord- ing to this author, it occasions death by corroding the stomach, and depress- ing the powers of the nervous system. Dissolved in water it has proved very efficacious as an external application in cutaneous diseases, and in scabies is an almost certain remedy. It may be used for this purpose in the form of lotion, bath, or ointment. For a lotion it may be dissolved in water in the proportion of from fifteen to thirty grains to the fluidounce, and for a bath, the same quantity or rather more may be added to a gallon of water. A very small proportion of muriatic or sulphuric acid may in either case be added to the solution. The dose of the sulphuret of potassa is from two to ten grains, repeated several times a day, and given in pill with liquorice, or in solution with syrup. In infantile cases of croup, from one to four grains were given every three or four hours. W . POTASSA SULPHURETI AQUA. Dub. Water of Sulphu- ret of Potassa. Take of Washed Sulphur one part; Water of Caustic Potassa eleven parts. Boil for ten minutes, and filter through paper. Keep the liquor in well stopped bottles. The gravity of this solution is 1.117." Dub. When sulphur is boiled with a solution of caustic potassa, a part of the water is decomposed, and its elements, by uniting with separate portions of sulphur, give rise to hyposulphurous and hydrosulphuric acids, which, by combining with the alkali, form hyposulphite and hydrosulphate of potassa in solution. Accordingly, this preparation is not a solution of sulphuret of potassa, as it is called by the Dublin College; neither is it identical with an aqueous solution of the preceding preparation, though its name would na- turally lead to that supposition. Properties, #c. This liquid has an unctuous feel and a deep orange colour. It is decomposed by acids, which cause an effervescence of hydro- sulphuric acid, and a milky appearance from the precipitation of sulphur. Upon exposure to the air it is gradually converted into a solution of the sulphate of potassa. It has the same medical properties as the last prepara- tion; and is used internally and externally for the most part in cutaneous eruptions. The dose is from ten minims to a fluidrachm, diluted with water, and given two or three times a day. When used as a bath it imparts an orange colour to the skin. B. POTASSA TARTRAS. U. S, Lond., Dub. Tartras Potassa. Ed. Tartrate of Potassa. Soluble Tartar. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa sixteen ounces; Supertartrate of Potassa [cream of tartar] in powder, three pounds; Boiling Water a gallon. Dis- solve the Carbonate of Potassa in the Water; then gradually add the Super- 1016 Potassa. PART II. tartrate of Potassa, until effervescence ceases. Filter the solution through paper; then evaporate it till a pellicle forms, and set it aside to crystallize. Pour off the water, and dry the crystals upon hibulous paper." U. S. " Take of Bitartrate of Potassa, powdered, three pounds; Carbonate of Potassa sixteen ounces, or a sufficient quantity; Boiling Waier six pints [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in the boiling Water; then add the Bitartrate of Potassa, and boil. Strain the Liquor, and afterwards boil it down till a pellicle appears, and set it aside that crystals may form. The liquor being poured off, dry these, and again evaporate the liquor that crystals may form." Lond. "Take-of Sub-Carbonate of Potassa one part; Super-Tartrate of Potassa three parts, or a sufficient quantity; boiling Water fifteen parts. Dissolve the Sub-Carbonate in Water, and gradually add to the solution the Super- Tartrate of Potassa, in fine powder, so long as it excites effervescence, which generally ceases before three times the weight of the Sub-Carbonate has been added; then filter the solution when cold through paper, and after due eva- poration set it aside to crystallize." Ed. " Take of Carbonate of Potassa from Pearlash five parts; Bitartrate of Potassa [cream of tartar] fourteen parts; boiling \\a'er forty-five parts. Add the Bitartrate of Potassa, in very fine powder, to the Carbonate of Potassa, dissolved in the Water. Filter the solution through paper, and evaporate it, so that on cooling crystals may form." Dub. In these processes, the excess of acid in the supertartrate is saturated by the potassa of the carbonate, the carbonic acid is extricated with efferves- cence, and the neutral tartrate of potassa is obtained. On account of the greater solubility of the carbonate than of the supertartrate, the former is first dissolved, and the latter added to the solution to full saturation. As the cream of tartar is successively added, the mutual action of the salts should be promoted by constant stirring; and the addition should be con- tinued so long as effervescence takes place, which is a better mode of pro- ceeding than to add any specified quantity of the supersalt; since, from its variable quality, it is impossible to adjust precisely the proportion applicable to all cases. It is necessary that the solution should be exactly neutral, or a little alkaline; and hence, if inadvertently too much cream of tartar has been added, the proper state may be restored by adding a little of the alkaline carbonate. When the saturation has been completed, the solution is filtered in the U.S., Edinburgh, and Dublin formulae, to separate the tartrate of lime, which appears in white flocks, and which is always present in cream of tartar as an impurity. The evaporated liquor should then be placed in warm earthenware vessels, to ensure a slow refrigeration; and after remaining at rest for several days, the crystals begin to form. In order that the crystal- lization should proceed favourably, it is necessary, according to Baume, that the solution should be somewhat alkaline. Iron vessels should not be used in any part of the process; as this metal is apt to discolour the salt. The proportions of the carbonate to the supertartrate taken in the differ- ent formulae, are somewhat different. In the U.S. and London processes, the salts are to each other as 5 to 11.25; in the Edinburgh, as 5 to 15, and in the Dublin as 5 to 14. The equivalents coincide most nearly with the proportions of the Dublin College. Tartrate of potassa is sometimes made in the process for preparing tar- taric acid. When thus obtained, the excess of acid in the supertartrate is neutralized by means of carbonate of lime. This generates an insoluble tartrate of lime, and leaves the neutral tartrate in solution, from which it PART II. Potassa. 1017 may be obtained by evaporation and crystallization. (See Acidum Tartar- icum.) Properties, fyc. Tartrate of potassa, prepared according to the offi- cinal processes, is in white crystals, which are slightly deliquescent, and usually in the form of irregular six-sided prisms with dihedral summits. Its taste is saline and bitter. It dissolves in less than twice its weight of cold water, and in much less boiling water, and is soluble in 240 parts of boiling alcohol. Exposed to heat, it undergoes fusion, swells up, blackens, and is decomposed; being converted into carbonate of potassa. For medi- cinal use, it should always be crystallized; but as it ordinarily occurs in the shops, it is in a white granular powder, obtained by evaporating the solution to dryness, while it is constantly stirred. In this state it is said to require four times its weight of water for solution. It is never purposely adulte- rated; but if it be obtained by evaporation to dryness, it is liable to contain an excess of carbonate or of supertartrate of potassa, when it will have either an alkaline or acid reac'tion. It is decomposed by all the strong acids, and many acidulous salts, which cause the precipitation of minute crystals of supertartrate of potassa, by abstracting one equiv. of alkali from two of the salt. It is composed of one equiv. of tartaric acid 66.48, and one of potassa 47.15=113.63. According to Berzelius, the crystals contain no water of crystallization. Medical Properties and Uses. Tartrate of poiassa is a mild cooling pur- gative, operating, like most of the neutral salts, without much pain, and pro- ducing watery stools. It is applicable to febrile diseases, and is occasionally combined with senna, the griping effects of which it has a tendency to ob- viate. The dose is from a drachm to an ounce, according to the degree of effect desired. B. POTASSII BROMIDUM. Lond. Bromide of Potassium. " Take of Bromine two ounces; Carbonate of Potassa two ounces and a drachm; Iron Filings an ounce; Distilled Water three pints [Imperial mea- sure]. First add the Iron, and afterwards the Bromine, to a pint and a half of the Distilled Water. Set them by for half an hour, frequently stirring them with a spatula. Apply a gentle heat, and when a greenish colour oc- curs, pour in the Carbonate of Potassa dissolved in the remainder of the Water. Strain, and wash what remains in two pints [Imperial measure] of boiling Distilled Water, and again strain. Evaporate the mixed liquors, so that crystals may form." J^ond. In the first step of this process, a solution of bromide of iron is formed; and this, by the addition of the solution of carbonate of potassa, is decom- posed so as to generate the carbonate of the protoxide of iron which pre- cipitates, and the bromide of potassium in solution. By straining, the precipitated carbonate is separated, and from the strained liquor crystals of bromide of potassium are obtained by due evaporation. Properties, <^c. Bromide of potassium is a permanent, anhydrous, co- lourless salt, crystallizing in cubes or quadrangular prisms, and having a pun- gent, saline taste, similar to that of common salt, but more acrid. It is very soluble in cold water, more so in hot, and but slightly soluble in alcohol. When heated it decrepitates, and, at a red heat, fuses without decomposi- tion. It is incompatible with acids, and with acidulous and metallic salts. It consists of one equiv. of bromine 78.4, and one of potassium 39.15 = 117.55. Medical Properties. Bromide of potassium is considered to be altera- tive and resolvent. In 1828, Pourche used il wiih benefit, both internally 1018 Potassa. PART II. and in the form of ointment, in the treatment of bronchocele and scrofula. It was introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, in consequence of the success obtained from its internal use by Dr. Williams, of London, in several cases of enlarged spleen. It may be given in pill or sweetened solu- tion, in doses of from three to ten grains, three times a day. In irritable conditions of the bowels it is apt to occasion diarrhcea, to obviate which effect it may be necessary to give opium. The ointment may be made by mixing from a scruple to two drachms of the bromide wiih an ounce of lard. Of this from half a drachm to a drachm may be rubbed on a scrofulous tumour, or other part where its local action is desired, once in twenty-four hours. J o POTASSII IODIDUM. U. S, Lond. Potassa Hydkiodas. Dub. Iodide of Potassium. Hydriodate of Potassa. "Pake of Solution of Potassa two pints; Iodine a sufficient quantity. Apply a gentle heat to the Solution, and add by degrees sufficient Iodine to saturate the Potassa, and to impart a brown colour to the liquid. Then pass Hydrosulphuric Acid through the solution, in a proper vessel, till it loses its brown colour, and retains the odour of the Acid. Filter through paper, and having poured hot water upon the residue, aSain filter. Boil the filtered iquors for a short time that the Hydrosulphuric Acid may be driven off; then, if sulphur has been precipitated, remove it, and saturate any acid that may be present with the Solution of Potassa. Lastly, boil the liquor to dryness. Hydrosulphuric Acid is obtained from Sulphuret of Iron, by the audition ot Sulphuric Acid diluted with four times its weight of water." U.S. " lake of Iodine six ounces; Carbonate of Potassa four ounces; Iron t .lings two ounces; Distilled Water six pints [Imperial measure]. Mix the Iodine with four pints of the Water, and add the Iron, stirring them fre- quently with a spatula for half an hour. Apply a gentle heat, and when a greenish colour occurs, add the Carbonate of Potassa, first dissolved in the two pints of water, and strain. Wash what remains with two pints [Impe- rial measure] of boiling Distilled Water, and again strain. Evaporate The mixe I liquors, so that crystals may form." Lond. M"'rte, f Iodi"e ?ne Part> Sulphuret of Iron, in coarse powder, five parts; Sulphuric Acid sevenparts; Distilled Water forty-eight parts; Wa- uero Carbonate of Potassa a sufficient quantity; Rectified Spirit six parts. Mix the Iodine by trituration with sixteen parts of the water, and pin the mixture into a glass vessel. Pour the Acid, previously diluted with thirty- wo parts of the water, on the Sulphuret, contained in a matrass; and by means of a tube adapted to the neck of the matrass, and reaching to the bottom of the vessel containing the Iodine and Water, transmit the gas through the mixture, until the Iodine entirely disappears. Filler the liquor and immed.ately evaporate it, by a superior heat, to one-eigbth part, and again niter it. Then gradually add as much Water of Carbonate of Po- llT' 3Sr T 5? Sl,ffi<:ient lo saturate the acid, which is known by the ces- 1,1 ! T6SCTe; Then eX?0se lhe mixlure t0 heat/until the res dual salt ,s dry and of a white clour. On this pour the Spirit, and djs.olve by the aid of heat. Lastly, from the remaining salt, pour off the solution, evaporate it to dryness, and keep the residuum in a close vessel." By these processes, iodide of potassium is obtained in solution, which by evaporation yields the solid salt. The U. S. process is that recommended in 1845 by trie late Dr. I urner of London. On adding iodine in slight excess to a warm solution of potassa, oxygen is transferred from part of the potassa to PART II. Potassa. 1019 part of the iodine, and two salts, iodide of potassium and iodate of po- tassa are generated in solution. In the next step of the process, the hydro- sulphuric acid gas furnishes hydrogen to form water with the oxygen of the iodate, which is thereby conrerted into iodide of potassium, while the sulphur of the gas is precipitated, and removed by filtration. The solution thus becomes one exclusively of iodide of potassium, and, upon beino- evaporated to dryness, yields the solid salt. Should the solution at firsl contain an excess of iodine, the hydrosulphuric acid will convert this into hydriodic acid, which would remain in excess; and hence the direction is given to saturate any superabundant acid with solution of potassa, whereby an additional portion of iodide of potassium is formed. The process which Berzelius recommends as the best, on account of its economy, resembles ihe one just described, and is as follows. Dissolve iodine in caustic potassa, until the liquid begins to be coloured. Then eva- porate il sufficiently to cause the iodate to crystallize, and boil the mother water to dryness, so as to obtain the iodide of potassium, which must be fused, in order lo convert any iodate of potassa present into iodide. Berze- lius slates, lhat the solution of the mixed iodine salts may be at once evapo- rated to dryness, and the dry mass fused, so as to convert the iodate into iodide of potassium, without first separating the former by crystallization; but that the process when thus conducted is liable to the objection, that, du- ring the fusion, ihe mass bubbles up, and portions of it are thrown out of the vessel, giving rise to a loss. The London process, which is that of Baup and Caillot, and which is adopted in the French Codex of 1837, is simpler than that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, and is said to give a whiter product than any other. It is perfectly analogous to that for obtaining bromide of potassium, explained in the preceding nrlicle. In the first step of it, iodide of iron is formed, and in ihe second, this is decomposed by the carbonate of potassa, so as to form carbon-ate of iron by precipitation, and iodide of potassium in solution, which, by evaporation, yields the salt in crystals. In the French Codex formula, a filtration is directed before the addition of the alkali, to separate the excess of iron filings, and the liquor, filtered from the carbonate of iron is evaporated lo dryness in a brass vessel, the dry mass dissolved in four or five times its weight of water, and the solution concentrated in a porcelain capsule, and then allowed to cool slowly thai crystals may form. In the Dublin process, a stream of hydrosulphuric acid gas being passed through water in which iodine is diffused, the gas becomes decomposed, its sulphur is precipitated, and its hydrogen, by combining with the iodine/ge- nerates hydriodic acid, which remains in solution. The sulphur being sepa- rated by filtration, and the solution duly concentrated, the acid is converted into iodide of potassium by saturating it with carbonate of potassa, the car- bonic acid of which, by being extricated, causes the effervescence. By evaporation to dryness, the iodide is obtained in the solid state! But lest it should he contaminated with some iodate or carbonate of poiassa, the dry mass is directed lo be digested with a portion of rectified spirit (alcohol) which takes up the iodide of potassium, and leaves these salts behind' The alcoholic solution is then evaporated to dryness, and the pure iodide obtained in the solid state. In both the U.S. and Dublin formulae, the salt is directed to be obtained by evaporating to dryness; but itis better to pro- cure it in crystals as directed by tbe London College. This process is not an eligible one; as it requires the formation of hydri- odic acid, and the use of alcohol. An easier process than either of ihese, according to the late Dr. Turner, is to add iodine lo the officinal sulphuret 1020 Potassa. PART II. of potassium in solution as long as sulphuris precipitated. The iodine, by its superior affinity, replaces the sulphur, and thus converts the sulphuret into iodide of potassium. The chief objection to this process is that the product is contaminaled with sulphate of potassa, an impurity always pre- sent in the officinal sulphuret. Properties. Iodide of potassium is a deliquescent salt, of a semi-opaque white colour, and acrid saline taste. It generally crystallizes in cubes. It is soluble in about two-thirds of its weight of cold water, and freely in alcohol; and when a hot saturated alcoholic solution is allowed to cool, it deposites the salt in crystals. The aqueous solution is capable of taking up a large quantity of iodine, and becomes an ioduretted iodide of a deep brown colour. Exposed to heat, it fuses readily into a mass having a crystalline and pearly aspect, and at a red heat is volatilized without decomposition. This latter property furnishes the means of detecting any fixed impurity, and its solu- bility in alcohol renders easy the discovery of any foreign substance inso- luble in that menstruum. The most usual impurities contained in this salt, are the chlorides (usually chloride of sodium), and iodate and carbonate of potassa. The latter salts may be detected by their insolubility in alcohol; and the chlorides, by precipitating with nitrate of silver. If any chloride of silver, mixed with the iodide of that metal, be thrown down, it will be solu- ble in ammonia, and may be precipitated from the alkali by nitric acid. Car- bonate of potassa is sometimes fraudulently introduced; and the late Dr. Duncan made mention of a spurious iodide of potassium sold at one period in Scotland, which contained 64 per cent, of this carbonate; and this impu- rity has been detected to the extent of 74£ per cent, by Dr. Christison, and of 77 per cent, by Mr. Pereira. According to the latter, the impure salt may be distinguished by its wanting any regular crystalline form, by its pro- ducing a milky appearance in lime-water, whereas the pure salt has no such effect, and by its destroying the colour of the tincture of iodine, an effect not produced by it when pure. Iodide of potassium consists of one equiv. of iodine 126.3, and one of potassium 39.15 = 165.45. It contains no water of crystallization. It is erroneously called a hydriodate by the Dublin College. Medical Properties and Uses. This salt exhibits the same medical pro- perties as iodine, though in a less degree. The powers of iodine as a remedy, have been so fully detailed in another place, that we have very little to add here. (See Iodinum.) Dr. Lugol considers it quite inferior to iodine as a therapeutical agent, and uses it, apparently, for no other purpose than of promote the solubility of iodine in water. It has, however, been preferred by some practitioners, for the purpose of producing the constitutional effects of iodine. Dr. Montgomery states that it has been used by Dr. De Renzy, of Ireland, with great success in haemoptysis; and Dr. Graves, another Irish physician, employed it with success in a very obstinate erythematic swelling of the hand. Dr. Williams, of London, considers it applicable to the treat- ment of various forms of secondary syphilis. He used it with success in a majority of cases, in removing hard periosteal nodes, and found it beneficial in the treatment of tubercular forms of venereal eruptions. The dose is from five to ten grains, or more, two or three times a day, given in solution. Some practitioners have reported the exhibition of enormous doses, such as two, four, and even six drachms daily, without inconvenience; but there is ground for suspecting in these cases that the salt employed was not pure. Nevertheless we are assured by Dr. Buchanan, of Glasgow, that he has given the pure salt in doses of half an ounce, without any precaution being observed by the patient, except that of drinking freely of diluents. The part ii. Potassa.—Pulparum Extraclio. 1021 medicine was quickly absorbed, and, in different cases reported, was detected in the urine, dropsical fluids, and even the blood. Iodide of potassium is very much employed as an external application in the form of ointment. (See Unguentum Potassae Hydriodalis, Dub.) It is used as a reagent in the London process for obtaining iodide of lead. Off. Prep. Liquor Potassii Iodidi Compositus, Lond.; Tinctura lodinii Composita, Lond.; Unguentum lodinii Compositum, Lond.; Unguentum Po- tassae Hydriodatis, Dub. B. LIQUOR POTASSII IODIDI COMPOSITUS. Lond. Compound Solution of Iodide of Potassium. " Take of Iodide of Potassium ten grains; Iodine five grains; Distilled Water a pint [Imperial measure]. Mix, that they may dissolve." This solution is made precisely on the principle of Lugol's ioduretted mineral waters, in which iodine is rendered soluble by twice its weight of iodide of potassium. It is just twice as strong as Lugol's solution of medium strength, assuming the Imperial fluidounce to be the same as the French ounce. The medicinal properties of this solution are the same with those of its ingredients. The dose is half a fluidounce, containing the eighth of a grain of iodine, four times a day, diluted with an equal bulk of water, and increased gradually to a fluidounce. B. PULPARUM EXTRACTIO. Extraction of Pulps. " Boil unripe pulpy fruits, and ripe ones if dry, in a small quantity of water, until they become soft; then express the pulp through a hair sieve, and boil it down to the consistence of honey, in an earthen vessel, over a gentle fire, stirring it continually in order to prevent it from burning. " The pulp of Cassia fistularis is, in like manner, to be boiled out from the bruised pod, and afterwards reduced to a proper consistence by evaporating the water. " The pulps of fresh ripe fruits are to be expressed through the sieve, without previous boiling." Ed. " Fruits of which the pulps are to be extracted, if unripe, or ripe and dry, are to be boiled in a little water until they become soft. Then the pulps, expressed through a hair sieve, are to be slowly evaporated to a proper con- sistence." Dub. " Set pulpy fruits, if unripe, or ripe and dry, in a moist place to soften; then express the pulps through a hair sieve; afterwards boil them with a gen- tle fire, frequently stirring; lastly, evaporate the water by means of a water- bath, until the pulps become of a proper consistence. " Pour boiling water upon the bruised Cassia Pods, so that the pulp may be washed out, and press this first through a coarse sieve, and afterwards through a hair sieve; then evaporate by means of a water-bath until the pulp acquires a proper consistence. " Of fruits which are ripe and fresh, express the pulp or juice through a sieve, without boiling." Lond. There are very few fruits the pulps of which are now employed in phar- 87 1022 Pulparum Extractio.—Pulveres. PART II- macy. For these few the directions of the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges are greatly preferable to those of the London, which are indeed impracticable, as dried fruits often do not become sufficiently moist, by mere exposure in a damp place, to admit of the subsequent treatment ordered, and besides, would almost always become mouldy. W. PULVERES. Powders. The form of powder is convenient for the exhibition of substances which are not given in very large doses, are not very disagreeable to the taste, have no corrosive property, and do not deliquesce rapidly on exposure. As the effect of pulverization is to expose a more extended surface to the action of the air, care should be taken to keep substances which are liable to be injured by such exposure, in closely stopped bottles. In many instances it is also im- portant to exclude the light, which exercises a very deleterious influence over numerous medicinal agents when minutely divided. In relation to substances most liable to injury from these causes, the best plan is to powder them in small quantities and as they are wanted for use. Powders may be divided into the simple, consisting of a single substance, and the compound, of two or more mixed together. The latter only are em- braced under the present head. In the preparation of the compound powders, the ingredients, if of different degrees of cohesion or solidity, should be pul- verized separately and then united. An exception, however, to this rule, is the employment of one substance to facilitate by its greater hardness the minute division of another, as in the Powder of Ipecacuanha and Opium. Deli- quescent substances, and those containing fixed oil in large proportion, should not enter into the composition of powders; the former, because by absorbing moisture, they render the preparation damp and liable to spoil, the latter, be- cause they are apt to become rancid, and impart an unpleasant odour and taste to the mixture. The lighter powders may in general be administered suspended in water or other thin liquid; the heavier, such as those of metallic substances, require a more consistent vehicle, as syrup, molasses, honey, or some of the confections. Resinous powders, if given in water, require the intervention of mucilage or sugar. The Dublin College gives the following general directions for the prepara- tion of powders. " The substances to be powdered, having been previously dried, are to be beaten in an iron mortar. The powder is then to be separated, by sifting it through a hair sieve, and is to be kept in close vessels." W. PULVIS ALOES COMPOSITUS. Lond., Dub. Compound Powder of Jlloes. "Take of Aloes an ounce and a half; Guaiacum Resin an ounce; Compound Powder of Cinnamon half an ounce. Rub the Aloes and the Guaiacum Resin, separately, into powder; then mix them with the Compound Powder of Cinna- mon." Lond. The Dublin College gives the same directions, particularizing the hepatic aloes, and substituting their own aromatic powder for the compound pow- der of cinnamon of the London College. The tendency of pulverized guaiac to concrete, and the excessively bitter PART II. Pulveres. 1023 taste of aloes, which is but imperfectly concealed by the aromatic addition, render the form of powder ineligible for the exhibition of these medicines. The preparation is a warm stimulant cathartic, but is little used. The dose is from fifteen to thirty grains. Wr. PULVIS ALOES ET CANELLA. U.S. Pulvis Aloes cum Canella. Dub. Powder of 'Aloes and Canella. " Take of Aloes [hepatic, Dub.~\ a pound; Canella three ounces. Rub them separately into very fine powder [into powder, Dub.'] and then mix them." U.S., Dub. This preparation has long been known under the name ofhiera picra. The canella serves to correct the griping property, and imperfectly to cover the taste of the aloes; but the unpleasant bitterness of the latter is still very obvious in the mixture, which would be better given in the form of pill than of pow- der. It is a popular remedy in amenorrhoea, and may be used for all the purposes to which aloes is applied. It is sometimes administered, in do- mestic practice, infused in wine or spirit. The dose is from ten to twenty grains. W. PULVIS ALUMINIS COMPOSITUS. Ed. Compound Pow- der of Alum. " Take of Alum four parts; Kino one part. Rub them together to a fine powder." Ed. A solution of alum is decomposed by a solution of kino, and it is probable that the same effect takes place when the two substances, mixed in the state of powder, are introduced into the stomach: but whether their astringency is materially affected by the change is uncertain. The preparation may be em- ployed in diarrhoea and menorrhagia, and externally to suppress hemorrhage, or as an astringent application to flabby indolent ulcers. The dose is from five to twenty grains. W. PULVIS AROMATICUS. U.S., Ed., Dub. Pulvis Cinnamomi CoMrosiTus. Lond. Aromatic Powder. " Take of Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger, each, two ounces. Rub them together into a very fine powder." U. S. The Edinburgh process corresponds with that of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. The London College directs two ounces of cinnamon, an ounce and a half of cardamom, an ounce of ginger, and half an ounce of long pepper; the Dublin College, two ounces of cinnamon, an ounce of cardamom seeds freed from their capsules, an ounce of ginger, and a drachm of long pepper. The cardamom seeds should always, as directed by the Dublin College, be separated from their capsules; and the powder, when prepared, should be kept in well stopped bottles. The London and Dublin preparations are more pungent than that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, in consequence of the long pepper which they contain. These powders are stimulant and carminative, and may be given in the dose of from ten to thirty grains, in cases of enfeebled digestion accompanied with flatulence; but they are chiefly used as corrigents and adjuvants of other medicines. Off. Prep. Pulvis Aloes Comp., Lond., Dub.; Confectio Aromatica, U. S., Ed.; Confectio Opii, U.S., Ed. /W. PULVIS ASARI COMPOSITUS. Ed, Dub. Compound Pow- der of Asarabacca. " Take of Leaves of Asarabacca three parts; Leaves of Marjoram, Laven- der Flowers, each, one part. Rub them together into powder." Ed. 1024 Pulveres. PART II- "Take of dried Leaves of Asarabacca an ounce; dried Lavender Flowers a drachm. Rub them together lo powder." Dub. This is an agreeable and efficacious errhine, useful in some cases of obsti- nate headach, toothach, and chronic ophthalmia. Five or six grains snuffed up the nostrils at bedtime, excite sneezing and a copious discharge of mucus, which continues to flow on the following day. W. PULVIS CRETA COMPOSITUS. Lond., Dub. Pulvis Car- bonatis Calcis Compositus. Ed. Compound Powder of Chalk. " Take of Prepared Chalk half a pound; Cinnamon four ounces; Tor- mentil, Gum Arabic, each, three ounces; Long Pepper half an ounce. Rub them separately into very fine powder, and then mix them." Lond., Dub. " Take of Prepared Carbonate of Lime four ounces; Nutmeg half a drachm; Cinnamon Bark a drachm and a half. Rub them together to powder." Ed. In the Edinburgh preparation, the aromatics are in too small a quantity to serve any other purpose than to communicate a pleasant flavour to the car- bonate of lime, which is the only active ingredient. The powder of the London and Dublin Colleges is, on the contrary, warm, stimulant, and astrin- gent, as well as antacid; and is well calculated for the treatment of diarrhoea, connected with acidity and unattended with inflammatory symptoms. In such a combination, however, the proper proportion, and even the choice of the ingredients, varies so much with the symptoms of the case, that they might with propriety be left to extemporaneous prescription. The dose of the compound powder of chalk is from ten to twenty grains, given in muci- lage or sweetened water, and frequently repeated. Off. Prep. Pulvis Cretae Compositus cum Opio, Lond., Dub. W. PULVIS CRETA COMPOSITUS CUM OPIO. Lond., Dub. Compound Powder of Chalk with Opium. " Take of Compound Powder of Chalk six ounces and a half; Hard Opium, in powder,yb?/r scruples. Mix them." Lond., Dub. The addition of the opium greatly increases the efficacy of the compound powder of chalk in diarrhoea; and its equal diffusion through the powder presents this advantage, that it may be conveniently given in minute doses applicable to infantile cases. Two scruples of the powder contain a grain of opium. In the diarrhoea of adults from ten to twenty grains may be given for a dose, and repeated several times a day, or after each evacuation. W. PULVIS IPECACUANHA ET OPII. U.S., Ed. Pulvis Ipe- cacuanha Compositus. Lond., Dub. Powder of Ipecacuanha and Opium. Dover's Powder. " Take of Ipecacuanha, in powder, Opium, in powder, each a drachm; Sulphate of Potassa an ounce. Rub them together into a very fine powder." U.S. All the British Colleges employ the same ingredients as above, and in the same proportions. The London College, having ordered them in the state of powder, simply directs them to be mixed together. The Edinburgh directions agree with those of our own Pharmacopoeia, except lhat the opium is not pulverized before being rubbed with the other ingredients. The Dub- lin College first rubs the opium and sulphate of potassa together into pow- der, and then mixes the pulverized ipecacuanha with them. The sulphate of potassa in this preparation serves, by the hardness of its particles, to promote that minute division and consequent thorough intermix- ture of the opium and ipecacuanha, upon which the peculiar virtues of the PART II. Pulveres. 1025 compound depend. It also serves to dilute the active ingredients and thus allow of their division into minute doses adapted to the complaints of chil- dren. This composition, though usually called Dover's powder, does not precisely correspond with that originally recommended by Dr. Dover, which is prepared as follows. Four ounces of nitrate of potassa and the same quan- tity of sulphate of potassa, are mixed together in a red-hot crucible, and afterwards very finely powdered; one ounce of opium, sliced, is then added, and ground to powder with the saline mixture; lastly, an ounce of ipecacu- anha and an ounce of liquorice root, in powder, are mixed with the other ingredients. This process was adopted in the former French Codex, and has been retained with very slight change in the present. The powder of ipecacuanha and opium is an admirable anodyne diapho- retic, not surpassed, perhaps, by any other combination in its power of pro- moting the cutaneous secretion. Opium itself has a strong tendency to the skin, evinced both by the occasional diaphoresis and by the itching and ting- ling sensation which it excites. While the vessels of the skin are stimulated by this ingredient of the powder, the secreting orifices are relaxed by the ipecacuanha, and the combined effect is much greater than that which results from either separately. At the same time the general stimulating influence of the opium, and its tendency to operate injuriously on the brain, are coun- teracted; so that the mixture may be given with safety in cases which might not admit of the use of opium alone. The preparation is applicable to all cases, not attended with much fever, or cerebral disease, or sick stomach, in which there is an indication for profuse diaphoresis, especially in painful affections, or those connected with unhealthy discharges. It is admirably adapted to the treatment of the phlegmasiae, particularly rheumatism and pneumonia, when complicated with a typhoid tendency, or after a sufficient reduction of arterial excitement by the lancet or other mode of depletion. Under simiTar circumstances it is useful in dysentery, in diarrhoea, and the various hemorrhages, especially that from the uterus. It is sometimes also given in dropsy. In the bowel affections, and whenever the hepatic secre- tion is deranged, it is frequently combined with small doses of calomel. Ten grains of the powder contain one grain of opium. The dose is from five to fifteen grains, given diffused in water, or mixed with syrup, or in the form of bolus, and repeated at intervals of four, six, or eight hours, when it is desirable to maintain a continued diaphoresis. Its action may be mate- rially promoted by warm drinks, such as lemonade, or balm tea, which, however, should not be given immediately after the powder, as they might provoke vomiting. W. PULVIS JALAPA COMPOSITUS. Lond., Ed., Dub. Com- pound Powder of Jalap. " Take of Jalap, three ounces; Bitartrate of Potassa, six ounces; Ginger, tivo drachms. Powder them separately; then mix them." Lond. "Take of Jalap Root, in powder, one part [halfa pound, Dub.]; Super- tartrate of potassa two parts [a pound, Dub.]. Rub them together to a very fine powder." Ed., Dub. The supertartrate, by being rubbed with the jalap, is thought to favour its more minute division, while it increases its hydragogue effect. A combina- tion of these two ingredients, though with a larger proportion of cream of tartar, (see Jalapa,) is much used in this country as a cathartic in dropsy and scrofulous affections of the joints and glands. The dose of the officinal powder is from thirty grains to a drachm. W. 87* 1026 Pulveres. PART II- PULVIS KINO COMPOSITUS. Lond.,Dub. Compound Pow- der of Kino. " Take of Kino fifteen drachms; Cinnamon half an ounce; Hard Opium a drachm. Rub them separately to very fine powder, and then mix them." Lond., Dub. This is an anodyne astringent powder, useful in some forms of diarrhoea, but of which the composition would be better left to extemporaneous pre- scription, as the proportion of the ingredients should vary with the circum- stances of the case. Twenty grains contain one grain of opium. The dose is from five grains to a scruple. W. PULVIS OPIATUS. Ed. Opiate Powder. " Take of Opium one part; Prepared Carbonate of Lime nine parts. Rub them together to a fine powder." Ed. This powder is intended to afford the means of exhibiting opium in minute doses; although the antacid property of the carbonate of lime may in some instances prove advantageous. Ten grains of the powder contain one grain of opium. \y# PULVIS PRO CATAPLASMATE. Dub. Powder for a Ca- taplasm. " Take of Flaxseed which remains after the expression of the oil one part; Oatmeal two parts. Mix them." Dub. This is a good material for the formation of poultices; but hardly deserves a place among the officinal preparations. The impressed flaxseed meal is preferable to that which has been pressed, as the oil which it contains causes it to retain longer a soft consistence. "W. PULVIS SALINUS COMPOSITUS. Ed., Dub. Compound Saline Powder. " Take of Muriate of Soda, Sulphate of Magnesia, each, four parts; Sul- phate of Potassa three parts. Dry the salts with a gentle heat, then, having rubbed them separately to fine powder, mix them together, and keep the mix- ture in a well stopped bottle." Ed., Dub. This is an aperient powder, and may be taken with advantage in costive habits, in the dose of two or three drachms, dissolved in half a pint of water or carbonic acid water, before breakfast. W. PULVIS SCAMMONII COMPOSITUS. Lond., Ed., Dub. Compound Powder of Scammony. "Take of Scammony, Hard Extract of Jalap, each, two ounces; Ginger half an ounce. Rub them separately to a very fine powder; and then mix them." Lond., Dub. " Take of Scammony, Supertartrate of Potassa equal parts. Rub them together to a very fine powder." Ed. It should be observed, that the compound of the Edinburgh College is essentially different from that of the London and Dublin Colleges; but we do not think that either of them is an eligible preparation. The cream of tartar in the former can serve little other purpose than to assist in the pulverization of the scammony, which does not require any peculiar care in this respect. In the latter, though the ginger may tend to correct the griping property of the purgative ingredients, the'extract of jalap too closely resembles the scam- mony in its mode of operation to exert any important modifying influence upon it. The dose of the London powder is from seven to fifteen grains, of the Edinburgh, from ten to twenty grains. W. PART II. Pulveres.—Quinia. 1027 PULVIS TRAGACANTHA COMPOSITUS. Lond. Com- pound Powder of Tragacanth. " Take of Tragacanth, in powder, Gum Arabic, in powder, Starch, each, an ounce and a half; Sugar [refined] three ounces. Rub the Starch and Sugar together to powder, then add the Tragacanth and Gum Arabic, and mix them all." Lond. This is applicable to the general purposes of the demulcents; but is chiefly employed in Great Britain as a vehicle for heavy insoluble powders. The dose is from thirty grains to a drachm, mixed with water or other mild liquid. W. QUINIA. Preparations of Quinia. QUINIA SULPHAS. U. S. Quina Disulphas. Lond. Qui- nina Sulphas. Dub. Sulphate of Quinia. " Take of Yellow Bark, in powder, a pound; Lime, in powder, four ounces; Sulphuric Acid, Alcohol, Animal Charcoal, Distilled Water, each a sufficient quantity. Boil the Bark for half an hour with eight pints of the Distilled Water, acidulated with a fluidounce of the Sulphuric Acid. Strain the decoction through linen; then boil the residue with the same quantity of acidulated Water, and filter as before. Mix the filtered liquors, and gradu- ally add the Lime, stirring constantly. Wash the precipitate with Distilled Water, and having dried it, digest it in Alcohol with a moderate heat. Pour off the tincture, and repeat the digestion several times, till the Alcohol is no longer rendered bitter. Mix the tinctures and distil over the alcohol, till a brown viscid liquor remains in the retort. Upon this substance, removed from the retort, pour as much Sulphuric Acid, largely diluted with water, as may be sufficient for its perfect saturation. Then add the Animal Charcoal, and having evaporated the liquor sufficiently, filter it while hot, and set it aside to crystallize." U. S. The London College exhausts yellow bark by water acidulated with sul- phuric acid, throws down the acid by hydrated oxide of lead, washes the pre- cipitate with distilled water, boils down the liquors to a fourth part, filters, adds water of ammonia in order to decompose the kinate of quinia, washes the precipitated quinia till the water ceases to be rendered alkaline, saturates the residue with diluted sulphuric acid, digests with animal charcoal, filters, and finally, having thoroughly washed the charcoal, cautiously evaporates the liquor so that it may crystallize. This process, however, has not been found to answer well in practice. It may not be irrelevant to mention here that the London College, though it thus gives a process for the preparation of sulphate of quinia, places the alkali itself, under the name of Quina, in its Catalogue of the Materia Medica. The process of the Dublin College is essentially the same with that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, though different in its details. Both were taken from the process of JY1. Henry, Jun., of Paris, for which he received a prize from the French Academy of Sciences, and which, with some slight modifications, is now almost universally practised. This we shall present to our readers in full detail, premising, however, such an explanation of the more general 1028 Quinia. PART II- directions of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, as may enable the student to under- stand each step of the process. The yellow bark (Calisaya, or royal yellow) is the variety selected, be- cause this contains quinia in the largest proportion, and most free from ad- mixture with cinchonia. The alkali exists in the bark combined with kinic acid, and probably also, with one or more of the colouring principles, as sug- gested by M. Henry. As in this latter state it is of difficult solubility, if it be not insoluble in water, the whole of the quinia cannot be extracted from the bark by means of that liquid alone. Berzelius, however, attributes the difficulty of exhausting the bark to the circumstance, that water converts the native neutral kinates into soluble superkinates which are dissolved, and in- soluble subkinates which remain. By adding sulphuric acid to the water in such quantities as to be in excess in relation to the quinia, the whole of the alkali combines with the acid to form a very soluble sulphate, in which state it exists, together with various impurities, in the decoctions procured by the first steps of the process. By the addition of lime to the filtered and mixed decoctions, the sulphate is decomposed, giving up its sulphuric acid to the lime, while the quinia is liberated, and being insoluble in water, is precipi- tated in connexion with the sulphate of lime, the water retaining most of the impurities. The precipitate having been washed in order to purify it from every thing soluble in water, the next step is to separate the quinia from the sulphate of lime. This is accomplished by the agency of alcohol, which dis- solves the former, and leaves the latter untouched. The whole of the alkali having been abstracted, the alcoholic solution of quinia is then sufficiently concentrated by evaporation, and diluted sulphuric acid added in such pro- portion as to form a neutral sulphate, which crystallizes when the liquor cools after concentration. The use of the animal charcoal is to deprive the salt of the colouring matter, which obstinately adheres to it through every stage of the process; and the object of the filtering is to separate the charcoal after it has performed this office. For the operator it is necessary to be ac- quainted not only with the outlines and general principles of a process, but with all its details; as the neglect of some points of little apparent importance may materially interfere with his success. It is to supply the deficiency of the process of the Pharmacopoeia in this respect, that we introduce the follow- ing, extracted from the Dictionnaire des Drogues. Process of M. Henry. Take 2000 parts of yellow bark, in powder, and 15,000 parts of water acidulated with 128 parts of sulphuric acid of 66° Baume.* Put the powder into a copper vessel, add a little water, make a paste by means of a wooden spatula; then mix this paste with the remainder of the liquid, place the vessel over the fire, and carry the heat to the point of ebullition. At the expiration of an hour, allow the acid decoction to rest, then strain it through linen, treat the residue with a fresh quantity of acidu- lated water, and strain as before. This treatment is to be repeated till the bark is exhausted, which may be known by the liquor ceasing to acquire bit- terness. Now mix together all the decoctions, and add sufficient lime mixed with water to saturate the acid contained in the liquor. The quinia and cin- chonia, separated from their combination with the acid, are precipitated along with the sulphate of lime, and the excess of lime added. Collect this preci- pitate upon a linen cloth previously moistened, taking care to preserve the liquid which passes through, as it still contains a portion of alkaline matter. To prevent the injurious reaction of the lime, contained in this liquor, upon * Sufficiently near approximations are 4 troy pounds of bark, 24 pints of water, and 3 troy ounces of sulphuric acid. PART II. Quinia. 1029 the quinia, acidulate it slightly with sulphuric acid; then evaporate it one- third, and decompose the sulphate of quinia by an excess of lime. The pre- cipitate now produced, is to be united with the first, and both are to be washed with water, till this ceases to acquire colour or taste; the water is then to be allowed to drain off, and the precipitate afterwards to be dried by a gentle heat. When perfectly dry it is to be powdered, and digested in alcohol of 36° Baume, which, after some time, is to be decanted, and fresh portions successively added till they cease to extract any thing from the precipitate. Mix the alcoholic liquors, allow them to stand that the undissolved matter may subside, decant the clear portion, filter the remainder, introduce the whole into the water-bath of a still, and draw off three-quarters of the alcohol by dis- tillation. There remains in the boiler a substance having the appearance of a resinous matter mixed with a small quantity of turbid liquor, which has a bitter taste and an alkaline reaction. Decant this liquor, and add to it water acidulated with sulphuric acid, so as to saturate the alkaline matter, taking care that the acid be not in excess. Litmus paper may be used to ascertain the neutrality of the mixture. During this operation the liquid should be kept hot. When it is allowed to cool, the sulphate of quinia precipitates. This is to be expressed, and boiled with water and a small quantity of animal char- coal previously washed with muriatic acid. After a few minutes of ebullition, filter the liquor while hot, and set it aside to crystallize. Drain the crystals, and afterwards dry them between folds of filtering paper at a temperature of 90° or 100° F. From the mother waters decolorized by charcoal, a new crop of crystals may be derived. A small quantity of sulphate of quinia may also be obtained from the viscid matter remaining in the water-bath of the still. For this purpose, saturate the matter with dilute sulphuric acid, evaporate one-half, add animal charcoal and boil for a few minutes, and lastly, filter the boiling liquid. On cooling, it deposites crystals which are to be treated as before described. The mother waters contain sulphate of cinchonia, with a proportion of sulphate of quinia which has not crystallized. They may be applied to important practical purposes. (See Quinise Sulphas Impurus.) The following modification of the above process has been proposed by M. Bernardet. In the distillation of the alcoholic solution, the whole of the alcohol is to be drawn off by means of a water-bath, and the viscid residue treated with about 100 parts of alcohol, which completely dissolves it. Three thousand parts of water heated in a water-bath and acidulated with sulphuric acid so as to tinge litmus paper of a deep red, are then to be added, and the liquor filtered. The filtered solution is next to be boiled with common ani- mal charcoal, not previously washed with muriatic acid as in the former case, which removes the colour, and by the carbonate of lime which it contains, serves to neutralize the excess of sulphuric acid. To complete the process, it remains only to filter anew, and to evaporate sufficiently. The sulphate of quinia is thus obtained very pure and white. Muriatic acid may be substituted in the process for the sulphuric. Other processes have been proposed, and attempts have been made to extract the quinia without the use of alcohol; but none have been found to unite, equally with that described, the important requisites of economy and convenience. We have been informed by Mr. John Farr, of Philadelphia, who is largely concerned in the manufacture of sulphate of quinia, that the Calisaya bark employed by him, yields an average product of about two per cent, of the salt. Sulphate of quinia may be obtained from any of the varieties of Peruvian bark by the above process; but should any other than the Calisaya bark be 1030 Quinia. PART II- employed, a large proportion of sulphate of cinchonia will necessarily result from the operation, and, being much more soluble than the sulphate of quinia, will remain dissolved in the residuary liquor from which the latter will have crystallized. To obtain the cinchonia separate, the following method, ori- ginally suggested by Pelletier and Caventou, may be employed. Magnesia, lime, or a solution of potassa as employed by M. Callaud, is added to the mother waters in excess. The cinchonia is precipitated together with a portion of quinia which has remained in the solution, and with the exces3 of magnesia or lime if one of these earths has been employed. The pre- cipitate is collected on a filter, washed with hot water, then dried, and treated with boiling alcohol, which dissolves the vegetable alkalies. The alcoholic solution is filtered while hot, and the residue afterwards treated in the same manner with successive portions of alcohol, till it is quite exhausted. The solutions, having been mixed together, are now concentrated by the distilla- tion of the alcohol, and allowed to cool, when they deposite cinchonia in the crystalline state. Successive evaporations and refrigerations afford new crops of crystals, and the process should be continued till no more can be obtained. The cinchonia thus procured, if impure, should be reconverted into a sulphate and treated as before, animal charcoal being employed to free it from colour. The quinia which remains in the mother waters, as it will not crystallize, may be obtained by evaporation to dryness, or may be con- verted into the crystallizable sulphate by the addition of sulphuric acid. To obtain the sulphate of cinchonia, mix the alkali with a small quantity of water, heat the mixture, and add gradually dilute sulphuric acid sufficient to saturate it; then boil with animal charcoal previously washed with muriatic acid, and filter the liquor while hot. Upon cooling it will deposite crystals of the sulphate, and by repeated evaporation and crystallization, will yield all the salt which it holds in solution. Properties. Sulphate of quinia is in fine, silky, slightly flexible, needle- shaped crystals, interlaced among each other, or grouped in small star-like tufts. Its taste is intensely bitter, resembling that of the yellow bark. Ex- posed to a moderate heat, it loses its crystalline form in consequence of the escape of its water of crystallization. At a temperature of 212° it becomes luminous, especially when rubbed. At a still higher heat it melts, assuming the appearance of wax. It is very slightly soluble in cold water, requiring, according to M. Baup, 740 parts at 54° F. for solution, while at the boiling point it is dissolved in 30 parts. Its cold solution is opalescent. It is very soluble in alcohol, but only to a very small extent in ether. The diluted acids, even tartaric and oxalic acids, in excess, dissolve it with great facility. With an additional equivalent of sulphuric acid it forms another sulphate, which is much more soluble in water than the officinal salt, and crystallizes from its solution with much greater difficulty. It was at first supposed that, of these two sulphates, the officinal salt consisted of one equivalent of each of its components, while the other contained two equivalents of acid to one of base. The former was, therefore, denominated simply sulphate, the latter supersulphate of quinia. A different view has now been generally adopted, according to which the salt formerly considered a supersulphate is in fact strictly neutral, and therefore entitled to the name of sulphate of quinia, while the officinal salt is thought to contain two equivalents of base to one of acid, and is therefore properly a subsulphate or disulphate of guinia. The latter name has been adopted by the London College. In the U.S..and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, as well as in the French Codex, the ori- ginal name of sulphate of quinia is still applied to the officinal salt. Hence has arisen a confusion of nomenclature which must be embarrassing to the PAHT "• Quinia. 1031 moSr wafers wh^ ^^ ?lledl s^rsulphale which remains in the me subha e of \ ™ T^ °J aC,d is added in the Process ^ Procuring water at 54* F ^T' ■ Accord,n& to M' BauP' * » soluble in 11 parts of Lis"verysoluble in ,n IV". W3ter °/ crysta,lizatio" * the boiling point. A,™ 7 !• ". lluled' and somew"at less so in absolute alcohol Dl,SmPr°T°n- ThC L°fficinal suIPhate of 1ui«ia< the subsulphate o di.nl- Hn riSlS'IS the only one used in medicine, and tothis we have »Hu«on ,n the present work whenever the sulphate of quinia is mentioned without any distinguishing epithet. In the crystalline form it °s£S 329To Te ,eqUiValem °f SU'Ph"ric acid *>-">> two e^iv of quina 9 OQ nf ""i h'ght GqT- °f Water 72=441.20; or, in the hundred part" 0f 9.09 of sulphuric acid, 74.59 of quinia, and 16.32 of water. On eCs'ure "vtlh^ °f «~™ wnnout undergoing decomposition. (Phillips.) alkarsTd^kalin?^ £"*' x ^i^ °^uinia is decomposed by the soda and ammonS h i!' *" S°1Uti°n' h aff°rds Palpitates with poiassa, Iho'meciZZ hv ?, I3'6 Partly S°Illble in an excess of alka» ^ ^ iinSS.^? astnngent infusions, the tannin of which forms occas o„ nrecinE ""M0""*- The soluble salts of lead and of baryta inwZ aTd racla A1 ,atiSr0dUCed ^ lhe Salts of baryta is insoluble solS of Ve snlnt, , Ar frCSh y Prepared solution of chlorine> a«ded to a amri:foic:si:np,r^efnr,oua;and fol,owed by the adduion °f—°f atteSTidSter.?6 hig^ FT6 °f ^ulPhate 0f «uinia has ^ to various can be little difficulty in detecting these adulterations. The presence oanv JK tv^g^: ^eraTlhi'nf ^ '*« *""* *• »^ Medical Properties and Uses. Sulphate of quinia produces noon thP system so far as we are enabled to judge by observation^ the sameTffe * with Peruv.an bark, without being so apt to nauseate and oppresT the sto mach (See Cinchona) It may, therefore, be substituted fo?that remeoV in all diseases to which the latter is applicable; and in the 111 ?f ' TT££Sr Kdth0e1caTs L t0,r^^^^ stomach, but that in cases which" require an impression 7b^ madf ^^ the rectum or the skin, it is much more effectual, because, from ffie sma!l ness of its bulk it is more readily retained in the formercas^arm more speedily absorbed m the latter. Still we cannot be certain thaUhere are no^ other active principles ,n bark besides the quinia and cinchonia, the latter of which possesses properties analogous to those of the foriner^or haMhe mode of combination in which these principles exist, may no^so modify Jeir action as to render diem more effectual in certain forms of d^seae The.question can be solved only by careful and long continueToLrvation In the mean time, we may resort to the bark if the sulphate of quinTahould' not answer the ends in view; and instances have occurred under our own 1032 Quinia. PART II- notice, in which it has proved successful in intermittents after the salt has failed. The sulphate of quinia may be given in pill or solution, or suspended in water by the intervention of syrup and mucilage. The form of pill is usu- ally preferred. (See Pilulae Quinise Sulphatis.) The solution may be readily effected by the addition of a little acid of almost any kind to the water. Eight grains of the sulphate will dissolve in a fluidounce of water acidulated with about twelve minims of the diluted sulphuric acid, or aromatic sulphuric acid of the Pharmacopoeias; and this is the most eligible mode of exhibiting the medicine in the liquid form. The addition of a small proportion of sul- phate of morphia or of laudanum, will often be found advantageous when the stomach is disposed to be sickened, or the bowels to be disturbed by the quinia. Twelve grains of the sulphate of quinia are equivalent to about an ounce of good bark. The dose varies exceedingly, according to the circumstances of the patient and the object to be accomplished. As a tonic simply, a grain may be given three or four times a day, or more frequently in acute cases. In intermittents, from twelve to twenty-four grains should be given between the paroxysms, divided into smaller or larger doses according to the condition of the stomach or the length of the intermission. From one to four grains may be given at once, and some even advise the whole quantity. When the stomach will not retain the medicine, it may be administered with nearly as much efficacy by enema; from six to twelve grains, with two fluidounces of liquid starch and from twenty to forty drops of laudanum, being injected into the rectum every six hours. Should circumstances render this mode of application impracticable, an equal quantity, diluted with arrow root or other mild powder, may be sprinkled, at the same intervals, upon a blistered surface denuded of the cuticle. The epigastrium, or the inside of the thighs and arms, would be the proper place for the blister. W. QUINIA SULPHAS LMPURUS. U.S. Impure Sulphate of Quinia. " Evaporate the liquor, poured off from the crystals of Sulphate of Quinia, to the consistence of a pilular mass." U.S. The only caution necessary in conducting this process, is to avoid such a degree of heat as would decompose the product to be obtained. This preparation was known and employed for several years in Philadel- phia, under the absurd name of extract of quinine. Experience having fully proved its efficiency as a medicine, it was, with great propriety, intro- duced into the last edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, with a name, which, though not exactly expressive of its nature, has the merit at least of not being incorrect, and could not perhaps be supplied by a better. It is of a dark brown colour, of a very bitter taste resembling that of quinia, and, when perfectly dry, is hard and brittle, breaking with a shining resi- nous fracture. It is partially soluble in water, entirely so in alcohol, and in water acidulated with sulphuric acid. Different views have been advanced in relation to its chemical nature. Sertiirner, in the year 1829, announced that he had discovered in the mother waters, remaining after the crystalliza- tion of the sulphate of quinia, a peculiar alkaline principle which he called chino'idine, and to which he ascribed extraordinary powers in the cure of disease. Having been in the habit for several years previously to this pe- riod, of employing the substance obtained by the evaporation of these wa- ters, and having found its effects in all respects identical with those which we had been accustomed to procure from the salt of quinia, we could not PART II. Quinia.—Soda. 1033 but doubt the correctness of Serturner's conclusions, and were quite pre- pared lor the contradiction which they soon afterwards met with from MM shown large iron pot, stirring them constantly till they unite." Ed. The iron pot should be sufficiently large to hold three times the quantity of the materials employed, as the mixture might otherwise boil over. As the vapours which rise are apt to take fire, a lid should be at hand, to cover the pot, and thus extinguish the flame, should the accident take place. Sulphur is soluble to a considerable extent in heated oil, from which, if the solution be saturated, it is deposited in the crystalline state on cooling. But it is not a mere solution which this process is intended to effect. The oil is partly de- composed, and the resulting preparation is an extremely fetid, acrid, viscid, reddish-brown fluid, formerly known by the name ofbalsam of sulphur. In order that it may be obtained, the oil must be heated to the boiling point. Sulphurated oil was formerly thought useful in chronic catarrh, consump- tion, and other pectoral complaints; but inconvenience has arisen from its acrid and irritating properties, and its internal use has been abandoned, It is said to be sometimes applied as a stimulant to foul ulcers. The dose is from five to thirty drops. W. PART II. Syrupi. 1053 SYRUPI. Syrups. Syrups are concentrated solutions of sugar in watery fluids, either with or without medicinal impregnation. When the solution is made with pure water, it is named syrup or simple syrup, when with water charged with one or more medicinal agents, it is called in general terms a medicated syrup, and receives its particular designation from the substance or substances added. Medicated syrups are prepared by incorporating sugar with vegetable in- fusions, decoctions, expressed juices, fermented liquors, or simple aqueous solutions. When the active matter of the vegetable is not readily soluble in water, or is volatilized or decomposed by a heat of 212°, it is sometimes ex- tracted by diluted alcohol, the spirituous ingredient of which is subsequently driven oft*. Medicated syiups are also occasionally prepared by adding a tincture to simple syrup and evaporating the alcohol. The quality and quantity of the sugar employed are points of im- portance. Refined sugar should always be preferred, as it often saves the necessity of clarification, and makes a clearer and better flavoured syrup than the impure kinds. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia simply directs sugar, but ex- plains that it is the purified or refined sugar which is indicated by that term. In relation to the quantity of sugar, if in too small proportion, fermentation is apt to occur, if too abundant, crystallization. The proper proportion is about two parts to one of the liquid. A somewhat smaller quantity will an- swer where acids, such as lemon juice or vinegar, are used. As it is desirable, in many instances, that the active matters should be in as concentrated a state as possible in the syrup, it is often necessary to eva- porate a large proportion of the watery fluid in which they are dissolved. This may be done either before the addition of the sugar or afterwards. In either case, care is requisite not to employ a heat too great or too long con- tinued, lest the active principles should be injured. When these are very volatile or easily decomposed by heat, it is necessary to dispense with con- centration altogether. Some substances which are volatilized or decomposed at the temperature of boiling water, remain fixed and unaltered at that which is necessary for the evaporation of alcohol. These, as before observed, may be dissolved in diluted alcohol, and the concentration effected by evaporating the spirituous part of the solvent. Independently of the injury which the medicinal ingredient of the syrup may sustain, the syrup itself is apt to be- come brown by a long continued application of heat, even when the degree is not excessive. It is recommended, therefore, that syrups which admit of con- centration, should be boiled briskly over a lively fire, so as to accomplish the object as quickly as possible. It is important to be able to ascertain posi- tively when they have attained the due consistence. An operator skilled in their preparation can judge with sufficient accuracy by various familiar signs; —such as the slowness with which the parts of a drop of syrup coalesce when previously separated by the edge of a blunt instrument; and the receding of the last portion of each drop, when the syrup, after being cooled, is poured out drop by drop. A pellicle forming upon the surface of the syrup when it cools, indicates that it has been too much boiled. But these signs are not to be relied on except by those who have acquired much experience. The easiest method of ascertaining the proper point of concentration is by the use 1054 Syrupi. PART II. of Baume's hydrometer. This should stand at 30° in boiling syrup (30.£ in hot weather), and at 35° in the syrup when it is cool. Another very accu- rate though less ready method is to ascertain the sp. gr. by weighing a por- tion of the liquid. Syrup when boiling should have a sp. gr. of about 1.261 —when cold, about 1.319. Thomson and Duncan are mistaken in giving the proper sp. gr. of cold syrup as 1.385. We found that of a specimen of sim- ple syrup made with two pounds and a half of sugar to a pint of water, to be 1.326 at 68° F.; and this consistence is rather too great for practical conve- nience in cold weather. A third method of ascertaining the proper point of concentration is by the thermometer, which, in boiling syrup of the proper consistence, stands at 221° F. This indication is founded on the fact, that the boiling point of syrup rises in proportion to the increase of its density. When carefully prepared with double refined sugar, syrups generally re- quire no other clarification than to remove any scum which may rise to their surface upon standing, and to pour them off from any dregs which may subside. Should they, however, want the due degree of clearness, they may be filtered through flannel, or, when not likely to be injured by the treatment, may be clarified by means of the white of eggs or animal charcoal, as men- tioned under the head of Syrupus. The medicated syrups are liable to undergo various alterations according to their nature and mode of preparation. The acid syrups, when too much boiled, often let fall a copious white precipitate, which is said to be a saccha- rine matter analogous to the sugar of grapes, produced by the reaction of the acid upon the sugar. It has been shown that, even at ordinary tempera- tures, acids slowly convert common sugar into the sugar of grapes, which being less soluble than the former, is gradually deposited in the form of crystal- line grains. Syrups which contain too little sugar are apt to pass into the vinous fermentation, in consequence of the presence of matters which act as a ferment. Those which contain too much, deposite a portion in the crystal- line state, and the crystals, attracting the sugar remaining in solution, gradually weaken the syrup, and render it liable to the same change as when originally made with too little sugar. The want of a due proportion of saccharine mat- ter frequently also gives rise to mouldiness, when air has access to the syrup. It is said that syrups, enclosed, while they are still hot, in bottles, are apt to ferment; because the watery vapour, rising to the surface and there con- densing, diminishes the proportion of sugar, so as to produce a commence- ment of chemical action, which gradually extends through the whole mass. When syrups undergo the vinous fermentation, they become covered at the surface with froth, produced by the disengagement of carbonic acid, and ac- quire a vinous odour from the presence of alcohol; while their consistence is diminished by the loss of a portion of the 6ugar which has been converted into that liquid. When the quantity of alcohol has increased to a certain point, the fermentation ceases or goes on more slowly, owing to the preservative influence of that principle; and as the active ingredient of the syrup has fre- quently undergone no material change, the preparation may often be recovered by boiling so as to drive off the alcohol and carbonic acid, and concentrate the liquid sufficiently. A syrup thus revived is less liable afterwards to un- dergo change, because the principles which acted as ferments have been diminished or consumed. It is obvious that syrups which depend for their virtues upon a volatile ingredient, or one readily changeable by heat, cannot be restored to their original condition. At best, syrups are too apt to change, and various measures have been proposed for their preservation. According to Dr. Macculloch, the addition oi a little sulphate of potassa, or of chlorate of potassa, which is tasteless, PART II. Syrupi. 1055 prevents their fermentation. M. Chereau has found the sugar of milk effectual to the same end, in the instance of the syrup of poppies; and it may prove useful in others. The proportion which he employs is 32 parts of the sugar of milk to 1000 of the syrup. But the best plan is to make small quan- tities at a time, and to keep them, unless when wanted for immediate use, in bot- tles quite full and well stopped, which should be put in the cellar or other cool place. The London College directs that " syrups be kept in a place where the temperature never exceeds 55°." It would be difficult to comply with such a rule in this country. In relation to the preparation of syrups, the Dublin College gives the fol- lowing general directions. " When no mention is made of the weight of sugar or the mode of dissolving it, syrups are to be prepared accordinglo the following rule. Take of Refined Sugar, in fine powder, twenty-nine ounces; the Liquor prescribed a pint. Add the Sugar by degrees, and digest it with a medium heat [from 100 to 200°F.] in a covered vessel, frequently shaking, till it is dissolved; then set aside the solution for twenty-four hours; remove the scum, and pour off the syrup from the dregs if there be any." W. SYRUPUS. U. S., Lond. Syrupus Simplex. Ed., Dub. Syrup. Simple Syrup. " Take of Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half; Water a pint. Dis- solve the Sugar in the Water by means of a water-bath, and set the solution aside for twenty-four hours; then remove the scum, and if there be any dregs, pour off the clear solution from them." U. S. " Take of Sugar [refined] ten pounds; Water three pints [Imperial mea- sure]. Dissolve the Sugar in the Water with a gentle heat." Lond. " Take of Refined Sugar fifteen parts; Water eight parts. Dissolve the Sugar in the Water by a gentle heat, and boil a little so as to form a syrup." Ed. ^ " Take of Refined Sugar, finely powdered, twenty-nine ounces; Water a pint. Add the Sugar gradually to the Water, and digest it with a medium heat [from 100° to 200° F.] in a close vessel till it is dissolved, frequently stirring; afterwards pour off from the dregs if there be any." Dub. This syrup, when properly prepared, is inodorous, of a sweet taste with- out peculiar flavour, thick, viscid, nearly colourless, and perfectly transpa- rent. If somewhat turbid, as it is apt to be when made with sugar not well refined, it may be clarified by beating the white of an egg to a froth with three or four ounces of water, mixing this with the syrup, boiling the mix- ture for a short time that the albumen may coagulate, and taking off the scum which rises to the surface, or separating it by filtration through paper or flan- nel. Two gallons of the syrup may be thus clarified. Any colour and pecu- liar flavour which it may possess, may be removed by treating it, at the same time, with a small proportion (about 5 per cent.) of animal charcoal. Syrup is very useful in the formation of pills and mixtures, and in various other pharmaceutical operations in which sugar in solution is required. Off. Prep. Confectio Opii, U. S., Lond., Dub.; Infusum Acaciae Ca- techu, Ed.; Syrupus Balsami Tolutani, Dub., Ed.; Syrupus Rhei Aro- maticus, U. S.; Syrupus Zingiberis, U. St.; Trochisci Glycyrrhizae et Opii, U.S., Ed. w: SYRUPUS ACACLE. U.S. Syrup of Gum Arabic. " Take of Gum Arabic four ounces; Sugar [refined] a pound; Boiling Water a pint; Dissolve the ^Gum in the Water; then add the Sugar, and boil so as to form a syrup." U. S. This is a very convenient addition to pectoral and other mixtures in which 1056 Syrupi. part ii. the aid of gum Arabic and sugar is required, either to suspend insoluble substances, or to impart demulcent properties. It may be clarified if neces- sary in the same manner as simple syrup. W. SYRUPUS ACETL U. S., Ed. Syrup of Vinegar. " Take of Vinegar a pint; Sugar [refined] two pounds. Dissolve the Sugar in the Vinegar in the manner directed for Syrup." U. S. The Edinburgh College takes five parts of vinegar, and seven of refined sugar, and boils them so as to form a syrup. Syrup of vinegar forms with water a refrigerant and grateful drink in fe- brile complaints. It may be added to barley water and other farinaceous and mucilaginous beverages and mixtures, when a vegetable acid is not contra-indicated., SYRUPUS ALLII. U.S. Syrup of Garlic. "Take of fresh Garlic, sliced, two ounces; Distilled Vinegar a pint; Sugar [refined] two pounds. Macerate the Garlic in the Vinegar, in a glass vessel, for four days; then express the liquor, and set it by that the dregs may subside; lastly, dissolve the Sugar in the clear liquor in the manner directed for Syrup." U. S. This preparation is made upon correct principles, as vinegar is a much better solvent of the active matter of garlic than water; but the proportion of the garlic might be increased with advantage to three times the amount indi- cated in the formula. The syrup is given in chronic catarrhal affections of the lungs, and is particularly beneficial in infantile cases, by the stimulus which it affords to the nervous system. A teaspoonful may be given for a dose to a child a year old. W. SYRUPUS ALTH^iE. Lond., Dub. Syrupus Althaa Offi- cinalis. Ed. Syrup of Marshmallow. " Take of Marshmallow Root, bruised, eight ounces; Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half; Water four pints [Imperial measure]. Boil down the Water with the Root to one half, and express the liquor when cool. Set it by for twenty-four hours that the dregs may subside; then pour off the liquor, and having added the Sugar, boil down to the proper consistence." Lond. The Dublin College takes half a pound of the fresh root, two pounds of refined sugar, and four pints of water; the Edinburgh College, one part of the root, ten parts of water, and four parts of sugar; and both proceed as above. This syrup contains a considerable quantity of starch, besides mucilage, and is very liable to ferment. It is simply demulcent; but is inferior to the mucilage of gum Arabic, and in this country is very seldom prepared. W. SYRUPUS AURANTII CORTICIS. U.S. Syrupus Aurantii. Lond. Syrupus Citri Aurantii. Ed. Syrupus Aurantii. Dub. Syrup of Orange Peel. " Take of Orange Peel, bruised, two ounces; Boiling water, a pint; Su- gar [refined] two pounds and a half. Macerate the Orange Peel in the Water, in a covered vessel, for twelve hours, and strain; then add the Sugar, and form a syrup with a gentle heat." U. S. The British Colleges direct the fresh peel of Seville oranges. The London College takes two ounces and a half of the fresh peel, a pint [Imperial mea- sure] of boiling water, and three pounds of refined sugar; macerates the peel in the water for twelve hours, in a lightly covered vessel; then pours off the liquor, and adds the sugar to it. The Edinburgh College orders three ounces of the peel, a pound and a half of boiling water, and three pounds of refined sugar, proceeding as directed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. The part ii. Syrupi. 1057 Dublin College employs eight ounces of the peel, six pints of boiling water, and the quantity of sugar indicated in its general directions (page 1055); and dissolves the sugar without heat. In the preparation of this syrup, the solution of the sugar in the infusion of orange peel should be effected with as little heat as possible, in conse- quence of the volatile nature of the active principle of the peel; and, to facili- tate the solution, the sugar should be previously powdered. The syrup has a pleasant flavour, for which alone it is employed. A fluidounce of the tincture of orange peel added to a pint of simple syrup, affords a preparation little inferior to the officinal, though the presence of the spirit may in some instances be objectionable. Off. Prep. Confectio Aromatica, U. S., Ed.; Confectio Scammonii, U. S.; Electuarium Cassiae, Dub. W. SYRUPUS COLCHICI. U.S. Syrupus Colchici Autumnalis. Ed. Syrup of Meadow-saffron. " Take of Vinegar of Meadow-saffron a pint; Sugar [refined] two pounds. Dissolve the Sugar in the Vinegar of Meadow-saffron in the manner directed for syrup. U. S. " Take of fresh Meadow-saffron Root, cut into thin slices, an ounce; Vinegar sixteen ounces; Refined Sugar twenty-six ounces. Macerate the Root in the Vinegar for two days, occasionally shaking the vessel; then strain with gentle expression, and having added the Sugar, boil a little so as to form a syrup." Ed. This preparation is much inferior to the wine of colchicum, and is very seldom used. The dose is from a fluidrachm to half a fluidounce, or more. W. SYRUPUS CROCI. Lond. Syrup of Saffron. " Take of saffron ten drachms; Boiling Water a pint [Imperial measure]; Sugar [refined] three pounds. Macerate the Saffron in the Water for twelve hours, jn a lightly covered vessel; then strain the liquor, and add the Sugar. Lond. This is slightly stimulant, but is valued chiefly for its fine colour. SYRUPUS DIANTHI CARYOPHYLLI. Ed. Syrup of the Clove Pink. " Take of the fresh Petals of the Clove Pink, freed from their claws, one part; Boiling Water four parts; Refined Sugar seven parts. Macerate the Petals in the Water for twelve hours; then add the Sugar to the filtered liquor, and dissolve it with a gentle heat so as to form a syrup." Ed. The only value of this preparation consists in its beautiful red colour, and agreeable flavour. A syrup closely resembling it in these respects, is some- times prepared from an infusion of cloves and sugar, with the addition of a little cochineal. The genuine syrup may be distinguished by the effect of alkalies, which change its colour to green, while they only vary the shade of red in the counterfeit. Neither of them is much used in this country. W. SYRUPUS LIMONIS. U.S., Dub. Syrupus Limonum. Lond. Syrupus Citri Medica. Ed. Lemon Syrup. " Take of Juice of Lemons, strained, a pint; Sugar [refined] two pounds. Dissolve the Sugar in the Juice in the manner directed for Syrup." U. S. " Take of Juice of Lemons, strained, a pint [Imperial measure]; Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half. Dissolve the sugar in the Le'mon Juice*. with a gentle heat; then set it aside for twenty-four hours; afterwards te- 90 1058 Syrupi. part ii. move the scum, and pour off the clear liquor from the dregs, if there be any." Lond. " Take of Juice of Lemons, strained after the dregs have subsided, three parts; Refined Swgaxfive parts. Dissolve the Sugar." Ed. " Take of Juice of fresh Lemons two pints. As soon as the dregs have subsided, put the Juice into a matrass, and subject it for fifteen minutes to the heat of boiling water. When cold, strain it through a sieve, and form a syrup." Dub. This syrup forms a cooling and grateful addition to beverages in febrile complaints, and serves to conceal the taste of saline purgatives given in solu- tion. W. SYRUPUS MORI. Lond. Syrup of Mulberries. " Take of Mulberry Juice, strained, a pint [Imperial measure]; Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half. Dissolve the Sugar in the Mulberry Juice, with a gentle heat, and proceed in the manner directed for Lemon Syrup." Lond. This may be used for the same purposes with lemon syrup. In like man- ner syrups may be prepared from various succulent fruits, such as straw- berries, raspberries, pineapples, &c. When the juice is thick, it may be diluted with from one-third of its bulk lo an equal bulk of water, previously to the addition of the sugar. In the preparation of raspberry syrup, which, as ordinarily made, is apt to gelatinize, M. Blondeau recommends that the strained juice be allowed to stand from eight to fifteen hours, according to the temperature, in order to ferment. The juice separates into two portions, the upper thick, the lower clear. The latter is to be separated by straining and made into a syrup with the usual proportion of sugar. These syrups are employed to flavour drinks, and are much used as grateful additions to carbonic acid water. W. SYRUPUS PAPAVERIS. Lond. Syrupus Papaveris Somni- feri. Ed., Dub. Syrup of Poppies. , " Take of Poppy [capsules] three pounds; Sugar [refined] five pounds; Boiling Water five gallons [Imperial measure]. Boil down the Capsules in the Water to two gallons, and press strongly. Boil down the strained liquor again to four pints, and strain it while hot. Set it by for twelve hours that the dregs may subside, then boil down the clear liquor to two pints, add the Sugar, and dissolve." Lond. " Take of the Capsules of the White Poppy, dried and freed from their seeds, one part; Boiling Water fifteen parts; Refined Sugar two parts. Macerate the sliced Capsules in the water for twelve hours; then boil till only one-third of the. liquor remains, and strain the decoction with strong expression. Boil the strained liquor to one-half, and again strain; lastly, add the Sugar and boil a little so as to form a syrup." Ed. " Take of the Capsules of the White Poppy, dried, deprived of their seeds, and bruised, seventeen ounces; Boiling Water two gallons. Mace- rate the Capsules in the Water for twenty-four hours; then, by means of a water-bath, boil down lo a gallon, and strongly express. Boil down the strained liquor again to two pints, and strain it while hot. Set it by for twelve hours that the dregs may subside; then boil down the clear liquor to a pint, and form a syrup." Dub. As the, capsules contain variable proportions of the narcotic principle, the syrup prepared from them is necessarily of variable strength. It is, more- over, very apt to spoil. Its place might, with great propriety, be supplied by a syrup prepared from one of the salts of morphia, which would keep PART II. Syrupi. 1059 well and have the advantage of uniform strength. Four grains of the sul- phate of morphia dissolved in a pint of syrup, would afford a preparation at least equal to the average strength of the syrup of poppies, and much more certain in its operation. The syrup of poppies is employed, chiefly in infantile cases, to allay cough, quiet restlessness, relieve pain, and promote sleep. The dose is from half a fluidrachm to a fluidrachm for an infant, from half a fluidounce to a fluidounce for an adult. W. SYRUPUS RHAMNI. Lond., Dub. Syrup of Buckthorn. " Take of fresh Juice of Buckthorn [berries] four pints [Imperial mea- sure]; Ginger, sliced, Pimento, in powder, each, six drachms; Sugar [re- finea] four pounds. Set by the Juice for three days that the dregs may subside, and then strain it. To a pint of the clear Juice add the Ginger and Pimento; then macerate for four hours with a gentle heat, and strain. Boil down the remainder of the Juice to a pint and a half; mix the liquors; add the Sugar and dissolve it." Lond. " Take of the fresh Juice of Buckthorn Berries two pints and a half; Ginger Root, sliced, Pimento Berries, in powder, each, three drachms. Set by the Juice that the dregs may subside, and then strain it. Add the Gin- ger and Pimento to ten ounces of the clear Juice, macerate for twenty-four hours, and filter. Boil down the remaining Juice to a pint, mix the liquors, and form a syrup." Dub. The syrup of buckthorn is a brisk cathartic, but having an unpleasant taste, and being apt to gripe violently, is very seldom employed. The dose is from half a fluidounce to a fluidounce. The patient should drink freely of thin gruel or other demulcent beverage during its operation. W. SYRUPUS RHEI. U.S. Syrup of Rhubarb. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, two ounces; Boiling Water a pint; Sugar [refined] two pounds. Macerate the Rhubarb in the Water for twenty-four hours, and strain; then add the Sugar, and boil for a short time so as to form a syrup." U.S. This is a mild cathartic, adapted to the cases of infants, to whom it may be given in the dose of one or two fluidrachms. It has been proposed to form the syrup of rhubarb in the manner directed in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia for the aromatic syrup, by first preparing a tincture with diluted alcohol, then evaporating the spirituous portion by means of a water-bath, and incorporating the remainder with sugar. It is questionable, however, whether this would be an improvement on the offici- nal formula; as, though a stronger syrup might be obtained, there would be some risk that a portion of the alcohol might remain, and render the prepa- ration too stimulating to meet the indication for which it was originally intended. W. SYRUPUS RHEI AROMATICUS. U.S. Aromatic Syrup of Rhubarb. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, two ounces and a half; Cloves, bruised, Cin- namon, bruised, each, half an ounce; Nutmeg, bruised, two drachms; Di- luted Alcohol two pints; Syrup six pints. Macerate the Rhubarb and aromatics in the Diluted Alcohol for fourteen days, and strain; then, by means of a water-bath, evaporate the liquor to a pint, and while it is still hot, mix it with the syrup previously heated. U. S. This-process is a decided improvement upon that of the first edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, in which the rhubarb and spices were boiled long in 1060 Syrupi. PART II. water, and sugar and alcohol afterwards added to the strained decoction. The oils of the aromatics were thus driven off and wasted, water being able to take up but a small proportion; while the preparation was rendered too stimu- lant by the spirituous addition. By the present process the alcohol employed in the maceration, after having performed its office of extracting the virtues of the medicines, is evaporated at a temperature insufficient for the volatiliza- tion of the oils, and a syrup is obtained at least as strong as that of the old Pharmacopoeia, with less waste of materials, and without the objectionable presence of a large proportion of spirit. As the original formula had been in general use, and practitioners were accustomed to the preparation, it was thought advisable that the present should have as nearly as possible the same strength; otherwise the proportion both of rhubarb and of spioes might have been with great piopriety augment- ed. The apothecary should be careful to employ aromatics of the best quali- ty, and to effect the evaporation of the tincture, according to the officinal direction, by means of a water-bath. The aromatic syrup of rhubarb is a warm stomachic laxative, too feeble for adult cases"? but well calculated for the bowel complaints of infants, which are so. frequent in our cities during the summer season, and as a remedy for which the preparation has been long in use under the name ot spiced syrup of rhubarb. The dose for an infant with diarrhoea is a fluidrachm, repeated every two hours till the passages indicate by their colour that the medicine has operated. W. SYRUPUS RHEI ET SENNAE. U.S. Syrup of Rhubarb and Senna. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, Senna, each, an ounce and a half; Carda- mom, bruised, three drachms; Boiling Water a pint; Sugar tivo pounds. Macerate the Rhubarb, Senna, and Cardamom in the Water, in a covered vessel, for twenty-four hours, and strain; then add the Sugar, and boil for a short time so as to form a syrup." U. S. In the process of the former edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, the infu- sion was injudiciously boiled down to one-half before the addition of the sugar, so that the virtues of the senna were necessarily impaired, while the oil of the cardamom was in great measure driven off. In the present process this error is avoided. The syrup of rhubarb and senna is more active than the simple syrup of rhubarb, and may be used as a gentle tonic cathartic in the complaints both of children and adults. The dose for the former is a flui- drachm, for the latter, a fluidounce. W. SYRUPUS RHCEADOS. Lond. Syrupus Papaveris Rhceadis. Dub. Syrup of Red Poppy. " Take of Red Poppy [petals] a pound; Boiling Water a pint [Imperial measure]; Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half. To the Water heated by a water-bath, gradually add the Petals, occasionally stirring; then, having removed the vessel, macerate for twelve hours; express the liquor, and when the dregs have subsided add the Sugar and dissolve it." Lond. " Take of the fresh Petals of the Red Poppy a pound; Boiling Water twenty fluidounces. Add the Petals gradually to the boiling water; then, having removed the vessel from the fire, macerate with an inferior heat [be- tween 90° and 100°] for twelve hours; express the liquor, and set it by that the dregs may subside; lastly, add the Sugar, and form a syrup." Dub. The object of introducing the petals into water heated by a water-bath, is that they may shrink by being scalded, as otherwise they could not be com- part ii. Syrupi. 1061 pletely immersed in the quantity of water directed. After this has been accomplished, they should be immediately removed from the fire, lest the liquor should become too thick and ropy. The fine red colour of this syrup is its only recommendation. It has no medical virtues, and is very liable to ferment. W. SYRUPUS ROSiE. Lond., Dub. Syrupus Rosa Centifolia. Ed. Syrup of Roses. " Take fcf Hundred-leaved roses, dried, seven ounces; Sugar [refined] six pounds; Boiling Water three pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate the Pe- tals in the water for twelve hours and strain. Evaporate the strained liquor, by means of a water-bath, to two pints; then add the Sugar and dissolve it." Lond. The Dublin process differs from the above only in having four pints [wine measure] of water, and evaporating to two pints and a half. " Take of the fresh Petals of the Hundred-leaved Rose, one part; Boiling Water four parts; Refined Sugar three parts. Macerate the Petals in the Water for twelve hours; then add the Sugar to the strained liquor, and boil so as to form a syrup." Ed. This syrup is gently laxative, and, on account of its mildness, may be given with advantage to infants and persons of delicate habit. It is without the fragrance of the rose; but has a reddish colour which is rendered bright red by acids, and green or yellow by alkalies. The dose is from two fluidrachms to one or two fluidounces. W. SYRUPUS ROS^E GALLICiE. Ed. Syrup of Red Roses. " Take of the dried Petals of the Red Rose one part; Refined Sugar two parts; Boiling Water nine parts. Macerate the Petals in the Water for twelve hours; then boil a little and strain. Add the Sugar to the strained liquor, and again boil a little, so as to form a Syrup." Ed. The syrup of red roses is mildly astringent; but is valued more for its fine red colour, on account of which it is occasionally added to mixtures. Off.Prep. Electuarium Catechu Compositum, Ed. W. SYRUPUS SARSAPARILLAE. U.S., Dub. Syrupus Sarza. Lond. Syrup of Sarsaparilla. " Take of Sarsaparilla, bruised, two pounds; Guaiacum Wood, rasped, three ounces; Red Roses, Senna, Liquorice Root, bruised, each, two ounces; Oil of Sassafras, Oil of Anise, each, five minims; Oil of Partridge-berry three minims; Sugar [refined] eight pounds; Diluted Alcohol, ten pints. Macerate the Sarsaparilla, Guaiacum Wood, Roses, Senna, and Liquorice Root, in the Diluted Alcohol, for fourteen days; then express and filter through paper. Evaporate the tincture, by means of a water-bath, to four pints and a half; then add the Sugar, and dissolve it so as to form a syrup. With this when cold mix the oils previously triturated with a small quantity of the syrup. U. S. The London College prepares the syrup of sarsaparilla by macerating fifteen ounces of the sliced root in a gallon [Imperial measure] of boiling water for twenty-four hours, then boiling down to four pints, straining the liquor while hot, adding fifteen ounces of refined sugar, and evaporating to the proper consistence. The Dublin College obtains in the same manner four pints of a concen- trated strained decoction, and prepares a syrup with this according to their general directions. (See page 1055.) The syrup of the London and Dublin Colleges is necessarily a very weak 90* 1062 Syrupi. part ii. if not inert preparation, the virtues of the sarsaparilla being injured or de- stroyed by the long boiling. That of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia is prepared on more correct principles, and is a great improvement upon the svrup of the former edition, which was intended to represent the famous French sirop de Cuisinier. The Pharmacopoeia of 1820 directed the sarsaparilla to be exhausted by long continued decoction in water, and was indefinite as to the degree of concentration. Now it has been proved that diluted alcohol more thoroughly extracts the acrid principles of the root, upon which jts activity probably depends, than water, and that these principles are either dissipated or destroyed by the long continued application of a boiling heat.* In the present formula, therefore, which employs diluted alcohol as the menstruum, the root is more completely exhausted of its active matter, while the heat applied to the concentration, being no higher than is requisite for the evapo- ration of the alcohol, is insufficient to injure the preparation. The spirituous menstruum has, moreover, the advantage of not dissolving the inert fecula, which encumbers the syrup prepared by decoction and renders it liable to spoil. The operator should be careful to comply exactly with the direc- tions of the Pharmacopoeia in relation to the period of maceration and the use of the water-bath. The essential oils being intended solely to commu- nicate a pleasant flavour, are used in very small proportion. Perhaps the pale or hundred-leaved roses might be substituted with propriety for the red; as, being slightly laxative, they accord better with the character of the preparation, and are, besides, more easily procured of good quality. We are confident that a syrup prepared according to the officinal process will be found to possess the virtues of sarsaparilla in a high degree; but the practi- tioner should be aware'that much of the root as it exists in the market is nearly or quite inert, and should be prepared to meet with disappointment in the use of this or any other preparation, unless satisfied of the good qua- lity of the drug from which it is made. The dose of the syrup of sarsaparilla is half a fluidounce, equivalent to somewhat less than a drachm of the root, to be taken three or four times a day. W. SYRUPUS SCILLjE. U.S. Syrupus Scilla Maritima. Ed. Syrup of Squill. " Take of Vinegar of Squill a pint; Sugar [refined] two pounds. Dis- solve the Sugar in the Vinegar of Squill in the manner directed for Syrup." U.S. The Edinburgh College takes four parts of the vinegar of squill and seven parts of refined sugar, in powder, and dissolves the sugar with a gentle heat so as to form a syrup. This syrup is much employed as an expectorant, especially in combina- tion with a solution of tartarized antimony. The dose is about a fluidrachm. In infantile cases of catarrh and other pectoral complaints, it is sometimes given, in the same dose, as an emetic. W. SYRUPUS SENEGA. U.S. Syrup of Seneka. " Take of Seneka, bruised, four ounces; Water a pint; Sugar [refined] a pound. Boil the Water with the Seneka to one-half, and strain; then add the Sugar, and boil so as to form a syrup." U. S. * See a paper by J. Hancock, M. D., republished in the Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. i. 295; a communication by M. Beral to the Journal de Pharmacie, xv. 657; and another by M. Soubeiran in the same Journal, xvi. 38. PART II. Syrupi. 1063 The quantity of seneka is perhaps greater than the water is capable of exhausting; but an active preparation is ensured. The syrup may be given as a stimulant expectorant in the dose of one or two fluidrachms. W. SYRUPUS SENN.E. Lond. Syrupus Cassia Senna. Ed. Sy- rup of Senna. " Take of Senna two ounces and a half; Fennel [seeds], bruised, ten drachms; Manna three ounces; Sugar [refined] fifteen ounces; Boiling Water a pint [Imperal measure]. Macerate the Senna and Fennel in the Water with a gentle heat for an hour. Strain the liquor and mix with it the Manna and Sugar; then boil down to the proper consistence." Lond. " Take of Senna Leaves two ounces; Boiling Water a pound and a half; Molasses eight ounces. Macerate the Leaves in the Water in a slightly covered vessel for four hours, and strain; then add the Molasses, and boil with a gentle heat to the consistence of a syrup." Ed. The London syrup is preferable to the Edinburgh in consequence of the aromatic ingredient, though the manna which it contains is apt to crystallize. The preparation is intended chiefly as a cathartic for children, to whom it may be given in the dose of one or two fluidrachms. We prefer the Syru- pus Rhei et Sennae of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. W. SYRUPUS TOLUTANUS. Lond. Syrupus Toluifera Bal- sami. Ed. Syrupus Balsami Tolutani. Dub. Syrup of Tolu. " Take of Balsam of Tolu ten drachms; Boiling Water a pint [Imperial measure]; Sugar [refined] two pounds and a half. Boil the Balsam in the Water for half an hour, in a lightly covered vessel, occasionally stirring, and strain the liquor when cold; then add the Sugar and dissolve it." Lond. The Edinburgh College prepares this syrup by adding gradually one ounce of the tincture of balsam of tolu to two pounds of simple syrup just prepared, and before it has become cold after removal from the fire. The Dublin College pursues the same plan, using an ounce of the tincture to a pint and a half of syrup. The London process affords a syrup with a finer flavour than that pre- pared with the tincture. The same portion of balsam is, according to Mr. Brande, usually employed in successive operations, and it long continues to impart odour and taste to boiling water. The syrup of tolu is wholly inert as a medicine, and is employed only to communicate its pleasant flavour to mixtures. . W. SYRUPUS VIOLiE. Dub. Syrupus Viola Odorata. Ed. Sy- rup of Violets. " Take of the fresh Petals of the Violet two pounds; Boiling Water five pints. Macerate for twenty-four hours; then filter the liquor through fine linen, without expression; lastly, add the Sugar [twenty-nine ounces for every pint of liquor] and form a syrup." Dub. " Take of fresh Violets two parts; Boiling Water eight parts; Refined Sugar fifteen parts. Macerate the Violets in the Water for twenty-four hours, in a covered glass or glazed earthenware vessel, then strain without expression, and add the Sugar." Ed. This syrup has a deep blue colour and an agreeable flavour. It is said lhat its colour is most beautiful when it is prepared in well cleaned pewter vessels; but the action of the metal has not been satisfactorily explained. As it is apt to fade by time, it is sometimes counterfeited with materials the colour of which is more permanent. The fraud may usually be detected by the addition of an acid or alkali, the former of which reddens the syrup 1064 Syrupi.— Tinctura;. PART II. of violets, the latter renders it green, while they produce no such change upon the counterfeit. The syrup acts as a gentle laxative when given to infants in the dose of one or two fluidrachms; but it is used chiefly as a test of acids and alkalies. For the latter purpose, a svrup prepared from the juice of the red cabbage may be substituted in its place. It is very seldom kept in our shops. W. SYRUPUS ZINGIBERIS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Syrupus Amomi Zingiberis. Ed. Syrup of Ginger. "Take of Tincture of Ginger two fluidounces; Syrup a gallon. Mix the Tincture with the Syrup, and by means of a water-bath evaporate the alcohol." U.S. The London College macerates two ounces and a half of sliced ginger, for four hours, in a pint [Imperial measure] of boiling water, and having strained the infusion, adds two pounds and a half of refined sugar, and dissolves it. The Edinburgh College macerates four ounces of bruised ginger, for twenty- four hours, in a pound of boiling water, strains, adds twenty-two ounces of refined sugar, and dissolves it with a gentle heat. The Dublin College macerates four ounces of the bruised root, for twenty-four hours, in three pints of boiling water, filters the liquor, and adds twenty-nine ounces of refined sugar to each pint. The process of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia is the most easy, and affords a syrup in every respect equal to the others, without being like them encum- bered with the mucilage and starch of the root. In order that it may be of the proper strength, it is necessary that the tincture should have been made with the best Jamaica ginger. The syrup of ginger is much used as a warm stomachic addition to tonic and purgative infusions or mixtures, and to impart flavour to drinks, particu- larly to carbonic acid water. Off. Prep. Electuarium Catechu Compositum, Dub; Electuarium Opia- tum, Ed. W. TINCTURE. Tinctures. Tinctures, in the pharmaceutical sense of the term, are solutions of medi- cinal substances in alcohol or diluted alcohol, prepared by maceration or digestion. Solutions in ammoniated alcohol and ethereal spirit are embraced under the same denomination, but are severally distinguished by the addition 'of an epithet expressive of their peculiar character. The advantages of alcohol as a menstruum are, that it dissolves principles which are sparingly or not at all soluble in water, and contributes to their preservation when dissolved. In no instance, however, is pure absolute alcohol employed. The United States and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias direct it of the sp. gr. 0.835; the London, 0.838; and the Dublin, 0.840. . When of these densities it contains a considerable proportion of water, and is capable of dissolving more or less of substances which are insoluble in anhydrous alcohol, while its solvent- power, in relation to bodies soluble in this fluid, is sufficient for all practical purposes. In numerous instances, diluted alcohol or proof spirit is preferable to alcohol itself; as it is capable of extracting a larger proportion of those active principles of plants which require an aqueous PART II. Tincturse. 1065 menstruum, at the same time that it is strong enough to prevent spontaneous decomposition, and has the advantages of being cheaper and less stimulating. Ihe diluted alcohol of the different Pharmacopoeias is not of the same strength, that of the United States and Edinburgh consisting of equal mea- sures of officinal alcohol and water, and having the sp. gr. 0.935, while that of London has the sp. gr. 0.920, and that of Dublin 0.919. The difference, however, is not very material. Alcohol or rectified spirit is preferred as the solvent, when the substance to be extracted or dissolved is nearly or quite insoluble in water, as in the instances of the resins, guaiac, camphor, and the essential oils. The presence of water is here injurious, not only by diluting the menstruum, but by exercising an affinity for the alcohol which interferes with its solvent power. Thus water added to an alcoholic solution of one of these bodies, produces a precipitate by abstracting the alcohol from ll'i ki [utec,.alcoho1 or Pro°f spirit is employed, when the substance is soluble both in alcohol and water, or when one or more of the ingredients are soluble in the one fluid, and one or more in the other, as in the case of those vegetables which contain extractive or tannin, or the native salts of the organic alkalies, or gum united with resin or essential oil. As these include the greater number of medicines from-which tinctures are prepared, diluted alcohol is most frequently used. In the preparation of the tinctures, the medicine should be in the dry state, and properly comminuted by being bruised, sliced, or pulverized. It is usually better in the condition of a coarse than of a very fine powder; as in the latter it is apt to agglutinate, and thus present an impediment to the penetration of the menstruum. When several substances differing in solu- bility are employed, they should be added successively to the spirit, those least soluble first, those most so last; as otherwise the menstruum might become saturated with the ingredient for which it has the strongest affinity, and thus be rendered incapable of dissolving a due proportion of the others, nno EdmburSn c°hege prepares tinctures by digestion with a heat from 90 to 100 , continued usually for seven days. Our own Pharmacopoeia follows that of London, in directing maceration at ordinary temperatures, and extending the period to two weeks. The latter plan is preferable, as it is most convenient, and equally effectual, the lower temperature being com- pensated by the longer maceration. When circumstances require that the tincture should be speedily prepared, digestion may be resorted to. Care should always be taken to keep the vessel well stopped, in order to prevent the evaporation of the alcohol. The materials should be frequently shaken during the digestion or maceration; and this caution is especially necessary when the substance acted on is in the state of powder. The tincture should not be used till the maceration is completed, when it should be separated from the dregs either by simply filtering it through paper, or, when force is requisite, by first expressing it through linen, and subsequently filtering. Tinctures should be kept in bottles accurately stopped, in order to prevent evaporation, which might, in some instances," be attended with serious in- convenience, by increasing their strength beyond the officinal standard. Medicines are most conveniently administered in tincture, which act powerfully in small doses; as the proportion of alcohol in which they are dissolved is too minute to produce an appreciable effect. Those which re- quire to be given in large doses, should be cautiously employed in this form, lest the injury done by the menstruum should more than counterbalance their beneficial operation. This remark is particularly applicable to chronic cases of disease, in which the use of tinctures is apt to result in the establish- ment of fatal habits of intemperance. The tinctures of the weaker medi- 1066 Tinct ur as. PART II. cines are more frequently given as adjuvants of other remedies, than with the view of obtaining their own full effect upon the system. The following general direction is given in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. " The Tinctures should be prepared in stopped glass bottles, and should be often shaken during the maceration." An equivalent direction is given by the British Colleges. W- TLXCTURA ALOES. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Aloes Socotorina. Ed. Tincture of Aloes. " Take of Aloes, in powder, an ounce; Liquorice [extract] three ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes an ounce of aloes, in powder, three ounces of liquorice, a pint and a half (Imperial measure) of distilled water, and half a pint (Imperial measure) of rectified spirit; macerates for fourteen days, and fillers. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges take half an ounce of Soco- trine aloes, in powder, and an ounce and a half of liquorice. The former digests them with four ounces of stronger alcohol (alcohol, U. S.) and a pound of water for seven days; the latter, having previously dissolved the liquorice in eight ounces of boiling water, and added eight fluidounces of proof spirit, digests the whole for seven days. The tincture of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia differs from those of the British Colleges in being prepared with a stronger spirit, and is therefore more stimulating. The latter are little more than infusions, with the addition of sufficient alcohol to prevent spontaneous decomposition. The liquorice is added to cover the taste of the aloes; but it answers the end imperfectly"; and the preparation, on account of its unpleasant bitterness, is little used, aloes being generally administered in the form of pill. The dose is from half a fluidounce to a fluidounce and a half. W. TINCTURA ALOES ^ETHEREA. Ed. Ethereal Tincture of Aloes. " Take of Socotrine Aloes, Myrrh, each, in powder, an ounce and a half; Saffron, cut, an ounce; Sulphuric Ether with Alcohol [Spirit of Sul- phuric Ether] a pound. Digest the Myrrh with the Ether for four days; then add the Saffron and Aloes. Digest again for four days, and when the dregs have subsided, pour off the tincture." Ed. This tincture differs from the following chiefly in consequence of the ether which it contains, and which may be found serviceable when spasm, or other irregular nervous action, accompanies the symptoms which call for the combined use of myrrh and aloes. It is very seldom employed in this country. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA ALOES ET MYRRHS. U. S, Ed. Tinctura Aloes Composita. Lond., Dub. Tincture of Aloes and Myrrh. " Take of Aloes, in powder, Saffron, each, three ounces; Tincture of Myrrh two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." The London College takes four ounces of aloes, two ounces of saffron, and two pints [Imperial measure] of tincture of myrrh, and proceeds as above.' The directions of the Dublin College correspond with those of our Pharmacopoeia, except that Socotrine aloes is specified and the saffron omitted. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of myrrh, a pound and a half of alcohol, and half a pound of water; digests for four days; then adds PART II. Tinct urae. 1067 an ounce and a half of Socotrine aloes and an ounce of saffron; digests again for three days; and finally pours off the tincture from the sediment. This tincture is a modification of the elixir proprietatis of Paracelsus. The saffron, which has been retained in compliance with former prejudices, can add little to the efficacy of the preparation; and, being very expensive, might with great propriety be much reduced. It serves, however, to im- part a richness lo the tincture, the want of which might be considered a defect by those accustomed to its use. The tincture is purgative, tonic, and emmenagogue; and is considerably employed in chlorosis, and other disordered states of health in females, con- nected with suppressed, retained, or deficient menstruation, and with a con- stipated state of bowels. It may also be used as a stomachic laxative in cold, languid habits, independently of menstrual disorder. The dose is from one to two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA AMMONIA COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Tincture of Ammonia. "Take of Mastich two ounces [two drachms?]; Rectified Spirit nine fluidrachms; Oil of Lavender/owr/een minims; Oil of Amber four minims; Stronger Solution of Ammonia a pint [Imperial measure]. Macerate the Mastich in the Spirit that it may be dissolved, and pour off the clear tinc- ture; then add the other ingredients, and shake them all together." Lond. This is the Spiritus Ammonise Succinatus of the former London Pharma- copoeia, and was intended as a substitute for the eau de luce. The quantity of two ounces of Mastich was, there can scarcely be a doubt, directed by mistake for two drachms; for the former edition of the Pharmacopoeia di- rected three drachms, and in Phillips's accredited translation of the present the quantity stated'is two drachms. The tincture has a milky appearance, owing to the separation of the Mastich from its alcoholic solution by the water of ammonia. Its properties are essentially those of its ammoniacal ingredient,the mastich having no medical action, and the oils of lavender and amber being in too small proportion to serve any other purpose than that of imparting flavour. It is used chiefly as a powerful stimulant applied to the nostrils, in cases of fainting and torpor. The dose for internal use is from ten to thirty drops. W. TINCTURA ANGUSTURA. U.S., Dub. TincturaBonplan- dia Trifoliata. Ed. Tincture of Angustura Bark. " Take of Angustura Bark, bruised, two ounces; Diluted alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The Dublin process corresponds with the above, the bark being directed in coarse powder. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of the bark in coarse powder, and two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. This tincture contains the active principles of Angustura bark, and may be given in the dose of one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA ASSAFffiTIDiE. U. S, Lond. Tinctura Ferula Assafcetida. Ed. Tinctura Assafcstida. Dub. Tincture of Assafetida. " Take of Assafetida four ounces; Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes five ounces of assafetida, and two pints [Imperial measure] of rectified spirit, and proceeds as above. The Edin- burgh College takes four ounces of assafetida, and two pounds and a half of 1068 Tincturae. part II. alcohol, and digests for a week. The Dublin process differs from that of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia only in triturating the assafetida with half a pint oi water previously to the addition of the alcohol. This tincture becomes milky on the addition of water, in consequence of the separation of the resin. It possesses all the virtues of assafetida. The medium dose is a fluidrachm. Off. Prep. Enema Fcetidum. Dub. W. TINCTURA AURANTII. Lond. Tincture of Orange Peel. " Take of dried Orange Peel three ounces and a half; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. It is the peel of the Seville orange which is intended by the London Col- lege;, and the outer part only should be used, the inner whitish portion being inert. The tincture of orange peel is employed as a grateful addition to infusions, decoctions, and mixtures. It was omitted by mistake in the last edition of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, as it is an ingredient in one of the offi- cinal preparations of that work. Off. Prep. Mistura Ferri Aromatica, Dub. W. TINCTURA BENZOINI COMPOSITA. U.S., Lond., Ed. Tinctura Benzoes Composita. Dub. Compound Tincture of Ben- zoin. " Take of Benzoin three ounces; Purified Storax two ounces; Tolu [bal- sam] an ounce; Aloes, in powder, half an ounce; Alcohol two pints. Ma- cerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The processes of the British Colleges do not materially differ from the above, which was taken originally from the London Pharmacopoeia. The Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges direct a digestion of seven days; and the former employs an additional ounce of the balsam of tolu instead of the two ounces of purified storax. This tincture is a stimulating expectorant, occasionally used in chronic catarrhal affections, but more frequently as a local application to indolent ulcers. It is the balsamum traumaticum of the older Pharmacopoeias, and may be considered as a simplified form of certain complex compositions, such as baume de commandeur, Wade's balsam. Friars' balsam, Jesuits' drops, fyc, which were formerly in repute, and are still esteemed among the vulgar as pectorals and vulneraries. Turlington's balsam, which is a popu- lar remedy in this country for such purposes, consists, as usually prepared in Philadelphia, of the ingredients of the officinal tincture, with the addition of Peruvian balsam, myrrh, and angelica root* Itis scarcely necessary to state, that the application of these remedies to fresh wounds must frequently prove injurious, by inducing too much inflammation, and thus preventing union by the first intention. The compound tincture of benzoin is decom- posed by water. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA BUCHU. Dub. Tincture of Buchu Leaves. " Take of the Leaves of the Diosma crenata tivo ounces; Proof Spirit a pint. Macerate for seven days, and filter." Dub. This tincture has the virtues of buchu leaves, and may be given in the dose * The following is the formula for Turlington's balsam adopted by the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. "Take of Alcohol Oviij., Benzoin §xij., Liquid Storax 31V., So- cotrine Aloes ^j., Peruvian Balsam ijij., Myrrh §j., Angelica Root §ss., Balsam of Tolu Jiv., Extract of Liquorice root §iv. Digest for ten days and strain." Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. v. 28. PART II. Tincturx. 1069 of from one to four fluidrachms, either simply diluted with water, or as an addition to the infusion of the leaves. W. TINCTURA CAMPHORS. U.S., Lond., Ed. Tinctura Cam- phora sive Spiritus Camphoratus. Dub. Tincture of Camphor. " Take of Camphor four ounces; Alcohol two pints. Dissolve the Cam- phor in the Alcohol." U. S. The London College takes five ounces of camphor and two pints [Impe- rial measure] of rectified spirit. The Dublin process corresponds with ours. The Edinburgh College directs an ounce of camphor to a pound of alcohol; and allows the tincture to be prepared with a double or triple proportion of camphor. This is used chiefly as an anodyne embrocation in rheumatic and gouty pains, chilblains, and the inflammation resulting from sprains and bruises. It may also be employed internally, due regard being paid to the stimulant properties of the alcohol. The camphor is precipitated by the addition of water, but may be suspended by the intervention of sugar. The dose is from five drops to a fluidrachm, first poured upon sugar, and then mixed with water. W. TINCTURA CANTHARIDIS. U.S., Lond, Dub. Tinctura Cantharidis Vesicatoria. Ed. Tincture of Spanish Flies. " Take of Spanish Flies, bruised, three drachms; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes four drachms of the flies and two pints [Impe- rial measure] of proof spirit, and proceeds as above. The Edinburgh Col- lege orders a drachm of the flies and a pound of diluted alcohol; the Dublin College, two drachms of the former and a pint and a half of the latter; and both digest for a week. This tincture is one of the most convenient forms for the internal use of Spanish flies, the virtues of which it possesses to their full extent. (See Can- tharis.) It is occasionally employed externally as a rubefacient; but its lia- bility to vesicate should be taken into consideration. The dose is from twenty drops to a fluidrachm, repeated three or four times a day. W. TINCTURA CAPSICI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tincture of Cay- enne Pepper. " Take of Cayenne Pepper an ounce; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Ma- cerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S., Dub. " Take of Cayenne Pepper, bruised, ten drachms; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days and filter." Lond. This form of capsicum is a useful stimulant in very low states of the system with great gastric insensibility, as in malignant, scarlet, and typhus fevers, and in the cases of drunkards. It may also be used as a gargle, diluted with rose water or some mucilaginous fluid. (See Capsicum.) Applied by means of a camel's hair pencil to the relaxed uvula, it sometimes produces contrac- tion, and relieves prolapsus of that part. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA CARDAMOMI. U.S., Lond. Tinctura Amomi Repentis. Ed. Tincture of Cardamom. " Take of Cardamom, bruised, four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The process of the Edinburgh College agrees with the above, except that two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol are used instead of two pints, and 91 1070 Tinclurse. PART II. digestion for a week instead of maceration for two weeks. The London College takes three ounces and a half of the bruised seeds and two pints [Im- perial measure] of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. This tincture is an agreeable aromatic, and may be advantageously added to tonic and purgative infusions. W. TINCTURA CARDAMOMI COMPOSITA. Lond, Drib. Com- pound Tincture of Cardamom. " Take of Cardamom, Caraway, each, in powder, two drachms and a half; Cochineal, in powder, a drachm; Cinnamon, bruised, five drachms; Raisins five ounces; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for four- teen days, and filter." Lond. The Dublin College takes of cardamom seeds freed from their husks, and caraway, each, two drachms, of cinnamon half an ounce, and two pints of proof spirit, and proceeds as above. This is a very agreeable aromatic tincture, occasionally used as a carmina- tive, in the dose of one or two fluidrachms, but more frequently as an addition to mixtures, infusions, &c, which it renders pleasant to the taste, and ac- ceptable to the stomach. W. TINCTURA CASCARILLA. Lond., Dub. Tinctura Croto- nis Eleutheria. Ed. Tincture of Cascarilla. " Take of Cascarilla Bark, in powder, five ounces; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. The Edinburgh College employs four ounces of the bruised bark, and two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol; the Dublin, four ounces of the bark in coarse powder, and two pints of the menstruum. The former Col- lege digests, the latter macerates, for seven days. This tincture has the properties of cascarilla, but is never used in this country. W. TINCTURA CASTOREI. U.S., Lond., Ed. Tinctura Cas- torei Rossici. Dub. Tincture of Castor. " Take of Castor, bruised, two ounces; Alcohol two pints. Macerate for seven days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London College takes two ounces and a half of powdered castor, and two pints [Imperial measure] of rectified spirit, and macerates for four- teen days. The Dublin College directs two ounces of Russian castor, two pints of proof spirit, and maceration for a week. The Edinburgh College takes an ounce and a half of castor in powder, and a pound of alcohol, and digests for seven days. As castor yields little if any of its virtues to water, alcohol is a better sol- vent than proof spirit. It is said also to form a more grateful preparation. The Russian castor should always be preferred when attainable. This tincture is used for the same purposes with castor in substance. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA CASTOREI COMPOSITA. Ed. Compound Tinc- ture of Castor. " Take of Castor, in powder, an ounce; Assafetida half an ounce; Am- moniated Alcohol a pound. Digest for seven days, and filter through paper." Ed. This is an active stimulant and antispasmodic, applicable to cases of se- vere spasm of stomach, and to various hysterical and other nervous affec- tions, unattended with inflammatory symptoms. The dose is from thirty minims to two fluidrachms. W. PART II. Tincturae. 1071 TINCTURA CATECHU. U. S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Aca- cia Catechu. Ed. "Tincture of Catechu. " Take of Catechu three ounces; Cinnamon, bruised, two ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The Dublin process differs from the above only in the period of mace- ration, which is seven days. The London College takes three ounces and a half of catechu, two ounces and a half of cinnamon, and two pints [Impe- rial measure] of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The Edin- burgh College orders three ounces of catechu, two ounces of cinnamon, ancMyvo pounds and a half of diluted alcohol; and digests for a week. This is a grateful astringent tincture, useful in all cases to which catechu is applicable, and in which small quantities of spirit are not objectionable. It may often be advantageously added to cretaceous mixtures in diarrhoea. The dose is from thirty minims to three fluidrachms, which may be given with sweetened water or some mucilaginous liquid, or in Port wine when this is not contra-indicated. W. TINCTURA CINCHONAE. U.S,. Lond., Dub. Tinctura Cin- chona Lancifolia. Ed. Tincture of Peruvian Bark. "Take of Peruvian Bark, in powder, six ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College orders eight ounces of yellow bark and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The other Colleges designate pale bark, the Edinburgh directing four ounces to two pounds and a half; the Dublin, four ounces to two pints; and both di- gesting for a week. Of these tinctures, those of the United States and London Pharmaco- poeias are to be preferred, as they contain most bark; and in the bitter tinc- tures it is important that the alcohol should bear as small a proportion to the tonic principle as possible. Even the strongest, however, cannot, in ordi- nary cases, be given in doses sufficiently large to obtain the full effect of the bark, without stimulating too highly. The tincture of cinchona is used chiefly as an adjunct to the infusion or decoction, to a dose of which it may be added in the quantity of from one to four fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA CLVCHONA COMPOSITA. U.S., Lond., Ed, Dub. Compound Tincture of Peruvian Bark. " Take of Peruvian Bark, in powder, two ounces; Orange Peel [dried] an ounce und a half; Virginia Snakeroot, bruised, three drachms; Saffron, Red Saunders rasped, each, a drachm; Diluted Alcohol twenty fluidounces. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. "Take of Cinchona lancifolia [Pale Bark], in powder, four ounces; Dried Orange Peel three ounces; Virginia Snakeroot, bruised, six drachms; Coch- ineal, in powder, a drachm; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days and filter." J^ond. The Dublin College specifies the pale bark, and directs two scruples of cochineal in place of the red saunders, and half an ounce of orange peel; the Edinburgh College orders twenty ounces of alcohol (by weight), and digests for a week; in other respects, their processes correspond with that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. This is the preparation commonly known by the name of Huxham's tincture of bark. It is an excellent stomachic cordial, and, though too feeble in the principles of cinchona to serve as a substitute for that tonie 1072 Tincturae. PART II. when its full effect upon the system is required, may be very usefully em- ployed as an addition to the decoction or infusion, or to the salts of quinia, in low forms of fever, particularly in malignant intermittents, and typhoid remittents. Huxham was in the habit of uniting with it the elixir of vitriol, the aromatic sulphuric acid of the Pharmacopoeias. The dose is from one to four fluidrachms. W« TINCTURA CINNAMOMI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Lauri Cinnamomi. Ed. Tincture of Cinnamon. "Take of Cinnamon, bruised, three ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes three ounces and a half of cinnamon, and two pints [Imperial measure] of Proof Spirit, and proceeds as above. The Dublin process differs from ours only in the quantity of cinnamon, which is three ounces and a half. The Edinburgh College takes three ounces of cinnamon and two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. This tincture has the aromatic and astringent properties of cinnamon, and may be used as an adjuvant to cretaceous mixtures, and astringent infusions or decoctions. The dose is from one to three or four fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA CINNAMOMI COMPOSITA. U.S., Lond., Ed. Compound Tincture of Cinnamon. "Take of Cinnamon, bruised, six drachms; Cardamom [seeds], bruised, three drachms; Ginger, bruised, two drachms; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College orders an ounce of cinnamon, half an ounce of car- damom, two drachms and a half of long pepper, the same quantity of ginger, and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and proceeds as above. The Edinburgh College orders of cinnamon and cardamom, each, an ounce; of diluted alcohol two pounds and a half; and digests for a week. This is a very warm aromatic tincture, useful in flatulence, spasm of the stomach, and gastric debility. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA COLCHICI. Lond. Tinctura Seminum Colchici. Dub. Tincture of Meadow-Saffron Seeds. " Take of Meadow-saffron Seeds two ounces; Proof Spirit a pint. Mace- rate for fourteen days, and filter." Dub. " Take of Meadow-saffron Seeds, bruised, five ounces; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. This tincture possesses the active properties of colchicum, and may be given whenever that medicine is indicated; but the wine, which contains less alco- hol, is generally preferred. The dose is from ten to sixty drops. W. TINCTURA COLCHICI COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Tincture of Meadow-Saffron. " Take of Meadow-saffron Seeds, bruised, five ounces; Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. This is the Spiritus Colchici Ammoniatus of ihe former London Pharma- copoeia. It may be employed for the same purposes as the wine of colchi- cum, in cases which require or admit of an active stimulant. The dose is from thirty drops to a fluidrachm. W. PART II. Tincturae. 1073 TINCTURA COLOMBO. U.S., Ed., Dub. Tinctura Calum- ba. Lond. Tincture of Columbo. " Take of Columbo, bruised, two ounces and a half; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper. U.S. The process of the Dublin College is the same with the above, the colum- bo being sliced instead of bruised. The London College takes three ounces of sliced columbo, and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of the powdered root, and two pounds of diluted alcohol, and digests for seven days. The tincture of columbo may be added to tonic infusions or decoctions, to increase their stimulant power; but, like all the other bitter tinctures, should be used with caution. It is especially applicable to the cases of drunkards. The dose is from one to four fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA CONII. Dub., Lond. Tinctura Conii Macula- ti. Ed. Tincture of Hemlock. " Take of Hemlock Leaves, dried, two ounces; Cardamom Seeds, bruised, an ounce; Proof Spirit a pint. Macerate for seven days, and filter." Dub. The London College takes five ounces of the dried leaves, an ounce of bruised cardamom, and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of the dried leaves, half an ounce of cardamom, and sixteen ounces (by weight) of diluted alcohol, digests for seven days, and filters through paper. This tincture affords a convenient method of administering hemlock, the virtues of which it possesses. The dose is from thirty minims to a flui- drachm. W. TINCTURA CROCI SATIVI. Ed. Tincture of Saffron. " Take of Saffron, cut into shreds, an ounce; Diluted Alcohol fifteen ounces [by weight]. Digest for seven days and filter through paper." Ed. This tincture possesses all the properties of saffron; but is of little other use than to impart colour to mixtures. W. TINCTURA CUBEBA. Lond. Tinctura Piperis Cubeba. Dub. Tincture of Cubebs. " Take of Cubebs four ounces; Proof Spirit two pints. Macerate for fourteen days and filter." Dub. " Take of Cubebs, in powder^ue ounces; Rectified Spirit two pints [Im- perial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days and filter." Lond. This may be used as a carminative, and has been applied with advantage to the treatment of gonorrhoea in the advanced stages. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA DIGITALIS. U. S, Lond., Dub. Tinctura Digi- talis Purpurea. Ed. Tincture of Foxglove. " Take of Foxglove [dried leaves] four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London process differs from the above only in the use of the Imperial instead of the wine measure. The Edinburgh College orders an ounce of the dried leaves, and eight ounces (by weight) of diluted alcohol; and digests for a week. The Dublin College directs two ounces of the dried leaves, (the larger beino- rejected,) in coarse powder, and a pint of proof spirit; and mace- rates for a week. In preparing this tincture, great attention should be paid to the selection of the leaves, according to the rules laid down under the head of Digitalis. 91* 1074 Tincturae. PART II. From a neglect of these, it is apt to be weak or inefficient. We have observ- ed, in our own experience, a decided superiority in the tincture prepared from carefully preserved leaves imported from England. The tincture of foxglove possesses all the virtues of that narcotic, and affords a convenient method of administering it, especially in mixtures. The dose is ten drops, to be repeated two or three times a day, and increased, if necessary, with great caution. (See Digitalis.) W. TINCTURA GALBANI. Dub. Tincture of Galbanum. " Take of Galbanum, cut into small pieces, two ounces; Proof Spirit two pints. Digest for seven days, and filter." Dub. The tincture of galbanum is analogous in properties to that of assafetida, but weaker, and less nauseous. It is very seldom used. The dose is from one to three fluidrachms. \y. TINCTURA GALEAE. Lond. Tinctura Gallarum. Ed., Dub. Tincture of Galls. " Take of Galls, in powder, four ounces; Proof Spirit two pints. Digest for seven days, and filter." Dub. The London College takes five ounces of powdered galls, and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of galls, and sixteen of diluted alcohol, and digests for seven days. The tincture of galls is powerfully astringent; but is more used as a test than as a medicine. The dose is from one to three fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA GENTIANS. U.S. Tinctura Gentiana Com- posita. Lond., Ed., Dub. Tincture of Gentian. "Take of Gentian, bruised, two ounces; Orange Peel [dried] an ounce; L-ardamom [seeds], bruised, half an ounce; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Ma- cerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The processes of the London and Dublin Colleges ate essentially the same with the above. The Edinburgh College substitutes for the cardamom an equal weight of bruised canella alba, adds half a drachm of powdered cochi- neal to the other ingredients, and digests for a week with two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol. This is an elegant bitter, much used in dyspepsia, and as an addition to tonic mixtures ln debilitated states of the digestive organs, or of the system generally. Phere is, however, much danger of its abuse, especially in chrd- nic cases. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA GUAIACI. U. S, Lond., Dub. Tinctura Guaiaci Officinalis. Ed. Tincture of Guaiac. " Take of Guaiac, in powder, half a pound; Alcohol two pints. Mace- rate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes seven ounces of guaiac and two pints [Imperial measure] of rectified spirit, and proceeds as above. The Edinburgh College orders six ounces of guaiac and two pounds and a half of alcohol, and digests for a week. The Dublin College directs four ounces of guaiac and two pints of alcohol, and macerates for a week. This tincture is given in chronic rheumatism and gout, in the dose of from one to three fluidrachms three or four times a day. As it is decomposed by water, it is most conveniently administered in mucilage, sweetened water, or milk, by which the separated guaiac is held in temporary suspension. The following is a form of tineture of guaiac which Dr. Dewees has found very PART II. Tincturae. 1075 efficient in the cure of suppression of the menses, and dysmenorrhoea. " Take of the best Guaiac, in powder, four ounces; Carbonate of Soda or of Potassa one drachm and a half; Pimento, in powder, an ounce; Diluted alcohol a pound. Digest for a few days." The dose is a teaspoonful three times a day, to be gradually increased if necessary. Within our own expe- rience, this remedy has proved highly useful in painful menstruation, given in the intervals of the attacks. The quantity of alkaline carbonate is too small to produce any sensible effect, and the pimento can act only as a spice; so that the virtues of the tincture reside in the guaiac, and the officinal tinc- ture would probably be found equally effectual. W. TINCTURA GUAIACI AMMONIATA. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Ammoniated Tincture of Guaiac. " Take of Guaiac, in powder, four ounces; Aromatic Ammoniated Alco- hol a pint and a half. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London College takes seven ounces of guaiac, and two pints [Im- perial measure] of aromatic spirit of ammonia, and macerates for fourteen days. The processes of the other Colleges correspond with ours, except that the Edinburgh directs a pound and a half of ammoniated alcohol instead of a pint and a half, and both this and the Dublin shorten ihe period, the for- mer of digestion, the latter of maceration, to a week. This tincture is very celebrated in the treatment of chronic rheumatism. It is more stimulating and is thought to be more effectual than the preceding. Like that, it is decomposed by water, and should be administered in some viscid or tenacious vehicle which may hold the guaiac in suspension. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA HELLEBORI NIGRI. U.S., Ed.,Dub. Tinctura Hellebori. Lond. Tincture of Black Hellebore. "Take of Black Hellebore, bruised, four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London and Dublin processes agree essentially with the above, ex- cept that in the latter, the maceration is continued only for a week. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of the bruised root, fifteen grains of powdered cochineal, and fifteen ounces (by weight) of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. This tincture possesses the properties of black hellebore, and, upon the re- commendation of Dr. Mead, has been much used in suppression of the menses. It is said to be peculiarly applicable to cases in which the grade of action is too high for the use of chalybeates. At best, however, it is an uncertain remedy, and should always be administered with caution, as it is sometimes violent in its action. The dose is from thirty minims to a flui- drachm, to be taken night and morning. -vV. TINCTURA HUMULI. U.S.,Dub. Tinctura Lupuli. Lond. Tinctura Humuli Lupuli. .Erf. Tincture of Hops. " Take of Hops five ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days; then express the liquor, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes six ounces of hops and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, macerates for fourteen days, and filters. The Dub- lin process differs from ours only in the omission of expression. The Edinburgh College employs two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. 1076 Tincturae. PART II- Hops are so light and bulkv, that, in the proportion directed, they absorb almost all the spirit, which, after the requisite maceration, can be separated only by strong pressure. As this absorption of the spirit obstructs its pro- per action on all parts of the hops, it is necessary that the mixture should be frequently stirred during the maceration. By thoroughly drying the hops and rubbing them between the hands, or by cutting and bruising them, they may be brought to a state of division which will in great measure obviate the disadvantages alluded to. As the virtues of hops depend chiefly on the lupulin, and as the quantity of this substance is not the same in different parcels, the tincture is necessarily unequal in strength; and the tincture of lupulin itself is greatly preferable. (See Tinctura Lupulinse.) The tincture of hops is tonic and narcotic, and has been proposed as a substitute for laudanum when the latter disagrees with the patient; but little reliance can be placed upon it. The condition of disease to which it appears to be best adapted, is the wakefulness, attended with tremors and general nervous de- rangement, to which habitual drunkards are liable, and which frequently precedes an attack of delirium tremens. The dose is from one to three fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA HYOSCYAMI. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Hyoscyami Nigri. Ed. Tincture of Henbane. " Take of Henbane [dried leaves], in powder, four ounces; Diluted Al- cohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London process agrees essentially with the above. The Edinburgh College takes an ounce of the dried leaves and eight ounces (by weight) of diluted alcohol; the Dublin, five ounces of the former and two pints of the latter; and both Colleges digest for a week. This tincture may be advantageously substituted, as an anodyne and so- porific, for that of opium, when the latter disagrees with the patient, or is objectionable on account of its properly of inducing constipation. When the tincture of henbane purges, as it sometimes does, it should be united with a very small proportion of laudanum. The dose is a fluidrachm. W. TINCTURA IODINI. U.S. Iodinii Tinctura. Dub. Tincture of Iodine. " Take of Iodine half an ounce; Alcohol half a pint. Dissolve the Io- dine in the Alcohol." U.S. The Dublin College takes two scruples of iodine, and an ounce (by weight) of rectified spirit, mixes, dissolves the iodine with the aid of heat, and keeps the solution in a well stopped phial. The proportion of the Dublin College is one part of iodine to twelve of alcohol by weight, the same with that employed by Dr. Coindet. In the tincture of the United States Pharmacopoeia, the proportion is one of iodine to about 12.7 of alcohol, sufficiently near the former to allow the two pre- parations to be considered identical for all practical purposes. We prefer the first process, as it conforms with those for the other tinctures in the use of a measured quantity instead of a certain weight of the menstruum. Dr. Coindet employed 48 grains to the French ounce (poids de marc)=576 grains; and it has been customary, in preparing the tincture, to employ the same quantity to the troy ounce, without attention to the fact that the latter contains only 480 grains, and is incapable of dissolving the whole of the iodine, the tincture of Coindet being a saturated or nearly saturated solution. It is best to prepare the tincture in small quantities only at a time; as there is reason to apprehend that the iodine may be acted on by the alcohol, and PART II. Tincturae. 1077 converted into ioduretted hydriodic acid by union with its hydrogen. The iodine should be freed from moisture before being weighed out. The tinc- ture should be kept in well stopped bottles, in order to prevent the evapora- U°"ru l-he alcono1' and lhe consequent crystallization of the iodine. The tincture of iodine has a deep brown colour. Sixteen minims, equal to about thirty-five drops, contain one grain of iodine. The dose is from ten to twenty drops, which may be gradually increased to thirty or forty drops, three times a day. It should be given in sweetened water. W. TINCTURA IODINII COMPOSITA. Lond. Compound Tinc- ture of Iodine. "Take of Iodine an ounce; Iodide of Potassium two ounces; Rectified Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate till they are dissolved, and filter." Lond. In adding the iodide of potassium to this tincture, the framers of the Lon- don Pharmacopoeia seem to have been disposed to imitate Lugol's aqueous solution, without considering that the only use of the iodide in that prepara- tion was to enable the water to dissolve the iodine—an influence which is not needed when alcohol is employed as the solvent. The dose is from ten to thirty drops, to be gradually increased. W. TINCTURA JALAPAE. U. S, Lond., Dub. Tinctura Convol- vuli Jalapa. Ed. Tincture of Jalap. " Take of Jalap, in powder, eight ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London and Dublin processes agree essentially with the above. The Edinburgh College takes three ounces of jalap and fifteen ounces (by weight) of diluted alcohol, and digests for seven days. This tincture possesses the medical virtues of jalap, and is sometimes added to cathartic mixtures in the quantity of one or two fluidrachms, to in- crease their activity. \y\ TINCTURA KINO. Lond., Ed., Dub. Tincture of Kino. " Take of Kino, in powder, three ounces and a half; Rectified Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filler." Lond. The Dublin College uses the same proportions, but employs proof spirit or diluted alcohol, and macerates only for seven days. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of kino and a pound and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. This tincture, prepared with the kino formerly brought into the United States, almost always became gelatinous when kept, and lost its astringency. It was, therefore, omitted in the last edition of the United States Pharmaco- poeia. But we have found that the kino recently imported is much less liable to this change. The dose of the tincture is one or two fluidrachms. It is used chiefly as an addition to cretaceous and other astringent mixtures, in diarrhoea. \y. TINCTURA LOBELItE. U.S. Tincture of Indian Tobacco. " Take of Indian Tobacco [the herb] four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. This tincture possesses the emetic and narcotic properties of lobelia, and is sometimes used in asthma, in the dose of one or two fluidrachms, repeated every two or three hours till its effects are experienced. W. 1078 Tincturae. PART II- TINCTURA LUPULIN^E. U.S. Tincture of Lupulin. " Take of Lupulin four ounces; Alcohol two pints. Macerate for four- teen days, and filler through paper." U. S. This is much superior to the tincture of hops of the former United States Pharmacopoeia, in ihe place of which it was introduced into the last edition. In the original preparation, a certain quantity of hops was directed, from which the lupulin was to be separated by beating, and then digested in alcohol. As hops contain a variable proportion of lupulin, a tincture thus prepared must be of unequal strength; an objection to which the tincture of hops, however prepared, is liable. Besides, the amount of lupulin contained in any quantity of hops upon which alcohol can conveniently act, is too small in proportion to the alcohol, to afford a tincture of the due strength. The present tincture is, therefore, in all respects, preferable. The dose is one or two fluidrachms, to be given in sweetened water or some mucila- ginous fluid. W. TINCTURA MOSCHI. U.S., Dub. Tincture of Musk. " Take of Musk two drachms; Alcohol a pint. Macerate for seven days, and filter through paper." U. S. The Dublin College employs the same ingredients, and in the same pro- portions; but uses the musk in powder, and digests for a week. This tincture is much too feeble in musk to be capable of producing bene- ficial effects in any dose which would not contain too large a quantity of alcohol. Musk should always be given in substance. W. TINCTURA MYRRHAE. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Tincture of Myrrh. " Take of Myrrh, bruised, four ounces; Alcohol three pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London College takes three ounces of powdered myrrh, and two pints (Imperial measure) of rectified spirit, and proceeds as above. The Edin- burgh College directs three ounces of powdered myrrh, twenty ounces (by weight) of alcohol, and ten ounces of water; and digests for seven days. The Dublin College takes three ounces of bruised myrrh, a pint and a half of proof spirit, and half a pint of rectified spirit; and digests for a week. Undiluted alcohol, as directed by the U.S. and London Pharmacopoeias, is preferable, as a solvent of myrrh, to that fluid mixed with water; because it forms a perfectly clear solution, which is not attainable with the latter menstruum. The tincture of myrrh is scarcely ever used internally. As a local application it is employed to stimulate indolent and foul ulcers, and promote the exfoliation of bones, and, diluted with water, is applied to spongy gums, aphthous sore mouth, and ulcerations of the throat. The dose, as a stimulant expectorant and emmenagogue, is from half a fluidrachm to a fluidrachm. Off. Prep. Tinctura Aloe's et Myrrhae. U.S., Lond., Dub. W. TINCTURA NUCIS VOMICA. Dub. Tincture of Nux Vo- mica. " Take of Nux Vomica, rasped, two ounces; Rectified Spirit eight ounces. Macerate for seven days, and filter." Dub. The tincture is not an eligible form for administering the nux vomica, as it is equally uncertain with the medicine in substance, and has the disad- vantage of excessive bitterness. The alcoholic extract, or strychnia is pre- ferable. The dose of the tincture is from five to twenty drops. W. PART II. Tincturae. 1079 TINCTURA OPII. U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Tincture of Opium. *• Take of Opium, in powder, two ounces and a half; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The process of the Dublin College corresponds with the above. The London College takes three ounces of hard Opium, in powder, and two pints (Imperial measure) of proof spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The Edinburgh College directs two ounces of opium and two pounds of diluted alcohol, and digests for seven days. The proportion of opium in the London and Edinburgh formulae is so nearly the same with that employed in the others, that the resulting tinctures may be considered identical. The apparent difference between the London formula and ours will vanish, when the relative value of the Imperial measure which they employ and the wine measure of our Pharmacopoeia is estimated. In the original edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, the proportion of an ounce of opium to the pint of diluted alcohol was adopted, under the mis- taken impression, that the pound of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, from which the process was taken, was equivalent to a pint; whereas it is in fact equal to no more than 0.79 of a pint of water, or about 0.845 of a pint of the officinal diluted alcohol. The tincture was therefore much weaker than that used in Great Britain. The error was corrected in the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia, so that uniformity in relation to this preparation has now been established. In the United States and Great Britain, this tincture is universally known by the name of laudanum. As this term was formerly applied to other preparations of opium, and still continues to be so on the Continent of Eu- rope, the tincture is sometimes distinguished by the epithet liquidum, which, however, is seldom used in this country. Tinctura Thebaica is another title by which the preparation is known. About two-thirds of the opium used in the preparation of the tincture are dissolved, the residue consisting chiefly of inert matter. Allowing the opi- um to be wholly exhausted of its active principles, one grain would be re- presented by 12.8 minims, according to the U.S. formula; but a small quan- tity of morphia has been detected in the residuary matter, so that the tincture is rather weaker than the proportion of opium employed would indicate. The tincture of opium is used for all the purposes to which opium itself is applied. (See Opium.) The dose, equivalent to a grain of opium, is about thirteen minims, or twenty-five drops. Mr. Phillips, in his translation of the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, states that, by evaporating the tincture and determining the quantity of opium left undissolved, he found the prepara- tion to contain one grain of opium in 19 minims; and this quantity, therefore, is given as the dose equivalent to a grain of opium. But this mode of calculation is obviously fallacious; as the portion of the drug dissolved is much more ac- tive than that left behind by the menstruum. It should be recollected that a fluidrachm or teaspoonful of laudanum (sixty minims) will afford, on an average, about one hundred and twenty drops. Laudanum, when long kept, with occasional exposure to the air, becomes thick, in consequence of the evaporation of a portion of the alcohol, and the deposition of opium. If given in this state, it often acts with unexpected energy; and cases of death have resulted in infants from its use in doses which would have been entirely safe if the tincture had been clear. Off. Prep. Enema Opii, Dub.; Liniment. Saponis cum Opio, Dub. W. 1080 Tincturae. part ii- TINCTURA OPII ACETATA. U.S. Acelated Tincture of Opium. " Take of Opium two ounces; Vinegar twelve fluidounces; Alcohol half a pint. Rub the Opium with the Vinegar; then add the alcohol, and, having macerated for fourteen days, filter through paper." U.S. This preparation was introduced into the last edition of our Pharmaco- poeia as a substitute for the Acetum Opii or black drop of the original work, ihe advantages of which it possesses, without being liable to the same ob- jection of uncertainty of strength. The following directions for the prepa- ration of the black drop were given in the first edition of the U.S. Pharma- copoeia. "Take of Opium half a pound; Vinegar three pints; Nutmeg, bruised, one ounce and a half; Saffron half an ounce. Boil them to a pro- per consistence; then add Sugar four ounces; Yeast one fluidounce. Di- gest for seven weeks, then place in the open air until it becomes a syrup; lastly, decant, filter, and bottle it up, adding a little sugar to each bottle." The merest tyro will discover in this process sources of uncertainty in the resulting preparation, which must very much detract from its value, and in fact render it unworthy of a place in a standard work. The boiling to a proper consistence, the digestion in the open air until a syrup is formed, the addition of a little sugar to each bottle, are all indefinite directions; and the practical result has been, that the black drop prepared according to them has no certain strength. The only advantage of the black drop over lauda- num is, probably, that the morphia exists in it in the state of an acetate. This advantage is secured in the acetated tincture of opium, the strength of which is as uniform as that of the opium from which it is prepared. This tincture was originally employed by Dr. Joseph Hartshorne of Philadelphia. The black drop has long been used under the name of Lancaster or Qua- ker's black drop, and the process of preparing it was first published by Dr. Armstrong, who found it among the papers of a relative of the original pro- prietor in England. In the original process, however, verjuice, or the juice of the wild crab, was employed instead of vinegar. Other vegetable acids also favourably modify the narcotic operation of opium; and lemon juice has been employed in a similar manner with vinegar or verjuice, and per- haps not less advantageously. The average product of the process for ace- tum opii, when carefully conducted, may be stated at two pints, and the strength of the preparation is such, that one drop is about equal to three of laudanum. The acetated tincture of opium may often be advantageously used in cases in which laudanum or opium itself produces unpleasant effects, such as nausea and vomiting, intense headach, great nervous disorder, &c; but the introduction of the salts of morphia into use has in a great measure su- perseded the necessity of the preparation. The dose is ten minims, or about twenty drops, equivalent to a grain of opium. W. TINCTURA OPII AMMONIATA. Ed. Ammoniated Tincture of Opium. " Take of Opium two drachms; Saffron, sliced, Benzoic Acid, each, three drachms; Oil of Aniseed half a drachm; Ammoniated Alcohol six- teen ounces. Digest for seven days, and filter through paper." Ed. This tincture is used in Scotland under the title of paregoric elixir, but differs both in composition and strength from the preparation known by that name in the United States. It is employed in spasmodic complaints, such PART II. Tincturae. 1081 as whooping cough and asthma. Each fluidrachm contains about a grain of opium. . W. TINCTURA OPII CAMPHORATA. U.S., Ed, Dub. Tinc- tura Camphora Composita. Lond. Camphorated Tincture of Opium. Paregoric Elixir. " Take of Opium, in powder, Benzoic Acid, Oil of Anise, each, a drachm; Liquorice [extract] half an ounce; Clarified Honey two ounces; Camphor two scruples; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London College takes fifty grains of camphor, seventy-two grains of powdered opium, the same quantity of benzoic acid, a fluidrachm of oil of anise, and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and proceeds as above. The Dublin process agrees with that of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, omitting the liquorice and honey. The Edinburgh College directs two scruples of camphor, a drachm of benzoic acid, a drachm of opium, and two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. This is the well known paregoric elixir. It is a very pleasant anodyne and antispasmodic, much used to allay cough in chronic catarrh, asthma, consumption, pertussis, &c; to relieve nausea and slight pains in the sto- mach and bowels; and, in infantile cases, to procure sleep. Half a fluid- ounce contains rather less than a grain of opium. The dose for an infant is from five to twenty drops, for an adult from one to two fluidrachms.* W. TINCTURA QUASSIA. U.S., Dub. Tinctura Quassia Ex- celsa. Ed. Tincture of Quassia. " Take of Quassia, rasped, an ounce; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Mace- rate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The Edinburgh College uses two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for seven days; the Dublin College macerates for seven days; in other respects their processes agree with ours. This tincture may be employed as an addition to tonic infusions or mix- tures, in the quantity of one or two fluidrachms at a dose. It is a pure and intense bitter. W. * The following formulae have been adopted by the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy for the preparation of the two compound tinctures of opium, so much used under the names of Batemaris drops, and Godfrey's cordial. So long as these nostrums are em- ployed, it is important that they should be prepared in a uniform manner, and of a certain strength; as serious consequences may happen from diversity in the formulae, when so active a substance as opium is the chief ingredient. Such diversity has existed to a very great extent; so much so that in one formula for Bateman's drops the quantity of opium was seven and a half grains to the pint, while in another it exceeded one hundred grains. It was in order to remedy this inconvenience, that the College was induced to adopt the formulae here presented. uBateman,s pectoral drops. Take of Diluted Alcohol Cong, iv., Red Saunders, rasped, gij. Digest for twenty-four hours, filter, and add of Opium in powder ^ij., Catechu in powder Ijij., Camphor ^ij., Oil of Anise f^iv. Digest for ten days." This preparation is about equal in strength to the Camphorated tincture of opium or paregoric elixir of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, containing about two grains of opium to the fluidounce. " Godfrey's cordial. Take of Tincture of Opium Oiss., Molasses (from the sugar re- finers) Oxvj., Alcohol Oij., Water Oxxvj., Carbonate of Potassa §iiss., Oil of Sassafras friv. Dissolve the Carbonate of Potassa in the Water, add the Molasses, and heat over a gentle fire till they simmer; take off the scum which rises, and add the Laudanum and Oil of Sassafras, having previously mixed them well together." This preparation con- tains the strength of rather more than one grain of opium in a fluidounce. Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. v. 26 and 27. 92 1082 Tincturae. part ii- TINCTURA RHEI. U.S., Ed. Tincture of Rhubarb. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, three ounces; Cardamom [seeds], bruised, half an ounce; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The Edinburgh College employs two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. In other respects its process is the same as the above. TINCTURA RHEI COMPOSITA. Lond., Dub. Compound Tincture of Rhubarb. " Take of Rhubarb, sliced, two ounces and a half; Liquorice Root, bruised, six drachms; Ginger, sliced, Saffron, each, three drachms; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. The Dublin College substitutes half an ounce of cardamom seeds, husked and bruised, for the ginger, employs as the menstruum two pints of proof spirit, and macerates for seven days. TINCTURA RHEI ET ALOES. U.S., Ed. Tincture of Rhu- barb and Aloes. Elixir Sacrum. Sacred Elixir. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, ten drachms; Aloes, in powder, six drachms; Cardamom [seeds], bruised, half an ounce; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Ma- cerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The Edinburgh College- specifies Socotrine Aloes, employs two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. TINCTURA RHEI ET GENTIANS. U.S., Ed. Tincture of Rhubarb and Gentian. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, two ounces; Gentian, bruised, half an ounce; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter throueh paper." U.S. J & The Edinburgh College employs two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. The above tinctures of rhubarb are all in a greater or less degree purga- tive, stomachic, and tonic; but, except in low states of the system, or in cases of individuals accustomed to the use of ardent spirits, they are too feebly cathartic in proportion to their stimulant power, to be advantageously em- ployed, unless as adjuvants to other medicines. Combined with the neutral salts or other laxatives, or with tonic and stomachic infusions, mixtures, &c, they serve to render them warmer and more cordial to the stomach, and often prove beneficial in flatulent colic, dyspepsia, the costiveness of cold inirrita- ble habits, diarrhoea, and other analogous complaints. One of them is to be preferred to another, according as its peculiar composition may, in the judg- ment of the practitioner, appear to adapt it to the circumstances of the case under treatment. In low forms of fever, when the indication is to evacuate the bowels, and at the same time stimulate the patient, the simple tincture (Tinctura Rhei) may be very advantageously used in doses of two or three fluidrachms, repeated at proper intervals till it operates. The ordinary dose of these tinctures, as purgatives, is from half a fluidounce to a fluidounce; as stomachics, from one to two or three fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA RHEI ET SENN^. U.S. Tincture of Rhubarb and Senna. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, an ounce; Senna two drachms; Coriander [seeds] bruised, Fennel-seed, bruised, each, a drachm; Red Saunders, rasp- ed, two drachms; Saffron, Liquorice [extract], each, half a drachm; Raisins, PART II. Tincturae. 1083 stoned, half a pound; Diluted Alcohol three pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. This is the stomachic so well known, and so much used in this country, under the name of Warner's gout cordial. It is a feeble purgative, usually very acceptable to the stomach, and well adapted to cases of costiveness, with gastric uneasiness, in persons of a gouty habit, and accustomed to the free use of wine or other stimulant drink. The dose is from half a fluidounce to two fluidounces. W. TINCTURA SANGUINARLE. U.S. Tincture of Blood-root. " Take of Blood-root, bruised, four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper. U. S. This will prove emetic in the dose of three or four fluidrachms; but it is rather intended to act as a stimulant to the stomach, or as an alterative, for which pdrposes it may be given in the quantity of from thirty to sixty drops. W. TINCTURA SAPONIS CAMPHORATA. U.S., Ed. Linimen- tum Saponis. Lond., Dub. Camphorated Tincture of Soap. " Take of Soap [Castile soap,] in shavings, four ounces; Camphor two ounces; Oil of Rosemary half a fluidounce; Alcohol two pints. Digest the Soap with the Alcohol in a water-bath till it is dissolved; then filter, and add the Camphor and Oil." U. S. The London and Dublin Colleges take three ounces of soap, an ounce of camphor, and a pint [sixteen fluidounces, Lond.~] of spirit of rosemary. The former dissolves the camphor in the spirit, then adds the soap, and macerates with a gentle heat till it is dissolved; the latter digests the soap in the spirit till it is dissolved, and then adds the camphor. The Edinburgh process scarcely differs from that of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, half an ounce of the oil being employed insteadof half a fluidounce, two pounds of alcohol instead of two pints; and the digestion being performed without a water-bath, and con- tinued for three days. It is necessary, in preparing this tincture, that the soap employed should not have been made with animal oil, as otherwise a portion will be deposited as the solution cools. The soap indicated by the U.S. Pharmacopoeia is lhat " prepared from soda and olive oil," commonly called Castile soap. The preparation is usually called soap liniment, a name which more pro- perly belongs to the Linimentum Saponis Camphoratum of the Pharmaco- poeia, or common opodeldoc. The camphorated tincture of soap is much used, as an anodyne and gently rubefacient embrocation, in sprains, bruises, and local rheumatic or gouty pains. Off. Prep. Linimentum Saponis cum Opio, Dub. ,W. TINCTURA SAPONIS ET OPII. Ed. Linimentum Opii. Lond. Linimentum Saponis cum Opio vel Linimentum Anody- num. Dub. Tincture of Soap and Opium. " Take of Hard Soap, in shavings, four ounces; Opium an ounce; Cam- phor two ounces; Oil of Rosemary half an ounce; Alcohol two pounds. Digest the Soap and Opium in the Alcohol for three days; then add to the filtered liquor the Camphor and Oil, and shake them well." Ed. The London and Dublin Colleges merely mix their liniment of soap (Tinctura Saponis Camphorata) with tincture of opium; the former in the 10S4 Tincturae. part ii. proportion of six measures of the liniment to two of the tincture; the latter, of four to three. .... , This tincture is commonly known by the name of anodyne liniment, am is employed for the same purposes with the preceding, from which it differs onlv in containing opium. It is most conveniently prepared by extempora- neously mixing the camphorated tincture with laudanum, as directed by the London and Dublin Colleges. TINCTURA SCILLAE. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Scilla Maritima. Ed. Tincture of Squill. " Take of Squill four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate tor fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. . The London process agrees essentially with the above, recently dried squill being directed. The Dublin College, using the same ingredients in the same proportions, directs that they should be macerated for seven days, then set aside, and the clear liquor decanted when the dregs have subsided. The Edinburgh College directs two ounces of the freshly dried squill and sixteen ounces^by weight) of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. The tincture possesses all the virtues of squill, and may be given for the same purposes, whenever the spirituous menstruum is not objectionable. The dose as an expectorant or diuretic is from ten to twenty minims (twenty to forty drops), and the latter quantity usually nauseates. W. TINCTURA SENNAE. L,ond. Tinctura Senna Composita. Dub. Tincture of Senna. " Take of Senna three ounces and a half; Caraway, bruised, three drachms and a half; Cardamom, bruised, a drachm; Raisins, five ounces; Proof Spirit two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. The Dublin College takes a pound of senna, an ounce and a half of car- away, half an ounce of cardamom seeds without the capsules, and a gallon of proof spirit, and proceeds as above. This tincture is the elixir salutis of the old Pharmacopoeias. It is a warm cordial purgative, useful in costiveness attended with flatulence, and in atonic gout, especially when occurring in intemperate persons. It is also added to cathartic infusions and mixtures. The dose is from two fluidrachms to a fluidounce or more. W. TINCTURA SENNiE ET JALAPAE. U. S. Tinctura Senna Composita. Ed. Tincture of Senna and Jalap. " Take of Senna three ounces; Jalap, bruised, an ounce; Coriander [seeds] bruised, Caraway [seeds] bruised, each, half an ounce; Cardamom [seeds] bruised, two drachms; Sugar [refinedj/otzr ounces; Diluted Alco- hol three pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of senna, an ounce of jalap, half an ounce of coriander seeds, and three pounds and a half of diluted alcohol; digests for seven days; then filters, and adds to the filtered liquor four ounces of refined sugar. This is another form of the elixir salutis, and scarcely differs from the preceding in virtues. It is given for the same purposes, and in the same doses. W. PART II. Tincturae. 10S5 TINCTURA SERPENTARIA. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Aristolochia Serpentaria. Ed. Tincture of Virginia Snake- root. " Take of Virginia Snake-root, bruised, three ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. The London College takes three ounces and a half of the root and two pints [Imperial measure] of proof spirit, and proceeds as above. The Dub- lin College employs the same proportions as those indicated in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, but macerates only a week.. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of snake-root, a drachm of powdered cochineal, and two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. This tincture possesses the tonic and cordial properties of the root, and may be advantageously added to the infusion of Peruvian bark in low states of the system. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA STRAMONII. U. S. Tincture of Thorn-apple. " Take of Thorn-apple Seed, bruised, four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U.S. This tincture may be used for all the purposes for which stramonium is given, in the dose of from ten to twenty minims, repeated twice or thrice a day, and gradually increased till it obviously affects the system. W. TINCTURA TOLUTANI. U. S. Tinctura Balsami Toluta- ni. Lond., Dub. Tinctura Toluifera Balsami. Ed. Tincture of Tolu. " Take of Tolu [balsam] three ounces; Alcohol two pints. Macerate till the Tolu is dissolved, and then filter through paper." U.S. The London College employs two ounces of the balsam to two pints [Imperial measure] of rectified spirit; the Edinburgh College, an ounce and a half of the balsam to a pound of alcohol; the Dublin College, an ounce to the pint. The tincture of tolu has the properties of the balsam, and may be em- ployed as an addition to expectorant mixtures in chronic catarrhal affections; but the proportion of alcohol is too large to allow of its advantageous use in ordinary cases. The dose is one or two fluidrachms. In smaller quanti- ties it is often employed to flavour cough mixtures. It is decomposed by water. Off. Prep. Syrupus Balsami Tolutani, Dub., Ed. W. TINCTURA VALERIANAE. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tincture of Valerian. " Take of Valerian, bruised, four ounces; Diluted Alcohol two pints; Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The processes of the London and Dublin Colleges agree essentially with ihe above, except that the latter continues the maceration only for a week. This tincture possesses the properties of valerian, but cannot be given in ordinary cases, so as to produce the full effects of the root, without stimu- lating too highly in consequence of the large proportion of spirit. The dose is from one to four fluidrachms. W. TINCTURA VALERIANA AMMONIATA. U.S., Ed., Dub. Tinctura Valeriana Composita. Lond. Ammoniated Tincture of Valerian. " Take of Valerian, bruised, four ounces; Aromatic Ammoniated Alcohol two pints; Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. 92* 1086 Tincturae. PART n. The London process corresponds with the above. The Edinburgh Col- lege takes four dunces of powdered valerian, and two pounds and a half of ammoniated alcohol, and digests for a week. The Dublin College takes two ounces of the root, and a pint of the ammoniated spirit, and macerates for a week. The ammonia in this preparation is thought to assist the solvent powers of the alcohol, while it co-operates with the valerian in madical operation. The tincture is employed as an antispasmodic in hysteria and other nervous affections. The dose' is one or two fluidrachms, and should be given in sweetened water, milk, or some mucilaginous fluid. W. TINCTURA VERATRI ALBI. Ed. Tincture of White Helle- bore. " Take of White Hellebore Root, bruised, four ounces; Diluted Alcohol sixteen ounces [by weight]. Digest for seven days, and filter through paper." Ed. This tincture has the active properties of the white hellebore. It has been given to assist the action of cathartics, to produce vomiting in maniacal and lethargic affections, and with a view to its alterative effect in cutaneous diseases. But it is a dangerous remedy, producing in overdoses violent purging and vomiting, and not easily regulated as regards the dose. It should always be given in small quantities at first, and cautiously increased till its effects are experienced. The dose to begin with is from five to ten minims. W. TINCTURA ZINGIBERIS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Tinctura Amomi Zingiberis. Ed. Tincture of Ginger. " Take of Ginger, bruised, eight ounces; Alcohol two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes two ounces and a half of ginger, sliced, and two pints [Imperial measure] of rectified spirit, and macerates for fourteen days. The Dublin College takes two ounces and a half of coarsely pow- dered ginger, and two pints of rectified spirit, and macerates for seven days. The Edinburgh College takes two ounces of bruised ginger, and two pounds and a half of diluted alcohol, and digests for a week. The tinctures of the British Colleges are too weak with ginger, to be applied advantageously to any other purpose than merely to impart flavour. We greatly prefer the process of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, which yields a preparation in which the virtues of the ginger are not completely swallowed up in the menstruum. In consequence of the mucilaginous matter contained in ginger, the tincture made with diluted alcohol is apt to be turbid. Alcohol is, therefore, properly preferred by the U. S. and London Pharmacopoeias. Good Jamaica ginger should be used. The tincture of ginger is a useful carminative, and may often be benefi- cially added to tonic and purgative infusions or mixtures, in debilitated states of the alimentary canal. It is, however, in this country, chiefly used for the preparation of syrup of ginger, for which purpose it is necessary to employ the strong tincture of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Off. Prep. Syrupus Zingiberis, U. S. W. part u. Trochisci. 1087 TROCHISCI. Troches. Troches or lozenges are small, dry, solid masses, usually of a flattened shape, consisting of powders incorporated with sugar and mucilage. They are designed to be held in the mouth, and dissolved slowly in the saliva, and are, therefore, adapted for the administration of those medicines only which do not require to be given in very large quantities, and are destitute of any very disagreeable flavour. They are much more used, and more skilfully prepared, in Europe than in this country. Tragacanth, from the greater tenacity of its mucilage, is better suited to their formation than gum Arabic, which is in most instances directed by the U. S. and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias. The following directions for preparing ihem are taken from the Dictionnaire des Drogues. A mucilage of tragacanth is first prepared with cold water, and strained. With this the powders, including sugar, are thoroughly mixed by rubbing upon a marble slab, and are thus formed into a paste, which is spread out by means of a roller upon the surface of the marble, previously powdered over with a mixture of sugar and starch. The thickness of the extended mass is rendered uniform by a frame upon which the ends of the roller are placed. The upper surface is now covered with a thin layer of sugar and starch, and the mass is divided into small cakes of a particular shape by means of a punch. These cakes are placed upon paper, and having been exposed to the air for twelve hours, are carried into a drying room moderately heated. When perfectly dry, they are thrown upon a sieve to separate the sugar and starch, and are then enclosed in bottles. In this way lozenges may be prepared from almost any medicine which the physician may deem it advisable to administer in that form. The following formula will serve as a guide. Take of citric acid, in powder, a drachm; refined sugar eight ounces; oil of lemons twelve minims; mucilage of traga- canth a sufficient quantity. Form them in the manner above directed into troches of twelve grains each. A species of lozenge is made by uniting the aromatic essential oils with sugar alone; but their preparation belongs to the confectioner rather than to the apothecary. The London and Dublin Pharmacopoeias have omitted troches altogether. W. TROCHISCI CALCIS CARBONATIS. U.S. Trochisci Car- bonatis Calcis. Ed. Troches of Carbonate of Lime. " Take of Prepared Carbonate of Lime four ounces; Gum Arabic an ounce; Nutmeg a drachm; Sugar six ounces. Rub them separately into powder; then mix them, and with water form them into a mass, to be divided into troches, each weighing ten grains." U.S. "Powder them together, and form them with water into a mass fit for making troches." Ed. These are used as a gently astringent antacid in diarrhoea. W. TROCHISCI GLYCYRRHIZAE ET OPII. U.S. Trochisci Glycyrrhiza cum Opio. Ed. Troches of Liquorice and Opium. " Take of Opium two drachms; Tincture of Tolu half a fluidounce; Syrup half a pint; Liquorice [extract], softened by hot water, Gum Arabic, in pow- der, each, five ounces. Rub the Opium thoroughly with the Tincture; then gradually add, first the Syrup and Extract, and afterwards the Gum, mixing them well together; lastly, dry ihe mass, and divide it into troches, each weighing ten grains." U. S. The .Edinburgh College directs half an ounce (by weight) of tincture of 10 S8 Trochisci. part ii. balsam of tolu, and eight ounces (by weight) of simple syrup. In other respects, the process is the same with the above. In regard to these troches, it is stated in the Dispensatory of the late Dr. Duncan, that " they are more easily prepared, and the uniform diffusion of the opium is more certainly attained, by previously drying and reducing to powder the opium and liquorice, which are to be intimately mixed with the powdered gum Arabic. This is to be beat into a mass first with the tincture, and then the syrup, and if necessary a little water gradually added." A pre- paration equivalent to the above is much used in Philadelphia under the name of Wistar's cough lozenges. A little oil of aniseed or oil of caraway is usually mixed with the other ingredients; but this addition, unless in very mi- nute proportion, though it improves the flavour, interferes with the demul- cent virtues of the preparation. These troches are demulcent and anodyne, and very useful in allaying cough, when the state of the case admits the employment of opium, of which each of them contains about one-seventh of a grain. W. TROCHISCI GLYCYRRHIZAE GLABRAE. Ed. Troches of Liquorice. " Take of Extract of Liquorice, Gum Arabic, each, one part; Refined Sugar two parts; Boiling Water a sufficient quantity. Dissolve and strain; then evaporate the solution, by a gentle fire, to the consistence proper for forming troches." Ed. These troches are useful in allaying cough, but are seldom employed; hav- ing been superseded by refined liquorice, which answers the same purpose, without being so cloying to the palate. W. TROCHISCI GUMMOSI. Ed. Gum Troches. " Take of Gum Arabic four parts; Starch one part; Refined Sugar twelve parts. Powder them, and with Rose Water make a mass fit for the forma- tion of troches." Ed. These are useful in allaying the irritation of the fauces which excites cough- ing, and may be employed at pleasure. W. TROCHISCI MAGNESIiE. U.S. Troches of Magnesia. " Take of Magnesia four ounces; Gum Arabic an ounce; Nutmeg a drachm; Sugar six ounces. Prepare the Troches of Magnesia in the manner directed for those of Carbonate of Lime." U. S. TROCHISCI CARBONATIS MAGNESIiE. Ed. Troches of Carbonate of Magnesia. " Take of Carbonate of Magnesia six ounces; Refined Sugar three ounces; Nutmeg a scruple. Powder them, and with Mucilage of Tragacanth make a mass fit for the formation of troches." Ed. These and the preceding troches are useful in acidity of stomach, especially when attended with constipation. W. TROCHISCI NITRATIS POTASSAE. Ed. Troches of Nitrate of Potassa. " Take of Nitrate of Potassa one part; Refined Sugar three parts. Pow- der them, and with Mucilage of Tragacanth make a mass fit for forming troches." Ed. These troches, held in the mouth and allowed slowly to dissolve, form a cooling application in excessive salivation, and are useful in the incipient stages of inflammation of the throat. For internal use, the nitre is more con- veniently taken in the form of powder or solution. W. PART II. Unguent a. 1089 UNGUENTA. Ointments. These are fatty substances, softer than cerates, of a consistence resembling that of butter, and such that they may be readily applied to the skin, by in- unction. Many of them become rancid when long kept, and should, there- fore, be prepared in small quantities at a time, or only when wanted for use. W. UNGUENTUM ACIDI NITROSI. Ed. Ointment of Nitrous Acid. "Take of Lard a pound; Nitrous Acid six drachms. Mix the Acid gra- dually with the melted Lard, and beat the mixture assiduously as it cools." Ed. If the mixture be kept for a short time on the fire, it becomes of a yellow colour, and emits fumes of nitrous acid. The lard is oxidized at the expense of a portion of the acid, and combines with the remainder, assuming a firm consistence when it cools. The ointment thus prepared was originally em- ployed by Alyon, under whose name it passes on the continent of Europe. It is useful in syphilitic ulcers, and in eruptive complaints, particularly psora and the different forms of porrigo; but it has been superseded by the ointment of nitrate of mercury, which is more efficient. W. UNGUENTUM ACIDI NITRICI. Dub. Ointment of Nitric Acid. " Take of Olive Oil a pound; Prepared Lard four ounces; Nitric Acid five and a half fluidrachms. Melt the Oil and Lard together in a glass vessel, and when they begin to congeal, add the Acid, and stir the mixture constantly with a glass rod till it stiffens." Dub. This ointment possesses the same properties, and is used for the same purposes, as the preceding. UNGUENTUM ACIDI SULPHURICI. Dub. Ointment of Sulphuric Acid. " Take of Sulphuric Acid a drachm; Prepared Lard an ounce. Mix them." Dub. In this process the acid is partly converted into sulphurous acid which escapes, and a portion of the lard is charred. The ointment is dark-coloured and fetid. It was a fivourite application with Dr. Duncan, Senr., in scabies, and we have found it effectual in the same complaint. It may also be used with advantage, in other eruptive affections, particularly ringworm. W. UNGUENTUM AQU^E ROS^L. U.S. Ointment of Rose Water. " Take of Rose Water, Oil of Almonds, each, two fluidounces; Sperma- ceti half an ounce; White Wax a drachm. Melt together, by means of a waer-bath, the Oil, Spermaceti, and Wax; then add the Rose Water, and stir the mixture constantly until it is cold." U. S. This preparation is much employed under the name of cold cream. It is a white, very soft, and elegant unguent, deriving a grateful odour from the rose water, which remains incorporated with the other constituents if kept enclosed in glazed vessels. It is a pleasant, coohng application to irritated and excoriated surfaces; and may be used with great advantage for chapped lips and hands so frequent in cold weather. W. 1090 Unguenta. part n. UNGUENTUM CANTHARIDIS. U. S, Lond., Dub. Oint- ment of Spanish Flies. " Take of Spanish Flies, in powder [very fine powder, Lond., Dub.~\, tivo ounces; Distilled Water half a pint; Resin Cerate eight ounces. Boil down the Water with the Spanish Flies to one half, and strain; then mix the Cerate with the strained liquor, and evaporate to a proper consistence." U.S., Dub. The London College takes an ounce of the flies, four fluidounces of dis- tilled water, and four ounces of resin cerate, and proceeds as above. By this process, the active matter of the flies is more uniformly diffused through the ointment, than when they are directly incorporated, in the state of powder, with the other ingredients. The preparation is thus better cal- culated to meet the end proposed of maintaining the discharge from blis- tered surfaces, without producing undue irritation. It is said That the vir- tues of the flies are impaired by the boiling; but experience has shown that considerable activity remains. It is necessary, after the strained decoction and cerate have been mixed, to stir constantly during the remainder of the process, in order to prevent the former from sinking to the bottom. It should be recollected, that this ointment is intended as a dressing for blis- ters, not to produce vesication. Dupuytren employed, as a local application to prevent the loss of hair, an ointment made by macerating a drachm of flies in a fluidounce of alcohol, and incorporating one part of the tincture thus formed with nine parts of lard. W. UNGUENTUM INFUSI CANTHARIDIS VESICATORIA. Ed. Ointment of infusion of Spanish Flies. "Take of Spanish Flies, White Resin, Yellow Wax, each, one part; Lard, Venice Turpentine, each, two parts; Boiling Water four parts. Ma- cerate the Spanish Flies in the water for a night, and having strained the liquor with strong expression, boil it with the Lard till the water is evapo- rated; then add the Resin and Wax, and when these are melted, remove the mixture from the fire, and add the Turpentine." Ed. This ointment differs from the preceding only in containing Venice tur- pentine, which increases its stimulant properties. W. UNGUENTUM PULVERIS CANTHARIDIS VESICATO- RIAE. Ed. Ceratum Cantharidis. Lond. Ointment of the Pow- der of Spanish Flies. " Take of Resin Ointment sevenparts; Spanish Flies, in very fine pow- der, one part. Sprinkle the powder into the melted ointment, and stir the mixture constantly till it stiffens on cooling." Ed. " Take of Spanish Flies, in very fine powder, an ounce; Spermaceti Cerate six ounces. To the Cerate softened by heat, add the Flies, and mix." Lond. This ointment like the two preceding, is intended as a dressing for blis- tered surfaces, with a view to maintain the discharge. The flies should be very finely powdered, in order that they may be diffused as uniformly as possible through the mass. It is unfortunate that the term ceratum cantha- ridis has been conferred upon this preparation by the London College, as the same name is properly employed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia to express the preparation of flies intended to be used as a vesicatory. None of these ointments can be-used in individuals liable to strangury from the external application of cantharides. W. PART II. Unguenta. 1091 UNGUENTUM CETACEI. Lond. Spermaceti Ointment. " Take of Spermaceti six drachms; White Wax two drachms; Olive Oil three fluidounces. Melt them together over a slow fire, and stir them constantly until cold." Lond. This ointment is employed as a mild dressing for blisters, wounds, and excoriated surfaces. It should be made in small quantities at a time, as it is apt to become rancid when long kept. W. UNGUENTUM CREASOTI. Lond. Ointment of Creasote. " Take of Creasote a fluidrachm; Lard an ounce. Rub and mix them." Lond. For the use of this ointment see Creasoton, in the first part of this work. It may sometimes be advantageously diluted with lard when found to irritate. W. UNGUENTUM CONII. Dub. Ointment of Hemlock. " Take of fresh Hemlock Leaves, Prepared Lard, each, two pounds. Boil the Leaves in the Lard till they become crisp, and then express through linen." Dub. The narcotic principle of fresh hemlock is extracted by lard with the aid of heat. The resulting ointment may be advantageously used, as an ano- dyne application to irritable piles, painful glandular swellings and scirrhous tumours, and to cancerous and other painful ulcers. W. UNGUENTUM CUPRI ACETATIS. U. S. Unguentum Sub- acetatis Cupri. Ed. Unguentum Cupri Subacetatis. Dub. Ointment of Acetate of Copper. " Take of Prepared Acetate of Copper, in powder, an ounce; Simple Ointment^/ifeen ounces. Add the Acetate of Copper to the Ointment pre- viously melted over a gentle fire, and stir them constantly until they are cold." U.S. " Take of Resinous Ointment [resin cerate] fifteen parts; Sub-Acetate of Copper, in very fine powder, one part. Sprinkle the Sub-acetate into the melted Ointment, and stir the mixture till it stiffens upon cooling." Ed. " Take of Prepared Subacetate of Copper half an ounce; Olive Oil an ounce; Ointment of White Resin [resin cerate] a pound. Rub the Sub- acetate with the oil; then add them to the Ointment previously melted, and mix." Dub. This ointment is employed as a mild escharotic in fungous granulations, and, more or less diluted with lard, as a stimulating application to foul and flabby ulcers, scrofulous ulcerations of the edges of the eyelids, disease of the external meatus of the ear with purulent discharge, and to certain cuta- neous eruptions, particularly that form of porrigo denominated ringworm of the scalp. W. UNGUENTUM ELEMI. Lond., Dub. Ointment of Elemi. " Take of Elemi a pound: Common Turpentine ten ounces; Suet two pounds; Olive Oil two fluidounces. Melt the Elemi with the Suet, and having removed them from the fire, immediately mix with them the Turpentine and Oil, and express through linen." Lond. " Take of Resin of Elemi a pound; White Wax half a pound; Prepared Lard four pounds. Make an ointment, and strain it through a sieve while hot." Dub. This ointment is applied as a gentle stimulant to weak ulcers, and may be used for maintaining the discharge of issues and setons. It is the lini- mentum arcsei of the older pharmacy. W. 1092 Unguenla. part ii. UNGUENTUM GALLJE. U.S. Unguentum Gallarum. Dub. Ointment of Galls. "Take of Galls, in powder [very fine powder, Dub.'], un ounce; Lard seven ounces [eight ounces, Dub.]. Mix them." U.S., Dub. This is used chiefly in piles and prolapsus ani, though it may also be ad- vantageously applied to indolent ulcers. UNGUENTUM GALL.E COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Ointment of Galls. "Take of Galls, in very fine powder, two drachms; Lard two ounces; Hard Opium, in powder, half a drachm. Mix them." Lond. This combination of galls and opium is sometimes employed, preferably to the simple gall ointment, in cases of irritable piles. W. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI. U.S., Ed., Dub. Unguen- tum Hydrargyri Fortius. Lond. Mercurial Ointment. Strong Mercurial Ointment. "Take of Purified Mercury two pounds; Lard twenty-three ounces; Suet an ounce. Rub the Mercury with the Suet and a small portion of the Lard till the globules disappear; then add the remainder of the Lard, and mix." U.S., Lond. "Take of Purified Mercury, Suet, each, one part; Lard three parts.— Rub the Mercury diligently in a mortar, with a little of the Lard, until the globules entirely disappear; then add the remainder of the fats. This Oint- ment may also be made with double or triple the quantity of Mercury." Ed. "Take of Purified Mercury, prepared Lard, equal weights. Rub them together in a marble or iron mortar, till the globules of mercury disappear." Dub. Off. Prep. Ceratum Hydrargyri Compositum, Lond.; Unguentum Hy- drargyri Mitius. Lond. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI MITIUS. Lond., Dub. Mild Mercurial Ointment. "Take of Strong Mercurial Ointment a pound; Lard two pounds. Mix them." Lond. The Dublin College prepares this ointment with twice the quantity of lard used in the preparation of the stronger ointment. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia directs only one mercurial ointment, which accords in strength with the strongest ointment of the London and Dublin Colleges, containing equal weights of mercury and fatty matter. When the physician wishes a weaker preparation, he may direct the ointment to be diluted with such a proportion of lard as may answer his purposes. The ointment of the Edinburgh College contains one part of mercury and four of fat, and may also be prepared with two parts, or three parts of the former; but even when strongest, it is not equal to our officinal ointment. The milder ointment of the London College contains one part of mercury to five of fat, that of the Dublin College, one of the former to two of the latter. If the apotheeary keep a milder pieparalion in his shop, it should be that of the London College, which, from the smaller proportion of mercury, is prefera- ble to that of the Dublin College for the purposes to which the milder oint- ment is usually applied. It should always be understood that the stronger ointment is intended by the physician, unless the contrary is expressly stated. •In the preparation of mercurial ointment, care is requisite that the mercury should be completely extinguished. The trituration is best per- formed in a marble mortar, as it is difficult to keep the iron so clean as not to PART II. Unguenta. 1093 impart more or less oxide to the ointment. The mercury is known to be extinguished, when a portion of the mass, rubbed upon paper or the back of the hand, exhibits no metallic globules. To facilitate the process, which is very tedious, the addition of various substances has been proposed, calculated to hasten the disappearance of the metal. Turpentine and sulphur have been employed for this purpose, but are both inadmissible, the former because it renders the ointment too irritating, the latter because it forms with the mer- cury an inactive sulphuret. Their presence in the ointment may be detected by the peculiar odour which they respectively emit when exposed to heat. Sulphur, moreover, gives the ointment a darker colour than it has when pure. Rancidity in the lard employed also facilitates the extinguishment of the mercury, but is liable to the same objection as turpentine. M. Planche has proposed the oil of eggs; but M. Guibourt did not find it more effectual than fresh lard. The latter pharmaceutist recommends the addition of one- sixteenth of old mercurial ointment, which experience has shown to be very useful in promoting the thorough mixture of the mercury and lard, and which is liable to no practical objection. The following plan of preparing the oint- ment has been proposed by M. Chevallier. Having taken a pound of mer- cury and the same quantity of fresh lard, he introduces the metal with half the lard previously melted into a stone or glass bottle, shakes the mixture till it acquires the consistence of very thick syrup, then pours it into a mortar, and adds the remainder of the lard, stirring constantly. In this manner, ac- cording to Chevallier, a perfect ointment may be made in half an hour. But when prepared with lard alone, the ointment is apt, in hot weather, to become so soft as to allow the metal to separate. Hence the addition of suet in the processes of the U. S. and London Pharmacopoeias; and even a larger propor- tion, as directed by the Edinburgh College, might be employed when the ointment is prepared for use in the summer season. Mercurial ointment has when newly prepared a bluish colour, which be- comes darker by age. It was formerly thought to contain the mercury in the state of protoxide; but it has been shown that most of the metal can be separated from the lard by methods not calculated to reduce the oxide; and chemists now generally admit that it exists in the preparation in a state of minute division, not of chemical combination. Some, however, still maintain that the metal is partially oxidized; and the darker colour which the ointment acquires by age is attributed to the further oxidizement of the mercury. Mr. Donovan considers the common mercurial ointment as consisting partly of uncombined metal and lard, and partly of a chemical compound of the protox- ide and lard; and to the latter portion alone he attributes its medicinal activity. A mixture of lard and the black oxide has not the same effect, because there is no chemical union between the ingredients, and this union, in his opinion, is necessary to the absorption of the mercurial. Upon exposing such a mix- ture to a temperature of 350°, and continually agitating it for two hours, he found that every ounce of lard dissolved and combined with twenty-one grains of oxide; and the resulting compound was found to be equally effectual with the common ointment, and capable of being introduced into the system in one-third of the time. (Paris's Pharmacologia.) It has been proposed to substitute an ointment thus prepared for that made according to the officinal directions, as being more manageable, and of more uniform strength. In its preparation, care is requisite not to employ too high or too low a tempera- ture; as the former decomposes the oxide, and the latter is insufficient to effect its union with the lard. Mercurial ointment, when rubbed upon the surface of the body, produces, in consequence of its absorption, the same general effects upon the sys tem 93 1094 Unguenta. part ii. as the other preparations of the metal. It is resorted to either alono, when circumstances prevent or discourage the internal use of mercury, or con- jointly with the internal use of the medicine, to produce a more speedy or powerful effect in urgent cases. It may also be advantageously employed as a resolvent in local affections, as in the case of venereal buboes, and of chro- nic glandular swellings, upon which it may be made to operate directly by being applied in the course of the absorbents which pass through the enlarged glands. The proper quantity to be employed at one time, with a view to sali- vation, is about a drachm, "which should be applied night and morning, by means of friction, to the inner surface of the thighs, legs, or arms, and conti- nued till the system is affected. In urgent cases, or in local affections, it may also be rubbed on other parts of the body, or applied to blistered surfaces. The friction should on each occasion be continued till the whole of the ointment is absorbed. When frequently rubbed upon the same part, it is apt to produce a disagreeable eruption which interferes with its continued application. Camphor is some- times added in order to render it more easy of absorption; but, without producing this effect, it increases the liability of the ointment to irritate the skin, and is of no other advantage than to soften its consistence, when too firm from a large proportion of suet. The weaker ointment is employed only as an application to ulcers, and to certain cutaneous eruptions. W. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI AMMONIATI. U.S. Un- guentum Hydrargyri Ammonio-chloridi. Lond. Unguentum Hydrargyri Submuriatis Ammoniati. Dub. Ointment of Am- moniated Mercury. Ointment of White Precipitate. " Take of Ammoniated Mercury an ounce; Simple Ointment eight ounces. Add the Ammoniated Mercury to the Ointment previously softened over a gentle fire, and mix them." U.S. The London and Dublin Colleges employ a drachm of the ammoniated mercury, and an ounce and a half of lard, and proceed as above. This ointment is employed chiefly in cutaneous eruptions, such as psora, porrigo, and herpes. W. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI IODIDI. Lond. Ointment of Iodide of Mercury. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI BINIODIDI. Lond, Oint- ment of Biniodide of Mercury. These two ointments are prepared by the London College from the iodide and biniodide of mercury, respectively; in the manner directed by the Col- lege for their ointment of Nitric Oxide of Mercury. (See Unguentum Hy- drargyri Oxidi Rubri.) They are both employed as dressings to scrofulous ulcers, the ointment of the biniodide being preferred when the ulcers are very indolent. W. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI NITRATIS. U.S., kLond. Unguentum Nitratis Hydrargyri Fortius. Ed. Unguentum Hydrargyri JMitratis vel Unguentum Citrinum. Dub. Oint- ment of Nitrate of Mercury. Citrine Ointment. "Take of Purified Mercury an ounce; Nitric Acid eleven fluidrachms; fresh Neats-foot Oil nine fluidounces; Lard three ounces. Dissolve the Mercury in the Acid; then melt the Oil and Lard together, and when they begin to stiffen [upon cooling], add the solution, and mix them." U.S. PART II. Unguenta. 1095 " Take of Mercury an ounce; Nitric Acid eleven fluidrachms; Lard six ounces; Olive Oil four fluidounces [Imperial measure]. First dissolve the Mercury in the Acid; then, while the solution is hot, mix it with the Lard and Oil previously melted together." Lond. " Take of Purified Mercury one part; Nitrous Acid two parts; Olive Oil nine parts; Lard three parts. Dissolve the Mercury in the Acid; then beat up the solution strongly with the Lard and Oil when nearly stiff after having been melted together." Ed. " Take of Purified Mercury an ounce; Nitric Acid eleven drachms and a half; Olive Oil a pint; Prepared Lard four ounces. Dissolve the Mercury in the Acid, then mix the solution with the Oil and Lard previously melted together, and form an ointment, in the manner directed for the Ointment of Nitric Acid." Dub. This ointment should be prepared in a glass, porcelain, or well glazed earthenware vessel. Dr. A. T. Thomson says that " the addition of the metallic solution to the melted mixture of lard and oil should be gradual, and made in a broad flat vessel; while the stirring should be performed by a wooden spatula, and continued till the ointment be perfectly cool." Prepared according to the directions of the British Colleges, this ointment has at first a beautiful yellow colour and a soft consistence, which, however, it loses by time, acquiring a dirty greenish hue, and becoming so hard and friable as to be unfit for application unless mixed with lard. This change has been attributed by some to the use of too large a proportion of lard, which, they say, is oxidized and hardened by the excess of acid. Accord- ing to Dr. A. T. Thomson, the ointment, when prepared with only one-sixth of its weight of lard, retains its colour and consistence, if preserved in close pots, while with a larger proportion " it becomes hard, brittle, and of a pale dirty yellow hue, marbled with green blotches." This, however, is a mistake. It is the olive oil which is hardened by the nitrate of mercury, and the ointment is firmer when made with that oil alone than with a pro- portion of lard. (See Oleum Olivae, page 468.) Hence, in the last edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, neats-foot oil was substituted for that of the olive, and with decided advantage. We have had in our possession for more than a year, a pot of ointment made according to the process of the Phar- macopoeia, and, though it has partially assumed a greenish colour, it pre- serves a uniform, soft, unctuous consistence.*' It is probable that any other animal oil will be found to answer the same purpose as the neatsfoot oil; as the hardness of the ointment is owing to the reaction of the nitrate of mer- cury upon the peculiar olein of olive oil. Indeed the late Dr. Duncan stated, in his Dispensatory, that an ointment which preserved the desired colour and consistence was prepared by Mr. Duncan of Edinburgh with lard alone, without the addition of olive oil. Medical Uses. This ointment is much and very advantageously employed, as a stimulant and alterative application, in various forms of porrigo, as tinea capitis and crusta lactea, in psoriasis and ptyriasis, in certain forms of herpes, in psorophthalmia and inflammation of the eye and eyelids con- nected with porrigo of the face or scalp, and in various other ulcerative and eruptive affections. It should be diluted with lard, unless in cases which require a very stimulant application. Some care is requisite in its use, to * See " Remarks on the preparation of Citrine Ointment, by W. R. Fisher," in the Journ. of the Philadclpliia College of Pharmacy, i. 171. It is said that the three ounces of lard directed in the U. S. formula may be advantageously dispensed with, and its place supplied by three additional fluidounces of the ncats-foot oil. See the same Journal, iv. 197. 1096 Unguent a. part ii. avoid the risk of salivation. AVhen hard and friable, it must be rubbed up with fresh lard before it can be applied. AV . UNGUENTUM NITRATIS HYDRARGYRI M1TIUS. Ed. Milder Ointment of Nitrate of Mercury. " This is prepared in the same manner as the stronger ointment, with three times the quantity of Oil and Lard." Ed. This is a useless preparation, as it can answer no better purpose than a mixture of the stronger ointment with lard. " • UNGUENTUM OXIDI HYDRARGYRI CINEREI. Ed. Oint- ment of Gray Oxide of Mercury. " Take of Gray Oxide of Mercury one part; Lard, three parts. Mix them thoroughly." Ed. This was intended to supply the place of the mercurial ointment, as a means of introducing mercury into the system by friction; but it has not stood the test of experience, and is therefore little employed. It is said that the oxide of mercury is not absorbed with the lard. Dr. Paris conjectures, upon the foundation of Mr. Donovan's experiments, (see Unguentum Hy- drargyri,) lhat if subjected for some hours to a heat of 300°, it would be- come active, in consequence of the occurrence of a chemical union between the ingredients, which would enable the mercurial to be taken up by the absorbents. W. UNGUENTUM HYDRARGYRI OXIDI RUBRI. U.S. Un- guentum Hydrargyri Nitrico-oxydi. Lond. Unguentum Oxidi Hydrargyri Rubri. Ed. Unguentum Hydrargyri Oxydi Nitri- ci. Dub. Ointment of Red Oxide of Mercury. " Take of Red Oxide of Mercury, in very fine powder, an ounce; Simple Ointment eight ounces. Add the Oxide of Mercury to the Ointment pre- viously softened over a gentle fire, and mix them." U. S. "Take of Nitric Oxide of Mercury an ounce; White Wax two ounces; Lard six ounces. To the Wax and Lard, melted together, add the Nitric Oxide of Mercury, in very fine powder, and mix." Lond., Dub. " Take of Red Oxide of Mercury by Nitric Acid, in very fine powder, one part; Lard eight parts. Mix them thoroughly." Ed. The U.S. Pharmacopoeia contemplates the same red oxide of Mercury &s the British Colleges, that, namely, prepared from the nitrate, and usually called red precipitate. It is highly important that the oxide should be thoroughly pulverized before being mixed with the lard, as otherwise it might prove very injurious in cases of ophthalmia, in which it is sometimes used. This ointment loses its fine red colour when long kept, probably in con- sequence of the conversion of the red oxide into the black. It is best to prepare it only in small quantities at a time. It is a highly useful stimulating ointment, much employed in indolent and foul ulcers, in porrigo of the scalp, and in chronic conjunctival ophthalmia, especially when attended with thickening of the inner membrane of the eyelids, or with specks upon the cornea. It may be diluted with lard if found too stimulating. W. UNGUENTUM IODINII. Dub. Ointment of Iodine. " Take of Iodine a scruple; Prepared Lard an ounce. Rub them together so as to form an ointment." Dub. This ointment, when rubbed upon the skin, imparts to it an orange colour, which, however, slowly disappears with the evaporation of the iodine. It is useful as a local application in goitre and scrofulous swellings of the glands, PART ii. Unguenta. 1097 operating probably through the medium of absorption. When continued for some time, it occasionally produces a pustular eruption upon the por- tion of skin to which it is applied. Dr. Cerchiari strongly recommends it in cases of enlarged tonsils after the disappearance of inflammation. It should be applied to the tonsils morning and evening by means of a camel's hair pencil. In two months, according to the author, the enlarge- ment disappears. {Am. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 83.) W. UNGUENTUM I0DINII COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Ointment of Iodine. " Take of Iodine half a drachm; Iodide of Potassium a drachm; Recti- fied Spirit a fluidrachm; Lard two ounces. First rub the Iodine and Iodide of Potassium with the Spirit, then mix them with the Lard." Lond. This preparation is employed for the same purposes as the preceding, from which it differs chiefly in being somewhat stronger with iodine; as the iodide of potassium adds little to its virtues, and the spirit is employed only lo facilitate the admixture. W. UNGUENTUM PICIS LIQUIDS. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Tar Ointment. " Take of Tar, Suet, each, a pound. Add the Tar to the Suet previously melted over a gentle fire, and stir them constantly till they are cold." U.S. The London and Dublin Colleges melt together equal parts of the tar and suet, and strain the mixture, the former through linen, the latter through a sieve. The Edinburgh College takes five parts of tar and two parts of yel- low wax, and having melted the wax with a gentle heat, adds the pitch, and stirs constantly till the mixture stiffens. Tar ointment is highly useful as a stimulant application in various scaly and scabby eruptions, particularly in psoriasis, and in that form of porrigo usually called tinea capitis or scald head. It should be applied night and morning; and in bad cases the patient should constantly wear a cap thickly spread with the ointment upon its internal surface. W. UNGUENTUM PICIS NIGRiE. Lond. Ointment of Pilch. " Take of Pitch, Wax, Resin, each, nine ounces; Olive Oil sixteen fluid- ounces. Melt them together, and strain through linen." Lond. This is a stimulant ointment, applicable to the same purposes with the preceding. UNGUENTUM PIPERIS NIGRI. Dub. Ointment of Black Pepper. " Take of Prepared Lard a pound; Black Pepper, in powder, four ounces. Make an ointment." Dub. This is highly irritating, and has been used as a remedy in tinea capitis, but is not now employed. W. UNGUENTUM PLUMBI ACETATIS. Dub. Ceratum Plum- bi Acetatis. Lond. Unguentum Acetatis Plumbi. Ed. Oint- ment of Acetate of Lead. f.r-" Take of Simple Ointment twenty parts; Acetate of Lead, in very fine powder, one part. Mix them thoroughly." Ed. The Dublin College mixes an ounce of acetate of lead with a pound aBd a half of ointment of white wax. The London College melts two ounces of white wax in seven fluidounces of olive oil; then adds gradually two 93* 109S Unguenta. part ii. drachms of acetate of lead previously rubbed with a fluidounce of oil; and stirs with a wooden spatula till they are mixed. This is an excellent ointment in burns, and in other excoriated or ulcer- ated surfaces, particularly blisters in an inflamed state. W. UNGUENTUM PLUMBI CARBONATIS. U.S., Dub. Un- guentum Carbonatis Plumbi. Ed. Ointment of Carbonate of Lead. " Take of Carbonate of Lead, in very fine powder, two ounces; Simple Ointment a pound. Add the Carbonate of Lead to the Ointment previously softened over a gentle fire, and mix them." U.S. The Edinburgh College prepares this ointment by mixing thoroughly one part of carbonate of lead with five parts of simple ointment. The Dublin College employs the proportions of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. This ointment is used for the same purposes as the preceding. W. UNGUENTUM PLUMBI COMPOSITUM. Lond. Compound Ointment of Lead. "Take of Prepared Chalk eight ounces; Distilled Vinegar six fluid- ounces; Lead Plaster three pounds; Olive Oil a pint [Imperial measure]. Dissolve the Plaster in the Oil with a slow fire, then gradually add the Chalk previously mixed with the Vinegar, the effervescence having subsided, and stir them constantly until they become cold." Lond. Employed as a dressing for indolent ulcers. W. UNGUENTUM PLUMBI IODIDI. Lond. Ointment of Io- dide of Lead. " Take of Iodide of Lead an ounce; Lard eight ounces. Rub and mix them." Lond. Employed as a discutient in chronic glandular swellings, and enlargements of the joints. W. UNGUENTUM POTASSiE HYDRIODATIS. Dub. Ointment of Hydriodate of Potassa. " Take of Hydriodate of Potassa [Iodide of Potassium] a scruple; Pre- pared Lard an ounce. Rub them together so as to form an ointment." Dub. This is employed for the discussion of goitres, scrofulous tumours, and other indolent swellings; and is usually preferred to the ointment of iodine, as it does not like that discolour the skin. It is probably, however, of in- ferior virtue, and certainly contains too small a proportion of the iodide. One drachm to the ounce of lard would not be too much, and may some- times be exceeded. W. UNGUENTUM SAMBUCI. Lond., Dub. Elder Ointment. " Take of Elder [flowers], Lard, each, two pounds. Boil the Elder Flowers in the Lard till they become crisp, then express through linen." Lond. " Take of fresh Elder Flowers three pounds; Prepared Lard four pounds; Prepared Mutton Suet two pounds. Boil the flowers in the Lard till they become crisp; then strain with expression; lastly, add the Suet, and melt them together." Dub. Elder flowers impart odour to lard without adding to its virtues. W. PART II. Unguenta. 1099 UNGUENTUM SCROPHULARLE. Dub. Ointment of Fig- wort. " Take of fresh Figwort Leaves, Prepared Lard, each, two pounds; Pre- pared Mutton Suet a pound. Boil the leaves in the fat till they become crisp, then strain with expression." Dub. For the properties of this ointment, see Scrophularia Nodosa. W. UNGUENTUM SIMPLEX. U.S., Ed. Unguentum CERiE Alb.e. Unguentum Cerje Flav.ze. Dub. Simple Ointment. " Take of White Wax a pound; Lard four pounds. Melt them together with a gentle heat, and stir them constantly till they are cold." U. S. The Edinburgh College orders five parts of olive oil and two parts of white wax. The Dublin College makes two preparations, one with white, the other with purified yellow wax, in each case mixing the wax with lard in the same proportion as directed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. This is a useful emollient ointment, occasionally employed as a mild dressing to blistered or excoriated surfaces, but more frequently as a vehicle for the application of more active substances. It is the basis of several offi- cinal ointments. W. UNGUENTUM STRAMONII. U.S. Ointment of Thorn- apple. " Take of fresh Thorn-apple Leaves, cut in pieces, a pound; Lard three pounds; Yellow Wax half a pound. Boil the Thorn-apple Leaves in the Lard, till they become friable; then strain through linen; lastly, add the Wax previously melted, and stir them till they are cold." U. S. Fresh narcotic vegetables yield their active principles, and chlorophylle or green colouring matter, to oleaginous substances, when heated with them; and several officinal ointments besides the present are prepared in this man- ner. In the pharmacy of the continent of Europe, olive oil is frequently employed as the solvent; and the resulting preparations are called olea infusa. Several of these are ordered by the French Codex, as the oils of henbane, horn-apple, tobacco, &c. Lard is preferred in British and American phar- macy, as affording preparations of a more convenient consistence. The boil- ing takes place at a lower temperature than that necessary for the evapora- tion of the lard or oil, and is owing to the escape of the watery parts of the plants. It should be continued till all the water is driven off; as this, if allowed to remain, would render the ointment more liable to spontaneous de- composition; and, besides, the colouring matter of the narcotic is not freely extracted till after the dissipation of the water. The ointment of stramonium is a useful anodyne application in irritable ulcers, in painful hemorrhoids, and in some cutaneous eruptions. W. UNGUENTUM SULPHURIS. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Sul- phur Ointment. " Take of Sulphur apound; Lard four pounds. Mix them." U. S. The London College employs three ounces of sulphur, half a pound of lard, and twenty minims of oil of bergamot; the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges, the same proportion as directed in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. Sulphur ointment is a specific for the itch. It should be applied every night till the complaint is cured; and it is recommended that only one-fourth of the body should be covered at a time. We have usually directed it to be applied over the whole surface, and have found no inconvenience to result. Four applications are usually sufficient to effect a cure. It is thought by some that powdered roll sulphur is more efficacious than the sublimed. The 1100 Unguent a. part ii. disagreeable odour of the ointment may be in some measure concealed by a little oil of lemons, or oil of bergamot as in the London preparation. W. UNGUENTUM SULPHURIS COMPOSITUM. U.S., Lond. Compound Sulphur Ointment. " Take of Sulphur an ounce; Ammoniated Mercury, Benzoic Acid, each, a drachm,- Oil of Lemons, Sulphuric Acid, each, a fluidrachm; Nitrate of Potassa two drachms,- Lard half a pound. To the Lard previously melted over a gentle fire add the other ingredients, and stir them constantly till they are cold." U. S. This ointment is essentially different from that which is directed, under the same name, by the London College. Though, perhaps, not more effi- cient than the simple sulphur ointment in the cure of itch, it has a less unpleasant smell, and may be advantageously applied to the cure of other eruptive affections, such as tinea capitis and crusta lactea. "Take of Sulphur half a pound; White Hellebore, in powder, two ounces; Nitrate of Poiassa a drachm,- Soft Soap half a pound; Lard a pound and a half; Oil of Bergamot thirty minims. Mix them." Lond. This is thought to be more efficacious than the simple sulphur ointment; but the white hellebore renders it also more irritating. W. UNGUENTUM TABACI. U.S. Tobacco Ointment. " Take of fresh Tobacco, cut in pieces, an ounce; Lard a pound. Boil the Tobacco in the Lard over a gentle fire till it becomes friable; then strain through linen." U. S. In the former edition of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, this ointment, under the name of " Tobacco Liniment," was directed to be prepared with common dried tobacco; but in this condition the leaves do not yield their virtues to lard. The error was corrected in the last edition. Though the tobacco plant is not an object of general culture in the Northern States, it may readily be produced in gardens, in quantities sufficient to supply any demand for the fresh leaves which can possibly arise. The remarks made under the head of Unguentum Stramonii, in relation to the preparation of ointments from the fresh narcotics, are applicable in this instance. Tobacco ointment is useful in irritable ulcers, and various cutaneous erup- tions, particularly tinea capitis; but great care must be taken, especially in infants, not to employ it in such quantities as to endanger the production of the constitutional effects of the narcotic. W. UNGUENTUM TARTARI EMETICI. Dub. Unguentum Antimonii Potassio-Tartratis. Lotid. Tartar Emetic Oint- ment. " Take of Tartrate of Antimony and Potassa a drachm; Prepared Lard an ounce. Rub the Salt into a very fine powder; then mix il with the Lard." Dub. " Take of Potassio-Tartrate of Antimony, in powder, an ounce; Lard four ounces. Mix them." Lond. This may be more conveniently prepared with simple ointment, as lard is too soft to be spread on linen, and simple ointment is sufficiently so to be applied by inunction. The peculiar eruptive effect of tartar emetic may be procured in various ways, either by means of a strong solution, or of the powder sprinkled upon the surface of some adhesive plaster, or of the ointment as above directed. The last method is, perhaps, the most convenient, and most generally re- sorted, to. The proportion of tartar emetic may vary from one drachm with PART II. Unguenta. 1101 the ounce of lard, as in the Dublin formula, to two drachms as in the London, or even to three drachms when a speedy effect is required, or the skin is not very susceptible to its action. A small portion of the ointment may be rubbed twice a day, or more frequently, upon the surface to be affected, or it may be applied spread upon a piece of linen. Care should be taken that the cuticle be entire, and that the application be not too long continued, as otherwise very severe inflammation, and even gangrenous ulceration, may result. We have, however, in some instances, of great urgency, applied the ointment to a surface recently scarified in the operation of cupping; but under such circumstances, it should be used with much caution. W. UNGUENTUM VERATRI ALBI. U.S. Unguentum Vera- tri. Lond., Dub. Ointment of White Hellebore. " Take of White Hellebore [root], in powder, two ounces; Oil of Lemons twenty -minims; Lard eight ounces. Mix them." £7.$., Lond. The Dublin College employs the same proportion of white hellebore and lard, but omits the oil of lemons. This ointment is sometimes employed with advantage in the itch. It is less disagreeable, but also less certain than the sulphur ointment. W. UNGUENTUM VERATRI VIRIDIS. U.S. Ointment of Ame- rica n Hellebore. " Take of American Hellebore [root]; in powder, two ounces; Oil of Lemons twenty minims; Lard eight ounces. Mix them." U.S. This may be employed for the same purpose as the ointment of white hellebore. UNGUENTUM ZINCI OXIDI. U. S. Unguentum Zinci. Lond. Unguentum Oxidi Zinci. Ed. Unguentum Zinci Oxydi. Dub. Ointment of Oxide of Zinc. " Take of Oxide of Zinc an ounce; Lard half a pound. Mix them." U. S., Lond. The Edinburgh College employs six parts of simple liniment, and one of prepared oxide of zinc; the Dublin, one pound of ointment of while wax (simple ointment), and two ounces of the prepared oxide. In the latter case the ointment is melted before the addition of the oxide. The oxide of zinc directed in the U. S. and London Pharmacopoeias, is that obtained by precipitation, and, being in the state of fine powder, re- quires no previous preparation. That employed by the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges, being procured by the combustion of the metal, requires to be levigated before it can be used for the formation of the ointment. This preparation is employed as a mild astringent application in chronic ophthalmia with a relaxed state of the vessels, in various cutaneous eruptions, and in sore nipples and other instances of excoriation or ulceration. W. UNGUENTUM OXIDI ZINCI IMPURI. Ed. Ointment of Impure Oxide of Zinc. " Take of Simple Liniment five parts; Prepared Impure Oxide of Zinc one part. Mix them thoroughly." Ed. This is the old unguentum tutise, or tutty ointment. It has been super- seded in most of the Pharmacopoeias by the last mentioned ointment, which is of a white instead of a gray colour, and is altogether a neater preparation. It is still, however, occasionally used in excoriations. W. 1102 Veratria. PART II- VERATRIA. Veratria. VERATRIA. Lond. Veratria. " Take of Cevadilla, bruised, two pounds; Rectified Spirit three gallons [Imperial measure]; Diluted Sulphuric Acid, Solution of Ammonia, Purified Animal Charcoal, Magnesia, each, a sufficient quantity. Boil the Cevadilla with a gallon of the Spirit for an hour, in a retort to which a receiver has been fitted. Pour off the liquor, and again boil the residue with another gallon of the Spirit and with the Spirit recently distilled, and pour off the liquor. Let this be done a third time. Press the Cevadilla, and, having mixed and filtered the liquors, distil the Spirit. Evaporate what remains to the proper consistence of an extract. Boil this three times or more fre- quently in Water, acidulated with a little Diluted Sulphuric Acid, and, having strained the liquors, evaporate them with a gentle heat to the consistence of syrup. With this, when cold, mix Magnesia to saturation, occasionally shaking; then express and wash. Let the same thing be done a second or third time; then dry the residue, and digest twice or thrice in Spirit with a gentle heat, and filter as often. Afterwards distil the Spirit. Boil the re- sidue for a quarter of an hour in Water to which a little Sulphuric Acid and Animal Charcoal have been added, and filter. Lastly, having thoroughly washed the Charcoal, cautiously evaporate the liquors until they have the consistence of Syrup, and drop into them as much Ammonia as may be suf- ficient to throw down the Veratria. Separate this and dry it." Lond. Veratria is combined in the cevadilla with gallic acid, and in this state exists in the alcoholic extract, obtained in the above process. From the extract it is dissolved by the acidulated water, which at the same time con- verts it in great measure into sulphate, a small portion possibly remaining in the solution united with an excess of gallic acid. The magnesia combines with the acids and throws down the veratria, which is then taken up by alcohol, and again yielded in a purer state by evaporation. To purify it still further, it is redissolved in water by the agency of sulphuric acid, is submitted to the action of animal charcoal, and is finally precipitated by ammonia. As thus obtained, veratria,though sufficiently pure for medical use, is thought not to be wholly free from other proximate principles. For an account of its sensible properties and chemical relations, the reader is re- ferred to the article Sabadilla in the first part of the Dispensatory. It may be used either in the uncombined state or united with acids; as in both forms it produces essentially the same effects. Medical Properties and Uses. Veratria is a powerful irritant, capable of producing inflammation in the parts to which it is applied, and extending a peculiar action to the nervous system. Rubbed upon the skin it excites a sensation of warmth and a peculiar tingling, which, when the application is continued for a considerable length of time, extends, according to Turnbull, over the whole surface of the body. Sometimes an evanescent blush is pro- duced, and still more rarely an eruption upon the skin; but, according to the same author, no marks of inflammation are in general evinced. Upon the denuded cutis, however, veratria and its salts are powerfully irritating; so much so as to prevent their advantageous application in this way. In the mouth and fauces they produce an almost insupportable sense of acrimony; PART II. Veratria.— Vina Medicata. 1103 and snuffed up the nostrils excite violent sneezing. Magendie informs us that, when taken internally in the dose of a quarter of a grain, they promptly produce abundant alvine evacuations, and in larger doses provoke more or less violent vomiting. Dr. Turnbull, on the contrary, says that he has very seldom found them to purge, even when largely administered, and lhat not unfrequently a state of constipation comes on during their employment, re- quiring the use of aperient medicine. According to this author, their first effect, when given in moderate doses, is a feeling of warmth in the stomach, gradually extending itself over the abdomen and lower part of the chest, and ultimately to the head and extremities. If the medicine is continued, this feeling of warmth is followed by a sense of tingling, similar to that produced by the external use of the medicine, which manifests itself in different parts of the body and sometimes over the whole surface, and is frequently accom- panied by perspiration and some feeling of oppression. Occasionally also diuresis is produced. A still further continuance of the medicine, or the use of large doses excites nausea and vomiting. It occasions no narcotic effects. The diseases in which veratria has been employed are chiefly gout, rheumatism, and neuralgia. Dr. Turnbull has found it useful also in dropsy and in diseases of the heart, particularly those of a functional character. He thinks he has also seen it do good in organic diseases of this organ, but chiefly by acting as a diuretic and thereby removing effusion in the pericar- dium. For internal use the salts of veratria are preferred. From one- twelfth to one-sixth of a grain may be given in the form of pill, and re- peated every three hours till the effects of the medicine are experienced. Dr. Turnbull prefers the tartrate, as less disposed to irritate the stomach. The sulphate or acetate, however, may be used. Any one of these salts may be readily prepared by treating veratria with water acidulated with the acid to perfect neutralization, and then evaporating to dryness. But veratria is much more employed externally than by the stomach; and is applicable, in this way, to all the complaints already mentioned. It may be used either dissolved in alcohol, or rubbed up with lard or other unctuous substance, in the proportion of from ten to twenty grains or more to the ounce. Of the ointment thus prepared, Dr. Turnbull directs a portion of the size of a large nut to be rubbed upon the skin over the part affected, night and morning, from five to fifteen minutes, or until the more urgent symptoms are relieved. The veratria may be used in this way to the amount of from four to eight grains in the day. Care most be taken that the cuticle is sound over the parts to which it is applied. When the skin is irritable, smaller quantities than those above mentioned must be used. W. VINA MEDICATA. Medicated Wines. The advantages of wine as a pharmaceutic menstruum are, that, in conse- quence of the alcohol it contains, it dissolves substances insoluble in water, and, to a certain extent, resists their tendency to spontaneous change; while, at the same time, it is less stimulant than rectified or proof spirit, both from its smaller proportion of alcohol, and from the modified state in which this 1104 Vina Mcdicata. PART II' fluid exists in its composition. The acid which it usually contains, serves in some instances to increase its solvent power. But most wines, particu- larly the light varieties, are liable to undergo decomposition; and even the strongest acquire such a liability, from the principles which they extract from vegetable substances; so lhat medicated wines, though they keep much better than infusions or decoctions, are inferior in this respect to the tinc- tures. The proportion of alcohol, moreover, is not constant; and the pre- parations, therefore, made with them, are of unequal strength. From these causes, few medicated wines are at present retained. In the choice of wine, the purest and most generous should be selected. Teneriffe, as directed by the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, Sherry, or Madeira, should be preferred. The medicated wines, in consequence of their liability to change, should be pre- pared in small quantities, without heat, and should be kept in well stopped bottles in a cool place. AV. VINUM ALOES. U.S., Lond., Dub. Vinum Aloes Socoto- rin\k. Ed. Wine of Aloes. " Take of Aloes, in powder, an ounce; Cardamom [seeds], bruised, Gin- ger, bruised, each, a drachm; Wine [Teneriffe] a pint. Macerate for four- teen days, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper. U. S. The Edinburgh process differs from the above only in using two pounds of Sherry wine instead of a pint of Teneriffe, and digesting for one week instead of macerating for two. " Take of Aloes, in powder, two ounces; Canella, in powder,/owr drachms; Sherry Wine two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, occasionally stirring, and filter." Lond. The Dublin College takes four ounces of Socotrine aloes and an ounce of canella, powders them separately, mixes them, and macerates for four- teen days in a menstruum consisting of three pints of Spanish white wine and a pint of proof spirit. The wine of aloes is a warm stomachic purgative, useful in constipation dependent on a want of due irritability of the alimentary canal, and in com- plaints connected with this state of the bowels. It has long been used in chlorosis, amenorrhcea, dyspepsia, gout, paralysis, &c. It is said to leave behind it a more lax condition of the bowels than most other cathartics. The dose as a stomachic is one or two fluidrachms, as a purgative from half a fluidounce to two fluidounces. AV. VINUM COLCHICI RADICIS. U.S. Vinum Colchici. Lond. Wine of Meadow-saffron Root. " Take of Meadow-saffron Root, bruised, half a pound; Wine a pint. Macerate for fourteen days, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U.S. " Take of dried Meadow-saffron Cormus [bulb], sliced, eight ounces; Sherry Wine two pints [Imperial measure]. Macerate for fourteen days, and filter." Lond. This is intended to be a saturated vinous tincture of colchicum. The dried bulb is necessarily employed in this country, as the fresh is not kept in the shops. As the colchicum imported into the United Slates is of variable strength, the only method by which an active preparation can be ensured, is to employ a large quantity of the bulb in proportion to that of the menstruum. If the former should happen to be in excess, no other injury could result than a slight pecuniary loss, while a deficiency in the strength of the preparation would frequently be of serious detriment in urgent cases PART II. Vina Medicata. 1105 of disease. We have never been disappointed in obtaining the effects of colchicum from the wine which we knew to have been prepared according to the direction of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, while that which has been made with a smaller quantity of the bulb has often failed in our hands. The dose is from ten minims to a fluidrachm, to be repeated three or four times a day, or more frequently in severe cases, till its effects are experienced. In gout it is frequently given in connexion with magnesia; and in neuralgic cases we have found much advantage from combining it with the solution of sul- phate of morphia, especially when we have desired to give it a direction rather to the skin than the bowels. W. VINUM COLCHICI SEM1NIS. U. S. Wine of Meadow-saffron Seed. " Take of Meadow-saffron Seed, bruised, an ounce; Wine [Teneriffe] a pint. Macerate for fourteen days, with occasional agitation; and filter through paper." U. S. As the seeds of colchicum are less liable to injury than the bulb, and are, therefore, of more uniform strength, there is not the same necessity for preparing a saturated tincture. The proportion of the seeds in the above formula is the same as that recommended by Dr. A. T. Thomson in his Dispensatory. It would, perhaps, have been better, had two ounces been employed instead of one, so that the wine might have corresponded in strength with the officinal tinctures of the British Colleges in which the seeds are employed. (See Tinctura Seminum Colchici, Dub., and Tinctura Colchici Composita, Lond.) Dr. AVilliams, who introduced the seeds into use, recommends that they should not be bruised, as their virtues reside in their outer coat. The dose of this wine is one or two fluidrachms. AV. VINUM GENTIANiE COMPOSITUM. U.S., Ed. Compound Wine of Gentian. " Take of Gentian, bruised, half an ounce; Peruvian Bark, in powder, an ounce; Orange Peel, bruised, two drachms; Canella, bruised, a drachm; Diluted Alcohol four fluidounces; AVine [Teneriffe] two pints. Macerate for fourteen days, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U. S. The Edinburgh College takes the quantities above mentioned of gentian, Peruvian bark, Seville orange peel, and canella; pours upon them, pre- viously sliced and bruised, four ounces of diluted alcohol; then, after twenty- four hours, adds two pounds and a half of Sherry wine; and macerates for seven days. This is a stomachic bitter, sometimes employed to promote appetite and invigorate digestion. It is apt, however to become sour when kept. The dose is from four to eight fluidrachms. W. VINUM IPECACUANHA. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Wine of Ipecacuanha. " Take of Ipecacuanha, bruised, an ounce; Wine [Teneriffe] a pint. Macerate for fourteen days, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes two ounces and a half of the bruised root, and two pints [Imperial measure] of Sherry Wine; the Dublin College, two ounces of the bruised root, and two pints of Sherry Wine; both macerate for two weeks. The Edinburgh College employs one part of the root and fifteen parts of Sherry Wine, and macerates for a week. The preparations of the different Pharmacopoeias are of the same strength. AVine of ipecacuanha possesses all the virtues of the root, and may be used 94 1106 Vina Medicala. part ii. as a substitute when it is desirable to administer the medicine in a liquid form. As it is milder, without being less efficacious than antimonial wine, it is in some instances preferable as an emetic in infantile cases, especially when the antimonial, as not unfrequently happens, is disposed to produce griping and irritation of the bowels. Under the same circumstances, it may be used as an expectorant and diaphoretic; and the effects of the Dover's powder may be obtained by combining it with laudanum or other liquid pre- paration of opium. The dose as an emetic, for an adult, is a fluidounce; as an expectorant and diaphoretic, from ten to thirty minims. A fluidrachm may be given as an emetic to a child one or two years old, and repeated every fifteen minutes till it operates. W. VINUM OPII. U.S., Lond., Ed., Dub. Wine of Opium. Sy- denham's Laudanum. " Take of Opium two ounces; Cinnamon bruised, Cloves bruised, each a drachm; Wine [Teneriffe] a pint. Macerate for fourteen days, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes two ounces and a half of purified extract of opium, two drachms and a half of bruised cinnamon, the same quantity of bruised cloves, and two pinls [Imperial measure] of Sherry wine; and ma- cerates for fourteen days. The Edinburgh College, to the same quantity of extract of opium, cinnamon, and cloves, adds sixteen ounces of Sherry wine, and macerates for a week. The Dublin College takes an ounce of Turkey opium, a drachm of cinnamon, a drachm of cloves, and a pint of Sherry wine, and macerates for eight days. The wine made according to the directions of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia is a stronger preparation than that of the British colleges, being a saturated vinous tincture of opium. It contains about the same proportions of the ingredients as the laudanum of Sydenham, from which it differs only in wanting a drachm of saffron. The spices which it contains are thought to adapt it to certain states of the stomach or system, in which the simple tinc- ture of opium is found to produce unpleasant effects; but the same end may be obtained by an extemporaneous addition of some aromatic oil to the latter. Mr. AVare recommends it as a local application to the eye, in the latter stages of ophthalmia, when the vessels of the conjunctiva still remain turgid with blood. Two or three drops are introduced into the eye every morning till the redness disappears. The dose of the wine of opium is the same with that of the tincture. W. VINUM RHEI. U.S., Ed. Wine of Rhubarb. " Take of Rhubarb, bruised, two ounces; Canella, bruised, a drachm; Diluted Alcohol two fluidounces [two ounces, Ed.]; Wine a pint [Sherry Wine fifteen ounces, Ed.]. Macerate for fourteen days [seven days, Ed.], with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U. S., Ed. This is a warm cordial laxative, applicable to debilitated conditions of the system or alimentary canal requiring evacuation of the bowels. The dose is from two to eight fluidrachms or more, according lo the amount of effect required, and the condition of the patient. VINUM TABACI. U. S. Vinum Nicotians Tabaci. Ed. Wine of Tobacco. " Take of Tobacco, cut in pieces, an ounce; Wine [Teneriffe] a pint. Macerate for fourteen days, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U.S. PART II. Zincum. 1107 The Edinburgh College takes one part of dried tobacco leaves, and twelve parts of Sherry wine, and macerates for s#ven days. The dose of the wine of tobacco as a diuretic, is from ten to thirty minims. It is very seldom used. W. VINUM VERATRI ALBI. U.S. Vinum Veratri. Lond. Wine of White Hellebore. " Take of White Hellebore [root], bruised, four ounces; AVine [Tene- riffe] a pint. Macerate for fourteen days with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." U. S. The London College takes eight ounces of the sliced root, and two pints [Imperial measure] of Sherry Wine, and macerates for fourteen days. It has been supposed that the wine of white hellebore, in consequence of the veratria which it contains, would act in the same manner with colchicum in the cure of gout and rheumatism; but it is uncertain and occasionally vio- lent in its operation, and is very little used. The dose is ten minims two or three times a day, to be gradually increased till the peculiar effects of the medicine are experienced. AV. ZINCUM. Preparations of Zinc. ZINCI ACETAS. U.S. Acetate of Zinc. " Take of Sulphate of Zinc six ounces; Acetate of Lead eight ounces; Dis- tilled Water a gallon. Dissolve the Sulphate of Zinc and Acetate of Lead severally in four pints of the Distilled Water; then mix the solutions, and filter through paper; lastly, evaporate the filtered liquor, so that upon cooling it may crystallize." U. S. Upon mingling the solutions of the sulphate of zinc and acetate of lead, a double decomposition takes place, resulting in the formation of acetate of zinc which remains in solution, and sulphate of lead which precipitates. The latter is removed by filtration, and the clear liquor, by due evaporation, furnishes crystals of acetate of zinc. The proper quantities for mutual de- composition are 143.4 parts of the sulphate to 190.08 of the acetate, or one equiv. of each salt in the crystallized state. This ratio corresponds very nearly with that of the Pharmacopoeia, which directs only a slight excess of the acetate. A better method, according to the late Dr. Turner, for preparing this salt, is to suspend a piece of zinc in a dilute solution of acetate of lead for a suffi- cient length of time. The zinc takes the place of the lead, acetate of zinc is formed, and the lead is precipitated on the surface of the zinc in an arbores- cent form, called arbor Saturni, ox lead tree. The precipitation of the lead is known to be complete, when sulphuretted hydrogen produces in the solution a pure white precipitate. By this process the acetate of zinc is obtained quite pure. Properties, Src. Acetate of zinc is in the form of white silky crystals, hav- ing the shape of hexagonal plates. It is very soluble in water, and slightly efflorescent in dry air. When heated before the blowpipe on charcoal, it burns in the same manner with zinc. It is decomposed at a high tempera- ture, and yields when distilled a considerable quantity of pyro-acetic spirit. 1103 Zincum. part ii. It consists of one equiv. of acetic acid 51.48, one of oxide of zinc 40.3, and seven of water 63=154.78. # Medical Properties and Uses. Acetate of zinc is used as an external remedy only, for the most part as an astringent collyrium in ophthalmia, and injection in gonorrhoea, after the acute stage in these affections has passed. It is officinal, in the.crystallized state, only in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia; the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges ordering it, the former in aqueous solution, the latter in tincture. (See the two following articles.) It is, however, an improvement, to have the salt officinal in the solid form; as this state admits of its being prescribed in any desired proportion in solution, according to the nature of the case to which it is to be applied. The strength of the solution, usually employed, is one or two grains of the salt to a fluidounce of distilled water. B. SOLUTIO ACETATIS ZINCI. Ed. Solution of Acetate of Zinc. " Take of Sulphate of Zinc a drachm; Acetate of Lead four scruples; Distilled AVater twenty ounces [by weight]. Dissolve the salts separately, each in ten ounces of the Water. Mix the solutions, and after the precipi- tate has subsided, filter the liquor." Ed. In this formula, precisely the same changes take place as in the last; but the acetate of zinc, instead of being obtained in a solid state by evaporation, is allowed to remain in solution. The proportion also in which the salts are used is the same. From the amount of materials employed, it may be de- termined by calculation, that each fluidounce of the solution will contain about three grains of the acetate of zinc. Medical Properties and Uses. The medical properties of this solution are the same with those of acetate of zinc. The salts employed to form it were formerly frequently prescribed together as an injection in gonorrhoea; but as a double decomposition necessarily took place, the prescription was equivalent to ordering a solution of acetate of zinc, mingled with a portion of the insoluble sulphate of lead. This mode of prescribing the acetate is objectionable, as the sulphate of lead is probably inert, if not injurious to the urelhra. B. ZINCI ACETATIS TINCTURA. Dub. Tincture of Acetate of Zinc. " Take of Sulphate of Zinc, Acetate of Potassa, each, one part. Rub them together, and add of Rectified Spirit sixteen parts. Macerate for a week, with occasional agitation, and filter through paper." Dub. In this process, the acetate of potassa first dissolves in the alcohol, and then reacts upon the sulphate of zinc, and in consequence of a double de- composition, sulphate of potassa and acetate of zinc are formed. Of these salts, the latter only is soluble in the rectified spirit, while the former re- mains undissolved, and is removed by filtration. Properties, fyc. This tincture is transparent and colourless, and when evaporated nearly to dryness, affords crystals of acetate of zinc, recognizable by their shape and silky appearance. (See Zinci Acetas.) It is much stronger than the aqueous solution of the Edinburgh College, noticed in the preceding article; and, on account of the nature of its menstruum, is neces- sarily more stimulating. It is employed as an astringent collyrium and in- jection, but requires to be diluted with water. B. PART II. Zincum. 1109 ZINCI CARBONAS PR^PARATUS. U.S. Calamina Prje- parata. Lond. Carbonas Zinci Impurus Pr2eparatus Ed. Zinci Caubonas Impurum Pr^paratum. Dub. Prepared Carbonate of Zinc. Prepared Calamine. " Take of Carbonate of Zinc any quantity. Heat it to redness, and afterwards pulverize it; then reduce it to a very fine powder, in the manner directed for the preparation of Carbonate of Lime." U. S. The London and Dublin processes agree essentially with the above. " The Impure Carbonate of Zinc, after being roasted by those who make brass, is to be pulverised in an iron mortar, and levigated on a porphyry stone with a little water, and then put into a capacious vessel, and water poured upon it, which, after frequent agitation, is to be poured off while loaded with the powder. The subtle powder, which subsides on allowing the water to stand at rest, is to be dried. The coarse powder, which the water cannot suspend, is again to be levigated, and treated in the same man- ner." Ed. The nature, properties, and composition of the native carbonate of zinc have been explained under another head. (See Zinci Carbonas.) The object of this process is to bring it to the state of an impalpable powder. It is first calcined, to render it more readily pulverizable, and then levigated and elutriated. During the calcination, water and more or less carbonic acid are driven off; so that little else remains than the oxide of zinc, and the earthy impurities originally existing in the mineral. For the nature of these impurities, see page 717. Properties, fyc. Prepared carbonate of zinc is in the form of a pinkish or flesh-coloured powder, of an earthy appearance. Sometimes it is made up into small masses. When pure it dissolves in the mineral acids with effervescence. It is used only as an external application, being employed as a mild astringent and exsiccant in excoriations and superficial ulcerations. For this purpose, it is dusted on the part, and hence the necessity for its being very finely levigated. It is often employed in the form of cerate. By an oversight, the London College has directed the calamine, and not the pre- pared calamine to make the cerate. (See Ceratum Zinci Carbonatis.) Off. Prep. Ceratum Zinci Carbonatis, U. S., Ed., Dub. B. ZINCI OXIDUM. U. S. Zinci Oxydum. Lond., Dub. Oxidum Zinci. Ed. Oxide of Zinc. " Take of Sulphate of Zinc a pound; Water of Ammonia a sufficient quantity; Distilled Water four pints. Dissolve the Sulphate of Zinc in the Distilled Water, and add sufficient Water of Ammonia to precipitate the whole of the Oxide of Zinc. Having poured off the clear liquor, wash the powder repeatedly with Distilled AVater, and dry it by means of a sand- bath." U. S. " Take of Sulphate of Zinc a pound; Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia six ounces and a half; Distilled Water three gallons [Imperial measure]. Dis- solve the Sulphate of Zinc and Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia, separately, in twelve pints of the Distilled AVater, and strain; then mix. Wash the pre- cipitate frequently with water, and, lastly, burn it for two hours in a strong fire." Lond. " Place a large crucible in a furnace filled with live coals, so as to be somewhat inclined towards its mouth, and when the bottom of the crucible is moderately red, throw into it a piece of Zinc, about a drachm in weight. The Zinc soon inflames, and is converted at the same time into white flocks, which are lo be removed from time to time from the surface of the metal by 94* 1110 Zincum. PART II- means of an iron spatula, in order that the combustion may be more com- plete; and at length, when the inflammation has ceased, the Oxide of Zinc is to be taken out of the crucible. Another piece of Zinc being then thrown in, the operation is to be gone through again, and may be repeated as often as necessary. Lastly, the Oxide of Zinc is to be prepared in the same manner as the impure Carbonate of Zinc." Ed. " Take of Zinc, broken into pieces, any quantity. Throw it at intervals into a sufficiently deep crucible, heated to redness, and placed with its mouth inclined towards the mouth of the furnace. After the injection of each piece of Zinc, cover the crucible with another inverted over it, but loosely, so that the air may not be excluded. Preserve the light and very white sublimed powder for use." Dub. The Pharmacopoeias here adopt two different processes for obtaining this oxide, which require to be noticed separately. In the U.S. and London processes it is obtained by precipitation; in the Edinburgh and Dublin, by combustion. In the U. S. process the precipitant employed is water of am- monia, which, being added to the solution of sulphate of zinc, forms sul- phate of ammonia in solution, and throws down the oxide of zinc in the form of a gelatinous hydrate. Care must be taken not to add the ammonia in excess, as in that case it dissolves the precipitate at first produced. Pure sulphate of zinc should be employed, and not the sulphate of commerce; as the latter contains iron, which would be thrown down along with the oxide of zinc. If the commercial salt be used, the iron may be got rid of by adding an excess of ammonia, which will dissolve the pure oxide of zinc, to the exclusion of the sesquioxide of iron. The ammoniacal solution, after being filtered, may then be evaporated to dryness, and the dry mass calcined. The London College has adopted a new formula, in which the sesquicarbonate is substituted for the water of ammonia as the precipitant. According to Mr. Phillips, the preparation, as made by the old formula, was a subsulphate, and not a pure oxide. If this be true, it forms an objection to the U. S. process. The precipitate obtained is the carbonate of zinc, which, by the subsequent calcination, is brought to the state of oxide. In the processes of the Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges, the combusti- bility of zinc is taken advantage of for producing the oxide. Zinc, when subjected to heat, melts at 680°, and immediately becomes covered with a film of gray oxide. When the temperature reaches nearly to redness, it takes fire and burns with an intense white light, giving rise to the oxide in the form of very light and white flocculi, resembling wool, which quickly fill the crucible, and are in part driven into the atmosphere by the current of air. It is to prevent loss from the latter circumstance, that the crucible, in the officinal formulae, is inclined towards the mouth of the furnace, a position which prevents the axis of the crucible from coinciding with the direction of the draught. The oxide formed in the first instance, by covering the melted metal, impedes its further oxidation; and hence the necessity of con- tinually removing it with a spatula or iron spoon, so as to expose a bright metallic surface to the action of the air. Notwithstanding every precaution, small portions of the metal will be mixed with the oxide when prepared in this way, and hence the Edinburgh College has ordered the product to be levigated and elutriated. The zinc is directed to be thrown into the crucible in successive pieces; but a better and more expeditious method is to put the whole of the zinc, intended to be converted into oxide, into a crucible large enough to be only two-thirds filled by it. Heat being applied, the zinc soon melts, and afterwards catches fire; and the oxide, as it is formed, i3 to be PART II. Zincum. 1111 removed by means of a ladle with a long handle, until the whole of the metal is consumed. Properties, fyc. Oxide of zinc is in the form of an inodorous, tasteless, white powder, insoluble in water or alcohol. It is insoluble also in the car- bonated fixed alkalies, but dissolves readily in acids, when newly pre- cipitated and moist in the caustic fixed alkalies, and in ammonia whether pure or carbonated. It is not decomposed nor volatilized by heat, and is very difficult of fusion. When heated moderately, it becomes yellow, and white again upon cooling if iron be not present; but otherwise, the yellow lint re- mains permanent. When prepared by combustion, it was formerly called pompholix, nihil album, lana philosophica, and flowers of zinc. It is sometimes adulterated with white lead or chalk. If it contain either, it will not be entirely soluble in dilute sulphuric acid, but an insoluble sulphate of lead or of lime will remain behind. AVhen pure, its neutral solutions in acids give a white precipitate with sulphuretted hydrogen, or ferrocyanuret of potassium. This oxide is the only well characterized compound of zinc with oxygen, and is uniformly present in the salts of this metal; but Berzelius and Thenard mention two others, a suboxide and a superoxide, which are not salifiable. It consists of one equiv. of zinc 32.3, and one of oxygen 8=40.3. Medical Properties and Uses. Oxide of zinc has tonic and antispasmodic properties, and has been used with advantage in chorea, epilepsy, hooping cough, spasms of the stomach dependent on dyspepsia, and other similar affections. Externally it is employed as an exsiccantto excoriated surfaces; sometimes by sprinkling it on the affected part, but generally in the form of ointment. (See Unguentum Zinci Oxidi.) The dose is from two to eight grains, several times a day, given in the form of pill. For internal use, the precipitated, as the purer oxide, should be preferred. Off.Prep. Unguentum Zinci Oxidi, U. S., Lond., Ed., Dub. B. OXIDUM ZINCI IMPURUM PRvEPARATUM. Ed. Pre- pared Impure Oxide of Zinc. Prepared Tutty. " This is prepared in the same manner as the Impure Carbonate of Zinc." Ed. The nature of the impure oxide of zinc has been explained under another head. (See Oxidum Zinci Impurum, Ed.) The preparation which itis direct- ed to undergo, consists in levigation and elutriation, with a view to bring it to the state of an impalpable powder. It is only used externally as an ex- siccant in excoriations, being either dusted upon them tied up in a muslin haw, or applied in the state of an ointment. This oxide, however, is a use- less addition to the materia medica; as, owing to its impurity and variable quality, it can in no case advantageously replace the pure oxide, which is officinal with all the Pharmacopoeias. Off.Prep. Unguentum Oxidi Zinci Impuri, Ed. B. ZINCI SULPHAS. U.S., Lond., Dub. Sulphas Zinci. Ed. Sulphate of Zinc. White Vitriol. "Take of Zinc, cut in small pieces, four ounces; Sulphuric Acid six ounces; Distilled Water four pints. To the Zinc and Water, previously introduced into a glass vessel, add by degrees the Sulphuric Acid; and when the effervescence shall have ceased, filter the solution through paper; then boil it down till a pellicle begins to form, and set it aside to crystallize." U.S. " Take of Zinc, in small pieces, five ounces; Diluted Sulphuric Acid two 1112 Zincum. part ii. pints [Imperial measure]. Pour gradually the Diluted Sulphuric Acid upon the pieces of Zinc, and the effervescence being finished, strain the liquor; then boil it down until a pellicle begins to appear. Lastly, set it aside that crys- tals may form." Lond. "Take of Zinc, cut into small pieces, three parts; Sulphuric Acid five parts; Water twenty parts. Mix them, and when the effervescence has ceased, digest for a little while on hot sand. Then pour off the solution, and filter it through paper; and after due evaporation, set it aside that crystals may form." Ed. " Take of Zinc, broken into small pieces, thirteen parts; Sulphuric Acid twenty parts; AVater one hundred and twenty parts. Put the Zinc into a glass vessel, and gradually add the Acid, previously diluted with the Water. When the effervescence has ceased, digest for a little while. Then filter and evaporate the solution, and after sufficient concentration, set it aside that crys- tals may form." Dub. By this process, a pure and crystallized sulphate of zinc is obtained. Strong sulphuric acid has very little action on zinc, but when diluted, water is instantly decomposed, and while its hydrogen escapes with rapid effer- vescence, its oxygen combines with the zinc, and the oxide formed, uniting with the sulphuric acid, generates the sulphate of zinc. Thus it is perceived that hydrogen is a collateral product of this process, which, being easily performed, is generally resorted to for obtaining that gas. The proportions employed in the several formulae are somewhat different. The zinc is to the strong acid as 4 to 6 in the U. S. process; as 4 to 5.33* nearly in the London; as 4 to 6.66 in the Edinburgh; and as 4 to 6.15 in the Dublin. The equivalent numbers give the ratio of 4 to 6.08; which indicates that the U.S. numbers approach very nearly to the true proportion. If the materials be mixed at once, without any precaution, the effervescence of hydrogen is apt to be ex- cessive, and to cause the overflowing of the liquid. This is avoided by the Dublin direction to add the diluted acid gradually to the zinc, and more com- pletely still in the U.S. formula, in which the solution of the zinc is com- menced by a very dilute acid, which, as the action slackens, is made by de- grees stronger and stronger, by the addition, at intervals, of small portions of fresh acid. Preparation on the Large Scale. Sulphate of zinc in an impure state, as it occurs in commerce, is called white vitriol. It is manufactured by roast- ing blende (native sulphuret of zinc) in a reverberatory furnace. This mine- ral, besides sulphuret of zinc, contains small quantities of the sulphurets of iron, copper, and lead; and by roasting is converted, in consequence of the oxidation of its constituents, into sulphate of zinc, mixed with the sulphates of iron, copper, and lead. The roasted matter is then lixiviated, and the solution obtained, after being allowed to settle, is concentrated by evapora- tion; so that, on cooling, it may concrete into a white crystalline mass, re- sembling white sugar. In this state, it always contains sulphate of iron, and sometimes a small portion of sulphate of copper. It may be purified to a certain extent by dissolving it in water, and boiling the solution with oxide of zinc, which converts the sulphates of iron and copper, by precipitating their bases, into sulphate of zinc. The purified solution is then decanted or filtered, and, after due evaporation, is allowed to crystallize. It has gene- rally been proposed to purify the white vitriol of commerce by digesting its solution with metallic zinc, under an impression lhat this is capable of pre- cipitating all the foreign metals; but, according to Berzelius, though it will * This number is calculated on the assumption that a fluidounce [Imperial measure] of the London diluted acid contains eighty grains of strong acid. part ii. Zincum. 1113 precipitate copper readily, it has no action on the sulphate of iron. Neither is it capable of precipitating the base of sulphate of magnesia, a salt which is a very common impurity in white vitriol; and this objection is applicable also to the oxide of zinc as a precipitant. Properties, fyc. Sulphate of zinc is a white transparent salt, having a disagreeable, metallic, styptic taste, and crystallized usually in slender four- sided prisms, terminated by four-sided pyramids. Its crystals have consi- derable resemblance to those of sulphate of magnesia. It effloresces slightly in dry air, and, though neutral in composition, is still capable of reddening vegetable blues. It dissolves in two and a half times its weight of cold, and in less than its weight of boiling water, and is insoluble in alcohol. When heated, it dissolves in its water of crystallization, which gradually evapo- rates; and by a prolonged ignition, the whole of the acid is expelled, and oxide of zinc left. The caustic alkalies first precipitate its oxide, and then dissolve it when added in excess. The alkaline carbonates throw down the metal in the state of white carbonate. Pure sulphate of zinc is precipi- tated white by ferrocyanuret of potassium. If copper be present, ammonia will produce a blue tinge; if iron, the ferrocyanuret of potassium will cause a blue precipitate instead of a white one. Sulphate of zinc is incompatible with alkalies and alkaline carbonates, hydrosulphates, and lime-water, and causes a precipitate in astringent vegetable infusions. The impure commercial variety of sulphate of zinc, called white vitriol, is in the form of irregular opaque masses, having some resemblance to white sugar. The lumps usually present, here and there, on the surface, yellow stains, produced by the sesquioxide of iron. It is less soluble than the pure salt, on account of its containing less water of crystallization. Composition. Crystallized sulphate of zinc consists of one equiv. of sulphuric acid 40.1, one of oxide of zinc 40.3, and seven of water 63 = 143.4. The white vitriol of commerce contains but three equivalents of water. Medical Properties and Uses. This salt is tonic, astringent, and, in large doses, a prompt emetic. As a tonic, it is supposed to be well suited to cases of debility attended with irritation, being less heating than sulphate of iron. In dyspepsia it has been used with advantage in very minute doses, as for instance, a quarter of a grain, repeated several times a day; but if its good effects are not soon apparent, it should be laid aside. In obstinate in- termittents, it is a valuable resource, and may be given alone, or conjoined with cinchona or sulphate of quinia. But it is in spasmodic diseases, such as epilepsy, chorea, pertussis, &c, that it has been principally employed as an internal remedy. Dr. Paris speaks of its efficacy in high terms, in spas- modic cough, especially when combined with camphor or myrrh, and " in affections of the chest attended with inordinate secretion." As an astringent, itis chiefly employed externally. In this mode of application, its solution constitutes a good styptic to bleeding surfaces, and is frequently resorted to as an injection in fluor albus and the advanced stages of gonorrhoea, and as a collyrium in ophthalmia. In some conditions of ulcerated sorethroat, itis found useful as a gargle. It has been used also in solution with success as a remedy in nasal polypi, in the proportion of two scruples gradually in- creased to an ounce of the salt to seven fluidounces of water, applied by means of lint and by injection. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xix. 251.) Before the discovery of tartar emetic, sulphate of zinc was almost exclu- sively employed to produce vomiting; but at present its use as an emetic is restricted principally to the dislodging of poisons, for which purpose its property of operating rapidly renders it particularly well suited. The dose, as a tonic, is from one to two grains; as an emetic, from ten to thirty grains. 1114 Zincum. part ii. To children affected with hooping cough, it may be given in doses of from an eighth to a quarter of a grain two or three times a day. When used as a collyrium, injection, gargle, or wash for indolent ulcers, from one to three grains, or more, may be dissolved in a fluidounce of water. For medical purposes, the crystallized salt should be used, and in no case the impure white vitriol of commerce. Off.Prep. Liquor Aluminis Compositus, Lond.; Solutio Acetatis Zinci, Ed.; Solutio Sulphatis Zinci, Ed.; Zinci Acetatis Tinctura, Dub.; Zinci Oxidum, U.S., Lond. B. SOLUTIO SULPHATIS ZINCI. Ed. Solution of Sulphate of Zinc. " Take of Sulphate of Zinc sixteen grains; Water eight ounces [by weight]; Diluted Sulphuric Acid sixteen drops. Dissolve the Sulphate of Zinc in the Water; then, having added the Acid, filter through paper." Ed. This formula is intended to furnish a solution of sulphate of zinc of pro- per strength for use as a collyrium and injection. The employment of the impure commercial salt appears to be contemplated by the Edinburgh Col- lege; and hence the diluted sulphuric acid is directed, with the intention of dissolving any excess of oxide which it may contain. The use, however, of the impure salt is improper; and were it otherwise, the proportion of salt employed, and the presence of the acid, render it too stimulating for the purposes for which it was designed. For these reasons the formula might very well be dispensed with. B. APPENDIX, I. DRUGS AND MEDICINES NOT OFFICINAL.* In the progress of the medical art, numerous remedies have at different times risen into notice and employment, which, by the revolutions of opinion to which our science is incident, or by the discovery of more efficient substi- tutes, have so far fallen into disrepute as to have been discarded from general practice, and no longer to hold a place in the officinal catalogues. Of these, however, some are still occasionally employed by practitioners and referred to by writers, and many retain a popularity as domestic remedies, or among empyrics, which they have lost with the medical profession generally. The attention of physicians must, therefore, frequently be called to them in the course of practice; and it is highly desirable to possess some knowledge of their properties and effects, in order to be enabled to judge of their agency in any particular case, and at the same time to avoid the suspicion of incompe- tence which might attach to the exhibition of entire ignorance in relation to them. The remark is true also of other substances, which, though at no time ranked among regular medicines, are yet habitually employed in fami- lies, and the influence of which, either remediate or otherwise, must often enter into our estimate of the causes which produce or modify disease. New medicines, moreover, are frequently brought forward, which, without having obtained the sanction of the medical authorities, are occasionally prescribed, and therefore merit notice. To supply, to a certain extent, the requisite means of information in regard to these extra-officinal remedies, is the object of the following brief notices, among which are also included accounts of sub- stances not employed as medicines, but usually kept in the drug stores for various purposes connected with the arts, or with domestic convenience. In a work intended for the use as well of the apothecary and druggist, as of the physician and medical student, the introduction of such accounts is obviously proper, if kept in due subordination to the more important object of teaching the properties of medicines, and the mode of preparing them. The authors regret that the limits which practical convenience appears to require in a Dispensatory, do not admit of a more complete enumeration of the various drugs and medicines of the kind above alluded to, or of ampler details in rela- tion to those actually treated of, than will be found in the following pages. They have endeavoured, however, in the selection of objects, to choose those which are likely most frequently to engage the attention of the Medical and Pharmaceutical professions, and, in the extent of the descriptions, to consult as far as possible the relative importance of facts, of which they could not de- tail the whole. In relation to the nomenclature employed, it may be proper to observe, that all those vegetable remedies, which, not being generally kept in the shops, have no current commercial name, are described under the sci- entific title of the plant producing them; while other substances are designated by the names which ordinary usage has assigned them. * By the term officinal medicines, here as well as elsewhere in this work, are meant such as are embraced in the United States and British Pharmacopoeias. 1116 Appendix. ACETIC ETHER. Mther Aceticus. This ether was discovered by Laurnguais, in 1759. It may be formed by several processes, the chief of which are the following:—K Mix 100 parts of alcohol (sp. gr. 0.83) with 63 parts of concentrated acetic acid, and 17 parts of strong sulphuric acid, and distil 125 parts into a receiver, kept cold with wet cloths. 2. Distil to dryness, a mixture of 3 parts of acetate of potassa, 3 of alcohol, and 2 of sulphuric aci \ and mix the distilled product with one-fifth of sulphuric acid, and dis- til a second time an amount of ether equal to the alcohol employed. 3. Distil 2 parts of effloresced acetate of lead, with 1 part of alcohol, and a little more than 1 part of sulphuric acid. In the two latter processes, the acetic acid is set free by the action of the sulphuric acid on the acetate employed. Acetic ether is colourless, and possesses a very grateful odour, and a peculiar, agreeable taste. Its sp. gr. is 0.866 and its boiling point 160°. It undergoes no change by being kept. By contact of flame, it burns readily, diffusing an acid odour. It dissolves in seven and a half parts of water, and unites in all proportions with alcohol. It consists of one equiv. of acetic acid 51.48, one of etherine 28.48, and one of water 9=88.96. Itis classed by Thenard as an organic-oxacid ether. Acetic ether is occasionally used in medicine as a stimulant and antispasmodic. The dose is from fifteen to thirty drops, sufficiently diluted with water. It is sometimes em- ployed externally, in frictions, as a resolvent, and for rheumatic pains. ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM. Milfoil. Yarrow. This is a perennial herb, com- mon to the old and new continents, though supposed to have been introduced into this country from Europe. It is abundant in old fields, along fences, and on the borders of woods and of cultivated grounds, throughout the United States. It is from a foot to eighteen inches high, and is distinguished by its doubly pinnate minutely divided leaves, from which it derived the name of milfoil, and by its dense corymb of whitish flowers, which appear throughout the summer, from June to September. The whole herb is medi- cinal. Both the flowers and leaves have an agreeable, though feeble aromatic odour, which continues after drying, and a bitterish, astringent, pungent taste. The aromatic proper- ties are strongest in the flowers, the astringency in the leaves. The plant owes its virtues to a volatile oil, a bitter extractive, and tannin. The oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation with water, has the peculiar flavour of milfoil in a high degree. The active principles are extracted both by water arid alcohol. The medical properties of the herb are those of a mild aromatic tonic and astringent. In former times it was much used as a vulnerary, and was also given internally for the suppression of hemorrhages, and of profuse mucous discharges. It has been recommended in intermittents, and as an antispasmodic in flatulent colic, and various affections dependent on nervous debility. At present it is little used. In some parts of Sweden it is said to be employed as a substi- tute for hops in the preparation of beer, which it is thought to render more intoxicating. It is most conveniently administered in the form of infusion. The volatile oil has been given in the dose of twenty or thirty drops. ACT-'EA SPICATA. Baneberry. Herb Christopher. This is a perennial, herbaceous, European plant, growing in the woods of mountainous regions, and attaining a height of two feet or more. The root is of a dark brown colour, and bears some resemblance to that of the Helleborus niger, for which it is said to be occasionally substituted in some parts of continental Europe. Its odour, in the recent state, is sweetish and rather nause- ous, but is in great measure dissipated by drying. The taste is bitterish and somewhat acrid. In its operation on the system, the root is purgative and sometimes emetic, and is capable, in over doses, of producing dangerous effects. It is unknown in this country. We have, however, a native species of Actaea—the A. Americana of Pursh—of which there are two varieties—the alba and rubra—distinguished by the colour of their berries, which in the former are white, and in the latter red. They are sometimes called white and red cohosh, a name derived from the language of the aborigines. By some botanists they are considered as distinct species, under the name of Actcea alba, and Aetata rubra. They grow in the rich deep mould of shadowy and rocky woods, from Canada to Virgina. They are said to have been much esteemed by the Indians. Their medical properties are probably similar to those of the A. spicata. The name baneberry, applied to differ- ent species of Actaea, was derived from the reputed poisonous properties of their berries. ADIANTUM PEDATUM. Maidenhair. An indigenous fern, the leaves of which are bitterish and somewhat aromatic, and have been supposed to be useful in chronic catarrhs and other pectoral affections. A European species known by the same vulgar name, is the A. Capillus Veneris, which has similar properties with the former, though feebler, and has been much used as a pectoral on the continent of Europe, from very early times. It is given in the form of infusion, sweetened with sugar or honey; and a syrup prepared from it is popular in France, under the name of sirop de capillaire. The name of maid- Appendix. 1117 enhair has also been given to the Asplenium Trichomanes, the leaves of which have a mucilaginous, sweetish, somewhat astringent taste, and have been used for the same pur- poses with those of the plants above mentioned. Another species of Asplenium, the A. Adiantum-nigrum, has been substituted for the genuine maidenhair, but neither of them has the aromatic flavour of that fern. ^ESCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM. Horsechesnut. The horsechesnut is a native of Asia, and was introduced about the middle of the sixteenth century into Europe, where, as well as in this country, it is now extensively cultivated as an ornamental tree. The fruit and bark have been used in medicine. The fruit abounds in starch, but has a rough, un- pleasant, bitter taste, which renders it unfit for food, though it is said to be eaten with avidity by horses, oxen, hogs, and sheep. It may be deprived, in great measure, of the bitter principle by maceration in an alkaline solution. It is asserted that the starch may be readily obtained in a state of purity, and that it excels as an.article of diet that pro- cured from the potato. (Diet, de Mat. Med.) The powdered kernel of the fruit, snuffed up the nostrils, produces sneezing, and has been used with advantage as a sternutatory in complaints of the head and eyes. The bark of the horsechesnut has attracted much atten- tion on the continent of Europe, as a substitute for cinchona. That of the branches from three to five years old is considered best. It should be collected in the spring. The bark has little odour, but an astringent and bitter, though not very disagreeable taste. It con- tains, among: other ingredients, bitter extractive and tannin, and imparts its virtues to boiling water. By numerous physicians it has been found very efficacious in the treat- ment of intermittent fever; but has entirely failed in the hands of many others; and cer- tainly cannot be considered comparable to the Peruvian bark in its power over this complaint. It is at present very seldom used, and never in this country. It has been given in substance, decoction, and extract. From half an ounce to an ounce of the pow- der may be given in the course of twenty-four hours. The decoction is prepared and administered in the same manner with that of Peruvian bark. AGAVE AMERICANA. American agave. American aloe. An evergreen succu- lent plant, indigenous in Florida, Mexico, and other parts of tropical America. This and other species of Agave bear a considerable resemblance, in appearance, to the plants of the genus Aloe, with which they are sometimes confounded. From the root and leaves of the American agave, when cut, a saccharine juice flows out, which may be converted by evaporation into syrup and even sugar, and by fermentation into a vinous liquor. This juice, when fresh, is said to be laxative, diuretic, and emmenagogue. The expressed juice, evaporated to the consistence of a soft extract, has the property of forming a lather with Water, and is employed in some places as a substitute for soap. The fibres of the old leaves, separated by bruising and maceration in water, are used for forming thread. AGRIMONIA EUPATORIA. Common agrimony. This species of agrimony is a perennial herb, inhabiting Asia, Europe, and North America, and in this country, found in fields and on the borders of woods, and flowering during the summer months. Its stem, which rises from one to three feet in height, is hairy, furnished with interruptedly pinnate leaves, and terminated by a long simple spike of yellow flowers. Both the herb and root have been employed. The former has a weak but agreeable aromatic odour, and a rousjh, bitterish, somewhat aromatic taste. The fragrance is strongest in the flowers. The root has similar properties; but its taste is more bitter and astringent A volatile oil may be obtained from the plant by distillation with water. Agrimony is a mild corroborant and astringent. The herb has been considerably employed in relaxed conditions of disease, as in passive hemorrhages, and chronic affections of the mucous membranes. It has been highly recommended also, as a deobstruent in jaundice and visceral obstructions, and as an alterative in diseases of the skin. In Europe it is said to be popularly used, in the form of gargle, in affections of the throat. The Indians of North America and the Canadians are reported to have employed the root with advantage in fevers. The plant may be given in substance, infusion, or decoction. The dose of the powder is a drachm or more. AJUGA CHAM^EPITYS. Ground pine. Chamapitys. A low creeping, annual, labiate plant, a native of Europe, and found also in some parts of the United States. The leaves, which bear some resemblance to those of the pine in shape, have a strong, peculiar, resinous, not disagreeable odour, and a bitter, balsamic taste. They yield by distillation with water a small proportion of volatile oil, resembling that of turpentine. They are said to be stimulant, diuretic, and aperient; and have been given in rheumatism, pout, palsy, and amenorrhcea. The dose of the leaves in powder is one or two drachms; but their infusion in wine is considered the best preparation. The Ajuga reptans or common bugle, and the A. pyramidalis, perennial plants of Eu- rope, have also been used in medicine. They are nearly inodorous, but have a somewhat 95 HIS Appendix. astringent, bitterish, and saline taste. Their virtues arc probably those of a mild astrin- gent and tonic. They have been recommended in pulmonary consumption, haemoptysis and other hemorrhages, and in hepatic obstructions, and have enjoyed considerable repu- tation as vulnerarics; but they are at present nearly obsolete. ALCIIEMILLA VULGARIS. Ladies-mantle. A perennial European herb, growing in meadows, on the banks of rivulets, and in the borders of woods. The whole plant has an astringent bitterish taste, which is strongest in the root. It was formerly employed in diarrhcea, and other complaints requiring the use of astringents. By the ancients it was highly esteemed; and extraordinary powers were ascribed to it by the alchemists, from whom, according to Linnasus, it derived its generic title. ALCORNOQUE. Under this name, a bark was introduced into Europe from South America, thirty or forty years since, and for a short time attracted considerable attention. It has been conjecturally referred by different writers to different plants; but its precise origin is unknown. In the Dictionary of Materia Medica of Merat and De Lens, it is described as being in large thick pieces, composed of two layers, of which the external is reddish, cracked, granular, spongy, and two or three lines in thickness, the internal lamellated, woody, and possessed of the property of imparting a yellow colour to the saliva when chewed. It is inodorous. The outer layer is of an astringent, somewhat bitter taste, and was thought to have febrifuge powers; the inner is much more bitter, and is decidedly emetic. The bark was brought into notice chiefly as a remedy in phthisis; but, failing to produce any favourable impression upon that complaint in the hands of European practitioners, it has fallen into entire neglect. It was given in the form of powder, in the dose of thirty grains; or half an ounce of it was boiled in a pint of water down to half a pint, and two or three tablespoonfuls of the decoction were administered every two hours. In these doses it acted as an emetic. ALISMA PLANTAGO. Water plantain. A perennial herbaceous plant, common to Europe and the United States, and growing in streams, pools, ditches, and other stand- ing waters. The root has when fresh an odour like that of Florentine orris, but loses it when dried. Its taste is acrid and nauseous. It acquired atone time considerable credit as a preventive of hydrophobia, for which purpose it was said to have been used with great advantage in Russia; but subsequent experiments have proved its total inefficacy. The Calmucks are said to use it for food. The leaves are rubefacient, and will some- times even blister when applied to the skin. They have been recommended in gravel and complaints of the bladder, in the dose of a drachm. ALLIARIA OFFICINALIS, Andrz. Erysimum Alliaria, Linn. Hedge garlic. A perennial European herb, having when rubbed an odour like that of garlic, and of a bit- terish somewhat acrid taste. When eaten it communicates an alliaceous smell to the breath. The herb and seeds are esteemed diuretic, diaphoretic, and expectorant, and have been given in humoral asthma, chronic catarrh, and other complaints in which gar- lic is considered useful. The herb has also been recommended as an external application in gangrenous affections, and to promote suppuration. ALNUS GLUTINOSA. Common European alder. A European tree, of twenty-five feet or more in height, growing in swamps, on the sides of streams, and in other damp places. The bark and leaves are very astringent and somewhat bitter. The former has been used in intermittent fever, the latter as a topical remedy in wounds and ulcers. The bruised leaves are sometimes applied to the breast for the purpose of repelling the milk. The cones also are said to be astringent, and to form a useful gargle in complaints of the throat. All these parts of the tree are used in dyeing, and the leaves and bark in tanning. The Alnus serrulala or common American alder has properties analogous to those of the European species. AMBERGRIS. Ambra grisea. This substance, which is found floating on the sea, or thrown by the waves upon the shores of various countries, particularly in the southern hemisphere, is now generally believed to be produced in the intestines of the Physeter macrocephalus or spermaceti whale, and perhaps in those of some other fish. It is in roundish or amorphous pieces, usually small, but sometimes of considerable magnitude; and masses have been found wejghing 50, 100, or even 200 pounds. These pieces are often composed of concentric layers. They are of various colours, usually gray, with brownish, yellow, and white streaks, often dark brown or blackish on the external surface. They are opaque, lighter than water, and of a consistence like that of wax. Ambergris has a peculiar aromatic agreeable odour, is almost tasteless, softens with the warmth of the hand, melts under 212°, is almost completely volatilizable by heat, and takes fire when heated in the open air. It is insoluble in water, but is readily dissolved, with the aid of heat, by alcohol, ether, and the volatile and fixed oils. It consists chiefly of a pecu- Appendix. 1119 liar fitly matter analogous to cholesterin, and denominated by Pelletier and Caventou ambrein. This may be obtained by treating ambergris with heated alcohol, filtering the solution, and allowing it to stand. Crystals of ambrein are deposited. It differs from most other fatly matters by not forming soaps with the alkalies. When pure it has little or no odour. The other constituents of ambergris do not appear to have been thoroughly investigated. It is often adulterated; but does not then exhibit its ordinary fusibility and volatility. Ambergris was long regarded as a cordial and antispasmodic, somewhat analo- gous to musk in its mode of action; and has been recommended in typhoid fevers, and various nervous diseases. It formerly entered into a great variety of officinal prepara- tions, and is still retained by some of the Pharmacopoeias of the continent of Europe. It is, however, in all probability very feeble in remediate power, and is much more used in perfumery than in medicine. The dose is from five grains to a drachm. ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE, Linn. Cassuvium pomiferum, Lam. Cashew- nut. A small and elegant tree, growing in the West Indies, and other parts of tropical America. A gum exudes spontaneously from the bark, which bears some resemblance in appearance to gum Arabic, but is only in part soluble in water, and consists of proper gum and bassorin. It is the gomme d'acajou of the French writers. The fruit is more important. It is a fleshy, pear-shaped receptacle, supporting at its summit a hard, shining, ash-coloured, kidney-shaped nut, an inch or more in length, three-quarters of an inch broad, consisting of two shells, with a black juice between them, and of a sweet oily kernel within the inner shell. The receptacle is of a red or yellow colour, and of an agreeable sub-acid flavour with some astringency. It is edible, and affords a juice which has been recommended as a remedy in dropsy. This juice is converted by fermentation into a vinous liquor, from which a spirit is obtained by distillation, much used in making punch, and said to be powerfully diuretic. The nuts are well known under the name of cashew nuts. The black juice contained between their outer and inner shell, is extremely acrid and corrosive, producing, when applied to the skin, severe inflammation, followed by blisters or desquamation of the cuticle. It is used in the West Indies for the cure of corns, warts, ringworms, and obstinate ulcers, and is said to be sometimes applied to the face by females in order to remove the cuticle, and produce a fresher and more youthful aspect. The worst case of external poisoning which has ever come under our notice, was produced in a lady who was exposed to the fumes of the nut while roasting. The face was so much swollen that for some time not a feature was discernible. The kernel, when fresh, has a sweet, agreeable taste, and is eaten like chestnuts, either raw or roasted. It is also used as an ingredient of puddings, &c, and forms an excellent chocolate when ground with cocoa. By age it becomes rancid and loses its pleasant flavour. The black juice of the nut, and a milky juice which flows from the tree by incision, are sometimes used for marking linen, upon which they leave a nearly indelible brown or black stain. ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS. Scarlet pimpernel. An annual plant, growing in Europe and this country, with small, delicate, procumbent stems, furnished with opposite branches, opposite ovate leaves, and small scarlet flowers, which are supported upon axillary, soli- tary peduncles, and appear in June and July. It is inodorous, and has a bitterish some- what acrid taste. The ancients esteemed it as a counter-poison, and in modern times it has been used as a preventive of hydrophobia; but at present no faith is placed in its ulexipharmic powers. It is, nevertheless, not wholly inactive; as Orfila found three drachms of an extract prepared from it sufficient.to destroy a dog, with marks of inflam- mation of the bowels. It has been recommende'l as a local application in old and ill-con- ditioned ulcers, and has been given internally in visceral obstructions, consumption, dropsy, epilepsy, mania, &c. But too little is known of its precise properties, to authorize its indiscriminate employment in these complaints. Another species, considered by Linnaeus as a mere variety of the A. arvensis, is the .1. carulea, distinguished by its blue flowers. It is incorrectly designated by the older writers as the female plant, the former being called male. The medical properties of the two, so far as is known, are the same. ANCHUSA OFFICINALIS. Bugloss. This species of Anchusa is a native of Europe, and unknown in the United Stales. It is a biennial plant, from one to three feet high, and was formerly much esteemed as a medicine. The root, leaves, and flowers, were all officinal. These are inodorous, and nearly tasteless. The root is mucilaginous and slightly sweetish, and the flowers very feebly bitter. The plant has no claim whatever to "the credit, ibrmcrly attached to it, of possessing cordial and exhilarating properties. It was used by the ancients in hypochondriacal affections; but as it was given in wine, the elevation of spirits experienced may with propriety be ascribed to the vehicle. In France, the Anchusa Ifalica, which is there known as buglosse, is employed for the same purposes and in the same manner as the Borago officinalis. ANDROMEDA ARBOREA. Sorrel tree. A beautiful indigenous tree, growing in the 1120 Appendix. valleys of the Alleghany mountains, from Pennsylvania to Florida. The leaves have a very pleasant acid taste, which has given rise to the common name of the tree. They are frequently used by hunters to allay thirst, and in decoction they form a grateful refrigerant drink in fevers. The other species of Andromeda arc shrubs, and some of them are ornamental. Dr. Barton, in his "Collections," states that a decoction of the A. Mariana is usefully em- ployed in the Southern States, as a wash in a disagreeable ulceration of the feet to which the Negroes are liable. The powder upon the leaves and buds of the A. speciosa is said to be a powerful errhine. ANEMONE PRATENSIS. Meadow anemone. This plant enjoyed at one time consi- derable merit from the recommendation of Storck, who believed that he had found it useful in amaurosis and other complaints of the eye, in secondary syphilis, and in cuta- neous eruptions. The A. Pulsatilla, an analogous species, has been employed for similar purposes; and favourable reports have been made of its efficacy in obstinate diseases of the skin, and in hooping-cough. The preparation employed was an extract of the her- baceous part of the plant, which was given by Storck in the dose of one or two grains daily, gradually increased to twenty grains or more. In large doses it was found fre- quently to produce nausea and vomiting, or griping and looseness of the bowels, and sometimes acted as a diuretic. The species of Anemone above mentioned are European plants, and are not cultivated in this country. We have several native species, which, however, are not employed. One of them, the A. nemorosa, which is common to Europe and the United States, is said to act as a poison to cattle, producing bloody urine and con- vulsions. It is stated also to have proved, when applied to the head, a speedy cure for tinea capitis. Most of the species are, in the recent state, acrid and rubefacient, resem- bling in this respect other Ranunculacese, to which family they belong. ANIME. Gum anime. The substance known at present by the name of anime, is a resin supposed to be derived from the Hymencca Courbaril, a tree of South America; though this origin is denied by Hayne, and is at least doubtful. It is in small, irregular pieces, of a pale lemon-yellow colour sometimes inclining to reddish, more or less transpa- rent, covered with a whitish powder, brittle and pulverizable, with a shining fracture, a weak but agreeable odour, and a mild resinous taste. It softens in the mouth, adheres to the fingers when in the state of powder, and readily melts with heat, diffusing its agreeable odour in an increased degree. It consists of two distinct resins, one soluble, the other insoluble in cold alcohol, and of a small proportion of volatile oil. There is a variety of a darker colour, less transparent, and exhibiting small cavities in the interior; in other respects resembling the preceding. Another variety of anime is the East Indian, supposed to be derived from the Vateria Indica; but this never reaches us as a distinct article of commerce. Anime formerly entered into the composition of various ointments and plasters; but is now used only as incense, or in the preparation of varnishes. The Bra- zilians are said to employ it internally in diseases of the lungs. ANNOTTA. Orleaaa. The colouring substance called annotta, arnotta, or roucou, is the reddish pulp surrounding the seeds in the fruit of the Bixa Orellana, a middling sized tree growing in Guiana, and other parts of South America. The pulp is separated by bruising the fruit, mixing it with water, then straining through a sieve, and allowing the liquid to stand till the undissolved portion subsides. The water is then poured off, and the mass which remains, having been sufficiently dried, is formed into flat cakes or cylin- drical rolls, and sent into the market. Annotta is of a brownish-red colour, usually rather soft, but hard and brittle when dry, of a dull fracture, of a sweetish peculiar odour, and a rough, saline, bitterish t^ste. Il is inflammable, but does not melt with heat. It softens in water, to which it imparts a yellow colour, but does not dissolve. Alcohol, ether, the oils, and alkaline solutions dissolve the greater part of it. The chief uses to which it is applied, are for dying silk and cotton orange-yellow, and for colouring cheese. The colour, however, which it imparts to cloth is fugitive. It has been given internally as a medicine; but is not now used, and probably exercises little influence upon the system. In pharmacy il is occasionally used to colour plasters, and has sometimes been substituted for saffron. It is said to be sometimes largely adulterated; and red ochre, powdered bricks, and colcothar have been employed for the purpose. If these substances be present, they will be left behind when the annotta is burned. ANTIRRHINUM LINARIA, Linn. LINARIA VULGARIS, Lindley. Common toadflax. This species of Antirrhinum is a perennial herbaceous plant, from one to two feet high, with numerous narrow linear leaves, and a terminal crowded spike of large yellow flowers. It is a native of Europe, but has been introduced into this country, where it is now naturalized, and grows in great abundance along the road sides, throughout the Middle States. It is readily distinguishable by the shape of its leaf, and by its conspicuous yellow Appendix. 1121 flowers, which appear in succession from June to October. The herb is the part used. It should bo collected when in flower, dried quickly, and kept excluded from the air. When fresh it has a peculiar, heavy, rather disagreeable odour, which is in a great measure dis- sipated by drying. The taste is herbaceous, weakly saline, bitter, and slightly acrid. This plant is said to be diuretic and cathartic, and has been used in dropsy, jaundice, and various cutaneous eruptions. It is most conveniently employed in the state of infusion. The fresh plant is sometimes applied externally, in the shape of poultice or fomentation, to hemorrhoidal tumours; and an ointment made from the flowers has been used for the same purpose, and also as a local application in diseases of the skin. AQ.UILEGIA VULGARIS. Columbine. A perennial herbaceous plant, indigenous in Europe, but cultivated in our gardens as an ornamental flower. All parts of it have been medicinally employed. The roots, leaves, and flowers have a disagreeable odour, and a bitterish, acrid taste. The seeds are small, black, shining, inodorous, and of an oleaginous sweetish taste, followed by a sense of acrimony. Columbine has been consi- dered diuretic, diaphoretic, and antiscorbutic, and has been employed in jaundice, in small-pox to promote the eruption, in scurvy, and externally as a vulnerary. It is not used at present, and is even suspected to possess dangerous properties, like most other plants of the natural order of Ranunculaceae to which it belongs. ARECA NUT. Betel nut. This is the product of the Areca Catechu, an East India tree belonging to the family of palms. The fruit, which is about the size and shape of a small egg, and of an orange-yellow colour, contains the nut embedded in a fibrous fleshy envelope, and invested with a brittle shell which adheres to the exterior flesh. The kernel, which is the betel-nut of commerce, is of a roundish-conical shape, rather larger than a chestnut, externally of a deep brown, diversified with a fawn colour, so as to pre- sent a reticular appearance, internally brownish-red with whitish veins, very hard, of a feeble odour when broken, and of an astringent, somewhat acrid taste. It abounds in tannin, and contains also gallic acid, a fixed oil, gum, a little volatile oil, lignin, and various saline substances. It yields its astringency to water; and, in some parts of Hin- dostan, an extract is prepared from it having the appearance and properties of catechu. Immense quantities are consumed in the East, mixed with the leaves of the Piper-Betel, and with lime, forming the masticatory so well known by the name of betel. The red colour which this mixture imparts to the saliva and the excrements, is owing to the Areca nut, which is also powerfully astringent, and, by its internal use, tends to counteract the relaxation of bowels, to which the heat of the climate so strongly predisposes. The nut is used in this country almost exclusively in the preparation of tooth-powder, for which purpose it is first reduced by heat to the state of charcoal. The superiority of this form of charcoal over that from other sources, is probably owing to the extreme hardness of its particles. ASPARAGUS OFFICINALIS. Asparagus. This well known plant, so abundantly cultivated as a garden vegetable, is a native of Europe. It is perennial and herbaceous. The root, which is inodorous, and of a weak sweetish taste, was formerly used as a diu- retic, aperient, and purifier of the blood; and it is stated to be still employed to a consi- derable extent in France. It is given in the form of decoction, made in the proportion of one or two ounces of the root to a quart of water. Hayne asserts, that in the dried state it is wholly inert. The young shoots, as every one knows, are much used in spring as an article of diet. Before being boiled they have a disagreeable taste; and their juice was found by Robiquet and Vauquelin to contain a peculiar crystallizible principle, called asparagin (see p. 68,), which, however, is not known to exert any special influence on the system. The sprouts themselves are not without effect, as the urine acquires a disagreea- ble odour very soon after they have been eaten. They are considered by some writers as diuretic, aperient, and deobstruent, and as constituting a very wholesome and useful article of diet, early in the spring, when so few vegetables are to be. obtained. Broussais thought that they exerted a sedative influence over the heart, and recommended them espe- cially in hypertrophy and other diseases of that organ attended with excessive action, and without phlo^osis of the stomach. M. Gendrin, however, after much experience with asparagus, affirms that he has never found it to exercise the slightest influence over the actions of the heart, and ascribes its palliative effects in diseases of that organ, to its diu- retic action. From the experiments of M. Gendrin it appears, that this medicine ope- rates powerfully on the kidneys. He found it, in all the cases in which he administered it to increase the quantity of urine, which in some instances was quintupled. The most convenient forms for exhibition are those of syrup and extract, prepared from the shoots. The former may be given in the dose of one or two fluidounces, the latter of half a drachm or a drachm. The syrup may be made by adding a sufficient quantity of sugar to the expressed juice of the shoots, previously deprived of its albumen by exposure to heat and 95* 1122 Appendix. by filtration; the extract, by evaporating the same juice to the consistence of a pilular mass. The berries are capable of undergoing the vinous fermentation, and affording alco- hol by distillation. In their unripe state they possess the same properties as the shoots, and probably in a much higher degree. We have employed a t-yrup prepared from them, with apparent advantage, in case of diseased heart. ASPLENIUM FILIX FtEMlNA, R. Brown. Female fern. This is the Polypodium Filix foemina of Linn., the Aspidium Filix famina of Suartz, and the Athyrium Filix famina of Roth. It has a root analogous in character lo that of the male fern (Aspidium Filix mas), and supposed to possess similar vermifuge properties. At present, however, it is not used. The vulgar name of female fern has also been bestowed upon the Pteris aquilina, or common brake, which is asserted by some authors to have the pioperty of destroying the tape-worm. The leaves of two species of Asplenium, the A. Tiichomanes or common spleenwort, and A. Adiantum-nigrum, or black spleenwort, are somewhat muci- laginous, and have been used as substitutes for the Maidenhairs (Adiantum Cupillus Veneris and A. pedata) as pectorals, though destitute of the aromatic flavour, which is, perhaps, the chief recommendation of these plants. BAPTISIA TINCTORIA. Sophora tinctoria, Linn. Podalyria tinctoria, Michaux. Wild indigo. This is an indigenous perennial plant, found in all parts of the United States, growing abundantly in woods and dry barren uplands. It is from one to three feet high, with a smooth, very branching stem, small, ternate, cuneate-obovate, bluish- green leaves, and yellow flowers, which appear in July and August, and, like the whole plant, become black when dried. The root, which is the part most highly recommended, is of a dark-brown colour, inodorous, and of a nauseous, somewhat acrid taste. Its virtues appear to reside chiefly in the cortical portion. In large quantities, it is said to operate violently as an emetic and cathartic; but in smaller doses, it produces only a mild laxative effect. Its general influence upon the system has not been accurately investigated. It is said to have proved useful in scarlatina, typhus fever, and in that state of system which attends gangrene or mortification. Dr. Thatcher speaks highly of its efficacy as an exter- nal application to obstinate and painful ulcers; and Dr. Comstock, of Rhode Island, found it extremely useful, both as an internal and external remedy, in threatened or existing mortification. By the latter physician it was given in decoction, made in the proportion of an ounce of the root to a pint of water, of which half an ounce was administered every four or eight hours, any tendency to operate on the bowels being checked with laudanum. It may be used externally in the form of decoction or of cataplasm. The stem and leaves are said to possess the same virtues as the root, though in a less degree. A pale blue colouring substance has been prepared from the plant as a substitute for indigo, but is greatly inferior. BASSORA GUM. We are wholly ignorant^)f the plant which yields this substance. It came into commerce originally from the neighbourhood of Bassora, on the Gulf of Persia, but is frequently found mixed with gum brought from other countries, and is pro- bably not the product of one plant exclusively. It is in irregular pieces, of various sizes, never very large, white or yellow, intermediate in the degree of its transparency between gum Arabic and tragacanth, inodorous, tasteless, and possessed of the property of yield- ing a slight sound when broken under the teeth. But a small portion of it is soluble in water, whether hot or cold. The remainder swells up considerably, though less than tragacanth, and does not, like that substance, form a gelatinous mass, as it consists of independent granules which have little cohesion. The soluble portion is pure gum, or as it is now sometimes named arabin; and, according to M. GueYin, constitutes 11.2 per cent. The insoluble portion consists of a peculiar principle called bassorin, associated with a small proportion of various saline substances, which yield, when the gum is burnt, 5.6 per cent, of ashes. The gum is useless both in medicine and pharmacy, and is de- scribed here only as an object to be avoided, and as affording a principle which enters into the composition of several officinal substances, and the nature of which, therefore, should be known. Bassorin is insoluble in water, alcohol, and ether, but softens and swells up in hot or cold water. Diluted nitric and muriatic acids, with the aid of heat, dissolve it almost entirely. The acidulous solution, concentrated by evaporation and treated with alcohol, lets fall a flocculent precipitate which has all the characters of pure gum, into which the bassorin appears to have been converted by the action of the acid. This does not, however, constitute more than a tenth part of the bassorin dissolved. By gradually eva- porating the alcoholic acidulous solution, a thick bitterish liquid is obtained, which exhales a strong odour of ammonia when treated with potassa. Strong nitric acid converts basso- rin into mucic and oxalic acids; and, treated with sulphuric acid, it yields a sweet crystal- line substance which is incapable of the vinous fermentation. (Guerin.) Vauquelin was Appendix. 1123 the first to call attention to this principle, upon which he conferred its present name, from having first observed it in the Bassora gum. Buchholz afterwards discovered the same or a closely analogous principle in tragacanth; and John, a principle which was supposed to be the same-, in the gum of the cherry tree; hence it has sometimes been called traga- canthin and cerasin. M. Guerin, however, has demonstrated that the insoluble principle of the cherry gum is essentially different from bassorin. Berzelius considers the latter as belonging to the class of substances which he associates together under the name of mucilage, and of which examples are furnished in the mucilages of flaxseed and of quince seed. For his views on this subject the reader is referred to the article Linum, in the first part of this work. BDELLIUM. A gum-resin brought from Arabia, or the neighbouring countries of the East, and said to be the product of the Heudelotia Africana. (Journ. de Pharm. xix. 250 and 312.) It sometimes comes mixed with gum Arabic and gum Senegal. It is either in small roundish pieces, of a reddish colour, semi-transparent, and brittle with a wax-like fracture, or in larger irregular lumps, of a dark brownish-red colour, less trans- parent, somewhat tenacious, and adhering to the teeth when chewed. Bdellium has an odour and taste like those of myrrh, but weaker. It is infusible and inflammable, diffu- sing while it burns a balsamic odour. According to Pelletier it consists of 59 per cent. of resin, 9.2 of gum, 30.6 of bassorin, and 1.2 of volatile oil including loss, ln medical properties it is analogous to myrrh, and was formerly used for the same purposes; but it is now scarcely ever given internally. In Europe, it is still occasionally employed as an ingredient in plasters. The dose is from ten to forty grains. BEAN OF SAINT IGNATIUS. Faba Sancli Ignatii. This is the product of the Ignatia amara of the younger Linnaeus, which is now generally considered by botanists a species of Strychnos, and entitled S. Ignatia. (See Nux Vomica.) It is a tree of mid- dling size, with numerous long, cylindrical, glabrous, vine-like branches, which bear opposite, nearly sessile, oval, pointed, entire, and very smooth leaves. The flowers are white, tubular, fragrant, and arranged in short axillary racemes. The fruit is of the size and shape of a pear, with a smooth, whitish, ligneous rind, enclosing about twenty seeds embedded in a dry pulpy matter, and lying one upon the other. These seeds are the part used. The tree is a native of the Philippine Islands, where the seeds were highly esteemed as a medicine, and, having attracted the attention of the Jesuits, were honoured with the name of the founder of their order. They are about an inch long, rather less in breadth, still less in thickness, convex on one side, obscurely angular with two, three, or four faces on the other, and marked at one end with a small depression indicating their point of attachment. They are externally of a pale brown colour, apparently smooth, but covered in fact with a short down or efflo- rescence, which may be removed by scraping them with a knife. They are somewhat translucent, and their substance is very hard and horny. They have no smell, but an ex- cessively bitter taste. To Pelletier and Caventou they afforded the same constituents as the nux vomica, but a much larger proportion of strychnia. (See Nux Vomica.) One thousand parts contain twelve of this alkali. MM. Magendie and Delile have proved that they act on the human system in the same manner as the nux vomica. In the Philippines they have been employed for the cure of obstinate intermittents, and in numerous other diseases. It is probable that in small doses they act as a tonic. In this country they are never employed; nor have they a place in the British Pharmacopoeias. We have introduced them here on account of their comparatively large proportion of strychnia, which is triple that contained in the nux vomica. In France they are profitably employed for the extraction of this principle. BERBERIS VULGARIS. Barberry. A shrub growing wild in Europe and the Uni- ted States, and sometimes cultivated in gardens on account of its berries. These grow in loose bunches, arc oblong and of a red colour, have a grateful, sour, astringent taste, and contain malic and citric acids. They are refrigerant, astringent, and antiscorbutic, and arc sometimes used in Europe, in the form of drink, in febrile diseases and diar- rhoeas. An agreeable syrup is prepared from the juice; and the berries themselves are sometimes preserved for the table. The root and inner bark have been used for dyeing yellow, and arc said to have been employed beneficially in jaundice. They owe their colouring property to a peculiar crystallizable principle, which has been denominated berberin, and which is said, in the dose of from one to ten grains, to act as a tonic and purgative. (Juurn. de Pharm. xxi. 309.) It is a vulgar error to suppose that the vicinity of this plant is very injurious to wheat. The American plant differs slightly from the Eu- ropean, and is described by Pursh as a distinct species, under the name of B. Canadensis. 1124 Appendix. It gr.iws in mountains and hilly districts from Canada to Virginia. The berries are smaller and much less juicy than those of the garden barberry. BETONICA OFFICINALIS. Woodbetony. A perennial European herb, belonging to the natural order of labiate plants, the general properties of which it possesses in an inferior degree. It has a pleasant but feeble odour, and a warm, somewhat astringent, and bitterish taste. By the ancients it was very highly esteemed, and employed in nu- merous diseases; but it is at present little used. It appears to be slightly warming and corroborant, but is inferior in this respect to many other plants belonging to the same family. The rout has been considered emetic and purgative. BETULA ALBA. Common European birch. Various parts of this tree have been applied to medical uses. The inner bark, which is bitterish and astringent, has been em- ployed in intermittent fever. The epidermis is separable into thin layers, which may be employed as a substitute for paper, and are applied to various economical uses. It con- tains a peculiar principle, called betulin, which may be separated by heat. This is in white, loose, cotton-hke flakes, which are volatile, and when heated exhale a peculiar aromatic odour. When the bark is distilled, this principle is decomposed, and affords an empyreumatic volatile oil, having the peculiar odour of Russia leather, in the preparation of which it is employed. The leaves, which have a peculiar, aromatic, agreeable odour, and a bitter taste, have been employed in the form of infusion, in gout, rheumatism, dropsy, and cutaneous diseases. The same complaints, particularly dropsy, are said to have been successfully treated by enveloping the body in the fresh leaves, which thus ap- plied excite perspiration. When the stem or branches of the tree are wounded, a sweet juice flows out, which is considered useful in complaints of the kidneys and bladder. In consequence of the sugar it contains, it is susceptible, upon the addition of yeast, of the vinous and subsequently of the acetous fermentation. A beer, wine, vinegar, and spirit are prepared from it, and habitually used in some parts of Europe. Of the American species of birch, the Betula lenta, variously called sweet birch, black birch, cherry birch, and mountain mahogany, is remarkable for the aromatic flavour of its bark and leaves, which have the odour and taste of the Gaultheria procumbens, and are sometimes used in infusion, as an agreeable, gently stimulant, and diaphoretic drink. This species also affords a saccharine liquor, which, indeed, appears to be common to all the birches. The bark of the B. papyracea very closely resembles that of the common European birch, and is much employed by the Northern Indians for making Canoes. Thin layers of the epidermis may be advantageously placed inside of boots to prevent the access of moisture. BEZOAR. This name has been applied to concretions which form in the stomach or intestines of animals, and which were at one time thought to possess extraordinary medical virtues. Numerous varieties have been noticed; but they were arranged in two classes, the oriental bezoars (Lapis bezoar orientalis), and western bezpars (lapis bezoar occidentalis), of which the former were most highly esteemed. They huve fallen into merited neglect. BIRD-LIME. A viscid substance existing in various plants, particularly in the bark of the V'iscum album, and Hex aquifolium or European holly, from the latter of which it is usually procured. The process for preparing it consists in boiling the middle bark for some hours in water, then separating it from the liquid, and placing it in proper vessels in a cool situation, where it is allowed to remain till it becomes viscous. It is then washed to separate impurities, and constitutes the substance in question. Bird-lime thus prepared is greenish, tenacious, of a glutinous consistence, of a bitterish taste, and of an odour analogous to that of flaxseed oil. Exposed to the air in thin layers it becomes dry, brown, and pulverizable, but re-acquires its viscidity upon the addition of water. It con- sists of several proximate principles, but is thought to owe its characteristic properties to the presence of a peculiar substance, identical with that which exudes spontaneously from certain plants, and which has received the name of glu from the French chemists. This principle is without odour or taste, extremely adhesive, fusible by heat, inflamma- ble, insoluble in water, nearly insoluble in alcohol, but dissolved freely by sulphuric ether, and the oil of turpentine. According to M. Macaire, it is insoluble in the fixed oils, either hot or cold. This property distinguishes it from the resins, to which Berze- lius is disposed to attach it. M. Macaire proposes for it the name of viscin. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 18). Bird-lime is so tenacious, that it may be employed to catch small birds, which, when they alight on a stick thickly covered with it, are unable to escape. BISULPHURET OF CARBON. Carburet of Sulphur. This compound, discovered by Lampadius in 1796, is formed by passing the vapour of sulphur over fragments of charcoal heated to redness in a porcelain tube. It is a transparent, colourless, exceed- ingly volatile liquid, having a pungent, somewhat aromatic taste, and a very fetid smell. Appendix. 1125 Its sp. gr. is 1.272. In composition it is a bisulphuret. It was formerly employed in obsti- nate rheumatic and arthritic affections, in paralysis, and cutaneous eruptions, and more re- cently as a resolvent in indolent tumours. It is used both internally and externally. For internal exhibition in gout and rheumatism, Dr. Otto, of Copenhagen, employed an alcoholic solution, in the proportion of two drachms to the fluidounce, of which four drops were given every two hours. At the same time the affected parts were rubbed with a liniment, made by dissolving the bisulphuret in the same proportion in olive oil. Dr. Krimer applied it to an indolent tumour, by allowing forty or fifty drops to fall upon it three times a day. This treatment, which may be supposed to act by the cold pro- duced, assisted by the internal use of animal charcoal and cicuta, and the employment of warm alkalized baths, was attended with success. He also succeeded in reducing several strangulated herniae, by applying some drops of the bisulphuret to the hernial tumour. (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 264, from the Journ. de Pharm.) BOLE ARMENIAN. The term bolus or bole was formerly applied to various forms of argillaceous earth, differing in their colour, or place of origin. Thus we find men- tioned, among others, the Armenian, Lemnian, and French boles, and the red and white boles. Some of these substances were so highly valued as to be formed into small masses and impressed with a seal, and hence received the name of terra sigillatcc. They were all similar in effect, though the small proportion of oxide of iron contained in the colour- ed boles may have given them greater activity. The only one at present kept in the shops is that called bole Armenian, from its resemblance lo the substance originally brought from Armenia. It is prepared by trituration and elutriation from certain native earths existing in different parts of Europe. It is in pieces of various sizes, of a reddish colour, soft and unctuous to the touch, adhesive to the tongue, and capable of mixing with water so as to form a paste. It consists chiefly of alumina and silica, coloured with oxide of iron. The boles were formerly employed as absorbent medicines and astrin- gents; and they were undoubtedly useful in some cases of acidity of stomach and relaxed bowels; but they have been superseded by more active medicines. The bole Armenian is now used chiefly as an ingredient in tooth powders. BORAGO OFFICINALIS. Borage. This is an annual, hairy, succulent European plant, one or two feet high, with fine blue flowers, on account of which it is sometimes cultivated in our gardens. All parts of it abound in mucilage, and the stem and leaves contain the nitrate of potassa with other saline ingredients. To these constituents the plant owes all its virtues. It is much used in France. An infusion of the leaves and flowers, sweetened with honey or syrup, is employed as a demulcent, refrigerant, and gently diaphoretic drink in catarrhal affections, rheumatism, diseases of the skin, &c. The expressed juice of the stem and leaves is also given in the dose of from two to four ounces. The flowers are sometimes applied externally as an emollient. A distilled water, extract, and syrup were formerly used, but have fallen into neglect. Borage is scarcely known in this country as a medicinal plant, and is altogether too feeble to merit much attention. BRAZIL WOOD. A red dye-wood, the product of different species of Caesalpina, growing in the West Indies and South America. Two varieties are known in commerce: —1. the proper Brazil-wood, said to be derived from the Caesalpina echinata, and some- times called Pernambuco or Fernamhuca wood, from the province of Brazil where it is collected; 2. the brasilleto, produced by the C. Braziliensis and C. Crista, which grow in Jamaica and other parts of the West Indies. The former is the most highly valued. The sappan or sampfen wood may be referred to the same head, being obtained from the Casal- pina Sappan, and possessing properties analogous to those, of the brasilleto. The Nicara- gua or peach wood is also analogous to the brasilleto, and is said by Bancroft to be derived from a species of Caesalpina. It is produced in the East Indies. Brazil wood is nearly inodorous, has a slightly sweetish taste, stains the saliva red, and imparts its colouring matter to water. It was formerly used in medicine; but has been abandoned as inert. In pharmacy it sometimes serves to colour tinctures, &.c; but its chief use is in dying. A red lake is prepared from it, and it is an ingredient in a red ink. BROMIDE OF IRON. Ferri Bromidum. This bromide is obtained by heating gently in thirty parts of water, two parts of bromine, and one of iron filings. When the liquid becomes greenish, it is filtered and evaporated to dryness; and the dry mass, again dissolved and evaporated to dryness, furnishes the bromide. Bromide of iron is a brick-red deli- quescent salt, very soluble, and extremely styptic. It is employed as a tonic and resolvent, and given in the dose of a grain twice a day, in the form of pill, made up with conserve of roses and gum Arabic. BROMIDES OF MERCURY. The protobromide is formed by adding bromide of 1126 Appendix. potassium to protonitrate of mercury. It falls as a white curdy precipitate. The bibro. tnide may be obtained by digesting the protobromidc with water containing bromine. It is in the form of colourless crystals, soluble in water and alcohol. Exposed to heat it enters into fusion and sublimes. B.jth these bromides are analogous in composition and medi- cinal properties to the corresponding iodides of mercury. (See page 927.) The protobro- midc is given in the dose of a grain daily, gradually increased. The bibron.idc, like corrosive sublimate, is an irritant poison, and may be administered in doses of the six- teenth of a grain, gradually increased to a fourth, either in the form of pill, or in ethereal solution, made by dissolving a grain in a fluidrachm of ether. BRYONY. While Bryony. This is the root of the Bryonia alba or white bryony, a perennial, climbing, herbaceous plant, growing in thickets and hedges, in different parts of Europe. It bears rough, heart-shaped, five-lobed leaves, small yellow monoecious flow- ers arranged in racemes, and roundish black berries about the size of a pea. Another species, called B. dioica, with dicoceous flowers and red berries, bears so close a resem- blance in character and properties to the preceding, that it is considered by some botanists merely a variety. The roots of both plants are gathered for use. When fresh, they are spindleshaped, sometimes branched, a foot or two in length, as thick as the arm or even thicker, externally yellowish-gray and circularly wrinkled, within white, succulent, and fleshy, of a nauseous odour which disappears in great measure upon drying, and of a bitter, acrid, very disagreeable taste. The peasants are said sometimes to hollow out the top of the root, and to employ the juice which collects in the cavity as a drastic purge. (Merat and De Lens.) The berries of the plant are also purgative and are used in dyeing. As kept in the shops, the root is in circular transverse slices, of a large diameter, exter- nally yellowish-gray and longitudinally wrinkled, internally of a whitish colour becoming darker by age, concentrically striated, light, brittle, and readily pulverizable, yielding a whitish powder. A peculiar bitter principle called bryonin has been discovered in the root, bnt has not been isolated for practical purposes. It contains, besides, starch in considera- ble proportion, gurn, resin, a concrete oil, albumen, and various saline substances. It yields its active properties to water. Bryony is an active hydragogue cathartic, in large doses sometimes proving emetic, and disposed, if too largely administered, to occasion inflammation of the alimentary mu- cous membrane. The recent root is highly irritant, and is said, when bruised and ap- plied to the skin, to be capable of producing vesication. The medicine was well known to the ancients and has been employed by modern physicians, but is now nearly super- seded by jalap, which is more certain, and less liable to lose its strength by age. The dose of the powdered root is from a scruple to a drachm. CAHINCA. Though not admitted into the Pharmacopoeias, this medicine has attracted so much attention as to have just claims to notice in the present work. The name of cahinca or ca'inca has passed into common use from the language of the Brazilian I ndians. The Portuguese of Brazil call the medicine raiz pretta or black root. When first noticed in Europe, it was supposed to be derived from the Chiococca racemosa of Linnaeus, which was known to botanists as an inhabitant of the West Indies. But Martius, in his "Spe- cimen Materia} Mcdicse Brasiliensis," describes two other species of Chiococca, the C. anguifuga and the C. densifolia, which afford roots having the properties of that ascribed to the C. racemosa; and as the medicine is brought from Brazil, not from the West Indies, there is reason to believe that it is really derived from one or both of the plants named by that botanist. A. Richard, however, informs us that he has received from more than one source in Brazil, specimens of the C. racemosa as the cahinca plant; and it is not im- possible that the roots of the three species possess identical properties and are indiscrimi- nately used. The cahinca root, as found in French commerce, is described by M. Achille Richard in the following terms. "It is of a reddish-brown colour and consists of cylindrical branches, two or three feet long, of the thickness of a quill or smaller, occasionally putting forth slender and branching fibres, obscurely striated longitudinally, presenting at certain dis- tances small irregular tubercles, and here and there transverse fissures produced by dry- ing. These branches are composed of a very thin whitish bark, covered externally with an adhering brown epidermis, and of an internal ligneous centre, which forms almost the whole mass of the root. The cortical portion, which is of a resinous character, has a bitter disagreeable taste, somewhat acrid and astringent; the ligneous part is quite taste- less. Together with the pieces just described, others are sometimes found, derived either from the branches of the stem above ground, or from those which run along the ground and have taken root. They are distinguishable from the true root by being straighter and more regular, and presenting a medullary canal in their centre. The taste of their Appendix. 1127 cortical portion is much weaker, and they are probably less active." (Elem. d'Hist. Nat. Med. ii. 331.) ' A specimen brought into our market as the cahinca, consisted of cylindrical pieces, varying in size from the thickness of a straw to that of the little finger, somewhat bent or contorted, slightly wrinkled longitudinally, with occasional small asperities, internally ligneous, externally covered with a thin brittle reddish-brown bark, having a light brown or brownish ash-coloured epidermis. The virtues of the root reside almost exclusively in the cortical portion. They are extracted by water and alcohol. Cahinca has been ana- lyzed by several chemists. Four distinct principles were discovered in it by Pelletier and Caventou:—1. a crystallizable substance, in which all the bitterness of the root resides; 2. a green fatty matter of a nauseous odour; 3. a yellow colouring matter; and 4. a coloured viscid substance. The crystallizable principle appears to be that in which the medical virtues reside. Under the belief that it is essentially acid, its discoverers have named it cahincic acid. It is white, without smell, of a taste at first scarcely perceptible, but after- wards extremely bitter and slightly astringent, of difficult solubility in water, but readily soluble in alcohol, permanent in the air, and unaltered at the temperature of boiling water. It reddens vegetable blues, and unites with the alkalies, but does not form crystallizable compounds. The form in which it exists in the root is thought to be that of a sub-cahin- cate of lime. Medical Properties. Cahinca is tonic, diuretic, purgative, and emetic. In moderate doses it gently excites the circulation, increases the discharge of urine, and produces evacuations from the bowels; but is rather slow in its operation. Like most other diu- retics, it may be so administered as to prove diaphoretic, by keeping the skin warm, using warm drinks, and counteracting its purgative tendency. In some patients it occasions nausea and griping pains in the bowels, and in very large doses always acts powerfully both as an emetic and cathartic. In Brazil it has long been used by the natives as a remedy for the poisonous effects resulting from the bites of serpents; and its Indian name is said to have been derived from this property. According to Martius, the bark of the fresh root is rubbed with water till the latter becomes charged with all its active mat- ters; and the liquid, while yet turbid, is taken in such quantities as to produce the most violent vomiting and purging, preceded by severe spasmodic pains. Patrick Brown speaks of the root of the C. racemosa as resembling seneka in taste, and as very useful in obsti- nate rheumatisms. But the virtues of cahinca in dropsy, though well known in Brazil, were first communicated to the European public in the year 1826, by M. Langsdorff, Rus- sian Consul at Rio Janeiro. Achille Richard afterwards published a few observations in relation to it in the Journal de Chimie Medicate; and within a few years the medicine has been noticed, and its properties investigated by numerous practitioners. M. Frangois of Paris has contributed more than any other physician to its reputation as a cure for dropsy. By this gentleman it is considered superior to all other remedies in hydropic complaints. General experience appears to have been in its favour, but by no means to the extent of the partial estimate of Dr. Frangois. The root may possibly take a place among the standard diuretics, but is equally obnoxious with most others to the charge of uncertainty. It may be employed in substance, decoction, extract, or tincture. The powdered bark of the root may be given as a diuretic and purgative, in a dose varying from a scruple to a drachm; but in this form the remedy is considered very uncertain. The aqueous extract is usually preferred. The dose of this is from ten to twenty grains. An extract is also prepared with diluted alcohol, and given in the same dose. Dr. Frangois recommends that in the treatment of dropsy, a sufficient quantity should be given at once to produce a decided impression, which should afterwards be maintained by smaller doses, repeated three or four times in the twenty-four hours. CALENDULA OFFICINALIS. Marygold. This well known garden plant was for- merly much employed in medicine. It has a peculiar, rather disagreeable odour, which is lost by drying, and a bitter, rough, saline taste. Among its constituents is a peculiar principle, called calendulin, discovered by Geiger most abundantly in the flowers, and considered by Berzelius as analogous to bassorin, though soluble in alcohol. The plant was thought antispasmodic, sudorific, deobstruent, and emmenagogue, and was given in low forms of fever, scrofula, jaundice, amenorrhcea, and various other complaints. Both the leaves and flowers were used; but the latter were preferred, and were usually admi- nistered in the recent state, in the form of tea, An extract was also prepared, and em- ployed with supposed advantage in cancerous and other ulcers, sick stomach, &c. At present marygold is very seldom if ever used in regular practice. CALOTROPIS GIGANTEA. Brown. Asclepeas gigantea, Linn. Under the name ofmadar, or mudar, a medicine has been employed in the East Indies, with great assert- ed advantage, in numerous complaints. It is the bark of the root of a species of Calotropis, 1128 Appendix. which has been generally considered as the C. gigantea; but which is asserted by Dr. Casanova to be a distinct species, and has received from him the the name of ('. Madarii Indico-Orientalis. The C. gigantea is a native of Hindostan, and has been introduced into the West Indies, where it is°now naturalized. The bark, as employed, is destitute of epi- dermis, of a whitish colour, nearly or quite inodorous, and of a bitter, somewhat nauseous taste. It appears to have the general properties of many other acrid medicines; in small doses, increasing the secretions, and in larger, producing nausea and vomiting. According to Dr. Casanova, who published an essay upon the subject at Calcutta, it is more espe- cially directed to the skin, the capillaries and absorbents of which it stimulates to increased action. It is chiefly recommended as a remedy in the obstinate cutaneous diseases of tropical climates, such as elephantiasis and leprosy. It has been employed also with advantage in syphilis, dropsy, rheumatism, and hectic fever. It is administered in sub. stance in the dose of from three to twelve grains, three times a day, and gradually in- creased till it affects the system. CAM WOOD. A red dye-wood, procured from the Baphia nitida of Dc Candolle, a leguminous tree, growing on the Western Coast of Africa. The wood is usually kept in the shops in the ground state. CANARY SEED. The seeds of the Phalaris Canadensis, an annual plant, belonging to the family of grasses, originally from the Canary Islands, but now growing wild in Europe and the United States, and cultivated in many places. The seeds are ovate, some- what compressed, about two lines long, shining and of a light yellowish-gray colour ex- ternally, and brownish within. Their chief constituent is starch. They were formerly esteemed medicinal, but are not now employed unless for the formation of emollient cata- plasms. They are nutritive, and their meal is said to be mixed, in some places, with wheat flour, and made into bread. They are much used as food for Canary birds. CANNABIS SATIVA. Hemp. An annual plant, originally from Asia, but now culti- vated in various parts of Europe and North America. The leaves are possessed of nar- cotic properties, and are employed in Persia and the East Indies, in the form of infusion, as an intoxicating drink. They are also smoked, in these and other countries of the East, for the same purposes as tobacco, with which they are frequently mixed. An extract pre- pared from them is said to produce effects analogous to those of opium. Even the odour of the fresh plant is stated to be capable of producing vertigo, headach, and a species of intoxication. The seeds have been used in medicine. They are about the eighth of an inch long, roundish-ovate, somewhat compressed, of a shining gray colour, inodorous, and of a disagreeable, oily, sweetish taste. They contain a considerable quantity of fixed oil, which is separated by expression, and used to some extent in the arts. They contain also uncrystallizable sugar and albumen, and when rubbed with water afford an emulsion, which may be used advantageously in inflammatory aflections of the mucous mem- branes, though it is not superior to a similar preparation from other emulsive seeds. They are much used as food for birds, which are fond of them. It is, however, for the fibrous bark of hemp, and the various products manufactured from it, that the plant is chiefly cultivated. CAOUTCHOUC. Gum elastic. The substance known by this name in commerce is the concrete juice of the Siphonia Cahuchu of Schreber and Willdenow, identical with the Siphonia elastica of Persoon, the Jatropha elaslica of the younger Linnaeus, and the Hevea Guianensis of Aublet. This is a large tree growing in Brazil, Guiana, and probably also in Central America. (Journ. Phil. Col. of Pharm. iii. 292.) On being wounded it emits a milky juice, which concretes on exposure, and constitutes the substance in question. A similar product is afforded by several other lactescent plants; but the juice of the Siphonia alone is extensively collected for use. Caoutchouc comes to us in different forms, some- times in large flat pieces, sometimes in the shape of various animals, but usually in that of small flasks. These are formed by applying successive layers of the juice upon models of clay, which are broken and removed when the coating has attained a sufficient thickness and consistence. In the drying of these layers they are said to be exposed to Smoke, which gives to the concrete mass a blackish colour. The juice, when it concretes by expo- sure to the air, assumes on the outer surface a yellowish-brown colour, while the mass remains white or yellowish-white within. The recent juice is not a pure proximate prin- ciple; but contains, according to Faraday, 1.9 per cent, of vegetable albumen, traces of wax, 7.13 percent, of a bitter azotized substance soluble in water and alcohol, 2.9 of a substance soluble in water but insoluble in alcohol, 56.37 of water with a little free acid, and only 31.7 of the pure elastic principle to which chemists have given the name of caoutchouc. Some of these principles exist also in greater or less proportion in the concrete juice, which, as it reaches us, is usually contaminated with the soot derived from the smoke used in drying it. Pure caoutchouc is nearly colourless, and in thin layers transparent- Appendix. 1129 It is highly elastic, lighter than water, without taste and smell, fusible at about 248°, re- maining unctuous and adhesive upon cooling, inflammable at a higher temperature, inso- luble in water, alcohol, the weak acids, and alkaline solutions, soluble in ether when entirely freed from alcohol, soluble also in most of the fixed and volatile oils, though at the expense of its elasticity. It is said, however, that the oils of lavender and sassafras dissolve it without change, and that when precipitated by alcohol from its solution in caju- put oil, it is still elastic. Its best solvent, however, for practical purposes, is an empy- reumatic volatile oil obtained by the distillation of caoutchouc itself. Caoutchouc is not affected by common air, chlorine, muriatic or sulphurous acid gas, nor by ammonia. It consists, according to Faraday, of 87.2 parts of carbon, and 12.8 of hydrogen. Caoutchouc is used for erasing pencil marks; in the formation of flexible tubes for the laboratory, and of catheters and bougies for surgical purposes; in the melted state, as a luting to the joints of chemical apparatus; in the shape of thin layers, for covering the mouths of bottles, and for other purposes in which the exclusion of air and moisture is requisite; in the manufacture of water-proof cloth; and for numerous other objects, to which its elasticity, and the resistance which it offers to the ordinary solvents and to other powerful chemical agents peculiarly adapt it. Every one is aware of the highly important application which has recently been made of caoutchouc to the manufacture of water-proof shoes. It is most conveniently brought to the state of thin layers, in which it may often be used advantageously by the chemist and apothecary, by softening the small flasks in ether containing alcohol, or by boiling them in water for fifteen minutes, and then distending them by means of air forced into them. Tubes of caoutchouc may be made from its ethereal solutipn, or from the juice imported in the liquid state. CAPPARIS SPINOSA. Caper-bush. A low, trailing shrub, growing in the South of Europe and North of Africa. The buds or unexpanded flowers, treated with salt and vinegar, form a highly esteemed pickle, which has an acid burning taste, and is considered useful in scorbutic affections. The dried bark of the root was formerly officinal. It is in pieces partly or wholly quilled, about one-third of an inch in mean diameter, transversely wrinkled, grayish externally, whitish within, inodorous, and of a bitterish, somewhat acrid and aromatic taste. It is considered diuretic, and was formerly employed in obstructions of the liver and spleen, amenorrhcea, and chronic rheumatism. CARANNA. Gum caranna. A resinous substance, in pieces of a blackish-gray colour externally, dark-brown internally, somewhat shining and translucent, brittle and pulverizable when dry, but, in the recent state, soft and adhesive like pitch, easily fusible, of an agreeable balsamic odour when heated, and of a bitterish resinous taste. (Geiger.) It is said to be derived from the Amyris Carana of Humboldt, a tree growing in Mexico and South America. Geiger refers it also to the Bursera gummifera of the West India Islands; but the resin obtained from this tree is described by the French writers under the name of resine de Gomart, or resine de chibou or cachibou, and is said to bear a close resemblance to the resin tacamahac. CATALPA CORDIFOLIA. Bignonia Catalpa. Linn. Catalpa tree, or Catawba tree. This is a beautiful flowering tree, growing wild in this country, and occasionally culti- vated for ornamental purposes. It has been introduced into the gardens of Europe. It is commonly reputed to possess poisonous properties. The seeds have been advan- tageously employed by several practitioners of Continental Europe in asthma. M. Auto- marchi recommends a decoction made by boiling twelve ounces of water with three or four of the seeds down to six ounces, the whole to be given morning and night. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 352.) CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS. New Jersey tea. Red root. A small indigenous shrub, growing throughout the United Stales. The root is astringent, and imparts a red colour to water. It is said to be useful in syphilitic complaints, in which it is given in the form of decoction, made in the proportion of two drachms of the root to a pint of water. Schoepf states that it is purgative. The leaves were used during the revolu- tionary war as a substitute for tea. Dr. Hubbard, in a communication to the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, (Sept. 30th, 1835,) speaks very highly of the use of the Ceanothus as a local application in aphthous affections of the mouth and fauces, and in the sorethroat of scarlatina, and as an internal remedy in dysentery. He used a strong infusion of the dried leaves and seeds. CHiEROPHYLLUM SATIVUM. Chervil. An annual European plant, cultivated in gardens as a pot-herb, and supposed by some physicians to possess medicinal powers. It has a strong agreeable odour, especially when rubbed, and a pungent slightly bitterish taste. These properties it owes to a volatile oil, which may be separated by distillation with water. It is said to be deobstruent, diuretic, and emmenagogue, and has been re- commended by different authors in consumption, scrofula, dropsy, cutaneous and scorbutic 96 1130 Appendix. affections, and as an external application to swollen breasts, bruises, and other local com- plaints or injuries. It is, however, a very feeble remedy, and is more employed as an addition to broths than as a medicine. CHELIDONIUM MAJUS. Celandine. A perennial herbaceous plant, growing wild in this country, about old houses and in rocky places; but supposed to have been introduced from Europe, where it is indigenous. It is one or two feet high, bears pin- nate leaves and small peduncled umbels of yellow flowers, and, when wounded, emits a yellow, opaque juice. It was employed by the ancients, and is occasionally used in modern practice, but little on this side of the Atlantic. The whole plant is used. It has a faint unpleasant odour, and a bitter, acrid, durable taste, which is stronger in the roots than in the leaves. The odour is nearly lost by drying, but the taste remains. The yellow juice is bitter and exceedingly acrid, and when applied to the skin produces in- flammation and even vesication. The plant, analyzed by MM. Chevallier and Lassaigne, afforded a bitter resinous substance of a deep yellow colour; a kind of gum-resin of an orange-yellow colour, and bitter, nauseous taste; mucilage; albumen; and various saline substances, besides free malic acid and silica. Celandine is an acrid purgative, possessed also of diuretic, and perhaps diaphoretic and expectorant properties. In over doses, it produces unpleasant effects, and is by some considered poisonous. By the ancients it was much esteemed as a remedy in jaundice; and it has been found useful in the same complaint by some modern physicians. It was the chief ingredient of the old decoctum ad ictericos of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. It has been given also, with asserted ad- vantage, in various other complaints, especially those of a scrofulous character, affecting the mesenteric and lymphatic glands , the skin, and the eyes. The yellow juice is often applied, in domestic practice, to corns and warts, which it destroys by stimulating them beyond their vital powers, The dose of the dried root or herb is from thirty grains to a drachm, that of the fresh root one or two drachms; and the same quantity may be given in infusion. The watery extract and the expressed juice have also been employed. The dose of the former is from five to ten grains, that of the latter from ten to twenty drops. In each case, the dose is to be gradually increased, until the effects of the remedy are experienced. CHELTENHAM SALT, ARTIFICIAL. Several artificial mixtures have been prepared, professing to be exact imitations of the saline ingredients in the chalybeate Cheltenham water; but the only one which appears worthy of confidence, is that prepared by Robert Alsop, Chemist, of London. The composition of the natural Cheltenham chaly- beate is given at p. 105, under the head of Aqua. The imitation of Mr. Alsop, as analyzed by Mr. Faraday, contains the same solid and gaseous contents as the natural water, ex- cept the sulphate of lime, which is very properly omitted; and in the same proportions precisely, with the exception that there is about twice as much free carbonic acid in the artificial preparation. The iron is present in the state of protoxide, and is immediately dissolved by the free carbonic acid, upon adding a sufficient quantity of water to the mixed salts. The free carbonic acid probably exists as such in the dry mixture; as there is no obvious agent present to cause it to be disengaged in the mere act of solution. This saline mixture is in the form of a white powder, possessing a saline and slightly ferruginous taste. It is put up in bottles of two sizes, the smaller containing two and a half ounces, or sufficient to make thirty doses of forty grains each. It forms a good combination, in which the aperient property of the salts present is combined with the tonic virtue of the iron. It is considered to be useful in glandular obstructions, espe- cially of the liver, and in scrofulous affections, attended with feeble digestion, sluggish bowels, and pallidness of skin. It is employed also, with advantage, in sick headach, habitual costiveness, and hemorrhoids. The dose is a teaspoonful, quickly dissolved in half a pint of cold water, and swallowed immediately, before the iron has time to sepa- rate in an insoluble state. This quantity may be taken in the morning fasting, and repeated once or twice after an interval of twenty minutes, or in the course of the day. To obtain its full tonic and alterative effects, it should be persevered in for a month or six weeks. CHLORIDE OF POTASSA, SOLUTION OF. Javelins Water. Eau de Javelle. Liquor Potassa Chlorinates. This is obtained precisely as the solution of chlorinated soda. (See Liquor Soda Chlorinata. Lond.) It is employed for taking out fruit stains, &c, from linen. In chemical constitution, it is probably a hypochlorite. CHLORIDE OF ZINC. Zinci Chloridum. Butler of Zinc. This chloride is readily prepared by dissolving the metal in muriatic acid, evaporating to dryness, and fusing the residue in a glass vessel with a narrow mouth. It is a whitish-gray semi-transparent substance, having the softness of wax. This chloride was introduced into medicine by Papenguth, and subsequently recommended by Prof. Hancke, of Breslau, and Dr. Can- Appendix. 1131 quoin, of Paris. Internally it has been given in scrofula, epilepsy, chorea, and, com- bined with hydrocyanic acid, in neuralgia of the face. Its chief employment, however, has been externally as an escharotic, applied to scirrhous and cancerous affections, and to ulcers of an anomalous and intractable character. When thus used, it acts not merely by destroying the diseased structure, but by exciting a new and healthier action in the surrounding parts. As a caustic it has the advantage of not giving rise to constitutional disorder from absorption, an effect which is sometimes produced by the arsenical prepa- rations. Dr. Canquoin prepares the chloride of zinc as an escharotic, by thoroughly and quickly mixing it with wheat flour and water into a paste of four different strengths, containing an ounce of the chloride, severally incorporated with two, three, four, and five ounces of flour, and with water in the proportion of fifteen drops for every ounce of flour employed. It is applied in cakes of from a twelfth to a third of an inch in thickness, and produces an eschar more or less deep (from a line to an inch and a half), according to the thickness of the paste, the length of the application, and the nature of the part acted on. The strongest paste is applied to lardaceous and fibro-cartilaginous structures; the second to carcinomatous tumours,and very painful cancers which have not much thickness, and the third to cancerous affections in persons who have a dread of violent pain. These pre- parations, applied to the skin denuded of its cuticle by means of a blister, excite in a few minutes a sensation of heat, and afterwards violent burning pain. The eschar, which is white, very hard, and thick, falls off, by the aid of an emollient poultice, between the eighth and twelfth day. To destroy thick cancerous tumours, having an uneven surface, and situated in fleshy parts, Dr. Canquoin uses a caustic formed of one part of chloride of zinc, half a part of chloride of antimony, and two and a half of flour, made up with water into a paste. In all cases, the caustic is to be repeated, after the falling off of the eschar, until the whole morbid structure is destroyed. Instead of flour, Dr. A. Ure, of Glasgow, proposes to mix the chloride with pure anhy- drous sulphateof lime in impalpable powder. He states that it has the advantages of furnish- ing a porous medium, from which the escharotic gradually exudes into the morbid struc- ture, and of forming afterwards, by acquiring a firmer consistence, an impervious case for the eschar. Mr. Calloway, of Guy's Hospital, has employed the chloride of zinc with considerable success in the treatment of nasvi materni. He rubs it at intervals on the part until the skin becomes slightly discoloured. For internal exhibition, the most convenient form is solution in the spirit of sulphuric ether, in the proportion of half an ounce of the chloride to three fluidounces of the men- struum. Of this from four to eight drops may be taken twice a day. CHLORINE ETHERS. There appear to be three species of chlorine ether, each consisting of some form of hydro-carbon, united with different proportions of chlorine. The first is called protochlorine ether, and is formed by passing an excess of chlorine through cold alcohol. It consists of one equiv. of chlorine 35.42, and one of etherine 28.48. The second, denominated bichlorine ether, consists of two equiv. of chlorine and one of etherine, and is the long known oily liquid of the Dutch chemists, obtained by the action of defiant gas on chlorine. The third species was discovered within a few years by three chemists, independently of each other—Soubeiran in France, Liebig in Ger- many, and Guthrie in this country. Dumas has determined its composition to be three equiv.'of chlorine to one of bicarburet of hydrogen, and ascertained that it differs from formic acid, into which it is susceptible of conversion by the action of potassa, by con- taining an equivalent quantity of chlorine, in place of the oxygen of that acid. On account of its connection with formic acid, it is called by the French chemists chloro- forme, which may bq rendered in English chloroformid. It is this latter compound which it is the object more particularly of this article to describe. Chloroformid was obtained by Mr. Guthrie by distilling a gallon from a mixture of three pounds of chloride of lime and two gallons of alcohol of sp. gr. 0.844, and rectify- ing the product by redistillation, first from a great excess of chloride of lime, and after- wards from strong sulphuric acid. Thenard recommends it to be obtained by dissolving one part of chloride of lime in three parts of water, decanting the solution, adding from one-fifth to one-tenth of ;vlcohol, and distilling from a retort sufficiently capacious to guard against the overflowing of the materials when they swell. In the receiver water will condense, swimming over an oleaginous liquid. The water is decanted, and the oily liquid, being agitated several times with concentrated sulphuric acid, and rectified from finely'powdered baryta, will furnish pure chloroformid. This compound is a colourless oleaginous liquid, of a sweetish ethereal odour, and hot, aromatic, peculiar taste. It boils at 142° and has the sp. gr. of 1.480. It is not inflam- mable but renders the flame of an alcohol lamp yellow and fuliginous. It is scarcely acted on by sulphuric acid in the cold, but dissolves readily in alcohol and ether, from its 1132 Appendix. solution in which it is precipitated by water. The alcoholic solution, the state in which it is used in medicine, forms, when sufficiently diluted with water, an aromatic and saccha- rine liquid of a very grateful taste. Medical Properties. Mr. Guthrie was led to prepare this ether by his peculiar process from noting a passage in Professor Silliman's Elements of Chemistry, which referred to the chloric ether of the Dutch chemists as being a grateful diffusible stimulant, when properly diluted. He supposed that he had fallen upon a cheap and easy process for ob- taining this long known ether, without being aware that in reality he had obtained a new compound of the same class. Specimens of it were transmitted to Professor Silli- man, who distributed portions among his medical friends. It appears to act as a diffu- sible soothing stimulus, in the same manner as sulphuric ether, but with this decided advantage, that, when sufficiently diluted, it possesses a bland, sweet taste, which renders its administration easy, even to children. It has been used with advantage in asthma, spasmodic cough, the sorethroat of scarlet fever, atonic quinsey, and other diseases in which a grateful and composing medicine is indicated. Professor Ives, and Dr. N. B. Ives, of New Haven, speak favourably of its effects. The dose for an adult is a tea- spoonful, diluted with water. In affections characterised by difficult respiration, it may be used by inhalation. It is employed for medicinal purposes in alcoholic solution. CHROME YELLOW. This is the neutral chromate of lead, prepared by precipitat- ing a solution of the nitrate of lead with chromate of potassa. It is of a beautiful lemon- yellow colour. The subchromate of lead, consisting of one equiv. of acid, and two equiv. of base, is of a red colour, and is sometimes used as a pigment. Chrome green is a mix- ture of chrome yellow and Prussian blue. CICHORIUM INTYBUS. Succory. A perennial herbaceous plant, indigenous in Europe, but naturalized in this country, where it grows in fields, and in roads along the fences, in neighbourhoods which have been long settled. It is one or two feet high, with large, compound, beautifully blue flowers, which appear in July and August, and serve to distinguish the plant at first sight. The whole plant has a bitter taste, without acri- mony, or any very peculiar flavour. The taste is strongest in the root, and weakest in the flowers. The leaves, when young and tender, are said to be sometimes eaten as sa- lad in Europe. Succory is gently tonic without being irritating, and is considered by some authors as aperient and deobstruent. It is said to be useful, if freely taken, in he- patic congestion, jaundice, and other visceral obstructions in the early stages; and it is affirmed to have done good even in pulmonary consumption. The usual form of adminis- tration is that of decoction, which is prepared by boiling one or two ounces of the root, or a handful of the herb, in a pint of water. The root dried and roasted has acquired some popularity, in certain parts of Europe, as a substitute for coffee. The common garden endive is a species of Cichorium denominated C. Endivia. CICUTA VIROSA. Water Hemlock. Cowbane. A perennial, umbelliferous Euro- pean plant, growing on the borders of pools and streams. It is exceedingly poisonous, proving fatal to most animals which feed upon it, though said to be eaten with impunity by goats and sheep. Several instances are on record of children who have died from eating the root by mistake for parsnip. It operates as an acrid narcotic, producing in- flammation of the stomach, together with symptoms whieh indicate cerebral disturbance, such as vertigo, intoxication, and convulsions. When it vomits, as it frequently does, fatal effects are less apt to ensue. There is reason to believe that the narcotic principle is volatile, and that the plant is less poisonous in the dried than the recent state. It is at present never used internally as a medicine, having been superseded by the Conium maculatuni, which is considered safer. Externally it is sometimes applied as an anodyne poultice in local pains, particularly those of a rheumatic or gouty nature. The Cicuta maculata or American water hemlock is closely analogous, in botanical cha- racter, and in its operation upon the system, to the European species. In several in- stances, children have been fatally poisoned by eating its root It is never used in medicine. For a full account of this plant, the reader is referred to Bigelow's Medical Botany, vol. i. page 125. In cases of poisoning by either of these plants, vomiting should be induced as speedily as possible, and maintained till the stomach is thoroughly evacuated. CITRATE OF POTASSA. Potassa Citras. This salt is easily formed by saturating a solution of citric acid with carbonate of potassa. It is very soluble, deliquescent, and difficultly crystallizable. A solution of it has been proposed by Mr. Scattergood, of Phila- delphia, as a substitute for the neutral mixture. This mixture "is an extemporaneous solu- tion of citrate of potassa, usually made by saturating lemon juice with carbonate of potassa, but is liable to the objection of being of unequal strength, on account of the variable quality of lemon juice. According to Mr. Scattergood, fifty grains of citrate of potassa Appendix. 1133 dissolved in a fluidounce of water, forms a solution of about the strength of that obtained by saturating a fluidounce of ordinary lemon juice with the alkali. Assuming these pro- portions, he proposes the following formula. Take of citrate of potassa 5Jv; white sugar, pre- viously rubbed on fresh lemon peel, or impregnated with a drop or two of oil of lemons, ^ss; water f^vi—Mix. If an extemporaneous citrate is preferred, it is better, according to Mr. S.,to use a solution of citric acid of definite strength for saturation by the alkali, than lemon or lime juice. For this purpose the formula under the title of Neutral Mixture, in the collection of extemporaneous prescriptions, further on in this Appendix, may be adopted. It has been stated that the neutral mixture, as ordinarily made with lemon juice, is of uncertain strength. This happens whether a given measure of juice be saturated by the addition of the alkali, or, conversely, a given weight of alkali by the juice. In the former case the bulk of the mixture is given while the quantity of alkali present is uncertain; in the latter, the weight of the alkali is known, but the bulk of the mixture is indefinite, and as it is dispensed by measure, the physician is unable to determine how much to direct, in order to administer a given dose of the alkali in the form of citrate. In order that the mixture may be of uniform strength, when prepared with lemon juice, it should be made with a known weight of the alkali, and afterwards brought to a given measm-e, after saturation, by the addition of water. The following formula would fulfil these conditions, adopting the bicarbonate of potassa, which, on account of its freedom from si.ica and other impurities, is preferable to the ordinary carbonate. Take of bicar- bonate of potassa 31J; dissolve in fjij of water; then saturate the solution with fresh lemon juice, and strain; lastly, add sufficient water to make the mixture measure f^vi. The dose is two tablespoonfuls or a fluidounce, containing the alkali in twenty grains of the bicarbonate. On some occasions it may be proper to add from two to four drachms of white sugar. (See the remarks on Neutral Mixture by Joseph Scattergood, Journ. Phil. Col. of tharm. v, 16; also the paper of John Goodyear on the same subject, Amer. Journ. of Pharm. ix, 189.) CIVET. Zibethum. This is an odorous substance, obtained from two animals of the genus Viverra, viz., the V. Civetta or civet-cat of Africa, and the V. Zibetha which inha- bits the East Indies. It is secreted into a cavity which opens between the anus and ex- ternal genitals, and is collected from animals confined for the purpose. It is semi-liquid, unctuous, yellowish, becoming brown and thicker by exposure to the air, of a very strong, peculiar odour, similar to that of musk, though less agreeable and less diffusible, and of a bitterish, subacrid, disagreeable, fatty taste. When heated it becomes quite fluid, and at a higher temperature takes fire, and burns with a clear flame, leaving little resi- due. It is insoluble in water, and only slightly soluble in ether and cold alcohol; but heated alcohol dissolves it almost entirely, depositing it again upon cooling. It contains, among other ingredients, a volatile oil, fat, and free ammonia. In medicine it was for- merly employed as a stimulant and antispasmodic, like castor and musk; but it is now used exclusively as a perfume. CLEMATIS ERECTA. Upright Virgin's Bower. A perennial plant, growing wild on the continent of Europe. The leaves and flowers have an acrid burning taste, and if long retained in the mouth produce blisters. When bruised in a mortar they irritate the eyes and throat, giving rise to a flow of tears and to coughing; and applied to the skin they produce inflammation and vesication. Hence the name ot'flammula Jovis, by which the plant was known in older pharmacy. The acrimony is greatly diminished by drying. Stdrck found this species of Clematis very useful in secondary syphilis, cancerous and other foul ulcers, and severe headachs. He gave it internally, and at the same time applied the powdered leaves to the surface of the sore. It acted as a diuretic and diapho- retic. Two or three drachms of the leaves were infused in a pint of water, of which he administered four ounces three times a day. He also employed an extract, in the dose of a grain or two in the course of a day; but this preparation must have been nearly inert. At present the plant is not used. Other species of Clematis have the same acrid properties. Among these are the C. Flammula or sweet-scented virgin's bower, which, though a native of Europe, is culti- vated in our gardens, the C. Vitall/a or traveller's joy, also a native of Europe, and several indigenous species, of which tiie C. Virginica or common virgin's bower, the C. Viorna or leather flower, and the C. crispa have been particularly cited by authors as proper substitutes lor the C. erecta used by StOrck. All these are climbing plants. The C. Vi- talba has been used in Europe with success in the cure of the itch. For this purpose the roots and stems, bruised, and boiled for a short time to diminish their acrimony, were infused in boiling oil, which, thus impregnated, was applied to the skin several times a day- Twelve or fifteen applications were usually sufficient to effect a cure. COBALT BLUE. This beautiful pigment is a compound of oxide of cobalt and alu- 1134 Appendix. mina, obtained by precipitating the mixed solutions of a salt of alumina and of cobalt by means of an alkali, and washing, drying, and strongly calcining the precipitate. (Berze- lius.) The cobalt blue of Thenard is made by heating together the hydrated subphos- phate of cobalt and hydrate of alumina. It is used in painting. COBWEB. Spider's Web. Tela Aranea. The genus Aranea of Linn, has been divided by subsequent naturalists into several genera, of which the Tegeneria of Walkenacr is the one that includes the medicinal species of spider. The T. domestica of Europe, and T. medicinalis of this country, (Henz, Journ. Acad, of Nat. Scien. ii. 53,) are the parti- cular species which have attracted most attention. They inhabit cellars, barns, and other dark places, and are of a brown or blackish colour. It is affirmed that the web of the field spider is inefficacious, while that collected in the cellars of houses, &c., has extraor- dinary medical virtues. Several authors speak in very decided terms of its powers as a febrifuge and antispasmodic. According to Dr. Robert Jackson, it is superior even to bark and arsenic in the cure of intermittents, and is, moreover, highly useful in various spas- modic and nervous diseases, controlling and tranquillizing irregular nervous action, ex- hilarating the spirits, and disposing to sleep, without producing any of the narcotic effects of opium on the brain. These praises are to a certain extent echoed by Dr. Chapman and Dr. Eberle, in their respective works on Therapeutics and Materia Medica. Among the complaints in which it has been found useful, besides intermittent fever, are periodical headach, the hectic fever of consumption, asthma, hysteria, and nervous irritations attended with morbid vigilance and irregular muscular action. It will be observed, that these are, for the most part, affections over which the imagination has much control. The dose of spider's web is five or six grains, to be given in the form of pill, and repeated every three or four hours. Dr. Jackson states that its influence is not in proportion to the quantity administered, and that he obtained the same effects from ten as from twenty grains. This might well be, if the supposition be allowed, that its chief operation is through the mind of the patient. Spider's web has also been used externally, with asserted advan- vantage, as a styptic in wounds, and a healing application in superficial ulcers. Spiders themselves were formerly employed in the treatment of intermittent fever, and the appli- cation of the web to the cure of this disease is not a measure of recent origin. COCOA. Cacao. Chocolate Nuts. These are the seeds of the Theobroma Cacao, a hand- some tree, from twelve to twenty feet in height, growing in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America, in some parts of which it is largely cultivated, particularly in Guayaquil and Venezuela. The fruit is an oblong ovate capsule or berry, six or eight inches in length, with a thick, coriaceous, somewhat ligneous rind, enclosing a whitish pulp, in which numerous seeds are embedded. These are ovate, somewhat compressed, about as large as an almond, and consist of an exterior thin shell, and a brown oily kernel. Sepa- rated from the matter in which they are enveloped, they constitute the cocoa of commerce. They have a slightly aromatic, bitterish, oily taste, and, when bruised or heated, an agree- able odour. They contain a large quantity of fixed oil, together with albumen and bitter extractive. The oil is obtained by hot expression, or by decoction. It is a soft solid, whitish or yellowish, with a peculiar agreeable odour and a bland pleasant taste, and is known by the name of cocoa butter. It is said to be frequently adulterated with animal fats. The chief use to which it is applied, is as an ingredient in cosmetic unguents. The shells of the nuts are sometimes employed in the state of infusion, as a substitute for tea or coffee. They impart to boiling water a taste analogous to that of chocolate, but weaker. The kernel is consumed in great quantities, in the shape of chocolate, or in some analogous form. Chocolate is differently prepared in different countries. In Great Britain and the United States, it usually consists, when pure, exclusively of the cocoa nuts, which arc first roasted, then deprived of their shell, and lastly reduced, by grinding between heated stones, to the state of a paste, which is moulded into oblong cakes. Not unfrequently rice flour or other farinaceous substance, with butter or lard, is added; but these must be con- sidered as adulterations. On the continent of Europe, sugar is generally incorporated with the paste, and spices, especially cinnamon, .are often added. Vanilla is a favourite addition in South America, France, and Spain. Cocoa is often sold in the stale of pow- der, which is sometimes mingled with other ingredients, such as ground rice, barley flour, sugar, &c. Chocolate is prepared for use by reducing it to powder, and boiling it in milk, water, or a mixture of these fluids. In this state it is much employed as a drink at the morning and evening meals, and serves as an excellent substitute for coffee in dys- peptic cases, being nutritive and digestible, without exercising any narcotic or otherwise injurious influence. It is also a good article of diet for convalescents, and may some- times be given advantageously as a mild nutritive drink in cases of disease, though, under these circumstances, it should usually be prepared without milk, and of less strength than as ordinarily used. Appendix. 1135 CODFISH OIL. Oleum Jecoris Aselli. Huile de Morue, Fr. A fixed oil obtained from the liver of the codfish, the Gadus Morrhua of naturalists. It is procured by ex- posing the livers, heaped up in tubs, to the sun's rays. The oil flows out spontaneously, and is collected in proper vessels. That first received is limpid and of a light yellowish colour, and is reserved for internal use. After the commencement of putrefaction in the livers, a darker coloured oil flows out, which is unfit for medical purposes. A still darker and more offensive liquid is obtained by boiling the livers in iron pots. Codfish oil is said to contain iodine. (Journ.de Pharm. xxiii. 501). It has been much lauded on the continent of Europe, particularly in Germany and Switzerland, as a remedy in gouty and rheumatic affections, scrofula and rickets, obstinate constipation, inconti- nence of urine, and intestinal worms. The dose is a tablespoonful three or four times a day for adults, a teaspoonful repeated as frequently for children. It may be taken alone, or mixed with some mucilaginous liquid. It is sometimes applied externally by friction, and, in cases of ascarides or lumbricoides, is injected into the rectum. It has been re- commended also as a local application in opacity of the cornea, after the subsidence of inflammation, one or two drops of the oil being applied by means of a pencil lo the cornea, and diluted, if found too stimulating, with olive or almond oil. COFFEE. The coffee plant—Cqffea Arabica—belongs to the class and order Pentan- dria Monogynia of the sexual system, and to the natural order Cinchonaceae of Lindley. It is a small tree, rising from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and in favourable situations sometimes even thirty feet. The branches are opposite, the lower spreading, the upper Bomewhat declining, and gradually diminishing in length as they ascend, so as to form a pyramidal summit, which is covered with green foliage throughout the year. The leaves are opposite, upon short footstalks, oblong-ovate, acuminate, entire, wavy, four or five inches long, smooth and shining, of a dark green colour on their upper surface, paler beneath, and accompanied with a pair of small, pointed stipules. The flowers are white, with an odour not unlike that of the jasmine, and stand in groups in the axils of the upper leaves. The calyx is very small, the corolla salverform, with a nearly cylindrical tube, and a flat border divided into five lanceolate, pointed segments. The stamens pro- ject above the tube. The fruit, which is inferior, is a roundish berry, umbilicate at top, at first green, then red, and ultimately of a dark purple colour. It is about as large as a cherry, and contains two seeds, surrounded by a paper-like membrane, and enclosed in a yellowish pulpy matter. These seeds, divested of their coverings, constitute coffee. This tree is a native of Southern Arabia and Abyssinia, and probably pervades Africa about the same parallel of latitude, as it is found growing wild at Liberia on the western coast of the continent. The value of its produce has led to its extensive cultivation in various parts of the world where the temperature is sufficiently elevated and uniform. Considerable attention has long been paid to its culture in its native country, particularly in Yemen, in the vicinity of Mocha, from which the demands of commerce were at first almost exclusively supplied. About the year 1690, it was introduced by the Dutch into Java, and in 1718 into their colony of Surinam. Soon after this latter period, the French succeeded in introducing it into their West India islands, Cayenne, and the Isles of France and Bourbon; and it has subsequently made its way into the other West India islands, various parts of tropical America, the peninsula of Hindostan, and Ceylon. The tree is raised from the seeds, which are sown in a soil properly prepared, and ger- minating in less than a month, produce plants which at the end of the year are large enough to be transplanted. These are then set out in rows at suitable distances, and in three or four years begin to bear fruit. It is customary to top the trees at this age, in order to prevent their attaining an inconvenient height, and to increase the number of fruit-bearing branches. It is said that they continue productive for thirty or forty years. Though almost always covered with flowers and fruit, they yield most abundantly at two seasons, and thus afford two harvests during the year. Various methods are employed for freeino- the seeds from their external coverings; but that considered the best, is by means of machinery to remove the fleshy portion of the fruit, leaving the seeds surround- ed only by their papyraceous envelope, from which they are afterwards separated by dry- ing and by the action of peeling and winnowing mills. The character of coffee varies considerably with the climate and mode of culture. Consequently several varieties exist in commerce, named usually from the sources from which they are derived. The Mocha coffee, which is in small and roundish grains, takes precedence of all others; but very little of it is now imported into Europe or Ame- rica. The Java coffee is generally esteemed most highly in this country, and commands the highest price; but our chief supplies are derived from the West Indies and South America. Some good coffee, we are told, has recently been brought from Liberia. Coffee is thought to improve by age, losing a portion of its strength, and thus acquiring a more agreeable flavour. It is said to be much better when allowed to become perfectly ripe 1136 Appendix. upon the tree, than as ordinarily collected. The grains should be hard, and so heavy as readily to sink in water. When soft, light, black or dark coloured, or musty, ihey are inferior. The general aspect of coffee is too well known to need description. It has a faint peculiar odour, and a slightly sweetish, somewhat austere taste, entirely different from that developed by roasting. From the experiments of Seguin, Schrader, Robiquet and Pelletier, and other chemists, it appears to contain a minute quantity of volatile oil, a fixed oil, gum, resin, an extractive matter having the characteristic taste of the coffee and affording a dark green precipitate with the salts of iron, albumen, a little sugar, saline substances, lignin, and a peculiar crystallizable principle which has received the name of caffein. Tliis was first discovered by Runge, and afterwards by Robiquet. It may be obtained in the following manner. Exhaust bruised coffee by two successive portions of boiling water, unite the infusions, add acetate of lead in order to precipitate the princi- pies which accompany the caffein, filter, decompose the excess of acetate of lead in the filtered liquor by sulphuretted hydrogen, and evaporate to the point of crystallization. The crystals which lbrm may be purified by again dissolving them in water and evapo- rating. This is the process employed by Runge. (Berzelius, Trait, de Chim.) Pelletier obtained caffein by submitting the alcoholic extract of coffee to the action of water, treat- ing the solution thus obtained with magnesia, filtering, evaporating the filtered liquor to the consistence of syrup, treating the residue with alcohol, and filtering and evaporating the alcoholic solution. (Did. des Drogues.) Caffein crystallizes by the cooling of its concentrated solution, in opaque, silky, flexible needles; by slow and spontaneous evapo- ration, in long, transparent prisms. It has a feebly bitter and disagreeable taste, is solu- ble in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether and oil of turpentine, combines neither with alkalies nor acids, melts when exposed to heat, and at a higher temperature sub- limes, without residue, into needles analogous to those formed by benzoic acid. It is remarkable for containing a larger proportion of nitrogen than any other proximate vege- table principle, and in this respect equals some of the most highly animaiized products. According to Pelletier and Caventou, its constituents are in 100 parts, 46.51 parts of carbon, 4.81 of hydrogen, 21.54 of nitrogen, and 27.14 of oxygen. Fibrin contains only about20 per cent, of nitrogen. Notwithstanding the quantity of nitrogen in its compo- sition, caffein does not putrefy, even when its solution is kept for some time in a warm place. In addition to the facts above stated, in relation to the composition of coffee, Pfaff ascertained, that in the precipitate produced by acetate of lead with the decoction, there are two peculiar principles, one resembling tannin, the other having acid properties, and called cajfeic acid. Coffee undergoes considerable change during the roasting process. It swells up very much, acquiring almost double its original volume, while it loses about 20 per cent, of its weight. It acquires, at the same time, a peculiar odour entirely different from that of the unaltered grains, and a decidedly bitter taste. A volatile oil is developed during the process, and, according to Chenevix, a portion of tannin. The caffein does not appear to undergo material change, as, according to Garot, it may be extracted unaltered from the roasted coffee. The excellence of the flavour of roasted coffee depends much upon the manner in which the process is conducted, and the extent to which it is carried. It should be performed in a covered vessel, over a moderate fire, and the grains should be kept in constant motion. When these have acquired a chestnut-brown colour, the process should cease. If too long continued, it renders the coffee unpleasantly bitter and acrid, or by reducing it to charcoal, deprives it entirely of flavour. The coffee should not be burnt long before it is used, and should never be kept in the ground state, as it loses much of its agreeable flavour and activity. Medical and Economical Uses.—More attention has been paid to the effects of coffee on the system in the roasted than in the crude state. Unroasted coffee has been employed by Dr. Grindel of Russia in intermittent fevers, and the practice has been followed by some other physicians; but the success, though considerable, was not such as to lead to the con- elusion that this medicine would answer as a substitute for Peruvian bark. It was given in powder in the dose of a scruple every hour, or in decoction prepared by boiling an ounce with eighteen ounces of water down to six, or in the state of extract in the dose of from four to eight grains. Whether its operation corresponds with that of the roasted coffee we are unable to say. The following observations relate only to the latter. The action of coffee is directed chiefly to the nervous system. When swallowed it pro- duces a warming cordial impression on the stomach, quickly followed by a diffused agreea- ble nervous excitement, which extends itself to the cerebral functions, giving rise to increased vigour of imagination and intellect, without any subsequent confusion or stupor such as characterizes the action of narcotic medicines. Indeed one of its most extraordi- nary effects is a disposition to wakefulness, which continues for several hours after it haa Appendix. 1137 been taken. It is even capable of resisting, to a certain extent, the intoxicating and sopo- rific influence of alcohol and opium, and may sometimes be advantageously employed for this purpose. It also moderately excites the circulatory system, and stimulates the diges- tive function. A cup of coffee taken after a hearty meal, will often relieve the sense of oppression so apt to be experienced, and enable the stomach to perform its office with com- parative facility. These exhilarating effects of coffee, united with its delicious flavour when suitably qualified by cream and sugar, have given rise to its habitual employment as an article of diet. Its use for this purpose has prevailed from time immemorial in Persia and Arabia. In 1517 it was introduced by the Turks into Constantinople, whence it was carried to France and England about the middle of the succeeding century, and has since gradually made its way into almost universal use. It cannot be supposed that a substance capable of acting so energetically upon the system, should be entirely destitute of delete- rious properties. Accordingly, if taken in \ery large quantities, it leaves, after its first effects are passed, a degree of nervous derangement or depression equivalent to the pre- vious excitement; and its habitual immoderate employment is well known very greatly to injure the tone of the stomach, and frequently to give rise to troublesome dyspeptic affec- tions. This result is peculiarly apt to take place in individuals of naturally susceptible nervous systems, and in those of sedentary habits. In the treatment of disease, coffee has been less employed than might have been expected from its effects upon the system. There can be no doubt that il may be advantageously used in various nervous affections. In a tendency to stupor or lethargy dependent on de- ficient energy of the brain, without congestion or inflammation, it would be found useful by stimulating the cerebral functions. In light nervous headachs, and even in sick headach not caused by the presence of offending matter in the stomach, it often proves useful. It has acquired much reputation as a palliative in the paroxysm of spasmodic asthma, and is recommended by some writers in hysterical affections. The Egyptians are said to have formerly employed it as a remedy in amenorrhcea. Hayne informs us that in a case of violent spasmodic disease, attended with short breath, palpitation of the heart, and a pulse so much increased in frequency that it could scarcely be counted, immediate relief was obtained from a cup of coffee, after the most powerful antispasmodics had been used in vain for several hours. It is said also to have been used very effectually in obstinate chro- nic diarrhcea; and Dr. Chapman of Philadelphia has found it highly useful in calculous nephritis. In all inflammatory affections of a high grade it is contra-indicated. Coffee is usually prepared in this country by boiling the roasted grains, previously ground into a coarse powder, in water for a short time, and then clarifying by the white of an egs. Some prefer the infusion, which has more of the aroma of the coffee, with less of its bitterness. The proper proportion for forming the infusion for medical use, is an ounce to a pint of boiling water, of which a cupful may be given warm for a dose, and repeated if necessary. COLLINSONIA CANADENSIS. Horse-weed. Horse-balm. Richweed. Heal-all. Stone-root. Knot-root. An indigenous plant, with a perennial, knotty root, and an herba- ceous simple stem about two feet high, furnished with two or three pairs of broad, cordate ovate, smooth leaves, and terminating in a panicle of yellow flowers in branched ra- cemes. The flowers are diandrous and monogynous, with a labiate calyx and corolla, the latter of which has the lower lip fringed. The plant grows in woods from Canada to Carolina, and flowers from July to September. The whole plant has a strong disagreea- ble odour, and a warm pungent taste. It is considered tonic, astringent, diaphoretic, and diuretic; and the root in substance is said to irritate the stomach and produce vomiting even in small doses. The plant is used in numerous complaints in domestic practice. It is preferred in the fresh state, as the active principle is volatile. A decoction of the fresh root is said to have been used with advantage in catarrh of the bladder, leucorrhcea, gravel, dropsy, and other complaints; and the leaves are applied by the country people, in the form of cataplasm or fomentation, to wounds, bruises, and sores, and in cases of internal abdo- minal pains. COLUTEA ARBORESCENS. Bladder Senna. A shrub, growing spontaneously in the southern and eastern parts of Europe, and cultivated in gardens as an ornamental plant. Its leaves are pinnate, consisting of from three to five pairs of leaflets, with an odd one at the end. The leaflets are obovate, slightly emarginate, smooth and of a deep green colour on the upper surface, grayish-green and somewhat pubescent, beneath. The flow- ers are yellow, and the fruit vesicular, whence the plant derived its vulgar name. The leaflets are possessed of purgative properties, and, in some parts of Europe, are used as a substitute for senna, which is said to be sometimes adulterated with them. The bladder senna is comparatively very feeble. It is administered in infusion or decoction, of 1138 Appendix. which the dose is about half a pint, containing the virtues of from one to three ounces of the leaves. COMPTONIA ASPLEXIFOLIA. Sioeet Fern. A shrubby indigenous plant, named from the resemblance of its leaves to the spleenwort fern, but belonging to the Linncean class and order Monoecia Triandra. It grows in thin sandy or stony woods, from New England to Virginia. All parts of it possess a resinous spicy odour, which is increased when the plant is rubbed. It is said to be tonic and astringent, and to be occasionally used in domestic practice as a remedy in diarrhcea, and various other complaints. It is employed in the form of decoction. CONVALLARIA MAJALIS. Lily of the Valley. This charming little garden flower is a n.tive of Europe, and is found growing wild in the United States, upon the highest mountains of Virginia and Carolina. The flowers have a strong delightful odour, which is in great measure lost by drying. Their taste is nauseous, bitter, and acrid. Taken internally they are said to be emetic and cathartic, and their extract purges actively in the dose of half a drachm. They were formerly used in epilepsy and against worms. At present they are employed only as a sternutatory, for which purpose they are dried and reduced to a coarse powder. The root, which is also bitter, has similar purgative proper- ties, and, reduced to powder, is said to be sternutatory. CONVALLARIA POLYGONATUM, Linn. Polygonatum uniflorum, Desfontaines. Solomon's seal. A perennial, herbaceous, European plant, the root of which is horizontal, jointed, white, and marked, at short intervals, with small circular impressions, which bear a remote resemblance to those made by a seal, and have served to give a name to the plant. The root is inodorous, and of a sweetish mucilaginous taste, followed by a slight degree of bitterness and acrimony. It is said to be emetic. In former times it was used externally in bruises, tumours, wounds, and cutaneous eruptions, and was highly esteemed as a cosmetic. At present it is not employed, though recommended by Hermann as a good remedy in gout and rheumatism. The berries and flowers are said to be acrid and poisonous. The C. multiflora (Polygonatum multiflorum, Desf.), which grows in this country, as well as in Europe, is analogous to the preceding in properties. COPAL. A resinous substance, brought from the East Indies, South America, and the western coast of Africa, but most abundantly from the first mentioned source. It is the concrete juice of different trees, and is furnished by exudation. The East India copal is said to be derived from the Vateria Indica of Linn., the Elaocarpus copalliferus of Ret- zius; and the Brazilian is attributed by Martius and Hayne, probably with justice, to dif- ferent species of Hymenaa. Copal varies somewhat in appearance and properties, as pro- cured from different sources. It is in roundish, irregular, or flatfish pieces, colourless, yellowish, or brownish-yellow, more or less transparent, very hard, with a shining con- choidal fracture, inodorous and tasteless, of a sp. gr. varying from 1.045 to 1.139, insoluble in alcohol, soluble in ether, and slightly so in oil of turpentine. Some varieties unite with alcohol if suspended in its vapour while boiling. By heat it melts and is partially decom- posed, becoming thereby soluble in alcohol and oil of turpentine. It is not a proximate principle, but consists of various resins united in different proportions. The East India copal is in flatter pieces than the American or African, and is whiter, softer, and less transparent. Two kinds are known in the drug market—the crude and the scraped— the former of a dull opaque appearance externally, the latter much clearer and more trans- parent, in consequence of being deprived of its outer coat. The process of scraping is said to consist in the removal of the exterior portion by means of an alkaline solution, which readily dissolves copal. This resin is used chiefly in the preparation of varnishes. CORAL. A substance found at the bottom of the Mediterranean and other Seas supposed originally to belong to the precious stones, afterwards considered as a plant, but now universally admitted to belong to the animal kingdom. The red coral (Corallium rubrum of Lamarck, Isis nobilis of Linn.) is in the form of a small shrub, a foot or two in height, with a stem sometimes an inch in thickness, fixed to the rock by an expansion of the base, divided above into branches, and covered with a pulpy membrane, which is properly the living part, and which is removed when the coral is collected. The central portion is extremely hard, of various shades of red, susceptible of a brilliant polish, lon- gitudinally striated, and formed of concentric layers, which are rendered obvious by cal- cination. Its chief constituent is carbonate of lime, which is coloured by oxide of iron, and united, as in similar calcareous products, with more or less animal matter. It was formerly very highly valued as a remedy in numerous diseases, but is in no respect supe- rior to prepared oyster shells, or other form of carbonate of lime derived from the animal kingdom. It was employed in the form of fine powder, or in different preparations, Appendix. 1139 such as troches, syrups, conserves, tinctures, &c. At present it is valued chiefly as an ornament. f ORTEX'CARYOPHYLLATA. Cassia Caryophyllata. Clove Bark. These names have been given to a bark, brought from the West Indies, and derived from a tree belong- ing to the family of the Myrtaceae, supposed to be the Myrtus acris of Schwartz. It is usually in cylinders from one to two feet long by an inch in diameter, composed of nu- merous separate pieces rolled around one another, having a dark brown colour, a pungent taste, and an odour similar to that of cloves. It is sometimes in fragments, of a similar colour, taste, and smell, but softer and lighter, and supposed to be derived from older branches. A similar bark is said to be derived from the Myrtus caryophyllata of Linn., which grows in Ceylon. The clove bark has aromatic properties not unlike those of the spice from which it derived its name: but it is much inferior, and is now never used in this country. Some authors have confounded with it a wholly different bark produced by a tree growing in the Moluccas, and known by the Indian name of culilawan. (See Culilawan.) CUCURB1TA CITRULLUS. Watermelon. The seeds of the watermelon are em- ployed, to a considerable extent, as a domestic remedy in strangury and other affections of the urinary passages. They have the same properties with the seeds of the other Cucurbitaceae, of which four different kinds were formerly officinal under the name of the greater cold seeds—viz. those of the Cucurbita Pepo or pumpkin, the Cucurbita Lage- naria or gourd, the Cucumis Melo or muskmelon, and the Cucumis sativus or cucumber These, when bruised and rubbed up with water, form an emulsion which was formerly thought to possess considerable virtues, and was much used in catarrhal affections, dis- orders of the bowels and urinary passages, fever, &c. Of late, however, they have been entirely neglected, having been superseded by other more agreeable demulcents. The watermelon seeds are esteemed by some diuretic, as well as demulcent. They are usually given in the form of infusion, made in the proportion of one or two ounces of the bruised seeds to a pint of water, and taken ad libitum. CULILAWAN. Cortex Culilaban. An aromatic bark, produced by the Laurus Cu- lilaban, a tree of considerable size, growing in the Molucca islands, Cochinchina, and other parts of the East. It is usually in flat or slightly rolled pieces, several inches long, an inch or more in breadth, and one or two lines thick. Sometimes the bark is thinner and more quilled, bearing considerable resemblance to cinnamon. The epidermis is for the most part removed, but when present is of a light brownish-gray colour, soft to the touch, and somewhat spongy. The colour of the bark itself is a dull dark cinnamon- brown, the odour highly fragrant, the taste agreeably aromatic, and not unlike that of cloves. The active constituen tis a volatile oil which may be separated by distillation. Culilawan has the medical properties common to the aromatics, but is scarcely used at present. CUNILA MARIANA. American Dittany. A small indigenous perennial herb, growing on dry, shady hills, from New England to Georgia, and flowering in June and July. The whole herb has a warm pungent taste, and a fragrant odour, dependent on an essential oil which may be obtained separate by distillation with water. The medical properties of the plant are those of a gently stimulant aromatic, analogous to the mints, pennyroyal, &c. In the shape of warm infusion, it is popularly employed to excite perspiration in colds and slight fevers, to promote suppressed menstruation, to relieve flatulent colic, and for various other purposes to which the aromatic herbs are thought applicable. CUTTLE-FISH BONE. Os Sepia. This is a calcareous body, situated underneath the skin, in the back of the Sepia officinalis, or cuttle-flsh, which inhabits the seas of Europe, especially the Mediterranean, in the waters of which the bone is not unfre- quently found floating. It is oblong-oval, from five to ten inches long, and from one and a half to three inches broad, somewhat convex on both sides, with thin edges, of a rather firm consistence upon the upper surface, very friable beneath, and composed of numerous layers, loosely connected, so as to give to the mass a porous consistence. It is lighter than water, of a white colour, a feeble odour of sea-plants, and a saline taste. It contains, according to John, from 80 to 85 per cent, of carbonate of lime, besides animal matter, a little common salt, and traces of magnesia. Reduced by levigation and elutriation to a fine powder, it may be given as an antacid under similar circumstances with chalk or oyster-shell. It is sometimes used as an ingredient of tooth-powders. Small pieces of it are often put into bird-cages, that the birds may rub their bills against them; and the pow- der is employed for polishing. Another product of the cuttle-fish is a blackish-brown liquor, secreted by a small gland into an oval pouch, communicating externally near the rectum by a long excre- 1140 Appendix. tory duct, through which the animal is said to have the power of ejecting it at will. This, when taken from the fish, is dried, and used in the preparation of the water colour called sepia. CYANURET OF POTASSIUM. This medicine is obtained from the yellow salt, called ferrocyanuret of potassium, which is a double cyanuret of potassium and iron. The double salt is first dried, and then exposed, in a porcelain or stoneware retort, to a long continued red heat, until nitrogen ceases to be disengaged. During the cooling of the retort, its mouth is closed by luting, to prevent the access of air. By the calcination, the cyanuret of iron is decomposed and converted into quadricarburet of iron, while the cya- nuret of potassium remains unchanged. The calcined product is a blackish lamellar mass, consisting of the cyanuret of potassium, rendered impure by the charcoal and iron derived from the decomposed cyanuret. It is purified by treating it with a small quantity of cold water, which dissolves the cyanuret of potassium, leaving the impurities behind. The solution is then evaporated to dryness under an exhausted receiver, by means of sulphuric acid, and the dry mass is the cyanuret in question. Cyanuret of potassium is usually yellow, but perfectly white and transparent when very pure. Its taste is alkaline. In close vessels, it is indecomposable by heat; but it is readily decomposed by the action of water, especially at the boiling point, being converted into ammonia and formiate of potassa. Even moisture is sufficient to determine its decompo- sition in part It is very soluble in water, but sparingly so in alcohol. All acids have the power of decomposing it, not excepting the carbonic. It is on this account that its solution constantly emits the smell of hydrocyanic acid by contact of air, and is converted into carbonate of potassa. It consists of one equiv. of cyanogen and one of potassium. Medical Properties, S;c. This cyanuret is pre-eminently poisonous, acting precisely like hydrocyanic acid. The tenth of a grain of the salt killed a small bird in the space of a minute. A solution of five grains destroyed a large dog in a quarter of an hour. As a medicine it is considered applicable to all cases in which hydrocyanic acid has been found useful. The grounds on which it has been proposed as a substitute for that acid by Ro- biquet and Villerme', are its uniformity as a chemical product, and its less liability to undergo decomposition. The dose is a quarter of a grain, gradually increased to a grain. The solution, extemporaneously made, is the most convenient form for exhibition; and a standard solution has been proposed by Magendie, under the name of medicinal hydrocya- nate of potassa, prepared by dissolving the cyanuret in eight times its weight of distilled water. A solution of this strength is equivalent to the medicinal hydrocyanic acid, and may be prescribed in mixtures in the dose of two or three drops. CYANURET OF ZINC. This cyanuret is precipitated as a white insoluble powder, by adding cautiously, until it ceases to produce a precipitate, a recently filtered solution of cyanuret of potassium, obtained from the impure black cyanuret, to a solution of sulphate of zinc. It is used in Germany as a substitute for hydrocyanic acid, and is said to possess anthelmintic properties. It has been employed with alleged advantage in cramp of the stomach, and in the colics attendant on difficult menstruation. The dose is a quarter of a grain, gradually increased to a grain and a half, given in mixture. CYNANCHUM VINCETOXICUM. R. Brown. Asclepias Vincetoxicum. Linn. White Swallow-wort. I incetoxicum. A perennial herbaceous European plant, the root of which was formerly esteemed a counterpoison, and hence gave origin to the officinal name. It has a bitterish acrid taste, and when fresh, a disagreeable odour which is diminished by drying. Taken internally, especially in the recent state, it excites vomiting, and is capa- ble in large quantities of producing dangerous if not fatal inflammation of the stomach. Its former reputation as an alexipharmic was wholly without foundation. It is said to be useful in cutaneous diseases, scrofula, &c; but is little employed. The leaves of the plant also are emetic. Feneulle found in the root a peculiar principle analogous to emetin CYNOGLOSSUM OFFICINALE. Hound's Tongue. A biennial plant, common both in Europe and this country, and named from the shape of its leaves. The leaves and root have been employed, but the latter has been generally preferred. The fresh plant has a disagreeable narcotic odour resembling that of mice, which is dissipated by drying The taste is nauseous, bitterish, and mucilaginous. Different opinions as to its powers have been entertained, some considering it as nearly inert, others as a dangerous poison; nor has the difference been hitherto settled. Hound's tongue has been used as a demulcent and sedative in coughs, catarrh, spitting of blood, dysentery, and diarrhcea: and has been applied externally in burns, ulcers, scrofulous tumours, and goitre. The pilula de cyno- glosso, which are officinal in some parts of Europe, though they contain a portion of the root of hound's tongue, owe their properties chiefly to opium. DICTAMUS ALBUS. White Fraxinella. Bastard Dittany. This is a perennial European plant, the root of which is bitter and aromatic, and has been used as an anthel- Appendix. 1141 mmtic, emmenagogue, and stomachic tonic, though at present little employed in Europe, and not at all in this country. Storck gave it in intermittents, worms, amenorrhcea, hys- teria, epilepsy, and other nervous diseases. The bark of the root is the most active part 1 he dose in powder is from twenty grains to a drachm or more. DIPPEL'S ANIMAL OIL. Oleum Cornu Cervi. This oil is obtained during the distillation of animal matters, in the processes for obtaining the ammoniacal products on a large scale. That portion which first comes over is pale yellow; but, in the progress of the distillation, it becomes gradually deeper coloured and thicker, and at last black and viscid. It is purified and rendered colourless by redistillation, a pyrogenous resin being left behind. Thus rectified it is a colourless liquid, very limpid and volatile, and having a penetrating, extremely fetid odour, and burning taste. By repeating the distillation till a dark residuum is no longer left in the retort, it may be obtained free from fetor, and of an agreeable, aromatic odour; and in this mode it is said to have been prepared by Dippel. Four or five distillations are necessary to this end. (Am. Journ. of Pharm. ix. 244.) The oil is soon altered by the action of air and light, becoming thick, yellow, brown, and finally black. It possesses an alkaline reaction, and probably contains the various prin- ciples which have been discovered by Reichenbach in the results of the distillation of organic substances. This oil was formerly much used in medicine, but its repulsive odour and taste, as it is ordinarily prepared, have caused it to be almost entirely laid aside. It acts, in the dose of a few drops, given with water, as a stimulant and antispasmodic. Its presence in the spirit and salt of hartshorn gives to these preparations medicinal properties different from those of the pure carbonate of ammonia. DIRCA PALUSTRIS. Leather Wood. An indigenous shrub, usually very small, but sometimes attaining the height of five or six feet, growing in boggy woods, and other low wet places, in almost all parts of the United States, though less abundantly in the western than in the eastern section. The berries, which are small, oval, and of an orange colour, are said to be narcotic and poisonous. The bark is the part which has attracted most attention. It is extremely tough, and of very difficult pulverization. In the fresh state it has a peculiar rather nauseous odour, and an unpleasant acrid taste, and when chewed excites a flow of saliva. It yields its acrimony completely to alcohol, but im- perfectly to water even by decoction. In the dose of six or eight grains, the fresh bark produces violent vomiting, preceded by a sense of heat in the stomach, and often followed by purging. Applied to the skin it excites redness, and ultimately vesicates; but its epispastic operation is very slow. It appears to be analogous in its properties to meze- reon, to which it is also botanically allied, as the two barks are derived from plants be- longing to the same natural order. DRAGON'S BLOOD. Sanguis Draconis. This is a resinous substance obtained from the fruit of several species of Calamus, especially the C. Rotang and C. Draco, small palms, growing in the Molucca Islands and other parts of the East Indies. On the surface of the fruit, when ripe, is an exudation, which is separated by rubbing, or shak- ing in a bag, or by exposure to the vapour of boiling water, or finally by decoction. The finest resin is procured by the two former methods. It comes in two forms; sometimes in small oval masses, of a size varying from that of a hazlenut to that of a walnut, cov- ered with the leaves of the plant, and connected together in a row like beads in a neck- lace; sometimes in cylindrical sticks eighteen inches long and from a quarter to half an inch in diameter, thickly covered with palm leaves, and bound round with slender strips of cane. In both these forms, it is of a dark reddish-brown colour, opaque, and readily pulverizable, affording a fine scarlet powder. An inferior kind, said to be obtained by boiling the fruit in water, comes in flat circular cakes, two or three inches in diameter and half an inch thick. This also yields a fine red powder. A fourth variety, much in- ferior even to the last mentioned, is in large disks, from six to twelve inches in diameter by an inch in thickness, mixed with various impurities, as pieces of the shell, stem, Sec, and supposed to be derived from the fruit by decoction with expression. A substance known by the name of Dragon's blood is also derived by exudation from the trunk of the Dracana Draco, a large tree inhabiting the Canary Islands, and another from the Ptero- carpus Draco, a tree of the West Indies and South America, by incision into the bark. These last, however, are little known in commerce. Dragon's blood is inodorous and tasteless, insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, ether, and the volatile and fixed oils, with which it forms red solutions. According to Herberger, it consists of 90.7 parts of a red resin which he calls draconin, 2.0 of fixed oil, 3.0 of benzoic acid, 1.6 of oxalate of lime, and 3.7 of phosphate of lime. It was formerly used in medicine as an astringent, but is nearly or quite inert, and is now never 97 1142 Appendix. given internally. It is sometimes used to impart colour to plasters, but is valued chiefly as an ingredient of paint and varnishes. DUTCH FINK. A yellow or brownish-yellow paint, consisting of clay, or a mixture of clay and chalk, or carbonate of lime in the form of whiting, coloured by a decoction of woad, French berries, or birch leaves, with alum. EMERY. A very hard mineral, the powder of which is capable of wearing down all other substances except the diamond. As found in commerce, it is said to be derived chiefly from the island of Naxos in the Grecian Archipelago. It is pulverized by grind- ing it in a steel mill; and the powder is kept in the shops of different degrees of fineness. It is used for polishing metals and hard stones. EUPHRASIA OFFICINALIS. Eyebright. A small annual plant, common to Eu- rope and the United States, without odour, and of a bitterish, astringent taste. It was formerly used in various complaints, and among the rest in disorders of the eyes, in which it was thought to be very efficacious, and in the treatment of which it is still popu- lar in some countries. Its ordinary name arose from its supposed efficacy in improving vision. The probability is that it is nearly inert. FRENCH CHALK. A variety of indurated talc. It is compact, unctuous to the touch, of a greenish colour, glossy, somewhat translucent, soft and easily scratched, and leaves a silvery line when drawn over paper. It is used chiefly for marking cloth, &.C., and for extracting grease spots. FUCUS VESICULOSUS. Sea-wrack. Bladder-wrack. This was omitted by mis- take in the first part of this work; for, though discarded by the London College in the last revision of their Pharmacopoeia, it is still retained by the Dublin College. It belongs to Cryptogamia Alga in the sexual system, and to the natural order of the Alga?. The following is the generic character. "Male. Vesicles smooth, hollow, with villose hairs within, interwoven. Female. Vesicles smooth, filled with jelly, sprinkled with immersed grains, prominent at tip. Seeds solitary." This sea-weed is perennial, with the frond or leaf flat, smooth and glossy, from one to four feet high, from half an inch to an inch and a half broad, furnished with a midrib throughout its length, dichotomous, entire upon the margin, and of a dark olive-green colour. Small spherical vesicles, filled with air, are immersed in the frond near the midrib. The fruit consists of roundish, compressed re- ceptacles, at the ends of the branches, filled with a clear tasteless mucus. The plant grows upon the shores of Europe and of this continent, attaching itself to the rocks by its expanded woody root. On the coast of Scotland and of France, it is much used in the preparation of kelp. It is also employed as a manure, and is mixed with the fodder of cattle. The Fucus vesiculosus has a peculiar odour, and a nauseous saline taste. Several che- mists have undertaken its analysis, but the results are by no means satisfactory. It con- tains a large quantity of soda in saline combination, and iodine according to Gaultier de Claubry, in the state of iodide of potassium. These ingredients remain in its ashes, and in the chareoal resulting from its exposure to heat in close vessels. The charcoal of this plant has long had the reputation of a deobstruent, and been given in goitre and scrofulous swellings. Its virtues were formerly ascribed chiefly to the carbonate of soda, in which it abounds; but since the discovery of the medical properties of iodine, this has been considered as its most active ingredient. The mucus contained in the vesicles was apptied.externally, with advantage, by Dr. Russel, as a resolvent in scrofulous tumours. Other species of Fucus are in all probability possessed of similar properties. Many of them contain a gelatinous matter, and a saccharine principle analogous lo mannite; and some are used as aliment in times of scarcity by the wretched inhabitants of the coasts where they are collected. The F. Helminthocorlon has some reputation in Europe as an anthelmintic. It is used in the form of decoction. FUMARIA OFFICINALIS. Fumitory. A small annual European plant, naturalized in this country, growing in cultivated grounds, and flowering from May to August. It was formerly considerably employed as a medicine, and is still used in Europe. The leaves are the officinal part. They are inodorous, have a bitter saline taste, and are very succulent, yielding by expression a juice which has the sensible and medicinal properties of the plant. An extract prepared by evaporating the expressed juice, or a decoction of the leaves, throws out upon its surface a copious saline efflorescence. The plant, indeed, abounds in saline substances, and to these in connexion with its bitter extractive, are to be ascribed any medical virtues which it may possess. It is gently tonic, in large doses is said to be laxative and diuretic, and is thought, moreover, to exercise an alterative influ- ence over the system. Both in ancient and modern times it has been esteemed a valuable > remedy in visceral obstructions, particularly those of the liver, in scorbutic affections, and in various troublesome eruptive diseases of the skin. Cullen speaks very favourably Appendix. 1143 of its influence in these last complaints. He gave the expressed juice in the dose of two ounces twice a day. Others have prescribed it in much larger quantities. The leaves either fresh or dried may be used in decoction, without precise limitation as regards the dose. The inspissated juice and an extract-of the dried leaves have also been employed, and are said to have all the virtues of the leaves themselves. , FUSTIC. A yellow dye-wood, obtained from the Morus tinctoria (Broussonetia tinc- toria, Kunth), a tree growing in the West Indies and South America. It is not used in medicine or pharmacy. According to Bancroft, two different woods bear in England the name of fustic, one the product of the tree just mentioned, distinguished as old fustic, probably from ihe greater magnitude of the billets in which it is imported; the other de- rived from the Rhus Cotinus or Venice sumach, arid called young fustic. GALANGAL. Galanga. Two varieties of this drug are described by authors, the galanga major or large, galangal, and the galanga minor or small galangal. They are considered by some as the roots of two distinct plants; but there is reason to believe that they arc both derived from the Maranta Galanga of Linn., the Alpinia Galanga of Willd., and that they differ in consequence of the different stages of growth at which they are collected. They are brought from the East Indies. The larger variety is cylindrical, three or four inches long, as thick as the thumb or thicker, often forked, reddish- brown externally, slightly striated longitudinally, marked with whitish circular rings, orange-brown internally, rather hard and fibrous, difficultly pulverizable, of an agreeable aromatic odour, and a pungent, hot, spicy, permanent taste. The small galangal resem- bles the preceding in shape, but is smaller, not exceeding the little finger in thickness, of a darker colour, and of a stronger taste and smell. The active principles of galangal arc a volatile oil, and an acrid resin. Its medical effects are those of a stimulant aromatic; and it may be used for the same purposes as ginger. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Arabians, and entered into numerous compound preparations, some of which have but recently passed out of use. At present the root is very seldom employed. Its dose is from fifteen to thirty grains in substance, and twice as much in infusion. GALEGA OFFICINALIS. Goat's Rue. A perennial herb, growing in the South of Europe, and sometimes cultivated in gardens. It is without smell unless bruised, when it emits a disagreeable odour. Its taste is unpleasantly bitter and somewhat rough; and when chewed, it stains the saliva yellowish-brown. In former times it was much employed as a remedy in malignant fevers, the plague, the bites of serpents, worms, &c.; but it has now fallen into merited neglect. The roots of the Galega Virginiana, which is a native of the United States, are said to be diaphoretic and powerfully anthelmintic. They are given in decoction. GALIUM APARINE. Cleavers. Goose-grass. This is an annual, succulent plant, common to Europe and the United States, growing in cultivated grounds, and along fences and hedges. It is inodorous, and has a bitterish, herbaceous, somewhat acrid taste. The expressed juice is said to be aperient, diuretic, and antiscorbutic; and has been used in dropsy, congestion of the spleen, scrofula, and scorbutic eruptions. In the last com- plaint it has been thought peculiarly useful. Three ounces of the juice may be taken twice a day. The fresh herb, prepared in the form of ointment or of decoction, has been applied externally to scrofulous swellings with supposed advantage. GALIUM VERUM. Yellow Ladies Bed-straw. Cheese-rennet. This species of Ga- Hum is perennial, and a native of Europe. The flowers, which are yellow, have a pecu- liar, agreeable odour, and have sometimes been given in nervous aflections, with a view to their supposed antispasmodic powers. The herb is inodorous, but has an astringent, acidulous, bitterish taste. The property of coagulating milk was formerly ascribed to it, but is certainly not constant, us the experiment has been frequently tried without success. The bruised plant is sometimes used to colour cheese yellow, being introduced into the milk before coagulation. It is also used for dyeing yellow. The roots of this and of most of the other species dye red; and the plant eaten by animals colours tne bones like mad- der. This species of Galium was formerly highly esteemed as a remedy in epilepsy and hysteria, and was applied externally in cutaneous eruptions. It may be employed either in the form oT the recently expressed juice, or of a decoction prepared from the fresh plant. Its medical properties, however, are feeble. Of the American species, the G. tinctorium is closely allied in properties to the G. verum. It is said to be useful in cutaneous diseases; and the root is employed by the Indians for staining their feathers and other ornaments red. GENISTA TINCTORIA. Dyer's Broom. Dyer's Weed. Green Weed. A low shrub, growing wild in Europe, and sometimes cultivated in this country in gardens. The 1144 Appendix. flowering tops of the plant are employed to dye a yellow colour, whence its name was derived. Both these and the seeds have been employed in medicine. It is said thut they are purgative and even emetic, especially the seeds, which were formerly used as a ca- thartic in the dose of a drachm and a half. By some authors they arc said to be diuretic, and to be useful in dropsy; but it may be a question whether they were not confounded with the seeds and tops of the common broom (Spartium Scoparium). Attention was some years since attracted to the plant as a preventive of hydrophobia, for which purpose it was said to have been long used effectually by the peasants of Podolia, the Ukraine, and other provinces of Russia. It was employed in the form of very strong decoction, both internally and as an application to the bitten part; and its use was persevered in for six weeks: but the trials made with it in other parts of Europe have not justified the hopes which were at first entertained. The Russians are said to use it in connexion with the Rhus coriaria. GERANIUM ROBERTIANUM. Herb Robert. This species of Geranium grows wild both in Europe and the United States, but is rare in this country; and Pursh states that the American plant is destitute of the heavy smell by which the European is so well known, though the two agree in all other respects. The herb has a disagreeable, bitter- ish, astringent taste, and imparts its virtues to boiling water. It has been used internally in intermittent fever, consumption, hemorrhages, nephritic complaints, jaundice, &c, has been employed as a gargle in affections of the throat, and has been applied externally as a resolvent to swollen breasts and other tumours. GINSENG. This is the root of the Panax quinquefolium, a perennial herbaceous plant, belonging to the class and order Pentandria Digynia of the sexual system (Poly- gamia Dioecia, Linn.), and to the natural order Araliaceae. The stem is smooth, round, about a foot high, and divided at the summit into three leafstalks, each of which supports a compound leaf, consisting of five, or more rarely of three or seven petiolate, oblong obovate, acuminate, serrate leaflets. The flowers are polygamous, small, greenish, and arranged in a simple umbel, supported by a peduncle, which rises from the top of the stem in the centre of the petioles. The calyx is five-toothed, and the corolla composed of five petals. The fruit consists of kidney-shaped, scarlet berries, crowned with the styles and calyx, and containing two, and sometimes three seeds. The plant is indi- genous, growing in the hilly regions of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, and preferring the shelter of thick, shady woods. It is a native also of Chinese Tartary. The root is the part employed. This is collected in considerable quantities in Ohio and Western Virginia, and brought to Philadelphia and other cities on the sea-board for the purpose of exportation to Ciiina, where it is highly valued. While supplied exclusively from their own native sources, which furnished the root only in small quantities, the Chinese entertained the most extravagant notions of its virtues, considering it as a remedy for all diseases, and as possessing almost miraculous powers in preserving health, invigo- rating the system, and prolonging life. It is said to have been worth its weight in gold at Pekin; and the first shipments made from North Ameriea to Canton, after the disco- very of the root in this country, were attended with enormous profits. But the subse- quent abundance of supply has greatly diminished its value, and though it still occa- sionally forms a part of the investments for Canton, it has become an object of less importance than formerly. The root is fleshy, somewhat spindle-shaped, from one to three inches long, about as thick as the little finger, and terminated by several slender fibres. Frequently there arc two portions, sometimes three or more, connected at their upper extremity, and bearing a supposed, though very remote resemblance to the human figure, from which circum- stance it is said that the Chinese name ginseng originated. When dried, the root is yel- lowish-white and wrinkled externally, and within consists usually of a hard central por- tion, surrounded by a soft whitish bark. It has a feeble odour, and a sweet, slightly aromatic taste, somewhat analogous to that of liquorice root. It has not been accurately analyzed, but is said to be rich in gum and starch. It is sometimes submitted, before being dried, to a process of clarification, which renders it semitransparent and horny, and enhances its value as an article of export. The extraordinary medical virtues formerly ascribed to ginseng, had no other existence than in the imaginations of the Chinese. It is little more then a demulcent, and in this country is not employed afi a medicine. Some persons, however, are in the habit of chewing it, having acquired a relish for its taste; and it is chiefly to supply the wants of these that it is kept in the shops. GLASS OF ANTIMONY. Vitrum Antimonii. This is prepared from the sesqui- sulphuret of antimony by a partial roasting and subsequent fusion. The sesquisulphuret is reduced to coarse powder, and strewed upon a shallow, unglazed, earthen vessel, and heated gently and slowly, being continually stirred to prevent it from running into lumps. Appendix. 1145 White vapours of sulphurous acid arise; and when these cease, the heat is increased a little to reproduce them. The roasting is continued in this manner, until, at a red heat, no more vapours are given off. The matter is then melted in a crucible with an intense heat, and kept in a state of fusion until it assumes the appearance of melted glass, when it is poured out on a heated brass plate. In this process, part of the sulphur of the sesqui- sulphuret is driven off by the roasting; while that portion of the antimony which loses ita sulphur, becomes oxidized. The roasted matter, accordingly, consists of undecomposed sesquisulphuret and sesquioxide of antimony; and these, by uniting during the fusion, form the glass. Properties. Glass of Antimony is in thin irregular pieces, exhibiting a vitreous frac- ture, and having a metallic steel-gray lustre. When well prepared it is transparent, and, upon being held between the eye and the light, appears of a rich orange-red, or garnet colour; but if of inferior quality it is black and opaque. It is hard and brittle, and rings when struck with a hard substance. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in acids and in cream of tartar, with the exception of a few red flocculi. Its essential constituents are the sesquioxide and sesquisulphuret united in variable proportions. When of good quality it consists of about eight parts of sesquioxide to one of sesquisulphuret. It usually contains about five per cent, of silica, and three of sesquioxide of iron, which are derived from the crucible, and to the former of which the vitrification of the product is owing. When good, it is dissolved, with the exception of a few red flocculi, in strong muriatic acid. An excess of silica is known by the acid leaving a gelatinous residuum, and the iron may be detected by ferrocyanuret of potassium, and its amount judged of by the bulk of the precipitate and the depth of its colour. Sometimes glass of lead is sold for glass of antimony; a fraud easily detected by the difference in sp. gr. between the two substances; the glass of lead weighing nearly seven, while the density of the glass of antimony is not quite five. The London College formerly employed the glass of anti- mony for making tartar emetic; but in the last London Pharmacopoeia it has been dis- missed from the officinal list, on account of the difficulty of obtaining it, and its liability lo adulteration. Medical Properties, 8;c. Glass of antimony is an active antimonial; but, owing to its variable composition and uncertain operation, is at present very seldon used. When the levigated powder is mixed with one-eighth of its weight of melted yellow wax, and the mixture roasted over a slow fire, with constant stirring, until it ceases to exhale vapours, a coal-like pulverizable mass is formed, which is the Cerated Glass of Antimony, a pre- paration formerly included in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. GLECHOMA HEDERACEA. Ground-ivy. A small perennial herb, indigenous in Europe and the United States, and growing in shady grassy places, as in orchards, and along fences and hedges. It belongs to the family of labiate plants, and shares their general properties. The herb was formerly officinal, and still enjoys some credit as a domestic remedy. It has a peculiar disagreeable odour, and a bitterish, rough, somewhat aromatic taste, and imparts its properties to boiling water. From the statements of au- thors it appears to be gently stimulant and tonic, with perhaps a peculiar direction to the lungs and kidneys. It has also been considered aperient. The complaints in which it has been most used are chronic affections of the pulmonary and urinary organs; and at one time it had considerable reputation as a remedy in consumption. It has also been employed as a vulnerary and errhine. The usual form in which it was administered was that of infusion, of which a quantity was given for a dose containing the virtues of half a drachm or a drachm of the herb. GLUE. An impure form of gelatin, obtained from various animal substances by boil- ing them in water, straining the solution, and evaporating it till upon cooling it assumes the consistence of jelly. The soft mass which results is then divided into thin slices, which are dried in the open air. Glue, when of good quality, is hard and brittle, of a brown colour, and equally transparent throughout. It softens and swells up very much in cold water, without dissolving; but is readily dissolved by hot water. It is employed chiefly for cementing pieces of wood together, being too impure for the purposes of a test, or for internal use. Capsules of gelatin. Glue has within a few years been applied to an important practical purpose in pharmacy. Certain medicines are so offensive to the taste, and con- sequently so apt to sicken the stomach, that it is an object of importance to administer them in such a way as to prevent their contact with the tongue and palate. This object is fully accomplished, so far as regards many disagreeable liquid medicines, by the use of the capsules of gelatin, invented by M. Dublanc of Paris. These are prepared from the purest glue in the following manner. Small pouches made of fine skin, of an oval form, are attached by a waxed thread to the smaller extremity of a hollow elongated 97* 1146 Appendix. metallic cone, which is bent towards its point, and has its base closed by a cover which is screwed on so as to make the instrument air-tight. Into this conical tube sufficient mercury is poured to fill the pouch, which, thu3 distended, is dipped into a concentrated sweetened solution of glue, and afterwards exposed to heat in a vertical position, so as to dry the layer of gelatin which it has received, ln the same manner a second coating may be given, and the process again repeated till a sufficient thickness has been obtained. The cone being then reversed, the mercury flows out of the pouch, which collapses, and allows the capsule of gelatin to be removed. Into this the medicine may now be introduced, care being taken to avoid any contact with the outer surface of the capsule. The open- ing is next to be closed by means of a Ihin lamina of gelatin previously softened by steam; and a solution of the same substance should be applied to the edges by means of a camel's hair pencil. The demand for these capsules was at first supplied exclusively from abroad, but they are now prepared largely in this country, and according to various processes. For an account of one of these, invented and described by Mr. Alfred Guillou of Philadelphia, the reader is referred to the American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. ix. p. 20. The capsules may be made of such a capacity as to contain from ten to fifteen grains of copaiba. GNAPHALIUM MARGARITACEUM. Cudweed. Life-everlasting. An indigenous herbaceous perennial, growing in fields and woods, and flowering in August. The herb of this and of the G. polycephalum, or sweet-scented life-everlasting, is sometimes used in the form of tea by the country people, in diseases of the chest and of the bowels, and in hemorrhagic affections, and externally, in the way of fomentation, in bruises, languid tumours, and other local complaints; but it probably possesses little medical virtue. Shoepf says that it is anodyne. In Europe, different species of Gnaphalium are also occasionally employed for similar purposes. GOLD. Aurum. The preparations of this metal were introduced to the notice of phy- sicians by Dr. Chrestien of Montpellier in 1810. They are employed both internally, and by frictions on the tongue and gums. The principal affections in which tiiey have been recommended are secondary syphilis, syphilitic ulcerations, scrofula, and inveterate eruptions, particularly those of a leprous character. The chief preparations which have been used up to the present time are metallic gold in a finely divided state, the oxide, the chloride, the double chloride of gold and sodium, and the cyanuret of gold. It may be obtained as a metallic powder, by precipitating the nitro-muriatic solution of gold by protosulphate of iron, and as an oxide, by treating the same solution with an excess of magnesia, and washing the precipitate, first with water, and afterwards with dilute nitric acid. The chloride is obtained by dissolving pure gold in three times its weight of nitro- muriatic acid, by the aid of a moderate heat. The solution is evaporated by a gentle heat nearly to dryness, being at the same time stirred with a glass rod. It is in the form of a crystalline mass of a deep red colour. Its solution has a fine yellow tint. Being deli- quescent, it requires to be kept in ground stoppered bottles. The double chloride of gold and sodium is prepared by dissolving four parts of gold in nitro-muriatic acid, evaporating the solution to dryness, and dissolving the dry mass in eight times its weight of distilled water. To this solution one part of pure decrepitated common salt is added, previously dissolved in four parts of water. The mixed solution is then evaporated to dryness, being in the mean time constantly stirred with a glass rod. This salt is of a golden yellow colour, and, when crystallized, is in the form of long prismatic crystals, unalterable in the air. The cyanuret of gold is best obtained, according to M. Oscar Figuier, as follows. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 599.) Prepare the chloride of gold as neutral as pos- sible by repeated solutions and crystallizations; and to the solution of this salt add, very cautiously, avoiding any excess, a solution of pure cyanuret of potassium, so long as any precipitate falls. The precipitate, consisting of cyanuret of gold, is to be washed with pure water, and dried in the dark. The solution of the cyanuret of potassium may be obtained pure and free from formiate and carbonate of potassa, by dissolving in water, soon after its preparation and before it has had time to undergo any change, the residue obtained by calcining the yellow ferrocyanuret of potassium. The preparations of gold are decidedly poisonous, though in different degrees. The chloride is most virulent, and, according to Dr. Chrestien, is even more active than corro- sive sublimate. In an overdose, it produces pain, inflammation, and even ulceration of the stomach and bowels, and otherwise acts as a corrosive poison. The general effects of these preparations, in moderate doses, is to produce increased fulness and frequency of the pulse, and to augment the urine and insensible perspiration, without interfering with the appetite or the regular action of the bowels; but if the dose is pushed too far, general irritation is apt to be produced, inflammation seizes upon some organ, according to the predisposition of the individual, and fever is developed. Appendix. 1147 Metallic gold, the oxide, and simple chloride are not as much used as the double chlo- ride of gold and sodium. The oxide may be given, in the form of pill, in the dose of a tenth of a grain, in scrofula, and lymphatic swellings, beginning with one pill daily, and afterwards gradually increasing to seven or eight in the 24 hours. The chloride of gold and sodium is the preparation of gold most commonly employed. It may be given in lozenges, each containing the twelfth of a grain, by mixing intimately five grains of the salt with an ounce of powdered sugar, and making the whole with mu- cilage of tragacanth into a proper mass to be divided into sixty lozenges. Pills, contain- ing the same dose, may be formed by dissolving ten grains of the dried salt in a drachm of distilled water, and forming the solution into a pilular mass with a mixture of four drachms of potato starch and one drachm of gum arabic, to be divided into one hundred and twenty pills. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 648.) For frictions on the gums and tongue, Chrestien recommends the following formula:—Crystallized chloride of gold and sodium, one grain; powdered orris root, deprived of its soluble parts by alcohol and water and dried, two grains. Mix. At first the fifteenth part of this powder is used daily by frictions; afterwards the fourteenth, the thirteenth, &c. until, increasing gra- dually, the tenth or eighth part is employed. The use of four grains of the salt in this way is said commonly to cure bad cases of recent syphilis, such, for example, as are characterized by the co-existence of chancres, warts, and buboes. In the preparation of this powder, lycopodium may be substituted with advantage for the orris. The cyanuret of gold is employed, like the preceding preparation, mixed with inert powders in frictions, and in the form of pill. The fifteenth of a grain may be rubbed into the gums daily for fifteen days, next the fourteenth of a grain for fourteen days, and so on, increasing until the dose amounts to the ninth or eighth of a grain. The dose for internal exhibition is the eighteenth of a grain, gradually increased to the eighth of a grain. The cyanuret of gold has been found useful in the treatment of syphilis and scrofula by M. Pourche, and is said to be less exciting than the double chloride, when used in those diseases. (Journ. de Pharm. xx. 599 et 649.) The different medicinal compounds of gold should not be prepared in pill, powder, or otherwise, until they are wanted for use; as they are liable to decomposition when kept. They should be carefully secluded from the light. HAMAMELIS VIRGINICA. Witch-hazel. An indigenous shrub, from five to fifteen feet high, growing in almost all sections of the United States, usually on hills or in stony places, and frequently on the banks of streams. It is remarkable for the late appearance of its yellow flowers, which expand in September or October, and continue till the weather becomes very cold in winter. The fruit, which is a nut-like capsule not unlike the hazelnut, ripens in the following autumn, and is often mingled on the same plant with the new blossoms. The bark has a bitter, astringent, somewhat sweetish and pungent taste. It appears to have attracted notice as a remedy employed by the Indians, who are said to have applied it as a sedative and discutient to painful tumours, and other cases of external inflammation. It is used in the shape of poultice, or as a wash in the form of decoction, in hemorrhoidal affections and ophthalmia. The leaves are said to possess similar properties, and in the state of infusion to be given internally in bowel complaints and hemorrhages. The seeds are black and shining externally, white, oily, and farinaceous within, and are edible like the hazelnut. HEDERA HELIX. Ivy. This well known evergreen creeper is a native of Europe. The fresh leaves have a balsamic odour, especially when rubbed, and a bitterish, harsh, unpleasant taste. They are used externally for dressing issues, and, in the form of decoc- tion, have been recommended in sanious ulcers and cutaneous eruptions, particularly tetter and the itch. Dried and powdered, they have been employed in the atrophy of children, and in complaints of the lungs, in the dose of a scruple or more. The berries, which have an acidulous, resinous, somewhat pungent taste, are said to be purgative and even emetic. From the trunks of old plants, growing in the South of Europe and the North of Africa, a resinous substance exudes through incisions in the bark, which haa been employed in medicine under the name of ivy gum. It is in pieces of various sizes, of a dark yellowish-brown colour sometimes inclining to orange, more or less transpa- rent, sometimes of a deep ruby-red colour internally, of a vitreous fracture, pulverizable, yielding a lively orange-yellow powder, of a peculiar not disagreeable odour when heated or inflamed, and of a bitterish resinous taste. Its chief constituent is resin, though some pieces contain a considerable proportion of bassorin, and others large quantities of lig- neous matter. It was formerly used as a stimulant and emmenagogue, but is now scarcely employed. Placed in the cavities of carious teeth, it is said to relieve tooth- ach. The wood of the ivy, which is light and porous, is sometimes used for making issue-peas. 1148 Appendix. HELENIUM AUTUMNALE. False Sunflower. Sneezewort. An indigenous pe- rennial herbaceous plant, from three to seven leet high, with large golden-yellow com- pound flowers, which appear in August. It grows in all parts of the United States, flourishing best in meadows, moist fields, and other low grounds. All parts of it are bitter and somewhat acrid, and, when snuffed up the nostrils in the state of powder, produce vio- lent sneezing. The leaves and flowers have been recommended as an excellent errhine. Clayton says that the plant is thought to be useful in intermittent fevers. HERMODACTYLS. Hermodactyli. Under this name are sold in the shops of Europe the roots or bulbs of an uncertain plant, growing in the countries about the eastern ex- tremity of the Mediterranean. By some botanists the plant is considered a species of Colchicum, and the C. variegatum, a native of the South of Europe and the Levant, is particularly indicated by Fee, Geiger, and others; while by authors not less eminent, the roots are confidently referred to the Iris tuberosa. They certainly bear a considerable resemblance to the bulb of the Colchicum autumnale, being heart-shaped, channeled on one side, convex on the other, and from half an inch to an inch in length, by nearly as much in breadth. As found in the shops, they are destitute of their outer coat, of a dirty yellowish or brownish colour externally, white and amylaceous within, inodorous, and nearly tasteless, though sometimes slightly acrid. They are often worm-eaten. Their chief constituent is starch, and they contain no veratria. From this latter circumstance, and from their insipidity, it has been inferred that they are probably not derived from a species of Colchicum; but Geiger observes that they may have lost their acrimony by age. They are in fact almost without action upon the system, and arc now seldom used; never, we believe, in this country. It is doubted whether they are the hermodactyli of the ancients, which were certainly a powerful medicine, operating very much in the same manner with our colchicum, and like it proving useful in gout and rheumatism. HIBISCUS ABELMOSCHUS. An evergreen shrub, growing in Egypt, and in the East and West Indies, and affording the seeds known under the name of semen Abel- moschi, alcea AVgyptiaca, and grana moschata. These are of about the same size as flax- seed,"kidney-shaped, striated, of a grayish-brown colour, of an odour like that of musk, and of a warm somewhat spicy taste. They were formerly considered stimulant and anti- spasmodic; but are now used only in perfumery. The Arabs flavour their coffee with them. They are said to be sometimes employed in the adulteration of musk. HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS. Yellow Root. Orange Root. This is an indigenous plant, growing in difi'erent parts of the United States, but most abundantly beyond the Allcghanies. It flourishes best in rich shady woods. It has a perennial root, and an herbaceous stem, from six inches to a foot high, with two unequal leaves, and a single terminal whitish or rose-coloured flower. The root consists of a tortuous caudex, and numerous long fibres, and is of a bright yellow colour. It is juicy in the recent state, and loses much of its weight when dried. It has a strong, somewhat narcotic odour, and an exceedingly bitter taste. It probably possesses the ordinary virtues of the vegetable bitters, and is said to be popularly employed as a tonic in some parts of the country. In the form of infusion, it has been used in the Western States as a topical application in ophthalmia; and the Indians are said to employ it in the same manner in old ulcers of the legs. The notion of its efficacy in cancer, originating in a report which reached the late Professor Barton, that it was used in the cure of this complaint by the Cherokees, is pro- bably altogether groundless. The Indians employ the juice of the root to stain their cloth- ing, &,c, yellow. HYDRIODIC ACID. Acidum Hydriodicum. Dr. Andrew Buchanan, of Glasgow, recommends the following formula for obtaining this acid for medicinal purposes. Take of iodide of potassium 330 grains, tartaric acid 264 grains. Dissolve the sails, separately, each in a fluidounce and a half of distilled water, and mix the solutions. Filter the liquor, in order to separate the bitartrate of potassa which precipitates, and add to it sufficient distilled water to make the whole measure fifty fluidrachms. When of this strength, each fluidrachm of the acid contains five grains of iodine. The solution of hydriodic acid, when thus prepared, is sufficiently pure for use as a medicine, although containing a little cream of tartar in solution. At first it is limpid, or has only a slight yellow tinge; but on keeping it assumes, first a wine yellow, and afterwards a beautiful red colour, in conse- quence of the disengagement of free iodine. Dr. Buchanan considers the effects of uncombined iodine to be those of an irritant, and its alterative powers, when these are manifested, to depend upon its conversion into hy- driodic acid, of a strength sufficiently moderate to be readily absorbed, and to pass into the current of the circulation. He conceives that when iodine is given, and proves to be absorbed, it is by being first converted into hydriodic acid by hydrogen derived from the gastric juice6,or from the tissues of the stomach, which latter undergo corrosion. A desire Appendix. 1149 to avoid this incidental irritant effect led Dr. Buchanan at first to combine the iodine with starch, which he supposes to furnish the necessary hydrogen while undergoing digestion, and finally to use the hydriodic acid ready formed. In giving the liquid hydriodic acid according to his formula, Dr. Buchanan begins by exhibiting a few drops, and afterwards increases the dose first to a fluidrachm and finally to half a fluidounce three times a day, equal to a drachm of iodine daily. This was his ordinary maximum dose, but sometimes he gave a fluidounce three times a day. In all cases the acid was administered sufficiently diluted with water, to reduce it to an agree- able sourness, in which state it possesses no irritant action whatever. When, however, the acid has undergone a change of colour, as previously mentioned, Dr. Buchanan uses a solution of starch as a vehicle, in order to divest the free iodine, the presence of which is indicated by this change, of all irritant qualities. Hydriodic acid, when thus used, exhi- bits the same therapeutic effects as free iodine, with the advantages of having no irritant property, and of affording the means of introducing much larger quantities of iodine into the system through the medium of absorption, than when given in the ordinary form. (Am. Journ. of Med. Sci. xx. 210, and 214, from the Med. Gazette.) HYPERICUM PERFORATUM. St. John's Wort. A perennial herb, abundant both in Europe and in this country, often covering whole fields, and proving extremely troublesome to farmers. It is usually from one to two feet high, with leaves, which from the presence of numerous transparent vesicles, appear as if perforated, and have hence given origin to the botanical designation of the plant. The flowers, which are numerous and of a deep yellow colour, appear during the summer from June to August. The flow- ering summits are the part used, though the unripe capsules are possessed of the virtues of the plant in an equal degree, and the seeds are said to be even stronger. St. John's wort has a peculiar balsamic odour, which is rendered more sensible by rubbing or bruis- ing the plant. Its taste is bitter, resinous, and somewhat astringent. It imparts a yellow colour to cold water, and reddens alcohol and the fixed oils. Its chief constituents are volatile oil, a resinous substance, tannin, and colouring matter. As a medicine, it was in high repute among the ancients, and was much employed by the earlier modern physi- cians. Among the complaints for which it was used, were hysteria, mania, intermittent fever, dysentery, gravel, hemorrhages, pectoral complaints, worms, and jaundice; but it was, perhaps, most highly esteemed as a remedy in wounds and bruises, for which it was employed both internally and externally. It is difficult to ascertain its exact value as a remedy; but from its sensible properties, and from the character of the complaints in which it has been thought useful, it may be considered, independently of its astringency, as somewhat analogous in medical power to the turpentines. It formerly enjoyed great reputation for the cure of demoniacs; and the superstition still lingers among the vulgar in some countries. At present, the plant is scarcely used except as a domestic remedy. The summits were formerly given in the dose of two drachms or more. A preparation was atone time officinal, under the name of oleum hyperici, made by treating them with a fixed oil. It has a red colour, and is still used in many families as a sovereign remedy for bruises. ILEX. Holly. Several species of this genus of plants are employed in different parts of the world. The /. Aquifolium, or common European holly, has attracted much atten- tion in France. It is usually a shrub, but in some places attains the magnitude of a mid- dling-sized tree. Different parts of it are used. The viscid substance called birdlime is prepared from the inner bark. The leaves, which are of a bitter, somewhat austere taste, were formerly much esteemed. They were considered diaphoretic, and in the form of infusion were employed in catarrh, pleurisy, small pox, gout, &c. Within a few years they have gained some reputation in France as a cure for intermittents, being considered by some as equal, if not superior to Peruvian bark; but the first reports in their favour have not been fully confirmed. They were used in the form of powder, in the dose of a drachm two hours before the paroxysm; and this dose was sometimes repeated frequently in the apyrexia. Their febrifuge virtues are said to depend on a peculiar bitter princi- ple, for which the name of ilicin has been proposed. The berries are about the size of a pea, red and bitter, and are said to be purgative, emetic, and diuretic. Ten or twelve of them will usually act on the bowels, and sometimes vomit. Their expressed juice has been used in jaundice. The Ilex opaca, or American holly, is a middling-sized evergreen tree, growing through- out the Atlantic section of the United States, and especially abundant in New Jersey. It is so similar to the European plant, that it is, by some writers, considered as the same species. It is said to possess the same medical properties. The Ilex Paraguaiensis, or /. Mate of St. Hilaire, is the plant which yields the cele- brated Paraguay tea, so extensively consumed as a beverage in the interior of South Ame- 1150 Appendix. rica. The leaves, which are the part used, have a balsamic odour, and a bitter taste, and arc usually at first disagreeable to the palate. They have a pleasant corroborant effect upon the stomach; but when very largely taken, are said to purge and vomit. They are used in the form of infusion. The Ilex vomitoria of Aiton and Linn., the /. Cassina of Michaux, is a handsome ever- green shrub, growing in our Southern States, and especially abundant along the southern coast of Florida. It is the cassina of the Indians, who formerly employed a decoction made from the toasted leaves, called black drink, both as a medicine, and as a drink of etiquette at their councils. It acts as an emetic. The leaves of the Ilex Dahoon of Walter and Michaux have similar properties, and are also said to have entered into the composi- tion of the black drink. ILLICIUM FLORIDANUM. Florida Anisetree. This is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing in Florida, along the coast which bounds the Gulf of Mexico. The bark, leaves, and probably also the seed vessels, are endowed with a spicy odour and taste analogous to anise, and might, perhaps, be used for the same purposes as this aromatic. It is a question worthy of investigation, whether the capsules of this plant might not be substituted for those of the Illicium anisatum or star aniseed, which yield much of the oil used in this country under the name of oil of anise. (See Anisum.) Another species of Illicium, the /. parviflorum, a shrub found by Michaux in the hilly regions of Georgia and Carolina, has a flavour closely resembling that of sassafras root. IMPATIENS FULVA and IMPATIENS PALLIDA. Touch-me-not. Jewel-weed. Balsam-weed. These two species of Impatiens, considered by Michaux as varieties of the /. Nolitangere of Linnaeus, are indigenous, annual, succulent plants, from two to four feet high, growing in low moist grounds in all parts of the Union, and flowering in July and August. They may be known by their tender, juicy, almost transparent stems; by their yellow flowers, which in one species are pale and sparingly punctate, in the other, are deeper coloured and crowded with dark spots; and by their capsules, which burst elastically and curl up with the slightest pressure. They probably possess properties simi- lar to those of the /. Nolitangere of Europe, which has an acrid burning taste, and when taken internally, acts as an emetic, cathartic, and diuretic, though considered a dangerous plant, and therefore little used. Dr. Ruan, of Philadelphia, has informed us that he has employed, with great advantage, in piles, an ointment made by boiling the American plants, in their recent state, in lard. The flowers may be used for dyeing a yellow colour. The /. Balsamina or balsam-weed, touch-me-not, Sfc, of the gardens, is said to possess similar properties with the other species. IMPERATORIA OSTRUTHIUM. Masterwort. An umbelliferous plant, indige- nous in the South of Europe. The root has a strong odour, similar to that of Angelica, and a pungent, biting, aromatic taste, attended with a flow of saliva, and followed by a glow- ing warmth which remains long in the mouth. It was formerly considered alexipharmic, stomachic, corroborant, emmenagogue, diuretic, and diaphoretic; and was used in a wide circle of complaints with so much supposed success as to have gained for it the title of divinum remedium. The fact, however, appears to be, that it is merely a stimulant aro- matic, analogous but inferior to Angelica, which has nearly'superseded it in European practice. In this country, it is unknown as a remedy, and its vulgar name has been ap- plied to another plant. INDIAN RED. A purplish-red pigment, brought from the island of Ormus in the Persian Gulf. It is a red ochre, and owes its colour to the red oxide of iron. INDIGO. This well known and highly important dye-stuff, is obtained from various species of Indigofera, especially the /. tinctoria, I. Anil, and /. argentea; and is afforded also by other plants, such as the Wrightia tinctoria, Isatis tinctoria, Polygonum tinctorium, Galega tinctoria, &c. In the process of preparing it, the plant is macerated in water; fermentation takes place; the liquor becomes of a greenish colour, and in due time is decanted; the colouring principle dissolved by the water absorbs oxygen from the air, and assumes a blue colour, becoming at the same time insoluble; a gradual precipitation takes place, favoured by the addition of lime-water or an alkaline solution; and finally, the precipitated matter, having been washed upon linen filters, is dried, shaped usually into cubical masses, and sent into market. Most of the indigo consumed in dyeing is brought from the East Indies, though considerable quantities are imported also from Guatemala and the northern coast of South America. Indigo is insoluble in water or alcohol, but is readily dissolved by sulphuric acid, which, without destroying its blue colour, so far alters its nature as to render it freely soluble in water, and thus affords a convenient method of applying it to the purposes of dyeing. The solution in sulphuric acid is sometimes kept in the shops under the name of sulphate of indigo. According to Berzelius, indigo con- tains, among other ingredients, four distinct principles;—1. a substance resembling Appendix. 1151 gluten; 2. a brown colouring substance; 3. a red colouring substance; and 4. a blue co- louring substance, which is the principle upon which its value as a material for dyeing depends, and which seldom constitutes so much as one-half of the indigo of commerce. Indigo has recently been introduced to the notice of the profession as a remedial agent. It has hitherto been chiefly employed by the German physicians, from whose statements our knowledge of its physiological action and therapeutical applications is derived. Though without odour and taste, it is said, in most individuals, to produce nausea and vomiting, frequently to operate upon the bowels, giving a bluish-black colour to the stools, to render the urine of a dark-violet or dark-green colour without increasing its quantity, and sometimes to stimulate the secretory function of the uterus. From these statements it would appear to act as an irritant to the alimentary mucous mem- brane. The character of its general influence upon the system has not been well ascer- tained. In some instances, it is asserted to have been employed in very large doses without any obvious effect. The complaints in which it has been employed, with sup- posed advantage, are epilepsy, hysteria, and amenorrhcea. It is given, usually in con- nexion with some aromatic powder, in the dose of a scruple three times a day, which may be increased to a drachm or more; and from half an ounce to an ounce daily has been employed for months together without disadvantage. (See Am. Jour, of Med. Sci. xx. 487.) IODIDE OF AMMONIUM. Ammonii lodidum. Hydriodate of Ammonia. This salt is formed by saturating liquid hydriodic acid with caustic ammonia, and evaporating the solution. It forms a deliquescent saline mass, which crystallizes with difficulty in cubes. It is mentioned by Dr. Pennock as a good remedy in some cases of lepra and psoriasis, made up into an ointment. (Amer. Journ. of Med. Sciences, xv. 374.) The pro- portions employed are from a scruple to a drachm of the salt to an ounce of lard; the weaker preparation being used when the disease is recent, the stronger when it is chronic. The ointment was employed in frictions in the amount of half an ounce, morning and evening. As the iodide is decomposed by exposure to the air, the ointment should be kept in well stopped bottles. IODIDE OF STARCH. Dr. A. Buchanan, of Glasgow, proposes this compound as a means of administering iodine in large doses without causing irritation of the stomach. He prepares it by triturating twenty-four grains of iodine with a little water, adding gradually a drachm of very finely powdered starch, and continuing the trituration until the compound assumes a uniform blue colour. The iodide is then dried by a gentle heat, and kept in a well stopped bottle. The dose is a heaped teaspoonful, given in water gruel, three times a day, and afterwards increased to a tablespoonful. No nicety is ne- cessary in apportioning the dose. In some cases Dr. Buchanan has given half ounce doses of the iodide three times a day, immediately increased to an ounce. Exhibited in this state of combination, iodine produces, according to this writer, little or no irritation of the alimentary canal, but is freely absorbed, as is proved by its detection in large quantity in the secretions. Dr. Buchanan conceives that, by means of the starch, tho iodine is converted into hydriodic acid, and in this form of combination enters the circu- lation. He prefers the iodide of starch to any other preparation of iodine for obtaining the alterative apart from the irritative effects of this substance. See Hydriodic acid, page 1148. (Amer. Journ. of Med. Sci. xx. 213 and 217.) IODIDE OF SULPHUR. Sulphuris lodidum. This iodide is prepared by heating slightly a mixture of four parts of iodine with one of sublimed sulphur. The excess of iodine is driven off, and the iodide of sulphur remains as a grayish mass, very deliques- cent and readily decomposed by water. It has been used by M. Biett as an external ap- plication, mixed with lard in the proportion of a scruple or half a drachm to an ounce of the fat, for the cure of porrigo, and of certain tuberculous affections of the skin. A drachm may be employed at each friction. IODIDE OF ZINC. Zinci lodidum. This iodide may be formed by digesting an excess of zinc, in small pieces, with iodine diffused in water. Combination takes place, and by evaporation, a deliquescent, very soluble saline mass is obtained, having a metal- line, styptic taste, resembling that of sulphate of zinc. It may also be obtained by heating in a matrass a mixture of 20 parts of zinc and 170 of iodine, and subliming into a vial. When thus prepared, it is in the form of white needles. Iodide of zinc has occasionally been employed, in the form of ointment, as a substitute for the iodide of potassium, and in solution, as an astringent injection, in the proportion of one or two grains to the fluidounce of water. Dr. Ure has proposed an ointment to be made by rubbing up a drachm of the iodide with an ounce of lard, to be applied in the quantity of a drachm twice a day to tumours, in place of the ointment of iodide of po- tassium. 1152 Appendix. IODO-HYDRARGYRATE OF POTASSIUM. It has been found by chemist* that different iodides will unite together in definite proportions, forming compounds which arc called by Berzelius double iodides. Bonsdorff of Finland, and Dr. Hare of Philadelphia, with greater reason, have viewed these combinations as a peculiar kind of salts, in whirh one of the iodides performs the part of an acid, the other, of a base. The substance, the name of which is given at the head of this article, is one of these compounds, and was presented to the notice of the profession, as a new remedy of remarkable powers, in Feb- ruiry, 1834, by Dr. William Channing of New York. (Amer. Journ. of Med. Sci. xiii. 388.) It consists of the biniodide of mercury acting as an acid, united with the iodide of potassium as a base. But as these two iodides unite in at least two proportions, it is necessary to indicate the particular combination employed by Dr. Channing in his thera- peutic experiments. In a difficult case of pectoral disease, in which the ordinary remedies had failed, Dr. Channing determined to make trial of one of the iodides of mercury. He selected the biniodide; and in order to have it in the liquid form, it being insoluble in water, he dis- solved it in a solution of iodide of potassium. He was struck with the chemical changes which the compound solution underwent; and on pursuing his observations he found that the two iodides really united by the intervention of the water; for by the assistance of an operative chemist, he was enabled by evaporation to obtain them in union in the form of straw-coloured, necdleform, deliquescent crystals. He next found, upon consulting the European authorities, that Bonsdorff, who had taken the lead in investigating similar compounds, had discovered the same salt in 1826. Dr. Channing analyzed the salt with which he experimented, and found that it consisted of one equiv. of biniodide of mercury, and two of iodide of potassium. This he deter- mined by ascertaining that an aqueous solution of a little more than eight grains of iodide of potassium would dissolve, and combine with, eleven grains of biniodide of mercury, without being liable to decomposition when largely diluted with water. The combination here indicated corresponds with one of the double iodides of mercury and potassium, as described by Thenard. (Traite de Chimie, 6eme Ed. iii. 493.) The other is represented by this author as consisting of a single equiv. of each iodide, and appears to correspond with the deliquescent straw-coloured salt obtained by Dr. Channing. When copiously diluted with water, every two equivalents of the compound let fall one equiv. of the mercurial iodide; thus evidently converting the salt into the medicinal double iodide. The same decomposition by the use of abundance of water is noticed by Dr. Channing. Dr. Channing attributes to the new remedy which he has brought forward, the effects of diffusing excitement, and equalizing the circulation. In the different cases in which he tried it, he thought he saw evidence of its favourable influence on the lungs, in allay- ing cough and improving expectoration; on the alimentary canal, in restoring the healthy secretions; on the kidneys, in reviving their activity; on the skin and cellular tissue, in cicatrizing superficial ulcerations; and on the absorbent and exhalent systems, in causing the disappearance of effused fluid. The principal diseases in which he found it useful were chronic bronchitis, hooping cough, tonsillitis, chronic gastro-enteritis, dyspepsia, ascites, anasarca, amenorrhcea, leucorrhcea, eruptions, and scrofula. In some cases of phthisis, it mitigated the symptoms and appeared to prolong life. Such a wide thera- peutic application is enough to stagger belief; and indeed we may remark that our strongest objection to these statements in relation to the medicine is, that it has appeared to effect so much. The average dose of the remedy may be stated at the twelfth of a grain three times a day; but in peculiar constitutions, not more than the forty-eighth, the ninety-sixth, or even the two-hundredth of a grain daily can be borne. For the convenience of physicians who may wish to make trial of the remedy, we give the following formula, deduced from the statements in Dr. Channing's paper. Take of iodide of potassium, three and a half grains; biniodide of mercury (red iodide), four and a half grains; distilled water, a fluidounce. Dissolve first the iodide of potassium and then the biniodide of mercury in the water. The compound salt in this solution may be assumed to amount to eight grains, though there is a small excess of the iodide of potassium. Of the solution, from two to five drops containing from the thirtieth to the twelfth of a grain, may be given three times a day.' IONIDIUM MARCUCCI. This name has been conferred by Dr. Bancroft upon a South American plant, supposed to be the source of a medicine used with great asserted advantage in Maracaybo and elsewhere, in some of the horrible cutaneous affections to which the inhabitants of the tropical regions of this continent are subject. The medicine is called by the Indians cuichunchulli, and grows in the neighbourhood of Riobamba, a small town at the foot of the great mountain of Chimborazo. It is said to be diaphoretic, diuretic, occasionally sialagogue, and in large doses emetic and cathartic. The root is Appendix. 1153 the part used. It is highly probable that other vegetable emeto-cathartics, having the same property of stimulating the secretions, would be found equally effectual. For an account of what is known in relation to this medicine the reader is referred to a paper by Dr. Bancroft, republished in the American Journal of Pharmacy, vo1. iii. p. 125. IRISH MOSS. Carrageen. F*ucus crispus, Linn. Sph'< rococcus crispus, Agardh. Chondrus crispus, Greville. This moss grows upon rocks and stones on the coasts of Europe, and is said also to be a native of the United States. It abounds on the southern and western coasts of Ireland. It consists of a flat, slender, cartilaginous frond, three or four inches in length, dilated and very much subdivided at the extremity, with linear di- visions, and more or less curled up, so as much to diminish its apparent length. As kept in the shops, it is yellowish and translucent, of a feeble odour, and nearly tasteless. It is insoluble in cold, but is dissolved by boiling water. According to Mr. Feuchtwanger, it contains starch and a large proportion of pectic acid (pectin), with compounds of sulphur, chlorine, and bromine, and some oxalate of lime. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 204.) It is nutritive and demulcent, and, being easy of digestion and not unpleasant to the taste, forms a useful article of diet in cases in which the farinaceous preparations, such as ta- pioca, sago, arrow-root, barley, &c., are usually employed. It has been particularly re- commended in chronic pectoral affections, scrofulous complaints, dysentery, and disorders of the kidneys and bladder. It may be used in the form of decoction, made by boiling a pint and a half of water with half an ounce of the moss down to a pint.' Sugar and lemon juice may usually be added to improve the flavour. Milk may be substituted for water, when a more nutritious preparation is required. It is recommended to steep the moss for a few minutes in cold water before submitting it to decoction. Any unplea- sant flavour which it may have acquired from the contact of foreign substances is thus removed. ISATIS TINCTORIA. Wood. Pastel. A biennial plant, indigenous in Europe, where it is also cultivated. The leaves have a fugitive pungent odour, and an acrid very durable taste, and have been used in scorbutic affections, jaundice, and other complaints; but the plant is valuable only as a source of a blue dye-stuff, called woad, which has been long employed in Europe, though at present nearly superseded by indigo. The leaves are prepared by grinding them to a paste, which is made into balls, placed in heaps, and allowed to ferment. When the fermentation is at an end, the mass falls into a coarse powder, which is the dye-stuff in question. KALMIA LATIFOLIA. Laurel. Mountain-laurel. Broad-leafed-laurel. Calico- bush. This well known evergreen inhabits all sections of the United States, but is par- ticularly abundant on the sides of hills and mountains, which it adorns in summer with its elegant flowers. It is from three to ten feet in height. The leaves are endowed with poisonous, narcotic properties, and have been used in medicine. They are said to prove fatal to sheep and some other animals, but are eaten with, impunity by deer, goats, and partridges. Dr. Barton states in his "Collections," that the Indians sometimes use a de- coction of the leaves to destroy themselves. It is said that death has been occasioned by eating the flesh of partridges and pheasants which have fed upon them during winter. Dr. Shoemaker has published, in the North American Medical and Surgical Journal, two cases of poisoning which resulted from eating a pheasant, in the craw of which laurel leaves were found. The symptoms were nausea, temporary blindness, pain in the head, difficult breathing, pallid countenance, cold extremities, and very feeble pulse, which in one case was for some time absent at the wrist, in the other beat only forty strokes in the minute. In both instances relief was afforded by vomiting produced by a tablespoonful of flour of mustard mixed with warm water. Dr. Barton was informed that the powdered leaves were employed by an empyric with "success in certain states of fever; and Dr. Thomas, in an inaugural dissertation, published at Philadelphia, A. D. 1802, states that a case of diarrhoea, of eight weeks duration, was cured by a decoction made by boiling an ounce of the leaves in eight ounces of water down to four ounces. Thirty drops were given six times a day; but this quantity pro- duce'! vertigo, and the dose was afterwards repeated only four times daily. The leaves are said also to have been used advantageously in syphilis. Externally applied in shape of ointment or decoction, they have been found useful in tinea capitis, psora, herpes, and other cutaneous affections; but some caution is necessary in their application, as, accord- inor to Dr. Barton, nervous symptoms have resulted from the external use of the decoction. Di. Bigelow has seen the recently powdered leaves given in doses of from ten lo twenty grains, without perceptible effect. It is probable that the other species of Kalmia—as the K. angustifolia, or sheep-laurel, and the K. glauca, or swump-laurel, have properties identical with those of the K. latifolia. 98 1154 Appendix. LABDANUM. Ladanum. A resinous substance obtained from various species of Cistus, especially the C. Creticus, C. ladaniferus, and C. laurifolius, small evergreen shrubs, inhabiting the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and the different countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Upon the leaves and branches of these shrubs a juice exudes, which is collected by means of an instrument resembling a rake, with leather thongs in- stead of teeth, which is drawn over the plant. The juice adheres to the pieces of leather, and is afterwards separated. It is said that labdanum was formerly collected by combing the beards of goats which had been browsing upon the leaves of the cistus. It comes chiefly from the Grecian islands. Two varieties exist in commerce. The purest labda- num is in masses of various sizes, sometimes weighing several pounds, enclosed in blad- ders, of a dark-red almost black colour externally, grayish internally when first broken, of the consistence of a plaster, softening in the hand and becoming adhesive, of an agree- able balsamic odour, similar to that of amber, and of a bitter, balsamic, somewhat acrid taste. It is very inflammable, burning with a clear flame. On exposure it becomes dry, porous, and brittle. Little of this variety is found in the markets. Common labdanum is in pieces of a contorted or spiral form, light, porous, blackish-gray, hard and brittle, not softening between the fingers, similar in odour and taste to the preceding variety, but less inflammable, and mixed with much sand and other earthy matter, which are obvious to the sight. Guibourt found in 100 parts of the labdanum in masses, 86 parts of resin with a little volatile oil, 7 parts of wax, 1 of watery extract, and 6 of earthy substances and hair. In the contorted variety, Pelletier found 20 per cent, of resin, 3.6 of gum with malate of lime, 0.6 of malic acid, 1.9 of wax, 1.9 of volatile oil including loss, and 72 of ferruginous sand. Labdanum is a stimulant expectorant, and was formerly given in catarrhal and dysen- teric affections. At present it is employed only as an ingredient in plasters, and seldom even for that purpose in the United States. It is sometimes used in fumigation. LAC. A resinous substance obtained from several trees growing in the East Indies, particularly from the Croton lacciferum, and two species of Ficus, the F. religiosa and F. Indica. It is found in the form of a crust surrounding the twigs or extreme branches, and is generally supposed to be an exudation from the bark, owing to the puncture of an insect belonging to the genus Coccus, and denominated C.Lacca. By some it is thought to be an exudation from the bodies of the insects themselves, which collect in great num- bers upon the twigs, and are embedded in the concreted juice, through which the young insects eat a passage and escape. Several varieties of lac are known in commerce. The most common are stick lac, seed lac and shell lac. Stick lac is the resin as taken from the tree, still encrusting the small twigs around which it originally concreted. It is of a deep reddish-brown colour, of a shining frac- ture, translucent at the edges, inodorous, and of an astringent, slightly bitterish taste. Its external surface is perforated with numerous minute pores, as if made by a needle; and when broken it exhibits many oblong cells, often containing the dead insect. When chewed, it colours the saliva, and when burnt, diffuses a strong agreeable odour. It im- parts a beautiful red colour to the saliva, and is in great measure soluble in alcohol. Little of this variety is imported. Seed lac consists of minute irregular fragments broken from the twigs, and partially exhausted by water. It is of a light or dark brown colour, inclining to red or yellow, feebly shining, almost tasteless, and capable of imparting to water less colour than the stick lac, sometimes scarcely colouring it at all. It is occasionally mixed with small fragments of the twigs. Shell lac is prepared by melting the stick or seed lac previously deprived of its soluble colouring matter, straining it, and pouring it upon a flat smooth surface to harden. It is in thin fragments of various sizes, from half a line to a line thick, often somewhat curved, of a lighter or darker brown colour, inclining more or less to red or yellow, shining, more or less transparent, hard and brittle, inodorous and insipid, insoluble in water, but easily and almost entirely soluble in alcohol, especially with the aid of heat. A variety of lac is mentioned by writers, in the form of cakes, called cake or lump lac (lacca inplacentis); but this is at present rare in commerce. According to John, lac consists of resin, colouring matter, a peculiar principle insolu- ble in alcohol, ether, or water, called laccin, a little wax, and various saline matters in small proportion. The resin, according to Unverdorben, consists of several distinct re- sinous principles differing in their solubility in alcohol and ether. The laccin is nearly or quite wanting in the shell lac, which also contains scarcely any of the colouring prin- ciple. Mr. Hatchet found in sticklac 68 per cent of resin and 10 of colouring matter; in seed lac 88 5 per cent, of resin and 2.5 of colouring matter; in shell lac 90.9 per cent, of resin and 0.5 of colouring matter. The other constituents, according to this chemist, are wax and gluten, besides foreign matters. Appendix. 1155 Lac in its crude state is slightly astringent, and was formerly used in medicine. At present itis not employed. Shell lac is wholly inert. Stick lac and seed lac are used on account of the colouring principle which they contain. Shell lac, as well as the other varieties deprived of their colouring matter, is applied to numerous purposes in the arts. It is the chief constituent of sealing wax. The best red sealing wax is made by melting together, with a very gentle heat, 48 parts of shell lac, 19 of Venice turpentine, and 1 ot balsam of Peru, and mixing with the melted mass 32 parts of finely powdered cinnabar. But common rosin is often substituted in part for the lac, and a mixture of red lead and chalk for the cinnabar. The best black sealing wax consists of 60 parts of lac, 10 of turpentine, and 30 of levigated bone black; the best yellow sealing wax, of 60 parts ot lac, 12 of turpentine, and 24 of chromate of lead. (Berzelius.) Lac is also used as a varnish, and forms an excellent cement for broken porcelain and earthenware. LAKES. These are compounds of vegetable or animal colouring principles with alu- mina or metallic oxides, and are usually obtained by adding alum, or permuriate of tin, to the solution of the colouring matter in water, and precipitating by means of an alkali. The alumina or oxide of tin unites with the colouring matter at the moment of separa- tion, and forms an insoluble compound. Lakes are obtained in this way from cochineal, madder, Brazil wood, seed lac, French berries, &c. They are used in painting. LAURUS BENZOIN. Spice-wood. Spice-bush. Fever-bush. An indigenous shrub, from four to ten feet high, growing in moist, shady places, in all parts of the United Slates. Its flowers appear early in spring, long before the leaves, and are succeeded by small clusters of oval berries, which when ripe, in the latter part of September, are of a shining crimson colour. All parts of the shrub have a spicy, agreeable flavour, which is strongest in the bark and berries. The small branches are sometimes used as a gently stimulant aromatic, in the form of infusion or decoction. They are said to be employed in this way by the country people as a vermifuge, and an agreeable drink in low fevers. Dr. William Barton says that the bark, as he lias been informed, is extensively used in the country, and with much success, in intermittents. The berries, dried and powdered, were sometimes substituted, during the revolutionary war, for allspice. According to Dr. Drake, the oil of the berries is used as a stimulant. LEDUM PALUSTRE. Marsh Tea. Rosmarinus sylvestris. A small evergreen shrub, growing in swamps and other wet places, in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America, and in the mountainous regions of more southern latitudes. The leaves have a balsamic agreeable odour, and an aromatic, camphorous, bitter taste; and contain, among other ingredients, volatile oil and tannin. They are thought to possess narcotic properties, and have been employed in exanthematous diseases to allay febrile irritation, in hooping-cough, in dysentery, and in various cutaneous affections, particularly leprosy and scabies. In complaints of the skin, they are used both internally and externally, in the form of decoction. When placed among clothes, they are said to prevent the attacks of moths. In Germany, they are sometimes substituted for hops in the preparation ot beer. The Ledum latifolium, or Labrador tea, which is a larger plant than the preced- ing, is a native of North America, growing in damp places in Canada and the northern parts of the United States. The leaves, as in the former species, have an agreeable odour and taste, and are esteemed pectoral and tonic. They are said to have been used as a substitute for tea during the war of independence. LIATRIS SPICATA. Gay-feather. Button Snakeroot. An indigenous perennial plant, growing in natural meadows and moist grounds throughout the Middle and South- ern States. It has a tuberous root, and an erect annual stem, which terminates in a spike of beautiful, purple, compound flowers, which appear in August. The root is said by Schoepf to have a terebinthinate odour, and a warm, bitterish, terebinthinate taste; to be possessed of diuretic properties; and to be useful in gonorrhoea and sore throat, being employed internally in the shape of decoction in the former complaint, and as a gargle in the latter. Pursh informs us, that the L. scariosa, and L. squarrosa, are known in Virginia, Kentucky, and lh# Carolinas, by the name of Rattlesnake's master; and that their roots arc employed to cure the bite of the rattlesnake, being bruised and applied directly to the wound, while their decoction in milk is taken internally. According to Dr. William Barton, all the tuberous-rooted species of Liatris are active plants, and ap- pear to be diuretic. LIGUSTICUM LEVISTICUM. Lavage. An umbelliferous plant, growing wild in the South of Europe, and cultivated in gardens. The whole plant has a strong, sweetish, aromatic odour, and a warm pungent taste. When wounded it emits a yellow opaque juice, which concretes into a brownish resinous substance not unlike opopanax. The roots, stem, leaves, and seeds have all been employed; but the last have the aromatic 1156 Appendix. properties of the plant in tho highest degree. They are small, ovate-oblong, somewhat flattened, curved, strongly ribbed, and of a yellowish.brown colour. The medical pro- perties of lovage are closely analogous to those of angelica. It is a stimulant aromatic, and has been employed as a carminative, diaphoretic, and emmenagogue. The best form for administration is that of infusion. LIGUSTRUM VULGARE. Privet. A shrub from four to ten feet in height, grow- ing wild both in Europe and the United States, usually in hedges and by the roadside. The leaves, which have an astringent, bitter taste, and the flowers, which are small, snow-white, and of an agreeable odour, have been used, in the form of decoction, in sore- throat, and aphthous and scorbutic ulceration of the mouth. The berries are black, have a sweetish, bitter taste, and are said to possess purgative properties, and to colour the urine brown. They are sometimes used for dyeing. LILIUM CANDIDUM. Common White Lily. This well known plant is a native of Syria and Asia Minor, but has been long cultivated in gardens. The bulb, which con- sists of imbricated fleshy scales, is without odour, but has a peculiar, disagreeable, some- what bitter and mucilaginous taste. It contains much mucilage, and a small proportion of an acrid principle, which is dissipated or destroyed by roasting or boiling. In the recent state it is said to have been employed with advantage in dropsy. Boiled with water or milk it forms a good emollient cataplasm, more used in popular than in regular practice. The flowers have an agreeable odour, which they impart to oil or lard; and an ointment or liniment is sometimes prepared from them, and used as a soothing appli- cation in external inflammations. LINUM CATHARTICUM. Purging Flax. This plant having been discarded by the London College, in the last revision of their Pharmacopoeia, does not now hold a place in any one of the officinal catalogues of this country or Great Britain. In ac- cordance, therefore, with the plan of this work, it has been transferred from the first part of the Dispensatory to the Appendix. It is a very small annual plant, having erect, slender stems, dichotomous near the summit, furnished with opposite, obovate, lanceo- late, entire leaves, and bearing minute white flowers, the petals of which are obovate and acute. It is a native of Europe, and not found within the United States, where it is never employed as a medicine. The herbaceous part is bitter and somewhat acrid, and imparls its virtues to water, which acquires a yellow colour. It formerly enjoyed some reputation in Europe as a gentle cathartic, but has fallen into disuse. LIQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA. Sweet-gum. An indigenous tree, growing in different parts of the United States from New England to Louisiana, and flourishing also in Mexico, where, as well as in our Southern States, it sometimes attains a great magni- tude. In warm latitudes a balsamic juice flows from its trunk when wounded. This has attracted some attention in Europe, where it is known by the name of liquidamber, or copalm balsam, and is sometimes, though erroneously, called liquid storax. It is not afforded by the trees which grow in the Middle States, and is obtained from Mexico and Louisiana. It is a liquid of the consistence of thin honey, more or less transparent, of a yellowish colour, of a peculiar, agreeable, balsamic odour, and a bitter, warm, and acrid taste. By cold it becomes thicker and less transparent. It concretes also by time, assuming a darker colour. According to M. Bonastre, il contains a colourless volatile oil, a semi-concrete substance which rises in distillation and is separated from the water by ether, a minute proportion of benzoic acid, a yellow colouring substance, an oleo-resin, and a peculiar principle, insoluble in water and cold alcohol, for which M. Bonastre pro- poses the name of styracine. The proportion of benzoic acid is greatly increased by time. Mr. Hodgson obtained from a-specimen which he examined 4.2 per cent. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. vi. 190.) Another product is said to be obtained from the same tree by boiling the young branches in water, and skimming off the fluid which rises to the surface. It is of a thicker con- sistence and darker colour than the preceding, is nearly opaque, and abounds in impurities. This also has been confounded with liquid storax, which it resembles in properties, though derived from a different source. Liquidamber may be employed for the same purpose as storax, but is very seldom used, and is almost unknown in the shops of the United States. LITHOSPERMUM OFFICINALE. Gromwell. Milium Solis. A European perennial, the seeds of which are ovate, of a grayish-white or pearl colour, shining, rather larger than millet seeds, and of a stony hardness, from which the generic name of the plant originated. From an opinion formerly prevalent, that nature indicated remedies adapted to certain diseases by some resemblance between the remedy and the character of the complaint or of the part affected, the seeds of this plant were applied to the treatment of Appendix. 1157 calculous disorders; and they retained their ground in the estimation of physicians as a diuretic, useful in complaints of the urinary passages, long after the superstitious notion in which their use originated had been abandoned. But they are at present considered nearly inert, and are not employed. LYCOPODIUM CLAVATUM. Club-moss. The capsules of this moss, and of others belonging to the same genus, contain a fine dust or powder, which is collected in Switzer- land and Germany, and used in the shops of Europe under the name of lycopodium, or vegetable sulphur. This powder is considered by some as the pollen of the plant, by others as the seed. It is extremely fine, very light, of a delicate yellow colour, inodorous and tasteless, and exceedingly inflammable, so much so that it takes fire like gunpowder when thrown upon a burning body. It is said to be often adulterated with the pollen of the pines and firs, and, what is much worse, with talc and starch. In medicine, it is used as an absorbent application to excoriated surfaces, especially those which occur in the folds of the skin in infants. In pharmacy, it answers the purpose of facilitating the rolling of the pilular mass, and of preventing the adhesion of the pills when formed. It is not much used in this country. The moss itself, from which the powder is derived, has been esteemed diuretic, antispasmodic, &c; and has been employed, in the form of decoction, in rheumatism, epilepsy, and complaints of the lungs and kidneys; but it has fallen into discredit. MADAR or MUDAR. See CALOTROPIS GIGANTEA. MANDRAGORA OFFICINALIS. Atropa Mandragora, Linn. Mandrake. Mandra- gora. A perennial European plant, with a spindle-shaped root, which is often forked beneath, and is, therefore, compared, in shape, to the human figure. In former times this root was supposed to possess magical virtues, and was used as an amulet to promote fecundity, &c.; and the superstition still lingers among the vulgar in some parts of Europe. The plant is a poisonous narcotic, somewhat similar in its properties to bella- donna, to which it is botanically allied. It was much used by the ancients, with a view to its narcotic effects; and the root has been recommended by some eminent modern physicians, as an external application to scrofulous, scirrhous, and syphiltic tumours. It is unknown as a remedy in the United States. MEDEOLA VIRGINICA. Indian Cucumber. An indigenous perennial herb, grow- ing in all parts of the United States. The root, which in shape and flavour bears a 6trong resemblance to a small cucumber, is said by Pursh to be eaten by the Indians. According to the late Professor Barton, it has been thought useful in dropsies, and pro- bably possesses diuretic properties. It is figured and described by Dr. William Barton in his Medical Botany. M ELI LOTUS OFFICINALIS. Melilot. An annual or biennial plant, indigenous in Europe, and growing also in this country. We have two varieties, one with yellow, the other with white flowers, which are considered by some as distinct species. The plant when in flower has a peculiar sweet odour, which, by drying, becomes stronger and more agreeable, somewhat like that of the tonka bean. Indeed, according to M. Guille- mette, the odorous principle of the two substances is identical. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 172.) The taste of melilot is slightly bitterish. It has little medical power, and, though for- merly recommended in various diseases, is at present not employed internally. As a local application, it is used, in the form of decoction or cataplasm, in moderate inflammations, though probably witli little other advantage than such as results from the combination of warmth and moisture. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM CRYSTALLINUM. Ice-plant. A biennial plant, grow- ing spontaneously in the South of Europe, and cultivated as a curiosity in colder countries, by the aid of artificial warmth. The stem and under surface of the leaves are covered with crystalline drops, which give the plant the appearance of being coated with ice. The herb is without smell, and has a somewhat saline nauseous taste. It is considered demulcent and diuretic, and has been highly lauded as a remedy in various complaints, especially in those affecting the mucous membrane of the lungs and urinary passages. It has also been used in dropsy. The expressed juice is the form in which the remedy has been generally employed. MOMORDICA BALSAMINA. Balsam apple. Balsaminu. An annual climbing plant, a native of the East Indies, but cultivated in our gardens for the sake of the fruit. This is ovate, attenuated towards each extremity, angular, warty, not unlike a cucumber in appearance, of a lively red or orange-yellow colour, easily falling when touched, and spontaneously separating into several pieces. It was formerly highly esteemed as a vulnerary, and is still in use among the common people. A liniment formed by infusing the fruit deprived of its seeds, in olive or almond oil, is applied to chapped hands, burns, 98* 1158 Appendix. old sores, piles, prolapsus ani, &c; and the fruit itself is sometimes mashed and used in the form of poultice. According to M. Descourtlitz, it is poisonous when taken inter- nally, having proved fatal lo a dog in the quantity of two or three drachms; and an extract prepared from it is said to be useful in dropsy, in the dose of from six to fifteen grains. MURIATIC ETHER. Aether Muriaticus. This ether was discovered by Rouellc, but first obtained in sufficient quantities to examine its properties by Basse. It may be procured by several processes, but the following is the best. Distil a mixture of equal measures of concentrated muriatic acid and alcohol, and receive the product, by means of a curved glass tube, in a tubulated bottle, half filled wiih water at a temperature between 70° und 80°, and connected by means of a second tube with another bottle, loosely corked, and surrounded by a mixture of common salt with snow or pounded ice, The ether which comes over into the first bottle, is mixed with alcohol and acid, which are retained by the water, while the pure ether passes forward, and is condensed in the refrigerated bottle. This ether must be kept in strong bottles, well secured with ground stoppers covered with leather. Before being opened, the bottle should be cooled down to the freezing point. Muriatic ether is colourless, has a strong, slightly saccharine, alliaceous taste, and a penetrating, ethereal, alliaceous smell. Its sp. gr. at the temperature of 41°, is 0.774. It is extremely volatile, entering into ebullition at 54°, so that in summer it may be col- lected in the gaseous state, in bell-glasses over water. Its density in the state of vapour is 2.22. When kindled as issuing from a fine orifice, it burns with an emerald-green flame without smoke, diffusing a strong odour of muriatic acid; but when set on fire in quantities, il bums with a greenish-yellow smoky flame. Water dissolves one-fiftieth of its weight of this ether, and acquires a sweetish, ethereal taste, and alcohol unites with it in all proportions. These solutions are not precipitated by nitrate of silver, showing that the muriatic acid present is in a peculiar state of combination. Like sulphuric and nitric ether, it dissolves sulphur and phosphorus, the fat and volatile oils, and many other sub- stances. It consists of one equiv. of muriatic acid 36.42, and one of etherine 28.48 = 64.9; or in volumes, of two volumes of the acid, and one volume of the vapour of etherine, condensed into two volumes. Muriatic ether, like the other substances of this class, is a diffusible stimulant, but owing to its extreme volatility, cannot be kept in the shops. It may, however, be pre- served in a cool cellar, the temperature of which does not rise above 45° or 50°, being well secured in bottles, which should be placed reversed. When used in medicine, it is generally mixed with an equal bulk of alcohol, when it is called alcoholic muriatic ether. The dose is from five to thirty drops, given in sweetened water, or other convenient vehicle. MUSHROOMS. Fungi. This extensive family of cryptogamous plants is interest- ing to the physician, from the consideration, that, while some of thern are very largely consumed as food in different parts of the world, others are deleterious in their nature, and capable, when eaten, of producing poisonous effects. Their substance is made up of a cellular tissue, which is usually of that soft consistence denominated fungous, but is sometimes corky, ligneous, or even gelatinous. Many of them have an agreeable odour and taste, while others are unpleasant or offensive both to the nostrils and palate. Ac- cording to Braconnot, most of them contain, among other substances, a peculiar principle denominated fungin, a peculiar acid called fungic acid usually combined with potassa, and a peculiar saccharine matter less sweet than the other varieties of sugar, less soluble in alcohol and water than that of the cane, and distinguished by some writers as the sugar of mushrooms. Fungin constitutes the basis of these vegetables, and is the principle upon which their nutritive properties chiefly depend. It is the fleshy substance which remains when they are treated with boiling water holding a little alkali in solution. It is whitish, soft, and insipid; inflammable; insoluble in water, alcohol, ether, weak sulphuric acid, and weak solutions of potassa and soda; soluble in healed muriatic acid; decomposed by nitric acid, and by concentrated alkaline solutions; and decomposed by destructive dis- tillation into substances resembling those which result from the distillation of animal matters. It is highly important for those who employ mushrooms as food, to be able to distin- guish those which are wholesome from the poisonous. The following general rules are given by M. Richard in the Dictionnaire des Drogues. Those should be rejected which have a narcotic or fetid odour, or an acrid, bitter, or very acid taste; which occasion a sense of constriction in the throat when swallowed; which are very soft, liquifying, changing colour, and assuming a bluish tint upon being bruised; which exude a milky, acrid, and styptic juice; which grow in very moist places, and upon putrefying sub- Appendix. 1159 stances; in fine, all such as have a coriaceous, ligneous, or corky consistence. The last, however, are injurious in consequence rather of their indigestible than of their poisonous nature. Even mushrooms whicli are usually edible, may prove poisonous, if collected too late, or in places which are too moist. It is said, moreover, that the poisonous species sometimes become innocent when they grow under favourable circumstances; and that the most noxious may be rendered edible by boiling them in water acidulated with vine- gar. Immense quantities of mushrooms are eaten in France, Germany, Italy, and other parts of continental Europe; and it is asserted that they constitute the chief food of the people in certain provinces. The symptoms produced by the poisonous mushrooms, are anxiety, nausea, faintness, vomiting, and if they are not rejected from the stomach, somnolence, stupor, small and intermittent pulse, tension of the abdomen, cold extremities, livid skin, and death in thirty-six or forty-eight hours. Sometimes violent pains in the stomach and bowels are experienced; and occasionally severe vomiting and purging occur and save the patient. The remedies are emetics, if the physician is called in time, accompanied with the free use of warm drinks, and followed by cathartics. After the evacuation of the alimentary canal, demulcent and nutritive beverages should be given, and the strength of the patient sustained by mild tonics or stimulants. Ether is particularly recommended. (Merat and De Lens.) Some of the poisonous species have been used as medicines; but in this country they are never employed; and too little seems to be precisely known of their modes of action, and their qualities, even in the same species, vary too much, according to the circum- stances of their growth and situation, to justify their introduction into the materia medica, without further investigation. MUSK, ARTIFICIAL. Moschus Fuctitius. This is prepared by adding, drop by drop, three parts of fuming nitric acid to one of unrectified oil of amber. The acid is decomposed, and the oil converted into an acid resin, which must be kneaded under pure water, until all excess of acid is removed. The substance which remains is the artificial musk, and is of a yellowish-brown colour, viscid, and of an odour which recalls that of musk. It reddens litmus, dissolves sparingly in water, and more freely in alcohol. Ac- cording to Setterberg, it contains three resins, two of which are soluble in boiling oil of turpentine; the third, insoluble. One of the soluble resins is obtained upon the cooling of the oil when it separates; the other by evaporating the cold oil from which the first has precipitated. (Berzelius Traite de Chim. vi. 714.) Dr. S. W. Williams, in a paper contained in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, gives the following formula for the preparation of artificial musk. Add gradually, drop by drop, three drachms and a half of concentrated nitric acid to a drachm of rectified oil of amber, contained in a glass tumbler, or very large wineglass. The mixture grows hot, and emits offensive fumes which the operator must avoid. When the ordinary nitric acid is employed, which is not of full strength, the reaction must be assisted by heat; in which case Dr. Williams recommends that the vessel containing the mixed ingredients be placed in a plate before the fire, they being, meanwhile, continually stirred with a glass rod. The reaction is sometimes so violent as to eject part of the contents from the glass. After the mixture has remained at rest for twenty-four hours, it acquires a resinous appearance, and divides into two portions, an acid liquid below, and a yellow resin above, resembling musk in smell. This being thoroughly washed, first with cold and then with hot water, until all traces of acid are removed, is the artificial musk. (Amer. Journ. of Pharm. viii. 14. April, 1836.) Artificial musk is an antispasmodic and nervine, and possesses the general therapeutic properties of the natural substance, though in a weaker degree. It is praised by Dr. Williams, from his personal experience, in the treatment of hooping cough, typhoid states of fever, and nervous diseases generally. When combined with water of ammonia, com- pound spirit of lavender, or laudanum, he has found no remedy so efficient in the sinking faintness occurring in the last stages of pulmonary consumption. The average dose for an adult is ten grains; for a child of two years old from half a grain to a grain, repeated, in each case, every two or three hours. It may be prepared as the musk mixture, or with almonds in the form of emulsion. According to Berzelius the tincture is formed by dissolving a drachm of artificial musk in an ounce of alcohol, equivalent to ten fluidrachms of the sp. gr. of 0.835. Of this the dose for an adult is a teaspoonful. The tincture re- commended in the American Journal of Pharmacy (a drachm of the musk to four ounces of alcohol) is altogether too spirituous. Though artificial musk is not equal in power to the natural substance when genuine; yet it is in all probability superior to the adulterated article, so frequently sold under the name of musk. On this account, as well as in view 1160 Appendix. of its comparative cheapness, it forms a useful substitute for musk, applicable to several forms of disease. MYROB ALANS. Myrobalani. These are the fruits of various East India trees, par- ticularly of different species of Terminaha. They are noticed here partly on account ot tueir ancient reputation, partly because they are still occasionally to be found in the shops, though seldom, if ever, used in medicine. Five varieties are distinguished by authors. 1. Myrobalani bellirica. These are obtained from the Terminalia Bellirica. They are roundish or ovate, from the size of a hazlcnut to that of a walnut, of a grayish brown colour, smooth, marked with five longitudinal ribs, and sometimes furnished with a short thick footstalk. They consist of an exterior, thin, firm, resinous, brown, fleshy portion, and an interior kernel, which is light brown, inodorous, and of a bitterish very astringent taste. 2. Myrobalani chebula. This variety is produced by the Terminalia Chebula. The fruit is oblong, pointed at each extremity, from fifteen to eighteen lines in length, of a dark-brown colour, smooth and shining, with five longitudinal wrinkles, but without footstalks. In their internal arrangement and taste, they resemble the preceding. 3. Myrobalani citrina, \e\flava. These are from a variety of the same tree which affords the last mentioned myrobalans, from which they differ only in being somewhat smaller, of a light brown or yellowish colour, and of a taste rather more bitter. They have been sometimes sold in the shops in Philadelphia under the name of white galls, to which, however, they bear no other resemblance than in taste. 4. Myrobalani Indica, vel nigra, These are thought to be the unripe fruit of the Terminalia Chebula, or T. Bellirica. They are ovate oblong, from four to eight lines long, and from two to three lines thick, of a blackish colour, wrinkled longitudinally, and presenting, when broken, a thick, brown mass, without kernel, but with a small cavity in the centre. They are sourish and very astringent. 5. Myrobalani emblica. This variety is wholly different from the preceding, and derived from a plant having no affinity to the Terminaliffl—namely, the Phyllanthus Emblica of Linnffius. It is often in segments, as kept in the shops. When the fruit is entire, it is blackish, spherical, depressed, of the size of a cherry, presenting six obtuse ribs with as many deep furrows, and separating into six valves, with a strongly astringent and acidulous taste. These fruits were in high repute with the Arabians, and were long employed by Euro- pean practitioners as primarily laxative, and secondarily astringent, in various complaints, particularly diarrhoea and dysentery. Their dose was from two drachms to an ounce, They are not now employed as medicines. We have been told that they have sometimes been used as a substitute for galls in the preparation of inkpowder. NAPLES YELLOW. A yellow pigment prepared by calcining a mixture of lead, common sulphuret of antimony, dried alum, and muriate of ammonia, or a mixture of carbonate of lead, diaphoretic antimony, (a compound of peroxide of antimony and potassa, made by deflagrating one part of sulphuret of antimony with three of nitre",) dried alum, and muriate of ammonia. (Gray.) NARCISSUS PSEUDO-NARCISSUS. Daffodil. This well known bulbous plant is a native of Europe,'but is very common in the gardens of this country, where it attracts attention by the early appearance of its conspicuous yellow flowers. Both the bulb and flowers have been used in medicine. The latter have a feeble peculiar odour, and both have a bitter mucilaginous taste. They are emetic, though uncertain in their operation. It is probable that the flowers of the wild plant are more powerful than those of the culti- vated. They may be given dried and powdered, or in the form of extract. The dose of the powder, to produce an emetic effect, varies, according to the statements of different physicians, from a scruple to two drachms; while the extract is said to vomit in the dose of two or three grains. It is conjectured that the emetic property is developed by the agency of water. The bulb is most powerful in the recent state, and, within our own knowledge, is occasionally used as an emetic in domestic practice in this country. When dried and powdered, it has been given in the dose of thirty-six grains without vomiting. The flowers are said also to possess antispasmodic powers, and have been used in France, with supposed advantage, in hooping cough, epilepsy, and other convulsive affections. It is probable, however, that they operated in these cases by their nauseating or emetic pro- perty. They have, moreover, been advantageously employed in diarrhoea, dysentery, and intermittent fever. Other species of Narcissus are said to possess the same properties, though they have not been so much used. NARD. Spikenard. Several aromatic roots were known to the ancients under the name of nardus, distinguished, according to their origin or place of growth, by the names of nardus Indica, nardus Celtica, nardus montana, &c. They are supposed to have been derived from different species of Valeriana. Thus the nardus Indica is re- ferred to the V. Jatamemi of Bengal, the nardus Celtica to the V. Celtica, inhabiting the Appendix. 1161 Alps, Apennines, &c, and the nardus montana to the V. tuberosa, which grows in the mountains of the South of Europe^ The Indian nard, or spikenard, sometimes also called Syrian nard, is still occasionally to be found in the shops. It is a small, delicate root, from one to three inches long, beset with a tuft of soft, light-brown, slender fibres, of an agreeable odour, and a bitter, aromatic taste. It was formerly very highly esteemed as a medicine, but is now almost out of use. Its properties are analogous to those of the officinal valerian. NASTURTIUM OFFICINALE. R.Brown. Sisymbrium Nasturtium, Linn. Water- cress. A small, perennial, herbaceous, succulent plunt, growing in springs, rivulets, and ponds, in North America, Europe, and some parts of Asia. The fresh herb has a quick penetrating odour, especially when rubbed, and a bitterish, pungent taste, but loses both when dried, ln sensible and medical properties it bears some resemblance to scurvy- grass, though milder, and on this account is preferred for the table. It is thought to be useful in scorbutic affections, and visceral obstructions. The expressed juice is some- times given in the dose of one or two ounces; but the herb is more frequently used in the form of a salad. Other species of Nasturtium, as the N. palustre or marsh water- cress, and the N. amphibium or water-radish, grow in similar situations with the N. offici- nale, and possess similar virtues. NEPETA CAT ARIA. Catmint. Catnep. This is a well-known perennial herbaceous plant, very common in the United States, but supposed by some to have been introduced from Europe. It is found most abundantly along the roadsides, and may be distinguish- ed by its quadrangular somewhat hoary stem, from one to three feet high, its opposite, petiolate, cordate, dentate, pubescent leaves, green above, and whitish on their under sur- face, and its whitish or slightly purple, labiate didynamous flowers, which are terminal and axillary, verticillate, somewhat in the form of a spike, and appear in July and Au- gust. The herbaceous part is used. It has a strong, peculiar, rather disagreeable odour, and a pungent, aromatic, bitterish, camphorous taste. Il yields its virtues to water. Cats are said to be very fond of it. In its operation upon the system it is tonic and excitant, bearing considerable resemblance to the mints, and other labiate plants. It is employed as a domestic remedy, in the form of infusion, in amenorrhcea, hysteria, chlorosis, &c.; but is scarcely known in regular practice. Some of the older medical writers speak favourably of its powers. Two drachms of the dried herb may be given as a dose in infusion. NIGELLA SATIVA. Nutmeg flower. Small fennel-flower. A small annual plant, growing wild in Syria and the South of Europe, and cultivated in various parts of the world. The seeds, which are sometimes kept in the shops under the name of semen nigella, are ovate, somewhat compressed, about a line long and half as broad, usually three-cornered, with two sides flat and one convex, black or brown externally, white and oleaginous within, of a strong, agreeable, aromatic odour, like that of nutmegs, and a spicy pungent taste. Their chief constituents are a volatile and fixed oil. They are analogous to the other aromatics in properties, and though not at present used in medi- cine, have been employed in some countries from the remotest times as a condiment. NITRATE OF SODA. Cubic Nitre. This salt may be formed by treating carbo- nate of soda with nitric acid. It exists naturally, in inexhaustible quantities, in the de- sert of Atacama in Peru, where it forms a bed of variable thickness, covered with clay, of one hundred and fifty miles in extent. Considerable quantities have been extracted for the purposes of commerce. Occasionally a carf;o is brought to the United States. Nitrate of soda, when pure, is a white salt, crystallizing in rhomboidal prisms, and having a sharp, cooling, and bitter taste. It attracts moisture readily from the air, and dissolves in about twice its weight of water at 60°. As it usually comes from Peru it is in dirty-white saline lumps, rather soft and friable, and damp on the surface. It is cheaper than nitre, for which salt it may be substituted in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and in the preparation of nitric acid, chrome yellow, &c. As nitrate of soda has been imposed upon our merchants for nitre, it may be useful to mention that the former salt may be distinguished by its giving rise to an orange-yellow flarne when thrown on burning coals, and by the rhomboidal shape of its crystals; those of nitre being long six-sided prisms. (Sec page 540.) NITROSULPHATE OF AMMONIA. This compound, discovered by Pelouze in 1835, may be formed by passing nitric oxide through a solution of sulphite of ammonia in five or six times its volume of liquid ammonia. A large number of crystals are formed, which must be quickly washed with liquid ammonia previously refrigerated, and dried without heat. Nitrosulphate of ammonia has been used at the Hotel Dieu in Paris, in doses of twelve grains, with apparent advantage, in typhoid fevers. Its composition 1162 Appendix. corresponds with one equiv. of nitric oxide, one of sulphurous acid, and one of ammonia; but as the salt is not precipitated by barytic water, Pelouze conceives that the nitric oxide and sulphurous acid together, form a peculiar acid which he calls nitrosulphuric acid, consisting of one equiv. of nitrogen, one of sulphur, and four of oxygen. NYMPILEA ODORATA. Sweet-scented Water-lily. An indigenous herbaceous perennial, growing in most parts of the United States, in fresh-water ponds and the bor- ders of streams, and distinguished by the beauty and delicious odour of its large, white, many petalcd flowers. Its root is, when fresh, large and fleshy, but becomes light, spongy, and friable by drying. It is very astringent and bitter; and, according to Dr. Bigelow, contains much tannin and gallic acid. It is sometimes employed, in the form of poultice, as a discutient application. The root of the Nymphaa alba, or European white water-lily, was esteemed aphrodisiac by the ancients; but has long lost this reputa- tion. Like that of the American plant, it is bitter ahd styptic, and may have been useful by its astringency in some cases of leucorrhcea, gonorrhoea, dysentery, &c., in which it was formerly employed for its reputed sedative virtues. OCHRES. These are native mixtures of argillaceous or calcareous earth and oxide of iron, employed in painting. They are prepared for use by agitating them with water, decanting the turbid liquor after the coarser particles have subsided, then allowing it to rest in order that the finer parts may be deposited, and lastly drying the sediment which forms. The colour of the ochres varies with the state of oxidation of the iron, and with the proportion which it bears to the other ingredients, and is sometimes artificially modi- fied by the agency of heat. Several varieties are kept in our shops, under different names, according to their colour, or place of origin. Such are the brown ochre, the yellow ochre, the red ochre, the Roman ochre of a brownish-yellow changing by heat to a purple red, the Oxford ochre of a brownish-yellow colour less deep than the Roman, and the French ochre which is yellow. The Indian red from the Persian Gulf, and Spanish brown, may also be ranked in this class of pigments. Sometimes ochres come in a powdery state, and sometimes in hard masses; in the latter state they are called stone ochres. OCIMUM BASILICUM. Basil. An annual plant, a native of India and Persia, and cultivated in Europe and in this country in gardens. The whole plant has a strong, peculiar, agreeable, aromatic odour, which is improved by drying. The taste is aromatic, and somewhat cooling and saline. Basil has the ordinary properties of the aromatic plants, and is in some places considerably used as a condiment. The seeds arc said by Ainslie to be used in India, in the form of infusion, as a remedy in gonorrhoea and ne- phritic affections. CENANTHE CROCATA. Hemlock Water.dropwort. A perennial, umbelliferous, aquatic, European plant, exceedingly poisonous both to men and inferior animals. The root, which has a sweetish not unpleasant taste, is sometimes eaten by mistake for other roots, with the most dangerous effects; and numerous instances of fatal results are on record. The symptoms produced are such as attend irritation or inflammation of the stomach, united with great cerebral disturbance. Externally applied, the root produces redness and irritation of the skin, with an eruptive affection. It is said to be sometimes used empyrically as a local remedy in piles; and a case is recorded, in which an obsti- nate leprosy was cured by the continued use of the juice of the plant. Other species of (Enanthe are poisonous, and the whole genus should be regarded among the suspected plants. We have two or three indigenous species. The proper remedies in cases of poisoning from these plants, are emeti«s, followed, after the stomach has been thoroughly evacuated, by mucilaginous and other demulcent drinks. OENOTHERA BIENNIS. Tree Primrose. A biennial indigenous plant, growing in fields and along fences, from Canada to Carolina. It is from two to five feet high, with a rough stein, alternate, ovate-lanceolate leaves, and fine yellow flowers, which make their appearance in July and August. Schoepf states that it is esteemed useful as a vul- nerary. Dr. R. E. Griffith, of the University of Virginia, has found a strong decoction of the small branches, with the leaves and cortical part of the stem and larger branches, very beneficial in eruptive complaints, especially tetter. He applies the decoction seve- ral times a day to the affected part. He thinks the virtues of the plant reside in the cortical part, which has a mucilaginous taste, and leaves a slight sensation of aciimony in the fauces. (Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 292.) OIL OF EUPHORBIA. A fixed oil, obtained from the seeds of the Euphorbia La- thyris, a biennial plant growing wild in this country, though believed to have been intro- duced from Europe, where it is indigenous. It is often found near gardens and in culti- vated fields, and is generally called mole-plant, under the impression that moles avoid the grounds where it grows. (Pursh.) It is the Caper plant of England. (Loudon's Encyc. Appendix. 1163 of Plants.) Like the other species of euphorbia, it contains a milky juice, which is ex- tremely acrid; and the whole plant possesses the properties of a drastic purge; but the oil of the seeds is the only part used in regular practice. This may be extracted by expression, or by the agency of alcohol or of ether. In the first case, the bruised seeds are pressed in a canvass or linen bag, and the oil which escapes is purified by decanting it from the whitish flocculent matter which it deposites upon standing, arid by subsequent filtration. By the latter process, the bruised seeds are digested in alcohol or macerated in ether, and the oil is obtained by filtering and evaporating the solution. According to Soubeiran, however, the oil obtained by these different processes is by no means identical. That procured by expression is probably the purest. Oil of euphorbia is colourless, inodorous, and, when recent, nearly insipid; but it speedily becomes rancid, and acquires a dangerous acrimony. Soubeiran has ascertained, that it has a complex composition, containing, besides the pure oil, four distinct proximate prin- ciples. (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 259.) From 40 to 44 parts are obtained by expression from 100 of the seeds. This oil is a powerful purge, operating with much activity in a dose varying from five to ten drops. It has within a few years been much used by some Italian and French physicians, who have not found it to produce inconvenient irritation of the stomach or bowels. Its want of taste, and the smallness of the dose, recommend it especially in the cases of infants. It is said to be less acrid and irritating than the croton oil, over which *it also has the advantage of greater cheapness. Some trials which have been made with it on this side of the Atlantic have not tended to confirm these favourable reports. It was found uncertain in its cathartic effect, and very liable to vomit. (Scattergood, Journ. of the Phil. Col. of Pharm. iv. 124.) It may be given in pill with the crumb of bread, or in emulsion. OIL OF JASMINE. This oil is obtained from the flowers of the Jasminum officinale, or common white jasmine, and from those also of the J. Sambac and J. grandiflorum. Al- ternate layers of the fresh flowers, and of cotton saturated with the oil of ben (expressed oil of Hyperanthera Moringa), or perhaps other fixed oil, are exposed in a covered vessel to the warmth of the sun, the flowers being occasionally renewed, till the oil becomes im- pregnated with their odour, when it is separated from the cotton by pressure. This method is necessary, as the flowers do not yield their aroma by distillation. The oil of jasmine is used only as a perfume. ORANGE RED. Orange Mineral. Sandix. Red oxide of lead, prepared by calcining carbonate of lead. It is of a brighter colour than minium, and is used as a pigment. OROBANCHE VIRGINIANA. Epifagus Americanus, Nuttall. Beech-drops. Can- cer-root. A parasitic, fleshy plant, with a tuberous, scaly root, and a smooth stem, branched from the base, from twelve to eighteen inches high, furnished with small ovate scales, of a yellowish or purplish colour, and wholly destitute of verdure. It is found in all parts of North America, growing upon the roots of the beech tree, from which it obtained its popular name. It is in some places very abundant. The plant has a bitter, nauseous, astringent taste, which is said to be diminished by drying. It has been given internally in bowel affections; but its credit depends mainly upon the idea that it is useful in obsti- nate ulcers of a cancerous character, to which it is directly applied in the state of powder. The late Professor Barton conjectured that it was an ingredient of a secret remedy, at one time famous as Martin's cancer powder, of which, however, the most active constitu- ent was arsenious acid. Other species of Orobanche, growing in America and Europe, have been employed. They are all parasitic, fleshy plants, without verdure, and of a bitter nauseous taste. In Europe they are called broom-rape. The O. Americana and O. uniflora, of this country, are said to be used for the same purposes as the species above noticed, and like it are called cancer-root. ORPIMENT. King's Yellow. A native sulphuret of arsenic, consisting of two equiv. of metal 75.4, and three equiv. of sulphur 48.3=123.7. It is in masses of a brilliant lemon-yellow colour, composed of flexible laminae, and slightly translucent. It exists in various parts of the world, but is obtained for use from Persia and China. (Gui- bourt.) It i3 sometimes mixed with realgar, which gives it a reddish or orange hue. A similar sulphuret may be made artificially by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through a solution of arsenious acid in muriatic acid. There is reason to believe that neither the native sulphuret, nor the artificial, when prepared in the manner just mentioned and well washed, is poisonous, at least in a degree at all comparable to other arsenical compounds. Artificial orpiment is prepared for use by fusing together equal parts of arsenious acid and sulphur. (Turner) In Germany, according to Guibourt, it is prepared by subliming 1164 Appendix. a mixture of these two substances. In this rase, however, it retains a large portion of the acid undecomposed, and is therefore highly poisonous. Guibourt found u specimen which he examined to contain 96 per cent, of arsenious acid, and only 6 per cent, of the sulphu- ret of arsenic. Orpiment is used chiefly as a pigment. ORYZA SATIVA. Rice. This is an annual plant, originally, perhaps, derived from the East Indies, but now cultivated in all parts of the globe where the climate and soil arc adapted to its growth. The rice of commerce consists of the seeds of the plant deprived of their husk. Carolina rice was found by Braconnot to contain 85.07 per cent, of starch, 3.60 of gluten, 0.71 of gum, 0.29 of uncrystallizable sugar, 0.13 of fixed oil, 4.80 of vege- table fibre, 5.00 of water, and 0.40 of saline substances. This grain is highly nutritious, and of easy digestion, and constitutes the almost exclusive diet of whole nations. It is admirably adapted to cases of weak bowels, in which there is a strong tendency to di- arrhcea. Care, however, should be taken that it be boiled till it becomes soft. A decoc- tion of rice, usually called rice-water, is a good nutritive drink in fevers and inflammatory affections of the bowels, lungs, and kidneys. OXALIC ACID. Acidum Oxalicum. This acid is found both in animals and vegeta- bles. It is generated occasionally in consequence ofa diseased action in the kidneys, and deposited in the bladder as an oxalate of lime, forming a peculiar concretion, called from its appearance the mulberry calculus. In vegetables, it occurs in a free state in the bristles of the chick-pea (Cicer arielinum), combined with potassa as a supersalt in the Rumex acetosa or common sorrel, and the Oxalis acetosella or wood sorrel, and united with lime in several species of lichen, and in the roots of rhubarb, valerian, and several other plants. It is from the generic appellation Oxalis, that it takes its name. Preparation. This acid may be prepared, by proper management, from the juice of the wood sorrel. The first step is lo obtain the binoxalate of potassa in crystals, by a careful evaporation of the juice of the plant. The excess of acid is then neutralized with carbonate of potassa, and the neutral oxalate is decomposed by acetate of lead. In conse- quence ofa double decomposition, a precipitate of oxalate of lead is obtained. This is to be well washed and dried, and decomposed by means of one-third of its weight of strong sulphuric acid, previously diluted with ten times its weight of water. An insoluble sul- phate of lead is formed, and the oxalic acid, being liberated, may be made to crystallize by evaporation. The mother waters, by further evaporation, furnish fresh portions of crystals, until quite exhausted. By this process a very pure acid may be obtained. The usual process for obtaining oxalic acid consists in decomposing sugar by nitric acid. Four parts of sugar are acted upon by twenty-four parts of nitric acid of the sp. gr. 1.22, and the mixture heated so long as any nitric oxide is disengaged. A part of the carbon of the sugar is converted into carbonic acid, by oxygen derived from the nitric acid, which is thereby partially converted into nitric oxide. The undecomposed nitric acid, reacting on the remaining elements of the sugar, generates oxalic and malic acids, the former of which crystallizes as the materials cool, while the latter remains in solution. The crystals being removed, a fresh crop may be obtained by further evaporation. The thick mother water which now remains is a mixture of malic, nitric, and oxalic acids; and by treatment with six times its weight of nitric acid, the greater part of the malic acid will be converted into oxalic acid. The new crop of crystals, however, will have a yellow colour, and con- tain a portion of nitric acid, the greater part of which may be got rid of by allowing them to effloresce in a warm place. Many substances besides sugar yield oxalic, by the action of nitric acid; as for example, starch, gum, wool, hair, silk, and many vegetable acids. In every case in which it is thus generated, the proportional excess of oxygen which it contains, compared with every other organic compound, is furnished by the nitric acid. Organic substances yield oxalic acid also, when heated with potassa. Thus shavings of wood, if mixed with a solution of caustic potassa, and exposed to a heat considerably higher than 212°, will be partially de- composed and converted into oxalic acid, which then combines with the alkali. This process constitutes, perhaps, the cheapest method of obtaining oxalic acid. Properties. Oxalic acid is a colourless crystallized solid, possessing considerable vola- tility, and a strong sour taste. Its crystals have the shape of slender, flattened, four or six-sided prisms, with two-sided summits; and, when exposed to a very dry atmosphere, undergo a slight efflorescence. It dissolves in about nine times its weight of cold, and in its own weight of boiling water. The solution of the crystals takes place with slight cre- pitation. It dissolves also, but not to the same extent, in alcohol. The presence of nitric acid renders it more soluble in water. It combines with salifiable bases, and forms salts called oxalates. The most interesting of these arc the three oxalates of potassa, severally called oxalate, binoxalate, and quadroxalate, and the oxalate of lime. The binoxalate of Appendix. 1165 potassa is the salt of sorrel, sometimes absurdly called in the shops, the essential salt of lemons. It is employed for removing iron moulds from linen, and acts by its excess of acid forming a soluble salt with the sesquioxide of iron constituting the stain. This acid has a very strong affinity for lime, and forms with it an insoluble precipitate consisting of oxalate of lime, whenever the acid and earth are brought into contact. Hence, oxalic acid and its soluble combinations are the best tests we possess for lime; and conversely, a soluble salt of lime for oxalic acid. When lime is searched for, the oxalate usually employed is the oxalate of ammonia, as being the most convenient. So strong is the mutual attraction between this acid and lime, that the former takes the latter, even from sulphuric acid. Hence, the addition of a soluble oxalate disturbs the transparency ofa solution of sulphate of lime. Oxalic acid is distinguished from all other acids, by the form of its crystals, and by its solution yielding a precipitate with lime-water, insoluble in an excess of the acid. Composition. Oxalic acid consists of two equivalents of carbon 12.24, and three of oxy- gen 24=36.24. When crystallized, three equiv. of water 27 must be added, making the equiv. of the crystals 63.24. Two equivalents of this water may be driven off by a regu- lated heat, by which the acid is made to effloresce, but the third cannot be expelled with- out destroying the acid itself. Accordingly, as in the case of nitric acid, we have no knowledge of anhydrous oxalic acid in an uncombined state. From the constitution of oxalic acid, as above given, it is plain that this acid corres- ponds in composition to carbonic acid and oxide taken together, and is, therefore, inter- mediate, in the quantity of oxygen which it contains, between this acid and oxide. Not- withstanding it contains less oxygen than carbonic acid, it is incomparably stronger as an acid, which circumstance may be accounted for by supposing some peculiarity in the mode in which its constituents are combined. The composition of the acid not only corresponds with the united constituents of carbonic acid and oxide, but there is reason to believe that these two compounds are actually its proximate constituents; for if treated with strong sulphuric acid, the whole of the water will be abstracted, and the elements of the dry oxalic acid will be'instantly resolved into equal volumes of carbonic acid and oxide. Oxalic acid combines with salifiable bases in two principal ways. Sometimes it drops its essential equivalent of water, which at other times it retains. Thus the oxalate of lead is a compound of the dry acid and the protoxide of lead; while the oxalate of lime retains the one equivalent of water. Dulong has suggested that the prolo-hydrated acid might be viewed as a hydracid, consisting of two equiv. of carbonic acid and one equiv. of hydrogen, and that where the acid appears to lose one equiv. of water, it is made up between the hydrogen of this acid and the oxygen of the base. According to this view, when oxalic acid combines with the protoxide of lead, the hydrogen of the acid unites with the oxygen of the protoxide, forming water which is dissipated, while the carbonic acid combines with the metallic lead. For oxalates susceptible of this hypothetical view, Dulong has proposed the name of carbonides. Whatever theory we may adopt, it is cer- tain that, in oxalate of lead and similarly constituted oxalates, if we suppose the oxygen of the protoxide transferred to the elements of the oxalic acid, we shall have what corres- ponds with two equiv. of carbonic acid, and one of metal; but as we know of no in- stance in which carbonic acid combines directly with a metal, it seems unlikely that Du- long's view will prove correct. Medical and Toxicological Properties. According to Dr. A. T. Thomson, oxalic acid in small doses, largely diluted with water and sweetened to the taste, forms an agreeable, cooling beverage, which may be used in febrile diseases as a substitute for lemonade. Notwithstanding the safety of its employment in this way, it is a virulent poison, pro- ducing death with great rapidity and certainty. Instances are on record of its proving fatal in ten minutes, and few survive the effects of a poisonous dose beyond an hour. As this acid is generally kept in the shops, and not a few instances are on record of its fatal effects, when taken by design, or by mistake for Epsom salt, we shall feel ourselves jus- tifiable in being somewhat full on its toxicological relations. Oxalic acid was first noticed as a poison by Mr. Royston in 1814; since which time it has been principally investigated in this relation by Dr. A. T. Thomson of London, Dr. Percy of Lausanne, Dr. Coindet of Geneva, and Dr. Christison of Edinburgh. Since its properties of certainty and rapidity as a poison have been more generally known, its employment for committing suicide has become more frequent. From the general resemblance which the crystallized oxalic acid bears to Epsom salt, many fatal mistakes have occurred, since the acid has become so extensively an article of commerce, in consequence of its being sold for that saline purgative. Nothing, however, can be easier than to distinguish them; for upon tasting a minute portion of the acid, which may be done with perfect safety, it will be found strongly sour, whereas the salt in question is bitter. Unfortunately, however, in the instances of these fatal mistakes, 99 f 1166 Appendix. no suspicions being awakened, the solution is swallowed with the greatest rapidity, and the mischief is done before the victim is aware of his danger. Oxalic acid acts on the animal economy in two principal ways, according os its solution is concentrated or dilute. When concentrated, it causes exquisite pain, followed by vio- lent efforts to vomit; then sudden dulness, languor, and great debility, and finally death without a struggle. When dilute, it acts in a totally different manner. Dissolved in twenty times its weight of water, it possesses no corrosive, and hardly any irritating power, and yet it operates as a deadly poison, causing death by acting on the brain, spi. nal marrow, and heart. The morbid appearances caused by oxalic acid are various. In a dissection reported by Dr. Christison, the mucous coat of the throat and gullet had an appearance as if scalded, and that of the gullet could be easily scraped off. The inner part of the stomach was pultaceous, in many points black, in others red, and that of the intestines, similarly but less violently affected. In another case recorded by the same author, the whole villous coat of the stomach was either softened or removed, as well as the inner membrane of the cesophagus; so that the muscular coat was exposed, and this coat exhibited a dark gangrenous appearance, being much thickened, and highly injected. The stomach usually contains a dark fluid, resembling coffee-grounds, consisting chiefly of altered blood. In a few cases after death by this acid, no morbid appearances have been discovered. In the treatment of poisoning by oxalic acid, the remedial measures must be employed with great promptitude. If the antidotes are not at hand and vomiting is not free, emetics will be proper. The stomach pump would be useful, but no delay in the application of other remedies is admissible, in the expectation of its use. Dr. Christison objects to the use of warm water to promote vomiting, from a fear that it would increase the danger by promoting the absorption of the poison; but it may be a question whether this evil, con- sidering the incidental benefit of the water in promoting vomiting, is not less than that of the corrosion of the stomach, which copious dilution has a tendency to prevent. The proper antidote is magnesia or chalk, mixed with water; and as soon as either can be procured, it must be administered in large and frequently repeated doses. Chalk was first proposed for this purpose by Dr. A. T. Thomson, of London. These substances act by neutralizing the poison, forming with it an insoluble oxalate either of magnesia or of lime, both of which are inert. Alkalies as antidotes are inadmissible, as the soluble salts of this acid are likewise poisonous. The best tests for the detection of oxalic acid in the contents of the stomach or in the vomited matter, in cases of suspected poisoning by this acid, are chloride of calcium, sul- phate of copper, and nitrate of silver. The first causes a white precipitate of oxalate of lime, known by its being soluble in nitric acid; the second, a bluish-white precipitate of oxalate of copper; and the third, a dense white precipitate of oxalate of silver, which, whendr.ied and heated, becomes brown and detonates faintly. When the antidotes have been freely used.during life, the poison will be in the state of oxalate either of lime or magnesia. Here the oxalate found is to be boiled with a solution of carbonate of potassa, whereby an oxalate of potassa will be generated; and this must then be examined by the re-agents above indicated. OX-GALL. Fel Bovinum. The bile of the ox is a viscid fluid, of a green or greenish- yellow edlour, a peculiar nauseous odour, and a bitter taste. According to Gmelin, it contains, besides water, 1. a volatile principle, having the odour of musk; 2. a peculiar fatty matter, originally found in biliary calculi, called cholesterin; 3. oleic acid; 4. mar- garic acid; 5. .a new acid, called cholic acid; 6. a bitter resinous substance, called biliary resin; 7. a crystalline principle, called taurin; 8. biliary sugar; 9. a colouring substance upon which the characteristic colour of the bile depends; 10. a kind of extractive matter; 11. a substance analogous to vegetable gluten; 12. caseous matter; 13. salivary matter; 14. albumen; 15. mucus; 16. various saline substances. The resin and sugar, with the colouring matter, appear to be the characteristic constituents. Gmelin considers the picromel of Thenard as a mixture of the sugar of the bile with a portion of the resin which it renders soluble in water. Bile was formerly highly valued as a remedy in numerous complaints, and was consi- dered peculiarly applicable to cases attended with deficient biliary secretion. It is sup- posed to be tonic and laxative. It is prepared for use by evaporating it to the consistence of an extract. The dose is from five to ten grains. Refined ox-gall, much used by lim- ners and painters, is prepared, according to Gray, in the following manner. Take of "fresh ox-gall one pint; boil, skim, add one ounce of alum, and keep it on the fire for some time; to another pint, add one ounce of common salt in the same manner; keep them bottled up for three months, then decant off the clear; mix them in an equ il pro- portion; a thick yellow coagulum is immediately formed, leaving the refined gdll clear und colourless." Appendix. 1167 P-EONIA OFFICINALIS. Peony. This well known plant is a native of Southern Europe, but is every where cultivated in gardens for the beauty of its flowers. The root, flowers, and seed were formerly officinal. The root consists of a caudex about as thick as the thumb, which descends several inches into the ground, and sends off in all directions spindleshaped tubers that gradually taper into thread-like fibres, by which they hang together. It has a strong, peculiar, disagreeable odour, and a nauseous taste, which is at first sweetish, and afterwards bitter and somewhat acrid. The odour disappears or is much diminished by drying. Peony-root was in very great repute among the ancients, who used it both as a charm and as a medicine in numerous complaints, particularly epi- lepsy. In modern times it has also been given in epilepsy and various nervous affections, but is at present seldom used. The dose of the fresh root is from two drachms to an ounce, boiled in a pint of water down to half a pint, which should be taken daily. It is said to be less active when dried. The expressed juice of the recent root is recommended in the dose of an ounce. It is milky, of a strong odour, and very disagreeable taste. The flowers are usually ofa deep-red colour, though in some varieties ofa light red, and even whitish. They have, when fresh, an odour similar to that of the root, but feebler, and an astringent, sweetish, herbaceous taste. When dry, they are inodorous. As a medicine they have little power, and are scarcely used. The seeds are roundish oval, about as large as a pea, externally smooth, shining, and nearly black, internally whitish, inodorous when dry, and of a mild oleaginous taste. By some authors they are said to be emetic and purgative, and by others are considered antispasmodic- They may be given in the same dose with the roots, but arc not used in regular practice. PARIETARIA OFFICINALIS. Wall Pellitory. A perennial European herb, grow- ing on old walls and heaps of rubbish. It is inodorous, has an herbaceous, somewhat rough and saline taste, and contains nitre derived from the walls where it flourishes. It is diuretic and refrigerant, and is said also, but without good reason, to be demulcent and emollient. The ancients employed it in various complaints, and it is still considera- bly used on the continent of Europe, especially in domestic practice. It is given in com- plaints of the urinary passages, dropsy, and febrile affections, usually in the form of decoction. The expressed juice is also used, and the fresh plant is applied in the shape ofa cataplasm to painful tumours. PATENT YELLOW. Mineral Yellow. A pigment, consisting of chloride combined with protoxide of lead. It is prepared by mixing common salt and litharge with a suffi- cient quantity of water, allowing the mixture to stand for some time, then washing out the liberated soda, and exposing the white residue to heat. PHELLANDRIUM AQUATICUM, Linn. (Enanthe PAeZZanoVtwfn, Lamarck. Fine- leaved Water-hemlock. A biennial or perennial, umbelliferous, European water-plant, the fresh leaves of which are said to be injurious to cattle, producing a kind of paralysis when eaten. By drying, they lose their deleterious properties. The seeds have been used in Europe to a considerable extent, in the treatment of disease. They are from a line to a line and a half in length, ovate-oblong, narrow above, somewhat compressed, marked with ten delicate ribs, and crowned with the remains of the calyx and with the erect or reverted styles. Their colour is yellowish-brown, their odour peculiar, strong, and disagreeable; their taste acrid and aromatic. Among their constituents is a volatile oil, upon which their aromatic flavour depends. By different writers they are described as aperient, diu- retic, emmenagogue, expectorant, and sedative. They probably unite mild narcotic pro- perties with the stimulant powers which are common to most of the aromatics, and may be directed, according to circumstances, to different secretory organs. In over doses they produce vertigo, intoxication, and other narcotic effects. The complaint in which they appear to have been used most successfully is consumption, probably of the catarrhal character. They have been given also in asthma, dyspepsia, intermittent fever, obstinate ulcers, &c. The dose of the seeds, to commence with, is five or six grains, so repeated as to amount to a drachm in twenty-four hours. They should be given in powder. PHLORIDZIN. This is a bitter principle, discovered by Dr. Konink, of Germany, in the bark of the apple, pear, cherry, and plum trees. It is most abundant in the bark of the root, and derived its name from this circumstance. (From two Greek words, ; bark, and fi£<* a root.) It is light, white, crystallizable in silky needles, of a bitter taste, soluble in about 1000 parts of cold and in all proportions in boiling water, very soluble in alcohol, scarcely soluble in ether cold or hot, dissolved without change by solutions of the alkalies especially by ammonia, deprived of its water of crystallization at 212°, and fusible at a somewhat higher temperature. It is without acid or alkaline reaction, and consists of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. To obtain it, the fresh bark of the root of the apple tree should be selected, as the dried bark is said to contain it in much smaller pro- portion. The bark is to be boiled for an hour or two successively in two separate por- 1168 Appendix. tions of water, each sufficient to cover it, and the decoctions set aside. At the end of thirty hours they will have deposited a considerable quantity of coloured phloridzin, which may be purified by boiling for a few minutes with distilled water and animal charcoal, filtering, repeating this process two or three times, and then allowing the solu- tion to cool slowly. The phloridzin is deposited in the crystalline state. An additional quantity may be obtained by evaporating the decoction to one-fifth of its bulk, allowing it to cool, and purifying the substance deposited in the same manner as before. Phloridzin is said to possess the anti-intermittent property in a high degree, and to have proved successful where quinia had failed. It was employed by Dr. Konink in the dose often or fifteen grains, and in this quantity effected cures in several cases of intermit- tent fever. (Journ. de Pharm. xxii. 78.) PHYSALIS ALKEKENGI. Common Winter Cherry. A perennial herbaceous plant, growing wild in the South of Europe, and cultivated in our gardens. The fruit is a round red berry, about as large as a cherry, enclosed in the calyx, and containing numerous flat kidney-shaped seeds. The berries are very juicy, and have an acidulous, bitterish taste. The calyx is very bitter. By drying they shrink, and become of a brownish-red colour. They are said to be aperient and diuretic, and have been highly recommended in suppression of urine, gravel, and other complaints of the urinary passages. From six to twelve cherries, or an ounce of the expressed juice, may be taken for a dose; and even much larger quantities are not injurious. They are consumed to a considerable extent in some parts of Europe as food. The berries of the Physalis viscosa of this country, are said by Clayton to be remarkably diuretic. PICHURIM BEANS. The seeds of a tree not well known (Laurus Pichurim, Richard, Ocotea Pichurim, Kunth), growing in Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela, and other parts of South America. The beans are the kernels of the fruit separated into halves. They are ovate-oblong or elliptical, flat on one side, convex on the other, of a grayish- brown colour externally, chocolate coloured within, of an aromatic odour between that of nutmegs and sassafras, and of a spicy pungent taste. There are two kinds, one about an inch and a half long by half an inch in breadth, the other little more than half as large, rounder, and of a dark brown colour. Their virtues depend on a volatile oil. In medi- cal properties they resemble the aromatics in ordinary use, and may be employed for the same purposes. They are very rare in this country. PIMPINELLA SAXIFRAGA. Small Burnet Saxifrage. Saxifraga. A perennial umbelliferous European plant, growing on sunny hills, and in dry meadows and pastures. The root is ranked among officinal remedies in some parts of Europe. It has a peculiar, strong, aromatic, yet unpleasant odour, and a sweetish, pungent, biting, aromatic, bitter- ish taste. Its active constituents are volatile oil, and an acrid resin. It is considered diaphoretic, diuretic, and stomachic; and has been used in chronic catarrh, asthma, dropsy, amenorrhcea, &c. The dose in substance is about half a drachm, and in infusion two drachms. The root is also used as a masticatory in toothach, as a gargle in palsy of the tongue and in collections of viscid mucus in the throat, and externally to remove freckles. PINCKNEYA PUBENS. Michaux. A large shrub or small tree, growing in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, in low and moist places along the sea coast. It is closely allied, in botanical characters, to the Cinchona?, with which it is ranked by some bota- nists, though it certainly does not belong to that genus as defined by De Candolle. The bark is bitter, and has been used with advantage in intermittent fever. Dr. Law, of Georgia, cured six out of seven cases in which he administered it. The dose and mode of preparation arc the same with those of cinchona. The chemical composition and medical properties of this bark deserve a fuller investigation than they have yet re- ceived. PLANTAGO MAJOR. Plantain. A well known perennial herb, growing in fields, by the roadsides, and in grass plats, and abounding both in Europe and this country. The leaves are saline, bitterish, and austere to the taste, the root saline and sweetish. The plant has been considered refrigerant, diuretic, deobstruent, and somewhat astrin- gent. The ancients esteemed it highly, and employed it in visceral obstructions, hemor. rhages, particularly from the lungs, consumption, dysentery, and other complaints. In modern times it has been applied to similar purposes, and the root is said to have proved useful in intermittents. At present, however, it is generally believed to be very feeble, and is little used internally. As an external application it has been recommended in ulcers of various kinds, and in indolent tumours of a scrofulous character. Among the vulgar it is still much used as a vulnerary, and as a dressing for blisters and sores. The dose of the expressed juice is from one to four fluidounces. Two ounces of the fresh Appendix. 1169 root or leaves may be boiled in a pint of water and given during the day. Externally, tho leaves are applied in substance or decoction. The Plantago media, and the P. lan- cifolia or rib-grass, which are also indigenous species, possess properties similar to those of the P. major, and may be used for the same purposes. Under the name of semen psyllii, the seeds of several species of Plantago, growing in different parts of Europe, are sometimes kept in the shops. The best are obtained from the Plantago Psyllium or flea wort, which grows in the South of Europe and Barbary. They are small, about a line long by half a line in breadth, convex on one side, concave on the other, flea-coloured, shining, inodorous, and nearly tasteless, but very mucilagi- nous when chewed. They are demulcent and emollient, and may be used internally and externally in the same manner as flaxseed, which they closely resemble in medical properties. PLUMBAGO EUROPCEA. Leadwort. Dentellaria. A perennial, herbaceous plant, growing in the South of Europe. It has an acrid taste, and when chewed, excites a flow of saliva. This is particularly the case with the root, which has been long used to relieve toothach. Hence the plant derived the name of dentelaire, by which it is known in France. A decoction of the root in olive oil has been highly recommended for the cure of the itch. Writers differ much in their statements in relation to the activity of the plant, some speaking of it as rubefacient, vesicatory, and caustic, and when swallowed, as violently emetic and liable to produce dangerous irritation of the alimentary canal; while others consider it nearly inert. Perhaps the difference may be ascribed in part to the use of the plant in the recent state in one case, and dried or long kept in the other. A crystallizable, acrid principle, called plumbagin, has been extracted from the root by Dulong. POLYPODIUM VULGARE. Common Polypody. A fern belonging both to the old and new continents, and growing in the clefts of old walls, rocks, and decayed trunks of trees. The root, which is the part considered medieinal, is rather long, about as thick as a goosequill, somewhat contorted, covered with brown, easily separable scales, furnished with slender radicles, and marked by numerous small tubercles. As found in the shops, it is sometimes destitute of the scales and radicles. Its colour is reddish-brown with a tinge of yellow, its odour disagreeably oleaginous, its taste peculiar, sweetish, somewhat bitter, and nauseous. The root of the variety growing upon the oak has been preferred, though without good reason. It was deemed purgative by the ancients, who employed it for the evacuation of bile and pituitous humours, in melancholic and maniacal cases. Modern physicians have used it in similar complaints, and as a pectoral in chronic catarrh and asthma. At present, however, it is scarcely ever employed, being considered nearly inert. It was given in doses varying from one or two drachms to an ounce, usually in connexion with cathartic medicines. POPULUS. Poplar. Several trees belonging to this genus of plants have attracted some attention in a medical point of view, ln most of them, the leaf buds are covered with a resinous exudation, which has a peculiar, agreeable, balsamic odour, and a bitter- ish, balsamic, somewhat pungent taste. This is abundant in the buds of the Populus nigra or black poplar of Europe, which are officinal in some parts of that continent. They contain resin and a peculiar volatile oil. The buds of the P. balsamifera, growing in the northern parts of this continent and Siberia, are also highly balsamic; and a resin is said to be furnished by the tree, which is sometimes, though erroneously, called taca- mahac. The virtues of the poplar buds are probably analogous to those of the turpentines and balsams. They have been used in pectoral, nephritic, and rheumatic complaints, in the form of tincture; and a liniment, made by macerating them in oil, has been applied externally in cases of local rheumatism. The unguentum populeum of European phar- macy, is made, according to the directions of the French Codex of 1837, by bruising in a marble mortar, and boiling in 2000 parts of lard, with a gentle fire, till the moisture is dissipated, 250 parts, each, of the fresh leaves of the black poppy, deadly nightshade, henbane, and black night-shade (Solanum nigrum); then adding of the dried buds of the black poplar, bruised, 375 parts; digesting for 24 hours; straining with strong ex- pression; and finally allowing the ointment to cool after defecation. This is an ano- dyne ointment, occasionally employed in Europe as an application in painful local affections. The bark of some species of poplar is possessed of tonic properties, and has been used in intermittent fever with advantage. Such is the case with that of the P. tremuloides or American aspen, and of the P. tremula or European aspen. In the bark of the latter species, Braconnot found salicin, and another proximate crystallizable principle which he named populin. It is in these principles, probably that the febrifuge properties of the bark reside. They may be obtained by precipitating a saturated decoction of the bark 1170 Appendix. with solution of subacetate of lead, filtering, precipitating the excess of lead by sulphuric acid, again filtering, evaporating, adding animal charcoal towards the end of the evapo- ration, and filtering the liquor while hot. Salicin gradually separuRs, upon the cooling of the liquor, in the form of crystals. If, when this principle has ceased tojcrystallizc, tho excess of sulphuric acid in the liquid be saturated by a concentrated solution of carbonate of potassa, the populin will be precipitated. If this be pressed between folds of blotting paper, and rcdissolved in boiling water, it will be thrown down, upon the cooling of the liquid, in the crystalline state. The leaves of the P. tremula also afford populin, and in larger proportion even than the bark. It is probable that both principles exist also in the bark of the P. tremuloides, and some other species. Salicin is described under the head of Salix. Populin is very light, ofa pure white colour, and ofa bitter, sweetish taste, analogous to that of liquorice. When heated it readily melts into a colourless and trans- parent liquid. It is soluble in 2000 parts of cold, and about 70 parts of boiling water; and is more soluble in boiling alcohol. Acetic acid and the diluted mineral acids dis- solve it, and upon the addition of an alkali, let it fall unchanged. PORTULACA OLERACEA. Garden Purslane. An annual succulent plant, grow- ing in gardens and cultivated grounds in the United States, Europe, and most other parts of the globe. It has an herbaceous, slightly saline taste, and is often used as greens, being boiled with meat, or other vegetables. It is considered a cooling diuretic, and is recommended in scorbutic diseases, and affections of the urinary passages. The seeds have been thought to be anthelmintic; but they are tasteless and inert. POTENTILLA REPTANS. Cinquefoil. A perennial, creeping, European herb, with leaves which are usually quinate, and have thus given origin to the ordinary name of the plant. The root has a bitterish, styptic, slightly sweetish taste, and was formerly used in diarrhoea and other complaints for which astringents arc Usually prescribed. PROTOCARBONATE OF IRON OF VALLET. Vallet's Ferruginous Pills. M. Vallet of Paris has discovered a method of protecting the protocarbonate of iron from the absorption of oxygen, and thereby rendering it permanent, a great desideratum in phar- macy; as, of all the ferruginous preparations which are insoluble in water, the protocar- bonate is the most readily decomposed by acids. The agent by which this protection is afforded is saccharine matter; but, instead of sugar, used for protecting the protoxide by M. Klauer, (see p. 898,) M. Vallet employs honey. His formula, which was presented to the French Royal Academy of Medicine in February, 1837, and favourably reported on by a committee of that body, is substantially as follows. Take of Bonsdorff's sulphate of iron (see p. 906) ten ounces; pure carbonate of soda eleven ounces and six drachms; very pure white honey six ounces. Dissolve the salts, separately, in five pints of warm water, deprived of air by boiling, and sweetened with syrup, in the proportion of an ounce to each pint of water. Filter the two solutions separately, and mix them in a bottle of such a size as to be filled almost entirely by the mixture. Stop the bottle with a glass stopper, shake the mixture, and set it by, that the carbonate of iron may subside. Decant the supernatant liquid, and wash the precipitate with warm water, previously boiled and sweetened as that used for the solution of the salts, until the absence of saline taste in the washings, indicates the entire removal of the sulphate and excess of carbonate of soda. The precipitate is thrown upon a linen strainer saturated with syrup, forcibly compressed, and then mixed with the honey. The resulting mixture is liquid, and must be reduced, by means of a water-bath, to the pilular consistence with as much expedition as pos- sible. The pilular mass retains its softness, and has a uniform black colour and ferru- ginous taste. When wanted for use, it may be made up into pills each weighing three grains, and containing somewhat less than a grain and a half of protocarbonate. These pills have been tried in the diseases in which ferruginous preparations are usually employed, such as chlorosis, amenorrhcea, and other female complaints, and produced favourable results in a shorter time than when the ordinary carbonate is em- ployed. They appeared to act favourably by increasing the colouring matter of the blood, particularly in chlorosis, causing the capillary system to become more fully in- jected, and the lips to assume a redder colour. They may be given to the extent of eight or ten pills daily, and continued for a month or six weeks, if improvement take place. There can be very little doubt, that in cases in which the alterative effects of iron are proper, Vallet's preparation is superior to any other derived from that metal. (See the Report made by M. Soubeiran on Vallet's ferruginous pills, Am. Journ. of Pharm. x. 244; also the paper of Mr. William Procter, Jun., on the carbonate and protomuriate of iron, Ibid. x. 272.) PRUNELLA VULGARIS. Self-heal. Heal-all. A small perennial labiate plant, com- mon both in Europe and the United States, growing especially by the way-sides. It is inodorous, but has an austere bitterish taste. The herb in flower was formerly used, Appendix. 1171 in the state of infusion or decoction, in hemorrhages and diarrhoea, and as a gargle in sorethroat. In this country, it is not employed in regular practice. PULMONARIA OFFICINALIS. Lung-wort. An herbaceous perennial, indigenous in Europe, and sometimes cultivated in this country in gardens. The leaves, which are the part used, are inodorous, and have an herbaceous, somewhat mucilaginous, and feebly astringent taste. They have been considered pectoral and demulcent, and have been employed in catarrh, haemoptysis, consumption, and other affections of the chest; but their virtues are doubtful, and they were probably applied to the treatment of pectoral complaints as much on account of the supposed resemblance of their speckled surface to that of the lungs, as from the possession of any positively useful properties. PUMICE STONE. Pumex. A very light porous stone, found in the vicinity of active or extinct volcanoes, and believed to have been thrown up during their eruption. The pumice stone of commerce is said to be obtained chiefly from Lipari. It is used whole in the manner of a file, for removing the outer surface of bodies, or for rubbing down inequalities, and, in the state of powder, for polishing glass, metals, stones, &,c; purposes to which it is adapted by the hardness of its particles. PYRETHRUM PARTHENIUM. Willd. Matricaria Parthenium, Linn. Chrysan- themum Parthenium, Pers. Feverfew. A perennial herbaceous plant, about two feet high, with an erect, branching stem, pinnate leaves, oblong, obtuse, gashed, and dentate leaflets, and compound flowers borne in a corymb upon branching peduncles. It is a native of Europe, but cultivated in our herb gardens. 1'he whole herbaceous part is used. The plant has an odour and taste analogous to those of chamomile, which it resembles also in the appearance of its flowers, and in its medical properties. Though little employed, it is undoubtedly capable of useful application as a mild tonic. REALGAR. This is the protosulphuret of arsenic, consisting of one equiv. of arsenic 37.7, and one of sulphur 16.1 = 53.8. It is found native in Saxony, Bohemia, Transyl- vania, and in various volcanic regions. Realgar is artificially made by melting arsenious acid with about half its weight of sulphur. (Turner.) Thus prepared, it is of a crystalline texture, ofa beautiful ruby-red colour, of a uniform conchoidal fracture, somewhat trans- parent in thin layers, and capable of being sublimed without change. Native realgar is said to be innocent when taken internally, while that artificially prepared is poisonous, in consequence, according to Guibourt, of containing a little arsenious acid. Realgar is used only as a pigment. RED CHALK. Reddle. A mineral substance of a deep red colour, of a compact texture, dry to the touch, adhering to the tongue, about as hard as chalk, soiling the fingers when handled, and leaving a lively red trace when drawn over paper. It consists of clay and oxide of iron, and is intermediate between bole and red ochre, containing more oxide of iron than the former, and less than the latter. It is used for drawing lines upon wood, &c, and is sometimes made into crayons by levigating and elutriating it, then forming it into a paste with mucilage of gum Arabic, moulding this into cylinders, and drying it in the shade. It has been used internally as an absorbent and astringent. RESEDA LUTEOLA. Weld. Dyer's-weed. An annual European plant, naturalized in the United States. It is inodorous, and has a bitter taste, which is very adhesive. In medicine it has been employed as a diaphoretic and diuretic, but is now neglected. On the continent of Europe it is much employed for dyeing yellow, and before the introduction of quercitron into England, was extensively employed for the same purpose in that country. The whole plant is used. RIGA BALSAM. Balsamum Carpaticum. Balsamum Libani. This is a product of the Pinus Cembra, a large tree growing in the mountainous regions and northern lati- tudes of Europe and Asia. The juice exudes from the extremities of the young twigs, and is collected in flasks suspended from them. It is a thin white fluid, having an odour analogous to that of juniper, and possessing the ordinary terebinthinate properties. In this country it is very rare; but it is occasionally brought from Riga or Cronstadt in bottles. A similar product, called Hungarian balsam, is obtained in the same manner from the Pinus Pumilio, growing on the mountains of Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary. It is scarcely known in the United States. ROTTEN STONE. Terra cariosa. An earthy mineral, occurring in light, dull, friable masses, dry to the touch, ofa very fine grain, and of an ash-brown colour. It is obtained from Derbyshire in England, and is used for polishing metals. SALEP. Though not directed by any of the British Colleges, nor by our national Pharmacopoeia, this substance deserves a slight notice, as it is frequently mentioned by writers on the Materia Medica, and is occasionally to be found in the shops. The name is 1172 Appendix. given to the prepared bulbs of the Orchis mascula and other species of the same genus, belonging to the Linnaean class and order Gynandria Monandria,and to the natural family of the Orckidea. The male orchis is a native of Europe, the Levant, and northern Africa. Its bulbs, which are two in number, oval or roundish, internally white and spongy, are prepared by removing their epidermis, plunging them into boiling water, then stringing them together, and drying them in the sun or by the fire. By this process they acquire the appearance and consistence which distinguish them as found in the shops. They were formerly procured exclusively from Asia Minor and Persia, but are now prepared in France and perhaps other parts of Europe. Salop is in small, oval, irregular masses, hard, horny, semitransparent, of a yellowish colour, a feeble odour, and a mild mucilaginous taste. It is sometimes kept in the state of powder. In composition and relation to water it is closely analogous to tragacanth, consisting of a substance insoluble, but swelling up in cold water (bassorin), of another in much smaller proportion, soluble in cold water, and of minute quantities of saline matters. It is highly nutritive, and may be employed for the same purposes with tapioca, sago, &c. The reputation which it enjoyed among the ancients, and still enjoys in tho East, of possessing aphrodisiac properties, is wholly without foundation. SANDARACH. Sandaraca. This is a resinous substance obtained from the Thuya articulata, a small evergreen tree growing in the North of Africa. It is in small, irregular, roundish oblong grains or tears, of a pale yellow colour sometimes inclining to brown, more or less transparent, dry and brittle, breaking into a powder under the teeth, of a faint agreeable odour increased by warmth, and of a resinous slightly acrid taste. It melts with heat, diffusing a strong balsamic odour, and easily inflames. It is almost entirely soluble in ordinary alcohol, and entirely so in that liquid when anhydrous, and in ether. Heated oil of turpentine also dissolves the greater part of it, but very slowly. According to Unverdorben, it consists of three different resins, varying in their relations to alcohol, ether, and the oil of turpentine. The sandaracin of Geise, which remains after sandarach has been exposed to the action of ordinary alcohol, is a mixture of two of these resins. Sandarach was formerly given internally as a medicine, and entered into the composition of various ointments and plasters. At present it is used chiefly as a varnish. It is some- times employed as incense, and its powder is rubbed upon paper in order to prevent ink from spreading, after letters have been scratched out. SAPONARIA OFFICINALIS. Soapwort. A perennial herbaceous plant, growing wild in this country, in the vicinity of cultivation, but probably introduced from Europe. It is commonly known by the vulgar name of bouncing bet. It is one or two feet high, with smooth, lanceolate leaves, and clusters of conspicuous whitish or slightly purplish flowers, which appear in July and August. The root and leaves are employed. They are inodo- rous, and ofa taste at first bitterish and slightly sweetish, afterwards somewhat pungent, continuing long, and leaving a slight sense of numbness on the tongue. They impart to water the property of forming a lather when agitated, like a solution of soap, whence the name of the plant was derived. This property, as well as the medical virtues of the plant, reside in a peculiar extractive matter, obtained from the root by Buchholz, and called by him saponin. This principle constitutes, according to Buchholz, 34 per cent, of the dried root, which contains also a considerable quantity of gum and a little bassorin, resin, and altered extractive, besides lignin and water. Saponin is obtained, though not absolutely pure, by treating the watery extract with alcohol and evaporating. It is brown, somewhat translucent, hard and brittle, with a sweetish taste, followed by a sense of acrimony in the fauces. It is soluble in water and officinal alcohol, but is insoluble in anhydrous alco- hol, ether, and the volatile oils. Its watery solution froths when agitated. Soapwort has been much used in Germany as a remedy in venereal and scrofulous affections, cutaneous eruptions, and visceral obstructions. It appears to act as an alterative, like sarsaparilla, to which it has been deemed superior in efficacy by some physicians. The plant is given in the forms of decoction and extract, which may be freely taken. From two to four pints of the decoction daily are recommended in lues. The inspissated juice, given in the quantity of half an ounce in the course of a day, is said by Andry generally to cure gonorrhoea in about two weeks, without any other remedy. SARCOCOLLA. A peculiar vegetable product, exuding spontaneously from the Penaa Sarcocolla, P. mucronata and other species of Penaea, small shrubs growing at the Cape of Good Hope, in Ethiopia, Arabia, &c. It is in the form of small, roundish, irregular, grains, sometimes agglutinated in masses, friable, opaque or semi-transparent, of a yellow- ish or brownish-red colour, inodorous unless heated, when they have an agreeable smell, and of a peculiar, bitter, sweetish, and acrid taste. Sarcocolla, according to Pelletier, consists of 65.3 per cent, of a peculiar substance, considered by Dr. Thomson, as hold- ing an intermediate place between gum and sugar, and called sarcocollin or pure sarco- Appendix. 1173 colla, 4.6 of gum, 3.3 ofa gelatinous matter having some analogy with bassorin, and 26.8 of lignin, &c. It is said to be purgative, but at the same time to produce serious incon- venience by its acrid properties. The Arabian physicians used it internally, and by the ancients it was employed as an external application to wounds and ulcers, under the idea that it possessed the property of agglutinating the flesh, whence its name was derived. It is at present out of use. SASSA GUM. This name has been applied by Guibourt to a gum, occasionally brought into market from the east, and answering so exactly to Bruce's description of the product of a tree which he calls sassa, that there is reason to believe in their identity. Accord- ing to Guibourt's description, it is in mammillary masses, or in convoluted pieces resem- bling an ammonite, of a reddish colour, and somewhat shining surface, and more trans- parent than tragacanth. Its taste is like that of tragacanth, but slightly acrid. When introduced into water, it becomes white, softens, and swells to four or five times its ori- ginal bulk; but it preserves its shape, neither like tragacanth forming a mucilage, nor, like Bassora gum, separating into distinct flocculi. It is rendered blue by iodine. SATUREJA HORTENSIS. Summer Savory. An annual labiate plant, growing spontaneously in the South of Europe, and cultivated in gardens as a culinary herb. It has an aromatic odour and taste, analogous to those of thyme, and was formerly used as a gentle carminative stimulant; but it is now employed only to give flavour to food. The S. montana or winter savory, which is also cultivated in gardens, has similar properties, and is similarly employed. SCOLOPENDRIUM OFFICINARUM, Smith. Asplenium Scolopendrium, Linn. Harts-tongue. A fern indigenous in Europe and America. Its vulgar name was derived from the shape of its leaves, which were the part formerly used in medicine. They have a sweetish, mucilaginous, and slightly astringent taste, and, when rubbed, a disagreeable oily odour. They have been used as a deobstruent in visceral affections, as an astringent in hemorrhages and fluxes, and as a demulcent in pectoral complaints; but their proper- ties are feeble, and they have been superseded by more active medicines. SCUTELLARIA LATERIFLORA. Scullcap. This is an indigenous perennial herb, belonging to the Linnaean class and order Didynamia Gymnospermia, and lo the natural order Labiata. Its stem is erect, much branched, quadrangular, smooth, and one or two feet high. The leaves are ovate, acute, dentate, subcordate upon the stem, opposite, and supported upon long petioles. The flowers are small, of a pale blue colour, and disposed in long, lateral, leafy racemes. The calyx has an entire margin, which, after the corolla has fallen, is closed with a helmet-shaped lid. The tube of the corolla is elongated, the upper lip concave and entire, the lower three lobed. The plant grows in moist places, by the sides of ditches and ponds, in all parts of the Union. To the senses it does not indi- cate, by any peculiar taste or smell, the possession of remarkable medicinal virtues. It is even destitute of the aromatic properties which are found in many of the labiate plants. When taken internally, it produces no obvious effects upon the system. Notwithstanding this apparent inertness, it obtained, at one period, extraordinary credit throughout the United States, as a preventive of hydrophobia, and was even thought to be useful in the disease itself. A strong infusion of the plant was given in the dose of a teacupful, re- peated several times a day, and continued for three or four months after the bite was received; while the herb itself was applied to the wound. Strong testimony has been adduced in favour of its prophylactic powers; but it has already shared the fate, which in this case is no doubt deserved, of numerous other specifics against hydrophobia, which have been brought into temporary popularity only to be speedily abandoned. The Scu- tellaria galericulata, or common European scullcap, which also grows wild in this coun- try, has a feeble, somewhat alliaceous odour, and a bitterish taste. It has been employed in intermittents, and externally in old ulcers, but is now out of use. Another indigenous species—the Russian, Danish 5 Swedish =s Spanish = Venetian = Turin = Florence = Of these weights, all, except that of Paris, are divided into parts cor- responding with those of the English Apothecaries' weight. In the Paris Apothecaries' weight, the gros or drachm contains 72 instead of 60 grains; but, as in the English, there are 8 drachms in the ounce, and 12 ounces in the pound. Milligrammes. Troy Grains 470401. = 7264.88 369003.3 = 5698.89 400009. = 6486.63 367129.4 = 5669.95 360000. = 5559.85 357712.5 = 5524.19 357663.9 = 5523.77 356318.7 = 5502.99 345027.6 = 5329.06 302025.3 = 4664.48 307514. = 4749.25 339515. = 5243.48 1198 Appendix. APPROXIMATE MEASUREMENT. For the sake of convenience, in the absence of proper instruments, we often make use of means of measurement, which, though not precise nor uniform, afford results sufficiently accurate for ordinary purposes. Of this kind are certain household implements, of a capacity approaching to uniformity, and corresponding to a certain extent with the regular standard measures. Cus- tom has attached a fixed value to these implements, with which it is proper that the practitioner should be familiar; although their capacity, as they are now made, almost always somewhat exceeds that at which they were originally and still continue to be estimated. A tea-cup is estimated to contain about four fluidounces, or a gill. A wine-glass .... lwo fluidounces. A table-spoon (cochlear magnum) - half a fluidounce. A tea-spoon (cochlear parvum) - a fluidrachm. Small quantities of liquid medicines are often estimated by drops, each of which is usually considered equivalent to a minim, or the sixtieth part ofa fluidrachm. The drop of water and of watery fluids is, on an average, about this size; but the same is by no means the case with all medicinal liquids; and the drop even of the same fluid varies exceedingly in bulk, according to the circumstances under which it is formed. This is, there- fore, a very uncertain mode of estimating the quantity of liquids, and should beentirely superseded in the shops, where minim measures may be had. The results stated in the following table were obtained by Mr. E. Durand of Philadelphia. (See Journ. of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, i. 169.) They may be relied on as accurate; but should be considered as indicating only the relative number of drops afforded by the several liquids mentioned; for, under other circumstances than those of Mr. Durand's ex- periments, entirely different results might be obtained as relates to each liquid. 1 he preparations experimented with were those of the first edition of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia. Table, exhibiting the Number of Drops of Different Liquids, equi- valent to a Fluidrachm. Drops Acid Acetic (crystallizable) 120 Acid Hydrocyanic (medicinal) 45 Acid Muriatic 54 Acid Nitric 84 Acid Nitric, Diluted (1 to 7) 51 Acid Sulphuric 90 Acid Sulphuric, Aromatic 120 Acid Sulphuric, Diluted (1 to 7) 51 Alcohol (rectified spirit) 138 Alcohol, Diluted (proof spirit) 120 Arsenite of potassa, solution of 57 Ether, Sulphuric 150 Oil of Aniseed, of Cinnamon, Drops. Tincture of Assafetida, of Fox- glove, of Guaiac, of Opium, 120 Tincture of Muriate of Iron, 132 Vinegar, Distilled 78 Vinegar of Colchicum 78 Vinegar of Opium (black drop) 78 Vinegar of Squill 78 Water, Distilled 45 Water of Ammonia (strong) 54 Water of Ammonia (weak) 45 Wine (Teneriffe) 78 Wine, Antimonial 72 Wine of Colchicum 75 of Cloves, of Peppermint, of Wine of Opium 78 sweet Almonds, of Olives 120 Appendix. 1199 IV. ALPHABETICAL. TABLE OF PHARMACEUTI- CAL ECtUIVALKNTS.* NAMES. COMPOSITION & SYMBOL.t EQUIVALENT. id, acetic ... - 3H+ 4C+ 30 51.48 crystallized laeid-j- 1 water 60.48 antimonic ... 2Sb+ 50 169.2 antimonious 2Sb+ 40 161.2 arsenic - 2As+ 50 115.4 arsenious ... 2As-f 30 99.4 benzoic j- - 5H + 14C-f 30 114.68 crystallized - 1 acid-f 1 water 123.68 boracic ... B+ 30 34.9 camphoric - 8H+10C+ 50 109.2 carbonic - C+ 20 22.12 chloric ... C1+ 50 75.42 chlorous (Berzelius) Cl-f 30 59.42 citric ... - 2H+ 4C+ 40 58.48 crystallized 1 acid-f- 2 water 76.48 gallic ... - 3H+ 7C+ 50 85.84 hydriodic ... H+I 127.3 hydrocyanic (prussic) - H + (2C+N) 27.39 hydrosulphuric (sulphuretted hydrogen) H-f S 17.1 hyponitrous N-f- 30 38.15 hypophosphorous 2P + 0 39.4 hyposulphuric 2S+ 50 72.2 hyposulphurous - 2S+ 20 48.2 iodic ... I-f 50 166.3 kinic ... - I0H + 15C + 10O 181.8 meconic ... - 2H+ 7C+ 70 100.84 muriatic H-f-Cl 36.42 nitric ... N+ 50 54.15 liquid, sp. gr. 1.5 1 acid-j-li water 67.65 nitrous ... N+ 40 46.15 * This table includes the equivalents of all the simple bodies, although several of them are not used in medicine. It also embraces a few compounds which are not used in pharmacy, but which are inserted on account of their general importance. The numbers are derived from the sixth edition of Turner's Chemistry, and corrected by those con- tained in the second edition of Berzelius's Theorie des Proportions Chimiques, published at Paris in 1835. t By modern chemists, the simple bodies are designated by letters called symbols. The initial letter of the name is the symbol, whenever it is distinctive; but when several sim- ple bodies have names beginning with the same letter, the plan adopted is to represent one of them by the initial letter, and the rest by the initial letter, with some other asso- ciated with it. Thus C stands for carbon, Cd for cadmium, Ca for calcium, Ce for ce- rium, CI for chlorine, Cr for chromium, Co for cobalt, Cu for copper, &c. The use of these symbols saves time and space in designating the composition of compounds. Where a single equivalent is intended to be designated, the symbol of the body is simply given; but where several equivalents are to be represented, the symbol is preceded by a figure, indicating the number. Thus C means one equivalent of carbon; 2C, two equivalents; and so on. The group of letters and figures, thus used to denote the composition of any body, is called the formula of such body. In all cases, the constitution of compounds, however complex, may be expressed by formula; but in the above table this mode of no- tation is adopted only for the less complex compounds. These symbols are those employed by Berzelius and should not be varied from, for fear of destroying their useful- ness by creating confusion. 1200 Appendix. NAMES. < COMPOSITION &. SYMBOL. EQUIVALENT. Acid, oxalic - 2C+ 30 36.24 crystallized 1 acid-f 3 water 63.24 sublimed - - - 1 acid-f 1 water 45.24 phosphoric 2P+ 50 71.4 phosphorous ... 2P+ 30 55.4 prussic. See Acid, hydrocyanic succinic . . - 2H+ 4C-f 30 50.48 sulphuric - S-f 30 40.1 liquid, sp. gr. 1.8485 1 acid-f 1 water 49.1 sulphurous ... S-f 20 32.1 tannic (tannin from catechu) 9H-f 18C+ 80 183.16 tannic (tannin from galls) 9H + 18C + 120 215.16 tartaric - 2H+ 4C+ 50 66.48 crystallized 1 acid-f 1 water 75.48 Alcohol - 1 etherine-f 2 water 46.48 Alum. See Sulphate of alumina and potassa. Alumina .... 2A1+30 51.4 tersulphate (salt in alum) - 3 acid-f I base 171.7 Aluminium - - - - Al 13.7 Ammonia .... 3H + N 17.15 acetate - 1 acid-f 1 base 68.63 bicarbonate . . - 2 acid-f 1 base 61.39 carbonate - - - - 1 acid-f I base 39.27 hydrosulphate (hydrosulphuret ) 1 acid-f 1 base 34.25 muriate (sal ammoniac) 1 acid-f 1 base 53.57 nitrate - - - - 1 acid-f 1 base 71.3 sesquicarbonate - - - 3 acid-f 2 base' 100.66 hydrated (med. carbonate] 1 1 salt -f 2 water 118.66 sulphate ... 1 acid-f 1 base 57.25 Antimony, or stibium Sb 64.6 oxychloride (powder Algaroth)! ) sesquiox. -f 2 sesquichl. 1849.72 oxysulphuret 1 sesquiox.-f 5 sesquisulph.-f 16 water 1184.7 sesquichloride (butter of antimony) 2Sb-f3Cl 235.46 sesquioxide (med. oxide) 2Sb+30 153.2 sesquisulphuret (med. sulphuret) 2Sb-f 3S 177.5 tartrate of sesquioxide - 1 acid-f 1 base 219.68 Arsenic - As 37.7 protosulphuret (realgar) - As+S 53.8 sesquisulphuret (orpiment) - 2As+3S 123.7 Barium .... Ba 68.7 chloride .... - Ba+Cl 104.12 crystallized 1 salt -f 2 water 122.12 Baryta ..... - Ba+O 76.7 carbonate - - - - 1 acid-f 1 base • 98.82 hydrate - 1 water-f 1 base 85.7 muriate. See Barium, chloride. nitrate .... 1 acid-f 1 base 130.85 sulphate - 1 acid-f 1 base 116.8 Benzule ... 5H-f 14C+20 106.68 Bismuth .... Bi 71 protoxide - - - - Bi+O 79 trisnitrate of protoxide 1 acid-f 3 base 291.15 Appendix. 1201 NAMES. COMPOSITION & SYMBOL.' EQUIVALENT. Black oxide of manganese. See Manganese, deutoxide. oxide of mercury. See Mercury, protoxide. Blende. See Zinc, sulphuret. Blue vitriol. See Copper, sulphate of protoxide. Borax. See Soda, biborate. Boron .....B 10.9 Bromine .....Br 78.4 Brucia - - - 18H+32C +60-f N 275.99 Cadmium.....Cd 55.8 Calamine. See Zinc, carbonate of protoxide. Calcium ..... Ca 20.5 chloride.....Ca-fCl 55.92 crystallized - 1 salt-f 6 water 109.92 Calomel. See Mercury, protochloride. Camphene .... 8H + 10C 69.2 Camphor .... 8H-flOC-fO 77.2 Carbon .....C 6.12 Caustic potassa. See Potassa, hydrate. soda. See Soda, hydrate. Cerium......Ce 46 Ceruse. See Lead, carbonate. Chalk. See Lime, carbonate. Chlorine.....CI 35.42 Chromium.....Cr 28 Cinchonia - - - 12H-f 20C-f 0 +N 156.55 disulphate .... 1 acid-f 2 base 353.2 sulphate .... l acid-f 1 base 196.65 Cinnabar. See Mercury, bisulphuret. Cobalt .....Co 29.5 Codeia - - - 20H +31C+50-fN 263.87 muriate .... i acid-f 1 base 300.29? Columbium or tantalum - - - Ta 185 Common salt. See Sodium, chloride. Copper or cuprum .... Cu 31.6 acetate of protoxide - - 1 acid-f 1 base 91.08 crystallized (cryst. verdigris) 1 salt-f 1 water 100.08 black or protoxide ... Cu-f O 39.6 diacetate of protoxide (verdigris) 1 acid-f 2 base 130.68 red or dioxide - - - 2Cu-f O 71.2 sulphate of protoxide (blue vitriol) 1 acid-f 1 base 79.7 crystallized - - - 1 sall-f 5 water 124.7 Corrosive sublimate. See Mercury, deutochloride. Cream of tarjar. See Potassa, bitartrate. Creasote - - - - 9H + 14C+20 110.68? Cyanogen.....2C+N 20.39 Epsom salt. See Magnesia, sulphate. Ethal .... 17H + 16C + 0 122.92 Ether, acetic - - 1 acid-f 1 elherine-f 1 water 88.96 hydric (sulphuric) - I etherine-f 1 water 37.48 hyponitrous (nitric) 1 acid-f 1 etherine-f 1 water 75.63 muriatic - - 1 acid-f 1 etherine 64.9 nitric. See Ether, hyponitrous. sulphuric. See Ether, hydric. 102 1202 Appendix. NAMES. COMPOSITION & SYMBOL. EQUIVALENT. Etherine .....4H + 4C 28.48 Ethule ------ 5H+4C 29.48 Flowers of zinc. See Zinc, protoxide. Fluorine.....F 18.68 Glauber's salts. See Soda, sulphate. Gl jcimum .... G 17.7 Gold or aurum ... Au 199.2 Goulard's extract. See Lead, trisacetate of protoxide. Green vitriol. See Iron, sulphate of protoxide. Hydrogen ... - H 1 protoxide (water) - H-f O 9 Iodine - - - - - I 126.3 Iridium..... Ir 98.8 Iron or ferrum - Fe 28 bitartrate of sesquioxide - 2 acid-f 1 base 212.96 black oxide - - - 1 protox.-f 1 sesquiox.- 116 carbonate of protoxide - 1 acid-fl base 58.12 cyanuret (Prussian blue) - 7Fe-f9(2C+N) 433.51 protiodide - - - Fe-f I 154.3 crystallized- - - 1 salt-f5 water 199.3 protocyanuret - - - Fe-f(2C-fN) 54.39 protosulphuret (magnetic pyrites) Fe-f S 44.1 protoxide - - - Fe-fO 36 red or sesquioxide - - 2Fe-f 30 80 sesquichloride - - - 2Fe-f3Cl 162.26 sulphate of protoxide (green vitriol) 1 acid-fl base 76.1 crystallized - 1 salt -f 7 water 139.1 tartrate of protoxide - - 1 acid-f 1 base 102.48 teracetate of sesquioxide - 3 acid-f 1 base 234.44 Lead or plumbum ... Pb 103.6 acetate of protoxide (sugar of lead) 1 acid-f 1 base 163.08 crystallized - - 1 salt-f 3 water 190.08 carbonate of protoxide (white lead) 1 acid-f 1 base 133.72 chloride - Pb-fCl 139.02 deutoxide (puce oxide) - Pb+20 119.6 iodide .... Pb-fl 299.9 protoxide (massicot) - - Pb-f O 111.6 red oxide (red lead or miniumj 3Pb-f 40 342.8 trisacetate of protox. (Goulard's ext.) 1 acid-f 3 base 386.28 Lime..... Ca-fO 28.5 bone-phosphate - 3 acid-f 8 base 442.2 carbonate (chalk) - - 1 acid-f 1 base 50.62 hydrate (slaked lime) - 1 water-fl base 37.5 muriate. See Calcium, chloride. oxalate - 1 acid-fl base 64.74 tartrate .... 1 acid-fl base 94.98 Lithium .... L 6.44 Lunar caustic. See Silver, nitrate of oxide. Magnesia .... Mg-fO 20.7 carbonate - - - - l acid-fl base 42.82 sulphate (Epsom salt) - 1 acid-fl base 60.8 crystallized - - 1 salt-f 7 water 123.8 Appendix. 1203 NAMES. COMPOSITION & SYMBOL. EQUIVALENT. Magnesium ... . Mg 12.7 Magnetic pyrites. See Iron, protosulphuret. Manganese ... - Mn 27.7 deutoxide (black oxide) - Mn-f20 4S.7 Mannite - - 7H-f6C+60 91.72 Massicot. See Lead, protoxide. Mercury or Hydrargyrum . HS 202 acetate of protoxide - 1 acid-fl base 261.48 crystallized - 1 salt -f 4 water 297.48 ammoniated (white precip •)1 mur. amm.-f 1 perox. mere. 271.57 bichloride (corros. sublimate) Hjr+2Cl 272.84 bicyanuret (prussiate) - Hg+2(2C+N) 254.78 biniodide - Hg+2I 454.6 bisulphate of peroxide - 2 acid-fl base 298.2 bisulphuret (cinnabar) - Hg + 2S 234.2 nitrate of peroxide - 1 acid-fl base 272.15 nitrate of protoxide - 1 acid-fl base 264.15 peroxide (red precipitate) - Hg+20 218 protiodide - - Hg+I 328.3 protochloride (calomel) - Hg+Cl 237.42 protosulphuret - - Hg-fS 218.1 protoxide (black oxide) - Hg+O 210 sesquiodide - 2Hg + 3l 782.9 subsulphate of perox. (turpeth min.) 3 acid-f 4 base 992.3 sulphate of protoxide - - 1 acid-fl base 250.1 Minium. See Lead, red oxide. Molybdenum - - Mo 47.7 Morphia - , - - 18H-f34C-f60-fN 288.23 acetate ... - 1 acid-fl base 339.71 muriate ... - 1 acid-fl base 324.65 sulphate - - 1 acid-fl base 328.33 crystallized - - 1 salt -f 6 water 382.33 Nickel - - - Ni 29.5 Nitre. See Potassa, nitrate. Nitrogen ... - N 14.15 Oil of wine. See Sulphate of el herine. defiant gas - - 2H+2C 14.24 Orpiment. See Arsenic, sesqui; sulphuret. Osmium - - Os 99.7 Oxygen - - - - - 0 8 Palladium ... - Pd 53.3 Phosphorus - - P 15.7 Platinum ... - Pt 98.8 Potassa - - K+O 47.15 acetate - - 1 acid-fl base 98.63 hydrated - 1 salt -f-2 water 116.63 bicarbonate - 2 acid-fl base 91.39 crystallized - 1 salt -f 1 water 100.39 binoxalate (salt of sorrel) - 2 acid-fl base 11963 crystallized - 1 salt -f 2 water 13763 bisulphate - 2 acid-fl base 127.35 crystallized - 1 salt -f2 water 145.35 1204 Appendix. NAMES. COMPOSITION it SYMBOL. EQUIVALENT. Potassa, bitartrate (cream of tartar) 2 acid-fl base 180.11 crystallized 1 salt -f 1 water 189.11 carbonate (salt of tartar) 1 acid-fl base 69.27 chlorate - 1 acid-fl base 122.57 citrate - 1 acid-fl base 105.63 diarseniate - 1 acid-f 2 base 209.7 diarsenite (in Fowler's solution) 1 acid-f 2 base 193.7 ferrocyanate. See Potassium, ferrocyanuret. hydrate (caustic potassa) 1 water-f 1 base 56.15 hydriodate. See Potassium, iodide. nitrate (nitre or saltpetre) 1 acid-fl base 101.3 oxalate .... 1 acid-fl base 83.39 sesquicarbonate - - - 3 acid-f 2 base 160.66 sulphate (vitriolated tartar) 1 acid-fl base 87.25 tartrate (soluble tartar) 1 acid-fl base 113.63 Potassium or kalium K 39.15 bromide .... K + Br 117.55 chloride .... K + Cl 74.57 cyanuret - K-f(2C + N) 65.54 ferrocyanuret - 2 cyan. ] potassium-f 1 protocyan. iron 185.47 crystallized ... 1 salt-f 3 water 212.47 iodide .... K-fl 165.45 iodo-hydrargyrate 1 binii 3d. mere.-f 2 iod. potassium 785.5 sulphuret .... K+S 55.25 Prussian blue. See Iron, cyanuret. Prussiate of mercury. See Mercury, bicyanuret. Prussic acid. See Acid, hydrocyanic. Puce oxide of lead. See Lead, deutoxide. Quinia .... 12H+20C +20-f N acetate ... - l acid-fl base disulphate (med. sulphate) - 1 acid-f 2 base crystallized - - 1 salt-f8 water muriate .... i acid-fl base sulphate .... i acid-fl base Realgar. See Arsenic, protosulphuret. Red lead. See Lead, red oxide. precipitate. See Mercury, peroxide. Rhodium..... R See Tartrate of potassa and soda. See Ammonia, muriate. 164.55 216.03 369.2 441.2 200.97 204.65 52.2 Rochelle salt. Sal ammoniac Salicin Salt of sorrel. of tartar. See Potassa, binoxalate. See Potassa, carbonate. Saltpetre. See Potassa, nitrate. Selenium..... Silica...... Silicon..... Silver or argentum ... chloride - cyanuret .... nitrate of oxide (lunar caustic) oxide..... 2H+2C + 0 22.24 Se 39.6 Si + 30 46.5 Si 22.5 Aar 108 Ag+Cl 143.42 Ag-f(2C + N) 134.39 1 acid-fl base 170.15 Ag+O 116 Appendix. 1205 NAMES. COMPOSITION & SYMBOL. EQUIVALENT, Slaked lime. See Lime, hydrate. Soda..... Na-fO 31.3 acetate 1 acid-fl base 82.78 crystallized - - - 1 salt+6 water 136.78 biborate (borax) - - - 2 acid-f 1 base 101.1 bicarbonate - - - 2 acid-f 1 base 75.54 crystallized - - - 1 salt-f 1 water 84.54 carbonate 1 acid-fl base 53.42 crystallized - - - 1 salt-f 10 water 143.42 diphosphate (med. phosphate) 1 acid-J-2 base 134 crystallized - - 1 salt -j-25 water 359 hydrate (caustic soda) - - 1 water-fl base 40.3 muriate. See Sodium, chloride. nitrate .... -1 acid-f 1 base 85.45 sesquicarbonate ... 3 acid+2 base 128.96 hydrated 1 salt+4 water 164.96 sulphate (Glauber's salt) - 1 acid-fl base 71.4 crystallized - - - 1 salt-f 10 water 161.4 tartrate 1 acid+l base 97.78 Sodium or natrium ... ]\ja 23.3 chloride (common salt) - Na-f CI 58.72 Soluble tartar. See Potassa, tartrate. Starch.....5H + 6C+50 81.72 Strontia - - - . Sr+O 51.8 Strontium .... Sr 43.8 Strychnia .... 16H +30C+ 30+N 237.75 muriate - - - l acid-f 1 base 274.17 Sugar.....H + C-fO 15.12 of lead. See Lead, acetate of protoxide. Sulphate of alumina and potassa (alum) 1 eq. tersulphate of alumina4-l eq. sulphate of potassa 258.95 crystallized 1 saIt+24 water 474.95 Sulphate of etherine (off. oil of wine). 2 acid-f2 etherine-f 1 wat. 146.16 Sulphur..... S 16.1 Sulphuretted hydrogen. See Acid, hydrosulphuric. Tartar emetic. See Tartrate of antimony and potassa. Tartrate of antimony and potassa (tartar emetic) 1 eq. tart, of sesquioxide of antimony-f 1 eq. tart, of potassa 333.31 crystallized - - - 1 salt-f 2 water 351.31 Tartrate of iron and potassa 1 eq. bitart. of sesquiox. of iron-f2 eq. tart, of potassa 440.22? Tartrate of potassa and soda (Rochelle salt) I eq. tartrate of potassa-fl eq. tartrate of soda 211.41 crystallized - - - 1 salt-f 8 water 283.41 Tellurium .... 'fe 64.2 Thorina..... Th+O 67.6 Thorium..... Th 59.6 Tin or stannum - Sn 58.9 Titanium..... Ti 24.3 Tungsten or w<*£fram - - W 94.8 Turpeth mineral. See Mercury, subsulphate of peroxide. Uranium..... U 217 102* 1206 Appendix. COMPOSITION k SYMBOL. EQUIVALENT. - 4H+2C-f20-f2N V 60.54 68.5 , 22H+34C-f60-fN 1 acid-fl base 292.23 328.65? Urea .... Vanadium - - - . Veratria .... muriate - Verdigris. See Copper, diacetate of protoxide. crystallized. See Copper, crystallized acetate of protoxide. Vitriolated tartar. See Potassa, sulphate. Water. See Hydrogen, protoxide. White lead. See Lead, carbonate of protoxide. precipitate. See Mercury, ammoniated. vitriol. See Zinc, sulphate of protoxide. Yttria..... Yttrium - - - - - Zinc - acetate of protoxide crystallized - carbonate of protoxide (calamine) chloride - - - - cyanuret .... iodide .... protoxide (flowers of zinc) sulphate of protoxide (white vitrio crystallized sulphuret (blende) Zirconia .... Zirconium - Y-fO 40.2 Y 32.2 Zn 32.3 1 acid-fl base 91.78 1 salt-f 7 water 154.78 1 acid-fl base 62.42 Zn + Cl 67.72 Zn-f(2C + N) 58.69 Zn-fl 158.6 Zn-fO 40.3 I 1 acid-fl base 80.4 1 salt-f 7 water 143.4 Zn+S 48.4 2Zr-f30 91.4 Zr 33.7 Appendix. 1207 V. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN DIFFERENT THERMOMETERS. In Fahrenheit's thermometer, which is universally employed in this country and Great Britain, the freezing point of water is placed at 32°, and the boiling point at 212°, and the number of intervening degrees is 180. The Centigrade thermometer, which has, long been used in Sweden, under the name of Celsius's thermometer, and is now most generally em- ployed on the continent of Europe, marks the freezing point zero, and the boiling point 100°. In Reaumur's thermometer, used in France before the revolution, the freezing point is at zero, and the boiling point at 80°. In De Lisle's thermometer, used in Russia, the graduation begins at the boiling point, which is marked zero, while the freezing point is placed at From the above statement it is evident that 180 degrees of Fahrenheit are equal to 100° of the centigrade, 80° of Reaumur, and 150° of De Lisle; or 1 degree of the first is equal to £ of a degree of the second, |- of a degree of the third, and f of a degree of the last. It is easy, therefore, to convert the degrees of one into the equivalent number of degrees of the other; but in ascertaining the corresponding points upon the different scales, it is neces- sary to take into consideration their different modes of graduation. Thus, as the zero of Fahrenheit is 32° below the point at which that of the cen- tigrade and of Reaumur is placed, this number must be taken into account in the calculation. The following propositions will embrace all the cases which can arise in relation to the three last mentioned thermometers. That of De Lisle is seldom or never referred to in works which are read in this country. 1. If any degree on the centigrade scale, either above or below zero, be multiplied by 9 and divided by 5, or if any degree of Reaumur above or below zero be multiplied by 9 and divided by 4, the quotient will, in either case, be the number of degrees above or below 32° or the freezing point of Fahrenheit. 2. The number of degrees between any point of Fahrenheit's scale and 32°, if multiplied by 5 and divided by 9, will give the corresponding point on the centigrade; if multiplied by 4 and divided by 9, will give theecorres- ponding point on the scale of Reaumur. 3. Any degree of the centigrade multiplied by 4 and divided by 5, will give the corresponding degree of Reaumur; and conversely, any degree of Reaumur multiplied by 5 and divided by 4, will give the corresponding degree of the centigrade. 1208 Appendix. VI. TABLES, SHOWING THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY CORRESPONDING WITH THE SEVERAL DEGREES OF DIFFERENT HYDROMETERS IN USE. Baume's hydrometer is usually employed in France. In this instrument, the sp. gr. of distilled water is assumed as the zero of the descending scale, in relation to fluids heavier than itself, while it is assumed as 10 on the ascending scale, in relation to lighter fluids. In the Pharmacopoeia Batava, a modification of the instrument has been adopted, in which the sp. gr. of distilled water has been assumed as the zero of both scales. Beck's hydro- meter is used in Germany. In the following tables, the specific gravity of liquids is given corresponding with the several degrees of these three hydro- meters. For Liquids lighter than Water. Degree of hydro-meter Specific Gravity. Degree of hydro-meter. sr By Baume\ ecific Grav In Pharm. Batava. ty-By Beck. By Baume. In flianii. Batava. By Beck. 0 1000 1.0000 32 0.8638 819 0.8415 1 993 0.9941 33 0.8584 814 0.8374 2 987 0.9883 34 0.8531 810 0.8333 3 980 0.9826 35 0.8479 805 0.8292 4 974 0.9770 36 0.8428 800 0.8252 5 967 0.9714 37 0.8378 796 0.8212 6 961 0.9659 38 0.8329 792 0.8173 7 954 0.9604 39 0.8281 787 0.8133 8 948 0.9550 40 0.8233 782 0.8095 9 941 0.9497 41 0.8186 778 0.80f>6 10 1.0000 935 0.9444 42 0.8139 774 0.8018 11 0.9930 929 0.9392 43 0.8093 770 0.7981 12 0.9861 923 0.9340 44 0.8047 766 0.7943 13 0.9792 917 0.9289 45 0.8001 762 0.7906 14 0.9724 911 0.9239 46 0.7956 758 15 0.9657 906 0.9189 47 07911 754 16 0.9591 900 0.9139 48 0.7866 750 17 0.9526 895 0.9090 49 0.7821 746 18 0.9462 889 0.9042 50 0.7777 742 19 0.9399 884 0.8994 51 0.7733 20 0.9336 878 0.8947 52 0.7689 21 0.9274 873 0.8900 53 0.7646 22 0.9212 868 0.8854 54 0.7603 23 0.9151 863 0.8808 55 0.7560 24 0.9091 858 0.8762 56 0.7518 25 0.9032 852 0.8717 | 57 0.7476 26 0.8974 847 0.8673 58 0.7435 27 0.8917 842 0.8629 59 0.7394 28 0.8860 837 0.8585 60 0.7354 29 0.8804 832 0.8542 61 0.7314 30 0.8748 828 0.8500 62 0.7251 31 0.8693 823 0.8457 ! Appendix. 1209 For Liquids heavier than Water. Degree of hydro-meter. Specific Gravi ty. Degree of hydro-meter. Specific Grav ty- By Baume\ In Pharm. Batava. By Beck. By Baumg. In Pharm. Batava. By Beck. 0 1.0000 1000 1.0000 41 1.3947 1398 1.3178 1 1.0070 1007 1.0059 42 1.4082 1412 1.3281 2 1.0141 1014 1.0119 43 1.4219 1426 1.3386 3 1.0213 1022 1.0180 44 1.4359 1440 1.3492 4 1.0286 1029 1.0241 45 1.4501 1454 1.3600 5 1.0360 1036 1.0303 46 1.4645 1470 1.3710 6 1.0435 1044 1.0366 47 1.4792 1485 1.3821 7 1.0511 1052 1.0429 48 1.4942 1501 1.3934 8 1.0588 1060 1.0495 49 1.5096 1516 1.4050 9 1.0666 1067 1.0559 50 1.5253 1532 1.4167 10 1.0745 1075 1.0625 51 1.5413 1549 1.4286 11 1.0825 1083 1.0692 52 1.5576 1566 1.4407 12 1.0906 1091 1.0759 53 1.5742 1583 1.4530 13 1.0988 1100 1.0828 54 1.5912 1601 1.4655 14 1.1071 1108 1.0897 55 1.6086 1618 1.4783 15 1.1155 1116 1.0968 56 1.6264 1637 1.4912 16 1.1240 1125 1.1039 57 1.6446 1656 1.5044 17 1.1326 1134 1.1111 58 1.6632 1676 1.5179 18 1.1414 1143 1.1184 59 1.6823 1695 1.5315 19 1.1504 1152 1.1258 60 1.7019 1714 1.5454 20 1.1596 1161 1.1333 61 1.7220 1736 1.5596 21 1.1690 1171 1.1409 62 1.7427 1758 1.5741 22 1.1785 1180 1-1486 63 1.7640 1779 1.5888 23 1.1882 1190 1.1465 64 1.7858 1801 1.6038 24 1.1981 1199 1.1644 65 1.8082 1823 1.6190 25 1.2082 1210 1.1724 66 1.8312 1847 1.6346 26 1.2184 1221 1.1806 67 1.8548 1872 1.6505 27 1.2288 1231 1.1888 68 1.8790 1897 1.6667 28 1.2394 1242 1.1972 69 1.9038 1921 J.6832 29 1.2502 1252 1.2057 70 1.9291 1946 1.7000 30 1.2612 1261 1.2143 71 1.9548 1974 1.7172 31 1.2724 1275 1.2230 72 1.9809 2002 1.7347 32 1.2838 1286 1.2319 73 2.0073 2031 1.7526 33 1.2954 1298 • 1.2409 74 2.0340 2059 1.7708 34 1.3072 1309 1.2500 75 2.0610 2087 1.7895 35 1.3190 1321 1.2593 76 2116 1.8085 36 1.3311 1334 1.2687 77 1.8280 37 1.3434 1346 1.2782 78 1.8478 38 1.3559 1359 1.2879 79 1.8681 39 1.3686 1372 1.2977 80 1.8889 40 1.3815 1384 1.3077 1210 Appendix. The French Codex employs Baume's hydrometer to indicate the den- sity of liquids heavier than water; but, for those lighter than water, it has recourse to the instrument of Carder, as the one most diffused in commerce. This differs from Baume's only in a slight modification of the scale. In both, the lowest point is 10°; but 30° of Cartier corresponds with 32° of Baume, so that 20 degrees of the former are equivalent to 22 of the latter. The following table, extracted from the Codex, shows the value of the seve- ral degrees of Baume's scale in those of Cartier's. The centesimal alco- hohneter of Gay Lussac is applicable only to alcohol. The scale of this instrument is divided into 100 unequal degrees, the zero corresponding to pure water, and 100° to absolute alcohol; and every intermediate degree ex- presses the per centage of pure alcohol contained in the liquors examined. Thus, when the instrument stands at 40°, in any alcoholic liquid, it indi- cates that 100 parts of the liquid contain 40 of pure alcohol and 60 of water. But as it was graduated for the temperature of 59° of Fahrenheit, the li- quors to be tested should be brought to that temperature. In page 56 of the Dispensatory is a table indicating the specific gravity corresponding with each per centage of alcohol, and consequently wiih each degree of the alco- holmeter; and as, in the second table given below, the value of Cartier's degrees in those of the alcoholmeter is stated, there can be no difficulty in converting the degrees of any one of these instruments into those of ano- ther, or of ascertaining the specific gravity to which they respectively cor- respond. Table showing the Value of the Degrees of Baume's Hydrometer in those of Cartier's. Bailing. 1 Cartier. Baum6. Cartier. Baum£. Cartier. 10 10'. 23 21.94 36 33.88 11 10.92 24 22.85 37 34.80 . 12 11.84 25 23.77 38 35.72 13 12.76 26 24.69 39 36.63 14 13.67 27 25.61 40 37.55 15 14.59 28 26.53 41 38.46 16 15.51 29 27.44 42 39.40 17 16.43 30 28.38 43 40.31 18 17.35 31 29.29 44 41.22 19 18.26 32 30.31 45 42.14 20 19.18 33 31.13 • 46 43.06 21 20.10 34 32.04 47 43.98 22 21.02 35 32.96 48 44.90 Appendix. 1211 showing the Value of the Degrees of Cartier's Hydrometer in those of Gay-Lussac's centesimal Alcoholmeter. Cartier. Centesimal Alcoholmeter. Cartier. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 21 0.2 5.1 11.2 18.2 25.2 31.6 36.9 41.5 45.5 49.1 52.5 55.6 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Centesimal Alcoholmeter. 58.7 61.5 64.2 66.9 69.4 71.8 74. 76.3 78.4 80.5 82.6 84.4 Cartier. 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Centesimal Alcoholmeter. 86.2 88. 89.6 91.2 92.7- 94.1 95.4 96.6 97.7 98.8 99.8 INDEX. A Acetated tincture of Acid, ethereo-sulphuric 767 opium 1080 Acid, gallic 322 Abbreviations, table of 1189 Acetic acid 74C 1,745 Acid, glacial phosphoric 757 Abelmoschi semen 1148 Acetic acid, aromatic 742 Acid, hydriodic 372, 1148 Abies balsamifera 678 Acetic acid, campho- Acid, hydrochloric 28 Abies Canadensis 515 rated 742 Acid, hydrocyanic 748 Abies communis 514 Acetic acid from ace- Acid, hydrosulphuric 909 Abies excelsa 514 tate of lead 744 Acid, hypo-picrotoxic 239 Abies nigra 677 Acetic acid from ace- Acid, hyposulphuric 665 Abies pectinata 681 tate of copper 744 Acid, hyposulphurous 665 Abietis resina 515 Acetic ether 1116 Acid, igasuric 452 Absinthic acid 114 Acetic extract of mea- Acid, iodic 372 Absinthium 113 dow saffron 885 Acid, iodous 372 Absolute alcohol 55 Acetification 13 Acid, kinic 228 Acacia Adansonii 5 Acetone 744 Acid, manganic 423 Acacia Arabica 5 Acetosella 10 Acid, margaric 600 Acacia catechu 186 Acetum 11 Acid, meconic 491 Acacia decurrens 5 Acetum cantharidis 740 Acid, medicinal hydro- Acacia Ehrenbergiana 5 Acetum colchici 740 cyanic 751 Acacia floribunda 5 Acetum destillatum 738 Acid, metaphosphoric 757 Acacia gummifera 5 Acetum opii 740, 1080 Acid, muriatic 28 Acacia karroo 5 Acetum scillae 741 Acid, native boracic 637 Acacia Nilotica 5 Acetum vini 11 Acid, nitric 32 Acacia nostras 6 Achillea millefolium 1116 Acid, nitromuriatic 755 Acacia Senegal 5 Acida 742 Acid, nitrous 33, 37 Acacia seyai 5 Acid, absinthic 114 Acid, oleic 600 Acacia tortilis 5 Acid, acetic 745 Acid, oxalic 1164 Acacia vera 4 Acid, aeonitic 49 Acid, paratartaric 696 Acaciae gummi 4 Acid, anchusic 87 Acid, pectic 174 Acaciae verae succus 5 Acid, antimonic 97 Acid, periodic 372 Acer saccharinum 585 Acid, antimonious 97 Acid, permanganic 423 Aceta 738 Acid, aromatic acetic 742 Acid, picrotoxic 239 Acetas hydrargyri 913 Acid, aromatic sul- Acid, polygalic 620 Acetas plumbi 520 phuric 758 Acid, prussic 748 Acetas potassae 531 Acid, arsenic 16 Acid, pure sulphuric 760 Acetate of ammonia, Acid, arsenious 16 Acid pyretin 1175 solution of 787 Acid, asparmic 68 Acid, pyroligneous 15 Acetate of copper 273 Acid, aspartic 68 Acid, pyrotartaric 4'i ,544 Acetate of copper, Acid, benzoic 746 Acid, racemic 696 crystals of 274 Acid, caffeic 1136 Acid, stearic 600 Acetate of copper, Acid, cahincic 1127 Acid, succinic 758 prepared 847 Acid, camphorated Acid, sulphovinic 767 ,769 Acetate of iron 899 acetic 742 Acid, sulphuric 39 Acetate of iron, tinc- Acid, camphoric 151 Acid, sulphurous 665 ture of 899 Acid, carbonic 809 Acid, tannic 1177 Acetate of lead 520 Acid, chlorohydric 31 Acid, tartaric 45 Acetate of mercury 913 Acid, chlorous 831 Acid, valerianic 699 Acetate of morphia 970 Acid, cinnamic 463 Acids 742 Acetate of potassa 531 Acid, citric 25 Acids, vegetable 743 Acetate of soda 635 Acid, crotonic 477 Acidulous water of car Acetate of zinc 1107 Acid, diluted acetic 745 bonate of soda 1037 Acetate of zinc, solu- Acid, diluted muriatic 754 Acidulous wines 706 tion of 1108 Acid, diluted nitric 755 Acidum aceticum 743 Acetate of zinc, tinc- Acid, diluted phosphoric 757 Acidum aceticum aro- ture of 1108 Acid, diluted sulphuric 759 maticum 742 103 1214 Index. Acidum aceticum cam- phoratum 742 Acidum aceticum di- lutum 745 Acidum aceticum em- pyreumaticum 15 Acidum aceticum forte 743 Acidum aceticum scilliti- cum 741 Acidum aceticum tenue 738 Acidum arseniosum 16 Acidum benzoicum 746 Acidum citricum 25 Acidum hydriodicum 1148 Acidum hydrochloricum 28 Acidum hydrochloricum dilutum 754 Acidum hydrocyanicum 748 Acidum muriaticum 28 Acidum muriaticum dilutum 754 Acidum nitricum 32 Acidum nitricum di- lutum 755 Acidum nitromuriati- cum 755 Acidum nitrosum 33 Acidum nitrosum di- lutum 755 Acidum oxalicum 1164 Acidum phosphoricum dilutum 757 Acidum prussicum 748 Acidum succinicum 758 Acidum sulphuricum 39 Acidum sulphuricum aromaticum 758 Acidum sulphuricum dilutum 759 Acidum sulphuricum purum 760 Acidum sulphuricum venale 39 Aoidum tartaricum 45 Acipeneer huso 368 Acipenser ruthenus 368 Acipenser stellatus 368 Acipenser sturio 368 Aconite 48 Aconitia 49,761 Aconitic acid 49 Aconitina 49,761 Aconitum 48 Aconitum anthora 48 Aconitum cammarum 48 Aconitum lycoctonum 48 Aconitum napellus 48 Aconitum neomontanum 48 Aconitum Neubergense 48 Aconitum paniculatum 48 Aconitum uncinatum 48 Acorus calamus 140 Actaea alba 1116 Actaea Americana 1116 Actaea racemosa 198 Actaea rubra 1116 Actaea spicata Adeps Adeps ovillus Adeps suillus 1116 50 631 50 Adhesive plaster 869, 870 Adiantum capillus ve- neris 1116 Adiantum pedatum 1116 Administering medi- cines, mode of 1186 jErugo 273 jEsculus hippocasta- num 1117 ./Ether aceticus 1116 iEther muriaticus 1158 iEther nitrosus 770 iEther phosphoratus 508 iEther sulphuricus, Lond. 764 ./Ether sulphuricus, U.S. 763 iEther sulphuricus cum alcohole 769 /Ether sulphuricus cum alcohole aromaticus 770 iEther sulphuricus rec- tificatus 764 iEtherea 763 Agaric 137 Agaric of the oak 137 Agaric, purging 137 Agathis Damarra 681 Agave Americana 1117 Agrimonia eupatoria 1117 Agrimony, common 1117 Ague drop, tasteless 820 Aix la Chapelle water 104 Ajuga chamaepitys 1117 Ajuga pyramidalis 1117 Ajuga reptans 1117 Albumen as an antidote for corrosive sublimate 918 Albumen ovi 502 Albumen, vegetable 691 Alceae iEgyptiacae 1148 Alchemilla vulgaris 1118 Alcoates 56 Alcohol, Lond., Dub. 54 Alcohol, U.S. 52 Alcohol, absolute 55 Alcohol, ammoniated 778 Alcohol ammoniatum 778 Alcohol ammoniatum aromaticum 779 Alcohol, aromatic am- moniated 779 Alcohol as a poison 58 Alcohol, diluted 776 Alcohol dilutius 776 Alcohol dilutum 776 Alcohol fortius 52 Alcohol, preparations of 776 Alcoholic fermentation 53 Alcoholic muriatic ether 1158 Alcoholic potassa 1003 Alcoholmeter, Gay Lus- sac's centesimal 1210 Alcornoque 1118 Aldehyd 13 Alder, American 1118 Alder, black 547 Alder, common Euro- pean 1118 Ale 708 Alembic 729 Aleppo scammony 612 Aletris 58 Aletris farinosa 58 Alexandria senna 623 Algae and fuci, ashes of 640 Alhagi Maurorum 424 Alisma plantago 1118 Alizarin 575 Alkalimetry 535 Alkanet root 86 Alliaria officinalis 1118 Allium 59 Allium cepa 61 Allium porrum 530 Allium sativum 59 Allspice 510 Almond confection 843 Almond emulsion 960 Almond mixture 960 Almond soap 602 Almonds 79 Almonds, bitter 80 Almonds, sweet 80 Alnus glutinosa 1118 Alnus serrulata 1118 Aloe 61 Aloe arborescens 62, 64 Aloe hepatica 61 Aloe perfoliata 62 Aloe purpurascens 62, 64 Aloe Soccotrina 62, 63, 64 Aloe Socolorina 61 Aloe spicata 62 Aloe vera 62,63 Aloe vulgaris 62, 64 Aloes 61 Aloes, caballine 64 Aloes, Cape 62 Aloes, fetid 64 Aloes, hepatic 64 Aloes, horse 64 Aloes, shining 62 Aloes, Socotrine 63 Aloetic pills 986 Alpinia cardamomum 171 Alpinia galanga 1143 Alteratives 3 Althaeae folia 67 Althaeae radix 67 Althaea officinalis 67 Althaea rosea 68 Alum 69 Alum, ammoniacal 70 Alum cataplasm 833 Index. 1215 Alum, dried 777 Alum, preparations of 777 Alum root 349 Alumen 69 Alumen exsiccatum 777 Alumina 71 Amber 662 Amber, oil of 983 Ambergris 1118 Ambra grisea 1118 Ambrein 1119 American agave 1117 American aloe 1117 American centaury 582 American columbo 318 American dittany 1139 American hellebore 702 American ipecacuanha 303, 333 American sanicle 349 American senna 182 American silver fir 678 American spikenard 108 Amidine 84 Ammonia, bicarbonate of 783 Ammonia, carbonate of 780 Ammonia, hydriodate of 1151 Ammonia, hydrochlo- rate of 76 Ammonia, hydrosul- phuret of 788 Ammonia, muriate of 76 Ammonia, nitrosulphate of 1161 Ammonia, preparations of 778 Ammonia, strong water of 74 Ammonia, sulphate of 77, 781 Ammonia, water of 783 Ammoniac 72 Ammoniac mixture 959 Ammoniac plaster 861 Ammoniacal alum 70 Ammoniacal liquor of coal gas works 77 Ammoniacum 72 Ammoniae acetatis aqua 787 Ammoniae bicarbonas 783 Ammoniae carbonas 780 Ammoniae carbonatis aqua 782 Ammoniae causticae aqua 783 Ammoniae hydrochloras 76 Ammoniae hydrosul- phuretum 788 Ammoniae liquor fortior 74 Ammoniae murias 76 Ammoniae sesquicar- bonas 780 Ammoniarctum cupri 847 Ammoniated alcohol 778 Ammoniated copper 847 Ammoniated copper, solution of 848 Ammoniated iron 909 Ammotiiated iron, tinc- ture of 910 Ammoniated mercury 938 Ammoniated tincture of guaiac 1075 Ammoniated tincture of opium 1080 Ammoniated tincture of valerian 1085 Amrnonii iodidum 1151 Ammonium, iodide of 1151 Amornum cardamomum 171 Amomum grana para- disi 170 Amomum repens 171 Amomum zingiber 718 Amygdala 79 Amagdalae amarae 80 Amygdalae dulces 80 Amygdalin 80 Amygdaline soap of soda 602 Amygdalus communis 79 Amygdalus Persica 82 Amylum 83 Amyris carana 1129 Amyris elemifera 295 Amyris Gileadensis 86 Amyris kataf 449 Amyris tomentosum 1176 Anacardium occiden- tale 1119 Anacyclus officinarum 552 Anagallis arvensis 1119 Anagallis coerulea 1119 Anchusa Italica 1119 Anchusa officinalis 1119 Anchusa tinctoria 86 Anchusic acid 87 Anderson's pills 987 Andira inermis 329 Andira retusa 330 Andromeda arborea 1119 Andromeda mariana 1120 Andromeda speciosa 1120 Anemone, meadow 1120 Anemone nemorosa 1120 Anemone pratensis 1120 Anemone pulsatilla 1120 Anethum 87 Anethum foeniculum 317 Anethum graveolens 87 Angelica 88 Angelica archangelica 88 Angelica atropurpurea 88 Angelica, garden 88 Angelica-tree bark 108 Angustura 89 Angustura bark 89 Angustura, false 91 Anhydrous hydrocyanic acid 751, 752 Animal charcoal 165 Animal charcoal as a decolorizing agent 166 Animal charcoal from blood 167 Animal charcoal, puri- fied 833 Animal food preserv- ed by pyroligneous acid 16 Animal oil, Dippel's 1141 Animal oil soda soap 603 Anime 1120 Anise 93 Anise tree, Florida 1150 Aniseed, star 93 Anisum 93 Annotta 1120 Anodyne liniment 1084 Anodyne liquor, Hoff- man's 769 Anodynes 3 Antacids 3 Anthelmintics 3 Anthemis 94 Anthemis arvensis 94 Anthemis cotula 264 Anthemis nobilis 94 Anthemis pyrethrum 552 Anthemis tinctoria 94 Anthracite 164 Antilithics 2 Antimonial powder 803 Antimonial powder, Che- nevix's process for 804 Antimonial wine 798 Antimonic acid 97 Antimonii et potassae tartras 790 Antimonii oxydum ni- tromuriaticum 789 Antimonii oxysulphu- retum 800 Antimonii potassio-tar- tras 790 Antimonii sesquisulphu- retum 98 Antimonii sulphuretum 98 Antimonii sulphuretum praeeipitatum 800 Antimonii sulphuretum praeparatum 799 Antimonious acid 97 Antimonium 96 Antimonium tartariza- tum 790 Antimony 96 Antimony, cerated glass of 1145 Antimony, crocus of 791 Antimony, diaphore- tic 1160 Antimony, glass of 1144 1216 Index. Antimony, nitromu- riatic oxide of 789 Antimony, oxvchloride of " 789 Antimony, precipitated sulphuret of 800 Antimony, preparations of 789 Antimony, prepared sul- phuret of 799 Antimony, tartarized 790 Antirrhinum linaria 1120 Antispasmodics 2 Apis mellifica 190, 431 Apiutn petroselinum 506 Apocynin 100 Apocynum androsae- mifolium 99 Apocynum cannabinum 99 Apotheme 874 Apparatus for filtering at a boiling heat 726 Approximative mea- surement , 1198 Aqua 101 Aqua acetatis ammoniae 787 Aqua acidi carbonici 808 Aqua aluminosa Ba- teana 778 Aqua ammoniae 783 Aqua ammoniae diluta 786 Aqua anethi 810 Aqua aurantii corticis 810 Aqua calcis 824 Aqua calcis composita 826 Aqua camphorae 810 Aqua carbonatis sodae acidula 1037 Aqua carui 811 Aqua chlorinii 811 Aqua cinnamomi 812 Aqua citri aurantii 810 Aqua citri medicae 813 Aqua destillata 805 Aqua florum aurantii 810 Aqua fluviatilis 103 Aqua foeniculi 813 Aqua fontana 102 Aqua fortis 35 Aqua lauri cassise 813 Aqua lauri cinnamomi 812 Aqua lauro-cerasi 813 Aqua luciae 602 Aqua menthae piperitae 813 Aqua menthae pulegii 813 Aqua menthae viridis 814 Aqui myrti pimentae 814 Aqua phagedaenica 916,917 Aqua picis liquidae 814 Aqua pimentae 814 Aqua potassae 999 Aqua pulegii 813 Aqua regia 755 Aqua rosae 814 Aqua sambuci 815 Aqua sapphirina 276 Aqua super-carbonatis potassae 1011 Aqua super-carbonatis sodae 1037 Aqurn destillatse 806 Aquae medicatae 806 Aquas stillatitiae 806 Aquilegia vulgaris 1121 Arabin 8 Aralia hispida 108 Aralia nudicaulis 107 Aralia racemosa 108 Aralia spinosa 108 Aranea 1134 Araucaria Dombeyi 681 Arbor Saturni 1107 Arbor vitae 1181 Arbutus uva ursi 697 Arcanum duplicatum 542 Arctium lappa 109 Arctostaphylos uva ursi 697 Ardent spirits of com- merce 54 Areca catechu 1121 Areca nut 1121 Argel 623 Argenti cyanidum 815 Argenti nitras 816 Argenti nitras fusum 816 Argenti nitratis crystalli 818 Argentine flowers of an- timony 97 Argentum 109 Argol 543 Aricina 218 Aristolochia clematitis 627 Aristolochia hastata 628 Aristolochia hirsuta 628 Aristolochia Indica 627 Aristolochia longa 627 Aristolochia pistolochia 627 Aristolochia rotunda 627 Aristolochia sagittata 628 Aristolochia semper virens 627 Aristolochia serpentaria 627 Aristolochia tomentosa 628 Armoracia 111 Arnica 112 Arnica montana 112 Arnotta 1120 Aromatic acetic acid 742 Aromatic ammoniated alcohol 779 Aromatic confection 843 Aromatic mixture of iron 962 Aromatic phosphoric oil 508 Aromatic plaster 862 Aromatic powder 1023 Aromatic spirit of am- monia 779 Aromatic spirit of vine- gar 742 Aromatic sulphuric acid 758 Aromatic sulphuric ether with alcohol 770 Aromatic syrup of rhu- barb 1059 Aromatic waters, ex- temporaneous 731 Arrow-root 427 Arseniate of potassa 18 Arsenic acid 16 Arsenic in antimonial preparations 98 Arsenic, metallic 16 Arsenic, preparations of 819 Arsenical paste 19 Arsenical solution of Pearson 18 Arsenici oxydum album 16 Arsenici oxydum album sublimatum 819 Arsenious acid 16 Arsenious acid as a poi- son 20 Arsenious acid, tests for 23 Arsenite of potassa, so- lution of 819 Artemisia abrotanum 113 Artemisia absinthium 113 Artemisia Chinensis 443 Artemisia contra 115 Artemisia glomerata 115 Artemisia Indica 443 Artemisia Judaica 115 Artemisia pontica 113 Artemisia santonica 115 Artemisia vulgaris 114 Artificial borax 637 Artificial camphor 473 Artificial Cheltenham salt 1130 Artificial musk 1159 Artificial nitre-beds 538 Artificial Seltzer water 808 Artificial soda of com- merce 640 Artificial sulphuret of antimony 98 Art of prescribing me- dicines 1185 Arum 116 Arum maculatum 116 Arum triphyllum 116 Asarabacca 117 Asarum 117, 118 Asarum Canadense 118 Asarum Europaeum 117 Asclepias, flesh-coloured 119 Asclepias gigantea 1127 Asclepias incarnata 119 Asclepias Syriaca 119 Asclepias tuberosa 120 Asclepias vincetoxicum 1140 Asiatic pills 20 Asparagin 68 Index 1217 Asparagus 1121 Asparagus officinalis 1121 Asparamide 68 Asparmic acid 68 Aspartic acid C8 Aspen 1169 Asphaltum 505 Aspidium filix foemina 1122 Aspidium filix mas 315 Asplenium adiantum- nigrum 1122 Asplenium filix foemina 1122 Asplenium scolopen- drium 1173 Asplenium trichomanes 1122 Assafetida 121 Assafetida mixture 961 Assafetida pills 987 Assafetida plaster 862 Assafoetida 121 Astacus affinis 145 Astacus Bartonii 145 Astacus fluviatilis 145 Astragalus aristatus 688 Astragalus Creticus 687 Astragalus gummifer 687 Astragalus tragacantha 687 Astragalus verus 688 Astringents 2 Astringent wines 706 Athyrium filix foemina 1122 Atropa belladonna 130 Atropa mandragora 1157 Atropia 131 Attar of roses 572 Aurantium 124 Aurantii cortex 124 Aurum 1146 Avenoe farina 126 Avena sativa 126 Avens, root of 332 Avens, water 331 Azedarach 127 Azure 1175 B Bacher, tonic pills of 888 Balaustines 337 Balm 432 Balm of Gilead 680 Balsam apple 1157 Balsam, Canada 680 Balsam, Hungarian 1171 Balsam of copaiva 257 Balsam of fir 680 Balsam of Gilead 86 Balsam of Peru 447 Balsam of Tolu 683 Balsam, Riga 1171 Balsam-weed 1150 Balsamina 1157 Balsamodendron Gilea dense 86 Balsamodendron myrrha 449 Balsams of sulphur 458 Balsamum Carpaticum 1171 Balsamum Libani 1171 Balsamum Peruvianum 447 Balsamum Tolutanum 683 Balsamum traumati- sm 1068 Balston Spa water 105 Banca tin 654 Baneberry 1116 Baphia nitida 1128 Baptisia tinctoria 1122 Barbadoes nuts 673 Barbadoes tar 505 Barbary gum 6 Barberry 1123 Barii chloridum 821 Barilla 639, 640 Barium, chloride of 821 Bark, Angustura 89 Bark, Calisaya 216 Bark, Caribsean 224 Bark, crown 214 Bark, Huamilies 215 Bark, Huanuco 214 Bark, Jaen 215 Bark, Lima 214 Bark,Loxa 214 Bark, new 224 Bark, pale 213 Bark, Peruvian 199 Bark, pitaya 224 Bark, red 220 Bark, St. Lucia 224 Bark, Santa Martha 223 Bark, yellow 216 Barks, Carthagena 222 Barks, false 223 Barley 353 Barley water 854 Baroselenite 129 Baryta 128 Baryta, muriate of 821 Baryta, preparations of 821 Barytae carbonas 129 Barytae murias 821 Barytae muriatis aqua 822 Barytae sulphas 129 Basil 1162 Basilicon ointment 839 Bassora gum 1122 Bassorin 1122 Bastard dittany 1140 Bateman's drops 1081 Bates's alum water 778 Bates's aqua camphorata 276 Bath water 105 Baume de commandeur 1068 Baume's hydrometer 723 Baume's hydrometer, table of the value of the degrees of in sp. gr. 1208 Bay salt 646 103* Bay tree berries and leaves 402 Bdellium 1123 Bead tree, common 127 Bean of St. Ignatius 1123 Bearberry 697 Bear's foot 345 Beck's hydrometer, value of the degrees ofinsp.gr. 1208 Bedford spring water 105 Beech-drops 1163 Beet sugar 585 Belladonna 130 Benne 629 Benne oil 630 Benzoic acid 746 Benzoin 133 Benzoin, flowers of 747 Benzoinum 133 Benzule 747 Berberin 1123 Berberis Canadensis 1123 Berberis vulgaris 1123 Bergamii oleum 135 Betel 1121 Betel-nut 1121 Betonica officinalis 1124 Betony, wood 1124 Betula alba 1124 Betula lenta 1124 Betula papyracea 1124 Betulin 1124 Bezoar 1124 Biborate of soda 638 Bicarbonate of ammonia 783 Bicarbonate of potassa 1008 Bicarbonate of soda 1034 Bicarbonate of soda, preparation of in U.S. 1035 Bichloride of mercury 915 Bicyanide of mercury 925 Bignonia catalpa 1129 Bimuriate of the per- oxide of mercury 915 Biniodide of mercury 927 Binoxalate of potassa 11, 1164 Binoxide of manganese 423 Binoxide of mercury 933 Bisulphuret of mercury 936 Birch, European 1124 Birch, sweet 1124 Bird-lime 1124 Bismuth 136 Bismuth, magistery of 824 Bismuth, subnitrate of 823 Bismuth, white oxide of 823 Bismuthi subnitras 823 Bismuthi trisnitras 823 Bismuthum 136 Bistort root 529 Bisulphate of peroxide of mercury 933 1218 Index. Bisulphate of potassa 1012 Bisulphuret of carbon 1124 Bitartrate of potassa 545 Biting stone-crop 1174 Bitter almonds 80 Bitter cucumber 246 Bitter polygala 529 Bittern of salt works, 416, 418 Bittersweet 289 Bitumen petroleum 504 Bituminous coal 164 Bixa orellana 1120 Black alder 547 Blackberry-root 575 Black drop 740,1080 Black flux 545 Black hellebore 346 Black ipecacuanha 382 Black lead 164 Black mustard seeds 633 Black nightshade 289 Black-oak bark 555,557 Black oxide of iron 897 Black oxide of manga- nese 423 Black oxide of mercury 928 Black pepper 511 Black pitch 517 Black poppy 479 Black salts 534 Black snakeroot 198 Black spruce 677 Black sulphuret of mer- cury 935 Black tea 1180 Bladder senna 1137 Bladder-wrack 1142 Blazing star 58 Bleaching powder 829 Blende 715,1112 Blessed thistle 188 Blistering plaster 836 Blisters, use of 158 Block tin 654 Blood-root 597 Blue flag 384 Blue gentian 328 Blue pills 990 Blue, Prussian 311 Blue vitriol 275 Blunt-leaved dock 578 Bole Armenian 1125 Boles 1125 Boletus fomentarius 138 Boletus igniarius 137 Boletus laricis 137 Boletus ribis 138 Boletus ungulatus 138 Bolus Veneta 1182 Bonsdorff's sulphate of iron 906 Bone 500 Bone-black 165 Bones, earth of 500 Boneset 299 Bonplandia trifoliata 90 Boracic acid, native 637 Borage 1125 Borago officinalis 1125 Borate of soda 636 Borax 636 Borax, artificial 637 Borax, crude 637 Borax, glass of 638 Boswellia serrata 478 Boullay's filter 732 Bran 692 Brandy 52 Brandy mixture 964 Brasilleto 1125 Brazil wood 1125 Briancon manna 425 Brighton water 105 Brimstone 663 Brimstone, cane 664 British oil 505 Broad-leafed laurel 1153 Bromide of iron 1125 Bromide of potassium 1017 Bromides of mercury 1125 Bromine 138 Bromine in mineral waters 139 Brominium 138 Broom 649 Broom-rape 1163 Broussonetia tinctoria 1143 Brown mixture 1191 Brown sugar 584, 586, 589 Brucea antidysenterica 92 Brucia 453 Bryonia alba 1126 Bryony 1126 Bubon galbanum 319 Buchu 284 Buckbean 435 Buckthorn berries 560 Bugle, common 1117 Bugle-weed 414 Bugloss 1119 Burdock 109 Burgundy pitch 514 Burnt hartshorn 832 Burnt sienna 1175 Burnt sponge 1048 Burnt umber 1182 Bursera gummifera 1129 Buttercup 558 Butterfly-weed 120 Butternut 389 Butter of zinc 1130 Button snakeroot 298,1155 Caballine aloes Cabbage-tree bark Cacao 64 329 1134 Cactus coccinilifer 240 Cudmia 717 Caesalpina Braziliensis 1125 Caesalpina crista 1125 Ceesalpina echinata 1125 Caesalpina sappan 1125 Caffeic acid 1136 Caffein 1136 Cahinca 1126 Cahincic acid 1127 Cajuputi 460 Cajuput oil 460 Calamina 716 Calamina praeparata 1109 Calamine 716 Calamine, prepared 1109 Calamus 140 Calamus draco 1141 Calamus rotang 1141 Calcareous spar 144 Calcii chloridum 142 Calcination 733 Calcined magnesia 955 Calcined mercury 932 Calcis carbonas 143 Calcis carbonas durus 144 Calcis carbonas praeei- pitatum 826 Calcis carbonas praepa- ratus 826 Calcis hydras 147 Calcis murias 142 Calcis muriatis aqua 827 Calcis phosphas prae- eipitatum 828 Calendula officinalis 1127 Calendulin 1127 Calico bush 1153 Calisaya bark 216 Callicocca ipecacuanha 378 Calomel 919 Calomel, Howard's 922 Calomel, Jewell's 922 Calomel pills 992 Calomel pills, compound 992 Calomel, precipitated 924 Calomel, preparation of on a large scale 921 Calomelas 919 Calomelas praeeipitatum 924 Calomelas sublimatum 919 Calophyllum inophyl- lum 1177 Calophyllum tacama- haca 1177 Calotropis gigantea 1127 Calotropis madarii In- dico-orienlalis 1128 Calumba 248 Calx 141 Calx chlorinata 829 Cambogia 323 Camellia sasanqua 1179 Camphene 151 Camphor 147 Index. 1219 Camphor, artificial 473 Camphor liniment 952 Camphor liniment, com- pound 952 Camphor water 810 Camphora 147 Camphorated acetic acid 742 Camphorated soap lini- ment 953 Camphorated tincture of opium 1081 Camphorated tincture of soap 1083 Camphoric acid 151 Camwood 1128 Canada balsam 680 Canada fleabane 296 Canada snakeroot 118 Canadian turpentine 680 Canary seed 1128 Cancer pagurus 146 Cancer powder, Martin's 19 Cancer-root 1163 Cane brimstone 664 Canella 153 Canella alba 153 Cannabis sativa 1128 Cantharides 155 Cantharidin 157 Cantharis 154 Cantharis aeneas 161 Cantharis albida 161 Cantharis aszelianus 161 Cantharis atrata 160 Cantharis cinerea 160 Cantharis marginata 160 Cantharis Nuttalli 161 Cantharis politus 161 Cantharis vesicatoria 155 Cantharis vittata 159 Caoutchouc 1128 Cape aloes 62 Caper-bush 112y Caper plant 1162 Caphopicrite 567 Capnomor 265 Capparis spinosa 1129 Capsicin 162 Capsicum 161 Capsicum annuum 161 Capsicum baccatum 161 Capsicum frutescens 161 Capsules of gelatin 1145 Caranna 1129 Caraway 175 Caraway water 811 Carbo 163 Carbo animalis 165 Carbo animalis purifi- catus 833 Carbo ligni 168 Carbon 163 Carbonas barytae 129 Carbonas calcis ex can- cro astacho 145 Carbonas calcis ex can- cro paguro 146 Carbonas calcis mollior 143 Carbonas calcis praepa- ratus 826 Carbonas ferri praecipi- tatus 900 Carbonas magnesiae 416 Carbonas plumbi 522 Carbonas potassae, Ed. 1008 Carbonas sodae, Ed. 1034 Carbonas zinci impurus 716 Carbonas zinci impurus praeparatus 1109 Carbonated waters 103 Carbonate of ammonia 780 Carbonate of baryta 129 Carbonate of iron, pre- cipitated 900 Carbonate of iron, pre- pared 902 Carbonate of lead 522 Carbonate of lime 143 Carbonate of lime from the black-clawed crab 146 Carbonate of lime from the crawfish 145 Carbonate of lime, pre- cipitated 826 Carbonate of lime, pre- pared 826 Carbonate of magnesia 416 Carbonate of magnesia, dissolved in carbonic acid water 417 Carbonate of potassa 1004 Carbonate of potassa from crystals of tartar 1006 Carbonate of potassa from pearlash 1004 Carbonate of potassa, impure 533 Carbonate of potassa, solution of 1007 Carbonate of soda 642 Carbonate of soda, dried 1033 Carbonate of soda, water of 1034 Carbonate of zinc 716 Carbonate of zinc, pre- pared 1109 Carbonic acid 809 Carbonic acid water 808 Carbonides 1165 Carbonization of wood 15 Carburet of sulphur 1124 Cardamine 169 Cardamine pratensis 169 Cardamom 170 Cardamomum 170 Cardinal flower 414 Cardnus benedictus 188 Caribaean bark 224 Carminative, Dalby's 418 Carminatives 3 Carmine 241 Carnation 280 Carolina pink 650 Caromel 588 Carota 172 Carotin 173 Carpobalsamum 86 Carrageen 1153 Carrot cataplasm 834 Carrot root 173 Carrot seeds 173 Carthagena barks 222 Carthamite 175 Carthamus 174 Carthamus tinctorius 174 Cartier's hydrometer 1210 Carum 175 Carum carui 175 Caryophyllata? radix 333 Caryophyllin 178 Caryophylli oleum 462 Caryophyllus 176 Caryophyllus aromati- cus 176 Cascarilla 179 Cashew nut 1119 Cassava 674 Cassia 180,237 Cassia acutifolia 622 Cassia buds 238 Cassia caryophyllata 1139 Cassia elongata 622 Cassia fistula 180 Cassia lanceolata 623 Cassia Marilandica 182 Cassia obovata 622 Cassia, purging 180 Cassia senna 621 Cassumuniar 1183 Cassuvium pomiferum 1119 Castanea 183 Castanea pumila 183 Castile soap 603 Castor 184 Castor fiber 184 Castor oil 469 Castoreum 184 Castorin 185 Cat thyme 1181 Catalpa cordifolia 1129 Cataplasma aluminis 833 Cataplasma carbonis ligni 834 Cataplasma conii 834 Cataplasma dauci 834 Cataplasma fermenti 834 Cataplasma lini 835 Cataplasma simplex 835 Cataplasma sinapis 835 Cataplastnata 833 Cataplasms 833 Catawba tree 1129 Cuich-fly 1175 Catechu 185 1220 Index. Cathartic clyster 871 Cathartics 2 Cathartin 625 Cathartocarpus fistula 181 Catmint 1161 Catncp 1161 Caustic, lunar 816 Caustic potassa 1002 Caustics 2 Causticum commune acerrimum 1003 Causticum commune mitius 1004 Cayenne pepper 161 Ceanothus Americanus 1129 Cedar apples 392 Cedar, red 392 Celandine 1130 Cement, cap 730 Cement for broken glass Cement, soft Centaurea benedicta Centaurium Centaury, American Centaury, European Centesimal alcohol- meter 724, 1210 Cephaelis ipecacuanha 378 Cera Cera alba Cera flava Cerasin Cerasus lauro-cerasus Cerasus Virginiana Cerata Cerated glass of anti mony Cerate of arsenic Cerate of carbonate of lead Cerate of carbonate of zinc Cerate of Spanish flies Cerate of subacetate of lead Cerates Ceratum Ceratum arsenici Ceratum calaminae Ceratum cantharidis, Lond. Ceratum cantharidis, U.S. Ceratum carbonatis zinci impuri Ceratum cetacei Ceratum hydrargyri compositum Ceratum juniperi sa- binae Ceratum plumbi ace- tatis Ceratum plumbi car- bonatis 839 Ceratum plumbi com- positum 839 Ceratum plumbi sub- acetatis 839 Ceratum resinae 839 Ceratum resina? com- positum 840 Ceratum sabinae 840 Ceratum saponis 840 Ceratum simplex, Ed. 838 Ceratum simplex, U.S. 841 730 730 188 189 5S2 189 190 190 190 8 549 550 836 1145 836 839 841 836 839 836 841 836 841 1090 836 841 838 838 840 1097 Ceratum zinci carbonatis 841 Cerevisiae fermentum 193 Cerin 191 Ceroxylon Andicola 192 Ceruse 522 Cerussa acetata 520 Cervus elaphus 261 Cervus Virginianus 261 Cetaceum 194 Cetin 195 Cetraria Islandica 404 Cetrarin 404 Cevadilla 580 Chaerophyllum sativum 1129 Chalk 143 Chalk, French 1142 Chalk mixture 961 Chalk, prepared 826 Chalk, red 1171 Chalybeate waters 104 Chamaedrys 1180 Chamaemelum 94 Chamaepitys 1117 Chamomile 94 Chamomile, wild 264 Charcoal 168 Charcoal, animal 165 Charcoal cataplasm 834 Charcoal, pure 163 Charcoal, vegetable 164 Cheese-rennet 1143 Chelae cancrorum 146 Chelidonium majus 1130 Cheltenham salt, arti- ficial 645, 1130 Cheltenham water 105 Chenopodium 195 Chenopodium arabro- sioides 196 Chenopodium anthel- minticum 195 Chenopodium botrys 196 Cherry-laurel leaves 549 Chervil 1129 Chian turpentine 681 Chimaphila 196 Chimaphila maculata 197 Chimaphila umbellata 197 China root 605 Chinese rhubarb 564 Chinquapin 183 Chiococca anguifuga 1126 Chiococca densifolia 1126 Chiococca racemosa 1126 Chironia angularis 582 Chironia centaurium liS'J Chlorate of potassa 536 Chloride of barium 821 Chloride of barium, solution of 822 Chloride of calcium 142 Chloride of calcium, solution of 827 Chloride of gold and sodium 1146 Chloride of lead 997 Chloride of lime 829 Chloride of lime as a disinfectant 831 Chloride of potassa, solution of 1130 Chloride of soda 1037 Chloride of soda, solu- tion of 1037 Chloride of sodium 645 Chloride of zinc 1130 Chlorinated lime 829 Chlorinated soda as a disinfectant 1039 Chlorinated soda, so- lution of 1037 Chlorine 812 Chlorine ethers 1131 Chlorine water 811 Chlorite of lime 831 Chlorite of soda 1039 Chloroformid 1131 Chlorohydric acid 31 Chlorophylle 293 Chlorous acid 831 Chocolate 1134 Chocolate nuts 1134 Chondrus crispus 1153 Chrome green 1132 Chrome yellow 1132 Chrysanthemum par- thenium U71 Cichorium intybus 1132 Cicuta 252 Cicuta maculata 1132 Cicuta virosa 1132 Cicutine 253 Cider 708 Cimicifuga 198 Cimicifuga racemosa 198 Cimicifuga serpentaria 198 Cinchona 199 Cinchona acutifolia 208 Cinchona angustifolia 204 Cinchona caducifiora 208 Cinchona condaminea 203 Cinchona cordifolia 204 Cinchona crassifolia 208 Cinchona dichotoma 208 Cinchona flava 199,216 Cinchona glabra 203 Cinchona glandulifera 207 Cinchona hirsuta 205 Cinchona Humboldtiana 208 Index. 1221 Cinchona lanceolata 204 Cinchona lancifolia 204 Cinchona macrocalyx 208 Cinchona macrocarpa 207 Cinchona magnifolia 221 Cinchona micrantha 207 Cinchona nitida 204 Cinchona oblongifolia 206 Cinchona ovalifolia 207,208 Cinchona ovata 205 Cinchona pallida 199,213 Cinchona Pavonii 208 Cinchona pelalba 208 Cinchona pubescens 205 Cinchona purpurea 206 Cinchona rosea 208 Cinchona rotundifolia 208 Cinchona rubra 199, 220 Cinchona scrobiculata 206 Cinchona stenocarpa 208 Cinchonia 226, 1030 Cinchonia, kinate of 228 Cinchonia, sulphate of 227, 1030 Cinchonic red 226 Cinnabar 936 Cinnamic acid 463 Cinnamomi oleum 463 Cinnamomum 234 Cinnamomum aroma- ticum 235 Cinnamomum Loureiro 235 Cinnamomum Zeylani . cum 234 Cinnamon 234 Cinnamon water 812 Cinquefoil 1170 Cissampelos pareira 504 Cistus Creticus 1154 Cistus ladaniferus 1154 Cistus laurifolius 1154 Citrate of potassa 1132 Citric acid 25 Citrine ointment 1094 Citron 406 Citrus acris 406 Citrus aurantium 124 Citrus decumana 124 Citrus limetta 135 Citrus limonium 406 Citrus medica 406 Citrus vulgaris 125 Civet 1133 Claret 707 Clarification 727 Clarified honey 956 Clarry 595 Cleansing of vessels 736 Cleavers 1143 Clematis crispa 1133 Clematis erecta 1133 Clematis flammula 1133 Clematis viorna 1133 Clematis Virginica 1133 Clematis vitalba 1133 Clove bark 1139 Clove pink, flowers of the 280 Cloves 176 Club-moss 1157 Clyster of aloes 871 Clyster of colocynth 872 Clyster of opium 872 Clyster of turpentine 872 Clysters 871 Cnicus benedictus 188 Cobalt blue 1133 Cobweb 1134 Coccoloba uvifera 394 Cocculus Indicus 238 Cocculus lacunosus 239 Cocculus palmatus 248 Cocculus Plukenctii 239 Cocculus suberosus 238 Coccus cacti 240 Coccus lacca 1154 Cochineal 240 Cochinilin 241 Cochlearia armoracia 111 Cochlearia officinalis 242 Cocoa 1134 Cocoa butter 1134 Cocos butyracea 464 Codeia 488 Codfish oil 1135 Coffea Arabica 1135 Coffee 1135 Cohobation 734, 976 Cohosh 198 Cohosh, red 1116 Cohosh, white 1116 Coke 164 Colchicia 244 Colchici radix 243 Colchici semen 245 Colchicum autumnale 243 Colchicum variegatum 1148 Colcothar 41,899 Cold bath 106 Cold cream 1089 Collinsonia Canadensis 1137 Colocynth 246 Colocynthin 247 Colocynthis 246 Colomba 248 Colombin 249 Colophony 559 Coltsfoot 693 Colubrinae radices 451 Columbine 1121 Columbo 248 Columbo American 318 Colutea arborescens 1137 Comfrey 1176 Commercial carbonate of soda 639 Common agrimony 1117 Common bead tree 127 Common bugle 1117 Common caustic, milder 1004 Common caustic, strongest 1003 Common elder 596 Common European turpentine 679 Common marjoram 499 Common nightshade 289 Common salt 645 Common silk-weed 119 Common soap 600, 602 Common winter-cherry 1168 Common yellow soap 603 Compound calomel pills 992 Compound camphor liniment 952 Compound cathartic pills 988 Compound cerate of mercury 838 Compound decoction of aloes 850 Compound decoction of barley 855 Compound decoction of guaiacum wood 854 Compound decoction of mallows 855 Compound decoction of sarsaparilla 858 Compound electuary of catechu 844 Compound extract of colocynth 886 Compound galbanum plaster 864 Compound honey of squill 957 Compound infusion of catechu 943 Compound infusion of gentian 945 Compound infusion of mint 946 Compound infusion of orange peel 942 Compound infusion of roses 948 Compound infusion of sarsaparilla 948 Compound lime-water 826 Compound liniment of mercury 952 Compound mixture of cascarilla 962 Compound mixture of gentian 963 Compound mixture of iron 963 Compound ointment of iodine 1097 Compound ointment of lead 1098 Compound pills of aloes 986 Compound pills of chlo- ride of mercury 992 1222 Index. Compound pills of colo- Compound tincture of Convolvulus panduratus 256 cynth 988 cardamom 1070 Convolvulus scammonia 611 Compound pills of gal- Compound tincture of Copaiba 256 banum 990 castor 1070 Copaifera Beyrichii 257 Compound pills of gam . Compound tincture of Copaifera bijuga 257 boge 990 cinnamon 1072 Copaifera cordifolia 257 Compound pills of hem . Compound tincture of Copaifera coriacea 257 lock 989 iodine 1077 Copaifera Guianensis 257 Compound pills of ipe- Compound tincture of Copaifera Jaquini 257 cacuanha 993 meadow-saffron 1072 Copaifera Jussieui 257 Compound pills of iron 989 Compound tincture of Copaifera Langsdorffii 257 Compound pills of rhu- Peruvian bark 1071 Copaifera laxa 257 barb 994 Compound tincture of Copaifera Martii 257 Compound pills of saga- rhubarb 1082 Copaifera multijuga 257 penum 994 Compound wine of Copaifera nitida 257 Compound pills of gentian 1105 Copaifera oblongifolia 257 squill 994 Comptonia asplenifolia 1138 Copaifera officinalis 257 Compound pills of sul- Concentration 731 Copaifera Sellowii 257 phate of iron 995 Concrete oil of wine 769 Copal 1138 Compound pitch plas- Confectio amygdalae 843 Copalm balsam Copper 1156 ter 866 Confectio aromatica 843 272 Compound plaster of Confectio aurantii cor- Copper, acetate of 273 Spanish flies 863 ticis 843 Copper, ammoniated 847 Compound powder of Confectio cassiae 844 Copper as a poison 272 aloes 1022 Confectio opii 844 Copper, preparations of 847 Compound powder of Confectio piperis nigri 845 Copper, sulphate of 275 alum 1023 Confectio rosae 845 Copperas 907 Compound powder of Confectio rosae caninae 845 Coptis 259 asarabacca 1023 Confectio rutae 846 Coptis teeta 260 Compound powder of Confectio scammonii 846 Coptis trifolia 259 chalk 1024 Confectio sennae 846 Coral 1138 Compound powder of Confection, aromatic 843 Corallium rubrum 1138 chalk with opium 1024 Confection of black Coriander 260 Compound powder of pepper 845 Coriandrum 260 jalap 1025 Confection of cassia 844 Coriandrum sativum 260 Compound powder of Confection of opium 844 Coriaria myrtifolia 623 kino 1026 Confection of orange Corn, Indian 1183 Compound powder of peel 843 Corn poppy 570 scammony 1026 Confection of roses 845 Cornine 263 Compound powder of Confection of rue 846 Cornu cervi elaphi 261 tragacanth 1027 Confection of scammony 846 Cornu ustum 832 Compound resin cerate 840 Confection of senna 846 Cornus circinata 262 Compound saline pow- Confection of the dog Cornus Florida 262 der 1026 rose 845 Cornus sericea 264 Compound soap plaster 870 Confectiones 842 Correspondence between Compound solution of Confections 842 different thermome- alum 778 Conia 253 ters 1207 Compound solution of Conium 251 Corrosive chloride of sulphate of copper 849 Conium maculatum 251 mercury 914 Compound solution of Conserva citri aurantii 843 Corrosive sublimate 914 iodide of potassium 1021 Conserva rosae caninae 845 Corrosive sublimate as Compound spirit of Conserva rosae gallicae 845 a poison 917 aniseed 1045 Conserva rutse 846 Corrosive sublimate, Compound spirit of Conservae 842 tests for 918 horse-radish 1045 Conserve of roses 845 Cortex caryophyllatae 1139 Compound spirit of Conserves 842 Cortex culilaban 1139 juniper 1046 Constantinople opium 483 Cotula 264 Compound spirit of Contrayerva 255 Couch grass 1182 lavender 1046 Convallaria majalis 1138 Coumarin 1181 Compound spirit of Convallaria multiflora 1138 Coumarouna odorata 1181 sulphuric ether 769 Convallaria polygona- Cowbane 1132 Compound sulphur oint- tum 1138 Cowhage 286 ment 1100 Convolvulus batatas 83 Cow-parsnip 349 Compound tincture of Convolvulus jalapa 385 Crabs' claws 146 benzoin 1068 Convolvulus orizabensis 388 Crabs' eyes 145 Index. 1223 Crab stones 145 Cranesbill 330 Crawfish 145 Cream of tartar 544 Cream of tartar, soluble 638 Creasote 265 Creasoton 265 Cremor tartari 544 Creta 143 Creta alba 143 Creta praeparata 826 Crocus 268 Crocus of antimony 791 Crocus sativus 268 Croton cascarilla 179 Croton Eleutheria 179 Croton lacciferum 1154 Croton lineare 179 Croton oil 475 Croton tiglium 476 Crotonic acid 477 Crowfoot 557 Crown bark of Loxa 214 Crucibles 728 Crude antimony 98 Crude borax 637 Crude sal ammoniac 77 Crude saltpetre 539, 540 Crude sulphur 663 Crude tartar 543 Crystallization 731 Crystal mineral 540 Crystals of acetate of copper 274 Crystals of nitrate of silver 818 Crystals of tartar 544 Crystals of Venus 274 Cubeba 270 Cubebin 271 Cubebs 270 Cubic nitre 1161 Cuckoo-flower 169 Cucumber, bitter 246 Cucumber tree 421 Cucumber, wild 292 Cucumis colocynthis 246 Cucumis melo 1139 Cucumis sativus 1139 Cucurbita citrullus 1139 Cucurbita lagenaria 1139 Cucurbita pepo 1139 Cudbear 411 Cudweed 1146 Cuichunchulli 1152 Culilawan 1139 Culver's physic 704 Cumin seed 279 Cuminum cyminum 279 Cunila mariana 1139 Cunila pulegioides 344 Cupels 501 Cupri acetas 273 Cupri acetas. Crystalli 274 Cupri acetas praeparatus 847 Cupri ammoniati aqua 848 Cupri ammonio-sulphas 847 Cupri subacetas 273 Cupri subacetas prae- paratum 847 Cupri sulphas 275 Cuprum 272 Cuprum ammoniatum 847 Curcuma 277 Curcuma angustifolia 427 Curcuma longa 277 Curcuma rotunda 277 Curcuma zedoaria 1183 Curcuma zerumbet 1183 Currant wine 708 Cusco bark 218 Cusparia febrifuga 90 Cusparin 91 Cuttle-fish bone 1139 Cyanide of silver 815 Cyanogen 752 Cyanuret of gold 1146 Cyanuret of iron 311 Cyanuret of mercury 925 Cyanuret of potassium 1140 Cyanuret of zinc 1140 Cycas circinalis 591 Cycas revoluta 591 Cydonia 278 Cydonia vulgaris 278 Cyminum 279 Cynanchum Monspe- liacum 612 Cynanchum oleaefolium 623 Cynanchum vincetoxi- cum 1140 Cynips quercusfolii 321 Cynoglossum officinale 1140 Cytisin H2 Cytisus scoparius 649 D Daffodil 1160 Dalby's carminative 418 Damarra turpentine 681 Dandelion 675 Daphne Alpina 437 Daphne gnidium 436 Daphne laureola 437 Daphne mezereum 436 Daphnin 437 Datura ferox 659 Datura stramonium 657 Datura tatula 658 Daturia 658 Dauci radix 172 Daucus carota 173 Deadly nightshade 130 Decocta 849 Decoction 731 Decoction of aloes, com- pound 850 Decoction of barley 854 Decoction of barley, compound 855 Decoction of bitter- sweet 853 Decoction of broom, compound 858 Decoction of cabbage. tree bark 853 Decoction of chamomile 851 Decoction of dandelion 859 Decoction of dogwood 853 Decoction of elm bark 859 Decoction of guaiacum wood, compound 854 Decoction of Iceland moss 855 Decoction of liquorice root 853 Decoction of logwood 854 Decoction of mallows, compound 855 Decoction of marsh- mallow 851 Decoction of mezereon 856 Decoction of oak bark 856 Decoction of Peruvian bark 851 Decoction of pipsissewa 851 Decoction of pome- granate 853 Decoction of poppy 856 Decoction of quince seeds 853 Decoction of sarsaparilla 856 Decoction of sarsapa- rilla, compound 858 Decoction of" seneka 858 Decoction of the woods 854 Decoction of tormentil 859 Decoction of uva ursi 859 Decoction of white hellebore 859 Decoction of winter green 851 Decoctions 849 Decoctum ad ictericos 1130 Decoctum aloes compo- situm 850 Decoctum althaeae 851 Decoctum amyli 973 Decoctum anthemidis nobilis 851 Decoctum chamaemeli compositum 851 Decoctum cetrariae 855 Decoctum chimaphilae 851 Decoctum cinchonae 851 Decoctum cornus Flo- ridse 853 Decoctum cydoniae 853 Decoctum daphnes mezerei 856 Decoctum dulcamarae 853 Decoctum geoffroyae 853 Decoctum glycyrrhizae 853 1224 Index. Decoctum granati 853 Decoctum guaiaci con i- positum 854 Decoctum haematoxyli 854 Decoctum hordei 854 Decoctum hordei com positum 855 Decoctum Iichenis 855 Decoctum malvse com positum 855 Decoctum mezerei 856 Decoctum papaveris 856 Decoctum polygalae senegae 858 Decoctum pyrolae 851 Decoctum querchs 856 Decoctum sarsaparillae 856 Decoctum sarsaparillae compositum 858 Decoctum scoparii com- positum 858 Decoctum senegae 858 Decoctum taraxaci 859 Decoctum tormentillae 859 Decoctum ulmi 859 Decoctum uvae ursi 859 Decoctum veratri albi 859 Deer-berry 326 Delphia 655 Delphinium 279 Delphinium consolida 279 Delphinium exaltatum 280 Delphinium staphisagria 655 Demulcents 2 Dentellaria 1169 Deobstruents 3 Deshler's salve 840 Dewberry root 575 Dextrine 85 Diachylon 869 Diamond 164 Dianthi caryophylli flores 280 Dianthus caryophyllus 260 Diaphoretic antimony 1160 Diaphoretics 2 Diastase 354 Dictamus albus 1140 Diet drink, Lisbon 858 Digestion 731 Digestive salt of Sylvius 531 Digitalis 281 Digitalis purpurea 281 Dill seeds 87 Dill water 810 Diluted acetic acid 745 Diluted alcohol 776 Diluted muriatic acid 754 Diluted nitric acid 755 Diluted phosphoric acid 757 Diluted solution of sub- acetate of lead 997 Diluted sulphuric acid 759 Diluted water of am- monia 786 Dinner pills 98C Dioplepsis gallce tinc- toriae 321 Diosma 284 Diosma crenata 284 Diospyros 285 Diospyros Virginiana 285 Dippel's animal oil 1141 Dipterix odorata 1181 Dirca palustris 1141 Dispensing of medi- cines 734 Displacement 731 Distillation in vacuo 729 Distilled oils 457, 974 Distilled spirits 1044 Distilled verdigris 274 Distilled vinegar 738 Distilled water 805 Dittany, American 1139 Dittany, bastard 1140 Diuretics 2 Diuretic salt 531 Division, mechanical 724 Dock, blunt-leaved 579 Dock, water 578 Dock, yellow-rooted water 578 Dog-grass 1182 Dog rose 571 Dogs-bane 99 Dog's tooth violet 298 Dogwood 262 Dogwood, round leaved 262 Dogwood, swamp 264 Dolichos 286 Dolichos pruriens 286 Dolomite 419 Dombeya excelsa 681 Dombeya turpentine 681 Dorema ammoniacum 73 Dorstenia contrayerva 255 Dorstenia Drakena 255 Dorstenia Houstonia 255 Dose of medicines 1185 Double aqua fortis 35 Dover's powder 1024 Dracaena draco 1141 Draconin 1141 Dracontium 287 Dragon-root 116 Dragon's blood 1141 Dried alum 777 Dried carbonate of soda 1033 Dried sulphate of iron 908 Drops, table of 1198 Drugs, garbling of 722 Drying oils 456 Drymis Winteri 712 Dryobalanops camphora 148 Dry potassa 531 Dry wines 705 Dulcamara 289 Dutch pink 1142 Dwarf elder 108 Dwarf nettle Dyers' alkanet Dyers' broom Dyers' madder Dyers' oak Dyers' saffron Dyers' weed E 1182 86 1143 574 321 174 1143,1171 500 Earth of bones East India refined salt- petre 540 Eau de luce 602, 1067 Eau medicinal d'Hus- son 245 Effervescing draught 407, 1191 Effervescing solution of potassa 1010 Effervescing solution of soda 1037 Egg 501 Egyptian opium 484 Elaeocarpuscopalliferus 1138 Elaidin 457 Elain 51 Elais Guiniensis 464 Elaphrium tomentosum 1176 Elaterin 293 Elaterium 292 Elatin 293 Elder berries 596 Elder, common Euro- pean 596 Elder ointment 1098 Elder water 815 Elecampane 369 Electuaria 842 Electuaries 842 Electuarium cassias 844 Electuarium catechu compositum 844 Electuarium lenitivum 846 Electuarium opiatum 844 Electuarium scammonii 846 Electuarium sennae 846 Electuarium sennae com- positum 846 Electuary of catechu, compound 844 Elemi 295 Eleoptene 458 Elettaria cardamomum 171 Elixir of vitriol 758 Elixir proprietatis 1067 Elixir sacrum 1082 Elixir salutis 1084 Ellagic acid 322 Elm bark 694 Elutriation 725 Emery 142 Emetia 1379 Emetics 2 Index. 1225 Emetic tartar 790 Emmenagogues 2 Emollients 2 Emplastra 860 Emplastrum adhaesivum 869 Emplastrum ammoniaci 861 Emplastrum ammoniaci cum hydrargyro 861 Emplastrum aromaticum 862 Emplastrum assafcetidae 862 Emplastrum belladonnae 863 Emplastrum calefaciens 866 Emplastrum cantharidis 836 Emplastrum cantharidis vesicatoriae composi- tum 863 Emplastrum cerae 863 Emplastrum epispasti. cum 836 Emplastrum ferri 864 Emplastrum galbani 864 Emplastrum galbani compositum 864 Emplastrumgummosum 865 Emplastrum hydrargyri 865 Emplastrum Iithargyri 867 Emplastrum Iithargyri cum resina 869 Emplastrum opii 865 Emplastrum oxidi ferri rubri 864 Emplastrum oxidi plumbi semivitrei 867 Emplastrum picis com- positum 866 Emplastrum picis cum cantharide 866 Emplastrum plumbi 867 Emplastrum plumbi car- bonatis 869 Emplastrum resinae 869 Emplastrum roborans 864 Emplastrum sapona- ceum 870 Emplastrum saponis 870 Emplastrum saponis compositum 870 Emplastrum simplex 863 Emplastrum thuris 864 Empyreumatic oils 734 Emulsio acaciae Ara- bicae 960 Emulsio amygdali com- munis 960 Emulsio Arabica 960 Emulsio camphorae 810 Emulsion 959 Enema aloes 871 Enema catharticum 871 Enema colocynthidis 872 Enema foetidum 872 Enema opii 872 Enema tabaci 950 Enema terebinthinae 872 Enemata 871 104 English port 707 Ens martis 909 Epidendrum vanilla 1182 Epifagus Americanus 1163 Epispastics 2 Epsom salt 418 Equivalents, table of pharmaceutical Ergot Ergotin Erigeron Canadense Erigeron heterophyllum 297 Erigeron Philadelphi- cum Erigeron pusilum Errhines Eryngium Eryngium aquaticum Eryngo, water Erysimum alliaria Erysimum officinale Erythraea centaurium Erythraea Chilensis Erythronium Erythronium America- num 298 Erythronium lanceola- tum 298 Escharotics 2 Essence de petit grain 125 Essence of ambergris 1046 Essence of bergamot 465 Essence of peppermint 980 Essence of roses 572 Essence of spearmint 981 Essence of spruce 677 Essential oils 457, 974 Essential salt of lemons 11, 1165 1199 616 617 296 297 296 2 298 298 298 1118 1175 189 189 298 Ethal 194 Ether, acetic 1116 Ether, hydric 766 Ether, hyponitrous 772 Ether, muriatic 1158 Ether, nitric 770 Ether, nitrous 770 Ether, rectified sul- phuric 764 Ether, spirit of sul- phuric 769 Ether, sulphuric 764 Ether, unrectified sul- phuric 763 Ethereal oil 768 Ethereal tincture of aloes 1066 Ethereo-sulphuric acid 767 Etherification, theory of 766 Etherine 57 Etherine, sulphate of 768 Ethers 763 Ethers, chlorine 113] Ethiops mineral 935 Eucalyptus mannifera 425 Eucalyptus resinifera 394 Eugenia caryophyllata 177 Eugenin 178 Eupatorium aya-pana 299 Eupatorium cannabi- num 299 Eupatorium perfoliatum 299 Eupatorium pilosum 301 Eupatorium purpureum 300 Eupatorium teucrifo- lium Eupatorium verbenaefo- lium Euphorbia antiquorum Euphorbia Canadensis Euphorbia corollata Euphorbia hypericifolia 302 Euphorbia ipecacuanha 303 Euphorbia lathyris 1162 Euphorbia officinarum 304 Euphorbium Euphrasia officinalis Eupione European centaury European rhubarb Evaporation Exostemma Caribaea Exostemma floribunda Expectorants Expressed oils Expression Extemporaneous pre- scriptions, examples of Extracta Extracta per aquam Extracta per aquam et alcohol Extracta simpliciora Extraction of pulps Extractive Extract of aconite Extract of aloes, puri- fied Extract of black helle- bore Extract of broom tops Extract of butternut Extract of chamomile Extract of colocynth Extract of colocynth, compound Extract of dandelion Extract of deadly night- shade Extract of foxglove Extract of gentian Extract of hemlock Extract of henbane Extract of hops Extract of jalap Extract of lettuce Extract of logwood Extract of may-apple Extract of meadow- saffron, acetic 885 301 301 304 304 301 304 1142 265 189 565 731 224 224 2 455 727 1189 873 880 880 1021 873 880 882 888 896 890 882 885 886 896 887 887 886 889 889 889 890 888 893 1226 Index. Extract of meadow- saffron cormus 885 Extract of nux vomica 891 Extract of oak bark 893 Extract of opium 891 Extract of pareira brava 892 Extract of Peruvian bark 883 Extract of poppy 892 Extract of quassia 893 Extract of rhubarb 893 Extract of rue 894 Extract of sarsaparilla 894 Extract of sarsaparilla, fluid 895 Extract of thorn apple 896 Extract of uva ursi 897 Extract of wormwood 882 Extracts 873 Extractum aconiti 880 Extractum aloes hepa- tic® 882 Extractum aloes purifi- catum 882 Extractum anthemidis 882 Extractum artemisiae absinthii 882 Extractum belladonnae 882 Extractum chamsemeli 882 Extractum cinchonae 883 Extractum colchici aceticum 885 Extractum colchici cormi 885 Extractum colocynthi- dis 885 Extractum colocynthi- dis compositum 886 Extractum conii 886 Extractum digitalis 887 Extractum elaterii 292 Extractum gentianae 887 Extractum glycyrrhizae 305 Extractum haematoxyli 888 Extractum hellebori nigri Extractum lupuli Extractum Extractum Extractum Extractum Extractum Extractum Extractum Extractum catum Extractum Extractum Extractum Evtractum Extractum Extractum Extractum Extractum humuli 889 hyoscyami jalapae juglandis 889 88.9 890 lactucae 890 lupuli 889 nucis vomicae 891 opiiaquosum 891 opii purifi- 891 papaveris pareirae podophylli quassiae 892 892 893 893 quercus rhei 893 833 rutae 894 sarsaparillae 894 Extractim sarsaparillae fluidum 895 Extractum spartii sco- parii 896 Extractum stramonii 896 Extractum taraxaci 896 Extractum uvae ursi 897 Eycbright 1142 F Faba Sancti Ignatii 1123 Fagara octandra 1176 False angustura 91 False barks 223 False sarsaparilla 107 False sunflower 1148 Farina 690 Fat manna 426 Febure's remedy for cancer 19 Fel bovinum 1166 Female fern 1122 Fennel seed 317 Fennel water 813 Fenugreek 1181 Fermentation, alcoholic 53 Fermentation, saccharine 53 Fermentation, vinous 53 Fern, male 315 Feronia elephantum 5 Ferri acetas 899 Ferri acetatis tinctura 899 Ferri ammonio-chlori- dum 909 Ferri bromidum 1125 Ferri carbonas 900 Ferri carbonas praeci- pitatus 900 Ferri carbonas praepa- ratus 902 Ferri cyanuretum 311 Ferri et potassae tartras 902 Ferri ferrocyanas 311 Ferri filum 310 Ferri iodidum 904 Ferri limatura 310 Ferri oxidum rubrum 898 Ferri oxydum nigrum 897 Ferri percyanidum 311 Ferri phosphas 905 Ferri potassio-tartras 902 Ferri ramenta 310 Ferri rubigo 902 Ferri sesquioxydum 900 Ferri sulphas 906 Ferri sulphuretum 908 Ferri tartarum 902 Ferrocyanate of iron 311 Ferrocyanate of potassa 546 Ferrocyanide of potas- sium 546 Ferrocyanuret of potas- sium 546 Fcrroprussiate of potassa 546 Ferroso-fcrric oxide 308 Ferrum 306 Ferrum ammoniatum 909 Ferrum. Oxydi squamae 310 Ferrum. Scobs 310 Ferula assafoetida 121 Fetid clyster 872 Fetid spirit of ammonia 1044 Fever-bush 1155 Feverfew 1171 Fever-root 689 Ficus 313 Ficus carica 313 Ficus Indica 1154 Ficus religiosa 1154 Figs 313 Figwort leaves 615 Filix mas 315 Filter Boullay's 732 Filters 726 Filtration without con- tact of air 726 Fine-leaved water- hemlock 1167 Fishery salt 647 Fixed air 809 Fixed oils 455 Flag, blue 384 flag, sweet 140 Flake manna 425 Flammula Jovis 1133 Flax 408 Flax, purging 1156 Flaxseed 408 Flaxseed cataplasm 835 Flaxseed oil 465 Fleabane, Canada 296 Fleabane, Philadelphia 297 Fleabane, various-leaved 297 Flea-brown oxide of lead 518 Flea wort 1169 Flesh-coloured asclepias 119 Flies, potato 159 Flies, Spanish 154 Florence receiver 977 Florentine orris 383 Flores martiales 909 Florida anise tree 1150 Flour 690 Flowering ash 425 Flowers of benzoin 747 Flowers of sulphur 664 Flowers of zinc 1111 Fluid extract of sar- saparilla 895 Foeniculum 317 Foliated earth of tartar 531 Forms in which medi- cines are exhibited 1188 Formulae for prescrip- tions 1189 Fowler's solution 819 Foxglove 281 Index. 1227 Frankincense 478,515 Frasera 318 Frasera Carolinensis 318 Frasera Walteri 31S Fraxinclla, white 1140 Fraxinus excelsior 424 Fraxinus ornus 425 Fraxinus parviflora 424 Fraxinus rotundifolia 424 French berries 560 French chalk 1142 Friars' balsam 1068 Fuci and algae, ashes of 640 Fucus crispus 1153 Fucus helminthocorton 1142 Fucus vesiculosus 1142 Fuligo ligni 1175 Fumaria officinalis 1142 Fumigation by nitric acid 38 Fuming sulphuric acid of Nordhausen 41 Fumitory 1142 Fungi 1158 Fungic acid 1158 Fungin 1158 Funnel stands 726 Furnace, black lead crucible 728 Furnaces 727 Fusiform jalap 388 Fusion 733 Fustic 1143 G 368, Gadus morrhua Galanga Galangal Galbanum Galbanum officinale Galbanum plaster Galbanum plaster, com pound Galega officinalis Galega tinctoria Galega Virginiana Galena Galipea cusparia Galipea officinalis Galipot Galium aparine Galium tinctorium Galium verum Galla Gallic acid Galls Gamboge Gambogia Garbling of drugs Garcinia cambogia Garcinia Morella Garden angelica Garden purslane 1135 1143 1143 319 320 864 864 1143 1150 1143 518 90 90 514 1143 1143 1143 321 322 321 323 323 722 323 323 88 1170 Garlick 59 Gaultheria 325 Gaultheria procumbens 326 Gay-feather 1155 Gelatin, cakes of 501 Gelatin, capsules of 1145 Genista tinctoria 1143 Gentian 327 Gentian, blue 328 Gentiana 327 Gentiana biloba 327 Gentiana Catesbaei 328 Gentiana chirayita 327 Gentiana lutea 327 Gentiana macrnphylla 327 Gentiana punctata 327 Gentiana purpurea 327 Gentianin 327 Gentisin 328 Geoffrseae inermis cortex 329 Geoffroya inermis 329 Geoffroya Surinamensis 330 Geranium 330 Geranium maculatum 330 Geranium Robertia- num 1144 Germander, 1180 Geum 331 Geum rivale 332 Geum urbanum 332 Gillenia 333 Gillenia stipulacea 334 Gillenia trifoliata 333 Ginger 718 Ginger, wild 118 Ginseng 1144 Glacial phosphoric acid 757 Glass of antimony 1144 Glass of borax 638 Glass of lead 1145 Glauber's salt 643 Glauber's salt from sea- water. 644 Glechoma hederacea 1145 Gliadine 691 Glu 1124 Glue 1145 Gluten 691 Glycerin 600 Glycyrrhiza 335 Glycyrrhiza echinata 335 Glycyrrhiza glabra 335 Glycyrrhiza lepidota 335 Glycyrrhizin 335 Gtiaphalium margari- taceum 1146 Gnaphalium polyce- phalum 1146 Goat's rue 1143 Godfrey's cordial 1081 Gold, preparations of 1146 Golden-rod 648 Golden sulphur of anti- mony 802 Goldthread 259 Goose-grass 1143 Goulard's cerate 839 Goulard's extract 997 Grains of paradise 170 Grain tin 654 Grana Molucca 476 Grana moschata 1148 Grana paradisi 170 Grana tiglia 476 Granatum 336 Granular limestone 145 Gratiola officinalis 339 Gravel-root 300 Gravity, specific 723 Gray oxide of mercury 928 Green tea 1179 Green weed 1143 Green vitriol 906 Groats 127 Gromwell 1156 Ground-ivy 1145 Ground pine 1117 Groundsel, common 1174 Gruel, oatmeal 127 Guaiac 341 Guainci lignum 339 Guaiacin 342 Guaiacum 341 Guaiacum arboreum 339 Guaiacum officinale 339 Guaiacum sanctum 339 Guaiacum wood 339 Gum ammoniac 72 Gum anime 1120 Gum Arabic 4 Gum, Barbary 6 Gum Bassora 1122 Gum, caranna 1129 Gum elastic 1128 Gum Gedda 6 Gum, India 7 Gum plaster 865 Gum-resins 911 Gum, Senegal 6 Gum troches 1088 Gum Turic 6 Gum, Turkey 6 Gummi gutta 324 Gummi-resinae 911 H Haematoxylon 343 Haematoxylon Campe- chianum 343 Hamamelis Virginica 1147 Hard carbonate of lime 144 Hardback 651 Hard soap 600 Hard water 102 Harrowgate water 104 Hartshorn 261 Harsthorn, burnt 832 Harts-tongue 1173 1228 Index. Havana sugar 586 Heal-all 1137, 1170 Heat, modes of apply- ing 727 Hedeoma 344 Hedeoma pulegioides 344 Hedera helix 1147 Hedge garlic 1118 Hedge hyssop 338 Hedge mustard 1175 Hedysarum Alhagi 424 Helenin 370 Helenium autumnale 1148 Helianthus annuus 443 Hellebore, American 702 Hellebore, black 346 Hellebore, white 700 Helleborus foetidus 345 Helleborus niger 346 Helleborus officinalis 347 Helleborus orientalis 346 Helleborus viridis 347 Helonias officinalis 580 Hematin 344 Hemlock 251 Hemlock cataplasm 834 Hemlock gum 516 Hemlock pitch 515 Hemlock spruce 515 Hemlock water-drop- wort 1162 Hemp 1128 Hemp, Indian 99 Henbane 363 Henry's aromatic vine- gar 14 Henry's magnesia 954 Hepar sulphuris 1014 Hepatica 348 Hepatica acutiloba 348 Hepatica Americana 348 Hepatica triloba 348 Hepatic aloes 64 Heptree 571 Heracleum 349 Heracleum gummife- rum 72 Heracleum lanatum 349 Heracleum Pyrenaicum 73 Herb Christopher 1116 Herb Robert 1144 Hermodactyls 1148 Heuchera 349 Heuchera Americana 349 Heuchera cortusa 349 Heuchera viscida 349 Heudelotia Africana 1123 Hevea Guianensis 1128 Hibiscus abelmoschus 1148 Hickory ashes and soot, infusion of 1176 Hiera picra 1023 Hircin 631 Hirudo 350 Hirudo decora 351 Hirudo medicinalis 351 Hive-syrup 957 Hoffmann's anodyne liquor 769 Holly 1149 Hollyhock 68 Honey 431 Honey, clarified 956 Honey of borax 957 Honey of roses 957 Honey of squill, com- pound 957 Honey, preparations of 956 Hooper's pills 987 Hops 355 Hordein 353 Hordeum 353 Hordeum distichon 353 Hordeum perlatum 354 Hordeum vulgare 353 Horehound 42.9 Horehound, white 429 Horehound, wild 301 Horn lead 997 Horse aloes 64 Horse-balm 1137 Horse-chesnut 1117 Horsemint 438 Horse-radish 111 Horse-weed 1137 Hot bath 106 Hound's tongue 1140 Houseleek, common 1174 Houseleek, small 1174 Howard's calomel 922 Huamilies bark 215 Huanuco bark 214 Humulus 355 Humulus lupulus 355 Hundred leaved roses 572 Hungarian balsam 1171 Huxham's tincture of bark 1071 Hydracids 743 Hydrargyri acetas 913 Hydrargyri ammonio- chloridum 938 Hydrargyri bichlori- dum 914 Hydrargyri bicyani- dum 925 Hydrargyri biniodidum 927 Hydrargyri binoxydum 933 Hydrargyri bisulphu- retum 936 Hydrargyri chloridum 919 Hydrargyri chloridum corrosivum 914 Hydrargyri chloridum mite 919 Hydrargyri cyanure- tum " 925 Hydrargyri iodidum 927 Hydrargyri murias cor- rosivum 914 930 928 930 928 930 932 938 934 935 935 936 357 Hydrargyri nitrico-oxy- dum Hydrargyri oxidum ni- grum Hydrargyri oxidum ru- brum, U.S. Hydrargyri oxydum, Lond. Hydrargyri oxydum ni- tricum Hydrargyri oxydum ru- brum, Dub. Hydrargyri oxydum sul- phuricum 934 Hydrargyri persulphas 933 Hydrargyri submurias ammoniatum Hydrargyri sulphas fla- vus Hydrargyri sulphure- tum cum sulphurc Hydrargyri sulphure- tum nigrum Hydrargyri sulphure- tum rubrum Hydrargyrum Hydrargyrum ammonia- tum ' 9^38 Hydrargyrum cum calcis carbonate 939 Hydrargyrum cum creta 939 Hydrargyrum cum mag- nesia 940 Hydrargyrum praeeipi- tatum per se Hydrargyrum purifica- tum Hydrastis Canadensis Hydrated oxide of lead Hydrated sesquicarbo- nate of ammonia Hydrated sesquioxide [peroxide] of iron Hydrate of baryta Hydrate of lime Hydrate of potassa Hydric ether Hydriodate of ammo- nia Hydriodate of potassa Hydriodic acid 372,1148 Hydrochlorate of ammo nia Hydrochlorate of mor- phia Hydrochloric acid Hydrocyanic acid Hydrocvanic acid, anhy- drous' 751, 752 Hydrocyanic acid as a poison 753 Hydrogen 1112 Hydrometer, Baume's 723, 1208 932 912 1148 998 781 22 128 147 1003 766 1151 1018 76 971 28 748 Index. 1229 Hydrosublimate of mer- cury 922 Hydrosulphate of ammo- nia, solution of 788 Hydrosulphates 909 Hydrosulphuret of am- monia 788 Hydrosulphurets 909 Hydro-suiphuretum am- moniae 788 Hydrosulphuric acid 665, 909 Hymenaea 1138 Hymenaea courbaril 1120 Hyoscyamia 364 Hyoscyamus 363 Hyoscyamus albus 364 Hyoscyamus niger 363 Hyperanthera moringa 1163 Hypericum perforatum 1149 Hyperoxy muriate of po- tassa 536 Hypochlorite of soda 1039 Hyponitrous ether 772 Hypopicrotoxic acid 239 Hyposulphuric acid 665 Hyposulphurous acid 665 Hyssop, common 367 Hyssopus officinalis 367 I Iceland moss 403 Ice, plant 1157 Ichthyocolla 367 Icica icicariba 295 Ictodes foetidus 287 Igasuric acid 452 Ignatia amara 1123 Ilex 1149 Ilex aquifolium 1149 Ilex cassina 1150 Ilexdahoon 1150 Ilex mate 1149 Ilex npaca 1149 Ilex Paraguaiensis 1149 Ilex vomitoria 1150 Ilicin 1149 Illicium anisatum 93 Illicium Floridanum 1150 Illicium parviflorum 1150 Impatiens balsamina 1150 Impatiens fulva 1150 Impatiens nolitangere 1150 Impaticn3 pallida 1150 Imperatoriaostruthium 1150 Imperial beverage 545 Impure acetic acid from wood ' 15 Impure carbonate of po- tassii 533 Impure carbonate of soda 639 Impure oxide of zinc 717 I Impure oxide of zinc, prepared 1111 Impure potassa 533 Impure subcarbonate of potassa 533 Impure sulphate of quinia 1032 Impure supertartrate of potassa 543 Incineration 733 Incitants 2 India gum 7 India opium 484 India senna 624 Indian corn 1183 Indian cucumber 1157 Indian hemp 99 Indian physic 333 Indian poke 702 Indian red 1150 Indian tobacco 412 Indian turnip lit) Indigo 1150 Indigo, sulphate of 1150 Indigo, wild 1122 Indigofera tinctoria 1150 Infusa 940 Infusion 731 Infusion of angustura bark 941 Infusion of broom 949 Infusion of buchu 945 Infusion of cascarilla 943 Infusion of catechu, compound 943 Infusion of chamomile 941 Infusion of cloves 942 Infusion of columbo 944 Infusion of flaxseed 946 Infusion of foxglove 944 Infusion of gentian, compound 945 Infusion of hickory ashes and soot 1176 Infusion of hops 946 Infusion of horse-radish 942 Infusion of mint, com- pound 946 Infusion of mint, sim- ple 946 Infusion of orange-peel compound 942 Infusion of pareira brava 946 Infusion of Peruvian bark 943 Infusion of pink-root 950 Infusion of quassia 947 Infusion of rhatany 946 Infusion of rhubarb 947 Infusion of roses, com- pound 948 Infusion of sarsaparilla, compound 948 Infusion of senna 949 104* Infusion of senna with tamarinds 949 Infusion of simaruba 950 Infusion of slippery elm bark 950 Infusion of thorough- wort 945 Infusion of tobacco 950 Infusion of valerian 950 Infusion of Virginia snake-root 949 Infusion of wild-cherry bark 947 Infusions 940 Infusions and decoc- tions, preservation of 734, 735 Infusum acaciae cate- chu 943 Infusum angusturae 941 Infusum anthemidis 941 Infusum armoraciae 942 Infusum armoraciae com- positum 942 Infusum aurantii com- positum 942 Infusum buchu 945 Infusum calumbae 944 Infusum caryophylli 942 Infusum cascarillae 943 Infusum cassiae sennae 949 Infusum catechu com- positum 943 Infusum chamaemeli 941 Infusum cinchonae 943 Infusum colombae 944 Infusum cuspariae 941 Infusum digitalis 944 Infusum diosmae 945 Infusum eupatorii per- foliati 945 Infusum gentianae com positum 945 Infusum krameriae 946 Infusum lini 946 Infusum lini composi- turn 946 Infusum lupuli 946 Infusum menthae com- positum 946 Infusum menthae sim- plex 946 Infusum pareirae 946 Infusum pruni Virgi- nianae 947 Infusum quassiae 947 Infusum rhei 947 Infusum rosae acidum 948 Infusum rosae composi- tum 948 Infusum rosee Gallicae 948 Infusum sarsaparillae compositum 948 Infusum scoparii 949 [nfusum sennas 949 1230 Index. Infusum sennae compo- situm 949 Infusum sennae cum ta- marindis 949 Infusum serpentariae 949 Infusum simarubae 950 Infusum spigeliae 950 Infusum tabaci 950 Infusum ulmi 950 Infusum Valerianae 950 Inspissated juice of elder 894 Inspissated juice of strong-scented lettuce 891 Inspissated juices 880 Inspissation 731 Inula 369 Inula helenium 369 Inulin 370 Iodic acid 372 Iodide of ammonium 1151 Iodide of iron 904 Iodide of lead 998 Iodide of mercury 927 Iodide of potassium 1018 Iodide of potassium, compound solution of 1021 Iodide of starch 1151 Iodide of sulphur 1151 Iodide of zinc 1151 Iodides 372 Iodides of mercury 927 Iodine 370 Iodine baths 375 Iodine caustic 375 Iodine in mineral wa- ters 104, 371 Iodine lotion 375 Iodine ointment of Lu- gol 374 Iodine rubefacient so- lution 375 Iodinum 370 lodinii tinctura 1076 Iodo-hydrargyrate of potassium 1152 lodous acid 372 Ioduretted iodide of potassium 1020 Ionidium marcucci, 382, 1152 Ipecacuanha 377 Ipecacuanha, American 303 Ipecacuanha, black 382 Ipecacuanha, Peruvian 381 Ipecacuanha spurge 303 Ipecacuanha, striated 382 Ipecacuanha, undulated 382 Ipecacuanha, white 382 Ipomaea Jalapa 386 Iporaaea macrorhiza 385 Ipomaea turpethum 935 Iris Florentina 383 Iris foetidissima 383 Iris Germanica 383 Juglans 3*9 Iris pseudo-acorus 383 Juglans cathartica 3^9 Iris tuberosa 383, 1148 Juglans cinerea 389 Iris versicolor 384 JujubaB 1184 Irish moss 1153 Jujube paste 1184 Iron 306 Juniper 390 Iron, acetate of 899 Juniper berries 391 Iron, ammoniated 909 Juniperus 390 Iron and potassa, tar- Juniperus communis 391 trate of 902 Juniperus lycia 478 Iron, black oxide of 897 Juniperus sabina 583 Iron, dried sulphate of 908 Juniperus Virginiana 392 Iron, ferrocyanate of 311 Iron filings 310 Iron filings, purified 897 K Iron, iodide of 904 Iron, persesquinitrate Kaempferia rotunda 1183 of 1174 Kalmia angustifolia 1153 Iron, phosphate of 905 Kalmia glauca 1153 Iron plaster 864 Kalmia latifolia 1153 Iron, precipitated car- Kelp 371,640 bonate of 900 Kermes mineral 80U Iron, preparations of 897 Keyser's pills 914 Iron, prepared carbo- Kinate of cinchonia 228 nate of 902 Kinate of quinia 228 Iron, prototartrate of 904 King's yellow 1163 Iron, red oxide of 898 Kinic acid 228 Iron, rust of 902 Kino 393 Iron, sulphate of 906 Kinovic bitter 225 Iron, sulphuret of 908 Knives, apothecaries1 736 Iron, table of the pre- Knot-grass 529 parations of 309 Knot-root 1137 Iron, Vallet's protocar- Krameria 396 bonate of 1170 Krameria ixina 397 Iron, wine of 903 Krameria triandra 396 Iron wire 310 Isatis tinctoria 1150, 1153 Isinglass 367 L. Isis nobilis 1138 Issue peas 125, 384, 1147 Labarraque's disinfect- Ivory-black 165 ing liquid 1037 Ivy 1147 Labdanum 1154 Ivy gum 1147 Labrador tea 1155 Labrus squetague 368 Lac 1154 J Lac ammoniaci 960 Lac assafcetidae 961 Jaen bark 215 Lac sulphuris 1052 Jalap 385 Laccin 1154 Jalapa 385 Lacmus 411 Jalap, male, 388 Lactin 588 Jamaica pepper 510 Lactuca 399 James's powder 804 Lactuca elongata 398 Jamestown weed 658 Lactuca sativa 399 Jasminum officinale 1163 Lactuca scariola 399 Jatropha curcas 673 Lactuca virosa 399 Jatropha elastica 1128 Lactucarium 399 Jatropha manihot 674 Ladanum 1154 Javelle's water 1130 Ladies' bed-straw, yel- Jelly, vegetable 173 low 1143 Jerusalem oak 195 Ladies' mantle 1118 Jesuits' drops 1068 Lakes 1155 Jesuits' powder 230 Lake water 103 Jewell's calomel 922 Lamps, alcoholic 728 Jewel-weed 1150 Lana philosophica 1111 Index. 1231 Lapilli cancrorum 145 Lapis calaminaris 716 Larch, European 678 Lard 50 Large flowering spurge 301 Larix communis ' 678 Larix Europaea 678 Larkspur 279 Laudanum 1079 Laudanum, Syden- ham's 1106 Laurel 1153 Lauri baccae 402 Luuri folia 402 Laurus benzoin 1155 Laurus camphora 147 Laurus cassia 237 Laurus cinnamomum 234 Laurus culilaban 1139 Laurus nobilis 402 Laurus pichurim 1168 Laurus sassafras 610 Lavandula 402 Lavandula spica 403 Lavandula vera 403 Lavender 402 Lavender water 1046 Lead 517 Lead, acetate of 520 Lead as a poison 519 Lead, carbonate of 522 Lead, chloride of 997 Lead, hydrated oxide of 998 Lead, iodide of 998 Lead plaster 867 Lead, preparations of 995 Lead, red 524 Lead, sugar of 520 Lead, tannate of 1177 Lead tree 1107 Lead-water 997 Lead, white 522 Leadwort 1169 Leather flower 1133 Leather wood 1141 Ledum latifolium 1155 Ledum palustre 1155 Leeches 350 Leek root 530 Lemons 406 Lemons, essential salt of 11,1165 Lemon syrup 1057 Lenitive electuary 846 Lentisk 430 Leontodon taraxacum 675 Leopaid's-bane 112 Leptandra Virginica 704 Lettuce 399 Lettuce, strong scented 399 Lettuce, wild Levigation Liatris scariosa Liatris spicata Liatris squarrosa Lichen 398 725 1155 1155 1155 Lichen Islandicus Lichen tartareus Life-everlasting Light oil of wine Light wines Lignum colubrinum Lignum vitae Ligusticum levisticum 1155 1156 1156 1138 1156 214 Ligustrum vulgare Lilium candidum Lily of the valley Lily, white Lima bark Limatura ferri purificata 897 141 829 824 144 824 826 406 406 465 1120 951 Lime Lime, chloride of Lime, preparations of Limestone Lime-water Lime-water, compound Limes Limon Limonum oleum Linaria vulgaris 953 951 951 952 951 953 953 951 958 951 951 Linimenta Liniment, camphorated soap Liniment of ammonia Liniment of lime Liniment of mercury, compound Liniment of Spanish flies 952 Liniment of sesquicar- bonate of ammonia Liniment of turpentine Liniment, simple Liniments Linimentum aeruginis Linimentum ammoniae Linimentum ammoniae sesquicarbonatis Linimentumanodynura 1083 Linimentum aquae calcis 951 Linimentum arcaei 1091 Linimentum calcis 951 Linimentum camphorae 952 Linimentum camphorae compositum 952 Linimentum cantharidis 952 Linimentum hydrargyri compositum 952 Linimentum opii 1083 Linimentum saponis 1083 Linimentum saponis camphoratum Linimentum saponis cum opio Linimentum simplex Linimentnm terebin- thinae Linseed Linseed oil Linum Linum catharticum Linum usitatissimum 403 Liquefaction 404 Liquidambar orientale 661 411 Liquidambar styraci- 1146 flua 661, 1156 769 Liquidamber 1156 705 Liquid muriatic acid 30 451 Liquids from solids, 340 separation of 725 Liquids, separation of 727 Liquor aethereus oleosus 768 Liquor aethereus sulphu- ricus 763 Liquor aluminis compo- situs 778 Liquor ammoniae 783 Liquor ammoniae ace. tatis 787 Liquor ammoniae hydro- sulphatis 788 Liquor ammoniae sesqui- carbonatis 782 Liquor argenti nitratis 818 Liquor arsenicalis 819 Liquor barii chloridi 822 Liquor barytae muriatis 822 Liquor calcii chloridi 827 Liquor calcis 824 Liquor calcis muriatis 827 Liquor cupri ammonio- sulphatis 848 Liquor ferri iodidi 905 Liquor ferri sesquinitra- tis 1174 Liquor hydrargyri bi- chloridi 919 Liquor morphiae sul- phatis 972 Liquor plumbi diace- tatis 995 Liquor plumbi subace- tatis 995 Liquor plumbi subace- tatis dilutus 997 Liquor potassae 999 Liquor potassae arsenitis 819 Liquor potassa? carbo- natis 1007 Liquor potassae chlori- natae H3Q Liquor potassae effer- vescens 1010 Liquor potassii iodidi compositus 1021 Liquor sodae chlorinata? 1037 Liquor sodae efferves- cens 1037 Liquor tartari emetici 798 Liquorice 305 Liquorice root 335 Liriodendrin 411 Liriodendron 410 Liriodendron tulipifera 410 Lisbon diet drink 858 Litharge 526 Litharge of gold 527 Litharge of silver 527 Litharge plaster 867 953 1083 953 953 408 466 408 1156 408 728 1232 Index. Litharge, red 527 Litharge, yellow 527 Lithargyrus 526 Lithia in mineral wa- ters 104 Lithospermum offici- nale 1156 Lithospermum tincto- rium 87 Litmus 411 Liver of sulphur 1014 Liverwort 34ti Lixiviation 731 Lixivus cinis 533 Lobelia 412 Lobelia cardinalis 414 Lobelia inflata 412 Lobelia syphilitica 414 Lobelina 413 Loblolly pine 678 Logwood 343 Long-leaved pine 678 Long pepper 513 Loosestrife 415 Loss by pulverization, table of 724 Lovage 1155 Loxa bark 214 Lozenges 1087 Lozenges of bicarbo- nate of soda 1037 Lunar caustic 816 Lung-wort 1171 Lupa hastata 146 Lupulin 356 Lupulina 356 Lupulus 355 Lutes 730 Lycopodium 1157 Magnesiae carbonas 416 Magnesiae sulphas 418 Magnesiae sulphas pu- rum 956 Magnesium 955 Magnolia 420 Magnolia acuminata 421 Magnolia glauca 420 Magnolia grandiflora 420 Magnolia tripetala 421 Mahogany-tree 1176 Mahy's plaster 869 Maidenhair 1116 Malacca tin 654 Male fern 315 Male jalap 388 Male orchis 1172 Mallows 422 Malt 354 Malt vinegar 12 Maltha 505 Malva 422 Malva alcea 68 Malva rotundifolia 422 Malva sylvestris 422 Mandioca 674 .Mandragora 1157 Mandragora officinalis 1157 Mandrake 527,1157 Manganese 423 Manganese, black oxide of 423 Manganesii, binoxydum 423 Lycopodium clavatum 1157 Lycopus 414 Lycopus Europceus 415 Lycopus Virginicus 414 Lythrum salicaria 415 Lytta 154 Lytta vittata 159 M Mace 447 Maceration 731 Macis 445 Macrotys racemosa 198 Madar 1127 Madder 574 Madeira wine 706 Magistery of bismuth 824 Magnesia 954 Magnesia alba 417 Magnesia, calcined 955 Magnesia, carbonate of 416 Magnesia, Henry's 954 Magnesia, preparations of 954 Magnesia, sulphate of 418 Manganic acid 423 Manna 424 Manna, Briancon 425 Mannite 426 Maranta 427 Maranta allouya 427 Mranta arundinacea 427 Maranta galanga 1143 Maranta Indica 427 Maranta nobilis 427 Marble 144 Marbled soap 601, 603 Margaric acid 600 Margarin 51,456 Marine acid 28 Marjoram, common 499 Marjoram, sweet 499 Marl 144 Marmor 144 Marrubium 429 Marrubium vulgare 429 Marshmallow 67 Marsh rosemary 656 Marsh tea 1155 Marsh trefoil 435 Marsh water 103 M irsh water-cress 1161 Martial ethiops 897 Martin's cancer powder 19 Marygold ] 127 Massicot 518,525 Masterwort 349, 1150 Mastich 429 Mastiche 4 "J .9 .Masticin 430 .Matonia cardamomnm 171 Matricaria chamomilla 95 Matricaria parthenium 1171 May-apple 527 May-weed 264 Mead 708 Meadow anemone 1120 Meadow.saffron root 243 Meadow-saffron seed 245 Mealy starwort 58 Measurement, approxi- mate 1198 Measures and weights 722, 1193 Mechanical division 724 Mechoacan 387 Meconic acid 491 Meconin 490 Medeola Virginica 1157 Medicated waters "806 Medicated wines 1103 Medicinal hydrocyanic acid 751 Medicines, art of pre- scribing 1185 Medicines, dispensing of 734 Medicines, dose of 1185 Medicines, form in which exhibited 1188 Medicines, mode of ad- ministering 1186 Medicines, preservation of 722 Mel 431 Mel boracis 957 Mel despumatum 956 Mel rosae 957 Mel scillae compositum 957 Mel sub-boratis sodse 957 Melaleuca cajuputi 461 Melaleuca leucadendron 460 Melampodium 347 Melia azedarach 127 Melilot 1157 Melilotus officinalis 1157 Melissa officinalis 432 Mellita 956 Meloe majalis 155 Meloe niger 161 Meloe proscarabaeus 155 Meloe trianthemae 155 Menispermin 239 Menispermum cocculus 239 Menispermum palmatum 248 Mentha piperita 433 Mentha pulegium 434 Mentha viridis 434 Menyanthes 435 Menyanthes trifoliata 435 Mercurial ointment 1092 Mercurial pills 990 Mercurial plaster 865 Mercurius 357 Index. 1233 Mercury 357 Mercury, acetate of 913 Mercury, ammoniated 938 Mercury, bicyanide of 925 Mercury, biniodide of 927 Mercury, binoxide of 933 Mercury, bisulphuret of 936 Mercury, black oxide of 928 Mercury, black sulphu- ret of 935 Mercury, calcined 932 Mercury, corrosive chlo- ride of 914 Mercury, cyanuret of 925 Mercury, gray oxide of 928 Mercury, hydrosubli- mate'of 922 Mercury, iodide of 927 Mercury, mild chloride of 919 Mercury, persulphate of 933 Mercury, precipitated sub-muriate of 924 Mercury, preparations of 912 Mercury, protiodide of 927 Mercury, protonitrate of 924 Mercury, prussiate of 925 Mercury, purified 912 Mercury, red oxide of 930, 932 Mercury, red sulphuret of 936 Mercury, solution of bi- chloride of 919 Mercury, submuriate of 919 Mercury, table of the preparations of 361 Mercury, with carbonate of lime 939 Mercury with chalk 939 Mercury with magnesia 940 Mercury, yellow sul- phate of 934 Mesembryanthemum crystallinum 1157 Metallic manganese 423 Metaphosphoric acid 757 Method of displacement 731 Metroxylon sagu 591 Mezereon 436 Mezereum 436 Mild chloride of mer- cury 919 Mild mercurial oint- ment 1092 Mild volatile alkali 780 Milder common caustic 1004 Milder ointment of ni- trate of mercury 1096 Milfoil 1116 Milium solis 1156 Milk of sulphur 1051 Milk-weed 120,302 Mimosa Nilotica 4 Mindererus, spirit of 787 Mineral, ethiops 935 Mineral, kermes 800 Mineral tar 505 Mineral, turpeth 934 Mineral water 808 Mineral waters 103 Mineral yellow 1167 Minium 524 Mint 434 Misletoe 1183 Mistura ammoniaci 959 Mistura amygdalae 960 Mistura assafcetidae 961 Mistura calcis carbo- natis 961 Mistura camphorae 810 Mistura camphorae cum magnesia. 962 Mistura carcarillae com- posita 962 Mistura cretae 961 Mistura ferri aromatica 962 Mistura ferri composita 963 Mistura gentianae com- posita 963 Mistura guaiaci 963 Mistura moschi 964 Mistura spiritus vini gallici 964 Misturae 959 Mithridate 844 Mixture, almond 960 Mixture, ammoniac 959 Mixture, assafetida 961 Mixture, brandy 964 Mixture, brown 1191 Mixture, musk 964 Mixture, neutral 407, 1191 Mixture of camphor with magnesia 962 Mixture of carbonate of lime 961 Mixture of cascarilla, compound 962 Mixture of gentian, compound 963 Mixture of guaiac 963 Mixture ot iron, aroma- tic 962 Mixture of iron, com- pound 963 Mixture, oleaginous 1191 Mixtures 959 Mode of administering medicines 1186 Molasses 585, 586, 589 Mole-plant 1162 Momordica balsamina 1157 Momordica elaterium 292 Monarda 438 Monarda punctata 439 Moonkshood 48 Montpellier scammony 612 Mora 439 Morphia 964 Morphia, acetate of 970 Morphia, hydrochlorate of 971 Morphia, muriate of 971 Morphia, sulphate of 972 Morphiae acetas 970 Morphiae hydrochloras 971 Morphiae sulphas 972 Mortars 724 Morus alba 440 Morus nigra 439 Morus ruba 439 Morus tinctoria 1143 Moschus 440 Moschus factitius 1159 Moschus moschiferus 440 Mountain-laurel 1153 Mountain rhubarb 579 Mountain tea 326 Moxa 442 Mucilage 409 Mucilage of gum Arabic 973 Mucilage of starch 973 Mucilage of tragacanth 974 Mucilages 973 Mucilagines 973 Mucilago acaciae 973 Mucilago amyli 973 Mucilago astragali tra- gacanthae 974 Mucilago gummi Ara- bici °73 Mucilago gummi traga- cantha? 974 Mucuna 286 Mudar H27 Mugwort H3 Mulberries 439 Mullein leaves 703 Murias ammoniae 76 Murias ammoniae et ferri 909 Murias barytae 821 Murias hydrargyri cor- rosivus 914 Murias sodae 645 Muriate of ammonia 76 Muriate of baryta 821 Muriate of baryta as a poison 823 Muriate of baryta, solu- lution of 822 Muriate of iron, tincture of 910 Muriate of lime 142 Muriate of lime, solu- tion of 827 Muriate of morphia 971 Muriate of soda 645 Muriatic acid 28 Muriatic acid gas 31 Muriatic acid, table of the specific gravity of 30 Muriatic ether 1158 1234 Index. Muriatis ferri liquor 9101 Nicotiana tabacum 666 Oil, cnjuput 460 Muscovado sugar 584 Nicotia 668 Oil, castor 469 Mushrooms 1158 Nicotianin 668 Oil, codfish 1135 Musk 440 Nicotin 668 Oil, croton 475 Musk, artificial 1159 Nigella sativa 1161 Oil, ethereal 768 Musk mixture 964 Nightshade, black 289 Oil, flaxseed 465 Mu*t 705 Nightshade, common 289 Oil, neats-foot 460 Mustard 632 Nightshade, deadly 130 Oil of almonds 459 Mustard cataplasm 835 Nightshade, woody 290 Oil of amber 983 Mustard seeds, black 633 Nihil album 1111 Oil of amber, rectified 983 Mustard seeds, white 633 Nitras argenti 816 Oil of anise 977 Mylabris cichorii 155 Nitras potassae 538 Oil of ben 1163 Mylabris pustulata 155 Nitrate of potassa 538 Oil of benne 629 Mynsicht's acid elixir 75:) Nitrate of potassa as a Oil of bergamot 135 Myricacerifera 192 poison 541 Oil of bitter almonds 81 Myricin 191 Nitrate of potassa, pu- Oil of camphor 149 Myristica 445 rified 1011 Oil of caraway 978 Myristica Malabarica 447 Nitrate of silver 816 Oil of cassia 463 Myristica moschata 445 Nitrate of silver as a Oil of chamomile 978 Myristica tomentosa 447 poison 818 Oil of cinnamon 463 Myristicin 446 Nitrate of silver, crys- Oil of cloves 462 Myrobalani 1160 tals of 818 Oil of codfish 1135 Myrdbalans 1160 Nitrate of silver, solu- Oil of copaiba 257 Myroxylon 447 tion of 818 Oil of cubebs 271 Myroxylon Peruiferum 448 Nitrate ol soda 1161 Oil of elder flowers 982 Myroxylon Toluiferum 683 Nitre 538 Oil of euphorbia 1162 Myrrh 449 Nitre-beds, artificial 538 Oil of fennel 978 Myrrha 449 Nitre, cubic 1161 Oil of horsemint 981 Myrtle wax 192 Nitre, sweet spirit of 772 Oil of jasmine 1163 Myrtus acris 1139 Nitric acid 32 Oil of juniper 979 Myrtus caryophyllata 1139 Nitric acid as a poison 39 Oil of lavender 979 Myrtus pimenta 510 Nitric acid fumigation 38 Oil of lemons 465 Nitric acid, table of the Oil of mace 466 specific gravity of 37 Oil of marjoram 981 N Nitric ether 770 Oil of mustard 633 Nitromuriatic acid 755 Oil of nutmeg 466 Naphtha 505 Nitromuriatic oxide of Oil of origanum 981 Naphtha, artificial 505 antimony 789 Oil of partridge-berry 979 Naples, yellow 1160 Nitrosulphate of ammo- Oil of pennyroyal, Ame- Narcein 490 nia 1161 rican 979 Narcissus pseudo-nar- Nitrous acid 33, 37 Oil of pennyroyal, Eu- cissus 1160 Nitrous ether 770 ropean 980 Narcotics 2 Nitrous powders 541, 1189 Oil of peppermint 980 Narcotin 486 Nitrum 538 Oil of pimento 981 Narcotina 486 Nordhausen, fuming si il- Oil of rosemary 982 Nard 1160 phuric acid of 41 Oil of rue 982 Nasturtium amphi- Nutmeg 445 Oil of sassafras 982 bia m 1161 Nutmeg flower 1161 Oil of savine 982 Nasturtium officinale 1161 Nux moschata 446 Oil of spearmint 981 Nasturtium palustre 1161 Nux vomica 451 Oil of spike 980 Native soda 639 Nymphaea alba 1162 Oil of sweet marjoram 981 Natron 639 Nymphaea odorata 1162 Oil of turpentine 473 Nauclea gambir 393 Oil of turpentine, rec- Neats-foot oil 460 tified 984 Nepeta cataria 1161 o Oil of vitriol 39 Neroli 125 Oil of wine 768 Nettle, common 1182 Oak bark 556 Oil of wine, concrete 769 Nettle, dwarf 1182 Oatmeal 126 Oil of wine, heavy 769 Neutral mixture 407,1191 Oatmeal gruel 127 Oil of wine, light 769 New bark 224 Ochres 1162 Oil of wormseed 978 New Jersey tea 1129 Ocimum basilicum 1162 Oil, olive 467 Nicaragua wood 1125 Ocotea pichurim 1168 Oil, palm 464 Nicotiana frnticosa 667 (Enanthe crocata 1162 Oils 455 Nicotiana paniculata 667 OZnanthe phellandrium 1167 Oils, distilled 457, 974 Nicotiana quadrivalvis 667 Oenothera biennis 1162 Ods, drying 456 Nicotiana rustica 667 Oil, benne 472, 629 Oils, empyreumatic 734 Index. 1235 Oils, essential Oils, expressed Oils, fixed Oils, volatile Ointment, citrine 457 455 455 457 1094 Ointment, compound sulphur 1100 Ointment, elder 1098 Ointment, mercurial 1092 Ointment, mercurial, mild 1092 Ointment, mercurial, strong 1092 Ointment of acetate of copper 1091 Ointment of acetate of lead 1097 Ointment of American hellebore 1101 Ointment of ammonia- ted mercury 1094 Ointment of biniodide of mercury 1094 Ointment of black pep- per 1097 Ointment of carbonate of lead 1098 Ointment of creasote 1091 Ointment of elemi 1091 Ointment of figwort 1099 Ointment of galls 1092 Ointment of galls, com- pound 1092 Ointment of gray oxide of mercury 1096 Ointment of hemlock 1091 Ointment of hydriodate of potassa 1098 Ointment of impure oxide of zinc 1101 Ointment of infusion of Spanish flies 1090 Ointment of iodide of lead 1098 Ointment of iodide of mercury 1094 Ointment of iodine 1096 Ointment of iodine, compound 1097 Ointment of lead, com- pound 1098 Ointment of nitrate of mercury 1094 Ointment of nitric acid 1089 Ointment of nitrous acid 1089 Ointment of oxide of zinc HOI Ointment of pitch 1097 Ointment of red oxide of mercury 1096 Ointment of rose water 1089 Ointment of Spanish flies 1090 Ointment of sulphuric acid 1089 Ointment of the pow- der of Spanish flies 1090 Ointment of thorn- apple 1099 Ointment of white hellebore 1101 Ointment of white precipitate 1094 Ointment, simple 1099 Ointment, spermaceti 1091 Ointment, sulphur 1099 Ointment, tar 1097 Ointment, tartar emetic 1100 Ointment, tobacco 1100 Ointments 10S9 Olea 455 Olea destillata 974 Olea essentialia 975 Olea Europaea 467 Olea expressa 455 Olea fixa 455 Olea fragrans 1179 Olea volatilia 457, 975 Oleaginous mixture 1191 Oleic acid 600 Olein 51,456 Oleo-saccharum 588 Oleum aethereum 768 Oleum ammoniatum 951 Oleum amygdalae 459 Oleum anisi 977 Oleum anthemidis 978 Oleum bubulum 460 Oleum cajuputi 460 Oleum camphoratum 952 Oleum cari 978 Oleum carui 978 Oleum caryophylli 462 Oleum chenopodii 978 Oleum cinnamomi 463 Oleum cornu cervi 1141 Oleum fixum coci bu- tyraceae 464 Oleum foeniculi 978 Oleum gaultheria? 979 Oleum hedeoma? 979 Oleum hyperici 1149 Oleum jecoris aselli 1135 Oleum juniperi 979 Oleum lavandulae 979 Oleum limonis 465 Oleum lini 465 Oleum lini cum calce 951 Oleum menthae pipe- rita? 980 Oleum menthae pulegii 980 Oleum mentha? viridis 981 Oleum monarda? 981 Oleum myristica? 466 Oleum olivae 467 Oleum origani 981 Oleum origani majo- rana? 981 Oleum pimenta? 981 Oleum pulegii 980 Oleum ricini 469 Oleum rosmarini 982 Oleum ruta? 982 Oleum sabina? 982 Oleum sambuci 982 Oleum sassafras 982 Oleum sesami 472, 629 Oleum succini 983 Oleum succini rectifi- catum 983 Oleum sulphuratum 1052 Oleum tartari per de- liquium 1005 Oleum terebinthina? 473 Oleum terebinthinae rectificatum 984 Oleum thymi 1181 Oleum tiglii 475 Olibanum 478 Olivae oleum 467 Olive oil 467 Olive oil soda soap 601, 603 Olivile 467 Onion 61 Opiate powder 1026 Opium 479 Opium, Constantinople 483 Opium, Egyptian 484 Opium ,India 484 Opium, Persia 485 Opium plaster 865 Opium, Smyrna 483 Opium, Turkey 483 Opobalsamum 86 Opodeldoc 953 Opopanax 498 Opopanax chironium 498 Orange flower water 810 Orange mineral 1163 Orange peel 124 Orange red 1163 Orange root 1148 Oranges 125 Orchill 412 Orchis mascula 1172 Origanum 499 Origanum majorana 499 Origanum majoranoi- des 500 Origanum vulgare 499 Orleana 1120 Orobanche Americana 1163 Orobanche uniflora 1163 Orobanche Virginiana 1163 Orpiment 1163 Orris, Florentine 383 Oryza sativa 1164 Os 500 Ossa 500 Os sepiae 1139 Ostrea edulis 682 Ovum 501 Oxacids 743 1236 Index. Oxalate of lime 1164 Oxalate of potassa 1164 Oxalic acid 1164 Oxalic acid as a poison 1165 Oxalis acetosella 10 Ox-gall 1166 Oxide of zinc 1109 Oxidum antimonii cum phosphate calcis 803 Oxidum arsenici 16 Oxidum ferri nigrum 310 Oxidum ferri nigrum purificatum 897 Oxidum ferri rubrum 898 Oxidum hydrargyri ci- nereum 928 Oxidum hydrargyri ru- brum per acidum ni- tricum 930 Oxidum plumbi rubrum 524 Oxidum plumbi semi- vitreum 526 Oxidum zinci 1109 Oxidum zinci impurum 717 Oxidum zinci impurum praeparatum 1111 Oxy-chloride of anti- mony 789 Oxymel 958 Oxymel colchici 958 Oxymel cupri subaceta- tis 958 Oxymel of meadow- saffron 958 Oxymel of squill 959 Oxymel of subacetate of copper 958 Oxymel scillae 959 Oxy muriate of lime 829 Oxvmuriate of potassa 536 Oyster 682 Oyster-shell 682 Oyster-shell prepared 827 Paeonia officinalis 1167 Pale bark 213 Palma Christi 469 Palm oil 464 Palm soap 602 Panax quinquefolium 1144 Pansy 711 Papaver 503 Papaver orientale 479 Papaver rhoeas 570 Papaver somniferum 479 Paraffine 265 Paraguay tea 1149 Paramenispermin 239 Paramorphia 489 Paratartaric acid 696 Paregoric elixir 1081 Pareira 503 Pareira brava 503 Parietaria officinalis 1167 Pariglin 608 Paris white 1183 Parsley root 506 Partridge-berry 325 Pastel 1153 Pastinaca opopanax 498 Patent yellow 1167 Peach leaves 82 Peach wood 1125 Pearlash 533 Pearl barley 354 Pearl white 824 Pearson's arsenical so- lution 18 Pectic acid 174 Pectin 173 Pellitory root 552 Pellitory, wall 1167 Penaea mucronata 1172 Penaea sarcocolla 1172 Pennsylvania sumach 570 Pennyroyal 344 Pennyroyal, European 434 Pennyroyal water 813 Peony 1167 Pepper, black 511 Pepper, Cayenne 161 Pepper, Jamaica 510 Pepper, long 513 Pepper, white 512 Peppermint 433 Peppermint water 813 Periodic acid 372 Periploca scammone 612 Permanganic acid 423 Pernambuco wood 1125 Peroxide of lead 518 Peroxide of manganese 423 Peroxide of potassium 531 Perry 708 Persea camphora 148 Persea cinnamomum 234 Persia opium 485 Persica vulgaris 82 Persimmon 285 Persulphate of mercury 933 Peruvian bark 199 Peruvian ipecacuanha 381 Petroleum 504 Petroleum Barbadense 504 Petroselinum 506 Phalaris Canariensis 1128 Pharmaceutical equiva- lents, table of 1199 Phcllandrium aquati- cum 1167 Philadelphia fleabane 297 Phloridzin 1167 Phoenix farinifera 591 Phosphas soda? 1041 Phosphate of iron 905 Phosphate of lime, pre- cipitated 828 Phosphate of soda 1041 Phosphoric acid, diluted 757 Phosphoric acid, glacial 757 Phosphoric oil, aromatic 508 Phosphorus 506 Phosphorus, ethereal solution of 508 Phyllanthus emblica 1160 Physalis alkekengi 1168 Physalis viscosa 1168 Physeter macrocephalus 194 Phytolacca decandra 508 Phytolacca? baccae 508 PhytolaccaB radix 508 Picamar 265 Pichurim beans 1168 Picroglycion 291, Picrotoxic acid 239 Picrotoxin 239 Pills 985 Pills, aloetic 986 Pills, Asiatic 20 Pills, assafetida 987 Pills, blue 990 Pills, calomel 992 Pills, compound calo- mel 992 Pills, compound ca- thartic 988 Pills, mercurial 990 Pills of aloes and assa- fetida 987 Pills of aloes and myrrh 987 Pills of aloes, compound 986 Pills of ammoniaret of copper 987 Pills of chloride of mer- cury, compound 992 Pills of colocynth, com- pound 988 Pills of copaiba 989 Pills of galbanum, com- pound 990 Pills of gamboge, com- pound 990 Pills of hemlock, com- pound 989 Pills of impure sulphate of quinia 994 Pills of iodide of mer- cury 993 Pills of ipecacuanha, compound 993 Pills of iron, compound 989 Pills of mild chloride of mercury 992 Pills of opium 993 Pills of rhubarb, com- pound 994 Pills of sagapenum, compound 994 Pills of squill, com- pound 994 Pills of subcarbonate of soda 995 Index. 1237 Pills of sulphate of iron, compound 995 Pills of sulphate of qui- nia 993 Pills, storax 994 Pilula? 985 Pilula? aloes 986 Pilula? aloes composita? 986 PilulaB aloes et assafoe- tidae 987 Pilulae aloes et myrrha? 987 Pilula? ammoniareti cupri 987 Pilulae assafoetida? 987 Pilulae assaefoetidae com- positae 990 Pilulae calomelanos com- positae 992 PilulaB cambogiae com- positae 990 Pilulae catharticse com- positae 988 Pilulae colocynthidis composita? 988 Pilulae conii compositae 989 Pilulae copaibae 989 Pilulae de cynoglosso 1140 Pilula? e styrace 994 Pilulae ferri composita? 989 Pilula? galbani compo- sitae 990 Pilula? gambogiae com- positae 990 Pilulae hydrargyri 990 Pilulae hydrargyri chlo- ridi compositae 992 Pilulae hydrargyri chlo- ridi mitis 992 Pilulae hydrargyri iodidi 993 Pilulae ipecacuanha) com- positae 993 Pilula? opii 993 Pilulae quiniae sulphatis 993 Pilulae quiniae sulphatis impuri 994 Pilula? rhei compositae 994 Pilulae sagapeni compo- sitae 994 Pilula? saponis compo- sita? 993 Pilulae saponis cum opio 993 Pilula? scilla? composita? 994 Pilula? scillitica? 994 Pilulae stomachic® 986 Pilulae styracis compo- sitae " 994 Pilula? subcarbonatis soda? 995 Pilulae submuriatis hy- drargyri composita? 992 Pilulae sulphatis ferri compositae 995 Pimenta 510 Pimenta vulgaris 510 Pimento 510 105 Pimento water 814 Pimpernel, scarlet 1119 Pimpinella anisum 93 Pimpinella saxifraga 1168 Pinckneya pubens 1168 Pini oleum volatile 473 Pini resina empyreuma- tica 516 Pini resini liquida 676 Pink, Carolina 650 Pink, clove 280 Pink.root 649 Pink, wild 1175 Pinus abies 514 Pinus australis 677 Pinus balsamea 678 Pinus Canadensis 515 Pinus cembra 1171 Pinus Damarra 681 Pinus larix 678 Pinus maritima 679 Pinus nigra 677 Pinus palustris 677 Pinus picea 681 Pinus pumilio 1171 Pinus rigida 517 Pinus sylvestris 678 Pinus taeda 678 Piper 511 Piper betel 186 Piper cubeba 270 Piper Iongum 513 Piper nigrum 511 Piperin 512 Pipsissewa 196 Pistacia lentiscus 430 Pistacia terebinthus 679 Pitaya bark 224 Pitch, black 517 Pitch, Burgundy 514 Pitch, hemlock 515 Pitch pine 678 Pitch plaster, compound 866 Pittacal 265 Pix abietis 514 Pix Burgundica 514 Pix Canadensis 515 Pix liquida 516 Pix nigra 517 Plantago lancifolia 1169 Plantago major 1168 Plantago media 1169 Plantago psyllium 1169 Plantain 1168 Plants, collecting of 721 Plants, drying of 721 Plaster, adhesive 869, 870 Plaster, blistering 836 Plaster measurer 734 Plaster of ammoniac with mercury 861 Plaster of carbonate of lead 869 Plaster of deadly night- shade 863 Plaster of pitch with Spanish flies 866 Plaster of Spanish flies 863 Plaster of Spanish flies, compound 863 Plaster, strengthening 864 Plaster, warming 866 Plasters 860 Plasters, spreading of 734, 860 Pleurisy-root 120 Plumbagin 1169 Plumbago 164 Plumbago Europaea 1169 Plumbi acetas 520 Plumbi carbonas 522 Plumbi chloridum 997 Plumbi iodidum 998 Plumbi oxidum semi- vitreum 526 Plumbi oxydum hydra- turn 998 Plumbi subacetatis li- quor 995 Plumbi subacetatis li- quor compositus 997 Plumbum 517 Plummer's pills 992 Plunket's caustic 19 Podalyria tinctoria 1122 Podophyllum 527 Podophyllum peltatum 527 Poison-oak 685 Poison-vine 635 Poke berries 509 Poke root 509 Polychroite 269 Polygala amara 529 Polygala, bitter 529 Polygala polygama 529 Polygala rubella 529 Polygala senega 619 Polygala vulgaris 619 Polygalic acid 620 Polygonatum uniflo- rum 1138 Polygonum aviculare 529 Polygonum bistorta 530 Polygonum fagopyrum 530 Polygonum hydropiper 529 Polygonum hydropipe- roides 529 Polygonum persicaria 529 Polygonum punctatum 529 Polygonum tinctorium 1150 Polypodium filix foe- mina 1122 Polypodium filix mas 315 Polypodium vulgare 1169 Polypody, common ll69 Pomegranate 336 Pompholix 1111 Ponderous spar 129 Pontefract cakes 306 Poplar 1169 1238 Index. Poppy, black 479 Poppy capsules 503 Poppy, corn 570 Poppy,red 570 Poppy, white 479 Populin 1169 Populus 1169 Populus balsamifera 1169 Populus nigra 1169 Populus tremula 1169 Populus tremuloides 1169 Porrum 530 Portable soup 501 Port, English 707 Porter 709 Port wine 706 Portlandia grandiflora 224 Portland powder 1180 Portulaca oleracea 1170 Potash 534 Potashes, varieties of 535 Potassa 1002 Potassa, acetate of 531 Potassa, alcoholic 1003 Potassa, bicarbonate of 1008 Potassa, binoxalate of 11, 1164 Potassa, bisulphate of 1012 Potassa, bitartrate of 545 Potassa, carbonate of 1004 Potassa, caustic 1002 Potassa caustica 1002 Potassa caustica cum calce 1003 Potassa, chlorate of 536 Potassa cum calce 1003 Potassa, dry 531 Potassa, ferrocyanate of 546 Potassa, hydrate of 1002 Potassa, hydriodate of 1018 Potassa, impure carbo- nate of 533 Potassa, impure super- tartrate of 543 Potassa, nitrate of 538 Potassa, preparations of 999 Potassa, purest carbo- nate of 1006 Potassa, sesquicarbo- nate of 1009 Totassa, solution of 99D Potassa, subcarbonate ef 1004 Potassa, sulphate of 542 Potaesa, sulphuret of 1013 Potassae carbonas e tar- tari crystallis 1006 Potassa? carbonas im purus 533 Potassa, supertartrate of 544 Potassa, tartrate of 1015 Potassa with lime 1003 Potassa? acetas 531 Potassae bicarbonas 1008 Potassa? bisulphas 1012 Potassa? bitartras 544 Potassa? carbonas 1004 Potassa? carbonas e lix- ivo cinere 1004 Potassa? carbonas puris- simus 1006 Potassa? carbonatis aqua 1007 Potassae caustica? aqua 999 Potassa? chloras 536 Potassa? citras 1132 Potassa? hydras 1002 Potassa? hydriodas 1018 Potassae nitras 538 Potassa? nitras purifica- tum 1011 Potassae sulphas 542 Potassa? sulphureti aqua 1015 Potassa? sulphuretum 1013 Potassae supertartras 544 Potassae tartras 1015 Potassii bromidum 1017 Potassii ferrocyanidum 546 Potassii iodidum 1018 Potassii sulphuretum 1013 Potassium 530 Potassium, bromide of 1017 Potassium, cyanuret of 1140 Potassium, ferrocya- nide of 546 Potassium, iodide of 1018 Potassium, iodo-hydrar- gyrateof 1152 Potato 289 Potato flies 159 Potato, wild 256 Potentilla reptans 1170 Potentilla tormentilla 684 Potio carbonatis calcis 961 Powder, antimonial 803 Powder, aromatic 1023 Powder, compound sa- line 1026 Powder, Dover's 1024 Powder folder 735 Powder for a cata- plasm 1026 Powder of Algaroth 789 Powder of aloes, com- pound 1022 Powder of aloes and canella 1023 Powder of alum, com- pound 1023 Powder of asarabacca, compound 1023 Powder of chalk, com- pound 1024 Powder of chalk with opium, compound 1024 Powder of ipecacuanha and opium 1024 Powder of jalap, com- pound ' 1025 Powder of kino, com- pound 1026 Powder of scammony, compound 1026 Powder of tin 1049 Powder of tragacanth, compound 1027 Powder, opiate 1026 Powder, Portland 1180 Powdering, methods of 724 Powders 1022 Powders, Seidlitz 47 Powders, soda 47 Precipitated calomel 924 Precipitated carbonate of iron 900 Precipitated carbonate of lime 826 Precipitated phosphate of lime 828 Precipitated sub-muri- ate of mercury 924 Precipitated sulphur 1051 Precipitated sulphuret of antimony 800 Precipitate per se 932 Precipitate, red 930 Precipitate, white 938 Precipitating jars 725 Precipitation 726, 732 Prepared acetate of copper 847 Prepared calamine 1109 Prepared carbonate of iron 902 Prepared carbonate of lime 826 Prepared carbonate of zinc 1109 Prepared chalk 826 Prepared impure oxide of zinc 1111 Prepared oyster-shell 827 Prepared sulphuret of antimony 799 Prepared tutty 1111 Prescribing medicines, art of 1185 Prescriptions, formulae for 1189 Preservation of infu- sions,