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NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
        Washington
Founded 1836
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
        Public Health Service
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DISTRICT  CLERK'S  OFFICE.
    DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:
  BE it remembered, That on the thirtieth day of April, A. D. 1813, and in  the thirty-
seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, THOMAS  B. WAIT
AND CO. of the said district, have deposited in this office  the title of a book, the right
whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:
  " The  American New Dispensatory.   Containing general  principles of pharmaceutic
chemistry.  Chemical analysis of the articles of materia medica. Pharmaceutic operations.
Materia medica, including several new and valuable articles, the production of the United
States.  Preparations and  compositions.  With an  appendix, containing  an account of
mineral  waters. Medical  prescriptions.   The  nature and medical  uses  of the gases.
Medical electric;ty.  Galvanism. An abridgment  of Dr. Currie's  reports on  the use of
water.'  The  cultivation of the  poppy plant, and  the method  of preparing opium.   And
several useful tables.  The whole compiled from the most approved authors, both European
and American,  By James Thach.'i-, M. D. Fellow  of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and honorary member of  the Georgia
Medical Society.  Second edition."
  In conformity to the act of the  Congress of the United States, intitled, " An Act for the
Encouragement of Learning,  by securing the Copies of Maps. Charts, and Books, to the
Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to
an act intitled, " An act supplementary to an act,  intitled,  an  act for the encouragement
of learning, by securing  the copies of Maps, Charts,  and Books, to the authors and  proprie-
tors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and  extending the benefits thereof
Co the Arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching Historical, and other Prints."
                                                       WILLIAM S. SHAW,
                                              Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. 
RECOMMENDATION.
                         3=E

 HEFORT  OF A  COMMITTEE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
                 MEDICAL  SOCIETY.

 The Committee appointed by the Massachusetts Medi-
 cal Society, to examine a manuscript submitted to their
 inspection by Doctor James  Thacher, under the title of
 the American New Dispensatory,  have performed that
 service  as minutely as their various avocations would
 admit 5  and are  of  opinion,  that a work of this kind is
 much wanted at the present period, on account of the
 improvements and important discoveries, which have been
 made in chemical science  within a few years,  by which
 the existing publications  have been in some measure su-
 perseded.
  Dr. Thacher  appears  to  have made  his compilation
 from the most approved modern publications, and to have
 adapted it to the purpose of " a standard work, exhibiting,
 in familiar language, and  a concentrated form, the prin-
 ciples of  modern pharmacy,  chemistry,  and  materia
 medica.*'
  Many of the ancient pharmaceutical articles and pre-
parations, which experience has proved to possess little
or no value, have been left out of  the work, by which
means it is compressed into a smaller compass, and  ren-
dered less expensive than  most European publications of
the  same kind.
  A number of indigenous substances are introduced into
the Materia Medica, which have been hitherto unknown,
or which, though their properties are in some  instances
highly active, have never been brought into general use. 
iv
RECOMMENDATION.
  As it appears to have been a principal object of Dr.
Thacher to adapt the  work to American practice; and,
as he has adopted for the basis of his work the Pharma-
copoeia of Massachusetts, lately published by the Medical
Sooiety, and recommended for general use,  they are  of
opinion, that it will co-operate with the views of the So-
ciety in that publication, especially as " its nomenclature
and order of arrangement seem to be strictly observed"
in the manuscript.
  They therefore conclude, that it will be for the  interest
of medical  science  in  this country, to encourage the
work, and  that it may  be  the means of exciting a more
general attention  to  the medicinal virtues of American
productions, many of which might be introduced into the
Materia Medica, and advantageously, as well as econo-
mically, supply the place of foreign articles.

                         JOHN  WARREN.
                         AARON  DEXTER.
                         JOSIAH  BARTLETT.
  Boston,  October 1±, 1809. 
                          TO

              JOHN WARREN, M.  D.
PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND SURGERY IN THE CNIVERSITY Or CAMBRIDGE, AND PRESIDENT OF
                THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY.

     SIR,
 Were any  apology necessary for the liberty I have
taken, of inscribing to you the following sheets, without
previously soliciting your assent, it might be found in
the various relative  circumstances, which designate  you
as the most proper patron of the  work.  You have been
eminently instrumental in the establishment and advance-
ment of the  philanthropic institutions over  which  you
preside; while the applause of the public bears ample
attestations to your  pre-eminent attainments  in medical
science, and numerous qualifications as  a  distinguished
teacher of medicine.  But, if permitted to indulge, on
this occasion,  considerations of a  more personal nature,
I might recur to that interesting period, when officiating
in a  military  hospital, I experienced from your benefi-
cence civilities and acts of friendship yery  propitious at
the  time ,• and which, with  more recent  instances of
friendly intercourse, I shall ever recollect with the most
pleasing emotions.   Permit me, therefore, to profier  this
dedication, as  a tribute of respect and gratitude, accom-
panied  with  my  fervent  wishes, that  you   may long
continue to exhibit  to the  public and  to  your friends
thos? virtues and that benignity, which are conspicuous
traits in your  character. 
vi
DEDICATION.
   It has become one of the felicities of your day to have
associated with you as coadjutor a son, whose talents and
intelligence have already attracted  public  attention, and
whose prosperity is peculiarly interesting to  yourself.*
May this important union, so  auspicious to the medical
character of our country, with your excellent  example
and influence,  excite emulation in  the field of science,
and prove a shield to the community against the baneful
effects of medical demerit and empiricism.
    I am, sir, with sentiments of profound consideration,
              Your most obedient servant,
                            JAMES THACHER.
  Plymouth, January 1,1810.

  * John C. Warren, M.  D.  recently elected adjunct Pro-
fessor of Anatomy and Surgery.

  / 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
 Such has been the series of improvements in Chemical
 Science for the last thirty years, that Dispensatories and
Pharmacopoeias have in constant succession been super-
seded and rendered obsolete.  Those gentlemen, there-
fore, whose  education is not  of modern date, are sub-
jected to the alternative,  either of making  continual
accessions to their libraries, or of treating with disrespect
the prevailing systems  of the  day.  Medical  students
 seldom have leisure to  search  the pages of numerous
 volumes on the subject; and there  is  much  reason to
 apprehend,  that candidates frequently commence  their
 professional duties under circumstances extremely inaus-
 picious as respects this branch of education. The mutual
 duties, therefore, both of the  medical instructer and the
 student, might be  facilitated  by a  standard work,  exhi-
biting in familiar language, and in a  concentrated form,
 the principles of modern  Pharmacy, as well as those of
 Chemistry and Materia Medica, to which it is so closely
 allied.
   European Dispensatories, it will be conceded, are not
 well suited to the views and purposes of American physi-
 cians : they still contain in their  catalogues many anti-
 quated substances  and  Pharmaceutical  preparations,
 whose  medicinal powers are  found by experience  to be
 too trivial to entitle them to  consideration ; while  some
 valuable remedies employed in this country have not been
 introduced.   The Epitome of Chemistry, and a variety
 of tables, plates, &c. with the Pharmaceutic  apparatus,
 occupying nearly one hundred and fifty pages in Dr. Dun- 
Vlii       PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
 can's Dispensatory, are altogether omitted in this work :
 and the more concise and perhaps no less judicious *» Ge-
 neral  Principles of Pharmaceutic  Chemistry"  of  Mr.
 Murray, are substituted.  Under the  head of Prepara-
 tions and Compositions,  the  amticgous officinals of the
 three  British Pharmacopoeias, are inserted  in his Dis-
 pensatory ;  and in some  instances the different processes
 of each are  particularly described.  These, although  of
 utility in a  scientific view, are not to be  considered  as
 indispensable to American practitioners in general: nor
 do they comport with the plan here prescribed.
    The Pharmacopoeia  of the Massachusetts  Medical
 Society, it  will  be  confessed, is not inferior in [Mi'.nt of
 merit to any other.  It contains an  ample and judicious
 selection of medicinal substances and preparations ;  but,
 being intended merely as a standard of uniformity, the
 natural history, chemical properties, and medicinal  vir-
 tues of natural and artificial substances, and  their appli-
 cation  as remedies, not being appropriate subjects, were
 inadmissible in such a work.  Indeed,  since the appear-
 ance of that  production,  the  expediency of a  concise
 compilation  adapted to our own practical use,  has become
 more evident; and  from the desire of co-operating with
 the views  of the Massachusetts  Medical Society, their
 Pharmacopoeia is adopted as the  basis  of this work,  and
 its nomenclature and order  of arrangement are strictly
 followed throughout.
   It is, however, to be considered in the character of a
 compilation  only; and when other than the language of
the original  is substituted, it is with the view  of condens-
ing the subject.  The general principles  of Pharmaceutic
 Chemistry, general analysis of the  articles  of Materia
Medica and  classification of Medicine, taken from Mur-
ray's Elements, will be found to  enrich the  first part
of this volume.  With respect to the natural  history,
chemical composition, and properties of medicinal sub-
stances, both  Duncan  and Murray, together with  the 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.        ix
American Dispensatory by Dr. Cox, have been carefully
consulted, and the same respectable  and well established
authorities have been the sources resorted to for informa-
tion relative to officinal preparations and compositions.
  The munificence  of Providence  is so amply displayed
in our country, that it may not be deemed too enthusi-
astic  to anticipate  the happy period, when  by the asso-
ciated labours of medical men, our Materia Medica shall
be copiously furnished from the three  kingdoms  of na-
ture,  with such materials, as will derive additional value
from  the consideration of their domestic origin, and the
facility with which they may be procured.  Several indi-
genous substances, not to be found in any other Dispen-
satory, have, on this occasion,  received proper attention,
and their respective characters delineated under all  the
advantages which the most unexceptionable  sources of
information could afford.  Professor Barton, whose  au-
thority is held in universal respect, furnishes in his valu-
able collection for a Materia Medica of the United States,
the requisite information relative to most of these pro-
ductions.   On  some  occasions the compiler has  had
recourse  to  that excellent publication,  the Domestic
Encyclopedia, edited by Dr. Mease, and also the commu-
nications to be found in the several volumes of the Medical
Repository of New York.
   In  other instances, where important information re.
specting medicinal  substances has  been announced  by
American physicians, or otherwise found floating  on the
surface of science, he has not failed to collect, and incor-
porate into the general mass.
   To the Rev. Dr. Cutler acknowledgments are due for
his botanical account of indigenous vegetables,* in which
are described some productions that have hitherto escaped
the investigation of other writers ,• and we are induced to
hope,  that, from the more  extended researches of  this

  * Vid. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sci-
ences, vol. I. 
X          PREFACE  TO THE FIRST  EDITION.

respectable botanist,  the  public  will derive advantages
still more considerable.
  Although the appendix augments the size and price of
the volume, its contents will be found to afford the reader
ample compensation.   Indeed, the  advantages derived
from access to public  and private  libraries, and an exten-
sive correspondence, have been accompanied with a dili-
gent and zealous application to the subject, and a con-
stant endeavour to compress in this  volume an unusual
mass of well authenticated medical facts, embracing ob-
jects of solid and practical utility.

  Plymouth, Mass. January 1,  1810. 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND  EDITION,
 vVhen the American New Dispensatory was first pre-
 sented to the public, it was contemplated as an essay to
 ascertain how far such undertaking would be  received
 and encouraged by the learned faculty of the United
 States, among whom, the character of the compiler was
 unknown.  He is unable to express the grateful emotions
 excited by the unexpected honour and patronage which
 have already been bestowed on  the  work; the whole
 number of one thousand copies having been disposed of
 in about two years. The flattering accounts relative to
 the employment, as remedies, of many of our indigenous
 vegetables, first introduced in  that Dispensatory,  en-
 hances the  source of satisfaction, and increases his soli-
 citude to render the work still more deserving of publie
auspices  and  confidence.
  The second edition, now offered, if not enriched  with
 all the improvements of which the original is susceptible,
 will nevertheless be found to contain numerous additional
articles of acknowledged virtues, some of which have not
been introduced into any preceding Dispensatory. A large
proportion of every Materia Medica is derived from the
vegetable kingdom,  and the wise Author of Nature, who
clothes the earth with rich productions, has  probably
furnished every climate with the most appropriate reme-
dies for its own  peculiar diseases; and  in  no country,
perhaps,  has the Divine hand been more  bountiful  than
in our own.  Foreign drugs are not at all times to be
procured, are always expensive, and not unfreqiiently 
 Xll      PREFACE  TO THE SECOND EDITION.
 sophisticated, and  some of them less efficacious  than
 remedies derived from our own soil.
    Some may be surprised that so few  of our productions
 have been incorporated into medical catalogues : but this
 is  not to be  expected until, by botanical  researcSi and
 inquiry, we attain  a more perfect knowledge of their
 virtues and properties.   Of all the branches of our pro-
 fession, medical  botany  and Materia  Medica have been
 the least cultivated and made the slowest progress among
 men of science in New  England.  ,Few subjects, there-
 fore, can, at the present period, excite greater  interest
 than a systematic investigation of the medical character
 and properties of our  native productions,  and assigning
 them their  respective rank  in  the  Materia  Medica.
 Every thing invites  and constrains to explore the recesses
 of the mountains  and fields ,♦ for the earth is replete with
 riches.   Let the  cultivating hand of science be extended '
 to bring into view the hidden  treasures which have  so
 long remained unenjoyed.  If the native Indians possess-
 ed a knowledge of practical botany and formed a Materia
 Medica of sufficient powers to fulfil their medical purposes,
 what may not be  expected to result when theoretical and
 practical botany shall be combined with accurate  experi-
 ments and observations under all the advantages  of
 modern improvements?
  A correct botanical arrangement of our  medicinal ve-
 getables, distinguishing  the  several  species of  foreign
 plants from those that are peculiarly  American, would
 be of the greatest utility, as the means of obviating that
 confusion and embarrassment  so frequently experienced
 from  the application of  English  names  to  American
 plants.  This  presents an extensive and very profitable
field, inviting young  candidates for medical degrees to
exercise their talents and display their taste and ingenu-
 ity.  The subject is inexhaustible, and  every judicious
 theme appertaining to it  will be viewed as an important
 acquisition, honorary to the author, facilitating his own. 
PREFACE TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION.       xiii
  improvement, and contributing to the  great object  of
  fabricating an American Materia Medica.
    In arranging the botanical part of this improved edi-
  tion, it was not conceived essential to specify the particu-
  lar class and order; but merely to detail the  distinctive
  character  of plants  in  language that  will enable the
  attentive observer to recognise them in  the herbarium,
  or while waving in their native state in the field.
   For the  convenience of the young student and botanist,
  a glossary  of botanical terms employed, will be found in
  the  appendix of the work.   Among the new  subjects
  introduced, oxide of bismuth, in gastrodynia and pyrosis;
  veratrum album,  as  the basis of the  Eau  medicinale
  d'Husson,  so celebrated in gout and rheumatism; are of
  themselves sufficiently important and valuable to inspire
  the most zealous interest and attention.   The new reme-
  dy for consumption and other diseases of the lungs, the
  Mcomorque of South America, is noticed so far as our
  limited knowledge of its character will permit.
   The department of preparations  and compositions,
  seemed to require little or no addition, it has therefore
 received only a few formulae from Dr. Powel's late trans-
 lation of the London Pharmacopoeia.
   The subject of mineral waters, the analysis of those of
 Balston and Stafford, together  with an account of artifi-
 cial mineral  waters, which occupy a few pages in the
 appendix, are of such obvious utility, that a Dispensatory
 would,  at  the  present  day,  be considered as greatly
 incomplete if these were excluded.
  Upon the whole, every practicable endeavour has been
 exerted with  the hope of bestowing on the various sub-
jects  connected  with this work, that investigation  and
 inquiry which their great  importance demand, and of
 deriving correct information from every source which is
 supposed to  claim public confidence  and respect.
  Pr/VMOUTU, January 1, 1813. 
 
TABLE  OF CONTENTS,
                                                   Page
  Introduction............. xxi


                      PART I.

General principles of Pharmaceutic Chemistry  .... ^5
  Sect. I.  Chemical Analysis of the articles of the Materia
            Medica............25
  Sect. II. Pharmaceutic operations.......78


                      PART  II.

                  MATERIA MEDICA.

Classification of Medicines, and a view of the operation
    of Medicine on the living system    ......97
  Class I.  Narcotics...........97
       II.  Antispasmodics   .   ,.......100
      III.  Tonics............101
      IV.  Astringents...........103


                 I0CAL STIMUIANTS.

       V.  Emetics............105
      VI.  Cathartics..........    108
    VII.   Emmenagogues.........112
    VIII.   Diuretics............113
     IX.   Diaphoretics..........114
       X.   Expectorants   ..........116
     XI.   Sialagogues    ..........117
    XII.   Errhines............118
   XIII.   Epispatics and rubefacients    *     ...  118 
XVI
TABLE  OF CONTENTS.
          REMEDIES  ACTING  CHEMICALLY.
                                                     Page
   XIV.  Refrigerants..........120
    XV.  Antacids............121
   XVI.  Lithbntriptics..........122
  XVII.  Escharotics...........122


         REMEDIES ACTING MECHANICALLY.

 XVIII.  Anthelmintics..........123
   XIX.  Demulcents..........123
    XX.  Diluents............124
   XXI.  Emollients...........124


                     PART III.

         PRAPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.
Chap. I.  Sulphur............381
     II.  Acids, alkalis, earths, and their compounds   382
    III.  Metalline  preparations.......421
    IV.  Ether and etherial spirits    ......459
     V.  Expressed and inspissated juices  ....  464
    VI.  Fixed oils.and oily preparations   .... 468
   VII.  Distilled waters and spirits......471
   VIII.  Volatile oils........... 475
    IX.  Infusions and decoctions......480
     X.  Emulsions and mucilages.......488
    XI.  Syrups............491
   XII.  Medicated vinegars    ........496
  XIII.   Tinctures...........498*
   XI\r.  Medicated wines   .........519
   XV.  Extracts   .'..........524
   XVI.  Powders............527
  XVII.  Conserves and electuaries......532
 XVIII.  Troches............535
   XIX.  Pills.............537
   XX.  Cataplasms...........545
  XXI.  Liniments, ointments, cerates and plasters  .  548 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
xvii
                    APPENDIX.
No. I.   Of mineral waters.........565
   II.   Medical prescriptions........575
  III.   On the nature and medicinal uses of the gases  578
  IV.   Medical electricity    ........587
   V.   Galvanism    ......'..... 592
  VI.   An abridgment of Dr. Currie's medical reports
          on the use of water........595
        Cold and  warm bathing........640
 VIII.   Method of cultivating American opium   .  .  647

                     TABLES.
  Table of  synonymes of the medicines, simple and
    compound, in  the   pharmacopoeias  of  London,
    Dublin, and Edinburgh.........652
  Table, shewing the proportion of antimony, opium,
    and quicksilver, contained  iu  some compound
    medicines.............  687

  A Glossary of botanical terms........689

  English Index    ............695
  Latin index..............721 
 
TULIP, OR POPLAR TREE.
  [The  author is  indebted to Dr. S.  Drown, for the
following  useful  information  respecting  the tulip  or
poplar tree, which he deems important and necessary to
be communicated  to the public, although received too
late to be  inserted in the proper place.—See page 257.]

 Liriodendron Tulipiiera.   Tulip, or Poplar Tree.

  "The Liriodendron  tulipifera,  tulip or poplar tree
grows throughout the United States of North America.
The best time to procure the bark for medicinal purposes,
is in the month of February; as  the sap at this time,
being more confined to  the  root increases its virtue.  It
possesses  the  qualities of an aromatic, a bitter, and an
astringent; the bitter quality is greater, the astringent
less than in the Peruvian bark.  It likewise possesses an
aromatic acrimony; hence I infer, it is highly antiseptic
and powerfully tonic.   I have prescribed the poplar bark
in a variety of cases of the intermittent fever ; and can
declare  from  experience, it is equally efficacious with the
Peruvian bark, if properly administered. In the phthisis
puhnonalis, attended with hectic fever, night sweats, and
diarrhea, when combined with laudanum, it has frequent-
ly abated these alarming and troublesome symptoms.  I
effectually cured  a Mr. Riser, fifty years  of age, who
was afflicted with a catarrh and dyspeptic symptoms for
five yi-ars, which baffled the attempts of many physicians,
and the  most celebrated remedies, by persevering in the
use of the poplar bark for two weeks.
  I can  assert from experience there is not in all the Ma-
teria Medica, a more certain, speedy and effectual remedy
in che hysteria, than the poplar  bark combined with  a
small quantity of laudanum.  I have used no remedy in
the cholera infantum but the poplar, after cleansing the
prima; vise, for these two years.   It appears to be an ex-
cellent vermifuge.  I have never known it fail in a single
case of worms which has come under my observation.   I
prescribed it to a child when convulsions had taken place.
After taking a few doses, several hundreds of dead asca- 
XX
POPLAR TREE.
rides Were discharged with the stools.   The do*e of the
powder to an adult, is from a scruple to two drachms, it
may likewise be used in tincture, infusion, or decoction ;
but its virtues  are  always greatest when given in sub-
stance."
  The foregoing is part  of  a letter addre'ssed to Go-
vernor Clayton of Delaware  in  1792, by  Dr. J. T.
Young, of  Philadelphia.   (American  Museum,  Vol.
12.)    In  his  reply, the  Governor  observes, " During
the late war the Peruvian bark  was very scarce and
dear.  I was at that time engaged in considerable prac-
tice, and was under the necessity of seeking a substitute
for the Peruvian bark.  I conceived that the poplar had
more aromatic and bitter than the  Peruvian, and less
astringency.  To correct and amend  those  qualities I
added to it nearly an equal quantity of the bark of the
root of dogwood (cornus ilorida or boxwood) and half the
quantity of the inside bark of the white oak tree.  This
remedy I  prescribed for several years, in  every case in
which I conceived the Peruvian bark necessary or pro-
per with at least equal  if not superior success.   I used
it in every species of intermittent, gangrenes, mortifica-
tions, and  in short in every case of debility.  It remains
to determine whether the  additions of those barks to the
poplar increases its virtues or not; this can only be done
hy accurate experiments in practice."
  A further  account of the analysis and virtues of this
medicine is given by Professor Rush  in  the transactions
of the College of physicians of Philadelphia and  in a
paper  published  in one of the volumes  of Tilloch's
Phil. Magazine. 
Eupatoritjm  Perfoliatum.   [See p. 217 of this work.]

  After the  printing of this  work was completed, an
inaugural dissertation on the Eupatorium perfoliatum by
Dr. Andrew Anderson, of New York, was politely commu-
nicated.   The production evinces ingenuity and ability,
and  its contents  are  interesting  and important.   His
investigation is judicious, and experiments executed in a
manner highly creditable to the character of the author.
He designates the species in the following botanical terms:
     E.  Perfoliatum.  Lin.
     E.  Virginianum.   Morris Hist.
     E.  Virginianum.   Pluk.  Mm.
     E.  Connatum.  Mich. Flor. Bor. timer. He then
proceeds to enumerate the various trivial names by which
the plant has long been familiarly known throughout the
United States, such as thoroughwort, indian-sage, cross-
Avort, bone-set, vegetable antimony, &c.  The chemical
properties of  this plant the  author has ascertained by
accurate analysis, and its medicinal virtues  by practical
experiment.   According to his  chemical experiments it
seems to be satisfactorily proved, that the E, Perfoliatum  .
contains  firstly a free acid;  secondly,  tannin;  thirdly,
extractive matter; fourthly, a gummy matter; fifthly, a
resin ,•  sixthly, azote; seventhly, lime, probably the ace-
tate  of lime;  eighthly,  gallic acid, probably modified;
ninthly,  a resiniform matter,  soluble in water and  in
alcohol,  and which seems to contain a  bitter  principle.
Hence he deems it warrantable to conclude that this
plant possesses active medicinal  properties;  that many of
them are similar to those which  characterize the cinchona
officinalis, the  anthemis  nobilis, and other valuable arti-
cles  of the materia medica ; but that these virtues reside
in greatest quantity in the leaves.
  As pharmaceutical preparations of this plant the author
recommends the  decoction of the flowers and of the
leaves ,• infusions  of the  same parts; the leaves  in  sub-
stance  pulverized; and  a tincture of the flowers and  of
Che leaves, prepared with proof spirits.   This last form 
 X\ii         EI'PATOIUUM PERFOLIATUM.

 is the most pleasant and convenient, and at the same time
 the most powerful, for proof spirits  was ascertained  to
 be the best menstruum.   Our author does not hesitate to
 assert that the chemical properties of E. Perfoliatum  as
 deduced  from experiment  are in very many  respects
 exactly  similar to the peruvian bark; and that for its
 active medicinal virtues,  particularly as a sudorific and
 as atonic, it will not suffer by comparison with any of the
 articles drawn from the vegetable kingdom.  In addition
 to his own opportunities of witnessing the employment of
 this plant, in different diseases in  the New York Alms-
 house, he appeals to the observations and experience  of
 several distinguished  practitioners, particularly of Dr.
 Barton and of Dr. Hosack for the importance and efficacy
 of this remedy in the treatment of most febrile disorders,
 particularly in intermitting and remitting fevers, yellow
 fever, and in  other disorders of specific contagion; in
 many cutaneous affections,  and in diseases  of general
 debility.    It  may  however  be observed,  that if  it be
 exhibited as a warm  decoction, it often proves emetic,
 and acts  especially  upon the skin,  in  producing diapho-
 resis  : if in the form of cold infusion  or decoction, or in
 substance, it acts  as  a powerful tonic.  Dr. Anderson
 proceeds to detail six cases of intermittent fever in which
 after a single evacuant the thoroughwort effected radical
 cures, and adds that the same remedy was administered
 in almost all the instances of intermittents that occurred
 in the New York  alms-house in the year 1812  to the
 exclusion of the Peruvian bark, and with uniform success.
 It was given either in decoction, or in powder from 20 to
 30 grains every second hour during the intermission. In
 remitting fever, as a sudorific it produced the most salu-
 tary effects, and in those cases  where tonics  were indi-
 cated it proved no  less advantageous.   In the treatment
 of yellow fever he  adduces  the high authority of Dr.
 Hosack  and Dr. Bard,  who  after proper evacuations
 placed almost exclusive  dependence on sudorifics,  and
 among this class of medicines the  eupatorium adminis-
 tered in the form of decoction was deservedly considered
 of great value.  The disease called by some the petechial
or spotted fever, and by others the malignant pleurisij or
typhoid peripneumony has been more successfully treated
by the class of remedies  denominated sudorifics than by
 any other, and in  many  cases of this epidemic  which 
             EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM.         xxiii

occurred in the city of New York in the winter of 1812-
13 after the proper evacuations had been employed, the
eupatorium was resorted to, and its sudorific, its tonic
and its cordial properties were clearly demonstrated, and
much benefit was derived from its use.   In some obstinate
cutaneous diseases according  to  Dr. Barton eupatorium
has produced very beneficial effects.  During the author's
attendance in the New York alms-house in the year 1812
very liberal recourse was had to this remedy in diseases
arising from general debility.  In anasarcous affections
of the extremities, and in ascites when it may be consi-
dered as a disease  of  debility, the alcoholic tincture of
eupatorium may be safely recommended as  an excellent
tonic ; and in addition to its tonic effects, the properties
of a  diuretic  render  the employment of it still more
advantageous in cases  of this description. 
 
INTRODUCTION.
 JVl 4teria medica, understood according to the strict
 definition of the term, is that department of the science
 of medicine which relates to the knowledge of remedies,
 or of the effects produced in  the human system by such
 substances as are employed for the removal of disease*
 The objects to be attended to in its study are the natu-
 ral iiistory, the chemical composition and properties, and
 the medicinal powers and applications of the substances
 which belong to it.
   The natural history of these substances is of utility
 in furnishing appropriate characters by which they may
 be distinguished.  Many  of  them bear a close  resem-
 blance  to each other, and  can only be discriminated by
 those minute and accurate distinctions which the methods
 of natural history afford;
   From the  intimate  connection which frequently sub-
 sists between those properties on which natural classifica-
 tion is established, and the various qualities with which
 bodies are endowed, natural history is likewise, to a cer-
 tain extent, capable of affording indications of the virtues
 of remedies.  Thus, in the vegetable kingdom, the diffe-
 rent species of the same genus, and even the different
 genera of the  same natural order, are composed of sub-
 stances which frequently exert the same  actions on the
 living system; yet to this  connection there are  excep-
 tions so numerous and important, that  it is incapable of
just application to any considerable extent; it can only
 suggest conjectures, which require to be brought to the
 test of experiment.
           3* 
xxvi               introduction.
   The more full description of the sensible properties of
 the articles of the materia medica, affords the most obvi-
 ous method of distinguishing them, and in many eases the
 easiest and most certain criterion of their purity and per-
 fection.
   It has likewise been imagined, that the sensible qua-
 lities of medicines afford indications of  their peculiar
 powers.  Those, for example, which are  inodorous and
 insipid, are  seldom active remedies; and those which
 have a similarity in taste or in flavour, have also a gene-
 pal resemblance in their virtues.  But though indications
 of this  kind may be partially true,  they are extremely
 limited in their application, and are liable to many causes
 of obscurity and error.
   The chemical history of the articles of the materia
 medica, embraces several important  subjects of inquiry.
   Their analysis, especially that of those belonging to
 the vegetable kingdom, has been supposed capable of
 leading to a knowledge of their virtues; and the opinion
 does not a priori appear improbable, since the medicinal
 powers of any compound body, in common with its other
 internal properties, must arise from  its peculiar compo-
 sition.   Without any reference, however, to  the  very
 imperfect analyses  of the older chemists, it may  be re-
 marked, that even from  the researches of modern che-
 mistry little information of this kind  can be acquired.  It
 may be discovered,  indeed, in what proximate  principle
 of any vegetable substance its  virtues reside ; but this
 affords no previous  indication of these virtues.   Nor can
the analysis of these principles  explain  the  source  of
the powers which  are attached to  them in particular
 substances; the peculiarities of composition from which
these may  originate, being] by  far too  subtile to be de-
 tected by chemical means.
   Chemistry, however, is in other respects more directly
 useful in its application to the materia medica.  It ena-
 bles us, by the use of proper solvents,  or by the due appli. 
INTRODUCTION.
XXV ii
cation of heat to separate those proximate principles of
vegetables in which their virtues reside, from other inert
or noxious matter with which they may be mixed ; it as-
certains how far these processes  are  useful, points out
those changes in composition by which  the virtues of
the substances acted on are frequently altered, and  the
means by which  such injuries may be lessened or  pre-
vented.  Similar advantages are obtained from its applica-
tion to the few products of the animal  kingdom that are
used in medicine.   Those which are  derived from  the
mineral kingdom,  can be employed with advantage and
discrimination only when their  composition is known;
and the analyses  of these substances have exploded many-
errors respecting them, have enabled  us  to  distinguish
them from each other, have pointed out the identity of
others, and have rectified the processes by wliich they
are prepared.
  By new  combinations,  chemistry furnishes  us with
many remedies equally active and important with those
afforded by nature; and by pointing out the mutual che-
mical action of different substances, it guards against the
errors which might arise from improper mixtures. 
 
THE
AMERICAN NEW  DISPENSATORY.
                      PART I.

   OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PHARMACEUTIC

                    CHEMISTRY.

 Pharmaceutic Chemistry is that branch of chemical
 science which investigates the composition of bodies, and
 considers their mutual chemical relations, so far as these
 are connected with their medicinal properties and appli-
 cations.  It connects the doctrines of Materia Medica and
 Pharmacy, and forms a proper introduction to the study
 of each;  an exposition of its principles being necessary
 in delivering the history of the articles  of the  Materia
 Medica, and being not less indispensable in  explaining
 the operations of Pharmacy.   It includes two subjects,
first, the analysis of bodies, so far as relates to the enu-
 meration  of their constituent principles; and secondly,
 the general operations to which they are  subjected in
 their preparation as remedies.
                   SECTION I.

Of the Chemical Jhialysis of the articles of the Materia
                      Medica.

  The ultimate  object of chemical investigations is to
discover the composition of bodies; and the result of these
investigations is the reducing them into two classes, those
wliich are simple and those which are compound.   The 
26
PHARMACEUTIC ClliiMlSTRY.
former are such as consist of parts perfectly alike; the
most minute particles into which a simple body can be
resolved, retaining all its essential properties, and  b^ing
similar to each other.  Compound substances can, on the
contrary, be resolved into parts different in their qualities
from each other, and from the compound which they had
formed.
  It is from the union of simple substances that compounds
arc produced.  When  two  simple bodies  are  placed in
contact, under certain circumstances, an attraction  is
often exerted by the particles of the one to those of the
other: they unite and form a compound, having peculiar
properties.   These compounds  are farther  capable of
combining with other simple bodies, or with each  other,
which gives rise to a series of bodies still more extensive;
and these again are capable of new combinations,  or of
such intimate mixtures with each other, as to form  many
peculiar substances.  There are thus produced, from a
few simple substances, all the products of nature, and all
those wliich are the results of the operations of art.
  It is the province of chemistry to trace these com-
binations;  to  determine  whether  bodies are  simple or
compound, and, if compound, to ascertain the number of
their  constituent principles, the  proportions, and the
modes in which they are combined.
  The general process by which these objects are attained,
is termed, in the language of chemistry, analysis.   It is
merely the separation of a compound body into its con-
stituent parts, and is effected either by the agency of heat,
or by the exertion of a  superior attraction.
  The analysis from the  application of heat, differs ac-
cording to the composition of the body analyzed.   If a
compound, consisting of two simple substances, be expos-
ed to heat, it in many eases  happens that  the mutual
attraction by which its  principles were united ceases, and
a decomposition or separation  of these principles  takes
place.  This  is an example of pure analysis; no change
being produced, but merely the separation of the compo-
nent parts of the compound, so that each is obtained in
its original state.
  An analysis more complicated is that where several
substances are combined together, in such a manner that
their attractions are reciprocally balanced, and one com-
pound is  formed.   When a compound of this kind  is 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
27
exposed to a high temperature, this balance is frequently
subverted, and the  compound is decomposed.  But its
constituent principles, instead of passing off pure, enter
into new combinations with each other, and form other
compounds, each  of which may be  collected, and in its
turn analyzed. It  is  in this manner that vegetable and
animal  substances are acted on by heat:  the products
afforded by their  analysis are not such as pre-existed  in
them, but are compounds formed during the decomposi-
tion, from newr combinations of their ultimate constituent
principles.  This is what is named false  or complicated
analysis.
   Chemical analysis is also effected by the exertion of a
superior  attraction.  If a compound be placed succes-
sively with different substances in situations favourable
to the operation of chemical action, one or other of these
substances may  exert a  superior attraction to one  or
other of its  component parts ; a decomposition will  be
produced, and from the products  the const ituent  princi-
ples of the compound as well as their proportions  may
be determined.   As compound substances can combine
together so  as to form  a new compound, it is obvious,
that this compound may  be resolved  either into the im-
mediate principles  from the union of v/hieh it  has been
formed, or into those of which these  consist.  It is ne-
cessary, therefore,  that  these should  be distinguished.
The former are accordingly named the proximate prin-
ciples of a compound ; the latter the ultimate principles.
The proximate principles are of course compounds ; the
ultimate principles  are the elements of these compounds;
and the results of analysis  are extremely different, ac-
cording as one or other of these is obtained.  When by
analysis the  constituent principles of  a body have  been
obtained, they may often  be combined  again, so as  to
reproduce the substance analyzed.   This operation is
named Chemical  Synthesis ;  and when it can be effected,
is the surest proof of the  accuracy Of the analysis.
   In analyzing the  various products of nature, we arrive
ultimately at substances which we are unable to decom-
pose, and which are therefore regarded as simple.  The
absolute  simplicity of these is not indeed  established ;
for our inability  to decompose them may not arise from
this, but from the  imperfections of our modes of analy-
sis ; and it  is even  probable, that  all the' substance* 
28
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
which are yet knoAvn to us may be compounds, and that
a more  refined chemistry may discover their composi-
tion.  Until this be accomplished, however, they are re-
garded  as simple, and they are so  with regard at least
to our knowledge of them.  As the ultimate principles,
therefore, of all analysis, they are first to  be considered
in proceeding to the general analysis of the articles of
the Materia Medica.
   Of these bodies, oxygen is the most important.   There
is  no simple  substance which exerts  an attraction to so
many others, or which gives rise to such important com-
pounds.  With a few exceptions, indeed, all  the produc-
tions of nature are either capable of combining, or  are
already combined with this principle ;  and the develop-
nient of its agencies constitutes the most  extensive and
important part of chemical science.            *
   Oxygen always exists in the gaseous state : when it en-
ters indeed into combination  with other  substances, it
often becomes  concrete;  but  its properties  are  at  the
same time changed, and its descriptive characters  are
therefore taken from it as it exists in the aerial  form.
Like other gases it is invisible and elastic; its specific
gravity is rather greater than that of atmospheric air; it
is absorbed by water, but in a very small proportion.
   The distinguishing properties of oxygen gas are those
of supporting respiration and combustion.  An animal
lives much longer in this air than it does in any other;  and
combustion in it is more vivid and durable.   It is <hc only
air indeed, which, strictly speaking, can support either of
these processes; other aeriform fluids doing so only from
the oxygen they contain.
   Its capacity of supporting combustion is more particu-
larly to be assumed as  its characteristic  chemical pro-
perty ;  combustion  being nothing but the combination of
oxygen with combustible bodies, accompanied with  the
emission of heat and light.  It also frequently, however,
enters into combination  without the phenomena of com-
bustion being apparent, more especially when the absorp-
tion of it takes place slowly,  or when  it  is transferred
from a compound in which it exists to another substance.
The combination of a body with oxygen is termed oxy-
genation, or  oxidation.   The  products of this combina-
tion have either certain common properties, belonging to
a class of chemical agents long distinguished by the ap- 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.           %$
pellation of acids; or they are destitute of these proper-
ties, and they are then denominated oxides.
   Oxygen forms one-fourth part of atmospheric air ; and
it is principally on its  agency that the many chemical
changes produced in bodies by that air depend.
   Combined with  another elastic fluid, hydrogen, in the
proportion of 85 parts to 15, it forms water, the substance
which has the  most  extensive operation in promoting
chemical  action  by the  fluidity it communicates, and
which more directly produces  many important chemical
changes, by  affording  oxygen to bodies.  This element
exists as a constituent principle of all acids, and commu-
nicates to them their energy of action.  It has more lately
been established, that it is also an ingredient in the com-
position of the alkalis and earths, and that it is therefore
the principle of alkalinity as well as of acidity.*   With
all the metals it combines in different proportions, com-
municating to them a greater  susceptibility of chemical
action, and greater activity in their relation to the living
 system ; and  it exists as a constituent part of nearly  all
 die vegetable and animal products.  Hence no principle
 is more extensively diffused, and none has a more marked
 influence in the combinations into wliich it enters.
   The elastic fluid wliich, along with oxygen gas, com-
poses atmospheric air,  is named azote or nitrogen.   Its
 chemical agency is less powerful, nor does it possess any
 very remarkable property by which it  can be character-
ized ; hence it is distinguished rather by negative quali-
 ties.  It  is lighter than oxygen gas, is incapable of sup-
 porting combustion or respiration,  is scarcely sensibly
 absorbed by water, and is not combustible  in  the strict
 sense of the term, for although it combines with oxygen,
 the combination is not rapid; it does not, after it has com-
 menced, proceed of itself, and it is not attended with any
 sensible emission of heat or light.
   Nitrogen gas forms three-fourths of atmospheric air,
 the remaining fourth part being oxygen  gas.  In  more

   * " According to this view of the subject,  oxygen, like the
 traveller in the fable, is capable of blowing hot and cold with
 the same breath ! This extraordinary agent is, we  see, the prin-
 ciple of acidity as well as of alkalescence! Surely  we may be
 allowed to doubt the possibility of two such opposite effects
 resulting from one and the same cause."
        Core''.'} note on alkali. Edin. Ency. Amer. edition. 
30
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
intimate combination with oxygen, and in that proportion
in which they are mutually saturated,  it  forms a very
powerful acid, the nitric acid; and  in lower  degrees of
oxygenation it forms compound gases which have no acid
powers.  With hydrogen, and probably a portion of oxy-
gen, it forms ammonia, one of the alkalis;  it exists in
some vegetable substances, and is a  constituent principle
of nearly  all the varieties of  animal matter.   This
substance  had been  usually regarded  as  simple.  The
recent  researches which have arisen from the application
of galvanic electricity to chemistry, have established
some singular facts with regard to it; whence the conjec-
ture has been formed that it is a compound, and, in par-
ficuhi  , that it is connected in chemical constitution with
hydrogen : but the subject is still involved in such obscuri-
ty as to preclude any certain conclusion.
  Atmospheric air, of which oxygen and nitrogen are the
essential constituent parts, has merely the aggregate pro-
perties of  these  two gases, their combination being so
slight that no new powers  are acquired from  it; and, as
the oxygen is the more energetic ingredient, the chemical
agencies of this air depend chiefly on the operation of this
principle.   It yields oxygen to a number of substances.
with more or less rapidity, and  thus changes their che-
mical constitution,  it sometimes acts too by communi-
cating  humidity; and in a few cases, by affording an elas-
tic fluid, carbonic acid  gas, which is diffused through it
in small proportion.   Its nitrogen  exerts   no  active
power, but apparently serves merely to dilute, and thus
to moderate the action  of the oxygen gas.
  Hydrogen is another elastic fluid, which in the  system
of modern chemistry has been regarded as elementary,
and the importance of wliich, as a principle opposed to
oxygen in its chemical powers, recent discoveries appear-
to establish.  In its aerial form, in which form only it can
be obtained uncombined, it is the lightest of all the elas-
tic  fluids,  and the lightest substance therefore  whose
gravity we  can  ascertain.  It is distinguished  farther
by  its  high  inflammability;  it burns  whenever  an
ignited body is approached to it  in contact with  atmos-
pheric air, and explodes if previously mixed with the air.
The product of its combustion is  water, which is there-
fore considered as a compound of it with oxygen.   Com-
bined with  nitrogen, it forms ammonia: with the primary 
             PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.           31

 inflammables, sulphur, carbon, and phosphorus, it forms
 compound gases: it dissolves  even some of the mehils,
 and it is an abundant ingredient in vegetable and animal
 substances.
   Water, of which  hydrogen is the base is a substance
 extremely peculiar in its chemical relations.   Its power
 of combination  is extensive, there being few substances
 on which it does not act, or with which it does not com-
 bine ; yet in these combinations no energetic action is dis-
 played ; it in general scarcely produces any alteration of
 properties;  and hence its most important operation is the
 communicating that state of fluidity to bodies which is
 in general necessary to their mutual  chemical  actions.
 It is more peculiarly the solvent of all  saline substances,
 and of the greater number of the earths; and it dissolves
 many  of the vegetable and animal products.  When it
 communicates oxygen, it produces more important chan-
 ges.   Several of the metals are slowly oxidated by it;
 and when they are dissolved by acids, it often acts by af-
 fording to them that oxygen which is necessary to the
 solution.  Vegetable and animal substances often suffer
 chemical changes from the  oxygen which water imparts,
 as well as from the fluidity it communicates favouring
 the re-action of their constituent parts; and in their de-
 composition at elevated temperatures, the elements of the
 water  they contain enter into the composition of the pro-
 ducts which these decompositions afford.
   There are three substances formerly supposed to be
 simple, distinguished by the  property of inflammability;
 and hence named simple inflammables, which exist as con-
 stituent principles  of  a number  of natural  products.
 These are carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus.   Recent
 discoveries appear to favour the  conclusion, that the in-
 flammable matter of each of them has not yet been ob-
 tained  perfectly pure; but that in the state in which they
 are presented to us, it is combined with a small portion
 of oxygen, and perhaps of hydrogen; and some analogies
even lead to  the conjecture,  that the ultimate  bases are
metallic.  In this compound  state, however, they are des-
titute of the metallic splendour,  opacity,  and  specific
gravity, and  are connected chiefly by the common proper-
ty of inflammability.  When  united with oxygen, they
form acids.
  Carbon.   The ultimate base  to  which the name of 
32
PHARMACEUTIC C H E MI ST R Y.
 carbon ought to be appropriated is probably still unknown
 to us; but there are several substances of which it con-
 stitutes the greater part, and of course in which it exisls
 in a state more or less pure.   Wood charcoal in burning
 is  almost entirely consumed,  forming with the oxygen
 with which it combines a peculiar elastic fluid, carbonic
 acid, and leaving only a small residuum of earthy, saline,
 and metallic substances.  As a discriminating appellation
 of the pure inflammable matter whiclifthus combines with
 oxygen,  the term carbon was introduced, and it denoted
 therefore simply this matter  free from  the other sub-
 stances  mixed with it in charcoal, and apparently not
 essential to its constitution.  It  was afterwards discovered,
 that the diamond, which was known to be a combustible
 body, affords in burning precisely the same product as
 charcoal, and hence therefore consists of the same inflam-
 mable matter.   Different opinions were  advanced  with
 regard to the  difference between charcoal and  diamond;
 but from galvanic experiments it appears, that in charcoal
 the inflammable base is combined with a little hydrogen,
 in diamond with a very minute proportion of oxygen.  In
 the substance  named plumbago, it is united with a small
 quantity of iron; it has not therefore been  obtained en-
 tirely insulated; but it is to this inflammable base common
 to all these substances, and composing nearly the whole
 of their weight, that the term  carbon is understood to be
 appropriated.
   Carbon, besides existing as an element in the compo-
 sition of many mineral substances, is an abundant ingre-
 dient in the products of the vegetable and animal systems.
 Not being volatile, it forms the  principal part of the resid-
 ual mass when these are decomposed by heat; and  it is
 by  this decomposition of vegetable matter, especially of
 the wood of plants, that it  is obtained in  the form  of
 charcoal.  With oxygen, combined  in different  propor-
 tions, it forms two  elastic fluids, carbonic oxide, and
 carbonic acid.   With hydrogen and oxygen, in  different
 proportions, it forms various inflammable gases. Alkohol,
 or pure ardent spirit, which is  the product from  saccha-
 rine matter by fermentation, is a similar compound; and
 ether,  which is formed from  alkohol by the  action  of
 acids upon it, is of the same composition with a larger
 proportion of  hydrogen.   Lastlv, this ternary combina-
tion of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, in various propor- 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
33
tions and modes of combination appears to constitute the
principal varieties of vegetable matter.
   Sulphur is found in nature principally as a constituent
part of mineral bodies. It exists combined with many of the
metals; and combined with oxygen forming sulphuric acid,
it enters into the composition of a number of saline  and
earthy compounds. It is highly inflammable; in burning it
combines with oxygen, principally in that proportion which
forms an elastic fluid, highly pungent and suffocating, sul-
phurous acid.   With  a larger proportion of oxygen, it
forms a dense inodorous liquid acid, sulphuric acid. With
hydrogen, it forms an inflammable gas, sulphuretted  hy-
drogen, which exists in nature impregnating water in the
sulphurous  mineral waters;  and this compound, either
alone, or  with  an additional  proportion of hydrogen,
forming what is uamed  super-sulphuretted hydrogen,
enters into combination with alkalis, earths, and metallie
oxides, forming  several important pharmaceutic  prepa-
rations.  Lastly, sulphur exists as a constituent part of
animal substances: hence sulphuretted hydrogen is gene-
rally evolved in the  decomposition  of these by heat or
putrefaction: it has also been detected in the composition
of a few vegetables. This inflammable substance appears,
from galvanic experiments, to consist of a peculiar base,
not yet obtained insulated, combined with small propor-
tions of hydrogen and oxygen;  and it is probably this
base which enters into the preceding combinations.
   Phosphorus, like sulphur, is found chiefly as an ingre-
dient of animal matter.  Combined with oxygen,  in  the
state of an acid, it also exists  in several  of the natural
compounds of the mineral kingdom.   It is of a soft con-
sistence like wax, semi-transparent, and of a white  or
yellowish colour; it is so highly inflammable that it burns
spontaneously when exposed to,  the air.   It combines
with two proportions of oxygen, forming two acids,  the
phosphorus and the phosphoric.  With  hydrogen it forms
a gas highly inflammable; and it unites with sulphur and
with the metals.  It  too  contains minute quantities of
oxv.-en  and hydrogen, and its simple  base is  therefore
unknown.
   The class of metals is an extensive one, the substances
to* wlich this name is appropriated being numerous, and
the number being still farther augmented, if the lately
discovered  bases of the alkalis and earths are to  be  re*
         5 
3i           PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.

garded as metallic.*  The physical  properties, charac-
teristic  of the  metals, are opacity, great lustre, density,
and tenacity under the two modifications of ductility and
malleability.   These are possessed in different degrees
by the different metals, and if the basis  of the  alkalis
and earths are  to be admitted as metals, the properly ol
density  cannot  be considered as distinctive, as some of
these are even  lighter than water.   With  regard to che-
mical properties, the metals are fusible, in general not
volatile except  at very intense heats; they are capable of
combining with oxygen, with hydrogen, sulphur, carbon,
and phosphorus! with each other, and when oxidated are
capable of uniting with acids, alkalis, and earths.
  Of these combinations, that with oxygen  is the most
important; and in relation to the object of this outline,
the only one requiring any farther observations.  This
combination is  effected in various modes.   When heated
in contact with the air, they attract its oxygen: if the
temperature be very highly elevated, as in that produced
in the galvanic circuit, they display during this oxidation
the phenomena of combustion;  even if the temperature
is less elevated, several of them burn more or less rapid-
ly; but the greater number are oxidated more  slowly,
and  without  any sensible extrication of light.   Several
metals are slowly oxidated by water, or by the joint action
of air and water at natural temperatures.  And all of
them can be  oxidated by acids, the acid  either directly
imparting oxygen to the metal, or enabling it to attract
this principle from the water which is present.
  The compounds of metals with oxygen belong in gene-
ral to the order of oxides.  They are destitute of the
physical properties  of the  metals,  and have an earthy
like appearance.   Two or three metals acquire  in their
highest state of oxygenation, acid powers.
  In combining with oxygen, different metals unite with
very different quantities of it.  Each of them  combines
too with different proportions of oxygen, giving rise to the
  * " It is probable, that the numerous discoveries of chemis-
try,  will render it necessary  to alter entirely the present
arrangement of  the bodies  which are the subjects of chemical
investigation.  Amongst these  changes, since  the alkalis and
earths are found to be metallic,  we shall have to  divide the
class  of metals,  into metals properly so called, and  into those
which are capable of acidification or alkalization."
     Coxe's note, article alkalis. Edin. Enci/. Amer. edition. 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
35
production, from the same metal of oxides having very
different properties.  These proportions have been sup-
posed to be determinate, but there is  every reason  to
believe that  they are not so, except from the operation
of external circumstances connected with the oxidation ;
that  the  natural tendency of the law regulating  these
combinations, is to unite the metal with the oxygen, in
quantities indefinite, from the minimum to the maximum,
and  that uniform and  determinate proportions are esta-
blished in particular cases, only by causes foreign to the
reciprocal attraction whence the combination results,—
a circumstance of much importance, as is to be  after-
wards pointed out, with regard  to the  pharmaceutical
processes on the metals.
   When the metals are combined with oxygen, they be-
come capable of combining with the acids, and they then
acquire  greater activity and power of  chemical action.
This previous oxidation of  a metal is always necessary
to its combination with an acid,  and hence, when acids
act on metals, they first  impart to them oxygen, or en-
able them to  attract oxygen from the water, or  some-
times from the air, and then combine with the oxide that
is formed.  As the same metal is capable t)f existing in
different states  of oxidation, so  by combining in these
states with the same  acid it forms very different  com-
pounds ; and these compounds are farther diversified by
the  different  proportions of  acid combined in them,
Metals arc rendered active on the living system, princi-
pally by being thus combined with oxygen, or farther
combined with acids.   In their metallie state, they sel-
dom produce any sensible effect;  and any effect they do
produce appears to arise from their being  chemically
acted on by the gastric fluids.   When oxidated, they be-
come much more active ; and still more  so when the
oxide is combined with an acid.   And even the degree
of oxygenation considerably influences their powers ;  so
i hat  from the same metal preparations of xery different
degrees of medicinal  activity may be obtained, though
all agreeing in the kind of action  they exert.
  It would be foreign to the object of this sketch to give
the desciiption of the individual  metals : it is  sufficient
io have stated with regard to them these general  facts.
Few of them exist as common ingredients in the com po-
sit? en of natural substances, with  the exception of ircu. 
$6
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
  A class of substances, possessing certain common pro-
perties, the ultimate principles of the various compounds,
not metallic or inflammable, which occur in the mineral
kingdom, had  been distinguished by the appellation of
Earths.  An analogy had often been observed  to  exist
between these substances and  metallic oxides ; and the
conjecture had even been advanced, that they are of simi-
lar constitution, or consist of metallic bases combined with
oxygen.  By a train of investigation, originating in vei-y
different analogies, the composition of  the earths has
been established, and their bases discovered  to be sub-
stances previously unknown, and possessing general pro-
perties, so nearly allied to those of metals, as to be suf-
ficient perhaps to justify the placing them in that class ;
yet still so far different as to afford  some reason for re-
garding them at least as a peculiar order.
  The Primary or Simple Earths, as they are  named,
to distinguish them from the various earthy aggregates
which exist in nature, have been described as substances
insipid, insoluble in water, fixed, and nearly infusible by
heat, uninflammable,  and capable  of combining  with
acids, so as  to neutralize the acid  properties.   All  these
characters  are  not equally  appropriate; for there are
several of the earths which have a pungent taste, and are
soluble in water to a considerable extent, and all of them
may be fused by xery intense heats.
  The principal earths are Silcx, Argil, Magnesia, Lime,
Barytes,  and Strontites;  Zircon,  Glucine and Ittria,
having more doubtful  claims to be ranked in this class,
or existing  in such minute quantities as to be compari-
tively unimportant.
   Silex is an abundant  ingredient, not  only in mineral
substances,  but is  frequently contained in vegetable pro-
ducts, and forms  part of the earthy residuum of  their
decomposition.  It is tasteless, nearly infusible and inso-
luble in water, and is peculiarly distinguished by its in-
ertness, and comparatively limited range of combination ;
among  the^ acids  it  combines only with  the fluoric, and
even  scarcely neutralizes its properties.  It unites with
the fixed alkalis, and by fusion with the other earths and
the metallic oxides.
  Argil is insipid, soft to the touch, infusible, insoluble
in water, and particularly distinguished  by forming with
that fluid a  ductile plastic mass, which hardens and con- 
             PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY,           A"

tracts considerably  when heated.   With  the acids  it
forms compounds, which have generally a sweetish styp-
tic taste, and which possess, to a certain extent the pro-
perty of astringency.
   Magnesia exists in the form ■"£ a very light white pow-
der, smooth and impalpable ; infusible, insoluble in water,
and not forming with it a coherent paste ; it has a slight-
ly bitter taste, changes the more delicate vegetable bine
colours to a green, and  combines with acids, forming
compounds, in general  very soluble, and having a bitter
taste.   In its pure form it is medicinally employed  as an
antacid, and its saline compounds have in general a ca-
thartic power.
   Lime, or calcareous earth, displays still  greater  ener-
gy of action.  It is so far soluble in water, as to commu-
nicate to the solution a xery harsh styptic taste, and the
power of changing  the vegetable colours to a green.
Being usually obtained by the decomposition of limestone,
chalk, or marble, by heat, it is in the form of a  hard
mass ; but when it imbibes water, cither directly or from
exposure to the atmosphere,  it splits, and falls  down into
a white powder  perfectly dry.  It  is  infusible.   Com-
bined with the acids, it neutralizes their properties.  Its
action  is considerable  on the animal system.   Directly
applied to  animal matter, it acts chemically, producing
decomposition,  and  thus  operating  as an  eseharotic.
Given in solution, it exerts an  astringent and tonie pow-
er, which power is also displayed in several of its saline
combinations;  and by its chemical agency it acts  as an
antacid, and as has been supposed, likewise as a lithon-
triptic.  Its base has been obtained,  though not perhaps
perfectly insulated ;  it  has the metallic lustre, and ap-
pears to be highly inflammable.
   Barytes  surpasses lime in  energy of chemical action.
Like it, when in a solid mass;  it absorbs water rapidly,
and falls into a dry white powder ; its taste is harsh and
caustic : when water is combined with it, it  fuses by a
heat comparatively moderate;  but when this is dissipat-
ed, the heat requires to be raised to a much higher point.
It is more soluble in water than any of the earths, cold
water dissolving a twenty-fifth of its weight, and boiling
water even more than half its  weight; this latter solu-
tion depositing, as it cools, transparent prismatic crystals.
Its solution changes  the vegetable colours to a green. 
 38          PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.

 rriiis earth combines with the acids, and  appears to ex-
 ert to them xery powerful attractions, as it decomposes
 their compounds with the other earths and the alkalis,—
 a circumstance  probably owing, however, rather  to the
 insolubility of the compfomds it forms, than to any supe-
 rior force of attraction.   It exerts affinities to the other
 earths, and combines also with sulphur and phosphorus.
 Of all the earths, it is the one which acts most power-
 fully on the living system.   Even in small quantities, it
 occasions  unpleasant  symptons,  and   its preparations
 prove poisonous to  animals.   From  this quality,  and
 from another, the great specific gravity of several of its
 saline combinations, particularly  the native sulphate and
 carbonate, barytes was often more peculiarly supposed
 to be of a metallic nature.  Its decomposition has been
 effected  by the  application  of galvanism, and a base
 obtained from  it, of a metallic appearance, having the
 colour of silver, considerably heavier than water, fusible
 at a heat below redness, not volatile, inflammable, and
 reproducing barytes  when combined with oxygen.
  Strontites, the last of these earths, bears a close re-
 semblance to barytes in many of its properties.  Like it,
 it has a pungent acrid taste, is soluble in water,  crystal-
 izable from  its  saturated solution by  cooling, changes
 the vegetable colours to a green, combines with  acids,
 and decomposes a number of the compounds which they
 form with the other  alkalis and earths.   Its native com-
 pounds too have a considerable specific gravity.  It  is,
 however,  much less soluble  in water  than barytes ;  it
 requires nearly 200 parts of cold water to dissolve it,
 though boiling  water dissolves it in much  larger quanti-
 ty.   Barytes decomposes its salts.  It is not  poisonous,
 nor does it appear to  exert  any marked action on the
living system.  A characteristic property of it is that of
its salts causing inflammable bodies to burn with a blood
 red flame.
  Following the series from the metallic oxides  through
the earths, we arrive at the JLlkalis.  These possess the
chemical property common to the whole, and  most cha-
racteristic, that of combining with acids, neutralizing the
acid   properties,  and forming compounds, analogous in
general properties to those formed by the earths  and me-
 tallic oxides with the acids.   But they display still more
energy in their  chemical actions than the earths, and are 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
39
 more remote in  their qualities, from the oxides of the
 common  metals.  Their taste is  extremely harsh and
 acrid;  they are highly caustic, abundantly soluble in
 water; exerting indeed such an attraction to it as to im-
 bibe it from  the  atmosphere, or attract it from other
 bodies: they  are  fusible by a moderate heat,  and  by a
 stronger heat are  volatilized; they change the vegetable
 blue and purple colours to a green, the yellow to a brown,
 and they combine  with oils, rendering them diffusible or
 soluble in water.   These properties belong to two of the
 alkalis which are naturally concrete, potash  and soda,
 A third, ammonia, exists when uncombined as  a perma-
 nent gas, but it is instantly condensed  by water, and ab-
 sorbed by it in large quantity, and the general properties
 of  it not connected with  its peculiar form are the same.
   One of the most splendid discoveries of modern  Che-
 mistry is that of the composition of the alkalis.   Ammo-
 nia had been known to be  formed from the combination
 of  hydrogen with nitrogen, and analogy suggested to
 chemists the conclusion,  that the two fixed alkalis arc of
 similar constitution, containing either of these elements
 as  a common principle; and thus led them aside from the
 analogy suggested by their connection with the metallic
 oxides in neutralizing the acid properties, from  which it
 might have been  inferred, that they and the earths are
 compounds of metals with oxygen. * Mr. Davy, availing
 himself of the powerful instrument of chemical analysis
 which galvanism affords,  submitted potash and soda to its
 action,  and succeeded in effecting their decomposition.
 Their bases are substances extremely peculiar; they have
 the metallic lustre, opacity and tenacity, but not the
 property formerly considered as characteristic of metals.
 that of great specific gravity, as they are even lighter
 than water; they are very fusible and volatile,  and  pass
 through these changes of form, as well as different states
 of cohesion, in a very limited range of temperature:  they
 are also highly inflammable; combined with oxvgcn,they
form these alkalis; and, if these bases are to be  admitted
 as metallic, the analogy in chemical  constitution is esta-
 blished between the alkalis, earths and metallic oxides.
 Potash, or, as it ought to  be named, (in conformity to the
 rule of giving a similar termination to the names of sub-
stances belonging to the same order,) potassa, is obtained
from the incineration of  vegetables, especially from  tho 
40
Pharmaceutic  chemistry.
wood; the saline matter remaining after the wood has
been burnt, consists  principally of this alkali, in combi-
nation with carbonic acid, being freed from the impuri-
ties by lixiviation; this acid is abstracted by the  action
of lime, the alkali is obtained  in solution, and, by evapo-
ration, can be obtained in a solid state.   It is of a white
colour, erystalizable,  fusible, and volatile  at  a higher
heat; abundantly soluble in water, soluble also in alcohol,
powerfully caustic, and possessed of all the alkaline pro-
perties in a high degree.  There is  some  uncertainty,
whethei- it exist in the vegetable matter from which it is
procured in the state in which it is  obtained, or whether
its base is  a constituent  principle of that matter, and is
oxygenated during the combustion: one reason for admit-
ting the latter opinion, at least in part, is, that the alka-
li cannot be extracted in so large a  quantity by any other
process as  by burning.
  Potassium, as the  base of potash has been named, is at
the temperature of 32° a solid  substance, hard and brittle,
of a white colour, opaque, and  with  the lustre of polished
silver; at 50* it becomes soft and malleable; at 60* it is
in the form of  small globules, somewhat consistent;  at
70  it becomes more  mobile and liquid; and at 100, it is
completely so.   It requires a  temperature near to a red
heat to volatilize it.  It is lighter than water, or even than
alcohol or ether.   It is highly inflammable, when heated
to its vaporific point, burning with intense heat and vivid
light;  at lower  temperatures  it  combines more slowly
with oxygen;  it passes through various stages  of oxida-
tion to the maximum, when it forms the  alkali, being
then combined with oxygen in the proportion of 85 to 15.
Such is the strength of its affinity to this principle, that
it  takes it rapidly  from water, and from all the acids.
It combines with the primary  inflammables, and with the
metals.
   Soda, or mineral alkali as it has been denominated, in
contradistinction to the other  alkalis wliich has been dis-
tinguished by the epithet of vegetable, exists  as a con-
stituent principle  of several  saline mineral substances,
but it is usually extracted from the  combustion of marine
plants.  It is afforded by the combustion, combined with
carbonic acid, and  associated with various  other  saline
substances, and is obtained pure by the same general pro-
cess as that applied to potash. Whether it pre-exists in 
pharmaceutic  chemistry.           *l
 sea plants, or whether these, in common with land vege-
 tables, afford potash  in burning, which  decomposes the
 muriate of soda with which they are impregnated from
 their situation, so as to afford soda, has not been well
 determined.   In its physical properties this alkali bears
 a considerable resemblance to the other.  It is solid and
 white,  erystalizable, though  with difficulty, from  its
 watery solution; extremely acrid and caustic, fusible and
 volatile from heat, having a strong  attraction  to water,
 changing the vegetable colours to a green, and possessing
 all the alkaline  properties.  Fi*om potash  it is princi-
 pally distinguished by the very different compounds  it
 forms.
   Sodium, the base of soda, is white and opaque, and has
 the lustre and appearance of silver; is soft and malleable;
 is somewhat lighter than water; it is  less fusible than
 potassium, not losing  its cohesion at a lower temperature
 than 120°, and requiring for its perfect fusion a  heat of
 180;  it is also less volatile.  When heated to ignition,
 it burns vividly; at lower temperatures it absorbs oxygen
 without undergoing combustion; it abstracts oxygen from
 water, and from the acids, frequently with inflammation.
 It appears to be susceptible of  van'jus degrees of oxida-
 tion; at the  maximum when the proportion of oxygen  is
 about 21 to 79, it forms soda. It acts on the inf'ammables
 and the metals nearly as potassium does.
   Ammonia.  This alkali has usually been denominated
 volatile, from  its volatility compared with the  others,
 even when it is combined with water, being considerable.
 In its insulated state  it exists  as a permanent h  elastic
 fluid ;  its odour is extremely pungent; water absorbs it
 in very large quantity, and this solution forms v/hzi  is
 named Liquid Ammonia.   Its  volatility, or tendency to
 assume the  elastic form,  and  its comparative dilution,
 lessen the energy of its action ; and hence, thcimii pos-
sessed of the general alkaline properties, it appears weak-
 er than the others in the affinities it exerts.   Its  compo-
 sition was  supposed to have been established; nitrogen
and hydrogen appearing, both from analytic and synthetic
 experiments, to be its constituent principles.   When the
composition of the fixed alkalis was discovered, and they
were proved to be oxides, analogy evidently suggested the
conjecture, that oxygen would probably also exist in am-
monia;  and Mr. Davy, Tv< m some exrperimenfs, conclude 
■42
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
 ed that this is the case, though these have not born fully
 confirmed  by subsequent experiments.  The analogy in
 the chemical constitution of ammonia to that of the fixed
 alkalis, has however been established by the important
 discovery that it affords metallic matter; Berzclius and
 Pontin. Swedish chemists, having  found, that when the
 alkali is placed at the negative wire in the galvanic cir-
 cuit in contact with quicksilver, the quicksilver increases
 in bulk, becomes thick, and at length a soft  solid,—
 changes perfectly similar to what  are produced in it by
 the addition of metallic matter,  and wliich can scarcely
 be conceived to arise from any other cause.   The matter
 producing these effects in the experiment, must have been
 derived from decomposition of the ammonia; and it  is
 accordingly  found, that when this substance  receives
 oxygen, either from the air or from water, ammonia is
 reproduced.  Either hydrogen or nitrogen must there-
 fore be of a metallic nature,  combined probably with a
 portion of oxygen;  and it is  not  improbable that both
 these gases may be modifications of the same base.  The
 analogy in  constitution has thus been rendered complete,
 with regard to the three alkalis, and they, as well as the
 earths, are connected by a series with the oxides of what
 are more strictly denominated metals,—one of the most
 perfect examples of generalization  which  the science of
 chemistry affords.
   The last important class of chemical agents is that of
 Acids.  The characteristic acid properties are a sour
 taste, the power of changing  the blue, purple, and  green
 colours of vegetables to a red, and that of combining with
the alkalis, earths, and metallic  oxides,  forming com-
pounds, in which, when the combination is established in
the due proportion, the  properties  of the acid and  of the
base with  which it is united, are equally neutralized.
The more powerful acids  have a considerable degree of
causticity; they have a strong attraction to water, and
they act with energy on inflammable and metallic sub-
stances.  All the acids are compounds of oxygen, and
this  element is therefore regarded as the principle of
acidity.  This truth was established by Lavoisier, with
regard to a number of the acids, and extended by analogy
to a few wliich had  not  been  decomposed.  It has been
confirmed, with regard to  these, by move recent investi-
gations.  The bases of the acids are either inflammable 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
43
or  metallic.  The  production of acidity is usually the
result of their full oxygenation, and in  some cases the
base combines with two proportions of oxygen, forming
two acids, different in their properties from each other.
   On these facts, with regard to the chemical constitution
of the acids, their nomenclature is founded.  The base
being specific with regard to each acid, while the oxygen
is common to them, it is from the name of the former
that the name of the acid is derived; and, by a variation
in the termination of this name, the different acids which
may be formed from the base, by a difference in the degree
of oxygenation, are distinguished; the name terminating
in the syllable ic, when the acid is that which contains
the larger  proportion of oxygen, and  in the syllable ous
when it contains the smaller proportion.  Thus sulphur
forms two  acids, by combining with  two proportions of
oxygen; the term sulphur is the radical whence the names
of these are derived, and according to the above princi-
ple, the one is denominated the sulphuric, the other the
sulphurous acid.  Where a large quantity of oxygen can
be farther combined with an acid without increasing, but
rather diminishing its acid powers, the name is expressed
by prefixing the epithet oxy, as oxymuriatic acid.
  Acids have an extensive power of combination.  From
the numerous affinities they exert, and from the facility
with which they afford oxygen, they are the most active
of any of the compound chemical agents, and are hence
employed in many pharmaceutic operations.  Those of
most importance under this view are the sulphuric, nitric,
and muriatic.
  The Sulphuric Acid, formed from the full oxygenation
of  sulphur, exists  combined with a  small quantity of
water in the form of a liquid of  great density, and from
this  state  of  concentration acts powerfully; exerting
strong attractions to other bodies ; and though, from the
strength  of affinity between  its principles, it does not
directly afford oxygen with facility to many substances,
it enables them to attract oxygen from water, and thus
subjects them to chemical change.
  The Sulphurous Acid, which is formed from the same
base in a lower degree of oxygenation, existing naturally
in the elastic form, which is an obstacle to its entering
into combination, and not Jbeing very largely absorbed by 
A4          PHARMACEUTIC (HEM19TRV.
water, so as to form a concentrated solution, is much
weaker.
  Nitric Acid is  the result of the full  oxygenation of
nitrogen; and the oxygen, not being retained in the com-
bination by a strong attraction, the acid yields it readily,
and hence acts with more facility and energy on inflam-
mable and metallic substance than any other acid,—oxi-
dating the  former, and first oxidating, and then combin-
ing with  the latter;  hence in pharmacy it is used as the
most general solvent of  the metals.   What  is named
Nitrous Acid, is the nitric, with an impregnation of nitric
oxide gas; it is of a yellow colour, and emits  similar
coloured dense fumes, while the other is colourless:  the
chemical agencies of both are nearly the  same.
  Muriatic Acid exists when  uncombined in the aerial
form, but it is absorbed in  large  quantity by water, and
forms a liquid acid of considerable strength.  Its analysis
has not been effected; and even yet, by the  action of potas-
sium on it, there have been established only some singu-
lar facts, w ith regard to water combined with it, and the
effect of this water on its acidity; the quantity of water
in combination with the acid, even in its  elastic state, is
supposed to amount to at least one-third of its weight:
and though the acid  itself cannot be  obtained free from
this water, yet when combinations of it with other acids
are procured in this state, the acid powers are complete-
ly suspended, and arc restored on the addition of a little
water. This acid, not directly affording oxygen to bodies,
oxidates them only by enabling them to  attract oxygen
from the wafer it contains; it thus dissolves metals; and
it farther combines v.iili other substances, as the alkalis
or earths.   It  is capable  of uniting with an additional
proportion of oxygen, forming what  is named oxymuri-
atic acid, wliich, although  its acid powers are weaker.
imparts oxygen more readily to bodies. And, with a still
larger proportion of oxygen, it forms a third  acid, hyper-
oxymuriatic acid, which gives to the saline compounds in
which 11 exists, the power  of acting with much energy
on inflammable bodies, in consequence of the very large
quantity of oxygen condensed in  the combination,  and
not retained by any great force.
  Other acklf;, less  important as pharmaceutic agents.
are the Carbonic, Phosphoric, Boraeic, and Fluoric.
   Cm honk' Acid, the product of the  complete oxygena- 
            PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.           45

tion  of carbon,  existing in the elastic form, and being
absorbed by water only in sparing quantity, has no very
active chemical power, but is of importance from existing
in many natural  combinations, particularly of saline and
earthy substances  belonging  to  the Materia Medica.
The characters  eminently distinguishing it  are its only
weakening,  not  entirely neutralizing the properties  of
the alkalis, when in combination with them, and its being
disengaged  rapidly with effervescence by  other acids
from these compounds, and from those it forms with the
earths.
  Phosphoric Acid has phosphorus for its base, and the
affinity between  this base and the oxygen, with which it
is combined, being strong, it scarcely  acts on bodies by
oxygenating them, but simply by entering into combina-
tion with them; nor are these combinations comparatively
of much importance.  Phosphorous  Acid, in which the
proportion of oxygen is smaller, is still less important.
  Boradc Acid exists in the concrete form, and its chemi-
cal action is comparatively weak.  So powerful is the
affinity between  its base and oxygen, that it has only been
decomposed by galvanism, or by potassium;  and its de-
composition, there is reason to conclude, is even not com-
plete :   a dark  olive  coloured substance is obtained,
inflammable, and which, by combining v. 1th oxygen, re-
produces boracie acid; this  substance being probably the
real base in a lower degree of oxygenation.
  Fluoric Acid is elastic, and is not very largely absorb-
ed by water; its chemical  action is  from these circum-
stances,  therefore, not  powerful. '"* It unites, however,
easily with the alkalis and earths, and, what peculiarly
distinguishes it, is capable  of dissolving siliceous earth.
It suffers partial decomposition from the action of potas-
sium, oxygen being abstracted from it, and  a chocolate
coloured substance deposited which burns in oxygen and
re-produces the  acid.
  There is a series of acids with  compound bases, deriv-
ed from the vegetable and animal system;  but those of
them entitled to notice will be best  considered with the
classes of substances  with which they are wore strictly
connected.  The. acids  combine with the  alkalis, the
earths, and the metallic oxides; and Avhen the combina-
tion is established in the due proportion, the  chemical
properties of the acid, and  of the base with wliich  it i« 
46
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
 united,  are  mutually neutralized.  Hence  these com-
 pounds  arc  named neutral  sails; and,  as an order of
 chemical agents, they are distinguished by certain common
 properties.  They can  always be obtained in  the solid
 state: they are generally, though not universally soluble
 in water; those of them which are soluble, are capable of
 assuming a crystaline form, the form being very different
 in different  salts.   Those which  crystalize  from their
 aqueous solution, always retain a quantity of water greater
 or less in combination, essential to the crystal, and there-
 fore named their water of crystalization.   When heated,
 the increase  of temperature is often sufficient to enable
 this water to dissolve the real saline matter: this is named
 the watery fusion of  salts; as it evaporates, the salt be-
 comes concrete, and, by  a farther increase of heat, is
 either fused  or decomposed.   The term neutral salt is
 sometimes restricted to those of which the alkalis arc the
 bases: those formed from the earths arc named earthy
 salts; and those from the metallic oxides metallic salts.
 The nomenclature of the whole series is in  the  modern
 chemical language simple, and, at  the same time, syste-
 matic  and precise.  They are  formed into genera and
 species, according to the acids, and the bases of which
 they are composed; the name of the genus is  derived
 from that of  the acid, the name of the species from that
 of the base with which the acid is united.   Thus all the
 salts formed from sulphuric acid are considered as con-
 stituting one  genus, and are named sulphates;  and the
 name of each species is expressed, by adding the name of
 the base, as sulphate of soda, sulphate of lime,  sulphate
 of iron, &c.  The acid which sulphur forms in a different
 degree of oxygenation, the sulphurous, forms a  different
 order of salts; these are  named  sulphites; and in like
 manner we have nitrates and  nitrites, phosphates and
 phosphites, ivc.  Those  formed from oxymuriatic acid
 are named oxy-muriats.   Salts are sometimes  formed
 with an excess of acid, or with an  excess of base:  the
 acid being considered as the principle forming the genus,
 these  are distinguished by prefixing to the  usual name
the epithet super, when the acid is predominant, and the
epithet sub when it  is deficient, or when  the base is  in
excess, as  super-sulphate of  potash,  sub-carbonate  of
soda, &c.  When an acid is combined in one compound
with two bases, as sometimes happens^ the names of both 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.          47
 bases enter into the name of the salt, as tartrate of potash
 and soda.  Thus, by this simple system, a facility of no-
 menclature is afforded; the whole is uniform and systema-
 tic, and the memory is aided, by the name pointing out the
 nature of the salt; and  the  adoption of this  nomencla-
 t ure in pharmacy is an important improvement.

   So far the chemical analysis of unorganized substances
 connected Avith the Materia Medica has been the subject
 of consideration.   It remains to take notice of the analy-
 sis of those belonging to the vegetable  and animal king-
 doms,—a subject of much importance, particularly as it
 relates to the vegetable part of the Materia  Medica, and
 whieh, from this importance, as well as from the nature
 of the  substances themselves, requires to be considered
 with more minute details.
   These tAvo classes of bodies are distinguished  by very
 obvious chemical characters.  In unorganized substances,
 the principles are few, and  are combined  generally in
 very simple states of union ; their analysis  can be exe-
 cuted Avith accuracy ; even the proportions of their prin-
 ciples can be determined Avith precision, and they can be
 again combined  so as to form the decomposed  substance,
 thus  confirming  the analysis by synthesis.  But, Avith
 regard to the products of organization, Avhile the compo-
 sition, so  far as it relates to the ultimate  elements, is
 more uniform, it is with regard to the modes in which
 they are united much more complicated.  They consist of
 a feAv common principles ; but these, presented  to each
 other in the vessels  of the  organic being, have been
 placed under circumstances indefinitely varied, and Avhich
 art can very imperfectly imitate.  Combinations of the
 same elements are formed, therefore, greatly diversified,
 and properties  are derived from differences of propor-
 tions, or modes of union extremely minute.   Hence their
 accurate analysis is executed Avith difficulty,—a difficul-
 ty  increased by the circumstance, that these elements
 having  strong mutual affinities, cannot in  general be
 obtained insulated, but Avhen the compound  has been
 decomposed  enter into new  combinations liable to be
 modified by slight variations of circumstances ; the pro-
portions therefore can seldom be determined with accu-
racy, the modes of union  in general remain unknown,
and the confirmation by synthesis is entirely precluded. 
48
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
   Another character distinguishes  these  two  classes*
 The composition of unorganized bodies being more sim-
 ple,  is not so liable to  be subverted; their constituent
 principles being feAV, their affinities operate with more
 force, and the combination is more permanent.  That of
 organized bodies being more complicated has characters
 precisely the  reverse.  Composed always of several ele-
 ments, the affinities are more nicely adjusted, and are
 therefore  more  easily modified;  and their principles
 having tendencies to enter iuto numerous forms of com-
 bination, slight variations  of circumstances subvert the
 equilibrium.  Hence the susceptibility of decomposition
 by wliich they are distinguished: they are liable even  to
 spontaneous changes from the reaction of their  elements,
 and Avhen this is favoured by humidity, elevation of tem-
 perature, or the action of the air, neAV combinations are
 established, whenee the original compounds are  decom-
 posed.
   From the  peculiar constitution of  the  products  of
 organization,  there are tAVO kinds of analysis  to which
 they are subject.  The object of the  one is to discover
 their ultimate composition; that of the other is less re-
 fined, being confined to the investigation of the proximate
 principles  of which they are composed.
   It is seldom that a vegetable substance is homogeneous.
 The seed, for  example, the bark, or the leaves of a plant,
 is not of one uniform composition, but consists of various
 proximate principles in a state  of mixture, or of slight
 combination, and capable of being easily separated from
 each other. Noav, these are often connected Avith their
 medicinal virtues; the virtue residing perhaps not in the
 entire substance of the leaf, bark, or seed, but in a prin-
 ciple capable of being separated, and Avhich may frequently
 be employed in its insulated state.  Hence the importance
 of the analysis of the vegetable  substances belonging to
 the Materia Medica, so far as relates to their proximate
principles; the knoAvledge it conveys  enabling us to em-
ploy them  Avith more discrimination, and to submit them
to the proper pharmaceutic treatment,.  An enumeration
of their proximate  principles, and more particularly of
those  on Avhich their medicinal  powers depend, accord-
ingly always enters into their description as articles of
the Materia Medica. This analysis is executed in variou «• 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
49
 mode3, adapted to particular cases, according to the prin-
 ciples Avhich form the vegetable substance.
   An important principle is sometimes separated merely
 by heat.   The  temperature cannot indeed be elevated
 very high, as then the proximate principles of the vege-
 table Avould be themselves decomposed, and their elements
 brought into new combinations. But at heat comparatively
 moderate, as that of boiling water, this does not happen;
 and at this temperature several of the principles of plants,
 such as their essential oil, camphors, and some others not
 very Avell defined, are volatilized  Avithout decomposition,
 and of course  can be obtained pure.
   The action  of different solvents is of more extensive
 use in conducting the vegetable analysis.  Water dissolves
 several of their component principles, such as gum and
 extractive  matter, tannin, saline substances, and  some
 others.   These are  dissolved in greater or  less quantity,
 and in more or less  purity, according to the temperature
 of the water employed.   In general, by raising the Avater
 to its boiling point, it is able to dissolve them more com-
 pletely ;  but some of them are apt to be volatilized, and
 others altered in their composition, especially if the at-
 mospheric  air  is not excluded.  Of the substauees Avhich
 the Avater holds dissolved, part are separated as it cools;
 the gum  can be precipitated by alcohol; the saline  sub-
 stances  may be crystalized,  or  can  be discovered by
 evaporating the  solution to dryness, and  exposing the
 mass to such a heat as will destroy the inflammable parts;
 and tannin is detected by its chemical tests.
   Aleohol is another agent of much importance in exe-
 cuting the vegetable analysis.  It dissolves  the resin,
 balsam, camphor, and essential oil: these  solutions are
 decomposed by water, each substance  being separated,
 and disceniible by its peculiar qualities.   Equal parts of
 alcohol and water, or proof spirit as it is named, is also
 often employed as a  solvent in the analysis of vegetables.
 Ether di solves nearly  the same principles as alcohol.
 And the acids,  alkalis, and soluble earths, are sometimes
 of utility as re-agents, in pointing out the existence of
 peculiar principles.
  Lastly, in the analysis of vegetables, Ave are often able
 to procure several of their proximate principles, by me-
chanical means, particularly by expression.  Sometimes,
too, they exude  spontaneously from the groAving vegetable* 
 50          PHARMACEl TIC CHEMISTRY.

 or are obtained by it from incisions made in the branches
 or trunk.
   After Ave have discovered the proximate principles of
 vegetables, the next step is to ascertain their composition.
 This is  an  investigation attended,  hoAvevcr, Avith much
 difficulty, as being liable  to  all the deceptions  arising
 from a complicated analysis, and incapable of being con-
 firmed by the surer test which synthesis affords.
   The composition of these substances with  respect to
 their ultimate principles is nearly uniform.  All of them
 contain carbon and hydrogen, generally if not invariably
 united Avith oxygen: some  farther contain nitrogen  and
 phosphorus; and in others  several of the metals, particu-
 larly iron and manganese, exist.  Lime, too, and the tAvo
 fixed alkalis, either pure or more commonly in combina-
 tion with some of the acids,  are not unfrequently constitu-
 ents of vegetable matter.   These latter substances, Iioav-
 eA er, are seldom in any considerable proportion; nor in
 general do they appear to modify much the properties of
 the substances in which they e cist. Nitrogen, and perhaps
 lime, when present, appear to have the  most important
 influence, and Avith the exception of the few compounds
 of which they form a principal part, it may be said, that
 the vegetable proximate principles  consist  of carbon,
 hydrogen and oxygen; the  differences in their properties
 being produced by differences in the proportions of these
 principles and of the modes in Avhich they are combined.
  That a difference in the proportions of these elements
 may give rise to the differences in the properties of the
 compounds wliich they form, cannot be doubted; since in
 many other cases of chemical combinations, where there
 is no difficulty in the analysis, differences equally impor-
tant  and Avell marked are produced  by  this cause.   In
 vegetable substances we accordingly can often trace this
 as the cause without being able to point out any other.
 Thus, fixed and volatile oils  have properties in many
 respects  dissimilar: by analysis both are found to consist
of carbon and hydrogen, united only in different propor-
tions, the volatile oils liaA ing more hydrogen in proportion
to the carbon than the fixed have: this is a cause sufficient
to account for the difference in  their properties; and it
accords sufficiently with that difference, for hydrogen
being a  substance  extremely rare and  volatile,  those
compounds in which it  predominates, as ether, alcohol, 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.           51
and others, are in general light and volatile. The greater
volatility, therefore, of the essential, compared Avith the
fixed oils, may be ascribed to its predominance.
   In other  cases, it is probable that the mode in Avhich
the constituent principles of these  substances are united,
is the cause of the difference in their qualities.   This is
indeed a cause Avhich can be but imperfectly investigated,
either by analysis or synthesis; but it is conceivable a pri-
ori, and sufficiently confirmed by chemical facts, that  a
difference in the mode of union may give rise to very im-
portant diversities of properties.  If a compound, for ex-
ample, consist of three elements, these  may be united in
two  modes.  Their attractions may be reciprocally ba-
lanced, and they may form what is named, in strict pro-
priety, a ternary combination; or, from a variation in the
circumstances under Avhich the  union has  been effected,
two  of  them may be combined, and the compound thus
formed may exert an attraction to the third principle,
unite Avith it, and form a iicav substance.   The compounds
resulting  from  these  different  modes  of combination,
though composed of the same principles, united perhaps
even in the same proportions, Avould still have properties
different from each other.  Still greater diversities will
be produced where the elements are more numerous, and
the possible modes of union of course more  diversified.
And Avhen we consider these causes from difference of
proportions, and modes of combination, we shall scarcely
be surprised at the number of different substances, im-
mense as it is, which nature forms from a feAV elementary
principles.
   The proximate principles of vegetables are sometimes
analyzed by exposure to heat: their elements enter into
iicav combinations, and from the nature of the products,
we discover Avhat the principles Avere.   Thus, if the sub-
stance exposed to heat yields a large quantity of acid, we
conclude that it  contains a considerable quantity of oxy-
gen as a constituent part.  If it afford much empyreuma-
tic oil, Ave infer that it contains a large proportion of hy-
drogen, this principle being necessary to the constitution
of that product.   When ammonia or prussic acid is afford-
ed by this kind  of analysis, we  conclude, for the  same
reason, that nitrogen has been  a  constituent principle.
And by the same mode are discovered  the  earths  and
metals which had been present in  it: these remaining after 
S3
PHARMACEUTIC CliLMlslR . ■
the volatile parts have  been  expelled.   Lastly,  by th«
quantity of charcoal w hieh remains as a residuum, Ave can
form some conclusion as to the quantity of carbon which
the vegetable substance contained.  There analysis is also
effected by exposing them to  heat with the access of at-
mospheric air, and collecting the products of the combus-
tion that takes place.  From the nature of these products,
we can ascertain the proportions in Avhich they Averc unit-
ed.  Oil, for example, Avhen  subjected to this analysis,
yields nothing but carbonic acid and water.  We conclude
therefore that it is composed of carbon and hydrogen,
since these  principles, united with oxygen, form these
products, and since, if any other simple substance had
existed in the oil, it Avould have appeared either pure or
in combination with oxygen.  We can even determine in
this manner the proportion in which the  carbon and hy-
drogen existed in the combination.  From knowing what  0
quantity of carbon exists in a given quantity of carbonic  *
acid, and Avhat quantify of hydrogen  exists  in  a given
quantity of Avater,  Ave thus  also discover whether any
oxygen had existed  in the composition of the oil.
   They are sometimes  analyzed by subjecting them to
spontaneous  decomposition.   It  is thus that sugar is
brought into the state  of fermentation; and from the
products of the  fermentation the principles of the sac-
charine matter are determined.
   Lastly,  their  analysis is sometimes executed  by the
agency of the nitric acid, Avhich  communicates to them
oxygen, and by the  product ascertains the nature of their
acidifiable base.
   Such are the methods by which these principles of ve-
getable matter are analyzed.   It is to be remarked, that
the analysis is so difficult, as to afford, even Avhen execut-
ed Avith the greatest care, only approximations; and  as
applied to the articles of the materia medica is seldom of
utility, since avc  can scarcely ever discover any relation
betAveen the ultimate   composition  and the medicinal
poAvers of the substance analyzed.  These, in  common
with all its properties, no doubt depend on that composi-
tion;  but  our modes of analysis  are still too limited and
imperfect to admit of our tracing the connection between
them.  The  application of chemistry, therefore, to the
vegetable substances belonging to the materia medica, is,
as has already been  remarked, in a great measure confin-
ed to the discrimination of their proximate principles. 
             PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.           j3

   The proximate principles of vegetables are numerous,
 and of very different kinds.  They are not a;i to be met
 Avith in every vegetable, or in cvei y period of vegeti.liors:
 some  exist only in  ce; tain plants, and that only in their
 state of vigour and maturity: at other times they ;ire to
 be found only before  they  have  arrived  at that period;
 some are deposited in particular organs; others are diffus-
 ed through the  Avhole substance of the  vegetable, and
 mixed in a manner more or less intimate Avith all its parts:
 and some are nearly peculiar to certain vegetables, while
 others are common to almost every plant.  Those only
 require to be pointed out in this sketch, Avhich  are parti-
 cularly connected with medicinal properties.
   These  principles are the products of vegetation from
 a common juice or sap, Avhich circulates freely through
 every part of the vegetable  system, being supplied by ab-
 sorption from the soil, and perhaps from the atmosphere.
 It varies  in its  qualities, particularly according to the
 season, and the progress of the  plant to maturity; fre-
 quently too it has an intermixture  of the proper juices:
 it ahvays contains the usual  elements of vegetable matter,
 with generally saline substances, having principally lime
 for their base.   By the chemical changes it suffers from
 the action of the vessels of the plant, aided by  the action
 of the  air and of light, its elements pass into various states
 of combinations, whence the peculiar products  of vegeta-
 tion are formed.
   The first transition of  the   sap appears to be into
 mucilage, or gum, one of the proximate principles  con-
 tained in greatest abundance in vegetables.  It is found
 in all young plants, in greater or less quantity;  and is
 often so abundant  in  the plant,  as to be discharged by
 spontaneous  exudation.  It abounds also  in their roots,
 stalks, and leaves, and especially in their seeds.  It is an
 inodorous, insipid,  and glutinous substance,  soluble  in
 water, in every proportion, and  forming with  it a  thick
 viscid  solution, Avhich by evaporation affoids a tenacious
 mass, that Avhen dried is brittle, and again soluble.   It is
 insoluble  in  alcohol,  ether, or  oil, and  is precipitated
from its solution in Avater  by the addition of alcohol.
 It does not absorb oxygen from the atmosphere; though
its solution becomes  sensibly acid  by keeping, OAving to
partial spontaneous decomposition, and the combination
of part of the principles of the gum, so as to form acetic 
54
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
acid.  Exposed to heat it is neither fusible  nor volatile.
At a temperature  superior to 212. but inferior to that of
ignition, it is  decomposed;  its principles entering into
new combina. ions: the products  arc an  acid liquor con-
sisting principally of acetic acid, carbonic acid, and earbu-
retted hydrogen gases, Avith a little ammonia, and a resid-
uum of charcoal containing lime, one ounce of gum, af-
fording six grains of lime.  This lime is also detected by
adding sulphuric acid to a solution of gum.  From these
products of the analysis, it is evident that the ultimate
principles of gum are, oxygen, hydrogen,  and carbon,
with smaller proportions of nitrogen and lime.  Gum is
not capable of passing into the vinous fermentation, which
appears to be OAving to the portion of lime existing in it,
as lime has the effect  of preventing even  sugar from
suffering this change.
  Gum is not inflammable; for although, when heated,
in contact with atmospheric air, it combines with oxygen,
it emits no flame.  The principal products of this combi-
nation  are carbonic  acid and Avater.  By the action of
nitric acid it is converted into oxalic, malic, and saccho-
lactic acids.   Oxymuriatic acid converts it into citric
acid.
  Gum is usually obtained either by spontaneous exuda-
tion, or by incisions  made in the trunks and branches of
trees.   It is more or less pure as it is  obtained from
different plants.  Its existence in vegetables is detected
by boiling gently the vegetable substance Avrth water; the
water dissolves the gum, and if much of that principle be
present the solution is  glutinous.   It may be allowed
to remain till the impurities have  subsided;  then  be
evaporated to the consistence of thin  syrups;  and  the
addition of three parts of alcohol Avill separate the Avhole
of the gum in flakes.
  Pure gum is not an active substance, considered Avith
respect to its  effects on the living system.  In medicine
it is only used for its lubricating qualify;  and so little
activity does it exert, that it has often  been taken for a
considerable time as an  article of food.  From its che-
mical properties it is of rather more importance.  As a
component part of vegetable matter, it renders the other
parts more soluble in Avatery liquors, and may thus favour
their action on the stomach.  In pharmacy it is used  as
a medium to combine balsams, resin9, and oils, with water. 
             PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.           55

If a small quantity of any of these substances be tritur-
ated Avith  a  little gum or mucilage, on the addition of
water they remain suspended in it, forming a Avhite milky
like mixture, retaining all the properties of the balsam
or oil.  Though pure gum is thus inactive, yet the virtues
of many vegetables depend on a gummy matter.
   Fecula  is  a principle  approaching in several  of its
characters to  gum.  Like it, it is soluble in hot a\ ater,
and forms a viscid glutinous solution; but it is at once
distinguished by being perfectly insoluble in  cold Avater.
It exists principally in the tuberose roots and gramineous
seeds.  It  is extracted by beating the dried root or seed
with a large quantity of Avater; the liquid soon becomes
milky, from the diffusion of a Avhite powder through it.
On being  poured from the remaining vegetable matter.
and alloAyed to remain at rest, this powder  is deposited,
and when Avashed and dried is the fecula of the plant.   It
is generally mild and insipid, of a Avhite colour, Avith a
peculiar kind of brilliancy, soft to the touch; but portions
of the other principles of  the plant sometimes adhere to
it, from Avhich it receives colour, smell, and taste.  Starch
is the fecula  of Avheat, and is the most abundant part of
that grain.
   Fecula is insoluble in alcohol.   The action of the acids
on it is somewhat analogous to that they exert on gum,
dissolving it Avhen they  are  Aveak or diluted, but decom-
posing it Avhen tliey arc more concentrated.   The  alkalis
also dissolve it. Exposed to heat, it is charred, and suffers
decomposition, affording products which  indicate carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen, to be its constituent principles.  A
property"eminently characteristic of it, and probably de-
pending on its composition, is that of being convertible
into saccharine matter,  and thence ultimately passing into
the  Ainous fermentation,—a property not  belonging to
gum or any other principle.  This conversion takes place
in germination, and is accompanied with an absorption of
oxygen, and formation of carbonic acid.
   Fecula  is  a substance highly nutritive, and  is usually
contained in those plants which serve as food. It is some-
times employed in its pure stiste in medicine, on account
of its nutritive quality, and from its being easy of diges-
tion:  sago and salop arc substances of this kind.
   Gluten.  This principle is usually associated with fecu-
la. and is obtained in the process in widen the fecula ii 
56
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
 separated.  It then appears  as  a Aiscous,  elastic,  and
 fibrous like substance, which from its close resemblance
 to the animal  product  named Gluten, has been denomi-
 nated vegetable Gluten.   It is obtained from the floAver
 of Avheat in greatest abundance: the flower is made into a
 paste with Avater, Avhich being compressed by the hand,
 while a stream of Avater falls upon it, the feeula is carried
 off in the  state of poAvder: the mucilaginous and saccha-
 rine parts of the grain arc dissolved by the water; and there
 remains a tenacious ductile mass,  forming the gluten : it
 has scarcely any taste, is of a  greyish colour, and when
 dried is semi-transparent, resembling glue in its appear-
 ance :  it is insoluble in Avater, and  is dissolved in  very
 small quantity, by alcohol:  by the action of nitrous acid,
 it is converted into oxalic  acid, giving out, at the same
 time,  nitrogen  gas: decomposed  by heat, it  affords  a
 large quantity of ammonia, and it is subject like animal
 matter to putrefaction.  It  contains a larger proportion
 of nitrogen than any other vegetable product does, and it
 is supposed to render those vegetables in which it is pre-
 sent highly nutritive.
  Another principle occasionally found in vegetables, but
 belonging more exclusively to animal substances, is that
 Avhich has been named Albumen,  from its  resemblance
 to the animal principle of that  name.   It is soluble in
 cold Avater, its solution being coagulated by heat:  it is
 coagulated also by alcohol, but is dissolved by the alka-
 lis :  like gluten it  is liable to putrefaction, and furnishes
 a large quantity of ammonia by distillation.  This prin-
 ciple  is  found in  hemlock,  scurvy grass,  cresses,  and
 several other  plants, and is obtained from the fresh ex-
 pressed juice  of the leaves Avhen  they are heated nearly
 to the boiling  point; the albuminous matter coagulating,
 and separating in  the form of flakes.  A similar separa-
 tion takes place on the addition of spirit of Avine.   It is
 contained also in the seeds of other plants, particularly hi
 the different nutritive grains ; in the farina of wheat, for
 instance,  it is found dissolved in the water which is em-
 ployed in separating the  feeula from the gluten.  This
 principle, it may be added, has been regarded, and per-
 haps justly, ac; a variety of gluten ; it differs little from it
in chemical properties ; and the peculiar physical quali-
ties supposed  to be distinctive of gluten are  obviously
derived frosi the process by which it is obtained. 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
57
  Saccharine  Matter.  This  exists  in many vegetable
substances, especially in their fruits and roots, but often
intimately united with their mucilaginous  and extractive
matter.  When freed from these, its taste  is sweet, Avith-
out any peculiar flavour; it is soluble in water and in
alcohol;  is capable of erystalizing; its watery  solution
enters first into the  vinous, and then into the acetous
fermentation.
  By the action of nitric acid, it is converted into oxalic
acid ; by decomposition by heat, it affords a large quan-
tity  of empyreumatie  acetic acid, a small quantity of
empyreumatie oil, carbonic acid and carburetted hydro-
gen gases, the residuum being  charcoal.   It  consists,
therefore, of carbon, hydrogen, and  oxygen; and from
the large quantity of acid which its analysis yields, it ap-
pears to  contain more oxygen than any other vegetable
substance that is not acid.
  Sugar appears to be formed from the fecula of the
vegetable in which it exists.  It contains nearly the same
principles as it does, and the operation of malting throAVs
considerable light on its formation; in this  process, the
fecula of grain is converted into saccharine matter, oxygen
is absorbed, and carbonic acid  formed; and this abstrac-
tion of carbon, if it constitutes the Avhole change, of course
proves that the sugar, which is the product of the opera-
tion, has an increased proportion of hydrogen and oxygen.
Saccharine  matter has little  activity, though there are
some varieties of it, in which some Aveak medicinal poAvers
reside.
  Oil is a common proximate principle of  vegetable mat-
ter ; it is of tAvo kinds, expressed or fat oil, and distilled,
volatile,  or essential oil.  These have the  common quali-
ties of unctuosity and inflammability; but they also possess
peculiar properties, by which they are distinguished as
distinct species.
  The expressed, fat, or fixed oils are thick and unctuous,
insipid and inodorous; they congeal on exposure to cold,
are lighter than Avater, and insoluble  in that liquid;  they
are likeAvise insoluble, except  in very minute quantity, in
alcohol, and they combine with the alkalis, forming soap.
They are not volatilized  at  the  temperature  of 2t2°:
some require to be raised to 600 to make them  boil, and
the condensed oil is changed in its properties. At a tem-
perature someAvhat higher they are decomposed in close
         8 
 38          PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRT.

 vessels, and burn when the atmospheric air is not exclud-
 ed.  They also slowly absorb oxygen at a low tempera-
 ture ; a small quantity of an acid is formed, which renders
 them rancid; by longer exposure  to the air, they are in-
 spissated, and even become at length  concrete.  1 hose
 oils in particular which have been  expressed with the
 aid of heat, and which are named drying oils, suffer this
 last change, and are ultimately converted into a resinous
 matter.
   Expressed Oils consist chiefly of carbon and hydrogen,
 as is established by the products of  their decomposition
 by heat, which  are  chiefly carburetted  hydrogen  and
 carbonic acid.  The products of their combustion are
 Avater and carbonic acid.
   These oils are generally contained  in  the seeds  and
 fruit of vegetables, and only at the period of their matu-
 rity.  They are extracted by expression, or by decoction
 with water; they are frequently  impregnated Avith part
 of the  extractive, mucilaginous  or resinous  particles
 which the seed or fruit contains; from which they deriva
 colour,  and in many cases peculiar taste and odour, and
 even perhaps certain medicinal  powers.   In general,
 however, they  have little activity as medicines.   They
 are mild and emollient, and are used principally for these
 virtues.  They are  rendered miseible with water by the
 medium of gum or sugar, or by the addition of a small
 quantity of any of the alkalis.
   Volatile or essential oils have characteristic properties
 different from those of the expressed  oils.   They  arc
 volatile at a low temperature, and  are entirely and quickly
 converted into vapour at the heat of boiling water, without
 being decomposed; they are soluble in a small proportion
 inAvater,and hence the impregnation which Avater receives
 from  many vegetables  by distillation.  In alcohol,  they
 are completely soluble; but they do not combine with the
 alkalis  Avith  facility;  they are in general  odoriferous,
 pungent, and even acrid; they are more highly inflamma-
 ble than the fixed oils, and by exposure to the atmosphere
 they slowly absorb oxygen, are thiekened and coloured
 more deeply, loose much of their smell and pungency, and
 are at  length converted into  substances  of  a resinous
 nature.  This change is  partly owing  to the escape of
part  of the oil, but  principally to the oxygen absorbed
combining Avith part of the hydrogen. 
             PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY*           59

  These oils, from their analysis by heat, or by combina-
tion, appear to consist principally of carbon and hydrogen.
They differ from the fixed oils in containing a larger pro-
portion of hydrogen; hence they are more volatile, and
more inflammable, and during their combustion  they
afford a larger quantity of aqueous vapour.
  Volatile oils are less abundant in the products of vege-
tation than some other principles; they do not exist indeed
in any  considerable quantity but in the aromatic plants:
in some plants, the oil is confined to the  floAvers, fruit,
leaves, or bark; sometimes it is contained in several of
these parts, and in  a  few instances it is found diffused
through every part  of the plant.  The quantity varies,
not only according to the age, but also according to the
vigour  of the plant; hence it is  much influenced by cli-
mate, soil, and season.   It  is remarkable, that some of
the most odoriferous floAvers, as  the  rose  or jessamine,
yield scarcely any  essential  oil,  though they  lose their
flavour by a gentle heat.
  T^Tme Of these ohs, being contained in distinct vesicles,
may be  obtained by simple pressure.  In this manner,
essential oils can be obtained from orange or lemon rind.
More usually, they are procured by distillation; the vege-
table is boiled in Avater; the essential oil is volatilized with
the aqueous vapour; both are condensed in close vessels;
the Avater has the taste and flavour of the plant, from having
dissolved a  small part of the oil: the greater part of it,
hoAvever, is collected pure, either sAvimming on the sur-
face of the  Avater, Avhen the oil is lighter, as is generally
the case, or in a few  cases, Avhen it is heavier, having
fallen to the bottom.
  The essential oils of vegetables may be  considered as
medicines of some activity.  They have alw ays the odour
and generally the taste of the vegetable from Avhich they
are obtained; accompanied Avith more or less pungency.
Some of them, however, are less pungent and  less  acrid
i ban the vegetable matter from Avhich they are procured,
these qualities residing in the resin, or some of the  other
proximate principles.
  A proximate principle, found in some vegetables similar
in many of i I s properties to essential oil, is Camphor.  It is a
solid substance of a white colour, semitransparent, having
a strong peculiar smell, and a penetrating taste;  tenacious.
u:id slightly unctuous to the touch.   It is  very sparingly 
60
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
soluble in  water, but  is completely soluble in  aleohol*
ether, and oils; from these solutions, it is precipitated by
the addition  of Avater.  It evaporates entirely, though
slowly, at the common temperature of the atmosphere;  at
a higher temperature, in close vessels, it is sublimed Avith-
out alteration; it is also highly inflammable, the product
of the combustion being carbonic acid, and  a quantity of
what  is named camphoric acid.  It is acted on by the
more   poAverful acids,  sulphuric acid  charring it  and
forming  a  portion  of  tannin;  nitric acid dissolving it,
and decomposing a portion of it, converting it into an
acid;  muriatic, fluoric, acetic and carbonic  acid dissolv-
ing it, Avithout materially  changing its composition,  as
the greater part can be precipitated by  Avater.  Aitric
acid,  repeatedly distilled from it, converts it into a  con-
crete  acid, named camphoric acid, Avhich appears to be
different from any knoAvn acid.
  By particular management, camphor may be decom-
posed by heat.  If it is intimately mixed, Avith six parts
of clay,  and  made  into small balls, by the addition  of
water, its volatilization is prevented, and, by the heat which
may be applied to  it,  its  decomposition is  effected.  A
volatile  oil,  fragrant  and pungent, of a golden yellow
colour, amounting to one third'of the Aveight of the cam-
phor, distills over; a quantity of charcoal,about one fourth
of the Aveight of the camphor, remains; the remaining
products of the decomposition  are  carburet ted hydro-
gen, carbonic acid gas, and camphoric acid.  From the
result of this  analysis, camphor appears to differ from
the essential  oils, principally in  containing a much larger
proportion  of carbon, since, by its decomposition, by heat,
it is resolved principally into charcoal, or compounds  of
carbon, and into an oil, which has all the properties  of
essential oil,  being odorous and pungent, volatile and in-
flammable, soluble in alcohol, and precipitated from it by
the addition of Avater.
  Camphor is  found in distinct acsscIs, in the wood and
bark of certain vegetables.   It is also contained in many
essential oils, as those  of lavender, sage, and others .from
which it is  deposited on  long keeping.   The curious
fact has been established,  that it may be artificially
formed, this formation of it taking place in  the action  of
muriatic acid on oil of turpentine 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
61
 • The same relation which camphor bears to the volatile,
Avax seems to have to the fixed oils.  This  substance*
though formed perhaps  by the bee, is also a product of
vegetation; it is yielded by the leaves and fruit, and it is
sometimes intimately mixed Avith the  resin,  gum, or ex-
tractive matter of plants. It is insoluble in Avater, and is
soluble in very small quantity with  the  aid  of heat in
alcohol.  It combines Avith the fixed alkalis, though with
some difficulty.   It unites easily Avith the expressed oils.
It  melts at a moderate heat.   By distillation in close
vessels it affords an acid, and a considerable quantity of
thick oil, a small quantity of charcoal being the residuum.
  Resin.  This principle is in some measure connected
with essential oil, and in plants is often united Avith it, as
well as Avith other principles.   Some vegetables, however,
exude  juices Avhich concrete  into a matter entirely resi-
nous, and it is from these that the characters of the
substances belonging to this genus are taken.   The dis-
tinguishing properties  of a resin  are its existing in a
solid state, being  insoluble in Avater, but soluble in alcohol,
ether, and oils; the solution in ether or alcohol is decom-
posed  by Avater;  resins are in general odorous and sapid,
though neither of these qualities is essential to a pure
resin; they are inflammable, and burn Avith much smoke,
at a temperature nearly that of boiling water they melt;
but they cannot be volatilized without being decomposed.
In close vessels  the  product of their decomposition by
heat are water, empyreumatie acetic  acid, an empyreu-
matie oil, and a residuum of charcoal, indicating carbon,
hydrogen, and  oxygen, to be their ultimate  principles.
At the common temperature of the atmosphere, they do
not combine with oxygen;  neither  are they acted on by
Avater; the  solutions of them in alcohol are therefore
employed  under the form of varnishes, to preserve other
bodies from alteration by exposure to the air.   They are
dissolved  by the  fixed alkalis, likewise  by some  of the
acids, especially  the  acetic:  the stronger acids decom-
pose them.
  The existence of resin in a vegetable is discovered by
infusing it in alcohol;  this dissolves the resin, if any is
present, and it can then be precipitated from the solution
by the addition of Avater.  The method of estimating the
quantity of resin  in any vegetable is by ascertaining the
increase of Aveight which alcohol acquires from it by 
62
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
digestion, or the alcohol may be evaporated by a moderate
heat, and the resin obtained pure.
   Resius arc in general more active than gums, with
respeet to  their medicinal poAvers.   The  purest resins
are indeed nearly inert,  but there are many vegetable
substances  which  act poAverfuIly on  the  system, that
appear to consist principally of resinous matter, and it is
in this resinous part that their poAvers reside. The proper
solvent or menstruum  of resin is alcohol;  by this it can
be extracted from some of the other constituent parts of
vegetables, though there are others which  are soluble in
the same fluid, and therefore it is difficult  to obtain the
resin pure.  Though resin is insoluble by itself in Avater,
yet part of it can be  taken up, and kept suspended by the
medium  of gum.   These tAvo principles are often natu-
rally mixed in vegetables forming Avhat are named gum-
resins, and some of the most active articles of the Materia
Medica are natural  compositions of this kind.   Their
properties are derived from the tA\o principles of which
they consist: thus, they are only partially  soluble either
in water or in alcohol; they are soluble in alkaline liquors;
they are not fusible by heat, they only soften, and if the
heat h raised higher are  decomposed, affording  a  little
ammonia with the usual products, probably derived from
the gum they contain.  The proportions of gum and resin,
thus mixed, are  in differ it substances of this family very
various;  but they are generally such, that a mixture  of
equal parts of water and alcohol dissolves the gum resin.
This is their proper  solvent; it also dissolves some other
vegetable principles, particularly extract, and hence it is
the menstruum most generally used in Pharmacy to ex-
tract the active matter of vegetables.
  Balsams are  resinous juices, Avith an intermixture ge-
nerally of essential oil, and containing ahvays a portion of
the acid  named Benzoic Acid.   They are usually thick
and  tenacious,  becoming by age concrete.  They arc
odorous and pungent,  principally from the essential oil
l!n-y contain.
  A principle of considerable importance in its pharma-
ceutic relations, is what has  been named by  the French
chemist-, by whom its characters were first established,
Extract, or Extractive Matter, and which  is supposed to
constitute the  active  matter of many vegetables.   Its
leading character is ihai  it  is soluble equally  in pure 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTR1.
63
 Avater and in alcohol; and hence a  solution of it in the
 one fluid is not precipitated by the  addition of another.
 By this property, it is distinguished both from gum and
 resin, the one being insoluble in Avater, the other in alco-
 hol.   The compound of the two, or gum resin, is indeed
 partly soluble in either of these fluids, but  it never is
 completely so, since if it contain as much gum as renders
 it soluble in Avater, it  is only partially dissolved by alco-
 hol ; and  if it consist  principally  of resin so as to be
 completely dissolved  by alcohol, it is  imperfectly  dis-
 solved by water.  If a gum-resin be digested Avith alcohol,
 the tincture it affords is decomposed by Avater, and, vice
 versa, its watery solution is decomposed by alcohol.
   There is another character by Avliicli extractive matter
 is  distinguished,  that of suffering  decomposition  when
 exposed in a humid state to the  atmospheric  air; this
 takes place even at natural temperatures, and with still
 more rapidity when the temperature is raise:!, as when
 the extractive  matter is boiled in Avater; it then becomes
 insoluble and comparatively inert.   This change, Four-
 croy ascribed to the fixation of oxygen.  According to
 T. Saussine, oxygen is indeed absorbed, but  carbonic acid
 is at the same  time forme;?; he supposes too, that part
 of the oxygen  and hydrogen of the extractive matter
 combine  and  form water, and  that  the inert insoluble
 precipitate has therefore an increased proportion of car-
 bon.   It is from this cause apparently that the medicinal
 poAvers of many vegetables are injured by decoction in
 water, Avith the admission  of air, and  not, as was at one
 time  believed, from the  dissipation of any volatile active
 principles ; many plants indeed which sustain injury from
 this operation,  containing no such principles.
  By oxymuriatic acid, extract is converted into a concrete
 substance of a yellow colour, insoluble in Avater, probably
 from a similar change.  It exerts affinities to argil and
 to metallic oxides.  By heat it is  decomposed, affording
 empyreumatie oil and  acid, Avith a portion of ammonia ;
 and in  this, as well "as in its  spontaneous decomposi-
 tion, when the re-action of its elements is favoured by
 humidity, it  leaves as a residuum carbonates of potash
 and lime.
  This principle is supposed to be the base of what are
named the Extracts of Plants;—preparations ibrmed by
boiling  Aegetablesin  water, and  evaporating the char 
6*
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
 liquor to a thick consistence.  As procured in this  way
 it must generally have an  intermixture, greater  or less.
 of those  principles, Avhich are  soluble in  Avater;  and
 from being so liable to decomposition, it must be  injured
 during the evaporation.  It is the basis, too, though in a
 similar state of intermixture and partial decomposition,
 ofAvbatare named the  inspissated juices of plants.  It
 exists also in the seeds, leaves, bark and Avood.
   Though the characters of this principle appear to be
 distinctive, there is  still some ambiguity Avith regard to
 it, particularly from the circumstance, that these charac-
 ters are not uniform ;  a principle existing in some vege-
 tables Avhich  has sonic of these distinctive properties,
 without the others ; as,  for example, in Peruvian bark,
 the acthe matter of Avhich  is  rendered  inert and insolu-
 ble  by decoction in water,  and so  far  has  one of the
 peculiar properties of extract; while it has not the other,
 that of equal solubility in alcohol and Avater, but is more
 soluble in the former  than in the latter.  Nor is there
 any certainty that this extractive matter has been  obtain-
 ed pure  and insulated; and is therefore possible  that it
 may consist of some of the other principles in a state of
 mixture, their properties being modified by their recipro-
 cal action.
   Tannin.  The important medicinal property of astrin-
 gency, appeared from some chemical facts to be dependent
 in vegetable substances  on a  peculiar  principle,  as it is
 discoverable in them by a  chemical test, that of striking
 a deep purple colour Avith the salts of iron.  This effect
 is exhibited by all the poAverful vegetable astringents, and
 in a degree nearly proportional to their astringency.  A'
 peculiar acid having been  discovered to exist in these
 astringents, afterAvards named Gallic Acid, it Avas sup-
 posed to be the principle on Avhich this property depends.
 But subsequent experiments have proved, that it  resides
 in a principle of a different nature, which being the agent
 chiefly concerned in the operation of tanning, has re-
ceived the name of Tan or  Tannin.
  This, principle exists in all  the poAverful vegetable
astringents; it is extracted by maceration Avith water.
and is detected in the infusion by a peculiar test, that of
the animal principle denominated Gelatin.   If a solution
of gelatin is added to the infusion, it becomes turbid, and
a precipitate is throAvn doAvn composed of the tannin and 
              PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.           65

gelatin in combination.  We have no very perfect process
for obtaining tannin in an  insulated state ; but the  m*>st
simple is precipitating it from the infusion of a vegetable
astringent by lime water, and afterwards submitting the
compound of lime and tannin, which is formed, to the
action of dilute muriatic acid,  Avhich  abstracts  the lime,
and leaves the tannin.
   Tannin evaporated from its solution is loose and friable,
having a resinous fracture, of a broAvn colour, a peculiar
odour, and a taste rough and bitter.   It is soluble in water,
cither cold  or Avarm, and in alcohol not very highly rec-
tified.  It appears to suffer decomposition from exposure
to the air in a humid state.  By the acids, it is precipi-
tated from  its watery- solution, and by some  of  them is
decomposed.  It unites with the alkalis, forming soluble
compounds; Avith the earths it forms compounds of spar-
ing solubility; it exerts affinities tqjpthe metallic oxides,
and it is principally from its action that  infusions of
vegetable astringents produce dark coloured precipitates
with  metallic salts.   Exposed to heat, it affords an acid
liquid, an oil, and a considerable quantity of carbonic acid,
leaving a spongy charcoal.
   Its  action  on animal gelatin is its most important
property in relation to the object of the present outline,
as on this probably depends its astringent power; it com-
bines with it, forming an insoluble  precipitate, whence it
corrugates  and renders  more  dense the animal  fibre of
which gelatin constitutes  a principal part.   It exists in
all the poAverful vegetable astringents, mixed  Avith ex-
tractive  matter, mucilage, gallic acid, and  other princi-
ples.   It has also been established, that  it is capable of
being artificially formed, principally  by  the action of
sulphuric and nitric acids on  vegetable products which
abound in carbonaceous matter.
   Vegetable Acids.  The acid found  in the  juices and
other parts of plants, is not always the same.  Not less
than seven acids, different from each other, are of vege-
table  origin,—the gallic, oxalic, malic, citric, tartaric,
benzoic and acetic.  To these  may be added the  prussic,
t hough this is more peculiarly formed from animal matter.
   Gallic Acid.  The existence of this acid in some of the
more powerful  astringents, particularly in  the gall nut,
can be discovered by their Avatery infusion reddening the
infusion of litmus.  If the concentrated  infusion be left
         9 
66
P11ARMACI I TIC CHEMISTRY.
exposed to the air for some months, this acid is deposited
in the state of a en stalinc deposite, mixed with mucous
flakes, from which'it maybe  purified.   It may also be
obtained by sublimation  from the gall nut, or even by
distillation with water, though it is doubtful whether, as
procured by these or other processes, it is altogether free
from tannin; that by sublimation appears  to be most so.
By crystalization it is obtained in  slender prisms of a
white'colour; its taste is sour, and it reddens the vegeta-
ble colours; it is soluble in twenty-four parts of cold, and
in less than  two parts of boiling water; it is also soluble
in alcohol.  It  suffers decomposition from heat, and the
process indicates a  large  quantity of carbon in its com-
position.  It combines With the alkalis and earths, and
also Avith the metallic oxides,  forming Avith the latter, in
general, coloured precipitates;  it is doubtful, however,
whether these coIoM\ are not  in a great measure derived
from the tannin aulrcring to it.
   Gallic Acidxv&s at one time supposed to be the principle
of astringency, from being contained  in  the vegetable
astringents, and giving a dark colour Avith the salts of
iron, the chemical test by which astringency appears to
be indicated.   It is doubtful, however, as has been just
remarked, whether this  latter  property does not arise
from the presence of tannin :  the colour it docs produce
is less deep too, than that which the infusion itself strikes:
and the acid  in its insulated state has  no astringency:
tannin is much rather to be considered as the astringent
principle, and it exists accordingly in some of the more
poAverful vegetable  astringents, as  in catechu or kino,
with scarcely any trace of gallic acid.
   Malic Acid is contained in  the juice of  unripe apples.
and other fruits, it is uncrystalizable, forming when eva-
porated  merely a  thick  liquor, which, if the heat be
continued, becomes charred.  By this and  by the proper-
ties of the salts which it forms, it  is principally distin-
guished from the other vegetable acids.
   Citric Acid often accompanies  the malic acid  in the
juices  of unripe fruits, and it exists in  a  purer form in
the juice of the lemon and lime  fromAvhich it is extract-
ed; the mucilaginous matter of the juice being separated
by alcohol.  It crystalizes in rhomboidal prisms;  which,
Avhen  it is  pure, are colourless; its taste is  extremely
sour, it is abundantly soluble in ay atcr; its solution under- 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
67
  goes spontaneous decomposition, but the crystalized salt
  can be preserved Avithout injury. The more poAverful acids
  decompose it, converting it principally into acetic acid.
    Oxalic Acid exists in  the juice of  the sorrel (oxalis
  acetosella) and some other plants, combined with a portion
  of potash not sufficient to neutralize it.  It can also be
  artificially formed by subjecting fecula, gum, or sugar, to
  the  action of nitric acid.   It crystalizes in slender prisms
  of a white colour; its taste is extremely sour; it is solu-
  ble in twice its weight of cold Avater, and an equal Aveight
  of boiling Avater, it is also soluble in alcohol.   It is de-
  composed  by the more poAverful acids: in its decomposi-
  tion by heat, it affords  little empyreumatie oil; hence it
  appears to contain  a  small proportion of hydrogen; and
  as some of the other vegetable acids are  converted into
  it by the action of nitric acid, there is probably a large
  proportion of oxygen in  its composition.  The test by
  Avhich it is peculiarly distinguished, is the insoluble pre-
  cipitate it  forms with lime, which it attracts from all the
  other acids.
    Tartaric Acid.  This  acid, as it exists in vegetables.
  is usually combined Avith  potash, in such a proportion,
  however, as to leave an excess of acid in the combination.
 This forms the super-tartrite of potass which is contain-
 ed in a number of vegetable fruits.  It is deposited from
 the juice of the grape in  its conversion into Avine, or in
 the slow fermentation wliich the Avine suffers Avhen kept.
 The  acid procured  from this salt is in tabular crystals,
 transparent; they are very soluble in Avater, the solution
 when concentrated  being of an oily consistence.  It is
 decomposed by heat, affording a large quantity of liquid
 acid  little  changed, with  much carbonic acid  gas.  By
 nitric acid repeatedly distilled from it, it  is converted
into oxalic acid.   This acid is an important one in phar-
 macy, from the numerous combinations of it applied to
 medicinal use.
   Benzoic Acid is obtained from the vegetable balsams,
generally by the process of sublimation.  It condenses
in slender crystals, Avhite and brilliant.  It is volatile, as
this mode of preparation shews; its vapour is also inflam-
mable,  it is very sparingly soluble in  cold water, but
abundantly  in hot  wafer, the solution on cooling deposit-
ing nearly the Avhole of the acid  in prismatic  crystals:
it is also soluble in alcohol, froniAvhich it is precipitated 
6S
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMJSTRY.
by cold water: it is  pungent, but not very acid to the
taste :  in its usual state its smell is fragrant, especially
Avhen it is heated; but this odour has been supposed to
arise from a minute portion of the oil of the balsam ad-
hering to it; as by repeated combinations with an alkaline
base and precipitation by an acid, it is obtained at length
inodorous.   It is not easily decomposed by the action of
the more powerful acids.   Decomposed by heat, it affords
a larger quantity of empyreumatie  oil than  any other
vegetable acid, whence hydrogen is supposed to predomi-
nate in its composition.
  Acetic Acid.   This acid has been considered as more
exclusively the product of fermentation; it exists like-
Avise. however, ready formed  in the sap of  the vine, and,
combined Avith alkalis and earths, very generally indeed
in the  sap of plants.   In its pure  and concentrated state,
in Avhich state it can be procured only by  artificial pro-
cesses, it is a  very poAverful acid, highly pungent and
fragrant, volatile and inflammable, and is distinguished
by the peculiar action  it exerts on  some  of the other
proximate principles of plants,—essential oil. resin, gum-
resin, camphor, gluten, and caoutchouc, Avhich it dissolves
without decomposing.  Hence, even in its diluted state,
under  the form of distilled vinegar, it is sometimes used
as a solvent in pharmaceutic processes  ; though it is seldom
that it can be employed to advantage, as  it is liable to
modify the poAvers of the substances it dissolves.
  Prussic Acid.   The  substance to wliich this name  is
given, is formed from some varieties of animal matter by
artificial processes.  It had often been remarked, that its
odour is similar to that of the peach blossom, and that the
same odour is perceptible in the distilled Avater of the
cherry laurel, and of the bitter almond.   This  led to
experiments on these; whence the fact, rather singular,
has been discovered, that all of  them contain  this acid.
The fact, not less important, has been established, that
the narcotic property possessed by these distilled waters
depends on the prussic acid.   In its insulated  state, this
substance is volatile, so that it escapes even from its wa-
tery solution under exposure to the air.  It has no sensible
sourness, and does not redden even the more delicate vege-
table colours.  The character of acidity is therefore given
to it, rather from its powers in the combinations it forms. 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
69
especially those with the metallic oxides, than from its
properties in its insulated state.
  Several of the vegetable ;.< ids, particularly the citric,
malic, and tartaric, exist together in the same vegetable,
and  in proportions varying according to the stage of
vegetation, whence it is probable that they are inutuafiy
convertible.  They seldom exist pure, but generally in
combination with saccharine, mucilaginous and extractive
matter.  Combined with alkaline and -arthy h..s ;s, t;<ey
form what have been named the essentia? salts of pilots.
  The last of the proper proximate principles of vegetables
is lignin, or wood; the substance  which, composing  the
vessel of the plant, is the basis through which the other
principles are  diffused, or to which they are attached,
and  Avhich is the basis  therefore of all the parts of vege-
tables, with the exception of their secreted juices.  It is,
Avhen freed from the principles diffused through it, insipid,
inert and insoluble, liable in a humid state to sIoav spon-
taneous  decomposition, inflammable and decomposed by
heat, leaving a large residuum of charcoal, which indi-
cates carbon to be its predominant ingredient, whence
probably arises its solidity and  comparative chemical
inactivity.  Being insoluble in Avater, or in alcohol, it
forms the greater part of the residuum, Avhen the active
matter of vegetable substances has been  abstracted by
maceration in these solvents.
  Besides the principles which can thus*be obtained in a
distinct form from vegetables by analysis, the r<* are others
of a more subtle natureTwhich have been supposed to exist
in vegetable matter, though scarcely capable of being exhi-
bited in an insulated state; such are the Aroma or Spirit us
Rector of Plants, the  Acrid Principle, the Bitter Prin-
ciple, and the Narcotic Principle.
  The Aroma is the principle in Avhich the odour of plants
has been supposed  to reside.  This quality is generally
found in the essential oil; but there are some vegetables,
having a strong odour, which yield little or no essential
oil;  such as the jessamine, the violet, or the rose; or, if
this  oil be procured from them in  small quantity, it  has
not that  strength of odour Avhich, considering their fra-
grance, and the  smallness of its quantity,  might be
expected from them.   They exhale this odour, hoAvever,
when exposed to the air; it is  at length dissipated, or it
is communicated to water by distillation at a xery gentle 
70
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
 heat.  Hence it has been concluded, that a principle more
 subtle than  the  essential  oil exists in which  the  odour
 resides, and  that it is even this principle Avhich commu-
 nicates odour to the oil.
   These facts, however, are altogether inconclusive. The
 property of  odour  may belong to any of the  proximate
 principles of vegetables, and does belong to principles of
 very different kinds; it  exists in other bodies in wliich Ave
 cannot  suppose the existence of any common  principle;
 nor is there  any reason to  assume the existence of such a
 principle  in  plants: and all the facts which  have been
 considered as favourable to the opinion, are accounted for
 on the supposition that essential  oil is the more common
 principle of  odour, and is  capable of being volatilized in
 small quantity at a low temperature,  and of thus  being
 diffused through the  atmosphere, or  communicated to
 water.
   The existence of an acrid principle has been inferred
 from an acrimony residing in some plants, which they
 lose on drying, while their other active poAvers remain;
 and from this acrimony being in some cases transferred
 to water or alcohol by distillation.  It is not very certain,
 however,  if  this quality is not in  such cases  connected
 with some of the known proximate principles; nor  has
 this acrid principle, if it do exist, been obtained so as to
 submit it to chemical examination.
   A principle lias been supposed to exist in some of  the
 vegetable bitters in which  their Jiitterness resides.  It is
 obvious, however,that the quality^f bitterness may belong
 to any of the  known proximate principles; and  the quali-
 ties which have been assigned to this principle as it exists
 in some vegetables, particularly in gentian or quassia,
 such as equal solubility in Avater, and in alcohol, and being
 precipitated by certain re-agents, rather prove  it in these
 cases at least to be a variety of extractive matter.
   A narcotic principle  has been supposed to exist, from
the narcotic poAver  of some vegetables  being impaired by
 age, Avithout  any apparent loss of matter, and from its
being rendered  inert by decoction, though  no volatile
 matter is collected  possessed of the quality.   But such
facts are rather  favourable to the  conclusion, that  the
loss  of poAver is  OAving to chemical changes  in one or
other of the  known principles, probably the extract, in
which the narcotic quality  may be supposed to reside.  In 
             PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.           71

submitting opium to analysis, it has been affirmed, that a
crystali ne matter is obtained, which proves narcotic, and
has been supposed to be the principle on Avhich that quality
possessed by the opium depends.   But it does not, admit-
ting its existence, appear to be possessed of the narcotic
property in that high degree Ave  should  expect, were it
the principle on which that property is dependent, nor is
there any proof that it exists in any other narcotic.
  The existence of all these principles, therefore, is ex-
tremely problematical; and the qualities assigned to them
may, with much more probability, be referred to modifi-
cations of composition in the knoAvn principles, which
are probably too  subtle to  be  ever determined by chemi-
cal analysis.

  Alcohol, and the  Ethers formed from it by the action
of acids, cannot be regarded as  vegetable products ;  yet
they have  a relation to these, as their chemical constitu-
tion is similar, and they  cannot be formed but by changes
produced in vegetable matter.  As important medicinal
and pharmaceutic agents, they are entitled to notice.
   Alcohol is formed by the process of fermentation from
saccharine matter, or from fecula, the latter being pre-
viously subjected,  partially  at least, to  the operation of
malting, by Avhich  it is in fact converted into the former.
The fermented liquor being  distilled affords  the alcohol
formed during the  process, diluted Avith  water, and Avith
sonic impregnation of odour  from the  fermented sub-
stance.  From this pure alcohol is procured by repeated
distillation, the abstraction of the  Avater from it  being
aided by the action of potash, or rather sub-carbonate of
potash. 4
   Alcohol is a  colourless transparent  fluid, having a
specific gravity, according to its state of concentration,
from 0.835 to 0.800 ;  it  is fragrant and  pungent, and in
its action on the living system possesses a high degree of
stimulant  and narcotic power; it is volatile,  and inflam-
mable, affording, during its  combustion,  no products but
Avater and carbonic acid, the quantity of Avater exceeding
 even the weight  of the  alcohol.  It contains, therefore,
much hydrogen in  its  composition, Avith which carbon is
combined, and perhaps also a  portion  of oxygen.  It
combines with water in every proportion, and in  conse-
quence of the affinity betAveen these fluids, they mutually 
PHARMACEUTIC  CUKMISTEY.
 precipitate substances which either has  dissolved, that
 are insoluble in the other.  It is decomposed by ihe acids,
 affording, as the principal product, the different ethers.
 As a pharmaceutic agent, it is of much importance from
 th" solvent poAver it exerts on a number of the vegetable
 proximate principles,—essential oil,  camphor,  extract,
 and others, and by its property too  of counteracting the
 spontaneous changes to which vegetable matter is liable.
   Ether.  The name Ether is given to a peculiar product
 obtained by the action of the more powerful acids on alco-
 hol, tht" product differing in its properties according to
 the acid employed in  its formation, but in general being
 extremely light,  volatile, and inflammable.   Sulphuric
 ether, formed by the  action of sulphuric acid on alcohol,
 has a specific gravity  not greater, Avhen it is pure, than
 0.716; it is  so volatile as  to  evaporate rapidly at the
 common temperature  of the atmosphere ; in burning it
 affords water and carbonic acid : its odour is fragrant and
 penetrating ; its taste pungent; it is soluble in wate r only
 in limited proportion, about one part in ten.  It exerts on
 the Aegetable principles the same solvent action nearly as
 alcohol, except on extract, Avhich it has been said to pre-
 cipitate,—an effect,  however, I have not been able to
 obtain from it.  Nitric ether is  equally  light and  even
 more volatile;  it is inflammable ;  it is soluble in Avater
 in limited  quantity, but combines Avith alcohol in every
 proportion : its odour is strong and  penetrating.  Muri-
 atic ether is more  volatile than  either, existing in the
 state of gas, under the atmospheric pressure, at 60° ; at
 50 it becomes liquid, and its specific gravity is not less
 than 0.874; it is transparent, colourless, odorous, and
 pungent.  Acetic ether is moderately light, volatile, and
 inflammable, soluble in water in limited quantity, and
 has  no odour etherial, but approaching  also to that  of
 vinegar.   All these ethers appear to differ from alcohol,
 principally in having  a larger proportion of hydrogen  in
 their composition, to  Avhicli probably their greater levity
 and volatility are to be ascribed;  and they generally con-
 tain a portion of the acid by the action of which they have
 been formed, Avhich, in some of them at least, appears es-
 sential to their chemical constitution.

  Having pointed out the distinguishing properties, and
the general pharmaceutic relations of the proximate prin- 
             PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.          73

oiples of vegetables, it may be proposed as a question
important in relation to the object of the present outline.
Do these principles usually exist in the vegetable in a
state of chemical combination, Avhence some modification
of their poAvers might result, or are they more generally
mechanically mixed ?
   The  latter appears to be generally the case.  These
principles can often be observed existing apart from each
other, and even placed in separate vesicles.  They can in
many cases  be  separated by mechanical means; and even
where they are more intimately mixed, that  change of
properties does not take place, wliich Ave must  have  ex-
pected  were they chemically united, the virtues of each
principle being discernible in the entire mixture,  weak-
ened, but not  changed.  It  seems to follow, therefore,
that the virtues of vegetable substances do not depend on
chemical combinations  of their proximate principles, but
rather  on the  peculiar  ultimate composition of one or
other of these  principles.  Hence also it is evident, that
in separating the proximate principle of any vegetable,
we cannot expect to alter or improve its virtues, farther
than in concentrating them by a separation from Avhat is
inert, or in  separating principles Avhich are possessed of
different or even  opposite poAvers.   The attainment of
these ends,  however  is, in innumerable cases, of impor-
tance in their exhibition as medicines.
   From this enumeration of the Proximate Principles of
Vegetables, we may perceive the reasons for those phar-
maceutic processes to which plants are usually subjected.
   Vegetable matter  being liable to decomposition when
in a humid  state, from the re-action of its elements and
their entering  into neAV combinations, exsiccation  is an
operation to Avhich they are  generally subjected, to pre-
serve them without  injury.   It is performed either by
the action of a  current of air, or by exposure to heat, care
being taken that the  heat shall  not be such as to dissi-
pate any of their volatile principles, or cause any chemi-
cal change.
   By infusion in water, the fluid is impregnated Avith the
gum, sugar, extract,  tannin,  saline substances, part of
the essential oil, and  part also of the resinous principle.
The aroma  of  the plant is generally first taken up: by
longer infusion the water is loaded with the colouring,
astringent, and gummy  parts: these are also most  abun-
         10 
s 'it
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY,
 dantly dissolved when the temperature is high.  Hence
 an infusion differs according as the water has stood longer
 or shorter on the  materials, and according as it has been
 promoted or not by heat.  An  infusion made in the cold
 is in general more grateful, Avhile one made with heat, or
 by keeping the fluid long upon the materials, is  more
 strongly impregnated with active matter.
  By decoction or boiling, the solvent poAver of the Avater is
 still farther increased; and hence the liquor ahvays appears
 darker coloured, and is, in fact, more loaded with the prin-
 ciples of the vegetable which it can hold  dissolved.   The
 volatile parts, hoAvever, particularly the essential oil, are
 entirely dissipated;  and therefore it  is an improper  pro-
 cess  for those  vegetables whose virtues depend, wholly
 or partially, on these parts.   Even the fixed principles of
 vegetables, at least some of them, are injured, by long
 decoction.  The extractive  matter,  for  instance,  grad-
 ually absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, and is  con-
 Yerted  into a substance nearly insipid and inert. Opium,
 Peruvian bark, and many other vegetables, are injured
 in this manner by decoction, especially if the atmospheric
 air is freely admitted; and these two circumstances, the
 dissipation of the  volatile matter, and the oxygenation of
 the extractive, considerably limit the application of this
 process.  It is still used,  hoAvever,  Avith advantage,  to
 extract the mucilaginous parts of vegetables, their bitter-
 ness, and several others of their peculiar  qualities.
   Alcohol may be applied to vegetables to extract those
 principles which are  not soluble in water.  It dissolves
 entirely their essential oil, camphor, and resin; and as
 these are often the parts on Avhich the virtues of vege-
 tables depend, these solutions,  or tinctures as they arc
 termed, are often  active preparations.
  Equal parts  of alcohol and Avater, in general, extract
 still more  completely the active matter of plants, as avc
 thus obtain a  solution of all those substances which are
 separately soluble in either of these fluids.
  When by the action of one or both  of  these fluids we
 obtain a solution of the active principles  of  a vegetable,
 the solution may be  evaporated to the consistence  of a
 thick tenacious mass.   This  forms what is termed  an
 extract: it is  named an aqueous extract when  obtained
from  the aqueous infusion  or decoction of a plant, and
 >piritous Avhen alcohol has been  the solvent*  The design 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
75
of this preparation is to obtain the active matter of the
vegetable in a small bulk, and in such a state that it may
bepreserved a long time Avithout suffering any alteration.
It is evident, that  it is a process which can be properly
applied to such plants only as have their virtues dependent
on some of their fixed principles, and even-these arc often
injured by the heat  applied, and the free access of the
atmospheric air.
  Distillation is  another process  applied  to  vegetable
substances, by Avhich Ave  obtain some of their active
principles, particularly their essential oil.  If the vege-
table matter be heated with a large portion of ay ater, the
oil  is volatilized Avith the  aqueous vapour: it separates
from the Avater on being allowed to remain at rest; a part
of it, hoAvever, is also dissolved, and communicates to the
water a considerable degree of flavour, and often also of
pungency.  Tliis forms Avhat are named distilled Avaters.
If alcohol be used  instead of Avater, the  essential oil is
completely dissolved in it,  and Ave thus obtain what are
termed distilled spirits.
  By such processes Ave extract the active matter of vege-
tables from the inert matter with Avhich it is more or less
mixed, and are enabled to administer many remedies
under a variety of forms, suited to particular circumstan-
ces.  A single example will shew the utility of investiga-
tions of this kind, respecting the component principles of
vegetable products, and  their  relations to the  more
important chemical agents.  Peruvian  bark is one of the
most important remedies in the Materia Medica.  Prac-
titioners have not always found it  practicable  to exhibit
it in substance Avith advantage, as Avhere the stomach is
uncommonly irritable, or Avhere from the nature of the
disease, it is necessary to give it in large doses, frequently
repeated, it is apt to occasion sickness and other uneasy
sensations, and even to be  rejected by vomiting.  Such
inconveniences are  attempted to be obviated, by giving it
in the different forms  of infusion, decoction, tincture, or
extract, as any of these may be  best suited to the case.
Our knowledge of  its constituent parts can only lead us
to the proper application of these processes.  From an
accurate analysis of this bark, it has  been  proved that
seven parts out of eight  consist of woody fibre, or of a
matter inert and insoluble, Avhich cannot act on the system,
and  which affects  the stomach only by  its Aveight and 
76
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
insolubility.  The remaining eighth part is that in which
the activity of the medicine resides; it is therefore evident
that if this be extracted, without injuring its activity, the
medicine could be exhibited with much more  advantage.
This is in part accomplished by the preparations of it
that have been mentioned; but even these do  not convey
it in all its force.  If one ounce of the bark  be  infused
or boiled in a certain quantity of Avater, the infusion or
decoction is  not nearly equal  in  efficacy to  the Avhole
quantity of bark operated on.   It is therefore evident,
that during either of these operations, the active matter
of the bark has not been entirely extracted, or has suffered
some change.  And here chemistry lends her assistance,
and still farther elucidates the peculiar nature of this
substance,  and the changes produced  in it by these pro-
cesses.   It  has  been proved  by experiment, that the
matter on Avhich the poAver of the bark depends, has a
strong attraction for oxygen at a temperature moderately
increased; that during the infusion and particularly during
the decoction of that  drug, this active matter absorbs
oxygen from the  atmosphere, and is  converted into a
substance insipid and inert. This leads to the improvement
of the preparations  of this medicine:  and experiments
instituted for the purpose have  accordingly proved, that,
while by long boiling the virtues of the bark  are nearly
totally destroyed, they are fully extracted by a few minutes
decoction in  covered vessels.   The same  investigations
have pointed out the nature of the action of some other
substances on bark, formerly not w ell understood.  Thus,
it has been found by experience, that the alkalis, and more
particularly magnesia, enableAvater to extract  the virtues
of bark, more completely by infusion,—a circumstance
elucidated by the fact since discovered, that the extractive
matter of  the bark, to Avhich its activity is owing, com-
bines with facility  with these substances, and forms
soluble compounds.
  Similar examples  might be given from several other
important vegetable remedies,  which Avould sufficiently
prove the utility to  be derived from the analysis of the
substances  belonging to the vegetable kingdom, and that
indeed researches of this  kind  are absolutely necessary
for  their proper preparation as medicines. 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.            77
  The account of the analysis of animal substances, and
of their proximate principles, Avould, to the same extent
at least, be foreign to the objects of this  sketch, as  so
fcAv of these  substances are employed in medicine; and
of those which are used, the composition, and conse-
quently the  pharmaceutic  treatment,  are in a  great
measure peculiar to each.
  Their general chemical characters are similar to those
t)f vegetable  principles.—Composed of a  few ultimate
elements, the differences in  their properties  arise in a
great measure from the different proportions, or the dif-
ferent modes in which these  are combined.  And these
elements having powerful reciprocal attractions, and being
disposed to enter into combinations almost indefinitely
diversified Avith regard to these circumstances, these sub-
stances are extremely susceptible of decomposition, from
the reaction of their elements, favoured by humidity, by
the action of the air, or by elevation of temperature.
They are even more liable to this than vegetable substan-
ces ; for their elements existing in simultaneous combina-
tion are more numerous, their affinities are therefore more
nicely adjusted, and of course the equilibrium is more
easily subverted.
  Along Avith carbon, hydrogen, aud oxygen, Avhich are
the  chief  constituent principles  of vegetable matter,
nitrogen, and frequently sulphur and  phosphorus enter
into the composition of animal substances.  Hence, when
decomposed by heat, they afford products composed of
these, of which ammonia is ahvays the principal; and the
reaction of these principles, and the  evolution of the
products arising from this, seem principally to form the
series of changes which constitute putrefaction, the species
of spontaneous decomposition to  Avhich animal matter is
more peculiarly subject.
  Like vegetable substances, the animal products consist
of various  proximate principles, and some analogy may
be traced between  several of the vegetable  and  animal
proximate principles.  Animal fat has a strict connection
in properties  and composition  with, fixed oil;  animal
mucus resembles vegetable mucilage; fecula has a similar
relation  to  gelatin; vegetable  and animal gluten are
nearly if not entirely the same; a substance similar to
saccharine matter exists  in milk, and in some of the other 
73          PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRT.

animal secretions: in the bile is found a principle strictly
analogous to resin; and benzoic, oxalic and  acetic acids
are common to both.  Hence, generally speaking, the
feAV animal substances belonging to the Materia Medica
are acted on by the usual solvents in nearly the same
manner as vegetable substances, and are submitted to
similar  pharmaceutic  processes.   The results  of these
are similar officinal preparations.   Thus, by the action
of alcohol, the active  matter of musk, castor,  and can-
tharides is extracted, and tinctures of these are employed.
In other cases water is the proper solvent, particularly
of those wliich consist of gelatin; but such solutions being
very liable to decomposition, must always be of extempo-
raneous preparation.
                    SECTION  II.

 Of the Pharmaceutical operations to which tlie articles of
           the Materia Medica are subjected.

   Natural substances, it  has been remarked, are not
 ahvays obtained in that state in Avhich they are best adapt-
 ed to exhibition as remedies.  They are subjected, there-
 fore, to various processes, with the  vieAV  of preserving
 them, or of preparing them for use; and to complete this
 statement of the principles of pharmaceutic chemistry,
 the nature of these is to be pointed out.
   These processes, or at least the  greater number, and
 the most important of them, are chemical, and are de-
 pendent therefore on the agencies of those general forces
 whence chemical changes arise;  they are indeed little
 more than applications of these, under peculiar regula-
 tions adapted to different substances.  The general facts,
 therefore, connected witii the operation of these  forces
 are first to be stated, in so far as they have any relation
 to the present subject.
   The force principally productive  of chemical action, is
 that species of attraction exerted betAveen the particles
 of bodies, Avhich brings them into intimate union.  If
 Iavo substances of different kinds be placed in contact,
 and Avith that degree of fluidity Avhich admits of the par-
ticles of  the one moving to  those of the other, it often
happens that they unite  together, and form a substance 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
79
 in Avhich neither can be any longer recognised, and which
 is homogeneous, and in general possessed of iicav proper-
 ties.  This constitutes what, in the language of chemis-
 try, is named combination, and is  conceived to  arise from
 an attraction exerted between the particles of the one
 body to those of the other.  It is this Avhich  is denomi-
 nated chemical attraction or affinity, and Avhich is  distin-
 guished from the  other species of attraction by the phe-
 nomena to Avhich it gives rise, or by the laws it obeys,—
 from the attraction  of gravitation, by not being exerted
 at  sensible distances, or on masses of matter, but only
 at  insensible distances, and on the minute particles of
 bodies,-—.froim the attraction of aggregation, by being
 exerted between particles of different kinds, and forming
 a substance with new properties, Avhile that force operates
 on particles of a similar nature, and  of course  unites
 them into an aggregate in  which  the  same essential pro-
 perties exist.  It is possible that  these  forces, though
 thus distinguished, may be the result of the same  poAver
 modified by the circumstances under which it  acts.
   The substance formed  by  chemical  combination is
 named a compound.  The substances united are the con-
 stituent  or component parts or principles of the com-
 pound.  When these are separated, the process is  named
 decomposition.  The most minute parts into Avhich a
 body can be resolved without decomposition are  named
 its integrant parts ; and it  is betAveen these that the force
 of aggregation is conceived to be  exerted.  Chemical at-
 traction is exerted between the constituent parts.
  The most important phenomena attending chemical
 combination is a change of properties.  In general, the
 form, density, colour, taste, and other sensible qualities,
 as well as the fusibility, volatility, tendency to combina-
 tion, and other chemical properties in the  compound are
 more or less different from Avhat they are  in either of its
 constituent parts, and frequently indeed they are wholly
 dissimilar.  There are cases, too,  however, where the
 change is less considerable, as is exemplified in several of
 the operations of Pharmacy,—the solution of the vegeta-
 ble proximate principles in water or in alcohol, or the
 solution of salts in water, in which  the  body acquires
merely the liquid form, with perhaps a slight  change of
density, but in wliich no important property is changed,
nor any new one acquired. 
80
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
  Chemical attraction is not an invariable force  exerted
by every body to every other, and always Aviih the same
degree of strength.  BetAveen many substances, it  does
not sensibly operate, though this perhaps may be owing
to the predominance of external circumstances, by v\i.ieh
its operation is influenced, rather than to  the absence of
all  mutual attraction.  It is exerted too by each body
towards others, Avith different degrees of strength.
  It is not limited  in its action  to two bodies, but is fre-
quently exerted at  the same time  betAveen three, four,'or
a greater number,  so as to unite them in one combination.
Such compounds are named  Ternary,  eve. according to
the number  of  their  constituent  principles; they are
abundant among the productions  of nature, and can be
formed also by the  arrangements of art.
  This force is exerted too,  so as to combine bodies in
more than one proportion; and, from the union of  two
substances in different proportions, compounds are formed
frequently as dissimilar in their properties as if they
were composed of  principles  totally different.  In some
cases, the combination is  unlimited with regard to pro-
portions, in others, it is fixed to two or three  relative
quantities, and there are examples where it  can  be esta-
blished in only  one proportion.   The  opinion has been
maintained, and is probably just, that  the  tendency of
chemical attraction is to  unite bodies indefinitely Avith
regard to proportion, and that determinate proportions
are established only by the operation of external forces.
  The compounds   formed by  the exertion  of chemical
attraction have apparently the same relation to this pow-
er as simple  bodies have : they have a similar tendency
to combination, unite  in different proportions, and with
different  degrees of force; and all these combinations arc
accompanied by the same phenomena, and appear to ob-
serve  the same  laAvs.   It  has  been supposed, however,
that Avhen compound substances combine together, the
combination is the result, not  of the mutual attraction
betAveen  the integrant particles of these compounds, but
of the  affinities  of their ultimate elements modified by
the condition in Avhich they exist.
  In all cases attraction is much modified, and its results
determined  by circumstances foreign to  the attractive
force itself.  The  operation of these circumstances  has
been established Avith more precision by the labours of 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
81
 Berthollet, and been proved to be more important than
 was formerly believed.  They require, therefore, more
 distinct enumeration, especially as some of them give rise
 to important results in the processes of pharmacy.
   1st.  Quantity of matter influences affinity, an increase
 in the relative quantity of one body with regard to another
 enabling it to act ay ith more force; or, as the  law has
 been stated, "every substance having a tendency to enter
 into combination, acts in the ratio of its affinity and its
 quantity."  Hence an effect can  be produced from the
 mutual action of two bodies, Avhen one is in a certain re-
 lative proportion to the other, which Avill not be obtained
 when the proportion  is changed,—a  circumstance  of
 much importance in pharmacy, requiring, in  particular,
 attention toAvards insuring the uniform strength of active
 preparations; and of much influence too on the results of
 chemical decomposition,  rendering it frequently partial,
 where  it Avas supposed to be complete.
   2nd. Cohesion, or the state of  a body with regard to
 the aggregation of its integrant particles, must obviously
 modify the chemical action of another  body upon  it, by
 opposing a resistance which must be overcome before the
 union of their particles can be  effected; hence the cause,
 that two solid bodies seldom act chemically on each other,
 and that fluidity promotes chemical action.  But besides
 this obvious effect, cohesion, even when it has been over-
 come, still modifies  the exertion of chemical attraction,
 by resuming its force whenever the force of that attrac-
 tion is diminished, and thus  sometimes giving rise to neAV
 combinations; and sometimes too, when suddenly establish-
 ed in consequence of the affinities becoming  effective, it
 determines the proportions  in Avhich bodies combine, by
 insulating the compound at a certain stage of the combi-
 nation.   It is  thus the most powerful cause in  placing
 limits to the exertion of chemical attraction.  Insolubi-
 lity, is merely the result of the force of cohesion, in re-
 lation to  the  liquid Avhich  is the medium of chemical
 action, and its action is of course similar; and great densi-
 ty, or specific  gravity, so far as it influences attraction,
 operates in nearly the same manner, counteracting it, by
 withdrawing the substances  betAveen which it is to be ex-
 erted from the sphere of mutual action.
   3d. Elasticity, or that property  of bodies arising from
repulsion betAveen their particles, and present to any extent
         11 
S2           PHARMACEITU CllEMISTKV.

only in those existing in the aeriform state, opposes the
exertion of chemical attraction, by enlarging the distan-
ces at which these particles are  placed.   Hence aerial
fluids combine in general with difficulty;  and hence too,
a e«u»-,poMiid which contains an ingredient which, when
instated, assumes the  aerial state, is more  easy of de-
conuiosition,  and the decomposition  is more complete,
than a compound, the ingredients of which are fixed; for
the tendency to elasticity in the volatile ingredient coun-
teracts the mutual affinity; and when by  the application
of heat,  or  Uw  operation of a superior attraction, any
portion  of it is  displaced, by assuming the elastic form
it is withdrawn from the sphere of action, and ceases to
oppose any obstacle by its affinity  or quantity to the
pro  'ess of the decomposition.   Elasticity too, by coun-
teracting attraction, places limits to the proportions in
which bodies combine.
  4th. The  last circumstance influencing attraction is
temperature, or the state of a body Avith  regard to heat
or  cold,  which  sometimes  favours,  and  in  other case3
subverts combination.   The cause of temperature is a
peculiar subtle poAver  or principle, (in modern chemical
language denominated caloric,) capable of being commu-
nicated to bodies, and of being in part at least vvithdrawn
from them.   Its immediate tendency is to  establish a
repulsion between their particles; hence  it gives rise to
expansion or enlargement of volume, greater in each body
according to the  quantity of caloric introduced.  This
progressive augmentation of distance, at which the par-
ticles are placed  by its action, is accompanied with a pro-
portional diminution in the force of cohesion; if carried,
therefore, to a certain extent, that force  is  so far modi-
fied, that the particles become capable of moving easily
Avith regard to each other,—a  state which constitutes
fluidity;  and, if the communication  of caloric  be con-
tinued, the expansion still continuing, the particles are at
length placed at  such  distances, that the attraction is
entirely  overcome, and  they repel each  other,—a state
which constitutes the aerial or gaseous form.  The ope-
ration of caloric in influencing chemical attraction, ap-
pears to depend  on the changes it occasions in the cohe-
sion and elasticity of bodies,—favouring  combination by
diminishing cohesion,  counteracting or subverting it by
communis rtin.i  or increasing elasticity;  these effects too
being often produced together, and modifying each other. 
             PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.           83

  From  the  difference of the forces of affinity among
bodies, or still more perhaps from the operation of those
circumstances by Avhich affinity is modified, its poAver  is
often suspended or overcome, and substances which have
been  combined  are separated.   This  forms what in
chemistry is named decomposition, and it presents results
equally important with those from combination.
  The decomposition may be simple, that is, a compound
may be resolved into its constituent parts, each of which
is insulated.  This is in general effected by the agency of
heat. Within a certain range of temperature, the affinity
which has combined two bodies continues to operate; but
when the temperature is raised, and when the bodies differ
in their volatility, or the tendency they have to  assume
the elastic form, the elasticity of the more volatile one
is so far favoured by the elevated temperature, that
the mutual affinity is overcome, and it  is  disengaged.
It is generally obtained pure;  but  the  fixed substance,
from the influence of quantity on chemical attraction,
frequently retains a portion of the other combined Avith it.
  Decomposition is more complicated when it is produced
by the introduction of a third substance, which exerts an
attraction  to one of the  ingredients of a  compound.
When this is  effective, the body added combines Avith this
ingredient, forming a neAV compound, and it  is only the
other ingredient of the original compound that is obtained
insulated.  A case still more complicated is, where tAVO
compound substances are brought to aet on each other,
and the principles of the one exert affinity to those of the
other ; so that an interchange takes place, the tAVO com-
pounds are decomposed, and two neAV ones are formed.
Both these kinds of decomposition are likeAvise materially
modified by the state Avith regard to temperature.  The
former case used to be named by chemists single elective
attraction; the latter double elective attraction; and both
Avere considered  as the results of the relative forces of
attraction among the bodies  concerned.   But there  is
reason to believe that they arise from  the operation of
cohesion, elasticity, and the other forces that influence
attraction; and that but for the operation of these forces,
three or more bodies presented to each other would enter
into  simultaneous union, instead of passing into  binary
combinations.
  Galvanism, as Avell as calorie, influences chemical affini- 
Si
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMlSTRf.
ty, and by the attractive as avcII as by the repulsive force
it exerts is even more powerful in producing decomposi-
tion.  It scarcely admits, hoAvever, of being applied to any
pharmaceutic process.
   The operations  of pharmacy are generally dependent
on these chemical powers; they consist of arrangements
of circumstances with the vieAV either of promoting their
exertion or of obtaining the products of chemical action.
   Some  preliminary  operations arc frequently  had re-
course to of a mechanical nature, to diminish the cohesion
of bodies, or enlarge their surface.   Such are pulveriza-
tion, trituration, levigation, granulation, &c.
   Pulverization is the term employed where solid bodies
are reduced  to poAvder by  beating.  Trituration that
where the same effect is produced by continued rubbing.
Levigation denotes the operation where the  powder is
rubbed to a still greater fineness, the rubbing being facili-
tated  by the interposition of a fluid, in which the solid is
not soluble.  As by any of these operations, the powder
must  consist of particles of unequal size, the finer are
separated from the coarser by sifting or washing.  Sifting
is passing the  powder over a sieve, the  interstices of
which are so minute as to allow only the finer particles
to pass.  Washing or Elutriation, is an operation per-'
formed onlv on  substances which are not soluble in water.
The powder is  diffused through a quantity of that fluid,
and the mixture is allowed to remain at rest. The coarser
particles quickly subside, and the finer remain suspended.
It is then decanted off, the powder is alloAved to subside,
and is afterwards dried.   These methods of reducing
bodies to powder, can be applied to very few of the metals,
their  force  of  cohesion  being too  strong.   They arc
mechanically divided  by rasping, or by being beat into
leaves;  or they are granulated,'—an operation performed
by melting the  metal, and when it is cooled down as far
as it  can be, without  becoming solid, pouring it into
Water: it passes to the solid state, assuming the granular
form.
   In  pharmacy, these operations are sometimes of im-
portance, besides merely promoting chemical combination,
as there are some medicines which act with more certainty,
and even with more  efficacy, Avhen finely levigated,  than
Avhen  given in a coarse powder.
   As  means  of promoting chemical combination,  it h 
             PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.           85

evident, that they can act only indirectly; the bodies being
far from being reduced to their minute particles, between
which only chemical attraction is exerted.   They are
therefore employed, merely  as preliminary  to  those
operations in which such a division is obtained by chemi-
cal means.
   Of these, the first is solution.   By this is understood
that operation  in which a  solid body combines with a
fluid  in such a manner that the compound retains the
fluid form, and is transparent.   Transparency is the test
of perfect solution.  When the specific gravity of a solid
body differs not greatly from that of a fluid, it may be
diffused  through  it, but  the mixture is more or less
opaque;  and on  being kept for sonic time at rest, the
heavier body subsides; while in solution the particles of
the solid are permanently suspended by the state of com-
bination in which they exist, and are so minute as not to
impair the transparency of the liquid.
   The liquid has, in this case, been regarded as the body
exerting the active power, and has been named the solvent
or menstruum;  the solid is considered as the body dis-
solved.  The attraction,  hoAvever, whence the solution
proceeds, is reciprocal, and the form generally proceeds
from the larger  quantity of the liquid employed, and
from the absence of cohesion being  more favourable to
the combination  proceeding to a greater extent.
   In general, the solution of a solid in  a liquid can be
effected  only in a certain quantity.  This limitation of
solution is named  saturation; and  when the point  is
reached, the liquid is said to be saturated with the  solid.
As the fluid approaches to saturation, the solution pro-
ceeds more  sloAvly.  When a fluid is saturated with one
body, this does  not prevent its dissolving a portion of
another; and in this way three, four, or five bodies may
.be retained in solution at the sane time by one fluid.  In
these cases, the fluid does not dissolve so large a propor-
tion of any of these substances, as if it had been perfectly
pure, though  sometimes  the Avhole  proportion of solid
matter dissolved is increased from the mutual affinities
the bodies exert.  Neither is the solvent power always
thus limited, there  being many cases where a solid may
he dissolved in  a fluid to any extent.   Gum or  sugar, for
example will dissolve in water, and form a perfect solution
in every proportion. 
  S6           FHARMACECTlC CHEMISTRY.

   An increase of temperature, in general,  favours solu-
  tion, the solution proceeding more rapidly at a high than
  at a Ioav temperature ; and in those cases, in Avhich a cer-
 tain quantity only of the solid can be combined Avith the
 fluid, a larger quantity is taken up Avhen the temperature
 is increased.  The quantity dissolved is not in every case
 promoted alike by an increase of temperature ; Avater, for
 example, having its  solvent power, Avith regard to nitre,
 greatly  increased by augmentation of temperature, while
 sea  salt is dissolved in  nearly as great a quantity by
 Avater at a low as at a high temperature.  This difference
 in these salts, and in many others, depends  on the differ-
 ence in  the degree of their fusibility by heat; those
 Avhich are most  easily fused having their  solubility  in
 water most largely increased by increase of temperature.
 All  these facts, indeed, Avith regard to  solution, are ex-
 plained, by considering this  operation  as  depending on
 chemical affinity overcoming cohesion in the  body dis-
 solved.
   Agitation favours solution, by bringing successively
 the different parts of the liquid into contact with the solid,
 and  thus preventing  the diminished effect  which arises
 from the approach to  saturation in the  portion  imme-
 diately covering  the solid.  The mechanical division of a
 solid too, is favourable to its solution, principally by en-
 larging the surface which is acted on.
   Solution is an  operation  frequently had recourse to in
 pharmaceutical chemistry, the active principles of many
 bodies being dissolved by their proper solvents.   Salts
 are  dissolved in Avater, as are also gum, extract, and
 other vegetable products.  Products of a different kind,
 as resin, camphor,  and  essential oils, are dissolved in
 alcohol and Avine; and metals are  rendered soluble and
 active by the different acids.  Solutions in  water, alco-
 hol,  or Avine, possess the sensible qualities  and medical
 virtues  of the substance  dissolved.  Acid and  alkaline
 liquors change the  properties of the bodies which they
 dissolve.  In Pharmacy, the operation receives different
 appellations, according to  the nature of the solvent, of
 the substance dissolved, and of the manner in Avhich it is
performed.   When  a fluid is poured on  any vegetable
 matter, so as to dissolve only some  of its principles, the
 operation is named Extraction, and the part dissolved is
 said  to be extracted.  If it is performed without heat, it 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.
87
is termed Maceration ;  if Avith a moderate heat, Diges-
tion ; if the fluid is poured boiling hot on the substance,
and they are kept in a covered vessel till cold, this is de-
nominated Infusion.  Decoction is the term given to the
operation when the substances are boiled together.  It is
evident, that these  are  all instances of solution, varied
only by particular circumstances; and I have already stat-
ed, under the analysis of the vegetable part of the materia
medica, the advantages belonging to each.   Lixiviatiou
is  the term applied to  solution performed on saline sub-
stances Avhere the soluble matter is separated, by the action
of the solvent, from other substances that are insoluble;
and the solution obtained in this case is named  a ley.
  The other principal method by Avhich that fluidity ne-
cessary to chemical action is communicated, is fusion. It
requires, merely Avith regard to each substance, the ne-
cessary degree of heat; and Avhere this is high, it is per-
formed usually in crucibles of earthern ware, or sometimes
of  black lead, or on a large scale in iron pots.
   Chemical combination is frequently promoted by an
elevation of temperature, though the heat may not be so
high as to produce fusion, but  only to diminish  cohesion
to a certain extent.   Calcination, as it used to be named,
or metallic oxidation, is  an example of this; a metal being
heated to a high temperature, so as to enable it to combine
Avith the oxygen of the air.  Deflagration is  a similar
operation, an inflammable or metallic substance  being ex-
posed to a red heat in mixture with nitre: the acid of the
nitre yields its oxygen; Avhich being thus afforded in large
quantity and nearly pure, the oxidation takes place Avith
rapidity, and generally  to its maximum.
  When chemical action has been exerted, other  opera-
tions are sometimes  required  to obtain the product, or*
sometimes this  product is formed and collected  in the
operation itself.
  By evaporation, or dissipating a liquid by the applica-
tion of heat, a solid substance which has been dissolved
in  it  is recovered, and  this operation  is  one frequently
performed in  pharmacy. When performed on a small
scale, vessels of glass, or of earthern Avare, are generally
employed, and the heat  is applied either  by the medium
of sand, or if it is required to be more moderate, the
vessel is placed over Avater Avhich is kept boiling, forming
Yvhat is named the Avater ha(h, or Balneum Maviee.  When 
88
PHARMACEUTIC  C SIEMISTRT.
 performed on a larger scale, shadow iron pots or leaden
 troughs are used, to which Vm- fire  is directly applied;
 and experiments have shewn that the operation is conduct-
 ed more  economically when the liquor is  kept boiling
 strongly than when it is evaporated  more  slowly by a
 more gentle heat.  There is, on the other hand, bow ever,
 some loss, from  part  of the  dissolved substance  being
 carried off when the  heat is high, by its affinity to the
 liquid evaporating; and in many cases in pharmacy, par-
 ticularly in the  evaporation of vegetable  infusions  or
 tinctures, the flavour, and even the more active qualities
 of the dissolved substance, are liable to be injured, espe-
 cially towards the end of the operation, by a  strong heat.
   When the object is to obtain the volatile matter by
 evaporation, the process is of course conducted in close
 vessels adapted to  condense the vapour and collect the
 liquid.  This forms the operation of distillation, which,
 with regard to different substances, requires to be con-
 ducted in various modes.
   When a volatile  principle is to be obtained from vege-
 table substances by this process, the  difficulty is to apply
 the heat sufficiently Avithout raising it too  high.   The
 mode generally employed is to heat  the vegetable matter
 Avith water, and the distillation is then usually performed
 in the common still.   At the heat  of boiling water, the
 essential oil of plants. Avhich is the chief volatile principle
 they contain, is volatilized; it rises  Avith the watery va-
 pour; is condensed; if little water  has been employed.
 the greater part of the oil is obtained apart;  if much ha^
 been used, it retains it dissolved, acquiring taste and fla-
 vour, and thus forming the distilled  water of plants.   If
 alcohol, pure or diluted, has been the medium of distilla-
tion, it always retains the oil in solution, and forms what
 are named  distilled  spirits.  The still in which the opera-
 tion is performed Avith these views is of copper, or iron;
 it consists of a body and  head, the  former  designed to
 contain the materials, and to which  the fire is applied,
 the latter to  receive the  vapour; there issues from it a
 tube, Avhich is connected  with a spiral tube, placed in a
 vessel, named the refrigeratory, filled with  cold water.
 The  vapour, in its progress through the tube, is condens-
 ed, and the liquid drops from the extremity of it.
   When metallic matter would be acted on, by the mate-
 rials or the product of dhiillation, vessels  of glass  or 
PHARMACEUTIC  CHEMISTRY.           89
earthenware are employed; the retort, which is generally
used, being  connected with a  single receiver, or with a
range of receivers, according  as the vapour is more or
less easily condensed; or, if the product is a permanently
elastic fluid, Avhich cannot be condensed but by passing it
through Avater, a scries of bottles connected by tubes, on
the principle of Woolf's apparatus, is used.  When the
product obtained by distillation  is not perfectly pure, it
can be frequently purified by a  second distillation; the
process is then named Rectification: when it is freed from
any superfluous water combined  Avith it, the operation is
named Dephlegmation or Concentration.
  When the product of volatilization is condensed, not in
the liquid, but  in  the solid form, the process is named
Sublimation, and the product a Sublimate.  As the con-
densation takes place  Avith much more  facility, a more
simple apparatus is employed,  consisting usually of a
conical bottle  or flask Avith a round bottom, thin and
equal, named a cucurbit, in which the materials are con-
tained, heat being applied by the medium of a  sand bath.
The vapour condenses in the upper part of the flask form-
ing a cake, Avhich adheres to it, the orifice  being lightly
closed to prevent any part from being lost; or  a globular
head, with a groove at its under edge, and a tube to con-
vey off any  liquid that may be condensed, (a capital as it
is named,) being applied.
  When a solid substance is thrown down from a  liquid
by chemical action, it forms the operation of precipitation,
and  the  matter thrown doAvn is named  a precipitat'.
Frequently the substance  precipitated is one Avhich had
been dissolved in the liquid, and  which is separated by a
substance added, combining Avith the liquid, and Aveaken-
ing its attraction to the one Avhich it held in solution. Op
sometimes it arises from  a  compound being formed by
the union of one body Avith another, Avhich is insoluble  in
the liquid that is the medium of action. The precipitate
is allowed to subside, is usually washed with water, and
is dried.   From the  law of chemical attraction, that
quantity influences the force of affinity, it often happens   v
that the precipitate either retains in  combination a portion
of the substance by Avhich it had been dissolved, or attracts
a portion of the  substance by Avhich it is thrown down,
and  this sometimes  proves a source of impurity, or  of
peculiar powers in medicinal preparations.
         12 
90
PHARMACEUTIC C1EEMISTRY.
   When a substance, in passing to the solid state, assume*
 a regular geometric form, the process is named crystal-
 izatiou, and these figured masses are denominated crystals.
 Their forms are various, though  nearly  constant with
 regard to each substance; they are  usually transparent,
 hard, and have a regular internal structure.   The crys-
 talization may happen in two Avays, from a state of solution.
 If a saturated solution has been prepared Avith the aid of
 heat, the increased quantity of the solid Avhich the heat
 has enabled the liquid to dissolve, separates  as the tem-
 perature falls; and the attraction of cohesion being thus
 slowly exerted between the particles, unites them so as to
 form crystals.   Or, if a portion  of the solvent be with-
 drawn by evaporation, and especially by sIoav evaporation,
 the particles of the solid unite  slowly, and with a similar
 result.
  In both these kinds  of crystalization from a Avatery
 solution, the crystalized substance always retains a quan tity
 of water, and frequently even a  considerable proportion
 in its composition.   It is essential to the constitution  of
 the crystal, its transparency, structure and form, and is
 hence named the water of crystalization.  Some crystals
 lose it from mere exposure to the air, when they are said
 to effloresce; others attract water, and become humid,
 or deliquesce.
  Crystalization is promoted by the mechanical action of
 the air;  likeAvise by affording a  nucleus, whence  it may
 commence, and especially a crystal of the substance dis-
 solved ; and with regard to a feAV substances, their affinity
 to the solvent requires  to be diminished by the addition
 of another substance to enable them to crystalize.
  In pharmacy, crystalization is of importance, by ena-
 bling us to obtain substances, especially those belonging
 to the class of  salts, in a pure form; different salts, even
 when present in the same solution, being thus separated
 by their different tendencies to crystalization, according
 as they are more or less soluble in the  solvent, or have
their solubility mors or less promoted by heat, and  each
salt, when it does crystalize, being in general pure.
  These are the principal operations of pharmacy.  Con-
nected with this subject, there remain to be noticed the
weights and  measures which are usually employed.  The
division according to what is  named troy Aveight is that 
PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
91
ordered  in the pharmacopoeias.   Its parts, with  the
symbols  by which they are  denoted, and their  relative
proportions, are represented in the following table:

  A pound (libra),       ft ^   »   / 12 ounces.
  An ounce (uncia),     § f  '5   1  8 drachms.
  A drachm (drachma),  3 £   a   \  3 scruples.
  A scruple (scrupulus), 9}   <■>   ^ 2Q grains  (grana) gr.

   Measures have been subdivided in a similar manner,
being made to correspond to the specific gravity of Avater.
As the specific gravities  of liquids vary, however  consi-
derably, a source of error is introduced in applying the
standard measure to different liquids, unless the  due
allowance be made for the difference in specific  gravity.
This it  is to be presumed  will often be neglected, and
hence  the Edinburgh college  have rejected the use of
measures, and  given the proportions  of every liquid by
weight.   The use of measures, hoAvever, in apportioning
liquids, being more  easy and convenient, Avill probably
always be retained; and the London college have there-
fore, in the late edition of their pharmacopcea, sanctioned
their use.  They adopt measures subdivided from the
wine gallon, as represented with their symbols in the
following table:

A gallon  (congius),           } *>  £ -8 pints.
A pint (octarius),           0 f •£  \ 16fluidounces.
A fluidounce (fluiduncia),   f§ £ c  j 8fiuidrachms.
A fluidrachm (fluidrachma), f 3 J u  * 60minims (minima.) m.

   This last measure is one newly introduced.  In appor-
tioning liquids into very small quantities, the quantity
has been usually estimated by drops (gutta, gtt.)  alloAved
to fall from the edge of the  mouth of a bottle ;  but the
size of the drop is liable to vary much, not only  accord-
ing to the mobility and  specific gravity of the liquid, a
circumstance of little importance, since Avith regard to
each substance it remains the same, but also according to
the thickness of the edge and degree of inclination.  The
.London College have therefore substituted this  division
of minims, which are measured in a  slender  graduated
glass tube.  The measure of a tabic and of a  tea spoon- 
92          PHARMACEUTIC CHEMISTRY.
ful are sometimes used in extemporaneous prescription,
and though not very accurate, may be admitted where a
small difference in the dose is not important.  The one is
understood to  be equal to half an ounce by measure, the
other to about one drachm.

  The following characters are also in general use.

              R Recipe,  Take.
              a aa.  ana, of each.
              ss. the half of any thing.
              Cong. Congius, a gallon.
              Cochl. Cochleare, a spoonful. 
PART  II.
                MATERIA MEDICA.

  The Materia Medica comprehends all those substan-
ces whether natural or artificial, which are employed as
remedies; and  in  the Pharmacopoeias  lately published
by the colleges of London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, the
simple articles composing the  catalogue are arranged in
alphabetical order, and the same plan is also adopted by
the Massachusetts Medical Society in  their  Pharmaco-
poeia.  In the very respectable and learned production of
which the preceding pages are a  part, Mr. Murray has
exhibited a new classification : it  seems, however, more
eligible to adhere to the  system most generally adopted,
and to employ that nomenclature,  Avhich will also  coin-
cide with the plan of the Pharmacopoeia  Avhich is the
basis of this Avork.   A considerable number of unimpor-
tant European  articles  are excluded, and several new
indigenous substances introduced; to these is subjoined
a short view of the natural, medical, and pharmaceutical
history, Avith the virtues and doses of each.  As,  howr-
ever, Murray's medicinal distribution of substances, and
explanation of their operations, are the most  unexcep-
tionable of any that have hitherto appeared, it may be
proper to premise his observations relative to a neAV clas-
sification of the articles of the Materia Medica; and his
concise view of their operations on the living system.
   In explaining the operations of medicines, and classing
them according to these operations, it is to be  regarded
as a first principle, that they act only on the living  body.
The presence of life  is accompanied Avith peculiar pro-
perties, and with modes  of action, inexplicable on  mere
mechanical or chemical principles.  Substances acting
on the living system no doubt produce effects referrible to
these; but the changes they produce are also always so
far modified as to be peculiar in themselves, and regulated
by laAvs exclusively belonging to organized matter. 
9*
MATERIA MEBICA.
  Medicines, in general, operate by stimulating the liv-
ing fibre, or exciting it to motion.  This proposition has
even been stated as universal, and was received as an axiom,
in a system superior, perhaps, to  any, in conveying just
and precise ideas on the nature of life, and the affections
to which it is subject.  Medicines, in common with  all
external agents, are, according to this system, incapable
of directly altering the state of the vital poAver: they
can only  excite  the  parts possessed of that power to
action ;  and however diversified their effects may appear
to be, such diversities are to  be referred  merely  to the
different degrees of force in which they exert the general
stimulant power they possess.
  This proposition cannot, however, be received in an un-
limited sense. From the exhibition of different medicines,
very different effects are produced, which cannot be satis-
factorily explained from the  cause  assigned,—the differ-
ence in the degree of stimulant operation.  They differ in
kind so far, that even in the greater number of cases, one
remedy cannot by any management of dose or adminis-
tration be made to produce the effects which result from
the action of  another.
  It is therefore necessary to  admit some modifications
of the general principles above stated, and the following
arc perhaps sufficient to afford grounds for explaining the
operations of remedies,  and for establishing a classifica-
tion of them  sufficiently just and comprehensive.
  I. Stimulants arc not to be regarded as differing merely
in the degree of stimulant .operation Avhich they exert.
An important distinction  exists  betAveen them,  as they
arc more or less diffusible and permanent in their action.
A stimulus is termed diffusible, which, whenever it is
applied, or at least in a very  short time after, extends its
action over the whole  system, and quickly produces its
full exciting  effect.  A diffusible  stimulus is generally
also transient in its action; in other Avords,  the effect,
though soon produced,  quickly  ceases.  There are
others, on the contrary, Avhich, though  equally powerful
stimulants,  are sIoav and  permanent.  These varieties,
Avhich are sufficiently  established,  serve  to explain the
differences in the powers  of  a number of the most im-
portant medicines ;  and they lay  the foundation  for the
distinction of two great classes, narcotics and tonics, Avith
their subordinate divisions of antispasmodics  and astrin- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
95
gents, both consisting of poAverful stimulants ; the one
diffusible and transient, the other slow and permanent in
their operation.
  II. There is a difference betAveen stimulants, in  their
actions being directed to particular parts.   Some, Avhen
received into the stomach, quickly act upon the general
system; others have their action con lined to the stomach
itself, or, at least,  any farther stimulant  effect  they may
occasion is slow and inconsiderable; while a third class
consists of those Avhich operate on one part, often without
producing any sensible effect on  the  stomach or general
system.  Some thus act on the intestinal  canal; others
on the kidneys, bladder, vessels of the  skin, and  other
parts; the affection they excite in these,  being the conse-
quence, not of any stimulant operation equally extended
over every part, but of one more particularly determined.
This difference in the action of stimuli  is the principal
foundation of the distinctions of medicines into particular
classes.  Cathartics, for instance, are those  medicines,
which, as stimuli, act peculiarly on the intestinal canal:
diuretics, those which act on the secreting vessels of the
kidneys :  emmenagogues, those wliich act on the uterine
system: diaphoretics, those  which  exert a  stimulant
action on the vessels of the skin.  With these operations,
medicines, at the same time, act more or less as general
stimulants, by which  each individual belonging to  any
class is  thus rendered  capable of producing peculiar
effects ; and many of them, by a peculiarity of constitu-
tion in the patient, or from the mode in  Avhich  they  arc
administered, frequently act on more than one part of the
system, by Avhich their effects are still farther diversified.
Medicines,  vvhen  thus determined to particular parts,
are  sometimes conveyed to these parts  in the course of
the circulation; more generally their  action  is  extend-
ed from the stomach, or part to which they are applied,
by the medium of the nervous system.
  III. Medicines, besides acting as stimuli,  sometimes
occasion mechanical or chemical changes in the state of
the fluids or solids, by Avhich their action is more or  less
diversified.  These operations of medicines were formerly
supposed to be more extensive than they really are;  and
many absurd explanations were deduced from the supposed
changes Avhich the solids and fluids underAvent in disease.
Though these notions are now exploded, it must still he 
96
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 admitted that changes of this kind take place in the living
 system.   Chemical changes in particular, there is reason
 to believe, very frequently modify the actions of remedies;
 and some very obvious operations of this kind, as well  as
 others of a mechanical nature, serve as distinctions for
 establishing several particular classes.
   These observations point out the principles on Avhich
 the  arrangement of the articles of  the Materia Medica,
 from their medicinal operations, may be established.
   Those stimulants, which exert a  general action on the
 system, may first be considered.  Of these there are two
 Avell marked subdivisions, the diffusible and the perma-
 nent; the former corresponding to the usual classes  of
 narcotics and antispasmodics; the  latter, including like-
 wise two classes, tonics and astringents.  In these there
 is a gradual transition passing into the one from the
 other, from the most diffusible and least durable stimulus,
 to the one most sIoav and permanent in its action.
   The next  general  division is that comprising local
 stimulants; such are  the classes of emetics, cathartics,
 emmenagogues,  diuretics,  diaphoretics,  expectorants,
 sialagogues, errhines, and epispastics.  These all occasion
 evacuation of one kind or another, and their effects are
 in general to be ascribed, not to any operation exerted on
 the Avhole system, but to changes of action  induced  in
 particular parts.
  After  these, those few medicines may be  considered
 whose action is merely mechanical  or chemical.  To the
 former  belong  diluents, demulcents, and emollients.
 Anthelmintics may perhaps be referred with propriety to
 the  same division.  To the  latter, or those  which act
 chemically, belong antacids  or absorbents, lithontriptics,
 escharotics, and perhaps refrigerants.
  Under  these classes  may be  comprehended all those
 substances capable of producing  salutary changes in the
 human system.  Several classes are indeed excluded which
 have sometimes been admitted;  but these have been
 rejected, either as not being sufficiently precise or com-
 prehensive, or as being estabhshed only on erroneous
 theory.
  The subdivisions of these classes may  sometimes be
 established on the  natural affinities existing among the
 substances arranged under each; on their chemical com-
position ; their resemblance in sensible qualities; or, lastly. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
97
on distinctions in their medicinal virtues,  more minute
than those  Avhich form the characters of the class.  In
different classes one of these methods Avill  frequently be
found preferable to any of the others.
         TABLE OF CLASSIFICATION.

A. General stimulants.
                  a. Diffusible.
B. Local stimulants.
              f Narcotics.
              \ Antispasmodics.
b. Permanent,  i  A ,n.cs'   ,
              (_ Astringents.
                Emetics.
C. Chemical remedies.
D. Mechanical  remedies.
Cathartics.
Emmenagogues.
Diuretics.
Diaphoretics.
Expectorants,
Sialagogues.
Errhines.
Epispastics.
Refrigerants.
Antacids.
Lithontriptics.
Escharotics.
Anthelmintics.
Demulcents.
Diluents.
Emollients.
              CLASS I.—NARCOTICS.
  This first division of the preceding classification, is
that comprehending those stimulants, the action of which
is general over the system. The first class of this division
comprises those Avhich are highly diffusible, and at the
same time transient in their operation.  This corresponds
with the common class of  narcotics or sedatives, usually
defined, Such substances as diminish the actions and pow-
ers of the system, without occasioning any sensible evacu-
ation.  The definition is imperfect, as it does not include
that  stimulant operation which it is jicknoAvledged thev
equally produce.
        13 
98
matkria  mi;:jica.
  When given in a moderate  dose, narcotics eveite the
functions hoth of body and mind: the force and frequency
of the pulse are increased, muscular action is more vigor-
ous,  and hilarity  or intoxication  are induced.  These
symptoms,  after continuing for some time, are succeeded
by those of diminished action : the pulse becomes sloAver,
is full and  soft, the body is less sensible  to impressions.
and less capable of voluntary exertion, and the mind  is
inactive.  This state terminates in sleep.  When it ceases,
there remains a degree  of general debility, marked by
sickness, tremor and oppression.  By a large dose, de-
bility, without previous excitement, is occasioned, and the
consequences  of an  immoderate quantity  are  delirium,
paralysis, coma, and convulsions, sometimes terminating
in death.   These  are the general effects, considerably
diversified, hoAvever, as arising from different narcotics,
awl varied by other circumstances.   Habitual use  con-
siderably diminishes their poAver.
  These medicines act primarily on the stomach, whence
their action is conveyed by nervous communication to the
general system.   Externally applied, they  exert their
usual action, though Avith less force.   Directly applied to
the muscles  of animals, they first  stimulate  them  to
contraction, but ultimately exhaust their irritability.
  As the medicines belonging to this class diminish the
actions  of  the system, Avhen  given even in small doses,
their primary operation Avas  generally considered as of a
depressing kind; and the  stimulant effects Avhich occa-
sionally appeared to be produced by their exhibition, Avere
ascribed to what was termed the re-action of the system,
or the exertion of that salutary poAver supposed to belong
to the living body, by which  every noxious application is
resisted and throAvn off.  They were therefore considered
as directly  sedative, and indirectly stimulant.
   Precisely the reverse of this doctrine Avas likewise ad-
vanced.    As their exciting effects Avere those Avhich
appeared first, and were succeeded by those of debility,
and  as the first Avere produced from a small dose, while
the others were occasioned Avhen the dose Avas compara-
tively large,  these  substances were regarded as direct
stimulants, capable of exciting the actions of the system:
and  the symptoms  of debility Avhich they so frequently
produced,  were considered as arising from that exhaustion
of power, which, according to a general law of the system, 
MATERIA MEDICA.
99
 always folloAvs increased action suddenly raised and not
 kept up.  They Avere regarded,  therefore, as directly
 stimulant, and indirectly sedative, and the peculiarities
 of their action Avere ascribed to their rapid and transient
 stimulant operation.
   If, in investigating this  subject, we merely contrast
 these two theories, little doubt can remain of the supe-
 riority of the latter.  The  suppositions of there being a
 poAver in the  living system, fitted  to  resist  any noxious
 agent, and of such a poAver acting before the deleterious
 effects have taken place, and thus retarding or preventing
 their production, are improbable and unsupported by any
 satisfactory proof.   Since the stimulant  operation  of
 narcotics always precedes the symptoms of languor and
 debility Avhich they produce; it is  the direct conclusion,
 that these latter  are the consequences  of  the former.
 The  analogy betAveen narcotics and other  substances,
 admitted  to be  stimulants, but which are less rapid in
 their operation, is also in many respects  so direct, as to
 prove similarity of  action.   And their utility in several
 diseases, in Avhich they are employed as stimulants, is
 scarcely consistent with the opinion, that they possess a
 real depressing poAver.   Some doubt, however,  is still
 attached  to the theory that they are direct  stimulants,
 from the fact, undoubtedly true, that the  sedative effects
 of narcotics are frequently  disproportioned to their pre-
 vious stimulant operation, allowing even in such cases,
 for its lapidity and little permanence; and the proposition,
 though apparently someAvhat paradoxical, is perhaps just,
 that these substances are at once capable of stimulating
 the living fibre, and, independent of that  stimulant ope-
 ration,  exhaust to  a  greater or less extent, by  direct
 operation, the living poAver.  The effects of certain chemi-
 cal agents on the living  system, as lately ascertained,
 appear to support some conclusion of this kind.
   Narcotics being capable of producing either stimulant
 or sedative effects, may be practically employed Avith very
different intentions.  Either operation is obtained chiefly
by certain modes of administration.   If  given  in  small
doses, frequently repeated, the actions of the system are
excited, and kept up.  But if given in larger  doses, at
distant intervals, the state of diminished action and les-
sened sensibility is  obtained.  As  stimulants,  they are
employed  in various diseases of debility:  in intermittent 
100
MAI 1XIA  MEDICA.
fever, and continued fevers of the typhoid type; in gout,
hysteria, etc.   As sedatives, they are  used to  allay pain
and irritation, to procure sleep, and diminish secretions;
hence their applications in spasmodic and painful diseases,
in hsemorrhagies and increased discharges.  In an in-
flammatory state of the system, the use of some of them
is not altogether without danger from their stimulating
effects.

         CLASS  II—ANTISPASMODICS.

  This class might perhaps be considered as a subordi-
nate division of narcotics.  They have similar virtues,
being used principally to allay pain and inordinate action,
and they differ only in not producing that state of general
insensibility and diminished action, which arises from the
action  of narcotics.  This might be supposed  owing
merely to a difference in power; yet there seems also to
be something more than this, since they produce no such
effect in any dose, and since, although they are so much
inferior  to narcotics in this respect, they are equally
poAverful in repressing inordinate and irregular muscular
action.   This difference may be explained, on  the suppo-
sition that they arc equally poAverful stimulants, but are
less diffusible, and more durable in their  action, or that
they are powerful diffusible stimulants, possessing little
direct power of diminishing the excitable principle.  Con-
sidered in this point of view, they will form an interme-
diate class between narcotics and tonics;  and  experience
shows, that  they  partake  of  the properties of both;
several narcotics  and  tonics being  frequently used as
antispasmodics*
  From  the name  given to this class,  their effects may be
easily understood.   Spasm is an irregular contraction of
a muscle; sometimes the contraction  is permanent, at
other times it alternates with relaxation, but is still ir-
regular.   Such medicines as  obviate and remove such
affections, are termed antispasmodics.
   Spasm may arise from various  causes.   One  of the
most frequent is a strong irritation continually applied;
such as  dentition  or worms.  In  these cases, narcotics
prove  useful, by diminishing irritability and  sensibility.
Sometimes spasm arises from  mere debility; and the
obvious  means of  removing this is by the use of tonics, 
MATERIA MEDICA.
101
Both  narcotics and  tonics, therefore, are occasionally
useful as  antispasmodics, such as opium, camphor, and
ether, in the one class, and zinc, mercury, and Peruvian
bark, in the other.  But there are farther, several sub-
stances which cannot be with propriety referred to either
of these classes, and to these the title of antispasmodics
may be more  exclusively appropriated.


              CLASS HI.—TONICS.

  By tonics, are understood those substances Avhose pri-
mary operation is to give strength to the system.   Their
operation is not mechanical, as was once conceived; they
act not on the simple solids, increasing their tension or
tone,  but on the  living fibre, and are merely powerful
stimulants, permanent in their operation.  By producing
a gradual excitement, they give vigour to the actions of
the system, and as that excitement is gradually produced,
it is in like manner gradually diminished, and the habitual
stimuli continuing to operate, diminished action does not
succeed.  Where tonics, however, are given in excess,
are  used  unnecessarily, or for too long a  time, they
weaken the powers of life.
  Tonics act primarily on the stomach, the  action they
excite in that organ being communicated generally by the
medium of the nerves to the rest of the system.   Some
of them, however, are received into the mass of blood.
  The immediate effects of  a tonic, given in a full dose,
are to increase the force of the  circulation,  to augment
the animal heat, promote the various secretions, or mode-
rate them Avhen  morbidly increased, quicken digestion,
and render muscular action more easy and vigorous.
By some of them, hoAvever, these effects are very sloAvly
induced.
  The affections  of the system  in which tonics are em-
ployed, must be obviously  those of debility;  hence their
use in the  greater part of the diseases to which mankind
are subject.
  This class  may be subdivided into  those  individuals
derived from the mineral, and those from the vegetable
kingdoms.
  The former division comprehends several of the metals
and one or tAvo of the earths.   These are in general 
102
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 more local in their nature than the vegetable tonics, they
 do not operate so speedily, and seldom occasion considera-
 ble excitement.

       TONICS FROM THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

   The tonic poAver in vegetables is intimately connected
 with  certain sensible  qualities, with  their bitterness,
 astringency, and aromatic quality, all  of them perhaps
 possessing  these qualities, though, in each, one  may be
 more predominant  than the other.   The purest bitters,
 astringents, and  aromatics, possess also  more or less of
 a tonic poAver.  Of these  divisions, the pure astringents
 form a distinct class ; the remaining tonics may be arrang-
 ed according as the bitterness or aromatic quality is pre-
 dominant in them.
   The stimulant operation of the purer  bitters is little
 diffusible, and very sIoav in its operation; their effects are
 principally on the stomach and digestive organs, to which
 they communicate vigour, though they also act in some
 degree on the general system, and  obviate debility, as is
 evident in particular from their efficacy hi intermittent
 fevers, in dropsy, and  gout, and from their debilitating
 effects Avhen used for too long a time.
   Aromatics are more rapid and diffusible in their action;
 they quicken the circulation, and augment the heat of the
 body.  Their action has  little permanence; hence, in
 medicine, they are  employed  either as mere temporary
 stimulants, or to promote the action of bitters or astrin-
 gents.
   From these different modes of  action  of bitters and
 aromatics, it is evident, that a more powerful tonic will
 be obtained from the  combination of these qualities than
 where they exist separately.   The most poAverful tonics
 are accordingly natural combinations of this kind.

                     AROMATICS.

  The substances belonging to this subdivision of the
vegetable tonics,  stimulate the stomach and general sys-
tem, augment the force of the circulation, and increase
the heat of the body.  They are scarcely sufficiently per-
manent in their action to be used by themselves as tonics;
but they always promote the action of bitters and astrin- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
103
gems, and are used with advantage to obviate symptoms
arising from debility of the stomach-or intestinal canal.
Their aromatic quality in general resides in an essential
oil, which in each of them  varies in  flavour, pungency,
and other sensible  qualities, but which is  nearly alike in
its  chemical properties.   It  is soluble entirely in alcohol,
is sparingly soluble in Avater, and is extracted from them
by  distillation.

           CLASS IV—ASTRINGENTS.

  Astringents have  been usually  considered as sub-
stances capable of obviating or removing increased eva-
cuations, by their  poAver of constringing or condensing
the simple  solids, of which the vessels are formed, and
this by an action   entirely ehemical  or  mechanical, the
same as that which they exert on dead animal matter.
  AlloAving, hoAvever,  these  substances to posses  some
power of this kind, their effects as remedies cannot be
explained  merely from its  exertion.   Increased evacua-
tions cannot be ascribed to mere mechanical laxity of the
 solids; and their removal cannot be referred to simple
condensation of these solids.  Neither can it be admitted
that active substances may be applied to the system Avith-
out occasioning changes in the state of the living powers.
Many substances,  arranged as astringents, occasion very
considerable alterations in several of the functions; they
produce effects too which cannot be solely referred to a
condensing power,  and therefore, in all the changes they
produce, part at least of their operation must be referred
to their acting on the powers peculiar to life.
  For reasons of this kind, some have denied the existence
of such remedies, and have considered those Avhich usually
receive the  appellation of  astringents, merely as stimu-
lants, moderate and permanent  in their action; in other
Avords, as tonics of inferior power.  But though there be
a great analogy betAveen these tAVO classes in their effects.
and probably in their mode of operation, there is also a
wry obvious difference: the most powerful astringents,—
that is, substances which immediately restrain excessive
evacuations, being much inferior in  real  tonic power  to
other  substances having little astringency; while  there
are powerful tonics, or medicines capable of removing
debility, Avhich do  not Avith any uniformity produce the
immediate effects  of astringents. 
*0t              MATERIA MUDICA.

   Perhaps  astringents may be regarded as moderate
permanent stimulants, having their  stimulant operation
modified by their power of condensing the animal fibre
by a mechanical, or rather a chemical action.  That they
exert a stimulant operation, is proved by their poAver of
curing intermittent fever, and other  diseases of debility;
and that they possess a constringing quality is  evident,
not only from the  sensation they excite on the tongue,but
is proved by the change they produce in animal matter.
If these combined actions be exerted on the fibres of the
stomach, the change produced, it is  possible,  may be
propagated by nervous communication to other parts of
the system.
  The hypothesis of Dr. DarAYin, that astringents pro-
duce their  effects  by powerfully promoting absorption,
though it serves to explain part of their operation, seems
to be refuted by their poAver of  stopping haemorrhage.
  Some narcotics, as opium, have, in  certain cases, effects
apparently astringent.  These are, Avhere increased dis-
charges arise from irritation, in  Avhich, by diminishing
irritability, they lessen the discharge; but such an opera-
tion is altogether different from that  of real astringents.
  As remedies against disease, astringents may  some-
times, from their moderate stimulant operation, be sub-
stituted for tonics.  They have thus  proved successful in
the treatment of intermittent  fever; and in all  eases of
debility, they  seem to be serviceable,  independent of
their poAver of checking debilitating  evacuations.
  It is, however, for restraining morbid evacuations that
astringents are usually employed.  In the various kinds
of hamiorrhagy, menorrhagia, haemoptysis, &c. they are
frequently employed Avith advantage, though their power
is also often inadequate to stop the  discharge.  In diar-
rhoea they  diminish the effusion of fluids, and  at the
same time  give tone  to the  intestinal canal, and thus
remove the disease.  In the latter stage of dysentery
they  prove useful  by a similar operation.  In profuse
sweating, and in diabetes, they are frequently sufficiently
powerful to lessen the increased discharge; and in  tho§e
kinds of inflammation, termed passive, and even in certain
cases  of active  inflammation,  they  are applied  Avith
advantage  as topical remedies.
  It is an obvious caution, that astringents are not  to be
used  to  check critical evacuations,  unless these proceed
to excess. 
materia  medica.
105
   Astringents may be subdivided into those belonging to
 the vegetable, and those  belonging to the mineral king-
 dom, which differ very considerably from each  other  in
 their operation.

              VEGETABLE  ASTRINGENTS.

   Astringency  in vegetables seems  to be connected
 with a  certain chemical principle, or at least Avith some
 peculiarity  of composition,  since vegetable astringents
 uniformly possess certain  chemical properties.    The
 astringency is extracted  both by Avater and alcohol, and
 these infusions strike a black colour Avith any of the salts
 of iron, and  are  eapable of corrugating more or less
 pOAverfully  dead animal  matter.
   Chemical investigations have  accordingly  discovered
 two distinct principles in the vegetable astringents, one
 or both of which may probably give rise to the astringent
 property.  One of these,  the gallic acid, is distinguished
 by its property of striking a deep black colour  with the
 salts of iron; the other, the tanning principle, or tannin,
 is characterized by its strong attraction to animal gelatin,
 with which it combines,  and forms a soft ductile mass,
 insoluble in water. These maybe separated by a solution
 of animal jelly, which unites with the tannin, and leaves
 the gallic acid pure.
   As both these principles exist in  all the stronger vege-
 table astringents, it is probable that the corrugating pro-
 perty by which the action  of these substances as medicines
 is modified, depends on their combination, especially as,
 in their action on  dead matter, the  change produced on
 the animal fibre by the gallic acid, promotes  the combi-
 nation of that fibre with the tanning principle.

               MINERAL  ASTRINGENTS.

   Of these, the principal are the mineral acids, especially
 the sulphuric, and the combinations it forms with  some
 of the metals and earths.


              LOCAL STIMULANTS.

                 CLASS V.--EMETICS.

  Emetics are substances capable  of exciting vomiting,
independent of any effect arising from the mere  quantity 
106
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 of matter introduced  into the stomach, or of any nau-
 seous taste or flavour.
   The effects of an emetic, are an  uneasy sensation in
 the stomach, with nausea and vomiting.  While the nau-
 sea only is present, the pulse is feeble, quick and irregu-
 lar, and the countenance pale :  during vomiting the  face
 is flushed, the pulse is quicker, and it remains so during
 the intervals of vomiting.  When the opera* ion of vomit-
 ing has ceased, the nausea goes off gradually; the patient
 remains languid, and often inclined to sleep ;  the pulse is
 weak, but becomes gradually sIoav and full, and the  skin
 is commonly moist.
   The general nature  of vomiting is  sufficiently evident.
 The peristaltic motion of the stomach  is inverted, the dia-
 phragm and  abdominal muscles are called  into action by
 association, and the pylorus being contracted,  the con-
 tents  of the stomach are forcibly discharged.  The peri-
 staltic motion of the upper part of the intestinal canal is
 likeAvise frequently inverted.
   Hoav this peristaltic motion is thus inverted, it is diffi-
 cult to  explain.   The substances which have this effect,
 no doubt possess a stimulant power, but  the  effect is by
 no means produced in proportion to the degree of stimu-
 lant operation exerted on the  stomach, and it has not
 been  explained  how such  an operation can invert the
 usual motion.
   Dr. Darwin considers vomiting  as the effect, not of
 increased action from the operation of a stimulus, but of
 diminished action, arising from the  disagreeable sensa-
 tion of nausea.  This being induced,  the usual motion is
 gradually lessened, stopt, and is at length inverted, Avhieh
 gives rise to the  phenomena of vomiting.
   The susceptibility of vomiting is very different in dif-
 ferent individuals, and  is  often considerably varied by
 disease.
   Though nausea  generally  accompanies vomiting, this
 is scarcely a necessary connexion: some emetics acting
 Avithout occasioning much nausea, while others induce it
 in a much greater  degree than is  proportioned to their
 emetic poAver.
   The feeble and low pulse Avhich accompanies vomiting,
has been ascribed  to direct association between the mo-
tions of the stomach and  those of the heart, or it may be
owing to the  nausea excited,  Avhich being a disagreeable
sensation, is equivalent to an abstraction of stimulus. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
107
  It is supposed also, that a sympathy exists between the
stomach and the surface of the body, so that  the state of
the vessels of the one part is communicated to the vessels
of the other.   Hence  vomiting is frequently  folloAved by
diaphoresis.
  Emetics poAverfully promote absorption.
  They often occasion increased evacuation by the intes-
tinal canal, more especially Avhen they have been given in
too small a dose to excite vomiting, an effect arising from
their stimulating power.
  Lastly,  several of the  effects  of vomiting have been
ascribed to the agitation of the body, and to the compres-
sion of the viscera, by the  action of the diaphragm and
abdominal muscles.
  Emetics are employed in many diseases.
  When any morbid affection depends  upon, or  is con-
nected with over-distention of the stomach, or the pre-
sence of acrid indigestible matters, vomiting gives speedy
relief.  Hence its utility in impaired appetite;  acidity in
the  stomach ;  in intoxication, and  where poisons have
been swalloAved.
   From the pressure of the abdominal viscera in vomit-
ing, emetics have been considered as serviceable in jaun-
dice arising from biliary calculi obstructing  the hepatic
ducts.
   The expectorant poAver of emetics, and their utility in
catarrh and phthisis, have been ascribed to a similar pres-
sure  extended to the thoracic viscera.
   In the different varieties of febrile affections, much ad-
vantage is derived from exciting vomiting, especially in
the very commencement of the disease.   In high inflam-
matory fever, it is considered as dangerous; and in the
advanced stage of typhus it is prejudicial.
   Emetics given in such doses as  only to excite  nausea,
have been found  useful in restraining haemorrhage.
   Different species of dropsy have been  cured  by vomit-
ing, from its  having  excited  absorption.  To the same
effect, perhaps, is owing the dispersion of swelled  testicle,
bubo, and other swellings, Avhich has occasionally resulted
from this operation.
   The operation  of vomiting is dangerous or hurtful in
the following cases: Avliere there is determination of blood
to the head, especially in plethoric habits; in  visceral
inilammatioa:  in the  advanced stage  of pregnancy: in 
108
MATERIA MEDICA.
hernia, and prolapsus uteri, and wherever there exists
extreme general debility.
  The frequent use of emetics weakens the tone of the
stomach.
  An emetic should always be administered in  the  fluid
form.  Its operation may be"promoted by  drinking any
tepid diluent or bitter infusion.
  The individual emetics may be arranged under those
derived from the vegetable, and those from the mineral
kingdom.


            CLASS VI.—-CATHARTICS.

  Cathartics are medicines which quicken or increase
the evacuation from the intestines, or which, Avhen given
in a sufficient dose, excite  purging.   They evidently act
by augmenting the natural peristaltic motion, from their
stimulant operation on the moving fibres of the intestines,
whence the contents of the canal are more quickly pro-
pelled.  The greater number, or perhaps  all  of them,
seem likeAviseto stimulate the extremities of the exhalant,
vessels terminating on the  internal surface  of the intes-
tines, and hence the evacuations they occasion are not
only more frequent, but thinner, and more copious.
  Besides these  immediate actions, the stimulant opera-
tion of cathartics appears to be more or less extended to
neighbouring organs, and hence they promote the secretion
and discharge of  the bile, and other fluids usually poured
into the intestinal canal.   It is also excited on the stomach,
so as to occasion a more quick evacuation of the contents
of that organ by  the pylorus.
  Besides the differences between individual cathartics in
quickness, slowness,  or  other circumstances attending
their operation, there is  a general difference in the mode
in which they act, from Avhich they may be, and usually
have been ranked under two divisions.   Some operate
mildly,  Avithout  exciting any general affection of the
system, Avithout even perceptibly stimulating the vessels
of the intestines, and hence they merely  evacuate the
contents of the canal.  Others are much more  powerful
stimulants: they always occasion an influx of fluids from
the exhalant vessels, and neighbouring secreting organs:
they extend their stimulus  to the system in general, and
if taken in too large a dose, excite inflammation on the 
MATERIA MEDICA.
109
surface of the intestines.  The former are distinguished
by the title of laxatives; the latter are termed purgatives,
and the stronger of them drastic purgatives.
   Cathartics, as medicines, are capable of fulfilling va-
rious indications.
   Where there exists a morbid retention of the contents
of the stomach, Avhere these contents are acrid, or where
extraneous bodies  are present,  they are calculated  by
their ca acuating poAver to relieve the symptoms arising
from these affections, and hence their utility in consti-
pation, colic, dysentery, and a variety of febrile affections.
Partly by exciting  the intestines to action, and partly by
extending their  stimulus to the other abdominal viscera,
cathartics  are of service in dyspepsia, hypochondriasis,
ameaorrhcea, jaundice, and visceral obstructions.
   By their poAver of stimulating the exhalant vessels, on
the internal surface of the intestinal canal, and causing
a larger portion of fluid to be poured out, cathartics are
capable  of producing a  diminution  of the fluids with
respect to the general system, and of course cause an
abstraction of stimulus.  Hence purging is a principal
part of what is termed the antiphlogistic regimen, and is
employed as a remedy of much power in highly inflam-
matory diseases.
   From  the same power of causing effusion  of fluid, is to
be explained the utility of cathartics in the various species
of dropsy.  A balance is preserved in the system between
exhalation and absorption, so that when one is increased,
the  other is so also.  The increased secretion  and dis-
charge of serous fluid, which cathartics occasion, causes
an increased absorption;  Avhenee  the effused fluid in
dropsy is frequently taken up and removed.
   Partly by the  serous evacuation which cathartics occa-
sion, and partly by the  derivation of blood they make
from the head, they are highly useful in the  prevention
and  cure of apoplexy, all  comatose affections, mania,
phrenitis, and headach.
  By a change in the distribution of the blood, it has been
supposed that purging determines from the surface of the
body;  and hence in a  great measure has  been explained
its utility in small-pox and some other eruptive  diseases.
  The administration of cathartics is rendered improper
by inflammation  of the stomach or intestines, or tendency
to it, and by much  debility.  Several cautions are like-
wise requisite in their exhibition. The nausea or griping 
110              MATERIA MEDtCA.
  they frequently produce, may be obviated by the addition
  of an aromatic, or by giving them hi divided doses.  The
  more powerful cathartics should  ahvays be given in the
  latter mode; and in general tiny  irritate less ay hen given
  diffused in a fluid than Avhen given in a solid form.
    The different cathartics  may be considered under the
  two  divisions  of laxatives and purgatives:  the former
  being mild in their operation, and merely evacuating the
  contents of the intestines; the latter being more powerful,
  and  even extending  their stimulant operation to  the
  neighbouring parts.
    A division of cathartics remains, intermediate in their
  operation between the  laxatives  and purgatives,  more
  powerful than the one, less violent and  stimulating than
  the other.  These are the  neutral salts.  They seem to
  act principally by stimulating the exhalant vessels on the
  inner surface of the intestines; and by the Avatcry evacua-
  tion they occasion, they are particularly adapted to those
  cases Avhere inflammatory action  or tendency to it exists.
    The valuable observations of Dr. Hamilton have esta-
  blished still more clearly the importance of this class of
  remedies, have shewn that they admit of more extensive
  application,  and have pointed  out Avith more precision
  than has hitherto been done, the principles Avhich regulate
  their administration.
    In many diseases, there exists  a state of the intestinal
  canal giv ing rise to retention of its contents, Avhich is not
  to be obviated  by the  occasional administration of  a ca-
  thartic, but Avhich requires a continuation of the operation   )
  short of that of purging, until the healthy state of  the
  bowels be restored.  By this practice the cure of diseases
  has been accomplished,  Avhich, previously to Dr. Hamil-
  ton's publication, were treated by xery different methods,
  and Avere not supposed to be so peculiarly connected Avith
  any state of the aivine evacuation.  Thus  in fever, the
  peristaltic motion  of the intestines is diminished,  the
"feculent matter  is  retained, and becomes a source of
  irritation; its evacuation, therefore, by the  exhibition of
  purgatives is clearly indicated, nor has this been altogether
  neglected.
   Physicians, however,  Avere scarcely aAvare of the  ne-
  cessity  of producing it to a sufficient extent;  and in fevers
  of the typhoid type in particular,  Avere frequently deter-
  red from doing so by the fear of reducing the strength of
  the system by an  evacuation considered as  debilitating. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
Ill
Dr. Hamilton's observations establish the propriety of
the freer use of purgatives  in  fever, so as  to produce
complete and regular evacuation of the boAvels, through
the whole progress of the disease; and the cases he has
published afford striking proofs of the advantages derived
from the practice.  It is attended'Avith equal advantage
in scarlatina.  Several of the  diseases comprehended
under the class neurosis appear to depend  on, or to be
very intimately connected" with a torpid state of the  in-
testines, from which an accumulation  of their contents
takes place, proving  a  source of irritation that often
affects the general system.  Chorea is proved hy  Dr.
Hamilton's observations to arise from this cause, and he
has introduced Avith great success the mode of treatment,
by the free use of purgatives, continued until the healthy
state of the alvine evacuation has been established. The
same practice, and with similar  success, applies to hyste-
ria, and, in Dr. Hamilton's opinion, to that species of
tetanus, Avhich, prevailing in warm climates, and in warm
seasons,  appears to have  its origin in disorder  of the
stomach and bowels.  And ample evidence has establish d
the success of the same treatment in the marasmus wliich
at'-acks the young of bq|h sexes, which is marked by loss
of appetite, Aveakness, wasting of the body, and at length
total prostration of strength; likewise in chlorosis, and in
that hsematemesis  to wliich  females are liable  bet v/een
eighteen and thirty years of age.  In  some of these
diseases, the  quantity of matter accumulated in the in-
testines is extremely great;  the extent to Avhich  the ex-
hibition of purgatives must be carried, and the length of
time during wliich they must be continued, much exceed
what would be calculated on from the usual administration
of remedies of this class.  The whole practice requires
therefore both decision and perseverance.   Analogies
from some of these diseases  lead to a  similar exhibition
of cathartics in other fevers, particularly in the  bilious
remitting fever of warm climates, in measles, erysipelas,
and smallpox; likewise in scrofula, in dyspepsia, whether
simple, or complicated with hysterical or hypochondriacal
mania; in cramp of the stomach, or of the  extremities;
in palpitation of the heart, and  in those cases of  hydro-
phobia which are not the effect of specific contagion.
  Cathartics, especially the more powerful ones,  require
to be  administered with caution even in diseases w.^re
thev arc indicated, by peculiar circumstances, particularly 
115
MATERIA MEDICA.
 any tendency to inflammation or to extreme debility; also
 during pregnancy, immediately after delivery, during the
 flow of the menses, and in tliose liable to lnemorrhoidal
 affections.  The too frequent use of them induces Avasling
 of the body, and sometimes renders the intestines morbidly
 irritable, so that purging is easily excited, while in other
 habits it renders them more torpid, and  induces eostive-
 ness.
  Dr. Hamilton has pointed out the common error in the
 exhibition of cathartics, that of their not being given to
 the requisite  extent;  and given the  general rule  in all
 morbid affections, of repeating, and, if necessary, enlarg-
 ing the dose while the evacuations remain offensive, or of
 an unnatural appearance, without  however carrying their
 administration so far  as to produce purging, unless this
be the indication which is designed to be fulfilled.  To
this class of remedies may  be added those substances
which act as cathartics under the form of enema.
         CLASS VII—EMMENAGOGUES.

   The medicines arranged under this class are those
capable of promoting the menstrual discharge.
   As the suppression of this discharge is usually owing
to, debility  of the uterine vessels, or want of action in
them, the medicines capable of exciting it must be those
which can  stimulate these vessels.
   General  stimulants or tonics must have this effect to a
certain extent, and there  are several stimulants both
diffusible and permanent, employed as Emmenagogues.
   It is doubtful, whether there are further any medicines,
wliich have their stimulant operation particularly deter-
mined to the uterine vessels. There are several, hoAvever.
which, acting on  neighbouring parts, have  their action
extended to the uterus, and hence exert an emmenagogue
power greater than can be ascribed to any general stimu-
lant operation they exert on the system.  Several cathar-
tics act in this manner.
   Under one or other of these divisions, may be arrang-
ed the principal medicines employed as emmenagogues. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
113
             CLASS VIII—DIURETICS.

   Diuretics  are those  medicines Avhich increase the
 urinary discharge.
   It is obvious that such an  effect will be produced by
 any substance capable of stimulating the secreting vessels
 of the kidneys.   All the saline diuretics seem to act in
 this manner. They are received into the circulation, and,
 passing off with  the urine,  stimulate  the vessels, and
 increase the quantify secreted.
   There are other diuretics, the effect of wliich appears
 not to arise from direct application, but from an action
 excited in the stomach, and propagated  by nervous com-
 munications to the secreting urinary vessels.  The diur-
 etic operation  of  squill, and of several other vegetables,
 appears to be of this kind.
   There is still, perhaps, another mode in wliich certain
 substances produce a diuretic effect, that is, by promoting
 absorption.  When a large quantity of watery fluid is
 introduced  into the circulating mass,  it stimulates the
 secreting vessels of the kidneys, and is carried off by the
 urine.  If,  therefore, absorption be promoted, and if a
 portion of  serous fluid,  perhaps previously  effused, be
 taken up, the  quantity of fluid secreted by the  kidneys
 will be increased.   In this Avay digitalis seems to act: its
 diuretic effect, it has been said, is greater w hen exhibited
 in dropsy than it is in health.
   On the same principle, (the effect arising from stimu-
 lating the absorbent system,) may probably be explained
 the utility of mercury in promoting the action of several
 diuretics.                         *
   The action of these remedies is promoted by drinking
 freely of mild diluents.   It is also influenced by the state
 of the surface of the body.  If external heat  be  applied,
 diuresis is frequently prevented, and  diaphoresis produ-
 ced.  Hence the  doses of them should be given in the
 course of the day, and the patient if possible be kept out
 of bed.
  The direct effects of  diuretics are sufficiently  evident.
 They discharge the Avatery part of the blood;  and by
 that discharge they indirectly promote absorption  over
 the Avhole system.                           >
  Dropsy is the  disease in which they are  prineipalla
employed, and  Avhen thev can be brought to act. the dis-
         15 
Hi
MATERIA  MEDICA.
ease is removed, Avith less injury to the patient than it
can be by exciting any other evacuation.  Their  success
is very precarious, the most powerful often failing; and
as the disease is  so  frequently connected with  organic
affection, even the removal of the effused fluid, when it
takes place, only palliates Avithout effecting a cure.
  Diuretics  have  been likewise occasionally  used in
calculous affections,  in gonorrhoea, and Avith the view of
diminishing plethora, or checking profuse perspiration.


           CLASS IX—DIAPHORETICS.

  Diaphoretics are those medicines AYhich increase the
natural exhalation by the skin.   When this is carried so
far as to be condensed on the surface, it forms sweat; and
the medicines producing it are  named sudorifics.  Be-
tAveen diaphoretics and sudorifics, there is no distinction;
the operation is in both cases the same, and differs only
in degree, from augmentation of  dose, or employment of
assistant means.
  Since diaphoresis or sweat is merely the increase of the
natural exhalation, it must arise from increased action of
the cutaneous exhalant vessels, and the medicines belong-
ing to this  class must be those  Avhich are capable of
exciting that action.
  Of stimulants  capable  of producing this effect, the
application of heat to the surface  affords an example.  It
is one  of the most effectual, and is always  employed to
promote  the action of  sudorifics.
  The same effect may be produced indirectly, by increas-
ing the general force of the circulation, which acts as a
stimulus on  the exhalant acsscIs,  and increases their
discharge.
  By one or other of these modes  of operation,  the
medicines classed as diaphoretics  seem to act.
  The saline diaphoretics, as they do  not sensibly aug-
ment the force  of the circulation,  probably act in the
former  manner,  exerting a particular action  on  the
stomach, which is communicated to  the vessels of the
skin, or perhaps being received into the blood, and directly
applied to these vessels.
  Those diaphoretics, on the contrary, which are  termed
heating,  as  the aromatic  oils and resins, act by directly 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
115
simulating the heart and arteries,  and increasing the
force of the circulation.
  Diaphoresis is not, hoAvever, the necessary consequence
of the circulation being increased; for the surface often
remains dry, Avhere the pulse is frequent and strong.  In
this  r<ase, a morbid constriction of the cutaneous vessels
exists, which opposes a resistance to the impetus  of the
blood.   Whatever,  therefore, relaxes these vessels, will
favour the production of SAveating;  and to this mode of
operation probably is to be ascribed  the diaphoresis pro-
duced by antimonial preparations, or by ipceacuan, and
in part  the  advantage derived from  the use of warm
diluents in promoting sAveat.  When these circumstances,
the increase of the force of the circulation, and the relax-
ation of the cutaneous vessels, are conjoined, the sweating
will  be still more copious; and from this probably arises
the superiority of the combination of opium with antimony
or ipecacuan, to any other sudorific.
   The primary effects of diaphoretics, are to evacuate
the Avatery part of the blood, and thus lessen the quantity
of the fluid in the circulating system;  to determine the
blood to the surface; to increase the action of the absor-
bents, and to remove spasmodic constriction of the cuta-
neous vessels, and render the skin moist.
   The first of these effects probably takes place to no
great degree, as the free use of diluents makes part  of
the SAveating regimen.
   The last effect, the changing the state of  the vessels
on the skin, is the most important, considered in a prac-
tical point of view, that diaphoretics produce, as on this
their efficacy in fever,  in Avhich principally they are
employed, depends.
   The limits to the practice of SAveating in affections of
a  febrile kind,  are now  sufficiently established.   It is
attended  ay ith advantage in synocha, and the various
phlegmasia; but in fevers of the typhoid kind it is useless,
and, unless in the very commencement  of the disease, is
uniformly hurtful.
   As evacuating the serous part of the  blood,  and  as pro-
moting absorption,  sudorifics have been used with  advan-
tage in the different species of dropsy, especially  in ana-
sarca.
   By determining to the surface, and preserving a gentle
diaphoresis, they are found serviceable in  asthma, dys-
pepsia, habitual diarrhoea, chronic dysentery,  and chronic 
116              METER1A MEDICA.
 rheumatism, and likewise in a number of eutaneous dis*
 eases, probably by altering the state of the extreme ves-
 sels of the skiii.
   A feAv circumstances are to be attended to in  the ad-
 ministration of sudorifics.  In inflammatory affections, if
 the action  of the  vascular  system is strong, bkvding
 should be previously used : during the sweating, the free
 use of Avarm  diluents is necessary; and external  cold
 ought to be guarded against.
   The particular diaphoretics may be arranged from the
 affinity in their operation, as they act by increasing the
 force of the circulation, or as they operate without pro-
 ducing any general stimulant effect.


           CLASS X—EXPECTORANTS.

   Expectorants  have been  defined,  those medicines
 which facilitate or  promote the rejection of mucus or
 other fluids from the lungs and trachea.   The theory of
 their  operation is  very imperfectly understood.  It has
 been supposed that where a greater quantity of fluid is
 thrown out into the lungs than the exhalants can take up,
 there are remedies  which may facilitate  its rejection.
 But as expectoration  is an operation partly voluntary,
 and dependent on the action of a number  of muscles, it is
difficult to discover how  such an effect can be produced.
 If by  expectorants be meant  substances  capable  of pro-
ducing it by some specific action on the parts concerned,
there seems no reason to believe in the existence of such
remedies.
   Dr. Cullen supposed that expectorants might act by
promoting the exhalations of a thin fluid, Avhich diluting
the viscid mucus present in  the mucous  follicles in the
lungs  and trachea, might facilitate its  rejection.   But
the action of the different individuals belonging to the
class, and especially their effects in various diseases, can-
not be explained on this principle.
  There are probably various  modes  of operation by
which certain remedies Avill appear to promote expecto-
ration, and which will give them a claim to  the title of
expectorants.
  Thus, in certain diseases the  exhalant vessels in the
lungs, seem to be in that state, by  which the exhalation
of fluid is lessened, or nearly stopped, and in  such cases 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
117
expectoration must be diminished.  Any medicine capa-
ble  of removing that constricted state, will  appear to
promote expectoration, and Avill at least relieve some of
the symptoms of the disease.   It is apparently by such a
mode of operation, that antimony, ipecacuan, squill, and
some others, promote expectoration  in pneumonia, ca-
tarrh, and asthma, the principal diseases in which expec-
torants are employed.
   There is  a case  of an opposite kind, that  in Avhich
there is a redundance of mucus in the  lungs, as occurs in
humoral asthma, and catarrhus senilis.   In these affec-
tions, certain expectorants are  supposed to prove useful.
If they do so, it is probably  by being determined more
particularly in their action to the pulmonary vessels, and
by their moderate stimulus diminishing the secretion, or
increasing the absorption, thus lessening the quantity of
fluid, and thereby rendering the expectoration of the re-
mainder more easy.  The determination of these substances
to the lungs is often perceptible by their odour in the air
expired.  A similar diminution of fluid in the lungs may
be effected by determining to the surface of the body; and
those expectorants  which belong to the class of diapho-
retics probably act in this manner.
   Expectorants, then, are to be regarded, not as medi-
cines which  directly assist the rejection of a fluid already
secreted, but rather as either increasing the natural ex-
halation where it is deficient, or diminishing the quantity
of fluid where it is too copious, either by stimulating the
pulmonary vessels, or by determining to the surface.  In
both cases expectoration will  appear  to be promoted or
facilitated.
  Pneumonia, catarrh and asthma, are the principal dis-
eases  in  which  expectorants  are  employed; and  the
mode in Avhich they prove useful will be apparent from
what has been said of their operation.
           CLASS XI—SIALAGOGUES.
i

   Sialagogues are substances which increase the quan-
tity of the salivary discharge.  This may be effected by
the mastication of certain  acrid substances, or by the in-
ternal  exhibition of certain medicines.
   Of those Avhich act in the latter mode, Mercury is the
only one that uniformly produces this effect.  No satis- 
its
MATERIA MEDICA.
factory explanation has been given of this peculiar power
which it exerts ; and the inquiry Avhy it should be particu-
larly directed to the salivary glands, appears as fruitless as
that into the specific virtue of any medicine.   It does not
from its sialagogue power appear to be of advantage in
the treatment of any disease ; salivation being only a test
of its action on the system, but not in itself of any utility.
  The remaining sialagogues are those which act merely
by topical application by  mastication, and  from their
acrid  stimulating quality.  By increasing the salivary
discharge, they have  been found of service in toothacln
and, as has been supposed, in some kinds of headach.
             CLASS XII—ERRHINES.

   Errhines are  medicines  which  occasion  a dis-
charge from the nostrils,  either of a mucous or serous
fluid.  They all operate by direct application, and gene-
rally in consequence of a greater or less degree of acri-
mony which  they possess.  Their practical uses, it  is
evident, must be very limited.  By the evacuation they
occasion, it is supposed that they may diminish the quan-
tity of fluid in the  neighbouring vessels; and that they
hence may prove useful in rheumatic affections of these
parts, in headach, pain of the ear, and ophthalmia.  They
are sometimes  used  Avith  advantage in some  of  these
affections.  It has likewise been imagined that they may
be of use in preventing apoplexy.
                   CLASS XIII—

     EPISPASTICS AND  RUBEFACIENTS.
                                              i
  These, as they operate  on the same  principles, and
produce the same  effects only in  different degrees, may
be considered merely as subdivisions of one class.

                    EPISPASTICS.

  Epispastics are those substances which arc capable,
when applied to the surface of the body,  of producing a
serous  or puriform discharge, by  exciting a previous
state of inflammation.  The term, though  comprehending 
MATERIA MEDICA.
119
likewise issues and setons, is more commonly restricted
to blisters,—those applications which, exciting inflamma-
tion on the skin, occasion a thin serous fluid 'to be poured
from the exhalants, raise the cuticle, and form the ap-
pearance of a vesicle.  This effect arises from their strong
stimulating power, and to  this stimulant operation, and
the  pain they excite, are to be  ascribed the advantages
derived  from them in the treatment of disease.  The
evacuation they occasion is too inconsiderable to have any
effect.
   It is a principle sufficiently established with regard  to
the  living system, that where a  morbid action exists, it
may often be removed by inducing an action of a different
kind in the  same  or in a neighbouring part.  On this
principle is explained the utility of blisters in local inflam-
mation and spasmodic action, and it regulates their ap-
plication in  pneumonia, gastritis,  hepatitis, phrenitis,
angina, rheumatism, colic, and spasmodic affections of the
 stomach ; diseases in wliich they are employed Avith the
 most marked advantage.
   A similar principle exists with respect to pain; exciting
 one pain often relieves another.  Hence blisters often
 give relief in toothach, and some other painful affections.
   Lastly, blisters, by  their  operation, communicate  a
 stimulus to the Avhole system, and raise the vigour of the
 circulation.  Hence, in part, their utility in fevers of the
 typhoid kind, though in such cases they are used Avith still
 more advantage to obviate or remove local inflammation.

                    RUBEFACIENTS.

   Rubefacients excite pain and inflammation, but in a
 less degree than  blisters, so  that no fluid  is discharged.
 They stimulate the system in general, and obviate local
 inflammation, and are used for nearly the  same purposes
 as blisters.
   Any stimulating application may be used for this pur-
 pose.
   Cantharides added in a small proportion to a plaster,
 or the tincture of cantharides applied by friction  to a
 part, is often employed as a rubefacient.
   Ammonia mixed Avith one, two, or three parts of ex-
pressed oil,  forms a liniment  frequently used for this
purpose in rheumatism, angina, and other eases of locai
inflammation. 
120
MATERIA  MEDICA.
      REMEDIES ACTING CHEMICALLY.

             CLASS  XIV.--REFRIGERANTS.

   The  remedies comprised  under this class have been
usually  defined, substances which directly diminish the
force of the circulation, and reduce the heat of the body,
Avithout  occasioning  any diminution  of sensibility or
nervous energy.  The theories, that have been delivered
respecting their mode of operation, are obscure  or unin-
telligible; and even the facts, which are adduced to esta-
blish the existence of such remedies, are far from being
conclusive.
   Keeping in view the very inconsiderable action of these
remedies, it may perhaps be possible, from the considera-
tion of the  mode in Avhich  animal temperature is ge-
nerated, to point out how their trivial refrigerant effects
may be produced.
   It has been sufficiently established, that the consumption
of oxygen in  the  lungs is materially  influenced by the
nature  of the ingesta received into the stomach; that it.
is increased by animal food and spirituous  liquors, and,
in general, by whatever substances contain acomparative-
ly small quantity of oxygen in their composition.  But
the superior temperature of animals is derived from the
consumption of oxygen gas by respiration.   An  increase
of that consumption must necessarily, therefore,  occasion
a greater evolution of caloric in the system, and of course
an increase  of temperature, Avhile a diminution in  the
consumption of oxygen must have an opposite effect.   If,
therefore, when the temperature of the body is morbidly
increased, substances be introduced into  the stomach,
containing a large proportion of oxygen, especially in a
state of loose combination, and capable of being assimi-
lated by  the  digestive powers,  the nutritious matter
received into the blood, must contain a larger proportion
of oxygen than usual; less of that principle will be con-
sumed in  the lungs, by wliich means less caloric  being
evolved, the temperature of the body must  be reduced ;
and this operating as a reduction of stimulus, will dimi-
nish the number and force of the contractions of the heart.
   It might be supposed that any effect of this kind must
be trivial, and it actually is  so.  It is, as Cullen has re-
marked, not very evident to our senses, nor easily subjected 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
121
to experiment, and is found only in consequence of fre-
quent repetitions.
  The  principal  refrigerants are the acids,  especially
those belonging to the vegetable kingdom.  As  these
contain  a large proportion of concrete oxygen in a 9tate
of loose combination,  their refrigerant  power may be
explained on the above principle.  The neutral salts form
the remaining  division of refrigerants;  they  are  much
inferior in power; and Avhat refrigerant  quality they do
exert, probably arises from the same cause.   In some of
them, it may be increased by the sensation of cold they
excite in the stomach, which is equivalent to an abstrac-
tion of  stimulus.
  It is obvious, that the indication to  be  fulfilled by the
use of  refrigerants, is the reduction of the morbidly
increased temperature.  Hence they are  administered in
synocha and other inflammatory affections, and likewise
in fevers of the typhoid kind.

                       ACIDS.

  All  acids are supposed to be  refrigerants; but the
vegetable acids are allowed to possess this power in a
more eminent degree.
  The  native vegetable acids are found chiefly in the
fruits of vegetables.  The sour juice of these fruits con-
sists either of the citric or malic acids, or more frequently
of a mixture of both.  The citric  acid is that Avhich  is
most largely employed, as it forms chiefly the  acid juice
of the orange and lemon, the two acid fruits in common
medicinal use.
             CLASS XV—ANTACIDS.

  Antacids are remedies which  obviate acidity in the
stomach.   Their action  is purely chemical, as  they
merely combine with the acid present, and  neutralize it.
They are only palliatives, the generation of acidity being
to be prevented by restoring the tone of the stomach, and
its vessels.   Dyspepsia and diarrhoea are the diseases in
which they are employed.
         16 
l£i
AIATERIA  MEDIC v.
         CLASS XVI—LITHONTRIPTICS.

   Lithontriptics arc medicines siip]iosed to be capable
of dissolving urinary calculi. Their operation is entirely
chemical.
  The researches of modern chemists have proved, that
these calculi, in general, consist principally of a peculiar
animal acid, named the  lithic or  uric acid.   With this
substance the  alkalies arc capable  of  uniting, and of
forming a soluble compound; and these  are accordingly
the sole lithontriptics.
  From the exhibition of alkaline remedies, the symptoms
arising from a  stone in the bladder are very generally
alleviated; and they can be given to such an extent, that
the urine becomes sensibly alkaline, and  is even capable
of exerting  a solvent poAver on these concretions.  Their
administration cannot. hoAvever, be continued to this ex-
tent for any considerable length  of time, from the  strong
irritation they produce on the  stomach  and urinary or-
gans.  The use, therefore, of the alkalies as solvents, or
lithontriptics, is noAv scarcely ever attempted ;  they are
employed merely to prevent the increase of the concretion,
and  to  palliate the painful symptoms,  Avhich  they do,
apparently by preventing the generation of lithic acid, or
the separation  of it by  the kidneys; the  urine is thus
rendered less irritating, and the surface  of the calculus
is allowed to become smooth.
  When the alkalies  are employed Avith this vieAv, they
are generally given saturated, or  even super-saturated,
Avith carbonic acid.  This renders them much  less irri-
tating.   It  at the same time diminishes, indeed,  their
solvent poAver;  for the alkaline carbonats exert no  action
on the urinary calculi: But they are still equally capable
of correcting that acidity in the primer vi(t, Avhich is the
cause of the deposition of the lithic acid from the  urine.
and therefore serve equally to palliate the disease.   And
when their  acrimony is thus lessened, their  use can  be
continued for any length of time.
          CLASS XVH—ESCHAROTICS.

   Escharotics are substances capable  of dissolving
animal matter; applied to the skin, they erode it, and to 
MATERIA MEDICA.              12o
an ulcer, they remove its surface.   They are employed
to consume excrescences, to open an ulcer, and to change
the diseased surface of a  sore already existing.   Their
action is entirely chemical.


     REMEDIES ACTING MECHANICALLY.

           CLASS  XVIII.—ANTHELMINTICS.

   Anthelmintics are those medicines used to  expel
worms from the intestinal canal.   The greater  number
of them act mechanically, dislodging  the worms, by the
sharpness or roughness of  their particles, or  by their
cathartic operation.  Some  seem to have no other,quali-
ties than those of powerful bitters, by Avhich they either
prove noxious to these animals, or remove that debility of
the digestive organs, by which the food is not  properly
 assimilated, or the secreted  fluids  poured  into the intes-
 tines are  not  properly prepared; circumstances from
 which it has been supposed the generation of worms may
 arise.


           CLASS XIX—DEMULCENTS.

   Demulcents are defined, "Medicines suited to obviate
 and prevent the action of acrid and  stimulant  matters,
 and that, not by correcting  or changing their acrimony,
 but by invoking it in a mild and viscid matter, which
 prevents it from acting upon the sensible  parts of our
 bodies,"  or  by covering  the surface  exposed  to their
 action.
    Where these substances are directly applied to the
 parts affected, it is easy to  perceive/ Iioav benefit may be
 derived from their application.   But Avhere they are re-
 ceived by the medium of the stomach into the circulating
 system, it has been supposed that they can be of no utility,
 as they must lose that viscidity on Avhich their lubricating
 quality depends.  Hence it  has been concluded, that they
 can be of no service  in gonorrhoea,  and  some similar
 affections.   It is certain, hoAvever, that many eubstanecs
 Avhich undergo the process of  digestion  are afterwards
 separated in their entire state from the blood, by particu-
 lar secreting organs, especially by the kidneys ; and it is 
124
MATERIA  MEDICA.
possible that mucilaginous  substances, which are the
principal demulcents, may be separated in this manner.
There can be no doubt, however, but that  a  great share
of the relief demulcents afford in irritation or inflamma-
tion of the urinary passages, is owing to the large quantity
of water in Avhich they are diffused, by Avhich  the urine
is rendered less stimulating from dilution.  In general,
demulcents may be considered merely as substances less
stimulating than the fluids usually applied.
  Catarrh, diarrhoea, dysentery, calculus, and gonorrhoea,
are the diseases  in which demulcents are employed.   As
they are medicines of no great poAver, they may be taken
in as large quantities as the stomach can bear.
  The particular demulcents may be reduced to the two
subdivisions of mucilages and expressed oils.


             CLASS XX—DILUENTS.

  Diluents are  defined,  those substances  Avhich in-
crease the proportion of fluid in the blood.  It is evident
that this must  be done by watery  liquors.   Water is
indeed, properly speaking, the only diluent.  Various addi-
tions are made to it, to render it pleasant, and frequently to
give it a slightly demulcent  quality.  But these are n\oc
sufficiently important to require to be noticed, or to be
classed as medicines.
  Diluents are  merely secondary remedies.   They are
given in acute inflammatory diseases, to lessen the stimu-
lant quality of the blood.  They are used to promote the
action of diuretics in dropsy, and to favour the operation
of sweating.


           CLASS XXI__EMOLLIENTS.

  Emollients  are  those  medicines,  according  to the
definition of Dr. Cullen,  which  diminish the force of
cohesion in the particles of the solid matter of the human
body, and thereby render them more lax and flexible.
Their operation is mechanical; they are insinuated into
the matter of the solid fibre, and lessen the friction be-
tween its particles.  They are useful when the fibres are
rigid, or when they are much extended, and therefore
afford relief  when topically applied to inflamed parts, to 
materia  medica.
125
tumours distending the skin, or Avhere the skin is dry
and  rigid.
  Heat conjoined with moisture is the principal emollient;
and water applied warm by the medium of some vegetable
substances,  constituting  the various  fomentations and
cataplasms,  is the form  under which it is applied, the
vegetable matter serving to retain the heat, and to allow
the proper application of the moisture.
  Oils and unctuous substances are  the only other emol-
lients ; they are merely introduced by friction.  Any  of
the  expressed  oils already  noticed,  or  lard, (axungia
porcina) may be used for this purpose.
  The preceding observations are inserted, not with the
view of adopting Murray's classification of remedies, but
to give a general  idea of the virtues  of such medicinal
substances as are possessed of the qualities which make
the objects of the respective articles.   I shall therefore
proceed to an account of each of the remedies separately,
and in alphabetical order.
     Acidum Acetosum.  Acetous acid.  Vinegar.

  Vinegar was known many ages before the discovery of
any  other  acid, those  only excepted Avhich  exist ready
formed  in  vegetables.   It is mentioned by Moses, and
indeed seems to have  been  in common use among the
Israelites and other eastern nations at a very early period.
This agreeable pungent acid is the product of the fer-
mentation  of solutions of saccharine matter or sweet
vegetable  juices.  It is obtained from wine, cider, beer,
or other fermented liquors, Avhich are  the products  of
the first stage of the  fermentative process.  The acetous
fermentation is nothing more than the acidification  or
oxygenation of wine, produced in the  open air by means
of the absorption  of oxygen.  Vinegar is composed  of
hydrogen and carbon united together in proportions not
yet ascertained, and changed  into the acid state by oxygen.
That prepared from  Avhite wine is  most free from impu-
rities.   Beside  the pure acetous acid  diluted with much
water, vinegar contains tartarous acid, tartrite of potass,
mucilaginous matter, and sometimes phosphoric acid.
From the mucilaginous impurities Avhich all vinegars con-
tain, they are apt, on exposure to the air, to become turbid
and ropy,  and at length vapid.  This inconvenience may 
126
MATERIA  MEDICA.
be obviated by the following method.   Boil vinegar in a
well tinned kettle for a quarter of an hour, and bottle it,
or fill the bottles with vinegar and put them into a kettle
full of Avater upon the fire.  After the Avater has boiled
for an hour, they are to be taken out and corked.  Vine-
gar  thus boiled,  will keep  for  several  years, without
growing turbid  or mouldy.  The acetous acid may be
concentrated by suffering vinegar to freeze;  after Avhich
separate the fluid from the ice, and secure it in a bottle.
By the process of distillation vinegar is rectified, and the
acetous acid concentrated and rendered more suitable for
pharmaceutical preparations.
  Vinegar possesses strong antiseptic powers, and its
action on the living body is gently stimulant  and astrin-
gent.  It is employed as a useful addition to the patient's
drink  in putrid  and inflammatory fevers.  In  ardent,
bilious fevers, pestilential and other malignant distempers,
it is recommended by Boarhaave as one of the most cer-
tain sudorifics.   In the form of clyster it is  used  in the
same diseases, and in obstinate constipation.   Paintings,
vomiting, hysterical and hypocondriacal complaints, have
been frequently relieved by vinegar applied to the mouth
and  nose, or  received into the stomach. It  is highly
serviceable in obviating the effects of poisonous substances
of the vegetable kind, Avhen taken into the  stomach, as
Avell as  in promoting their  discharge by the different
emunctories, Avhen received into the blood.  When fully
saturated with muriate of soda (common salt) it has been
resorted to as a valuable remedy in dysentery, and angina
maligna; one table-spoonful of this mixture, with two of
hot Avater, gradually swalloAved and frequently repeated,
Avill  seldom fail  to induce a  diaphoresis, and procure
essential relief from the most distressing symptoms
attending these dangerous diseases.
  The same saturated mixture may  also be applied to
local inflammations  with the happiest effects.  Vinegar
is applied  externally in  fomentations and  baths, as a
stimulant and discutient; and its vapour is inhaled in
putrid sore throat; and diffused through the chambers of
the sick to correct the putrescency of the atmosphere.
  Vinegar is an article  of very considerable use in sur-
gery. Mixed with farinaceous substances it is frequently
applied to sprained joints, and in conjunction Avith alco-
hol and water it makes an eligible lotion  for inflamma-
tion of the surface of the body.   Vinegar has acquired 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
127
reputation  at the Gloucester infirmary, fop quickening
the exfoliation of dead bone, Avhich may be OAving to its
property of dissolving the phosphat of lime.  The excel-
lent effects of vinegar, Avhen immediately applied to burns
and scalds, have been taken particular notice of by Mr.
Cleghorn, a breAver  in  Edinburgh, who communicated
his ^sentiments to Mr. Hunter.  He recommends the im-
mediate application of vinegar, Avhich is to be continued,
for some hours, by any the most convenient means  until
the pain abates.   Should it return, the vinegar is  to be
repeated.   In  cold  weather,  Mr.  Cleghorn directs the
vinegar to be made a little Avarm, Avith the vieAV of pre-
venting the occurrence of tremblings, and  dullness,
which are sometimes induced Avhen applied quite cold.

Acidum Sulphuricum.  Sulphuric Acid. Oil of Vitriol.

   Sulphur combines Avith oxygen in different proportions;
when united with the largest proportion, it forms an acid
extremely  powerful from  its  state of concentration, the
sulphuric acid.  This acid used to be obtained from the
decomposition of sulphate of  iron, the green vitriol of
commerce, by heat; and hence the name of vitriolic acid
Avhich Avas given to it.   It is noAv formed by the combus-
tion of sulphur.  The  sulphur reduced to poAvder is
mixed Avith from one-eighth to one-tenth of its Aveight of
nitrate of potass, by which its combustion when begun
can be continued without the free access of atmospheric
air, the nitric  acid of the nitrate affording the requisite
quantity of oxygen.  It is thus burnt in a large leaden
chamber;  the sulphurie acid, which is slowly formed, is
absorbed by water placed in the bottom of the chamber;
the acid liquor is concentrated  by exposing it to heat in
glass retorts, and the pure sulphuric acid is obtained.  If
is of a thick consistence, and has an apparent unctuosity;
its specific gravity  is 1850;  when pure, it  is colourless
and transparent.  It strongly  attracts  water, which it
imbibes from the atmosphere very rapidly, and in  large
quantities, if suffered to remain in an open vessel.  If it
be mixed Avith water, it produces an  instantaneous  heat,
nearly equal to that of ebullition.   Its action is very
strong upon all the earths, except the siliceous; upon the
alkaline  salts;  upon many metals; and almost everv
other combustible substance.  It is highly corrosive; and
in fine, possesses all the  general  acid  properties  in an 
12Si
MATERIA MEDICA.
 eminent degree.  When  sufficiently diluted, this acid is
 an excellent tonic, and its astringency  is considered as
 superior to that of any other acid.  It is therefore used
 in haemoptysis,  monorrhagia, diabetes,  hectic, and dys-
 pepsia.  From  its refrigerant and antiseptic properties,
 it is a valuable medicine  in many febrile diseases, espe-
 cial ly those called putrid.   Checking fermentation, excit-
 ing appetite, promoting digestion, and quenching thirst,
 it is  exhibited Avith  success in acidity, weakness,  and
 relaxation of the stomach.  If taken in a considerable
 quantity, or for any length of time, it seems to pass  off
 undecomposed by the kidneys or skin ; and it  is perhaps
 by its stimulant  action on  the latter, that it is advan-
 tageously  employed in psora and other cutaneous affec-
 tions.   In its concentrated state, its dose cannot be mea-
 sured.  In the pharmacopoeias therefore, it is  ordered to
 be kept diluted.    The best mode of prescribing it, is to
 mix the quantity of acid to be  used, with as much water
 as will render it palatable, to which  some  syrup or mu-
 cilage may be added.  To prevent it from  attacking the
 teeth, it may be conveniently sucked through a quill, and
 the mouth should be carefully washed  after  each dose.
 From its  astringent poAvers,  this article is  generally
 added to gargles, which are employed  to check saliva-
 tion, or relieve inflammatory affections of the uvula, and
 apthous mouths.  According to Dr.  Sims, and  others,
 experience has demonstrated the superior efficacy of sul-
 phuric acid when freely  administered, as a remedy in
 Scarlatina Anginosa.
  Mixed with lai d, in the proportion of half  a drachm
 to an  ounce, it has been used externally with  advantage
 in cutaneous affections  and ill  conditioned  ulcers.  The
 different combinations of this acid, and  the processes in
 which it is employed, will be found  under the  head of
preparations.

    AcirENSER Sturio.   Ichthyocolla.   Isinglass.

  This  substance is obtained from the skin and other
parts  of the Sturgeon, as  well as several other kinds of
fish caught in the northern seas.
  The internal skin is boiled in water;  the strained de-
coction  is  inspissated; and the solid  mass formed into
convoluted pieces is the  isinglass of  the shops.   The
sounds or air-bladders of fresh water fish, in general, are 
MATERIA MEDICA.
129
 the most transparent, flexible, and delicate substances,
 am? consequently furnish the finest isinglass.  The prepa-
 ration of isinglass is almost peculiar to  Russia.   It  is
 made in all places Avhere the large  species  of acipenser
 or sturgeon are caught; that prepared from the sturgeon
 is reckoned the  best.  It varies in  quality according to
 the mode of preparation.  The best is usually rolled into
 the form of a snake or heart; the second folded in leaves
 like  a book; and the worst is dried without any care.
   Good isinglass is white, in some  degree  transparent,
 dry,  composed of membranes, not too thick, and without
 smell. The properties  of isinglass depend entirely  on
 the gelatin of Avhich it principally consists.  One hun-
 dred grains of good isinglass were found by Mr. Hatehett
 to contain rather more than ninety-eight of matter soluble
 in  water.
   A watery solution of it is used as a test of the presence
 of tannin, and for the clarification of spirituous liquors.
 Mr. Davy's solution  for the former purpose consists of
 one hundred and twenty grains  of isinglass  dissolved  in
 twenty ounces of water; and if properly  made, it has a
 tendency to gelatinate, at temperatures below 50° F.
   In a medical vieAv, isinglass  is but seldom employed.
 When boiled in fresh milk  to the consistence m° a strong
 jelly, it affords a very nourishing food to invalids; though
 it should be eaten Avith precaution by those who possess a
 weak stomach, or digest slowly; as it has a great tenden-
 cy  to turn rancid and putrid.  It is said to be employed
 for the preparation of English court plaster, a solution
 of it being spread on black silk.
  As the sturgeon abounds in  the rivers  of the Unitefl
 States, and the  demand  for  isinglass is  extensive and
 yearly increasing, it is highly important that the attention
 of our citizens should be turned to the preparation of it.
 And  it fortunately appears that a new domestic source
 for this article has lately been discoAered.   Mr. Daniel
 Waldron of Westchester county, N. Y. has discovered that
 the vesicula nataioria of a certain fish, frequent on the
 coast of New-York  and of the United Slates, affords a
true isinglass which is capable of being employed for all
the common purposes of Russian isinglass.  Mr. Waldroii
is about obtaining a patent for his valuable discovery.
         ir 
130
MATERIA  MEDICA.
Aconitum Napellus.  Large blue Wolfsbane.  Monks*
        hood.   Aconite.    The herb and root.

  This  is an exotic perennial, growing Avild in the moun-
tainous parts of SAvitzerland and Fi ance.   It is frequently
cultivated in gardens in this  country.   The  characters
Avhich distinguish the several species of aconite are so
obscure as to occasion considerable confusion.   The spe-
cies used in medicine called  monkshood has long spikes
of  large  blue  floAvers, and three capsules to a flower.
The leaves are many, cleft with linear divisions, broadest
at top, and marked with a line running along them.   The
juice of this plant possesses a disagreeable smell and an
acrid taste : of the latter, however, it is in a great measure
divested by inspissation.   The fresh leaves  have  very
little smell, but Avhen chewed have an  acrid  taste, and
excite lancinating pains, and swelling of the tongue.  By
drying, their acrimony is almost entirely destroyed.  For
medical use the root must be gathered before the stcsn
shoots.  Being one of the most violent vegetable poisons,
Avhen taken in large doses, it  excites sickness, vomiting,
diarrhoea, giddiness, delirium,fainting, cold sAvcats, con-
vulsions and death.   Yet on many occasions it has  been
found a very  effectual remedy in glandular  swellings,
venereal nodes, anchylosis, spina ventosa, itch, amaurosis,
gouty and rheumatic pains, intermittent fevers, and con-
vulsive disorders.  When properly administered, it acts
as  a penetrating stimulus, and generally excites sweat,
and  sometimes an increased  discharge of urine.   It is
commonly used in the form of an inspissated juice.  As
 soon as the plant is gathered, the juice  is expressed, and
evaporated Avithout any previous clarification, to the con-
 sistence of an extract.  It is an unfortunate circumstance,
that the poAvers of this medicine vary very much, accord-
 ing to its age; and the heat employed in its preparation.
 When  recently prepared, its  action is often tAVO violent,
 and when kept more than a year, it becomes totally inert.
 It  may therefore be laid doA-vn as a general rule, in the
 employment of this and many other similar aethe medi-
 cines,  to begin with very small  doses,  and  to  increase
 them gradually to the necessary degree; and, whenever
 Ave have occasion to begin a neAV parcel of the medicine,
 we should again commence Avith the smallest dose, and
 proceed with  the same caution as at first. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
131
  We may begin with half a grain of this extract, either
formed into a powder with Avhite sugar, or made up Avith
any convenient addition into a pill, twioe or thrice a day,
and gradually increase the dose: or a tincture of aconite
may be prepared, by digesting one part of the dried leaves
in six parts of spirits of Avine; the dose of  which Avill be
at first five or ten drops, and may be gradually increased
to forty.
  A decoction of the roots of this plant affords an effica-
cious liquor for  destroying  bugs and Avill prove fatal to
rats and mice. »

      Acorus Calamus.   Sweet flag.  The root.

  The common calamus aromaticus, or sAveetflag, grows
in marshy situations, and in shalloAV Avater, and may be
known by its long sword shaped leaves, resembling those
of the  flag, but narrower, of a brighter  green, waved
along one of the edges, and  also its oblong,  cylindric
spike of floAvers coining from the side of the  stem at the
edge  of the leaf.   The root is like that of the flag, long,
cylindric,  tuburous,  spongy,  marked  with  rings,  and
putting out abundance  of fibres, which, indeed, are the
proper roots.  It has a strong aromatic smell,  and aAvarni
pungent, bitterish taste.  The flavour is greatly improved
by drying.
  It possesses carminative and  stomachic virtues, and is
frequently grated into water and given  to children for
pain  in the  stomach and boAvels from flatulence.  This
root is also used as an ingredient in the morning bitters
in this country, particularly in places subject to ague.
  According to  Bechstein, the leaves may be employed
for dispelling many noxious insects; hence they are re-
commended against mpths, infesting woollen cloth,  and
the destructive Avorins in books; for Avhich  purpose  they
might every year be replaced in the corners of the draAvcrs
and shelves.   Mr. Bautroh has used the whole  plant for
tanning leather;  and Dr. Bolimer remarks, that  the
French  snuff, called a  la violdie, probably receiAes its
peculiar scent from this fragrant root.

   Actea Spicata.   Herb Christopher.   The root.

  This  vegetable  is perennial, groAving in  Avoods  and
shady places.  It attains the height of  about two and a 
132
MATERIA  MEDICA.
half feet, and flowers in the months of May or June; and
produces black, shining, pulpy berries in Autumn, about
the size of peas, which are considered as poisonous.  On
account of its foetid smell, this plant  is said to  be fre-
quented by toads.
  There .ire tAvo  varieties of this plant in the  United
States; one of which is thus described by Rev. Dr. Cutler.
"Christopher bancberries.  Blossoms white, berry  red.
In woodland  and  shady places—May.   The berries are
exceedingly poisonous.  Dr. Withering says, the plant is
powerfully repellent;  and that the root is useful in some
nervous cases, but it must be administered Avith caution."
Actea raccmosa, says Dr. Mease, (Dom. Encyclop.) black
snake root, or rich Aveed, is  a very beautiful plant when
in floAver.  The utility of the root of this plant is Avell
knoAvn.  It is an astringent; and Dr. Barton says, it was
used in the form of decoction as a gargle,  with success,
in a putrid sore throat, which prevailed in New-Jersey,
many years ago.   A decoction of the root cures the itch.
In North-Carolina, it has been useful as a  drenehin the
disease of cattle, called the murrain.

JEsculus Hippocastanum.   Horse chesnut.   The seed
                      and bark.

  This is a very common and Avell knoAvn tree.   The fruit
is principally farinaceous, and produces excellent starch,
and has been  used for food for domestic animals, and even
for  men in times of scarcity.   But its  introduction  into
the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia Avas probably owing to its
having been used and  recommended as a sternutatory in
some cases of opthalmia and headach.  With this vieAvit
was draAvn up the nostrils, in the form of an infusion or
decoction.  The bark has  been proposed as  an indigenous
substitute for the  very expensive and  often adulterated
Peruvian  bark.   Many  successful  experiments  of its
effects, when  given internally in intermittent and typhus
fever, and also when applied externally in gangrene, suffi-
cicntly warrant future  trials;.  In powder, it may be given
to the extent  of a scruple and a half, or a drachm, for a
dose.  It rarely disagrees with the stomach; but its astrin-
gent effects generally require the  use  of some aperient
medicine.   Some species of sesculus are cultivated in the
United States, on  account of the beauty and  agreeable
shade of the tree.   Medical knowledge might be promoted 
materia medica.               133
were practitioners to try the efficacy of the bark of our
native species.

   Agrimonia Eupatoria.  Agrimony.  The root.

  This is a native of the United States.  The number of
stamina from five to twelve.   Blossoms on long terminat-
ing spikes; yellow.   By fences—July.  It is said the
Indians  used an infusion  of  the  roots in inflammatory
fevers Avith great success; and, according to Kalm, the
Canadians have great confidence in it  for the same  pur-
pose.   The leaves of this vegetable are  said to be aperi-
ent, detergent, and to strengthen the tone of the viscera;
hence they have been used in laxity of the  intestines, in
scorbutic, and other disorders arising from debility.  Di-
gested in Avhey, agrimony affords a diet-drink grateful to
the palate and stomach  and was formerly supposed to  be
an effectual remedy for  the jaundice.
  The leaves and stalks, together with the closed flowers,
afford a dark  yelloAV decoction, which  Avhen previously
impregnated with a diluted solution of bismuth imparts a
beautiful and permanent gold-colour to animal wool.

      Alcohol.  Ardent Spirit.   Spirit of Wine.

  This product is formed during the process of vinous
fermentation of sugar dissolved in water, or of saccharine
matter  in  the state in which it exists in sweet vegetable
juices.   It is the basis of all vinous and ardent spirits,
and  gives them their peculiar  properties—pungency,
spirituous  flavour, and  intoxicating power.   It  Avas the
opinion of Lavoisier that  access of the air to the saccha-
rine  matter, was unnecessary to fermentation; and that
the water present, was  not decomposed, but that the
changes, by Avhich alcohol is formed, arise from the imme-
diate reaction of the elements of the saccharine matter,
and of the neAV combinations through  Avhich they may
pass.  These elementary principles, he conceived to be
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.  This theory has not been
found to be strictly true.  In  order-to excite fermentation
in a solution of pure sugar a certain quantity of Avhat is
called ferment, is necessary; and sAveet vegetable,juices
undergo this proeess only from naturally containing this
substance.   The nature of this ferment has not  been
explained in a satisfactory manner. It appears to resemble 
13*
MATERIA MEDICA.
gluten or albumen in its composition;  and in particular
contains nitrogen; which Thernard supposes enters into
the composition of alcohol.  This opinion is corroborated
by the analysis of Saussure, Avhich gives the proportion
of the  elements of  alcohol  thus. 43,63  carbon,  37,85
oxygen, 1 i,9 i hydrogen and 3,52 nitrogen.  It still remains
uncertain what proportion of oxygen and hydrogen,  exists
in alcohol in their elementary state, and what in the state
of water.  The whole of this subject requires further in-
vestigation.
  The method of obtaining spirit of wine or alcohol is by
submitting the fermented liquor to distillation.   It is
distilled over  with a quantity of Avater, and thus forms
the vinous  and  spirituous liquors of  commerce;  these
deriving their peculiar flavour from the substances from
Avhich the fermented liquor  has  been  prepared.  From
these liquors alcohol is procured  in a more concentrated
state  by repeated distillation;  different substances  being
added to facilitate the  concentration  and rectification.
The process belongs to pharmacy.  Pure alcohol is a
colourless transparent fluid;  its odour is fragrant, but its
taste highly pungent.  Its specific gravity is in proportion
to its degree of concentration, but as it is usually prepared
it is, 83.~n  When of the common strength, it is so volatile
as to evaporate speedily at the common temperature; it
boils at 160° Fahrenheit, and takes fire when raised to
300°.   Alcohol exerts chemical affinities to a number of
substances.  It unites  with Avater in  every  proportion;
equal quantities of which, by vveigbt,  form proof spirits
(alcohol dilutum)  Avhich is extensively used as a  men-
struum.   It dissolves  the pure  alkalis, several neutral
salts, sulphur  and phosphorus; it is likeAvise the solvent
of many of the immediate vegetable principles, as  resin,
camphor, essential oil, balsam,  extract and saccharine
matter.
  Alcohol is a powerful and  highly diffusible stimulant.
Taken in moderate  quantities it raises the circulations,
adds vigour to the muscular system, and exhilarates the
mind, but these are folloAved by proportional languor. If
the quantity be considerable, a palsy or apoplexy follows,
which frequently ends in death.
  It is considered a good application to recent burns, and
to inflammations not connected  with  increased action,
and also, with friction, to relieve muscular pains.  It is
used  to excite action in  the vessels to prevent passive 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
135
haemorrhage.   Alcohol is, however, seldom employed in
its pure ^tate, but extensively in the form of vinous  and
ardent spirits.  The wines are more permanent in their
stimulant effect than the ardent spirits;  hence they are
superior in their tonic power, but inferior in producing
sudden stimulus.
  The spiritous liquors in small quantities prove a power-
ful  cordial, and  for a time a strengthening beverage,
giving vigour to the stomach, promoting digestion, and
preventing flatulence.   To the weakly and relaxed they
are highly useful by  giving  elasticity and  firmness of
tone; but to the rigid  habit they are equally pernicious,
producing dryness of fibre, and hastening the approach of
old age.
  From the long continued use of alcohol many diseases
have  their origin, as dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, viceral
obstructions, chronic inflammation of the liver, and gout,
morbid states probably arising either from the increased
action it excites, giving rise to organic derangements, or
from the exhaustion of power, general or local, produced
by its stimulant operation.

        Allium Sativum.   Garlic.  The root.

  Garlic is a perennial, bulbous rooted plant, all the parts
of which, but  more especially the roots, have a  strong,
offensive, very penetrating and diffusive smell,  and an
acrimonious  taste.   It is a powerful and diffusive stimu-
lant ; hence in cold phlegmatic habits, in rheumatalgia,
eatarrhous disorders of the breast, asthma, both pituitous
and spasmodic, flatulent colics, hysterical and other dis-
eases proceeding from laxity of the solids, garlic is emi-
nently serviceable,  proving expectorant, diuretic, and if
the patient be kept warm, sudorific.  Sydenham extols
it in hydropic cases; and assures us also, that, among all
the substances Avhich occasion a derivation or revulsion
from the head, no one  operates more powerfully than
garlic applied to the  soles of the feet.  In  hot bilious
constitutions, ay here there is already a degree of irritation,
Avhere the juices  are too thin and acrimonious,  this
stimulating medicine is obviously improper, and never
fails to aggravate the distemper. Garlic may be exhibited
in substance, several cloves of it  cut into slices may be
swallowed Avithout  chewing.   In this manner it has been
successfully directed for the cure  of intermittent fever; 
136
MATERIA  MEDICA.
but  the most commodious form for administering it, is
that of bolus or pill; the expressed juice, or even the
infusion, is too acrimonious for common  use.   Cotton
moistened with the juice and  introduced within the ear
five or six times in a day, has  afforded relief in deafness
proceeding from atony or rheumatism.  In the form of
ointment applied externally, garlic is said to resolve and
discuss indolent tumors; and Avhen applied under the form
of poultice to the pubes, it has  some times proved effectual
in producing a discharge of urine, when its retention has
arisen from Avant of due action of the bladder.

     Aloe  Perfoliata.  Aloes.   The gum resin.

  o. Aloe hepatica—Hepatic  aloes.
  b. Aloe socotorina—Socotorine  aloes.
  A perennial plant consisting of many varieties, Avhieh
groAvs in the south of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Ameri-
ca.  The various kinds of aloes differ in their purity, and
likeAvise  in their sensible qualities.   The  socotorine  is
considered as the purest, and  is brought from the island
of Socolora, w rapped in skins.  It is in small pieces of a
redish hroAvn colour, Avith a purplish cast;  when reduced
to powder, of a bright golden shade.   Its taste is  bitter,
accompanied witli an aromatic flavour; the smell is not
unpleasant, and slightly resembles that of  myrrh.  The
Barbadoes aloes is in large masses, of a lighter colour,
and has an  odour much stronger, and more unpleasant
than the former.  The hepatic is of a similar kind.  The
caballine or horse aloes, is still more impure, and is weaker
in its poAver.  They are all the  inspissated juice  of the
several varieties of the aloe plant.  They consist of gum
and  resin, the former being  in larger quantity.   The
smell and taste reside principally in the gum, as do the
principal virtues of the aloes.   Aloes is a  warm,  stimu-
lating purgative, used principally to obviate costiveness.
Its medium dose is from five to fifteen  grains, nor  does a
larger quantity operate more  effectually.  Its  operation
is exerted  upon the large intestines, principally on the
rectum, and hence its purgative  effect is sIoav and  mode-
rate.  It has been supposed that the  stimulant action of
aloes may  be extended to  the uterus, Avhence  it  is also
used as an  emmenagogue; but its exhibition is deemed
improper during pregnancy.   It has also been supposed,
(hat its use  is apt to induce or aggravate hemorrhoidal 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
137
 affections, and Avith those liable  to such complaints, it
 can seldom be  employed.  In dry bilious habits,  aloes
 proves injurious, immoderately heating  the body, and
 inflaming the bowels. In small doses frequently repeated,
 aloes  cleanses the stomach  and boAvels, attenuates and
 dissolves viscid juices in the  remoter parts, quickens the
 circulation, warms the  habit, and promotes  the uterine
 and hccmorrhoidal fluxes.  It is particularly serviceable
 to  persons of a phlegmatic temperament and sedentary
 life, and'Avhere the stomach is oppressed  and Aveakened.
 Taken in doses of a feAV grains, mixed into pills, Avith a
 third or equal parts of soap, it acts as a gently stimulating
 laxative, and  if continued, is  capable of removing very
 obstinate obstructions.   On  account of  its bitterness,
 aloes has been supposed to kill worms, either  taken in-
 ternally, or applied m the form of plaster to the umbilical
 region.  Dissolved in  alcohol, it is also employed  for
 restraining external haemorrhages, and for cleansing and
 healing wounds and ulcers.

 Althjea  Officinalis.   Marsh Mallow.   The  root
                      and leaves.

   The marsh malloAV is a handsome perennial indigenous
 plant groAving in salt marshes and on the banks of rivers
 and other Avet  places.  It is also cultivated in gardens for
 its medical virtues.  The upright cylindrical stem rises
 to three or four feet; is someAvhat branched and cottony.
 The leaves are on leafstalks, egg-spear shaped, obscurely
 lobed, serrated, and  have  a soft  Avoolly surface, feeling
 like velvet.   The flowers appear in  August, from the
 bosom of the leaves  on fruit stalks in a kind of panicle,
 and are of a white or pale flesh colour.  Every part of
 the marsh mallow, and  especially the root, upon boiling,
 yields a copious mucilage; on account of  which, it is
 frequently employed in emollient cataplasms, and by Avay
 of infusion.  In humid  asthma, hoarseness, dysenteries,
 and likewise in nephritic and calculus complaints, it is of
 eminent service; as by lubricating and relaxing the vessels,
 it procui'es a more easy passage to the stagnant fluids.  It
 is Avith equal advantage applied externally, for  softening
and maturating hard tumors, and Avhen chewed, it is said
to afford relief in difficult teething.   An ointment and
Hyrup are made from the roots of this plant.
         18 
13S
MATERIA  MEDICA,
     Ammoniacum.   Ammoniacum.  A gum resin.

   This gum resin is brought from Egypt, and the East
 Indies; the tree Avfiich produces it is unknoAvn. It comes
 in large masses,  or, when of the best quality,  in small
 round fragments, yeiloAv on the surface, and white Avithin.
 It has a faint smell, and a nauseous taste.   It contains
 nearly half its Aveight of resin, which is dissolved by alco-
 hol.  Triturated Avith Avater, it forms a milky like mix-
 ture.  The general action of gum ammoniac is stimulant.
 On many occasions it proves a valuable antispasmodic,
 deobstruent, or expectorant.   In large doses it  purges
 gently, excites perspiration, and increases the flow of
 urine.  It is prescribed for removing obstructions of the
 abdominal viscera, and in hysterical  complaints, occa-
 sioned by a  deficiency of periodical evacuations, and in
 long  and obstinate colics, proceeding from viscid matter
 lodged in the intestines.   But it is no  less frequently re-
 sorted to as an expectorant, in cases Avhere the lungs are
 oppressed with tenacious phlegm, as  in asthma, and chro-
 nic catarrh.  In this last disease, if the cough continue
 dry and husky. Avithout expectoration, and  fatigue the
 breast, provided there be no  apprehension of tubercles,
 there is not, perhaps, a more efficacious remedy for it,
 than  half a drachm of  gum ammoniacum, witli twenty
 drops of liquid laudanum, made into pills, taken at bed
 time, and* occasionally repeated.  This excellent remedy
 was recommended by Sir John Pringle; and Dr. Mudge
 observes, that  he has in many instances found  it very
 successful, and generally expeditious; almost uniformly
 producing  expectoration, and abating the distressing fa-
 tigue of the cough.   This gum, combined with squills, is
 used as a diuretic in dropsical affections, in doses from ten
 to thirty grains. Externally, it is applied as a discutient,
 under the form of plaster, to white SAvellings of the knee,
 and to indolent  tumors.

 Amomum  Zingiber. Ginger.  The root, and the candied
               root  brought from India.
   Ginger is a perennial shrub, Avhich groAvs about thref
 feet high, indigenous to the East Indies, but noAv culti-
vated in the West Indies.  It is in small wrinkled pieces,
of a grayish, or white colour, having an aromatic odour, 
MATERIA  medica.
139
aRd a very pungent, and even acrid taste.   The black
ginger, is the root  prepared  Avith less care "than the
white, which, previous to drying, is scraped and Avashed.
Ginger yields its active  matter  completely to alcohol,
and in a great measure to water. This root is frequently
employed as a grateful and moderately poAverful aromatic,
either in combination with other remedies, (to promote
their  efficacy, and obviate symptoms arising from  their
operation,) or  by itself, as a stimulant, particularly  in
dyspepsia, flatulence, tympanites, and  gout.  This  spicy
root is more immediately serviceable in cold  flatulent
colics; in laxity and debility of the stomach  and intes-
tines, and especially in torpid phlegmatic constitutions,
in order  to induce a more brisk  action of the  vessels.
Candied ginger is prepared in India, from the young and
succulent roots.   When genuine, it is almost transparent.

   Amomum Repens.  Lesser Cardamom. The seeds.

   The seeds  of this plant are dried  and imported from
India in their capsules, by Avhich  their  flavour is better
preserved.  Their  smell is aromatic;  their  taste  pun-
gent.  Theyr are used merely as grateful aromatics, and
are frequently combined with bitters.  These seeds are
said to possess this advantage  over  the pepper species,
that notAvithstanding their pungency, they do not immo-
derately heat, or inflame the bowels.

Amygdalus Communis.  The Almond  Tree.  The ker-
     nel of the fruit, such as is called sweet almond.

   The almond tree is eminent, both for its fruit, and for
the ornament it  affords to a shrubbery.   It is much cul-
tivated in the south  of Europe.  SAveet almonds are
supposed  to afford  but little nourishment, and are not
easily digested, unless thoroughly comminuted.  The oil
is obtained by expression from the seeds, or by decoction.
It is very similar to olive oil, but more pure, and is given
to blunt acrimonious humours, and to soften  and relax
the solids; hence its use internally in  tickling coughs,
heat of urine, pains and inflammations; and externally, in
tension and rigidity of particular parts.  There is another
inode in Avhich this oil is given as  a  demulcent; that of
emulsion.   The almonds are  triturated with  water; the
oil they contain is diffued in the water, by the meuiuin of 
1A0
MATERIA  MEDICA.
the mucilage of the  almond, and a milky like  liquor is
formed, Avhich is extensively used as a pleasant  demul-
eent.

Amyris Gileadensis.  Balsam of Gilead Tree.  The
         liquid resin, called Balsam of Gilead.

  This is a resinous juice, obtained from an ever-green
tree, groAving spontaneously, particularly near Mecca, on
the Asiatic side of  the  Red Sea.   This  balsam, pro-
cured by incisions made in the trunk of a tree, is highly
fragrant, and is so much valued  in the East,  that it is
said not to be imported into Europe.   A coarser kind is
met Avith, obtained by strong decoctions of the branches
and leaves, and adulterated by various mixtures.  This
is of a yelloAv colour, and thick consistence ; its taste is
warm and  bitter; its flavour somewhat fragrant.  The
medicinal virtues of  the genuine Balsam of Gilead, have
been very highly rated, undoubtedly with  much exagge-
ration.   But the real opobalsam, or Balm of Gilead, fre-
quently mentioned in scripture, is not  to be obtained in
its  genuine state, as it  is  presented  only to  sovereign,
princes : nor need it be regretted, since it is now entirely
superseded by the balsams of Canada and Copaiba, Avhich
are equally efficacious.

Anethum Fieniculum.  Fceniculum dulce. SAveet fen-
               nel.   The root and seeds.

  This is a perennial plant, of which there are four varif
cties.  One of these, the common fennel, is indigenous
on  chalky cliffs in  England.  The   SAveet fennel, the
variety of Avhich is  officinal, grows Avild in Italy, but is
also cultivated in gardens.   It is smaller in all its parts
than the common, except the seeds, Avhich are considera-
bly larger.   The seeds of the two sorts differ likeAvise in
shape and  colour.  Those of the common are  roundish,
oblong, fiatish on one side,  and protuberant on the other,
of a dark, almost blackish colour; those of the  SAveet are
longer, narroAver, not so flat, generally crooked, and of a
whitish or pale yelloAvish colour.   The seeds of both the
fennels have  an  aromatic smell, and a moderately Avarm
pungent  taste :  those of the foenicuUim  dulce  arc  in
flavour most agreeable, and have also a considerable
degree of sweetness.  The  seeds yield an excellent aro- 
materia  medica.
141
 mafic oil, Avhich is carminative,  resolvent, and diuretic,
 Avithout heating the body.

      Anethum Graveolens.  Dill.  The seeds.

   Dill is an annual  umbelliferous plant, cultivated in
 gardens, as  well for culinary as medical use.  The seeds
 are of a pale yellowish colour, in shape nearly oval, con-
 vex on one  side, and  flat on the other.   Their taste is
 moderately  warm  and pungent; their smell aromatic,
 but not of the most agreeable kind.   The seeds are  re-
 commended as a carminative in flatulent colics.
   These seeds, with those of cummin, possess qualities
 and virtues  similar to those of *the anise and caraAvay,
 and are used for similar purposes, but are scarcely entitled
 to a  place  in the materia  medica.   Cummin however
 affords an oil peculiarly grateful  to wild pigeons, and is
 frequently resorted to by the people  in the country as a
 lure for those birds to the stand of the gunner.

 Angelica  Archangelica.   Garden Angellica.   The
             roots, stalks, leaves, and seeds.
   Angelica is a large biennial umbelliferous plant.  It
 grows spontaneously  on  the banks of  rivers in alpine
 countries.   It has been found in England, but it is doubt-
 ful whether it be indigenous.  For the use of the shops,
 it is cultivated in gardens in different parts of Europe.
 The stalk of this magnificent plant, Avhen properly culti-
 vatcd in a moist  soil, rise to the height of seven or eight
 feet; its flowers are of a greenish white colour, or some-
 times yelloAV.   Every part of this useful vegetable, the
 root,  stalk, leaves, and  seeds, partake of tlie  aromatic
 properties,  and were  formerly  supposed  by European
 physicians to be Avell calculated to strengthen the solids,
 and especially serviceable for dispelling flatulency,  re-
 moving pectoral complaints, and affording effectual relief
 in hysterics.  Dr.  Duncan says, angelica  is one of the
 most elegant aromatics of European groAvth, though little
 regarded in the  present  practice.  Among the several
 species of angelica in the United States, we have Angeli-
 ca Sylvestris, or Avild  angelica, Avhich is a much smaller
plant, of a thinner and less succulent stem  than the for-
mer. It grows in marshy Avoods and in hedges, flowers in
June or July.   This  species  however, possesses, but in 
1*Z
MATERIA MEDICA.
 an inferior degree, the medicinal properties of the pre-
 ceding.   Being  warm and  aromatic,  it  is frequently-
 employed in flatulent colics, and its stems are sometimes
 candied by the country people.  The leaves of wild an-
 gelica yield a good yellow colour to avooI  properly pre-
 pared by a solution of bismuth.

        Angustura.  Angustura.  The bark.

   This is  a bark imported within these few years from the
 Spanish West Indies; the botanical character of the tree
 producing it is unknoAvn.  It is in flat pieces, externally
 gray and  Avrinkled; internally, of a yelloAvish broAvn, and
 smooth; has little flavour; its taste is bitter, and slightly
 aromatic.  Water, assisted by heat, takes up the greater
 part of its active matter, which does not seem to be injur-
 ed, even by decoction.  Alcohol dissolves its bitter and
 aromatic  parts, but precipitates the extractive matter,
 dissolved  by water.  Proof spirit is its most proper men-
 struum.   Angustura is^a powerful antiseptic.  It was
 originally introduced in the West Indies, as a remedy in
 fevers, equal,  or  even  superior, to the Peruvian bark.
 As an aromatic bitter, it has been found to be a tonic and
 stimulant of the organs of digestion.  It increases the
 appetite,  removes flatulence  and  acidity arising  from
 dyspepsia, and is  a  very effectual  remedy in diarrhoea,
 from weakness of the boAvels, and in dysentery; and it
 possesses  the  singular advantage  of not oppressing the
 stomach, as Peruvian bark is apt to do.   Its dose is from
 ten to twenty grains of the  powder, or one drachm in
 infusion, or decoction.  Its tincture, in  a dose of one or
 tAvo drachms, has been used in dyspepsia.   It proves
 ineffectual as a remedy in intermittents.

    Anthemis Nobilis.  Chamomile.  The flowers.

   Chamomile is a perennial plant, indigenous to the south
 of England, but cultivated in  gardens for the purposes of
medicine.    The  flowers have a strong, not ungrateful
 aromatic smell, and a very bitter nauseous taste.  Their
 active constituents are bitter extractive, and essential oil.
 To the hitter is to be ascribed, their antiseptic, carmina-
tive, cordial, and diaphoretic effects; to  the former, their
influence in promoting digestion.  Chamomile floAvers arc
 a xery common and excellent remedy, Avhich is often used 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
143
 with advantage in  spasmodic diseases, in hysteria, in
 spasmodic and flatulent colics, in suppression of the men-
 strual discharge, in the vomiting of puerperal Avomen, in
 after pains, in gout, in intermittents, and typhus.  From
 its stimulating and  someAvhat unpleasant essential oil,
 chamomile is also capable of exciting  vomiting;  and a
 strong infusion of the flowers is often used to promote the
 action of other emetics.  In substance, it has been fre-
 quently given as a remedy in intermittent fever, in a dose
 of a drachm, or more, three or four times in the day.
 Chamomile flowers are applied as a discutient and emol-
 lient,  in the form  of clyster or fomentation, in colic,
 dysentery, strangulated hernia, &e.

                    Aqua.   Water.

   Pure water is defined, a liquid, transparent, colourless,
 insipid substance.   By a moderate  degree of cold, it is
 converted into a solid, transparent body, called ice; and
 at a temperature of 212° of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
 it becomes rarified, is augmented in bulk,  and quickly
 dispersed in the form of vapour.   It is diffused through
 the  atmosphere, and over the surface of the globe; and
 exists in a certain proportion, in animals, vegetables, and
 minerals.  Till the latter end of the eighteenth century.
 it Avas generally believed to be a simple element; and, the
 late  discovery of its being a compound, is considered as
 one of the most important and astonishing, that has been
 made since the origin of chemical science.  By a variety
 of chemical experiments, the fact has been demonstrated
 beyond controversy, that  water consists of 85 parts of
 oxygenous, and 15 of hydrogenous gas.
   All natural waters are more or less impure; having a
 strong attraction for  different substances, they imbibe
 part of them in every situation in Avhich they are found.
 Water cannot be obtained  in a pure  state, Avithout under-
 going the process of distillation.  Its salubrity depends
 on the peculiar properties  Avhich it possesses.  Some Ava-
 ters  are strongly impregnated with animal, vegetable, or
 mineral particles, which render them unfit for culinary
purposes.   Pure water  has neither  smell, nor taste, and
is perfectly transparent.  If water be of a brown colour,
 some extraneous substance is diffused through it; if of a
green  colour, it indicates the presence of iron; and, if
blue, that of copper.  If, on agitation, air-bubbles appeal' 
144
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 in the Avater. and if it have a mild sourish taste, we may
 be  sure that it contains carbonic acid gas, or fixed air.
   Atmospheric ivaier comprehends ruin and snow water;
 the former is that Avhich was evaporated from the sea and
 land, dissolved in the  air, and afteiAvards discharged on
 the earth..   It Avould be as pure as distilled water, if the
 atmosphere did not abound with vapours and exhalations,
 capable of combining with it.  The rain, Avhich is col-
 lected from the roofs of houses in large cities, is always
 mixed with soot, animal effluvia,  and other impurities.
 Snow water is contaminated with the same  impurities
 as rain water, and it is probably from the want  of com-
 mon air, or of carbonic acid, that snow water is injurious
 to health.
  River water may be considered as a compound of spring
 and rain water.   Near  great cities, particularly, it is
 blended with a number of impurities; nut by the process
 of filtration, it becomes  fitted for every purpose of life;
 and it is preferred for brewing, or forming malt-liquor.
 It is also more or less wholesome according to the parti-
 cular strata it flows over;  as from a sandy or stony soil
 it attracts less impurity than from a soft muddy one; and
 the more rapid its course, the sooner it frees itself  from
 those adventitious particles which taint its natural whole-
 someness.
  Spring Water is a compound of  sea-water changed by
 subterraneous heat, and of the vapours of the atmosphere.
 It is, indeed, always impregnated more or less with mine-
 ral substances, Avhich must be noxious to a certain degree.
But, like river-Avater, the strata through which it rises,
 must in a great measure regulate its qualities.
  Well or pump router, is much of the same nature with
 spring Avater, but it generally receives a fuller or more
 complete filtration from the  manner in wliich it is pro-
 cured.  Where the filtration is through a sandy soil the
Avater is purest, and the more frequently a well is emptied,
the less chance there is  of the water acquiring a putrid
taint by stagnation.
  Stagnant waters, as those of lakes, sAvamps, and ditches.
are the most unAvholesome of any, as they both collect
impurities from their  situation, and  acquire from  their
Avant of motion a disposition to putrescency;  and they arc
tiie fruitful source of  contagion.
  Water is an essential constituent in the organization of
all living bodies: and as it is continually expended during 
MATERIA MEDICA.
145
 the process of life that Avaste  must be also continually
 supplied, and this supply is of such importance, that it is
 not left to reason, or to chance, but forms the object of
 an imperious appetite.  Experience clearly evinces that
 it is the most healthy and natural beverage of mankind;
 and, as the basis of all drinks, deserves the title of an
 universal  remedy more than any other  substance Avith
 Avhich we are acquainted.  It is the most poAverful sol-
 vent  of  alimentary matter Ave possess; and Avithout it,
 neither life  nor health could be maintained.   Nor is it
 less powerful in disease, especially as a diluent in febrile
 affections.  In  fine, where custom has not altered the
 constitution  of man, it forms the most salubrious of all
 drinks, and those, who have made it their constant and
 only beverage, have enjoyed a constant health, a flow of
 spirits, and a length of life, superior to all.  others.   As
 a medicinal agent in the various forms of its application
 to diseases, water  is  highly deserving the  attention of
 practitioners.   When taken into the stomach, water acts
 by its  temperature, its  bulk, and the  quantity absorbed
 by the lacteals.  The colder it is, the more tonic and in-
 vigorating it proves; while warm water is on the contrary
 the most sedative and debilitating of drinks.  Water
 about 60° gives no sensation of heat or  cold;  between 60°
 and 45° it gives a  sensation of cold, folloAved by a gloAV
 and increase of appetite and vigour; beloAV 45° the sensa-
 tion of cold  is permanent and unpleasant, and it  acts as
 an astringent and sedative; above  60°  it excites  nausea
 and vomiting, probably by partially relaxing  the fibres of
 the stomach, for Avhen mixed with stimulating substances
 it has  not these effects.  In  the stomach and in the intes-
 tines it acts also by its hulk, producing the effects arising
 from  the distention  of these  organs;  as the intestinal
 gases consist of hydrogen gas, either pure or carbonated,
 or sulphuretted, or phosphuretted, it is probably in part
 decomposed in them.   It likeAvise dilutes the contents of
 the stomach and intestines, thus  often diminishing their
 acrimony.   It is absorbed  by the lacteals; dilutes  the
 chyle and the blood; increases their fluidity; lessens their
 acrimony, and produces plethora. Its effects in producing
 plethora and  fluidity are however, very transitory, as it
 at the  same time increases the secretion by the  skin and
 kidneys.  Indeed the  effects of sudorifics and  diuretics
 depend in a great measure, on the quantity of water takea
along with them.
         19 
146
MATERIA MEDICA,
     When spring waters  possess any peculiar  character
   they  are  called mineral waters, and these as having  a
   specific action depending on the foreign substances which
   they contain, will be  more particularly investigated and
   considered in the appendix of this work.
     Some water, possessing the quality  of hardness, docs
   not readily dissolve soap, nor boil  vegetables soft, nor
   make an infusion of tea.   It generally contains some acid,
   combined with an absorbent earth, for which the acid has
   less attraction than for the alkali  of  the soap.  AVhen
   soap is put into such water, its alkali is immediately at-
   tracted by the acid, the soap is decomposed, and the oil
   swims on the surface.
     From the influence of the animal and vegetable sub-
   stances which it contains, water is extremely liable to
   become putrid on long voyages; in this state it is in a high
   degree pernicious  to the human frame, and capable of
   producing mortal diseases, even by  its effluvia.  Various
   expedients have been devised to keep it in a state of puri-
   ty.   Dr. Butler has found, that four ounces of fine clear
   pearl ash, dissolved in 100 gallons of water, and the cask
   closed  in  the  usual  manner, have  proved effectual for
   preserving water  perfectly  sweet,  during a voyage of
   eighteen  months.   The same desirable object  may be
   attained, by adding a small portion of vitriolic acid and of
   alkali to exery cask; Avhich will preserve the water in a
   pure  and  salubrious state, for at least twelve months.
   Charcoal has also proved to be eminently adapted to such
   purpose.   With this  vieAV the inner surface of the staves
i   are charred previously to constructing the casks. Putrid
   water may be restored to its original purity, by adding to
   each gallon ten grains of calcined alum, and twenty five or
   thirty of poAvdered charcoal; both ingredients, however,
   ought to be preserved in close  vessels, otherwise their
   efficacy will be considerably diminished.  The same pur-
   pose maybe effected, according to the experiments of Mr.
   LoAvitz, by charcoal and Aitriolic acid: one ounce and a
   half  of charcoal  in  powder, and twenty-four drops of
   variolic acid, are sufficient to purify three pints and a
   half  of corrupted Avater, and do not communicate to it
   anv perceptible acidity.
     Putrid water may be restored to its original purity, by
   filtering it through sand and charcoal.   Several filtering
   machines  have been invented admirably calculated to 
MATERIA MEDICA.              147
facilitate  this process; and repeated experiments  have
demonstrated their great utility.

Aralia Spinosa.  Prickly-ash.  Toothach tree.   The
               bark,  root, and berries.

  This is a native of Virginia, and other southern states.
The height to Avhich this tree  will groAV, when the soil
and situation wholly agree with it, is about twelve feet.
It is a very ornamental shrub, and the stem Avhich is of a
dark  broAvn colour  is  defended by sharp prickly spines.
A decoction  of its  bark and root has  often succeeded,
Avhen taken internally, in removing rheumatic complaints.
It excites a gentle perspiration. The berries are used to
put into a holloAV tooth when aching.  A tincture of them
is also used for the  same  purpose, both of which  afford
relief.  In Virginia a spirituous infusion of the berries is
much esteemed in violent colic.

Arbutus Uva Ursi.  Bearberry.  Bear's Wliortleberry,
                      The leaves.

  The uva ursi is a low shrub, somewhat resembling the
myrtle.   The leaves have a bitterish, astringent  taste;
and their astringent qualities are so considerable, that in
certain places, particularly the provinces of Russia, they
are used for tanning leather.   A Avatery infusion of  the
leaves, immediately strikes  a very black colour with
chalybeates.   Dr. de Haen of Vienna, has bestowed very
high  encomiums on the uva ursi, against  ulcerations of
the kidneys, bladder, and urinary passages.  He represents
it as  capable of curing almost  every case  of that  kind;
and even asserts, that in cases of calculous, much benefit
is derived from its use; patients, after the employment of
it, passing their urine Avithout pain.   It has not hoAvever
answered the expectations, which, on these grounds,  other
practitioners formed of it.   But in many affections of
the urinary organs, it has proved to  be a remedy of con-
siderable use: and it has been particularly  serviceable in
alleviating dyspeptic symptoms in nephritic and calculous
cases. From its astringency, uva ursi has been  employed.
in monorrhagia, and other fluxes, but more particularly
in eystirrheea, calculus, diabetes, and ulcerations of  the
urinary organs, in seme of which affections, its efficacy is
greater than lias of late been ailoYved.  Professor Barton 
148
MATERIA MEDICA.
 of Philadelphia, from long experience  of its efficacy, is
 high in its commendation, in cases of nephritis depending
 on gout, and has found it serviceable in old gonoi-i bom.
 It is sometimes exhibited in the form of decoction, but
 most frequently in that of poAvdcr, from a scruple to a
 drachm for a dose, repeated twice or thrice in a day.
   In the New-England  states, and  in New-York and
 New-Jersey, the uva ursi, alow ever-green shrub, is found
 in great abundance trailing on the ground in dry, sandy
 soils, in woods, and on mountains..  The inhabitants, to
 Avhom it is known by the name of wild cranberry, have
 recourse to it with much confidence, as a remedy, under
 various circumstances attending affections of the urinary
 organs.
   More lately it has been recommended in phthisis, and
 it is probable deserving of trial.   For medicinal use the
 green leaves alone should be selected and picked from the
 twigs, and dried by a moderate exposure to heat.

   Arctium Lappa.   Burdock.   The root and seeds.

  This is a  common plant about way-sides, sufficiently
 known from its scaly  heads, or burs, Avhich stick to the
 cloths.   It bears purplish blossoms in July and August.
 The seeds have a bitterish  subacrid taste: they are re-
 commended as very efficacious diuietics, given either  in
 the form of emulsion, or in powder, to the quantity of a
 drachm.   The roots are esteemed aperient, diuretic, and
 sudorific; and arc said to act without irritation, so as  to
 be safely used in  acute disorders.  Decoctions of them
 have  of  late been employed  in  rheumatic, gouty, and
 venereal disorders, and are by some preferred to sarsapa-
 rilhu

       Argemone Mexicana.  Prickly Poppy.

  We are indebted to  Solomon Drown, M. D. an accom-
 plished botanist, of  Rhode  Island, for the following ac-
 count and description of a plant lately introduced into his
 garden.
  This fine American plant has a singular appearance,
with  its  spinous  leaves deeply  indented,  and streaked
with white; its prickly stems and calyx, its yclloAv soli-
tary flowers, and  spinous capsules.  It abounds with a
milky glutinous juice,  turning in the air, into a fine bright 
materia medica.
149
yellow, and not distinguishable from gamboge; said to be
efficacious, in small doses, in dropsies, jaundice, and cuta-
neous eruptions; deemed to be very detersive, and used
in diseases of the eyes, the infusion is sudorific and reso-
lutive ; the seeds are a stronger narcotic than opium, and
frequently administered in the sugar colonies in diarr-
hseas  and dysenteries.   In the  West Indies it is called
the  yellow thistle.  This appears to be a hardy annual,
and  Avithout doubt can be cultivated easily in the United
States.

                 Argentum.   Silver.

  This metal  is distinguished by its pure white colour,
its high degree of lustre, and its great ductility and mal-
leability.   It is not very susceptible of oxidation; it does
not suffer that change from exposure, even  in a state of
fusion, to the atmosphere. Those acids which yield oxy-
gen  readily  oxidate and dissolve it, particularly  nitric
acid, which is henee employed as its usual solvent.  The
solution, Avhen evaporated, affords the nitrate of silver in
a crystaline form.

Aristolochia Serpentaria.   Virginia Snake  Root.
                      The root.

  A perennial medicinal plant, and  a native production
of the United States exclusively.  The root consists of a
number of small strings or fibres, matted together, issuing
from one head, of a light brown colour, having a slightly
aromatic smell and a pungent bitterish taste.  This root
is a warm stimulant, both diaphoretic, and diuretic, and
esteemed  one  of the  principal remedies in malignant
fevers to support the poAvers of the system.   It increases
the pulse very  perceptibly, and is  improper whenever
bleeding is required.  It is given in substance in doses of
from twentyto thirty grains, and in infusion to a drachm
or more, or it may be administered in tincture, its active
matter being entirely extracted by proof spirit.  By de-
coction, its  powers  are entirely destroyed.  This root
promotes the efficacy of cinchona in the cure of intermit-
tents,  and remittents, and is a remedy of considerable
poAver in dyspepsia.  Combined with calamus aromalicus,
and  infused in spirits, or Avater, it forms  the  common
morning dram  in aguish  situations.  Externally, it is
used as a gargle,  in putrid sore throat. 
150
MATERIA MEDICA.
 Artemisia Abrotanum.  Southernwood. The leaves.
 Artemisia Santonica.  Wormsced. The top and seeds.
 Artemisia Absinthium.  Common Wormwood.  The
               leaves and flowering heads.

   The tYvo former of the several species of artemisia, are
 stiil regarded as articles of the Materia Medica, although
 no important effects are expected to result from any me-
 dicinal virtues Avhich they may possess.   The seeds  of
 santonica have a faint disagreeable  smell and a very bit-
 ter taste.  They have  long been held in  estimation  as
 anthelmintic; the dose,  half a drachm or a drachm of the
 powder, for an adult. They are given to children in pow-
 der, to the extent of ten grains or half a drachm, in the
 morning, Avhen the stomach is empty; and when continued;..
 for several days, a proper cathartic is administered. The
 absinthium or common wormwood,  is a perennial herb,
 growing wild on the road sides, and is cultivated in gar-
 dens.  It flowers in August; the smell of the leaves is
 strong and disagreeable; their taste intensely bitter.
 The active constituents  of this plant, are bitter extractive
 and essential oil.   It is  used in stomach  complaints, and
 is of great service to hypochondriacs. It is also employed
 in intermittent fevers,  in cachectic and hydropic affec-
 tions, in jaundice, and against worms.  According to Dr.
 Withering, an infusion of the leaves is a good stomachic,
 and, with the addition  of fixed  alkaline salts, proves a
 poAverful diuretic in some dropsical cases.
   Their  ashes produce  a purer alkali, than most other
 vegetables.   The  essential oil, is  used both externally
 and internally, for destroying  worms.  The herb,  being
 an excellent antiseptic, is often employed in  fomentations,
 to resist putrefaction ; and if the plant be  macerated in
 boiling Avater, and  repeatedly applied to a bruise, by way
 of cataplasm, it will not only speedily remove the pain,
 but also prevent the swelling and discolouration of the
part.

Arum Americanum.   Cales.    1   Scunk Cabbage.
Duacqnitum Fjetidum.  Linn. J*  The root and seeds.

  This singular plant abounds in the swamps and mea-
dows throughout New-England, and is found native in 
materia  medica.
151
North America only.   The vulgar name by which it is
here generally known  is taken from  its xery rank and
disagreeable smell, nearly resembling that of a scunk, or
pole cat,  and from its leaves resembling  those of the
cabbage.  It is considered as a species of arum, the roots
and seeds  Avhen fresh, impart to the mouth a sensation of
pungency  and acrimony.  But according to Dr. Cutler
the fructification so essentially differs from all the genera
of the order, it must undoubtedly be considered as a new
genus.  This plant has no stem, and the flower is the
first part  that appears in April and May.  The leaves
next appear at a  small distance from  the flower stalk in
a  conic form, very closely rolled  together, expanding
nearly ovate  as they rise, supported on foot stalks.   The
calix consists of a  very large, permanent spatha, of  a
thick porous substance, approaching  to an ovate form:
open on one side and bellied out on the opposite; the mar-
gin auriculated at the base, and somewhat twisted at the
apex.   The spadix Avithin the spatha.   The florets nu-
merous, placed around the receptacle in an  oval form:
and are so compact as to appear like a  solid body, thick
set with small regular protuberances on its surface.  Co-
rolla four erect, very thick, narrow obtruncated petals.
Stamin four flattish filaments rising from the  receptacle:
longer than the corolla.  Aniherae oblong.  Germen con-
vex.  Style cylindrical; rather longer than the stamina.
Stigma bifid.   Seeds  large, roundish; single;  inclosed
Avithin the receptacle.   The globe of flowers  is nearly of
the colour of the spatha, wliich is beautifully variegated
with scarlet  and yellow.
   This valuable domestic article is found to  be well de-
serving of a place in  our Materia Medica, and may  be
ranked high in the class of antispasmodics.  The roots
dried and powdered have proved of excellent use in asth-
matic cases,  and often afforded relief in this distressing
disease when other means are ineffectual.  It should be
exhibited during the paroxysm, and repeated as circum-
stances may require, in doses of thirty or forty grains.
It will be proper to persevere in the  use of  it for some
time after the paroxysm has gone off, or till the patient
is perfectly  recovered, which is said to have been the
method pursued by the Indians lor the cure of this disease.
The  Rev. Dr. Cutler has announced his opinion  of its
efficacy as experienced in  his own  particular case after
other remedies had disappointed his expectations.  The 
 152              METF.RIA  MEDICA.

 antispasmodic powers of the scunk cabbage root have
 been displayed Avhen prescribed in other diseases.   In one
 of the most violent hysteric  cases I ever met with, saya
 a correspondent, Avhere the usual antispasmodics and even
 musk had failed, two tea-spoons full of the poAvdered root
 in spirits and Avater procured immediate relief, and on
 repeating the trials with  the  same patient, it afforded
 more lasting benefit than any other medicine.  In those
 spasms frequently affecting  the abdominal muscles in
 parturition, he adds, it produces the desired effect in doses
 of one tea-spoon full repeated occasionally.  In numerous
 other instances of spasmodic affection, and also in chronic
 and acute rheumatism, this root either in powder or de-
 coction has evineed its efficacy, and performed important
 cures, as attested  by good authority, in confirmation of
 my oAvn experience.  Two instances have been stated in
 Avhich this medicine has been supposed to be remarkably
 efficacious in the case of dropsy; two tea-spoons full of
 the powdered root being taken every morning successive-
 ly till the cure Avas effected.  The seeds of this plant are
 said by some to afford more relief in asthmatic cases than
 the root. A caution is suggested by Dr. Cutler, that in
 collecting the roots, the while hellebore or poke root, Avhich
 some people call  scunk weed, be not  mistaken for this
 plant, as the consequence might be fatal.  There is an ob-
 vious distinction; the hellebore has a stalk, but the scunk
 cabbage has none; and the roots of the latter are much
 larger than those of the former.

 Arum Maculatum.  Wake Robbin,  Cuckow Pint,  or
         Dragon Root.  The root and leaves.

  A native and hardy perennial, groAving in shady places,
 ditch banks, and rough ground.  Early in the  spring it
 pushes up a one leafed  conical  shaped  spatha,  under
 hedges and among bushes; within this spatha, is a spadix,
 naked on the under part, covered Avith germs at the bot-
tom, and Avith anthers in the middle.  As the plantadvnn-
ces the spatha opens, and discovers a club shaped spadix,
varying from yellowish green  to fine purple or red.  This
gradually decays and leaves a cluster of round red berries,
which, as Avell as the rest of the plant, are very hot and
biting.  The leaves are generally spotted Avith black spots,
and sometimes with Avhite streaks, whiyh has occasioned
the vulgar name of lords and ladies.  The root is bulbous. 
                  MATERIA  MEDICA.              l^

i«cscmbling in  shape  a small turnip, and in a fresh state
Is extremely acrid.  When dried and  pulverized, these
roots lose all their acrimony, and afford an almost taste-
less farinaceous white powder. In this state it is perfectly
inert, but the roots may be preserved fresh for a year by
burying them in a cellar in sand.
   Arum is doubtless a very powerful stimulant, and by
promoting the  secretions, may be advantageously em-
ployed 'in  cachectic  and chlorotic  cases, in rheumatic
affections, and other complaints of phlegmatic and torpid
constitutions; but particularly in a relaxed state of the
stomach, occasioned by a prevalence of viscid mucus. In
chronic rheumatism,  and  other disorders requiring the
full effect of this medicine, great care should be taken,
that the root be fresh and newly dried; and to cover its
intolerable pungency, Dr. Lewis advises it to be  admin-
istered in the form of emulsion, with gum arabic and sper-
maceti, increasing the dose from ten grains to upAvards of
a scruple two or three times in a day. The French manu-
facture from the  arum root, Avhen properly dried and re-
duced to powder, a harmless  cosmetic, Avhich is sold at a
high price under the name of cypress poAvder.

   Arum Triphyllum.  Indian Turnip.  The  root.

   The acrimony  of the recent root of this plant  is Avell
known. By drying, much of this is lost. It has been very
beneficial in asthma, especially in old people; in croup
and hooping-cough.   The recent root boiled in lard, to
the consistence  of ointment, has been found useful in tinea
capitis.  The dried root boiled in milk, in the proportion
of one root to a half pint, has been advantageously employ-
ed in consumption. Some acrimony should be perceptible
to the tongue and throat in its exhibition. It never affects
the general circulation, says Dr. Mease, but acts solely
on  the parts just  named; to the glands of which  it is  a
powerful stimulus, causing a copious secretion of mucus.
A fine sago has been prepared from the roots, in the pro-
portion of  one part to four of the  root, freed from its
exterior coat.

   As arum Europium.  Asarahacca.  The  leaves.

  This is a perennial plant, Avhieh is the natural produce
of some places in  England; although the dried roots are
        20 
li'4              materia medica.
                 <•
generally brought from the Levant.   The root is fibrous.
of a grey-brow n colour e\ icrnally, but white Avithin. Both
the roots and leaves have a nauseous, biitr, acrimonious.
and hot taste; their smell is strong, but not very disagree-
able.   Asarabacca contains a portion of the same acrid
principle with arum, and it also loses much of its activity,
by decoction, or long keeping. Given in substance, from
half a drachm to a drachm, it evacuates powerfully, both
upwards and doAvnAvards.  Limueus  proposed it as a sub-
stitute for ipecacuan, and according to Dr. Cullen, the
poAvdered root proves,in a moderate  dose, a gentle emetic.
But the principal use of this plant, among modern practi-
tioners, is a sternutatory, being the strongest of all the
vegetable errhines, not excepting white  hellebore itself.
Snuffed up the nose, in the quantity of a grain or two, it
causes a large evacuation of mucus, and raises a plentiful
spitting, whieh sometimes continues several days together;
and by which headach, toothach, ophthalmia, as Avell as
some  paralytic and  soporific complaints,  have  been effec-
tually' removed. Several species of asarum have been found
to grow in the United States; as the Canadian asarum, call-
ed also wild ginger;  and the asarum virgineum, or SAveet
scented asarum or cat's-foot.  Experience has in  some
instances  demonstrated their characteristic properties,
and they are deserving further trial.

Asclepias  Decumbens.   Decumbent  swallow-wort.
      Pleurisy root.   Bulterjly-iveed.  The root.

  This species of swallow-wort is one of our most beau-
tiful  perennial plants, flourishing  best in a light sand;
sail, by the way side, under fences,  and near old  stumps
in rye iie'd ;, ccc.   It abounds in the southern states, but
with  us is not so frequently found.   There are sometimes
fi'teen ortweiity,  or more stalks, the size of a pipe stem,
proceeding from one root, rising from one to  two feet in
height, and spreading to a considerable extent, generally
in a  decumbent  position.  The stalks are  round and
woolly, of a reddish brown colour on the sun side; the
leaves stand irregularly, and are spear, or tongue shaped,.
with  a short foot  stalk, a?id covered Avith a fine down ou
the under surface.  The  umbels are compact at the ex-
tremities  of the branches, and formed  like the common
silk weed, but differing from it in the colour of the flow-
ers, being of a beautiful bright orange colour, while those 
MATERIA MEDICA.
i:c>
  of the silk Aveed are of a pale purplish hue.  The flowers
  appear in July and August, and are distinguished by their
  size and  brilliancy from all the floAvers of the  field.
  These are succeeded by long slender pods, containing the
  seeds, Avhich have a delicate kind of silk attached to them.
  T is is probably the only variety of asclepias that is des-
  titute of a milky juice.  The root is spindle, or carrot
  shaped, of a light brownish  colour on the outer  surface,
  Avliite coarse and  striated within.  The root of this plant
  is  a valuable  addition to our Materia Medica, having
  been found to possess medicinal virtues of no inconside-
  rable importance.  It has been long celebrated in Virginia
  and the Carolinas, as a remedy in  pleurisy, and in pneu-
* monic affections in general.   It is  said to display a re-
  markable poAver of affecting the skin, inducing   general
  and plentiful perspiration Avithout heating the body7.  In
  the form of decoction it often induces a diaphoresis Avjien
  other  medicines have failed  to produce that effect.   We
  have the testimony of Professor Barton in  favor of the
  great efficacy of  this  medicine in pulmonic affections.
  He corroborates the account published by Mr. Thompson
  Mason, of Virginia, Avhose  experience of  its virtues in
  pleurisy has been so extensive as to establish its  reputa-
  tion.  After the use of an antimonial emetic and the loss
  of some blood,  he gives his patients about half a drachm
  of the root finely  powdered in a  cup of warm Avater, and
  repeats the dose every two hours until the patient is per-
  fectly  recovered, which happens frequently in three days.
  Mr. Mason asserts  that by those simple means he has
  cured  hundreds, and never  failed  in a single instance.
  The poAvdered root frequently acts as a mild purgative,
  but it  is particularly valuable for its virtues as an expec-
  torant, diaphoretic, and febrifuge, and in  this respect its
  efficacy is amply confirmed by the testimony of Dr. Ben-
 jamin  Parker, of Br.dford, Massachusetts,  from  his own
  observation during an extensive practice for many years in
  Virginia.  From the successful employment of the pleu-
  risy root for twenty-five years, this respectable physician
  has imbibed such confidence, that he extols it as possessing
  the peculiar, and almost specific quality of acting on the
  organs of respiration, powerfully promoting suppressed
  expectoration,  and thereby  relieving the  breathing of
  pie iritic patients in the most advanced stage of the dis-
  ease; aud in pneumonic fevers, recent colds, catarrhs and
  diseases of the breast in  general, this remedy has in his 
156
MATERIA  MEDICA.
hands proved equally efficacious.  He directs it to be
given in the form of strong infusion, a tea-cup full every
two or three hours.  By many families in the country
this root has long been esteemed as a domestic medicine,
resorted to for the relief of pains of the stomach  from
flatulence and indigestion, hence the vulgar name of wind
root, by Avhich it  is known in some parts of the country,
and from its colour it is by sonic called white root.   It is
said that by a perseverance for several Aveeks in the use
of about one drachm of the powdered root every day, the
lost tone of the stomach and digestive powers  has been
restored.
  This plant is Avell deserving a place in every garden, it?i
ornamental appearance, and medicinal utility, Avill richly
compensate the cultivator.   I have this season had the
satisfaction of examining a plant of tAventy-nine stalks,
more  than tAVO feet high, spreading like a potatoe hill, the
brancheshandsoniely crowned with elegant orange coloured
flowers, and constantly visited by large brilliant butterflies.
  Other species  of sAvallow-Avort, it is highly probable,
as suggested by Professor Barton, will be  found on trial
to possess medicinal virtues, and they ought to arrest the
attention of physicians in the country, until they become
familiarized to the specific character, and properties of
this valuable class of American plants.
  Dr. Cutler describes another species, asclepias syriara,
or common silkweed, often called also milkweed, fromjts
abundance of milky juice. The leaves are spear or tongue
shaped, larger than the preceding, and in August its ag-
gregate, reddish, or purple blossoms, are exhibited at the
extremities of the branches, and axillae of the leaves.   The
seeds  are contained in large oblong pods, and are crowded
with doAvn extremely fine and soft, resembling silk, Avhich
has occasioned the name of silk weed.  This substance has
been mixed Avith cotton and spun into candle Avicks.  The
stalk  of this species^ from three to  six feet  high, the
leaves large, standing  on short foot stalks.  A milky juice
exudes from the stems or leaves when broken.  The root,
as soon as it penetrates the earth, shoots off horizontally,
and often sends out other stalks.  The large  roots are
cortical and ligneous.  It abounds near fences on the road
side in all parts of the  country.
  Dr. Abijah Richardson of Medway, Massachusetts, has
been induced to try the effects of this  species.   He gave
the cortical part  of the root in powder, one drachm  in a 
MATERIA MEDICA.
157
day, in divided doses,  and also  in strong infusion.   An
asthmatic patient was much benefited by its use.   In  one
case of typhus fever ay ith catarrhal affection of the throat
and bronchia", it rendered the expectoration more copious,
and the matter thicker and more digested.  In both eases
it had an anodyne effect, the patients were relieved from
pain, from dyspnoea and cough, and expectoration became
easier and sleep more refreshing.

Astragalus Tragac antha.    Goatshorn.  The gum
               called gum tragacanth.

   Gum tragacanth is the product of a very thorny shrub,
Avhich grows  on  the  island of  Candia and some other
places in the  Levant.   It is  obtained by  oxidation; it
comes in small rinkled pieces,  semi-transparent and brit-
tle, has neither taste nor smell, and is entirely a pure
gum.  It is greatly superior to  all the gums in giving
vicidity to Avater.   Its solution is not perfectly uniform,
unless boiled  for  some time.  Tragacanth  has virtues
similar to gum arabic, and is principally employed as a
demulcent to  blunt acrimonies,  and as a pharmaceutic
agent.

Atropa Belladonna.  Deadly night-shade.  The leaves.

   The deadly night-shade, is a perennial branching plant,
tAvo or three feet high, growing spontaneously in gloomy
lanes and uncultivated  places.  The leaves" are ovate,
entire.  The flowers come out among the leaves singly,
on long peduncles, in  June and July.  The corolla is
of a dusky broAVn colour, on the out side, and of a dull
purple Avithin; the stalks  have a tinge of the same  co-
lour,  as  have  also the leaves towards autumn.  The
berry is round, green, changing to red, and when ripe of
a shining black, and not unlike a  black cherry in size and
colour. It contains a purple juice of a maAvkish sweetness,
which  stains paper of a beautiful and durable  purple.
The Avhole of this plant is a strong poison of the narcotic
kind; and children have frequently been enticed to  eat
the berries at their peril.  The symptoms excited, are a
dryness of the mouth; a trembling of the tongue; a very
distressing thirst;  difficulty of SAvallowing; fruitless  en-
deavours to vomit; and great anxiety about the prsecordia.
Delirium then comes on with gnashing of the teeth and 
 158              MATERIA MEDICA.
                                                  r
 convulsion.  The pupil remains dilated, and is not sensi-
 ble, even to the stimulus of light.  The face  becomes
 tumid, and of a dark red colour.  The jaws are Iretjuently
 locked:  inflammation attacks the stomach and intestines;
 mortification and death succeed.  The body soon putrilies,
 say ells, and  becomes marked  with livid spots; and the
 stench is insupportable.  The best method of cure is, to
 excite vomiting as soon as possible, to evacuate the bowels
 by purgatives and clysters, and to  give largely, vinegar,
 honey, milk, and oil.  Yet this virulent poison,  under
 proper management, may become  an excellent  remedy.
 Besides  a very remarkable narcotic power, it  possesses
 considerable inihucnce  in promoting all the excretions,
 particularly by sweat, urine, and it is said by saliva; but
 its exhibition  requires the greatest caution;  and Avhen
 dangerous symptoms occur, its use must be  suspended
 for some time, and aftciAvards resumed in smaller doses.
   Deadly night-shade has  been exhibited in several fe-
 brile diseases, in obstinate intermittents, in inflammations
 and gout; in comatose diseases, palsy, and apoplexy; in
 spasmodic diseases ; in chorea, epilepsy, melancholy and
 mania;  in cachectic affections, in  dropsies and obstinate
jaundice; in local diseases;  in amaurosis; in schirrus and
 cancer.  Belladonna is* supposed by some German authors,
 to possess properties adapted to the prevention and cure
 of hydrophobia in doses from two to six grains; and it is
 said to have proved useful in tic douloureux.
   Belladonna is best exhibited in  substance, beginning
 with a very small dose  of the powdered leaves, or root;
 such as the  fourth or eighth of a grain for children, and
 one grain for adults; to be repeated daily, and gradually
increased.   The watery infusion is also a powerful re-
medy ; one scruple of the dried leaves are infused in ten
 ounces  of Avarm Avater, and strained after cooling.  At
first tAvo ounces of this may be given daily to adults, and
gradually increased, until the tension of the throat shews
that it w ouid be dangerous to go farther.  In this manner
Dr. Cullen has repeatedly experienced its efficacy in can*
eerous affections.  Externally the  powdered  leaves are
applied as a narcotic to diminish pain  in cancerous and
other ill  conditioned sores.
   Several species of this  class  of plants are found groAV-
ing spontaneously among us. One of these has a ligneous
stalk Avhich Avith the leaves are armed Avith sharp prickles.
The corolla  is Avhite, the anthers yelloAV. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
159
  The garden night shade has  a branched herbaceous
stalk, unarmed, and is annual.   It is a common Avecd on
dunghills, in gardens and otaer richly cultivated places.
The fruit stalks are lateral, hanging midway between the
leaves.  The flowers grow on a sort of nodding umbel;
the corolla is white from July to October, and the berries,
when ripe, are of a shining black, and about the size of
black cherries.   Dr. Withering  says, from one to th ee
grains of the leaves of garden night  shade  infused in
boiling water, and taken at bed time, occasions a copious
perspiration; increases the secretion by the kidneys, and
generally purges more or less the following day.  These
properties, judiciously applied, render it capable of doing
essential service in several diseases.  But its effects on
the nervous system are  so uncertain, and sometimes so
considerable, that it must ever be administered with the
greatest caution.  The leaves externally applied  abate
inflammation, and assuage pain.  And in inflammations
and swellings, bruises, &c. in horses,  the application of
these leaves has proved of great utility.

                   Aurum.  Gold.

  This metal Avas formerly supposed to possess medicinal
properties, but its preparations have been expunged from
modern pharmacopoeias  as being considered unfriendly to
the human constitution, or devoid of efficacy as a remedy
in disease.
  In  a  publication printed at Paris in 1811 by Dr. J. A.
Chresticn of Montpellier, the medical faculty are again
invited to investigate the properties of gold.  The author
proposes a preparation of this metal as a new remedy for
the treatment of venereal and lymphatic disorders.  His
numerous experiments  on the anti-syphilitic powers of
the preparations  of gold,  have greatly elated his lio;>es,
and rendered him so sanguine as to affirm, that their effi-
cacy is  equal if not superior to that  of mercury, that
they are capable of effecting a radical cure of the varied
forms of this disease, Avithout producing salivation, or any
derangement of the  functions of the  body, and thar. no
season, no temperament, and no complication of the dis-
ease can create any obstacle to their efficacy.
  Of the above assertions we are not left destitute of
'•(♦rroborativc evidence. 
160
MATERIA  Mr-IHCA.
   Doctors Seaman and Pascalis  of New-York  have ex-
perienced the anti-syphilitic virtues of the preparations of
this metal, and their observations,  so far  as they have
extended,  are  in confirmation of  the  opinion of Dr.
Chrestien.
   Gold may be employed, for this purpose, in the state—
1. Of minute  dhision.   2. Of oxide.  3.  Of  oxide  in
combination Avith ammonia,   i. Of oxide in combination
Avith oxide of tin.   5.  Of muriate.
   The first of these, denominated  by the  author, " Or
devise,"  Avas prepared by  forming  an amalgam of gold
and  quicksilver,  and afterwards  AvithdraAving the latter
by exposing the compound to the rays of the sun concen-
trated by a convex lens, to the heat of a fire, or to the
action of nitric acid.   The gold remained in the form of
an impalpable powder.
   The yellow oxide of gold Avas obtained by precipitating
it from its  solution in nitro-muriatic acid by potash. The
manner of effecting this he has not  mentioned, and, as it
will be seen beloAV, there are some  difficulties in the way
of preparing it of an uniform strength.  The oxide precipi-
tated from its solution by ammonia Avas soon laid aside
from the danger of its spontaneous explosion.
   The compound oxide of gold and tin, may be  obtained
by mixing  the solutions of these  metals,  or by adding
metallic tin in filings to a diluted solution of gold.  He-
prefers the latter.
   The muriate of gold, says Dr.  Chrestien, procured by
evaporating the solution to dryness, Avas  so  deliquescent,
and caustic, that I made but little use of it; but supposing
a  muriate  with two bases might obviate these  inconve-
niences, I combined the muriate of soda with the solution
of gold, and obtained the desired  product.
   Numerous detailed cases are given in the subsequent
part of his  Avork on the effects of  each of these  prepara-
tions, in  syphilis.   Tiiey differ much from each other in
activity,  the oxides producing more speedy effects than
the poAvdered gold, and the muriate more poAverful action
than the oxides.   They Avere  all administered  by fric-
tion on the tongue, cheeks, or gums.  The or devise was
thus prescribed to the extent  of three graius in a day;
the oxide precipitated by potash in a dose of half a grain
gradually augmented to tAvo grains ; the compound oxide
of tin and gold in  rather smaller doses;  and lastly, the
muriate of gold in the quantity of from  one-fifteenth to 
MATERIA MEDICA.
161
 one-tenth of a grain.   On account of the superior acthi-
 ty of the latter,  he found it necessary to  mix  it  Avith
 certain substances Avhich were capable of diminishing its
 energy, Avithout abstracting  its  oxygen.   He employed
 for this purpose starch, charcoal, and painters lac.
   From the variety of cases brought forward by the
 author, to prove the activity, and the anti-syphilitic vir-
 tues of gold, Ave collect that  Avithin a moderate time it
 cures chancres, Avarts, secondary ulcers,  sore throats,
 and other forms of inveterate lues.  This favourite reme-
 dy of Dr. Chrestien is said also to  have effected impor-
 tant cures incases of diseases  of the uterus, of goitre,
 and  other lymphatic  diseases or  obstructions;  in  all
 similar affections, therefore, it is undoubtedly deserving
 of trial.
   It seems  proper here to  direct to the best mode of
 obtaining the  preparations of this  metal of an  uniform
 strength.
   Gold, in a state  of minute division,  may be procured
 with facility, by pouring into a  diluted solution of this
 metal a solution of green sulphate  of iron; a brown or
 bluish broYvn poAvder will be precipitated, which is metal-
 lic gold minutely divided.  The  best proportions of the
 acids to dissolve this metal, according to Vauquelinare,
 two parts of muriatic to one of nitric acid.   Potash and
 soda, and their carbonates, do not  decompose the  solu-
 tion at common temperatures; they merely give it a deep
 red colour with a  little turbidness.  The red substance
 Avhen dried has the  appearance of dried blood.   It has
 a styptic metallic taste, and is slightly soluble in water.
 It is inferred to be a compound  of oxide of gold with a
 minute portion of muriate of gold.
  To precipitate the greatest quantity of oxide from  its
 solution, by means  of the  alkalis, we. must manage so
 that no useless acid shall remain in the solution, in order
 that less of the triple salt may be formed;  this is effected
hy evaporation to dryness, very cautiously conducted, the
product being again dissolved in distilled water.
  The compound oxide  of gold   and tin, or the purple
powder of Cassius, may be  formed either  by adding the
solutions of tin  and gold much diluted to each other,  or
by immersing  metallic tin in  a diluted  solution  of gold.
It is so difficult properly to prepare the solution of tin, so
as always to produce the same colour and the same rela-
tive proportions in the component parts ef the precipitate; ' 
162
MATERIA MEDICA.
that the latter method is preferable ; the neutral solution
of gold  being diluted Avith one hundred parts  of distilled
Avater, and metallic tin being added to it.  The formation
and preservation of the muriate of gold is a Avork of some
difficulty.  The evaporation of the solution must be very
carefully  conducted ;  for the affinity betAveen this metal
and oxygen is so slight, that a moderate degree of heat is
sufficient to overcome it.  When therefore  the tempera-
ture is high, the muriate will be  decomposed, part of the
gold will appear in the form of purple oxide,  and part in
its metallic  state.   When properly prepared, it  has a
strong attraction for moisture, it soon deliquesces, and
becomes soft and even liquid.
  The preparations of this  metal Avere administered by
Dr.  Chrestien, by friction ;  but if Ave reason from analo-
gy,  more  positive effects might be  supposed to follow
from its being taken internally.  No  difficulty would be
experienced in  preparing the oxide for this purpose; and
the muriate might, with equal facility, be exhibited either
by forming a triple muriate in the liquid form, or by dis-
solving  the muriate of gold in a given portion of distilled
water.—Med. Repos. Hex. 3. vol. 3. JV. Eng. Med. Jour-
nal, JVo. 3.

  We Avait the issue of more extensive experience and
observation to decide Avhether gold is entitled to  all, or
any part of the merit ascribed to it  as a remedy, and is
calculated to supersede the mercurial  practice so long
and so successfully established.

          Avena  Sativa.   Oats.  The seeds.

  When deprived of their husks and formed into groats,
oats are converted  into an excellent  dish for the infirm
and diseased.   When  ground into meal,  and boiled in
Avater, they afford a thick and nourishing mucilage, Avhich,
with the addition of a few currants,  is  very Avholcsome,
and  produces a mildly laxative effect.  An infusion of
the husks in water, allowed  to remain until  it becomes
acidulous,  is boiled down to  a  jelly, Avhich is called
soAvins.   In these forms, oats are nutritious and easy of
digestion.
  Gruels or decoctions,  of groats  or  oatmeal, either
plain, acidified, or  sweetened, form an excellent drink in
febrile diseases, diarrhoea, dysentery, &c. and from their 
                   MATERIA MEDICA.             163

demulcent properties, prove useful in inflammatory dis-
orders, coughs, hoarseness,  roughness,  and exulceration
of the fauces.

               Bismuthum.  Bismuth.

  This metal is of a Avhite colour with a shade of yelloAV,
has a foliated fracture, is brittle, very fusible, capable of
being  volatilized,  and easily susceptible  of  oxidation.
Though it has not been received into the pharmacopoeias
it has a claim to a place in the materia medica, as its
oxide, or rather sub-nitrate, has been employed Avith con-
siderable  advantage  in gastrodynia, pyrosis, and other
affections  connected Avith debility of the digestive organs.
This preparation is obtained by decomposing the solution
of bismuth  in nitric  acid by the affusion of water; the
sub-nitrate is precipitated, and is washed and dried. It is
given in a dose from tAVO to six grains, two grains being
given tAvice  or thrice a day, or in more severe cases, five
grains given at once.  In these doses it scarcely produces
any other sensible effect  than a remission of pain, and
ultimately,  a removal of the morbid  state from which
this has arisen.
  The introduction  of this  remedy into practice is of
recent date, but we are possessed of the most convincing
proofs of its having been successfully employed by several
eminent  practitioners both in Europe and the  United
States.
  Dr. Odier, of  Geneva, first introduced this mineral
into practice, and Dr. Marcet, physician to Guy's hospi-
tal, London, and Dr. Bardsley of the Manchester infir-
mary, have  experienced its medicinal poAvers;  and Drs.
Post, Osborn and  Stringham of NeAV-York, have added
their testimony in favour of its efficacy, as an antispasmo-
dic, particularly in cramps and other painful affections of
the stomach.
  In an inaugural dissertation by Dr. Samuel W. Moore
of New-York, it is the object of the author to present a
knowledge of the medicinal powers of the white oxide of
bismuth, and to recommend its use in gastrodynia, pyrosis,
cardialgia, and other affections of the stomach connected
witli dyspepsia.  He relates several eases of the successful
employment of the remedy, and from the most unques-
tionable authority furnishes decisive evidence of its efficacy
in the complaints above mentioned,  in  those affeetions 
t'6-i.
MATERIA  MEDICA.
of the stomach whether from intemperance or other cause.
wliich proceed from a want of tone in its muscular fibres,
and where there is a disposition in that organ to generate
acid, the oxide of bismuth, it is said, effects a permanent
cure, when alkalis and  absorbent earths afford but tem-
porary relief.
  The reviewers of Dr. Moore's dissertation in the New-
England Medical Journal,  after  duly  applauding the
author,  thus express their opinion of the utility of the
oxide of bismuth.
  " The action of this substance on the stomach is that of
a mild and effectual tonic; and from our own experience
of its virtues, Ave  do  not hesitate to affirm with Odier,
Marcet, Bardsley, and Moore, that in pyrosis, cardialgia,
and  more  particularly  gastrodynia, it  operates more
speedily, and Avith more certainty, than any other article
of the materia medica.   In the  course  of the last five
years, ay e have frequently prescribed it in these forms of
dyspepsia Avith  almost uniform success;  and although a
medicine possessing such active properties might be sup-
posed occasionally to produce some unpleasant  effects on
the system, we have  never known any injurious conse-
quences to result from its exhibition.  A substance Avhich
discovers such qualities ought to be more generally known
and more frequently administered; for even on the suppo-
sition that  it is capable of producing no  greater effects
than those  of the medicines usually prescribed in these
complaints, its use will be attended with the advantage of
discarding  in  some  measure, from  practice  the long
continued employment of alcohol and bitters, Avhich ulti-
mately  lessen the activity of the digestive organs, and
either prolong or perpetuate the disease they were intend-
ed to relieve."
  The oxide of bismuth is prepared, as recommended by
Br. M. according to the folloAving process.
  The bismuth to be  dissolved should be previously re-
duced to poAvder in an iron mortar.  Let  three parts of
nitric acid for one of bismuth be diluted Avith an equal
weight  of pure water.   To this menstruum, contained in
a glass vessel, add the bismuth  at intervals,  and let it
stand till it is  all dissolved.  Let the clear solution be
decanted from  the sediment, and  a few ounces of it be
poured  into a glass vessel, capable of containing half as
many gallons as there have been measured ounces put in;
the vessel is then filled Avith pure (distilled) water, when 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
165
 a copious and perfectly Avhite precipitate will be instan-
 taneously formed, giving to the liquid  the appearance of
 milk.  After this has subsided, the clear fluid must be
 decanted, and fresh Avater thrown on  the precipitate to
 wash it.  This operation must be repeated several times,
 till no acid taste  is discoverable  in the  decanted  Avater.
 This precipitate, wliich is pure Avhite  oxide of bismuth,
 should be suffered to dry Avithout heat, or indeed light,
 for the attraction betAveen oxygen and bismuth is so weak,
 that if the oxide, Avhile drying, be exposed either to a mo-
 derate artificial  heat, or the direct rays of the  sun, it
 parts Avith a portion of its oxygen, and loses its Avhiteness.
   The usual dose in Avhich this substance is prescribed is
 five or six grains twice or thrice a day, mixed with any
 convenient vehicle, such as the powder of gum tragacanth,
 gum Arabic, sugar, or starch, in  the  proportion  of one
 grain of the oxide to four or five of the poAvder of either
 of these substances.   It is extremely probable that other
 medical  properties of  this valuable article are  yet  to
 be ascertained by more extensiAe research and experi-
 ment.

  Bitumen Petroleum.  Rock Oil.  Barbadoes Tar.

   Bitumen is now employed as a generic name  for seve-
 ral inflammable bodies of different degrees of consistency
 from perfect fluidity to that of a brittle, but xery fusible
 solid, and of little specific gravity.
   Petroleum is  a bitumen of a  red  colour, and thick
 consistence, of a disagreeable smell, and a  bitter, acrid
 taste. In medicinal virtues,  it participates of those  of
 oil of amber, and of turpentine.   It is, at present, very
 rarely employed as a medicine; some  of the more com-
 mon  mineral  oils being  preferred.   An oil extracted
 from a kind of  stone-coal, has been extolled, under the
 name of British-oil, for external purposes; against rheu-
 matic pains, paralytic  complaints, and  for preventing
 chilblains.   Even this is often counterfeited, by  adding a
 small portion of the  oil of amber, to the  common ex-
 pressed oils.
   The Barbadoes tar is found in several of the West India
islands, where it is esteemed by the inhabitants of great
service as a sudorific, and in disorders of the breast and
lungs; though in cases of this kind, attended with inflam-
mation, it is certainly improper. 
166
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  Bubon  Galbanum.  Loveaged  Leaved  Bubon.   The
               gum resin, called galbanum.

    Galbanum  is obtained  by exudation from incisions,
  made in the stem of a  perennial plant, which groAVs in
  Africa.  The best kind of galbanum consists of pale co-
  loured pieces, about the size of a hazel  nut, which on
  being broken, appear to be composed of clear white tears,
  of a bitterish acrid taste, and a strong peculiar smell.
  Alcohol dissolves its resin, in Avhich its principal Airtiies
  reside.   Proof spirit dissolves it entirely,  the impurities
  excepted.  Triturated with water, it forms a milky-like
  fluid.                                           J
   Galbanum possesses the virtues of the foetid gums, and
  is used for the same purposes; dose from ten grains to one
 drachm.  It is chiefly employed in the form of plaster
 to Avhite SAvellings, and it is supposed to resolve and dis-
 cuss tumors, and to promote suppuration; but for these
 purposes, it is more efficacious in a liquid state.  In hys-
 teric spasms and inflamed haemorrhoids,  no application
 can afford more effectual relief, than a tincture from this
 gum; but in the latter case, the painful parts ought to be
 covered with linen rags,  moistened in lime water, before
 the  tincture is dropped upon them.

       Calx.  Lime, recently burnt.   Ojiick-Ijime.

   This article is a soft, white, friable substance, prepared
 from marble, chalk, and other calcareous earths, by the
 process of calcination.   All calcareous earths, whether
 in the form of marble, lime stone, chalk, marine shells,
 ccc.  are convertible into quick lime by the action of heat.
   1 liese substances are found in a state of combination
 Avith the carbonic acid or fixed air.  During the process
 of calcination, the  carbonic  acid is expelled from the
 carbonates,  in the state of gas or air;  and the product is
 quick-lime  in a caustic state.   As quick-lime attracts
 moisture and carbonic acid from the atmosphere, it should
 J»e always recently prepared,  or  preserved  in very close
 bottles for medicinal use.
  Lime is soluble in water in small quantity; the solution
 has a styptic taste and is the form under which lime has
been medicinally employed.  It  is used  with  advantage
m dyspepsia; its beneficial effects arising principally from 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
167
 its tonic and astringent quality, as in the small quantity
 which Avater can dissolve, it can have little effect by any
 chemical agency in obviating acidity. It is employed too
 as an astringent in chronic diarrhsea and in leueorrhaea.
 As a pure tonic, the product of the combination of it with
 muriatic acid, the muriate has been introduced into prac-
 tice as much superior in efficacy to muriate of barytes, and
 a formula for preparing it is given by the Edinburgh and
 Dublin colleges.  It has been used principally in scrofula
 and hectic feA'er, and in dyspepsia.  Its dose is from half
 a drachm to a drachm of its saturated solution; and as it
 is a medicine of considerable activity, it requires to be
 given with caution.  On the living body, lime acts as  an
 escharotic,  and as such is applied to ill-conditioned sores,
 to soften their callus edges.  Farriers are in the practice
 of applying  lime to ulcers and other  sores of horses, Avith
 much benefit, as a convenient, cheap, and useful escharotic.
 Lime is much used in pharmacy, for the purpose of form-
 ing lime water, and as a chemical agent in several prepa-
 rations.

         Cancer Astagus.  The Craw Fish.
 Cancer Pagurus. The black clawed Crab. The claAvs,
                   called crabs' eyes.
   In the head and  stomach of the craAV fish, are  found
 certain concretions, about the size of peas, or larger, of
 a Avhite colour, and sometimes of a redish and bluish east.
 They are prepared by levigation and washing with water.
 They are termed lapilli  cancrorum p'wparati, formerly
 occuli cancrorum prmparati.  The tips of the claAvs of the
 common crab, are precisely similar  in composition, and
 are prepared in the same manner.  They are  named
 chela; cancrorum prazparatce.   Both these substances are
 carbonates  of lime, free  from the other earths, Avhich
 chalk always contains, and therefore preferable to it for
 medicinal use.

     Canella Alba.   Canella Alba.  The bark.

  This is the inner bark of the branches of a tree which
is very common in Jamaica and other West-India islands.
 It is in quills, or flat pieces, of a  light brown or grayish
 colour; its  flavour is aromatic,  and its taste pungent,
Canella is a  moderately strong aromatic, and is employed 
168
MATERIA  MEBICA.
 principally on account of its ilavour.  It enters iuto  the
 composition of several tinctures, and is scarcely applied
 to any other use.

   Capsicum  Annuum.  Cockspur-Pepper.  The fruit.

   This species of pepper is a native of South America,
 and is cultivated extensively in the West-India islands.
 The pods are long, pointed, and pendulous, at first of a
 green colour, and  afterwards  of a bright orange red.
 The taste of capsicum is extremely pungent and acrimo-
 nious ;  setting  the mouth, as it were, on fire.  Its pun-
 gency is completely extracted  by alcohol, and partly by
 water.
   Cayenne pepper is  an indiscriminate mixture  of  the
 powder of the  dried pods of many  species of capsicum.
 These peppers have been chiefly used  as  a condiment.
 They prevent flatulence from vegetable food, and have a
 warm kindly effect upon the stomach.  An abuse of them,
 hoAvever, gives rise to visceral obstructions, especially of
 the liver.  Of late they have been employed  also in the
 practice of medicine.  There can be little doubt, but they
 furnish us with one of the purest and strongest stimulants,
 that can be introduced into  the stomach; Avhile,  at the
 same time, they have nothing of the narcotic  effects of
 ardent spirits.  Dr. Adair Makitrick, who  Avas perhaps
 the first that employed them as a Htedicine, directs them
 to be  given to the extent of six or eight grains, under the
 form of pills; or in tincture, made by infusing half an ounce
 of the pods, in a pound of rectified spirit, and to be given
 from  one,  to three drachms in a dose.  He  has found
 them  useful in a variety of affections, particularly in that
 morbid disposition, Avhich he calls the cachexia africana;
 and which  he considers as a most frequent and fatal pre-
disposition to disease among the slaves.  Dr. Wright says,
 that in dropsical and other complaints, where chalybeates
 are indicated, a minute portion of poAvdered  capsicum,
forms an excellent addition, and recommends  its use in
lethargic affections.
   This pepper has also been successfully employed,  in-
fused  in vinegar, as a gargle in a  species  of cynanchc
maligna, which proved very fatal  in  the West-Indies,
resisting the peruvian bark, Avine. and the other remedies
eommonly  employed.  The practice, though  successful 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
169
 in the West-Indies, it is said, is not Avithout danger from
 the inflammation it is liable to induce.
   In  tropical fevers,  coma and delirium  are common
 attendants; and in such  cases, cataplasms of capsicum
 have a speedy and happy effect.   They redden the parts,
 but seldom blister, unless kept on too long. In ophthalmia,
 from relaxation, the diluted juice of capsicum is a sove-
 reign remedy.

          Carbo Ligni.  Charcoal of  Wood.

   Common charcoal of wood, (carbonous oxide) or carbon
 of the French chemists, is a sort of artificial coal, con-
 sisting of half burnt Avood.  It is  in  the form  of solid
 masses of a black colour, is brittle, and has neither smell
 nor taste.  It is extremely porous,  and therefore absorbs
 light strongly, Avhich accounts for its blackness;  for, the
 rays of light, striking on the charcoal, are received and
 absorbed in its pores, instead of being reflected, whence,
 the body must of necessity appear black.   This substance
 also attracts air from the atmosphere, which it continues
 to absorb for a considerable time.   It is insoluble  in
 water, and a bad conductor of caloric, but an excellent
 one of electricity.
   This substance is found to consist of 63, 86  of carbon,
 and 36,14. of  oxygen.
   Charcoal possesses a number  of singular properties,
 which render it of considerable importance in many re-
 spects.    It is incapable  of putrifying  or  rotting,  like
 wood; and  so remarkable is the durability of this sub-
 stance, that it may be preserved to an indefinite length of
 time; for there yvt exists, according to Dodart, charcoal
 made of corn, (probably in the days of Csesar,) which  is
 in so complete a state, that the wheat maybe distinguish-
 ed from  the rye.  Besides the great advantage  which this
 article affords to the artist and manufacturer, it has been
 of late  employed Avith considerable success—First, in
 correcting the burnt, or  empyreumatie  taste in ardent
 spirits—Secondly,  in depriving rancid oil of its disagreea-
 ble flavour—Thirdly, in restoring  putrid meat.   For
these useful purposes, it should be previously reduced to
poAvder, and that only used which is fresh  prepared, or
has been kept  in close vessels, that it shall have absorbed
no fixed air from the common atmosphere.  The tainted
flavour of ardent spirits,  or the unpleasant one of those
         no 
170
MATERIA  MEDICA.
distilled from grain, may be entirely destroyed, by merehr
shaking it with powdered charcoal.
  Charcoal is of still greater utility for purifying water
on ship board. The most offensive water may be rendered
perfectly sweet, by merely filtrating it  through maple,
hickory, or oak coal and sand.  New made charcoal, by
being rolled up in cloths that have contracted a disagreea-
ble  odour, effectually destroys it; and the bad taint of
meat, beginning to putrify, is in like manner corrected.
It is possible  that meat surrounded  by fresh charcoal,
might keep sweet for months.  On account of its absorbent
and antiseptic properties, this substance promises to be of
considerable service in medicine.  It has been found to
arrest the progress of mortification, Avhen applied in the
form  of medicated poultice to the affected part, and fre-
quently repeated.   In a variety of instances it has been
found to have a remarkable effect, in removing habitual
costiveness, without inducing an extraordinary degree of
Aveakness, especially if it be mixed Avith syrup of yellow
roses.  Many persons, afflicted Avith that disagreeable
complaint, a  foetid  breath from a costive habit, have
obtained effectual relief by taking two or three times in a
day, a table spoonful of each of the above articles. Char-
coal,  made from maple Avood, or burnt bread, finely pow-
dered, makes  a  simple, efficacious, and safe tooth powder.
Avhich is preferable to  any  other.   It  neutralizes,  and
entirely destroys for a time, any farter Avhich may arise
from  a carious tooth.   It has lately been found  to cure
tinea  capitis,  by being sprinkled over the  ulcer in  fine
powder.
  The most  eligible  process for preparing charcoal for
medicinal uses,  free from all impurities and disagreeable
taste, is, to inclose small billets of wood in  an iron  cylin-
der, having a  tube fixed to one end, and distill them until
no more smoke and Avater escape from the tube.   Then
put out the fire, and close the mouth with clay, until the
cylinder cool.  The barrels of old  guns or pistols, may
serve for this purpose; or the pieces of wood may be put
into a pot not closely covered, and surrounded with  live
coals, until  all  smoke from the pot  shall cease.   Then
remove the coals and  closely lute the  cover Avith clay,
until  the pot cool. Or pulverize some Avell burnt common
charcoal, and then beat it in  a  covered  crucible to  a
glowing red, till it cease to give out any inflammable va-
pour.  It should be immediately secured in well stopped 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
171
 glass bottles, and in that way it may be preserved unim-
 paired for any length of time.
   Charcoal is one of the greatest non-conductors of heat.
 This quality renders it applicable to  a variety of eco-
 nomical purposes.

                Carbonas.  Carbonate.

   Is a generic name for the combinations of the carbonic
 acid, with earths, alkalis, and metallic oxyds.
   The  nature of these  substances was totally unknoAvn
 until the year 1756, when the genius  of Dr. Black at
 once removed the veil, and displayed to his  contempora-
 ries a neAV and immense field, in which the most important
 discoveries might be made; and to their ardour in culti-
 vating it, we are indebted for the present state of chemical
 knoAvledge.
   Before the brilliant  epoch Ave  have mentioned, the
 carbonates were supposed  to be simple bodies; and the
 facts of their acquiring new and caustic properties by the
 action of fire, was attempted to be explained by supposing
 the particles of fire  combined with them.   Dr. Black,
 however, demonstrated by proofs that carried universal
 conviction along with them,  that  these bodies in their
 caustic state are simple, and that their mildness is owing
 to their being combined with an aeid, to which the name
 of carbonic is now given.
   The most general character of the carbonates, is their
 effervescing violently when any of the stronger acids are
 poured  upon them.  This phenomenon is owing to these
 acids displacing,  by their greater affinity, the carbonic
 acid, Avhich flies off in the form of gas.
   The carbonates may be  also deprived  of the carbonic
 acid, either by the action  of heat  alone, or by  heating
 them Avhen mixed with charcoal, which  decomposes the
 carbonic acid, by combining Avith part of its oxygen, so
 that both the acid and charcoal are converted into car-
 bonic oxyd gas.
  The carbonates may be divided into three great fami-
 lies : the alkaline, the earthy, and the metallic.
  Family 1st. The alkaline carbonates have an acrimo-
 nious taste; tinge vegetable blues green, and are soluble
in Avater, and insoluble in alcohol.
  Family 2d. The earthy carbonates  are  insipid,  and
insoluble in water, but soluble in water saturated with
carbonic acid. 
172
MATERIA  MEDICA.
   Family 3d. The metallic carbonates  scarcely differ in
 appearance from the metallic oxyds.
   We shall  have  occasion immediately to  notice some
 individuals  of each of these families.

     Carbonas Barytes.   Carbonate of Barytes.

   Carbonated baryta is rarely found in nature, and as it
 was first discovered by Dr. Withering, Mr. Werner gave
 it the name of Witherite.
   Its colour is grayish white, sometimes inclining to milk
 white, and sometimes Avith a slight tinge of yellow.   It
 is found in  solid masses, sometimes filling an entire vein,
 sometimes interspersed with sulphated baryta, frequently
 rounded,  or effecting  that  form,  seldom  crystalyzed.
 Although it has no sensible taste, it is poisonous; even in
 a small  dose, it occasions dangerous  symptoms.  It is
 used  for preparing the muriate of baryta, to which the
 reader is referred.

   Carbonas Calcis.   Carbonate of Lime.  Chalk.

   1. Soft Carbonate of Lime, called Chalk.
   2. Indurated Carbonate of Lime, called Marble.

   Of the two varieties of this article, the soft carbonate
 of lime,  Creta alba, white chalk, is principally enmioved
 In medicine. This is a  carbonate of lime found 'abun-
 dantly in nature; it always contains more or less argilla-
 ceous, and siliceous earths.  From the grosser impurities
 with which it is  mixed, it is  freed by levigation and
 washing.  It is then termed prepared chalk, and is very
 commonly employed as an antacid.  As the salt it forms
 with the acid in the  stomach, has  no purgative  quality,
it is the one commonly employed  to  check diarrhoea,
proceeding from acidity.   It is given in a dose of one or
two drachms, with  the addition of a small quantity of any
aromatic.  In pharmacy, it is employed for the prepara-
tion  of carbonic acid gas, and of the muriate of  lime.
Powdered chalk has been externally applied with success
to scalds and burns. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
173
Carbonas  Potass.e Impurus.   Impure Carbonate of
              Potass, called Pearl Ashes.

  The potashes of commerce are made by reducing large
quantities of wood of any kind to ashes; this process is
termed incineration.  The ashes, which are of a blackish
gray, or white colour, are next boiled in water, so as to
form a strong lixivium or ley; Avhich, after being strain-
ed, is evaporated in an iron vessel almost to dryness.  The
saline matter whieh remains at the bottom, is then put
into  a crucible, and liquified over an intense  heat, and
poured out on  iron plates, Avhere it speedily cools, and
assumes the form  of concrete salt.  This, however, being
mixed with many impurities, is again burnt in a reverba-
tory furnace, and in this  state, although  not free from
impurities, it receives the name of pearl ashes.  This is
the fixed vegetable alkali, and was  formerly known in
Pharmacopoeias under the names of Sal Absiuthii, Sal
Tartari, &c.  and by the  London College, Kali.    But,
since the fixed vegetable alkali, from whatever vegetable
it has been produced, is  one and the same thing; those
several terms as leading to error, have been with justice
expunged, and the neAV chemical term potassa, universal-
ly adopted.
  The best vegetable alkali is obtained  from weeds, the
ashes of which yield a larger proportion of salt,  than
most kinds of wood; and among these, wormAVOod is said
to produce the largest quantity.   This kind of salt never
preexists in the vegetable, but is ahvays generated during
the burning.   These salts are acrid  and caustic.  They
may be purified sufficiently, for pharmaceutical uses, by
lixiviating them in cold Avater, and evaporating the ley
to dry ness in an iron pot.
  Potassa is  of extensive use in medicine, and particu-
larly serviceable in complaints of the stomach and intes-
tines, produced by acids.   The medicinal virtues  of this
salt are, to attenuate the juices, resolve obstructions, and
promote the natural secretions.  A diluted  solution  of it,
drank warm in bed, generally excites sweat; if  that eva-
cuation is not favoured, its sensible operation is  by urine.
When acidities abound in the first passages, this salt ab-
sorbs the acid, and unites with it, into a mild,  aperient,
neutral salt.  As one of its principal effects is to render
the animal fluids more thin; it is obvious, that where they 
174
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  are already colliquated as in scurvies, and  in  all putrid
  disorders,  in general this medicine is improper.*
    The common dose of this  salt  is  from  two or three
  grains to a scruple, or even to a drachm.   Its acrimony
  must, however,  be  sheathed with  some  mucilage, or
  largely diluted with watery liquors.
    But potassa is more frequently  employed in a neutral-
 ized state with the vegetable acids. It is of late employed
 in calculous complaints, but its continued use seldom fails
 to injure the constitution, or the intestinal  canal.

   * According  to  the  theory of Dr.  Mitchell, and other re-
 spectable writers in the United States, alkaline salts, both fixed
 and volatile, but  more especially potash and  soda, are the
 greatest determents, or purifiers, which are known.  They are
 capable of resisting the dangerous progress of  the septic acid,
 abounding in  pestilential or  infectious  air.  Hence they are
 employed  as the principal and  active ingredient in  soaps, and
 are signally active  in the form of lixivia, or leys, in cleansing
 and purifying apartments  in houses  and ships, when infected
 with putrid exhalations.   Alkalis, too, are the most powerful
 antiseptics with which we  are acquainted.  Potash and soda
 are remarkable for removing tainted and  foetid odours, and for
 keeping animal substances sweet, entire, and free from decay.
 They cleanse garments, and every thing else which is contami.
 nated with common filth, infection, and contagion, which they
 neutralize, and render harmless.  Alkalis are admirable reme.
 dies in  fevers, and in dysentery.  Administered  by the mouth,
 they neutralize in their passage through the alimentary canal,
 the septic  acid, which  is the existing cause, and, injected in
 clysters, they allay tenesmus like a charm.
   In both  cases they mitigate pain, allay spasmodic action, and
 restore and equalize the peristaltic motion.   They  effectually
 destroy the foetor and infection  of the stools.
   Alkalis are also excellent helps in surgery; many foul ulcers
 are very much benefited by their application with  the dressings,
 in weak, watery solution.  Experiments have proved, that in
 foul and degenerate ulcers,  of  the common,  as well as of  the
 syphilitic,  cancerous, and scrofulous kinds, the matter secreted
 on their surfaces, degenerates to a venemous acid ; the propriety
 of alkaline dressings, therefore, will be instantly apparent.
  These and other properties of alkalis, have  been treated
 of in Dr. Mitchell's  Essays, published in the several volumes
 of the Medical  Repository of  New- York; where the  reader
 will find a large  body of evidence in favour of  the  antiputri-
factive and aiitipestilential properties  of  alkalis, and of their
virtues in  curing various diseases. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
175
  It is applied externally as a stimulant to  the inactive
state of the vessels, in certain foul ulcers.
  Dr. Mitchell recommends the use of potash cakes for
children, to  prevent the injurious effects of acidity in
their stomachs, and mitigate the disorders to Avhich their
bowels are liable.   He observes, that those children who
have been aecustomed to eat cakes, a little tinctured with
this excellent ingredient, groAV fat and healthy.

Carhonas Sod^; Impurus.  Impure Carbonate of Soda.

  The  fixed mineral, or fossil alkali, called soda, is  a
very common mineral production.  It is the basis of sea
salt, and is found on the surface  of the  earth in Egypt,
Syria, Barbary, &c. but  the native production  being
found greatly inadequate to the consumption of this arti-
cle, in the arts and manufactures; it is iioav obtained by the
incineration  of marine plants,  especially the  Spanish
Barilla, Kali, &c.  These plants, after being dried, are
throAvn into a deep pit,  where they are burnt.  When the
incineration is complete, the soda is found at the bottom,
caked into a solid  mass.  When  good, it is firm,  heavy,
dry, sonorous, spongy, and internally of a blue colour,
mixed with white spots ;  does not deliquesce,  emits  no
unpleasant smell on solution, and does not leave a large
proportion of insoluble matter.  In medicine,  this salt
possesses similar virtues with the carbonate of potash,
and from its  crystalizability and efflorescence Avhen ex-
posed to the air, it is preferable to it,  because its dose
may be more  accurately ascertained, and may be given.
either in the form  of poAvder or pills.   A solution of soda
is an excellent gargle  for cleansing the throat, mouth,
and gums, both in a sound  and a diseased state; Avhile it
Avhitens  the teeth, and dissolves all  incrustations that
may have been formed on their surfaces, Avithout injuring
their enamel.   A small quantity of this  liquid occasion-
ally swalloAved, after washing the fauces, is said effectually
to remove a foetid breath.  Soda is also in many instan-
ces preferable to magnesia, for correcting acidity in the
stomach.  It  also acts  as a tonic, and in many instances
gives great relief in calculous complaints, although there
can be little reliance placed upon it us a lithontriptic. 
176
METERIA MEDICA.
 Carboxas Zixci Imfurus.  Impure Carbonate of Zhie.

   This mineral is found plentifully in England, Germa-
 ny, and other countries, either in distinct mines, or inter-
 mingled with the ores  of different metals.  It is usually
 of a grayhm, brownish, yelloYvish,  or pale reddish colour.
 This mineral, formerly called Lapis Calaminaris, is gen-
 erally roasted, before  it comes into the shops, to render
 it more easily reducible into a fine powder.  In this state
 it is employed in collyria, against defluctions of thin acrid
 humours  upon the eyes, and is the basis of the common
 healing cerate.

        Carum Carui.  Caraway.  The seeds.

   This is an indigenous, biennial plant, cultivated in our
 gardens, both for medicinal and culinary uses.   On ac-
 count of their aromatic  smell, and ay arm pungent taste,
 the seeds  of caraway may be  classed among the  finest
 stomachics and carminatives of our climate.   To persons
 afflicted ay ith flatulency, and liable to colics, if adminis-
 tered in proper quantities, they generally afford conside-
 rable relief, and may sometimes be used with advantage
 in tertian agues.

      Cassia Fistula.   Cassia Tree.   The fruit.

   This tree is indigenous in India  and Egypt,  and is cul-
 tivated  in Jamaica.    Its fruit  is  a  cylindrical pod,
 scarcely an inch in diameter,  a foot or more in length;
 the  outside is a hard, brovyn bark ; the inside is divided
 by thin, transverse, Avoody plates, covered with a soft
 black pulp, of a sweetish taste, with some degree of acri-
 mony.  This pulp,  which dissolves,  for  the  most part,
 both in water and rectified spirit, is a gentle laxative, and
is frequently given  in doses of  several drachms, to per-
 sons of costive habits.   In inflammatory complaints, it  is
 sometimes administered in much larger doses, from one
 to tAvo  ounces, Avhen  acrid purgations  are  improper;
though  it is apt to nauseate the  stomach, to produce
flatulency, and griping; especially if the pulp be of an
inferior kind, or spoiled by long keeping: these effects
may, hoAvever, be obviated by the  addition of  aromatic^
and by taking it in a liquid form. 
materia  medica.               177
   There are several species of cassia in the United States.
 Cassia Marilandiea is used in the southern states, as a
 purgative, and possesses nearly the same virtues as the
 senna of the shops.

        Cassia Senna.  Senna.   The  leaves.

   This species of  cassia is annual, although in its mode
 of growth, it  resembles a  shrub, and sends  out hollow,
 woody stems, to the height of four feet.  It is principally
 brought to  us from Alexandria, in Egypt.  The leaves,
 the only part in use, are of an oblong figure, sharp point-
 ed at the ends, about a quarter of an inch broad, and not
 a  full inch in length, of a lively yellowish green colour,
 a  faint, not very disagreeable smell, and a subacrid bit-
 terish, nauseous taste.   Some inferior sorts of this drug
 are  obtained  from Tripoli, and other places; but they
 may be easily distinguished, as the latter is of a fresh
 green colour, Avithout any yellow shade.
   Senna is a  useful purgative, operating mildly, though
 effectually; and at the same time promoting the secretion
 of urine.   It is always given in the form of Avatery infu-
 sion, two  or three drachms being infused  in four or six
 ounces of water,  with the addition of  a few  coriander
 seeds, to  cover its flavour, and obviate griping.   It is
 also frequently combined with manna,  with tamarinds,
 or Avith acidulous tartrite of potash, to increase  its action
 on the boAvels.  By decoction Avith Avater, the activity of
 senna is much impaired, if not destroyed.

 Cassia Maeilandica.  American Senna.  The leaves.

   This plant is  abundant in America, and knoAvn by the
 name of senna, is of the same genus Avith  the senna of the
 shops, and possesses nearly the same  virtues as the eas-
 tern species.  It is  used as a purgative, in different parts
 of the United  States, and, from the high price of foreign
 senna, deserves to be attended to.  It is easily cultivated
 from the seeds, and ought to be generally introduced into
 our gardens.

 Castor Fiber.  The Beaver. The substance collected
      in the follicles, near the anus, called castor.

  The beaver is an amphibious animal, Avhich inhabits
the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America; in the 
178
MATERIA  MEDICA.
banks of rivers, or lakes, and at a distance from the bah
itations of men.  Near the rectum of both sexes, there
are tw o little bags, about the size of a hen's egg. contain-
ing a brownish oily matter, called castor, Avhich is a pe-
culiar deposition  of fat, interAvoven Avith  cellular mem-
brane.  This substance has a disagreeable, narcotic smell,
and a bitterish, acrid, nauseous taste.  By drying it in
the smoke of a chimney, it may be preserved seven or
eight years.  The best castor is brought from Russia,
PiMissia. and Poland;  that  procured in Canada, and New
England, is of an inferior  quality.   That Avhich is very
old. quite black, and destitute of smell and taste, is unfit
for medicinal use.
  To preserve this drug from injury, it should be kept
wrapt up in bladders or oiled-paper.  Its active matter
is dissolved by alcohol, proof  spirit, and partially by wa-
ter.  The tincture made with  diluted alcohol, is the least
nauseous.  Castor is an excellent antispasmodic, and acts
particularly upon the uterine system.  It is given with
advantage in most spasmodic diseases, especially in hys-
teria and epilepsy.   In powder, which is the  most eligi-
ble form, it is exhibited  in  doses from ten to twenty
grains,  or from one to tAVO drachms of the tincture.

Centaurea Benedicta.   Blessed Thistle.  The herb.

  The carduus benedictus is an annual exotic plant, culti-
vated in gardens; it  floAvers in  June and July, and pro-
duces ripe seeds in  autumn.
  The virtues of this plant, says Dr. Duncan, seem to
be little known in the present practice.  The nauseous
decoction is sometimes used to provoke vomiting, and, a
strong infusion, to promote  the operation of other emetics.
But  excellent effects  have  been frequently experienced,
from a  slight infusion of  carduus, in  loss of  appetite,
Avhere  the  stomach has been injured by irregularities.
A stronger infusion, made in cold or warm Avater, if drunk
freely, and the patient kept warm, occasions  a  plentiful
sAveat,  and promotes the secretions in general.

                     Cera.   Wax.
  a. Flava.  Fellow.
  b. Alba.   White.

  For  this useful substance, Ave are indebted to the com-
mon honey bee, by whom it is collected from the leaves 
MATERIA MEDICA.
1Z9
and flovvers of vegetables.   It is formed into solid cakes
by melting the combs, after all the honey has been ex-
pressed from them, in hot Avater.  The best sort should
be hard, compact, of a clear yelloAV colour, and an agree-
able odour, similar to that of honey.   Pure bees-Avax,
when recent, is tough, yet easily broken;  by long keep-
ing, it becomes harder, and more brittle, loses  its fine
colour, and, in some measure,  its fragrance.
  The yellow colour of bees-wax, and its peculiar smell,
may be destroyed by the combined action of water, air,
and the sun's  rays.  In the process for bleaching Avax,
Ave  therefore  extend  its  surface as much as possible, by
melting it, and forming it into thin plates Avhich are
exposed to the sun's rays, and  repeatedly moistened until
they acquire the Avhiteness  desired.   White Avax is more
delicate, but in medicine, it has no advantage over yelloAV
wax.   When  taken internally, wax agrees in  its effects
with the  fat  oils, and is preferable, in being less apt  to
liecome rancid.  Its principal  use, is for the formation of
cerates, ointments, and plasters.

  ■Cervus Elaphus.   The Stag, or  Hart.  The horns.

  The horns of the common  male, red deer,  have  long
been considered as an article of Materia Medica.  The
scrapings, or raspings of these horns, are medicinal, and
employed in  decoctions,  ptisans,  or cooling drinks, &c.
Hartshorn jelly is remarkably nourishing, and sometimes
given as  an  agreeable demulcent, in cases of  diarrhoea.
The coal of hartshorn, which  is prepared by exposing
it to a strong and long continued fire, changes into a very
white earth, called calcined hartshorn.  It is employed as
an absorbent,  and likewise in dysenteries, which are sup-
posed to arise from acrid and ill digested matter.  These
animal horns  are to be considered of the same nature  as
bones ;  and their products by  heat, are those  of animal
substances in general.   They were  formerly so much
employed for the  preparation of the volatile alkali  (am-
monia) that it yy as commonly called hartshorn.

Ohenopodium Anthelminticum. Jerusalem Oak. The
                   herb and  seeds.

  This plant, a native of Buenos Ayres, and  of various
parts of the United States, ;s said to be an excellent ver- 
ISO
MATERIA  medica.
mifuge.  The Avhole plant has a poAverful smell, of which
it is very retentive ; the taste is bitter, with a good deal
of aromatic acrimony.  The whole plant may be em-
ployed.  Sometimes the expressed juice is used in  the
dose of a table spoonful, for a ebild of two or three years
old: more  commonly, however, the  seeds, emphatically
called wormseed, are reduced to  a fine powder, and made
into an electuary  with syrup.  Of this, the dose for a
child two or three  years old,  is  a table  spoonful early in
the morning.  The patient is to be kept without nourish-
ment for some hours; after supper another dose is to be
administered.  It  is  often  necessary  to continue this
course for  several  days, and great numbers of lumbriei
are frequently discharged, after the use of a few doses of
the medicine.

Chironia Centaurium.  Smaller  Centaury.   The flow-
                     ering heads.

  This plant is  annual, and "grows  wild in many parts
of  England, and  other  countries, chiefly  on barren
pastures.   It  agrees  in  every  respect Avith other pure
bitters.  The chironia angularis, common American cen-
taury, is a  native of the United States,  and has the ap-
pearance of lesser centaury (gentiana  centaurium).   It
is universally known by  the name  of centaury, and is
deservedly  esteemed  as an highly medicinal,  and very
agreeable simple bitter.
  It is used with great success in relaxations of the sto-
mach,  loss  of appetite, and general debility.   In sickly
situations, an infusion of this plant, joined with calamus
aromaticus, is commonly resorted  to as an excellent me-
dicine, taken in the morning as a preventive.

Cinchona Officinalis.   OJ/icinal Cinchona.  Peruvian
                  Bark.  The  bark.

     a. Communis.  The Common.
     b. Flava.  The Fellow.
     c. Rubra.   The Red.

  It is by no means ascertained, that the  two last are the
bark of the cinchona officinalis, but have been merely
classed under it until we are better acquainted with their
botanical history. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
481
  The tree  affording this bark groAvs wild  in the hilly
parts of Peru.  In  the  dry season, from September to
November, the bark is stripped from the brandies, trunk,
and root, and after being carefully dried in the sun, is
packed in skins.  The name Cinchona, is derived  from
that of the lady of  the  Spanish viceroy, who Avas cured
by the bark, in the year 1640.  The discovery of its
medicinal virtues was in all probability an  accident)
and on its first introduction into Europe, it Avas repro-
bated by  many eminent physicians ; and at different pe-
riods long after, it Avas considered a dangerous  remedy;
but its character, in process  of time, became universally
established.
  The common pale bark is in the form of small quilted
twigs,  thin,  breaking close and smooth, friable between
the teeth, covered with a rough coat of a brownish colour,
internally smooth and of a light broAvn ; its taste is bit-
ter,  and  slightly astringent; flavour  lightly  aromatic,
Avith some degree of mustiness.
  The yellow Peruvian  bark has only been introduced
since the year 1790.  It approaches more to the yellow
colour, than cither of the others do; is in flat pieces, not
convoluted like the pale; nor dark  coloured, like  the
red; externally smooth,  internally of  a light cinnamon
colour; friable, and fibrous; has no peculiar odour dif-
ferent from the others ; but a taste incomparably  more
bitter, with  some degree of astringency.
  The red Peruvian bark is in large thick pieces, exter-
nally covered with a brown rugged coat, internally  more
smooth and  compact, but fibrous;  of a dark red colour,
taste and smell similar to that of the  pale, but the taste
rather stronger.  Its powder is reddish, like that of Ar-
menian bole; its astringency and  bitterness  are  more
intense, and it  contains more resin than  the pale  bark.
It also produces its effects in smaller doses; but it is said
to be more frequently adulterated.
  Practitioners have differed much with regard to  the
mode of  operation of the Peruvian bark.   Some have
ascribed  its virtues entirely to a stimulant  power.   But
while the strongest and most permanent stimuli have by
no means the same effect with bark in the cure of diseas-
es, the bark itself  sIioavs hardly any  stimulant power,
either from its action on the stomach, or on other sensible
parts to Avhich it is applied.  From its action on the dead
animal fibre, there can be no doubt of its being a power- 
182
MATERIA MEDICA.
ful astringent; and from its good effects in certain cases
of disease, there is reason to presume that it is a still
more poAverful tonic.   To this tonic poAver some think
that its action, as an antiseptic, is to be entirely attributed;
but  that, independently of this, it has a  very powerful
effect  in  resisting  the septic progress to which animal
substances are naturally subjected, appears beyond all
dispute, from its effects in resisting putrefaction, not only
in dead animal solids, but even in animal  fluids, Avhen
entirely detached from the living body.
  But although it  be admitted that the Peruvian bark
acts powerfully as  an astringent, as a tonic, and as an
antiseptic, yet these principles Avill  by no means  explain
all  the effects derived from  it in the cure of diseases.
And accordingly from no artificial combination in Avhick
these powers are combined, or in which  they exist even
to a higher degree, can the good consequences  resulting
from Peruvian bark be obtained.  Many practitioners,
therefore, are  disposed to  view it as a specific.   If, by a
specific, we mean an infallible remedy, it cannot indeed
be considered as entitled to that appellation ; but as far as
it is a Aery poAverful remedy, of the operation  of which
no  satisfactory explanation' has yet been given,  it may
Avith great propriety  be denominated a  specific.  But,
whatever its mode of  operation may be, there can be no
doubt  that it is daily  employed with success in a great
variety of diseases.
  It Avas first introduced for the cure of intermittent fe-
vers ; and in these, when properly exhibited, it rarely fails
of success.   Practitioners, however, have differed with
regard to the best mode of exhibition; some prefer giv-
ing it just before the fit, some during  the fit, others im-
mediately after it.  Some,  again, order it in the quantity
of an ounce, betAveen the fits; the dose being the more
frequent and larger according to the frequency of the
fits; and this mode of exhibition, although it may perhaps
sometimes lead to the  employment of more bark than is
necessary, avc consider  as upon the Avhole preferable, from
being best suited to most stomachs.  The requisite quan-
tity is very different in different cases; and in many vernal
intermittents it seems  even hardly necessary.
  It is iioav  given from the very commencement of the
disease, Avithout previous evacuations; Avhieh,  with the
delay of  the bark, or under doses  of it, by retarding the 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
183
cure, often  seem  to induce  abdominal  inflammation,
scirrhus, jaundice, hectic, dropsy, &c. symptoms formerly
imputed to the premature or intemperate use of the bark,
but which are best obviated by its early and liberal use.
It is to be continued not only till the paroxysms cease, but
till  the natural appetite, strength, and complexion return.
Its  use is then gradually to  be left off, and  repeated  at
proper intervals to  secure  against a relapse; to which,
however unaccountable, there often seems to be a pecu-
liar disposition; and especially Avhen the Avind blows from
the  east.   Although, however, most evacuants conjoined
Avith the Peruvian bark in intermittents are rather preju-
dicial than otherwise, yet it is of advantage, previous  to
its use, to empty the alimentary canal, particularly the
stomach; and  on this account, good  effects  are often
obtained from premising an emetic.
  It is a medicine which seems not only  suited to  both
formed and latent intermittents, but to that state of fibre,
on which all rigidly periodical diseases seem to depend;
as  periodical pain, inflammation, hsemorrhagy,  spasm,
cough, loss of external sense, &c.
  Bark is now used by some in all continued  fevers; at
the same time  attention is paid to keep the bowels clean,
and to promote, Avhen necessary, the evacuation of redun-
dant bile; always,  however, so as to Aveaken the patient
as little as possible.
  In confluent  small  pox, it promotes languid eruption
and suppuration, diminishes the fever through its whole
course, and prevents or corrects  putrescence and  gan-
grene.
  In gangrenous sore throats, it is much used, as  it is
externally and  internally in every species of gangrene.
  In contagious dysentery, after due evacuation, it has
been  used, taken internally and by injection, with and
without opium.
  In all  those  htemorrhagies  called passive,  and which
it is allowed  all hsemorrhagies are very apt to become,
and likeAvise in other increased discharges, it is much
used; and in certain undefined cases of haemoptysis,  some
allege that it is remarkably effectual when joined ay ith an
absorbent.
  It is used for obviating the disposition to  nervous and
convulsive diseases; and some have great confidence in it,
joined with sulphuric acid, in  cases of phthisis, scrofula, 
tSi
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  ill conditioned ulcers, rickets,  scurvy,  and hi states of
  convalescence.
    In these cases, notwithstanding the use  of the acid, it
  is proper to conjoin it with a milk diet.
    In dropsy, not depending on any particular local affec-
  tion, it is often alternated or conjoined Avith  diuretics or
  other evacuants; and by its early exhibition after the
  water is once drawn off, or even begins  to be freely dis-
  charged, afresh accumulation is prevented, and a radical
  cure obtained.
    Mr. Pearson, of the Lock Hospital, praises very highly
  the powers of this remedy i»i different  forms of the vene-
  real disease; in reducing incipient bubo,  in cleansing and
  healing ulcers of the tonsils, and in curing gangrenous
  ulcers from  a venereal  cause.   Bat in all these  cases
  mercury must also be  given to eradicate the venereal
  Aims from the system.
    Peruvian  bark may be exhibited,
    1. In substance.
    The best form of exhibiting this valuable remedy is in
 the state of a very fine powder, in doses of from ten grains
 to two drachms and upwards.  As it cannot be swallowed
 in the form of a dry poAvder, it must either be diffused in
 some liquid, as water, wine, or milk; or mixed with some
 viscid  substance,  as currant jelly.  Its  taste, which is
 disagreeable to some people, is best avoided by taking it
 immediately after  it  is mixed  up; for by standing any
 time, it is communicated to the vehicle.  In this respect,
 therefore, it is better for the patients to mix  it up them-
 selves than to receive it from the apothecary already made
 up into a draught Avith some simple distilled Avater, or
 into an electuary with a syrup.  A much more important
 objection to  this form of giving Peruvian  bark is, that
 some stomachs will not bear it, from the  oppression and
 even vomiting Avhich in these cases it excites,  We must
 endeavour to obviate this inconvenience by the addition of
 some aromatic, and by giving it in  small'doses more fre-
 quently repeated.   If  we are  unable to succeed by these
 means, we must extract the most active  constituents of
the bark by means of some menstruum. It has therefore
long been a  pharmaceutical problem,  Avhat menstruum
extracts the virtues of  Peruvian  bark the  best.   But
the active constituents of this remedy,  according to the
best and latest analysis, are bitter extractive,  tannin,and
gallic acid, combined with some mucilage  and resin.   Of 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
185
these, the two last are not soluble in any one menstruum;
but they most probably contribute very little to the poAV-
ers of the medicine.  The three other constituents, on
the  contrary, on Avhich ail its activity depends, taken
singly, are all of them very soluble both in water and in
alcohol, and in every mixture of these.  But it would be
contrary to analogy to  suppose, that  these  substances
should exist so intimately mixed as they must be in an
organic body, Avithout exerting  upon each  other  some
degree of chemical affinity, and  forming  combinations
possessed of new properties.  Accordingly avc find, avIic-
ther it arise from tiiis cause, or merely from the state of
aggregation, that neither water nor alcohol extracts these
constituents from Peruvian bark in the same quantity in
which they ai*e able to dissolve them separately, and that
Ave must have recourse to direct experiment to determine
the degree of action possessed by each menstruum upon it.
With this view many experiments have been  made, and
by very able chemists. But most of them were performed
when the science of chemistry was but in its infancy; and
even at this time that branch of it which relates to these
substances is so little understood, that the results of the
late experiments are far from conclusive.
   2. In infusion.
   To those whose stomachs will not bear the poAvder,
this is the best form of exhibiting Peruvian bark. Water,
at a given temperature, seems capable of dissolving only
a certain quantity, and, therefore, avc are not able to in-
crease the strength of an infusion, either by employing a
larger quantity  of the bark, or  allowing it  to remain
longer in  contact.  One part of bark is sufficient to satur-
ate sixteen of water in the course of an hour or Iavo.  To
accelerate the action of the Avater, it  is usual to pour it
boiling hot upon the bark, to cover it up, and allow it  to
cool slowly.  After standing a sufficient length  of time,
the infusion is decanted off for use. The infusion in water
is however liable to cue Aery great objection, that it cannot
be kept even a xery short time without being decomposed
and spoiled.  Therefore, in some  instances, Ave prepare
the infusion with wine; and it fortunately happens that
very often the use of the menstruum is as much indicated
as that of the solvent.
  3. In tincture.
  The great activity of the menstruum in this preparation,
prevents the bark from being given in sufficiently large
         2i 
186
MATERIA  MEDICA.
doses to exert its  peculiar virtues.   It  is, however, a
powerful stimulant.
   i. In decoction.
   Water of the temperature of 212° is capable of dissolv-
ing a much larger proportion of the soluble parts of Peru-
vian bark than water at 60*.  But the solvent powers even
of boiling water have their limits, and  by protracting
the decoction avc do not increase its strength, but rather,
by diminishing the quantity of the menstruum, Ave lessen
the quantity of the matter dissolved.  Besides, at a boil-
ing temperature, extractive absorbs  oxygen rapidly from
the atmosphere, and is converted into Avhat seems to be
an insoluble and inert resinous substance.
  5. In extract.
  In this preparation avc expect to possess the virtues of
Peruvian bark in a very concentrated state.  The princi-
pal objections to its use are its great  expense, and the
decomposition and destruction of the active constituents
of the bark  during the preparation, Avhen not properly
conducted.  It is convenient for the formation of pills,
and boluses, but Ave would  always prefer a fresh infusion
or decoction to any mixture in Avhich the extract is re-
dissolved.
  Externally, Peruvian bark is used in substance, as au
application  to  ill-conditioned,  carious,  or gangrenous
ulcers.
  In the form of clyster,  it may be given in substance,,
decoction, or extract.  The powder is used as a tooth
powder for spongy and bleeding gums,  and  the decoction
is an excellent astringent gargle or wash.
  To increase the power of Peruvian  bark, or to direct
its efficacy to a  particular purpose, or to  correct some
inconveniences  occasionally produced  by it, it is  fre-
quently combined Avith other remedies.  When it produ-
ces vomiting, carbonic acid forms a useful addition; Avhen
it purges, opium; when it oppresses  the stomach, aroma-
tics; and Avhen it induces costiveness,  rhubarb.  It may
be also combined with other vegetable astringent or bitter
remedies, without impairing its powers.   But we are
afraid  that  many additions are made,  chiefly saline sub-
stances, of Avhich the effects are not  at  all understood.
Sulphuric  acid,  super-sulphate of  alumina and  potash
(alum), muriate of ammonia, carbonate  of potash, tar-
trite of potash, tartrite of antimony and  potash (tartar
emetic), iron,  lime-Avater, &c. have  been  frequently 
MATERIA MEDICA.
187
prescribed with it; but we knoAV that in many of these
mixtures decomposition occurs, which renders the Avhole
either inactive, or completely deceives us Avith regard to
its expected effects.
  In  addition  to Dr. Duncan's observations  relative  to
this important article, the folloAving taken from Murray
will not be deemed superfluous.
  The effects of Peruvian bark  are those of a powerful
and permanent tonic, so slow in its operation  that its sti-
mulating property is scarcely perceptible by any alteration
in the state of the pulse, or of the temperature of the
body.  In a large dose, it  occasions nausea and headach;
in some habits it operates as a laxative;  in others it oc-
casions costiveness.
  It is one of  those medicines, the efficacy of Avhich in
removing disease is much  greater than could be expected
a priori, from  its effects on the system in a healthy state.
  Intermittent fever is the disease for the cure of Avhich
bark  was introduced into  practice, and there is still no
remedy which equals it in poAver.
   The disputes respecting the  mode of administering it
are noAv  settled.  It is given as early as possible, Avith
perhaps the previous exhibition of an emetic to evacuate
the stomach;  it is repeated in the dose of one scruple or
half a drachm every second or third hour, during the in-
terval of  the paroxysm;  and it may even be given with
safety during  the hot fit, but it is then more apt to excite
nausea.
  In  remittent fever it is given with equal freedom, even
though the remission of the fever may be obscure.
  In  those forms of continued fever Avhich are connected
with  debility,  as in typhus, cynanche maligna, confluent
small-pox, &c. it is regarded as one of the most valuable
remedies.   It may be prejudicial, however, in those dis-
eases Avhere the brain or its membranes are inflamed, or
where there  is much irritation, marked by subsultus
tendinum, and convulsive motions of the extremities; and
in pure  typhus it appears to be less useful in the beginning
of  the disease than  in the convalescent stage.
  Even in fevers of an opposite type, where there are
marks of inflammatory action, particularly in acute rheu-
matism, bark  has been found useful, after blood-letting.
  In  erysipelas,  in gangrene, in extensive  suppuration,
and venereal  ulceration,  the free use of bark is of the
greatest advantage.
\ 
188
MATERIA  MEDICA.
    In the various forms of passive bamorrhagy, in many
  other diseases  of chronic debility, dyspepsia, hypochon-
  driasis, paralysis, rickets, scrofula, dropsy, and in a vari-
  ety of spasmodic affections, epilepsy, chorea, and hysteria,
  it is administered as  a poAverful and  permanent tonic,
  either alone, or combined with other remedies  suited to
  the particular case.
    Its usual dose is  half a  drachm.  The only inconve-
  nience of a larger dose is its sitting uneasy on the stomach.
  It may, therefore, if necessary,  be frequently repeated,
  and  in  urgent  cases may be taken to the extent of one
  ounce, or even  tAVO ounces, in tAventy-four hours.*
    The poAvder  is more effectual than any of the prepara-
  tions; it is  given in Avine, in any spiritous liquor, or, if it
  excite nausea, combined Avith an aromatic.  The cold in-
  fusion is the least powerful, but most grateful; the decoc-
  tion contains much more of the active matter of the bark,
  and is the preparation generally used ay hen the powder is
 rejected; its dose is from tAvo to four ounces.  The spi-
 ritous tincture, though containing still more of the bark,
 cannot be extensively used on account of the menstruum,
 but  is principally employed occasionally, and in  small
 doses of tAvo or three drachms, as a stomachic.
   The extract is a  preparation  of considerable power,
 Avhen properly  prepared, and is  adapted to those  cases
 Avhere the remedy requires to be continued for some time.
 It is then given in the form of a  pill, in a dose from five
 to fifteen grains.
   When children cannot take the bark,  it may be applied
 in the form of a quilted Avaistcoat Avith complete success.

 Cinchona  Carib^ea.   Cinchona of the Caribbean Isl-
                   ands.  The bark.

   This species belonging  to the  same genus, a native of
 the Caribbee Islands, has been proposed  as a substitute to
 Peruvian bark,  and  has, as  such, been  received h:to the
 Edinburgh  Pharmacopoeia.  The  bark  comes in  pieces
 about a  span in  length, rolled together, and a line or half
 a line in thickness, of a  broAvn  colour  on the surface,

   * In a  case of  mortification, Dr.  Philip  Syng Pbysick, of
 Philadelphia, exhibited bark to the quantity of from six to eight
 ounces in twenty-four hours, without its exciting any very un.
pleasant sensations. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
189
 which is most commonly covered with white moss.   It
 has at first a sweetish taste, but after being chewed some
 time  it  becomes extremely nauseous and bitter.   Dr.
 Wright  says he made use of this bark in all cases where
 Peruvian bark was indicated, and Avith the greatest suc-
 cess.

 Citrus  Aurantium.   Seville Orange.   The  juice  of
            the fruit and its external rind.

   The juice of oranges is a grateful acid liquor, consist-
 ing principally of citric acid syrup, extractive, and mu-
 cilage; of considerable use in febrile or  inflammatory
 distempers, for allaying heat, quenching thirst,  and pro-
 moting the salutary excretions;  it is  likewise of use in
 genuine  scorbutus, or  sea scurvy.  The china, or  sweet
 orange, is to  be preferred, as  being more  mild and less
 acid ; and it is employed in its  most simple state Avith
 great advantage, both as a cooling medicine, and  as an
 useful antiseptic in fevers of the worst kind.  The outer
 yellow rind of the fruit of the orange has a grateful aro-
 matic flavour, and a warm bitterish taste.  Both are
 extracted by water; and by distillation, a small quantity
 of essential oil is obtained.  Its qualities are those of an
 aromatic and bitter.  It has been employed to restore the
 tone of the stomach, and is  a very common addition  to
 combinations of bitters  used in dyspepsia.   It has like-
 Avise been given in intermittents,  in a  dose of a drachm
 twice or  three times a day.

 Citrus  Medica.  Lemon Tree.  The fruit, the rind of
              the fruit, and its volatile oil.

   The juice of lemons is similar to that of oranges, from
 Avhich it  differs little otherAvise, than in containing more
 citric acid, and less syrup.  The quantity  of the former
 is indeed so  great, that the acid  has been named from
 this fruit, acid of lemons, and is commonly prepared
 from it.
   Lemon juice is one  of the most cooling  and antiseptic
 vegetable productions ; and is  of great utility in medi-
 cine.   Sir John Pringle highly praises its efficacy in the
sea scurvy; and it affords a grateful and cooling beverage
for febrile patients ; but it should be remarked, that this
acid must never be freely given to persons  Avhose breast, 
190
MATERIA "MEDICA.
or respiration is affected.   Citric  acid is a poAverful and
agreeable antiseptic.  Its poAvers  are much  increased,
according to Dr. Wright, by saturating it with muriate
of  soda.  This mixture  he recommends  as  possessing
very great efficacy in dysentery, remittent fever, the dry
bellyache, putrid sore throat, and as being perfectly spe-
cific in diabetes and lienteria.   Citric acid is  often used
with great success for allaying vomiting; with this inten-
tion it is mixed, with carbonate of potash, from which it
expels the carbonic acid with effervescence. This neutral
mixture should be drunk as soon as it is made, or the car-
bonic acid gas, on Avhich actually the anti-emetic powers
of this mixture depend, may be extricated in the stomach
itself, by first swallowing the carbonate of potash, dissolved
in water, and  drinking immediately afterwards the citric
acid properly sweetened.   The doses are about a scruple
of the  carbonate dissolved in eight or ten drachms of
water, and  an ounce of lemon juice,  or  an  equivalent
quantity of citric acid.
  Lemon juice is  also an ingredient in many pleasant
refrigerant drinks, which are of very great use in allay-
ing febrile heat and thirst.   Of these the most generally
useful is lemonade,  or elicited lemon juice, properly
sweetened.  Lemonade, with  the addition of a certain
quantity of any good ardent spirit, forms the well known
beverage, punch, which is sometimes given as a cordial
to the sick.   The  acid  of lemons is a known antidote
against narcotic  vegetable poisons,  and among these in
particular against opium.   It has therefore been recom-
mended that with every dose of opium a proportion of this
acid in the quantity of two ounces to the grain, should be
taken, by which  means the uneasiness  Avhich that drug
often communicates will be prevented, and its distressing
consequences avoided.  Hence the use of acids, to per-
sons who are habitually obliged to take considerable doses
of opiates, cannot be too strongly recommended. To the
liberal  use  of vegetable  acids are to  be ascribed the
slight effects  Avhich opium  possesses over the Eastern
nations, and not to the  influence of coffee, as  commonly
alleged.         *
  Either of the folloAving methods  is recommended for
preserving the juice of  lemons, or limes.  Boil the juice
after straining it, and bottle it;  or squeeze the fruit; put
the juice and pulp into a bottle; cover the top with an
inch of oil; cork and rosin the bottle.   The juice is sup- 
MATERIA MEDICA.
191
posed to feed upon the pulp.   Before using the juice, the
pulp and oil must be carefully taken out.
  The  yellow peel is an elegant aromatic, and is fre-
quently employed in stomachic tinctures, and infusions ; it
is considerably less hot than orange peel, and yields in dis-
tillation with water a less quantity  of essential oil; its
flavour is  nevertheless more perishable,  yet does not
arise so readily  with spirit of wine;  for a spiritous ex-
tract made from lemon peel possesses the aromatic taste
and smell of the subject in much greater perfection than
an extract  prepared  in the same manner from the peels
of oranges.  In the shops a syrup is  prepared from the
juice, and the peel is candied ; the peel is an ingredient
in the  bitter infusions and wines, the essential oil enters
the volatile aromatic spirit, or spiritus  amnionise compo-
situs, as it is now called, and some other formulae.

              Coccus Cacti.  Cochineal.

  Cochineal is  a small,  irregular, roundish  body,  of a
dark red colour on the outside, and a deep bright red Avith-
in.   It consists of an insect which derives its nourishment
from the leaves of the cactus coccinellfer, or, as it is dif-
ferently called, nopal, or riopelleca*  This plant  is found
most abundantly  in  Mexico, and other parts of New
Spain; and from its leaves cochineal insects are collected,
and killed either by being immersed in  hot water, or put
into  an oven moderately heated, or more advantageously,
by being exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. These
singular insects in their successive generations, are taken
by the Mexicans three times in a year, carefully preserv-
ing over the Avinter in their houses such as may be neces-
sary for breeders, while attached to the succulent leaves
of the plant.  No less than 800,000  pounds, each pound
containing at least 70,000 insects, are imported annually
into  Europe, as a highly valuable colouring drug.  They
are principally consumed by  the scarlet dyers, and for
the purpose of  making  carmine.   The  best sort  has
been sold for one guinea  the  pound.   It is  remarkable
that  the dried insect  may be kept unimpaired for an in-
definite length of time.
  The true cochineal has been found in South Carolina,
and Mr. K. Peal of Philadelphia asserts, that he has dis-
covered it  upon the island of Little  St. Simons, on the
coast of Georgia.   It  is extremely desirable  that the 
192              materia medica.
 insect, and the  cactus  coccinellifer plant on  whieh it
 breeds, should be cultivated in the southern states.  The
 planter might find it a valuable source of revenue, when,
 from vicissitudes in the  season, their crops  of rice or
 cotton should fail.
   Cochineal is not employed in medicine, except for the
 purpose of imparting a beautiful red colour to some  tinc-
 tures.  Their colour is easily extracted, both by alcohol
 and water.
   " CocJiineal  flourishes on  the native nopal, or prickly
 pear of South  Carolina.   The insect thrives well,  and
 increases and spreads on every leaf rapidly.
   <• The breeding of the cochineal is, however, attended
 with precarious circumstances; the insect is exposed to a
 variety of dangers from  the  violence of the winds, the
 rains, fogs, frosts,  and  other causes, and also from the
 depredations of birds, who are very fond of these insects."
                                        Rces'  Cijclo.

 Cocos Butyracea.  The Mackaw  Tree.  Palm Tree.
   The fixed oil of the nut, commonly called Palm Oil.

   This oil is obtained from the kernel of the fruit of the
 palm tree; which  is imported from the West Indies,
 whither the tree has been transplanted from Africa.  It
 is of an orange colour, and of the consistence of ointment,
 emitting a strong agreeable odour, but having very little
 taste; both of which it entirely loses  by long  keeping,
 when it becomes unfit  for use.  It is  chiefly employed
 externally, for mitigating pains, cramps, and similar af-
 fections : it is  likeAvise used for the. cure of chilblains,
 and, if early applied, has often proved successful.  With
 camphor, palm oil  makes a common, and very excellent
 liniment of the stimulating kind.  Muriated ammonia,
 (sal ammoniac) in very fine powder, rubbed with  campho-
 rated palm oil, forms one of the most active and  valuable
 liniments, as a discutient to indolent  tumors, rigidity of
 the tendons, &c.

 Cochxearia Armoracia.  Horse Radish.  The  leaves
                      and root.

  An indigenous perennial plant, groAving on the sides of
ditches, the banks of rivers,  and  other damp places,
floAvering in the month of May.  For medicinal and culi- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
lftS
nary uses, it is also cultivated in gardens.  Horse radish
root has a quick pungent smell, and a penetrating acrid
taste ; it nevertheless contains in certain vessels a  sweet
juice Avhich sometimes exudes upon the surface. By dry-
ing, it loses  its acrimony; but if kept in a cool place,
covered Avith sand, it retains its qualities for a considera-
ble time.          -
   The medicinal effects of this root are to stimulate the
solids, and promote the fluid secretions; it  seems to extend
its action through the Avhole habit, and affect the minutest
glands.  It  is greatly recommended  by Sydenham in
dropsies, particularly such as succeed intermittent fevers.
In paralytic complaints horse radish has  sometimes been
applied with  advantage as a stimulating remedy to the
parts affected.  When  steeped in vinegar during a fort-
night, this root is said effectually to remove freckles in
the face.   A syrup made by boiling scraped horse radi h
in brown sugar, is an excellent remedy in the  decline of
colds and  of pleurisies, to promote expectoration, and
remove hoarseness.

Cochxearia Officinalis.  Garden Scurvy Grass. The
                        plant.

   This is an annual plant growing on the sea  shore, and
in mountainous situations, and is  sometimes cultivated in
gardens.  It  possesses a considerable degree of acrimony,
and by distillation it affords an essential  oil, the smell of
Avhich is so strong as to make the eyes Avater.
   The fresh plant is a gentle stimulant and diuretic, and
is chiefly used for the cure of the sea scurvy.   It is em-
ployed externally as a gargle in sore throat, and scorbutic
affections of the gums and mouth.  It may be eaten in
substance to any quantity, or the juice may be expressed
from it, or  it may be infused in  wine  or water, or its
virtues may be extracted by distillation.  Dr. Withering
says it is a powerful remedy in the pituitous asthma, and
in Avhat Sydenham calls the scorbutic rheumatism.  The
juice is prescribed along with that of oranges, by the name
of antiscorbutic juice.

        Coffea.   The Coffee Tree.  The fruit.

   A shrub from twelve to eighteen feet hi^h, originally a
native of Arabia, but  is now cultivated  in the East and
          '25 
19*
MATERIA MEDICA.
West-Indies, and in several parts of America.   The-
Arabian, or Mocha eoffee, imported  from the Levant, is
far the most aromatic and resinous, and, on account of
its superior flavour, is the most esteemed.  Very various
have been the opinions entertained by different physicians
relative to the medicinal qualities of the coffee-berry;
some inveighing against its use as a pernicious indulgence,
others, on  the  contrary, are as vehement in its praise.
It has been suspected of producing palsies ; and Dr. Per-
cival assures us, from his own observations, that the sus-
picion is not, altogether, without foundation.  According,
however, to the experiments, and, in the language of the
same respectable author, coffee is slightly astringent and
antiseptic;  it moderates alimentary fermentation, and is
powerfully sedative.  Its medicinal qualities seem to be
derived from  the  grateful sensation it produces on the
stomach, and from the  sedative powers  it exerts on the
vis vita.   Hence it assists digestion, and relieves the
headach; but in delicate habits it often occasions watch-
fulness, tremors, and many of those complaints denomi-
nated nervous.
   The  celebrated Sir John Pringlc, bestoAvs high enco-
miums on coffee, as a remedy in paroxysms of the periodio
asthma.  He directs the best Mocha coffee, newly burnt,
and made very strong  immediately after grinding it, an
ounce to one dish, without milk or sugar, to be repeated
after the interval of  a quarter or half an hour, until
relief be obtained.  We are assured also, that Sir John
Floyer, during the latter year of his life, kept free from,
or lived easy under this afflictive complaint, by the use
of strong coffee.
   With respect to the medicinal properties of coffee, says
Dr.  Willich,  it is in general excitant and stimulating,
though Ave doubt whether it relaxes the animal fibres, as
has by  some authors been  supposed.  Its more or less
wholesome effect greatly depends on the climate, as well
as the age,, constitution,  and other peculiarities of the
individual.  Hence it cannot be recommended to children,
or persons of a hot, choleric, nervous, or phthisical habit;
nor will it be so useful in warm, as in cold and temperate
climates; but to the phlegmatic and sedentary, a cup of
coffee, one or tAvo hours after a meal, or, which is still
better, one hour before it, may be of service to promote
digestion, and prevent or remove a propensity to sleep.
In cases of spasmodic asthma, hypochondriasis, scrofula, 
MATERIA  MEDICA.               195
 tharrhcea, agues, and particularly against narcotic poisons,
 such as opium, hemlock, etc. coffee  often produces the
 best effects; nor is there a domestic remedy, better adapted
 to relieve periodical headachs which proceed from Avant
 of tone, or from debility of the stomach.
   The heaviness, headach, giddiness, sickness, and nerv-
 ous affections, which attack some persons in the morning,
 after taking an  opiate at night, are abated by a cup or
 two of strong coffee.

            Colomba.  Colomba.  The root.

   Of the plant which furnishes this root, no botanical
 account has been obtained.  It is brought from the town
 of Colombo in the island of Ceylon, in round pieces; the
 sides covered Avith  a  bark;  the woody part of a bright
 yellow  colour:  It has an aromatic smell, and a  bitter
 taste.   It yields its bitterness to water, but proof spirit
 is its proper menstruum.  The Colomba-root is a power-
 ful antiseptic and bitter; it is used Avith much advantage in
 affections of the stomach and intestinal canal,  accompa-
 nied Avith redundance of bile; it is also employed success-
 fully in dyspepsia.   Nor is  it attended with any heating
 effect, and it may therefore be advantageously taken in
 pulmonary consumption  and other hectical cases, both
 with a  vieAV to correct acrimony and strengthen the di-
 gestive  organs.   Its dose is half a drachm of the powder,
 which  in urgent cases may be repeated every third or
 fourth hour.  The use of this valuable drug has been
 particularly recommended to the attention of practitioners
 by Dr. Pereival of Manchester, in his experimental essays;
 and  it has been found to answer expectation; but it is to
 be regretted that it is not so regularly imported as to
 admit of our shops being supplied with it of good quality,
it  being frequently found either in a -decayed or adulte-
rated state. It has been discovered in the vicinity  of the
 Ohio river in large quantities, and  is said to be  of an
excellent quality.  See Frasera Carolinensis.

Coxn m Maculatum.  Hemlock.  Cicuta.   The  leaves
                      and  seeds.

  This  is  a  large biennial umbelliferous plant,  which
grows very commonly about the  hie  of fields and hedges.
and in moist .shady places.  The root is white, long, of 
196
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  the thickness of the finger, contains when it is  young a
  milky juice,  and resembles both in  size and form, the
  carrot.  In the spring it is very poisonous, in harvest less
  so.  The stalk is three, four, and often six feet high, hol-
  Ioav, smooth, and marked with  red  or brown spots. The
  leaves are large, and  of a dark green colour, having a
  faint disagreeable smell, resembling the urine of a cat.
  The seeds are inferior  in strength.  The Avhole plant is
  a virident poison, but varying  very much in strength ac-
  cording  to circumstances.   When taken in an over dose,
  it produces vertigo, dimness of sight, difficulty of speech,
  nausea,  putrid eructations, anxiety, tremors, and paraly-
  sis of the limbs: to Avhich may be added dilatation of the
  pupils, delirium,  stupor, and convulsions.  But the in-
  ternal use of this narcotic medicine  Avas introduced by
  Dr. Stork, who found  that in  small  doses, it might be
  given Avith safety.  He recommended it  particularly in
  scirrhus and in  cancerous  sores, in Avhich it received a
  very extensive trial.  While its ineffieacy towards effect-
  ing a radical cure is established, its utility as a palliative
  medicine is generally  admitted.  It  has likewise  been
  found serviceable in scrofulous and venereal ulcerations,
  cutaneous affections, glandular tumors, chronic rheuma-
  tism, and various other diseases.  In open cancer it often
  abates the pains, and is free from the constipating effects
 of opium. The dose is tAvo or three grains of the poAvder-
 ed leaves, or one or two grains of the inspissated juice.
 It requires to be increased, in general, to a very conside-
 rable extent: at the same time, this must be done Avith
 caution, as both the dried leaves and inspissated juice are
 variable  in their strength.   In some cases  the  former
 have been increased to upwards of two ounces a dav with-
 out producing giddiness. Dr. L. Valentine has furnished
 the public with a remarkable case at St. Domingo, of an
 inveterate disease of the bladder, attended by tetters and
 erysipelas, in which he prescribed the latter from six or
 eight grains to a drachm, and afterAvards to three drachms
 per day.   At the end of one year his patient had taken the
 quantity of four  pounds; by  which a  radical cure  ays?
 effected.*   In this and  in other Avell attested instances,
 salivation Avas induced by the use of hemlock.
  The dried leaves are less liable to injury from keeping.
than the inspissated juice.  The leaves should be collected
* Med. Repository. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
197
 in the month of June when the plant is in flower, and its
 peculiar smell strong.   The drying of the leaves should
 be perfornsed quickly before a fire on  tin plates, and the
 powder should be kept in  phials closely stopped and se-
 cluded from the light, for this soon dissipates the green
 colour, and with it the virtues of the medicine.  The proof
 of the drying having been Avell performed is thepoAvder's
 retaining the  odour of the leaves, and the deepness and
 freshness of the colour.  Dr. Joshua Fisher, a highly-
 respectable and intelligent physician of Beverly has ex-
 perienced the  beneficial effects of cicuta in a variety of
 cases of scrofulous affections of the abdominal viscera,
 and in phthisis pulmonalis. But in the hands of this accu-
 rate observer, cicuta has been found remarkably success-
 ful, as a remedy in jaundice occasioned  by  spasmodic
 contraction of the biliary ducts.   He  adduces a  variety
 of instances  in Avhich the antispasmodic poAvers  of this
 medicine were happily demonstrated, and cures complete-
 ly effected.

 Convolvulus Scammonia.  Scammony.  The gum resin.

   This is a concrete gummy-resinous juice obtained from
 the roots of the convolvulus scammonia, or Syrian bind
 Aveed, an exotic plant growing in  Asiatic Turkey.  The
 best scammoiiy is imported from Aleppo, in light, spongy,
 friable masses, of a shining blackish ash colour.   It pos-
 sesses a faint unpleasant smell, and a  bitterish pungent
 taste.  It consists of resin and gum, in general nearly in
 equal proportions.  In its medicinal effects, scammony is
 an efficacious  but A'iolent purgative, employed chiefly in
 obstinate constipation.  If triturated Avith sugar, almonds,
 or gum arabic, it  becomes  sufficiently mild, and  safe in
 its operation.  It may also be dissolved  in a strong decoc-
 tion of liquorice, in w hich form it is not disagreeable to
 the palate, and proves a gentle laxative.  The common
 dose is from three to twelve grains. The true scammony
 plant has lately, it is said, been found in  Sussex  county.
 NeAV Jersey; but with Avhat prospect of its being produc-
 tive, is not ascertained.

      Convolvulus Jalafa.   Jalap.  The root.

  The dried root of Jalap is  imported from Ncav Spain
in thin transverse slices; solid and heavy, of si dark gray 
198
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 colour, and striated texture.  It has little smell, its tast«
 is bitter and subacrid.   The  medicinal  activity of Jalap
 resides principally  if not wholly in the resin,  which,
 though given  in  small  doses, occasions violent griping,
 The gummy part bears an inconsiderable proportion to
 the resinous, and is found to have little or  no cathartio
 power;  but as a diuretic it is extremely active.  That
 Jalap is an  efficacious and safe purgative,  daily experi-
 ence must evince; and, except when given in very large
 doses, it is not heating to the  system.  If triturated with
 hard sugar it becomes in moderate doses a safe medicine
 for children, which in this form they will readily receive,
 as the Jalap itself has very little taste.  Jalap in large
 doses, or when combined with mild muriate of mercury
 (calomel,) is recommended as an anthelmintic and a hy-
 dragogue.  The dose of the simple poAvder  is commonly
 from one scruple to Iavo, but its  efficacy is  considerably
 increased by the addition of crystals  of tartar.  Dr.
 Rush's  celebrated purgative  in yellow fever, consists of
 ten grains of Jalap and ten  of calomel, but double the
 quantity of the former has been found to be a more suita-
 ble proportion.  Dr. Aiken asserts that fifteen grains of
 Jalap with two or three of ipecacuanha  purge more than
 twice the quantity of Jalap by itself.

 Convolvulus  Panduratus.   Wild Polatoe.  The root.

   This is supposed by professor Barton, to be the mecha-
 meck, or wild  rhubarb of some of our  Indians.  In the
 state of Delaware it is called vvild-potatoe-vine; and tho
 root kussander or kassader, (a corruption  of the word
 cassada.)  From  one of our species  of convolvulus, an
 extract has been procured, but little if any inferior to the
 scammony of the shops.  In Virginia,  and  some other
 parts of the United Stiites, the root of this plant has been
 much recommended in cases of gravel.   It is used cither
 in poAvder or in decoction.   Dr. Harris, of Ncav Jersey.
 has found an infusion, or decoction of the  root, xevy useful
 in his own case.  He is persuaded, that it  has enabled
 him to pass the calculi renalcs with much facility.

 Cofaifera  Officinalis.   Copaiva  Tree.  The  liquid
            resin, called balsam of copaiva.
  The tree which produces the In:' am copaiva is a native
of the Spanish West Indies, and of some  part of the con- 
materia  medica.               199
tinent of South America.  It grows to a large size, and
the resinous juice flows  in considerable quantities from
incisions made in the trunk.   It  is thick and tenacious,
with a yellowish tinge,  has  a peculiar not disagreeable
smell, and a pungent bitter taste.  It is soluble in alco-
hol and in expressed and essential oils.  Distilled with
water it affords nearly half its weight of an essential oil,
an insipid resin being the residuum.
  Balsam of copaiva increases  the  urinary  discharge,
and communicates to  the urine  a violet odour.  In too
large a dose, it  excites inflammation of the urinary pas-
sages.   From its  power of stimulating these parts, it
frequently proves successful  in the cure  of gleet.   It has
also been given in leucorrhcea and in hemorrhoidal affec-
tions with advantage.  It  is an useful corroborating
detergent medicine.  It strengthens the nervous system,
tends to loosen the bowels; and in  large doses proves
purgative, promotes urine, and cleanses and heals exul-
eerations in the urinary passages, which it is supposed to
perform more effectually than any of the other resinous
fluids.   It has also been recommended in dysenteries, and
in diseases of the breast and lungs.   Very dangerous
coughs have been cured by the use of this balsam alone;
but it ought never to be given in  coughs  Avhere inflamma-
tory symptoms  are present.  In catarrhal affections  to
which old people are liable, it is  an useful medicine. The
dose should not exceed from  twenty to thirty drops twice
or thrice a day.   A convenient way to take it  is, to mix
it up in brown sugar, drinking a glass of water after each
dose, or it may be diffused in water by the medium of a
mucilage of gum arabic.

    Coriandrum  Sativum.   Coriander. The seeds.

  The seeds  of coriander have commonly been imported
from the south  of Europe ;  but  the  plant is frequently
cultivated in  our own gardens, and may be produced  to
any extent.  It is an annual umbelliferous plant, and the
seeds differ from  all  the others  of that class in  being
spherical.   These possess a  pleasant flavour;  and when
encrusted Avith sugar are sold by the  confectioners under
the name of coriander comfits.  Their taste is moderate-
ly Avarm.  Like caraAvay, they are used as carminative,
and likewise to cover the taste and flavour of some tredi- 
200
MATERIA  MEDICA.
cines, particularly senna, when given under the  form of
infusion or tincture.

Cornus Florida.  Common Dogwood. Boxxvood. The
                   fruit and bark.

  This is  one of our  most beautiful and useful shrubs,
growing in almost every part of the United States.  In
New England it is Avell knovvn by the name of boxwood.
It flowers  very early in the Spring, and with so much re-
gularity that some of our southern tribes were accustom-
ed to  name the Spring  season from its flowering. The
flowers generally make  their appearance  about the  be-
ginning of May, in the middle States, and exhibit a most
beautiful  appearance.   The large Avhite floAvers form a
fine contrast with the green of the  forest,  and  are the
ornament  of our Avoods.   These are succeeded by oblong
drupes or  berries of a rich glossy crimson  colour which
ripen in September.   They have a very bitter taste, and
an infusion of them in rum or brandy is much esteemed
as an agreeable morning bitter.  The bark both of the
stem  and  root, is considerably astringent, anil has long
been employed in intermittent fevers.  And as possessing
properties closely allied to the Peruvian  bark, this and
the following article will be found excellent  substitutes.
   Cornus Sericea, or  American red-rod cornel.   Called
also red  willow; swamp dogwood;  blue berried dog-
Avood.   This  agrees  in  its  generic  character with the
cornus florida.  It grows in a moist soil by  the  sides of
creeks and rivers and  in swamps, seldom  attaining in
height more than six  or eight feet.  In general a consi-
derable number of steins arise from the same root and
are very straight.  The  bark of the young shoots is very
smooth, shining, and of a rich dark  red  colour.  The
branches are placed opposite, as are also the leaves which
a good deal resemble the  cornus florida.   The flowers
are 'produced  in clusters or  cymes at the extremity of
every branch, and give  to this shrub a xery elegant  ap-
pearance, being of  a  whitish colour in June and July.
They are  succeeded by succulent drupes or berries, which
are of a blue colour inclining to green when  ripe.
  Both these American  species of cornel are found by
experiments instituted by Dr. John M. Walker to possess
the same  ingredients with cinchona.  The bark of cor-
nus sericea forms a beautiful tincture with proof spirit, 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
201
 which has been useful in the  latter stages  of diarrhoea
 unaccompanied with fever.   This and the poAvdered bark
 of both species are well deserving a place in the apothe-
 caries' shops, as valuable additions to our Materia Medica.
 It is asserted  by  Dr. Walker that in Avhatever form of
 disease the cinchona  has been  decidedly serviceable, the
 corni will be found equsiliy so.  They are like cinchona
 bark, bitter and astringent in the mouth, tonic and febri-
 fuge in the stomach ; and their chemical analysis affords
 results perfectly analogous.  Thirty-five grains of pow-
 dered bark of  (logwood  is considered equal to thirtv of
 cinchona.  Professor Barton adds his decided testimony
 relative to the efficacy of dogwood as a valuable substi-
 tute for  the Peruvian bark in the  cure of  intermittent
 fevers.
   This article as  a remedy has attracted the attention of
 medical practitioners of the United States, many of whom
 have vouched  for their tonic and astringent powers, as
 being little if any inferior to those of cinchona officinalis.
 If therefore our native prod Actions are adequate to our
 exigencies let  expensive exotics be rejected.

 Crocus Sativus.  Common Saffron.  The summit of
                the pistils, called saffron.

   Saffron is a  bulbous rooted perennial plant, very gene-
 rally cultivated in gardens in European countries.   The
 smell of saffron is pleasant and aromatic, but narcotic;
 the taste  a fine aromatic bitter, and it immediately gives
 a deep yellow colour to the saliva, Avhen cheAved.
   The active  matter is  equally  extracted  by alcohol,
 water, proof spirit, and vinegar.   Saffron is remarkably
 fragrant, and is highly esteemed, as it exhilarates the
 spirits  Avhen taken in small doses; but, if  used in too
 large  portions, it  produces immoderate mirth,  and all
 the consequences resulting from the abuse of spirituous
 liquors.   This drug Avas formerly considered  an excel-
 lent remedy in hysteric depressions originating  from
 spasms, or in obstruction of the  uterine secretions; but
 in modern practice it is seldom employed, though it enters
 into several medicinal preparations.  The best saffron is
 that raised in England:  it ought to be of a deep red or
 orange  colour, fresh and tough,  though neither too dry
 nor too moist,  and of a  st;« lg  but  pie;   ,nt as-on-qtic
odour.  The common saffron of our gardens, if pioperiy 
202
materia medica.
 prepared by moistening  with brandy and  pressing into
 cakes, will be found a tolerable  substitute for the im-
 ported drug.

     Croton Eleutheria..  Cascarilla.   The bark.

   This bark is imported  from the Bahama Islands, par-
 ticularly from one  of them of the  name  of Elutberia,
 whence its title is derived.  But  Dr. Wright also found
 the tree on the sea shore in Jamaica, where it is common,
 and  rises to about tAventy feet.  It is imported in the
 form of curled pieces, or  rolled up into short quills about
 an inch in width, externally resembling the Peruvian bark.
 Divested of its whitish upper rind, the cascarilla posses-
 ses an agreeable smell, and a bitterish, pungent aromatic
 taste.  This  inflammable drug,  Avhen burning, emits  a
 fragrant odour, not unlike that of musk.
   The cascarilla is frequently and  successfully adminis-
 tered in intermittent fevers, even as a  substitute  for the
 cinchona; being less liable to produce the inconveniences
 which the latter is apt to occasion by its astringency.
 Cascarilla,  according to medical writers,  has also been
 employed with uncommon advantage in dangerous epi-
 demic and petechial fevers, in flatulent  colics, internal
 hemorrhages, dysenteries, and diarrhoeas.  The virtues
 of cascarilla are partially extracted by Avater, and totally
 by rectified  spirit, though it is more efficacious given in
 poAvder from ten to thirty grains  every four, six, or eight
 hours.

 Cucumis Colocynthis.  Colocynth.  Bitter apple. The
                   pulp of the fruit.

   This article is the produce of  Syria and the island of
 Crete.  The fruit is yellow,  of  the size of an orange,
 and  resembles  a gourd,  the shell of which contains a
 very light, Avhite pulp, interspersed  with flatfish seeds.
 It is  this spungy or medullary part of the fruit, when
 dried, that is used in medicine.  Its taste is intensely hit-
 ter.   Boiled in w ater it gives out  a large portion  of* mu-
 cilage, less active than the colocynth itself.   Alcohol also
 dissolves only part of its active matter.
   Colocynth is  one of the most  drastic purgatives, so
 much so that its operation  is not easily regulated.  Its
dose is from three to six grains, but it is seldom that it
is given by itself, being rather used to promote the opera- 
MATERIA medica.
203
lion of other cathartics.  Combinations of it with jalap,
aloe:,,  or mild muriate of mercury, are thus  given in ob-
stinate constipation, in mania and coma;  and in these
combinations it operates more mildly and more  effectually
than if given alone.   Its infusion has been recommended
as an anthelmintic. But as we are possessed of numerous
native plants  of similar and much milder virtues, there
appears to be no necessity for employing this exotic

                  Cuprum.   Copper.

  This has a more perceptible smell and taste than any
other metal.  Its  effects, when taken into the stomach,
are  highly deleterious, and often fatal.  It particularly
affects the  primse vise, exciting excessive nausea, vomit-
ing, colic  pains, and  purging, sometimes of blood, or*
though more rarely, obstinate constipation.  It also pro-
duces agitation of the mind, headach, vertigo, delirium;
renders the pulse small and Aveak, the countenance pale,
and causes fainting, convulsions, paralysis, and apoplexy.
When any of these symptoms occur, Ave  must endeavour
to obviate the action  of the poison by large and copious
draughts of oily and mucilaginous liquors ;  or to destroy
its   virulence by  solutions of potash, or  sulphuret  of
potash.
  Great care ought to be taken that acid liquors, or even
water, designed for internal use, be not suffered to stand
long in vessels made of copper; otherwise they will dis-
solve so much of it, as will  give  them very dangerous
properties.   But  although copper be thus dangerous,
some preparations of it are, in certaiu cases, used Avith
great advantage, both internally and externally. Its tonic
power, like that of zinc, is estimated by its  successful
exhibition  in  epilepsy, and some other  spasmodic  dis-
eases, depending on, or connected with debility.
  According to Dr.  W. Saunders, copper  is  of all the
metals the  most astringent and most soluble in the  sto-
mach; but on account of the  uncertainty of acid in the
stomach the dose is difficultly ascertained, and it is rarely
used.  Preparations of copper, however, Avhen the inten-
tion is to lessen irritability, are extremely useful, particu-
larly in hysterical cases attended with plethora, and  in
epih-piic spasms.   Copper  is the basis also of a quack
remedy fee the prevention  and cure of hydrophobia, and
in this view it is probably deserving of attention. 
204              MATERIA MEDICA.
       Curcuma Longa.   Turmeric.  The root.

   Turmeric is a perennial plant, a native of India.  The
 roots are tuberous, knotty, long and Avrinkled ; externally
 of a pale yellow colour, internally of a shining  saffron
 brown.  They have a weak aromatic smell, and a slightly
 bitter aromatic taste. Turmeric, taken internally, tinges
 the urine of a deep  yellow colour, and acts as a gentle
 stimulant.  It has been celebrated in diseases of the fiver,
 jaundice, cachexy, dropsy,  intermittent fevers,  &c.   Its
 internal use is now generally dispensed with; and it is only
 esteemed as affording a valuable yellow dye.  Turmeric
 is a production of the United States, being  found  on the
 borders of the  Ohio river.

 Daphne Mezereum.  Mezercon.  Spurge  Laurel.  The
                   bark of the root.

   An indigenous low shrub, growing in Avoods and shady
 places, and  floAvering in the month of February or March.
 When cultivated in gardens, it attains in a  rich soil, the
 height of sixteen feet.  It has no cup but a funnel-shaped
 corolla of one petal inclosing the stamins, and the  border
 cut into four segments.  The fruit is a berry, in  which
 is found a single seed.  The leaves are spear-shaped, and
 the floAvers  groAV by  threes from the  same joint  sitting
 upon the stem, and are of a beautiful red or rose colour.
 The whole  of this plant is so corrosive, that six of its
 berries are  said to kill a wolf.   The bark of the root of
 this plant, is the part used in medicine; its  taste, when
 chewed for  some time, is extremely acrid, exciting an in-
 supportable sensation  of burning in the mouth and throat.
 Its acrimony is somewhat impaired by drying.   It is ex-
 tracted by water and vinegar.  Mezereon is a stimulating
 diaphoretic, Avhich, by determining to the  surface,  has
 been found of service in chronic rheumatism, and in cuta-
 neous diseases.   Its principal use has been in syphilis, as
 being particularly efficacious in removing venereal nodes,
 and thickening  of the ligaments and periosteum, and dis-
 posing ulcerations to  heal.  It is given in  the  form of
decoction;  tAvo drachms  of the bark, Avith half an ounce
of liquorice  root, being boiled in three pounds of Avater,
to two pounds, and four or  six ounces of this given four
times in  a day. It is generally combined with sarsapa- 
MATERIA  MEDICA,
205
rilla: such a combination, forms the decotum sarsapa-
rillce compositnm, an  improved formula for the Lisbon
diet drink.  Dr. Withering has found this bark service-
able in removing a  difficulty of swallowing, and asserts,
that a patient who lived under extreme difficulty of swal-
lowing  for three years, was  effectually cured in two
months, by chewing the root of mezereon as often as she
could support its irritating effects.  This bark, Avhen ap-
plied to the skin in  its recent state, or infused in vinegar,
is effectual in raising a blister, and is sometimes employed
for the purpose of keeping up a perpetual discharge, for
the removal of some chronic local affections.  From the
ripe berries of this plant, an excellent red lake is prepared
by painters. Mezereon groAvs plentifully in the vicinity of
the Ohio river.

Datura  Stramonium.    Thorn Apple.   Apple  Peru.
                 The leaves and  seeds.

   The thorn apple  is  a native of America,  groAving wild
among rubbish and  on dung hills.  It has a large branched
purple coloured stalk spreading and rising to three or four
feet in height.  It  is  said  not frequently to be produced
at a distance from the sea  coast.   It flowers in July and
August, having an  oblong cup of one leaf divided into
five angles and fixe  teeth.  The corolla is funnel shaped
and plaited, Avhite with a tinge  of purple.  The capsule
is large, egg shaped,  and covered with thorns Avhich has
four divisions, and  groAvs upright upon the remains  of
the cup;  and contains numerous black  kidney shaped
seeds. The leaves are large, egg shaped, pointed, angular,
and deeply indented, of a disagreeable smell and nauseous
taste.   At night  some of the upper leaves rise up and
enclose the flower.  In the southern states  this plant is
called jameston or  jimson Aveed, sometimes stink  weed.
The species, or the variety called green stramonium is
described as having a green or pale coloured  stalk and
white flowers, and is often found groAving Avith the purple
stalk variety.   The Datura  Tatula is larger than the
stramonium, the  stalk is purple, sprinkled with  Avhite
spots, and the floAvers are purple.  The leaves are also
larger and more angular and notched, the capsules of a
larger size, and their spines more substantial.  This last
species  it is supposed is seldom  if ever found in NeAV-
England. 
206
materia  mediga.
  Every part  of this plant is a strong narcotic poison,
and numerous  instances are recorded of children having
suffered the most alarming  consequences from having
swallowed the  seeds.  Immediately ,fter their being re-
ceived into the stomach, dilatation of the pupils, vertigo,
delirium, tremor, itching, eruption, insupportable thirst,
and palsy ensue; which if not remedied soon, terminate in
death. The most effectual antidote will be speedy emetics,
folloAved by copious draughts of olive  oil, aided by soap
clysters, and cathartics.   According to Baron Stork and
other German physicians, the inspissated juice of the
leaves of this plant has been successfully employed in
maniacal cases, and in convulsive and epileptic affections.
  Professor Barton of Philadelphia, esteems it as a good
stimulant and diuretic, and as a medicine possessing great
and  invaluable poAvers.   He has frequently exhibited it
with success in cases of mania and epilepsy.  The form
in which  he chiefly employed it, is that  of  an extract
prepared from the fresh leaves, and this in large doses;
beginning Avith a feAV grains, he increased it gradually to
the extent of fifteen or twenty grains.
  We have also the respectable authority of Dr. Fisher
of Beverly, in favor of the efficacy of Stramonium in
the  cure of epilepsy.   From his extensive experience it
appears, that great confidence may be reposed in the vir-
tues of this medicine in effecting a radical cure in thos«
cases of young persons where the fits  occur daily, or
monthly,  at regular periods, especially if assisted by
chalybeates, or such other medicines as particular symp-
toms appear to  require.  He observes that the patient
must be kept constantly under the influence of the niedi- .
cine; for this  purpose,  he will require every day one or
tAvo  doses, according to the severity of the  symptoms.
The saturated tincture, he says, is the most  convenient
form for children.  The requisite  dose may be known by
the dilatation of the pupils.
  The stramonium having displayed its efficacy under the
prescription of numerous  physicians, its character seems
to be established, and the use of it is extended to a variety
of diseases. As  a remedy in epilepsy it is unquestionably
one to be relied  on even in some of the most  deplorable
examples.   Though its failure is not unfj equently to be
ex; *  *;«d, its efficacy has often surpassed that of" a'! other
remedies.  A  lady ;i;-;ed about fifty-five years, having for
some months been afflicted with alarming attacks of epi- 
MATERIA MEDICA.               207
 lepsy, by which her powers of intellect and of articulation
 Avere impaired, happily experienced a restoration by tak-
 ing one grain of the extract once or twice in twenty-four
 hours.   Although she did not suffer another attack after
 commencing the course, she found it necessary to continue
 in it during several months to remove all apprehension of a
 recurrence.  A single grain seldom failed to excite un-
 pleasant vertiginous sensations, accompanied Avith  an
 efflorescence about her face and some degree of sleepiness.
 In another instance a man took fifty grains daily, divided
 into two doses, which constantly obviated a recurrence of
 the fits, though it produced dilated pupil, blindness, and
 sleepiness.
   In some spasmodic affections  of the breast and  lungs,
 as asthma and spasmodic cough, stramonium is said to
 have proved essentially beneficial.  Reports have been
 made in favor of the  salutary  effects which asthmatic
 patients have derived from the practice of smoking stra-
 monium ; but  no  authenticated fact  of this nature has
 occurred, and  we  are, on the contrary, apprized by Dr,
 Bee,that in England, the practice of smoking this plant
 has in a very considerable number  of instances been  at-
 tended with injurious or fatal consequences.
   Lately it has been announced  that  stramonium has ef-
 fected cures in some obstinate cases of amenorrhcea.   As
 this medicine will sometimes produce unpleasant  sensa-
 tions, and even alarming effects, it is not to be adminis-
 tered Avithout some precaution.           «
   A medical gentleman Avas called to a family, eight of
 whom were suffering the  noxious effects of stramonium,
 the leaves  of Avhich had been eaten at table mixed with
 other vegetables.  They exhibited a scene scarcely to be
 described, and  formed a group in Avhich were manifested
 the symptoms designating the various grades from idio-
 tism to mania; such as torpor, or abolition of sense, slow
 pulse, vertigo,  tremor,  wild delirium and raving, with
 glaring eyes and dilated pupil.   They all recovered in
 about twenty-four  hours by the use of strong emetics.
   The extract  may be made by boiling the bruised seeds
 or fresh leaves  in water for the space of four hours; then
 strain off the liquor; evaporate over a gentle fire, without
 taking off the  scum, until it has acquired the thickness
 of syrup; then place it in a Avarm oven,  in an earthen
 glazed vessel, until it becomes of a proper consistence for
 use.  The dose is from  one to ten grains or more  for an
adult.  An ointment prepared by simmering the fresh 
208
MATERIA  MEDICA.
leaves in hogs lard, affords great relief in external in-
flammations, and especially in the piles.   It is also highly
useful in burns,  and in allaying the swelling of a cow's
udder.  .The  leaves applied  to the feet  or part affected
have been found efficacious in removing spasm.

      Daucus Carota.  Wild Carrot.   The  seeds.

   The seeds of wild carrot have a moderately warm pun-
gent taste, and an agreeable  aromatic smell.   They are
carminative, and are said  to be diuretic.  The roots of
the  cultivated variety, common carrot,  contains  much
mucilaginous and saccharine matter, and are therefore
highly nutritious and emollient.  When beaten to a pulp,
they form an excellent application to cancerous and other
ill-conditioned ulcers, allaying the pain, checking  the
suppuration and  foetid smell, and softening the callous
edges.  A marmalade of  earrots,  on account of their
strong antiseptic qualities, has been  successfully used for
preventing and  curing the sea-scurvey.  An infusion of
these  roots  has also  been found to afford considerable
relief to persons afflicted Avith the stone and worms, but
especially the tape worm.

Digitalis Purpurea.   The  purple or common  Fox-
                  glove.   The leaves.

   This is a biennial plant  not indigenous to the United
States, but of late cultivated in our gardens.  The plant
rises to two  feet or more, the leaves are large, oblong,
egg shaped, soft, covered with hairs,  and  serrated.  They
have a bitter  very nauseous  taste, with  some acrimony.
The flowers are in long  terminating spikes.   Blossoms
appear in June and July, of the second year, of a beauti-
ful purple colour, elegantly  mottled in the inside with
spots like little eyes.   All its parts  arc  powerfully nar-
cotic, but the leaves being  most uniform in strength, are
preferred for medicinal use.  They are to be collected
when the plant  is in blossom, and dried before a gentle
fire, the thicker  stalks being  removed: and they ought to
be kept Avithout  being reduced  to powder.
   The operation of digitalis  on the system  is extremely
peculiar, and  there is even considerable  difficulty in as-
certaining  its real effects.  In a full  dose, it produces
exhaustion of poAver, marked by a great and  sudden re- 
MATERIA MEDICA.
209
 duction in the force of the circulation; the  pulse being
 reduced both in frequency and force, falling sometimes
 from seventy to forty or thirty-five beats in a minute,
 and being small and tremulous.   This is accompanied
 with sickness, anxiety, vertigo, dimness of vision, ant!, in
 a large dose, Avith vomiting, syncope, coldness of the
 extremities, convulsions and coma, with sometimes a fatal
 termination.   Yet these  effects are not uniform, but even
 from the same dose Ave observe considerable  diversity of
 operation in different individuals: thus the pulse is some-
 times rendered loAver without being diminished in fulness;
 at other times it is rendered irregular: nordocs sickness
 ahvays accompany the reduction of the force of the cir-
 culation.  Sometimes none of these effects, and scarcely
 any perceptible change in the  state of the functions are
 immediately apparent; but if the dose be continued, they
 are suddenly produced.  Effects are even observed, from
 the operation of foxglove, apparently of a very opposite
 kind.  While it reduces  the force of the circulation, it
 appears to increase the action of the absorbent system.
 and hence proves a powerful remedy in dropsy; and Dr
 Withering, by Avhom its  powers  Avere first  particularly
 investigated, observed, that Avhen given in a state of dis~
 ease, it Avas most successful, not where there existed in
 creased  action  in  the system, but, on the contrary, in
 states of debility, Avhere  the pulse Avas feeble and inter
 mitting, and the countenance pale.  Other authors have
 remarked its stimulant operation; and Dr.  Sanders, from
 a series of observations and experiments, has inferred.
 that it ahvays acts primarily as a  stimulant, augmenting
 when given in a dose not too large, the force and frequen-
 cy of the pulse, and inducing a state of increased action;
 it is only Avhen it is accumulated by repetition, or by too
 large a dose, that reduction of the force of the  circulation
 and other symptoms of diminished power  are produced;
 and hence, according to this view, it is strictly analogous
 in its operation to other narcotics.
  It must be admitted, however, that it is  more difficult
 to regulate the administration of digitalis, so as to obtain
 its continued  stimulant operation, than it  is with regard
 to other stimulants: that  there is  a rapid transition to a
 state of diminished action, and that this is greater, and
 more  permanent, compared Avith the primary stimulant
effect, than  in other stimulants even of the diffusible kind
         27 
210
MATERIA MEDICA.
  Foxglove, producing very different effects according to
the mode in whicii it is administered,or according to the
state of the system, is employed as a remedy in different
diseases.  On its action as a narcoi ic, in part at least, has
been supposed to depend the  advantage derived from it
as a remedy in phthisis pulmonalis.  When given to that
extent in wliich  it reduces the velocity and force of tho
circulation, it proves useful, by counteracting that state
of increased action Avhich prevails in the incipient stage
of the  disease; and  by diminishing the rapidity of the
circulation through the lungs, it  may facilitate the  re-
moval of thojocal affection.  In the more advanced stages,
it may operate, it  has been  conceived, by promoting  ab-
sorption,  thus  removing  the  tuberculous  affection, or
Aviti id rawing the purulent matter, before it has been ren-
dered acrid by the action of the air.   Sanguine expecta-
tions have been formed of the advantages to be derived
from  it in the treatment of phthisis, many of the symp-
toms disappearing under its use, and the progress of the
disease appearing to be arrested.   The change of organic
structure is, however, so considerable, at least in the ad-
vanced state of  the disease, as  scarcely to admit of a
cure from the operation of any remedy; and the operation
of foxglove is so much diversified, that perhaps the proper
mode of administering it  has not been  precisely deter-
mined, so as to admit of all the advantage being received
from  it that might be derived: it is difficult, as Dr. W.
Hamilton has remarked  to  give it so as to reduce the
force  of the circulation, and contiine this effect, without
its inducing other  consequences, which compel  us to re-
linquish its use.
  Foxglove has been proposed as a remedy in pneumo-
nia, from its poAver of reducing the force of the circula-
tion ay hen given in  a sufficient dose, conjoined with blood-
letting;  and cases have  been related  of  the  success
attending the practice,  while some authors have con-
demned it as hazardous, from the excitement it is liable
to produce.  On a  similar principle, it has been proposed
to lie employed in  croup.
  In active haemorrhage, it might be expected,  from the
same  operation, to be a  remedy  of much power; and»
a<■-. ording to the observations  of Ferriar and others, it
may be  employed with signal advantage in  cpi-taxi-j
haemoptysis, and monorrhagia, either alone or in cor.ibi-
nation w-..a opium.  In  spasmodic asthma, the combina-
tion of it Avith opium has afforded much relief.  In palpi- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
2fl
tation arising from intemperance, or from passions of the
mind, and  not  connected  with dyspepsia, the irregular
action of the heart has been abated, and at length entirely
removed by its  operation.
  Foxglove is given in  substance, or under the form of
infusion, decoction, or tincture.
  The medium dose  of the powder of the dried leaves
is half a grain; the dose of the infusion prepared accord-
ing to the formula of Withering, now received into the
Pharmacopoeias, is half an ounce; that of the tincture is
fifteen drops; these quantities being given twice a day.
The decoction is an improper form,  as being variable in
strength.  The tincture is the form of preparation under
Avhich it has usually been  given as a narcotic: the infu-
sion that in whicii it  has  been employed as a diuretic.
Given in substance, there  is supposed to  be rather more
risk of  its effects  accumulating  from repetition of the
dose,  so as to induce  unpleasant  symptoms  which arise
from  an over dose.
  To obtain the full narcotic  operation  of foxglove, the
dose given at first requires to be gradually increased, but
this increase must be made Avith much caution,  not only
from  the hazard attending  an over dose, but from  the
circumstance that the action of the remedy is for a time
not apparent; but if the dose  has been too large, or re-
peated  at intervals not sufficiently distant,  it  appears
suddenly, and continues progressive.  Hence the neces-
sity of the practitioner's AvatchingAvith the greatest atten-
tion the effects it  produces.   The  augmentation may
proceed at the rate of one-fourth of the original quantify
every second day, and the dose should not  be repeated
more  than twice, or  at  farthest thrice a day, unless in
acute diseases, Avhere the effect must lie more speedily
obtained, and Avhere,  therefore, the augmentation must
be more rapid.  The increase is continued until the effect
intended to be obtained from the  remedy is produced, or
until  its operation is apparent on the system: and when-
ever the pulse begins  to diminish in frequency or force,
the increase of  dose must  be stopt; and if the reduction
be considerable, or proceed rapidly, the administration of
the remedy must be suspended, and, only after a sufficient
interval, cautiously renewed.   This  is more especially
necessary Avhen nausea is  induced, dimness of vision, ver-
tigo,  or any tendency to  fainting.  When  these  symp-
toms do occur, they'' are best obviated by  small doses of 
221
MATERIA MEDICA.
stimulants, as spirituous cordials warm; sulphuric ether,
aromatic  spirit  of ammonia, bitter  infusions,  and aro-
matics, small doses of opium, and a blister applied to the
region of the stomach.  Vinegar, which is an antidote to
other narcotics,  might also be tried.
  Foxglove has  been considered as a  narcotic; it is a still
more important article of the materia medica as  a diu-
retic.   It had  frequently  been used as  an empirical
remedy in dropsy; but the occasional violence of its nar-
cotic operation,  Avhen not administered with due precau-
tion, prevented it  from being employed in practice, until
Dr. Withering pointed out, Avith more precision, the rides
to be attended to in its exhibition.
  It is difficult  to compare  the powers of the  principal
diuretics; yet, on the Avhole, perhaps  foxglove is superior
to all of them in evacuating the Avater in dropsy: and the
conclusions of Withering are still nearly just, that " so
far as the removal of the Avater will contribute to cure
the patient, so far may be expected  from this medicine;
and that although digitalis does not  act universally as a
diuretic, it does so more generally than any other."
  In hydrothorax,  its superiority to  other diuretics is
more clearly established than in ascites or anasarca; and
in the first of these states of dropsy, it is  unquestionably
superior to any other remedy.  Withering remarked,
that it Avas most successful  in  those  cases of dropsy in
which debility was completely marked, Avhere the coun-
tenance is pale,  the pulse Aveak, and the muscular energy
reduced, Avhile,  in an opposite  state of the system, it was
more liable to fail.  In the  latter case, therefore, he re-
commended a previous exhibition of squill, or  of super-
tartrite of potass, by which some reduction of strength
might be  induced.  The observation,  hoAvever, has. not
altogether been  confirmed by subsequent experience.  If
it were, it Avould afford a strong presumptive proof, that
the efficacy of foxglove in dropsy depends on its stimulant
action.
  There is a peculiarity in its operation, that it may  bo
continued for some time Avithout sensibly  increasing the
floAV of urine; the increase then suddenly commences, and
continues of itself without requiring the  continued ad-
ministration of the remedy for several days, and to a very
great extent, so that the dropsical effusion is more speedily
reduced by the  action of it  than by any  other diuretic.
Its diuretic power too appears only when it is administered 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
213
in dropsy, and hence there can be little doubt that it ope-
rates principally, if not entirely, by exciting the action
of the absorbents.  The absorbed fluid is then discharged
by the  kidneys.  The diuretic  effect  is not connected
with its  nauseating operation, or with the reduction in
the force of the  circulation;  it can, on the contrary, be
obtained without either of these accompanying it;  and
Withering remarked even, that he had found the increas-
ed discharge of urine to be checked, Avhen the doses had
been imprudently urged so as to occasion sickness.   He
observed also, that if it purges, it is almost certain to fail.
  The great desideratum Avith regard to this remedy, is
to conduct its administration so as to obtain its full diu-
retic effect, Avithout those consequences which arise from
it, when its action is accumulated in the system.  The
rules given by Withering for its administration, are to
give it in a dose from one to three grains of the powder
twice a day; or one ounce of the infusion, Avhich, if the
symptoms be urgent, or the patient stronger than usual,
may be given once in eight hours : and the dose is to be
continued until  the medicine either acts on  the kidneys,
the stomach, the pulse, or the bowels; and is to be stopped
on the first  appearance of any of these effects.   If  how-
ever the dose be small and  given twice in tAventy-four
hours, the diuretic operation will be obtained in no long
time Avithout any unpleasant  symptom, and when it  com-
mences,  Avill continue of itself,  even though the dose be
suspended.
  Foxglove may in the treatment of dropsy, be advanta-
geously  combined Avith other diuretics; and its actitm,
like  that of squill, is said to be promoted by the operation
of mercury.
  There  arc other diseases in whicii foxglove  has  been
supposed to  proAe useful by its diuretic poAver; as in insa-
nia,  or in epilepsy connected with serous effusion in the
brain;  and more especially  in  dyspnoea arising  from
serous effusion in the bronchise.  It is employed also with
much advantage  in humoral asthma, and in catarrh, ob-
vionsly from its power of promoting absorption.   By-
diminishing the quantity of the fluid accumulated in the
lungs, it facilitates the expectoration of the remainder,
and hence appears to act as an expectorant.  In aneurism
of the aorta, digitalis has been found to alleviate the most
distressing symptoms.  Two eases of phthisis arc  men-
tioned by Dr. Walmsley in which this remedy induced a 
,'1 i
METER1A .MEDICA.
 copious ptyalism which lasted some time, but Avithout
 producing''any beneficial effect.   In the second case, the
 ptyalism Avas a second time induced by its use.
   Dr. Currie, late of Liverpool, extols in strong terms the
 efficacy of foxglove in allaying the inordinate action of
 the heart and arteries, and in this view he considered  it
 as one of the greatest benefits our science has  received in
 modern times.   He employed it very extensively in cases
 of phlegmasia;, hsemorrhagia and dropsy, inflammation
 of the brain, of the heart, and of the lungs, and found  it
 also an excellent  remedy  in  inflammatory rheumatism.
 Its efficacy in this last disease has been  confirmed by
 more recent experience.
   The infusion  of foxglove  has  been applied externally
 as an anodyne lotion to painful cutaneous eruption or ulce-
 ration. An ointment composed of  the powder  mixed with
 lard, has  been found successful in obstinate tinea capitis.
   In the United States practical  inquiries into the medi-
 cal properties of digitalis have been prosecuted with un-
 common zeal, and although uniformity of opinion is far
 from prevailing, every practitioner Avho has adopted the
 use of it, will alloAv that it is one of the most active me-
 dicinal agents.  Dr. Isaac Rand,  a physician of eminence
 in Boston, and Dr. John Spence, a respectable practitioner
 in Virginia, have from their oavh experience furnished
 unquestionable attestations of its efficacy  in the  early
 stages of  phthisis pulmonalis.  Although Dr. Rand does
 not think with Dr. Beddoes, that foxglove is as infallible
 a remedy  in consumption as mercury in lues venerea, and
 bark in intermittents, he asserts that he has cured  more
 by  this medicine  than by all and every other medicine
 conjoined. He has also experienced the most decided good
 effects from the use of digitalis in haemoptysis, cpistaxis,
 and active haemorrhages from the  uterus. In one instance
 of haemoptysis in a very athletic young man, Avhere the
 discharge eluded the force of every other medicine, it
 reduced the pulse in eight  hours  from one  hundred in  a
 minute to  fifty pulsations, and stopped the  haemorrhage.
 He has ghen it Avith complete success in a case of mental
derangement. . Such are the active and virulent qualities
 of this plant that it ought not to be entrusted to the direc-
tion of the inexperienced practitioner; nor resorted to
 without due attention to the state of the  system; and
 when administered, its peculiar effects should he discrimi-
 nated with the utmost vigilance and precision.  Dr. Rand 
MATERIA MEDICA.
215
relates for admonition one  melancholy example of the
fatal effects of digitalis, in a man who having experienced
relief from its use,  adventurously  exceeded the extent
enjoined by bis physician.
  It should be observed that there is a singularity attend-
ing the operation of foxglove noticed by a writer in the
third volume of the Edinburgh Medical Journal, and also
by Dr. Hamilton in his  treatise  on digitalis, and  some
others,  which appears to merit attention in  its adminis-
tration.  That its action  is considerably influenced by the
different positions of the patient's body, whether er^at or
recumbent. In one case of phthisis, after taking this ined-
ieinc, the pulse was not lessened in frequency Avhen the
patient stood erect, being upAvards of an hundred. When
he sat down it fell  considerably, and when  lying on his
back  it fell much  more.  When sitting it  was reduced
to seventy-five, and ay hen lying, to forty. The experiment
was repeated many times, and always with the same effect.
   Dr. Mease, of Philadelpia, being of opinion that not
unfrcqucntly disappointment to the expectations of the
prcscriber is to be attributed to the improper manner of
preparing  and exhibiting digitalis,  advises physicians  to
cultivate the plant for their own use, and to observe the
greatest care in preserving  the leaves, rejecting the leaf
stalk and middle rib.  Some farther observations relative
to this important plant will be  found under its several
preparations.

Dolichos  Pruriens.  Cowhage.   The stiff hairs ay hi eh
                    cover the pods.

   An exotic plant groAving  in warm climates,  especially
the West Indies.  The pods are about four inches long,
round, and as thick as a man's  finger.  The outside  of
the pods is thickly beset with stiff broAvn hairs, which,
Avhen  applied to the skin,  occasion  a most intolerable
itching.  The ripe pods are dipped in  syrup, which is
again scraped off with a knife.   When the syrup is ren-
dered by the hairs as thick  as honey, it is fit for use.   It
acts mechanically, as an anthelmintic, occasions no un-
easiness in the primse viae, Avhich are defended by mucus-.
and may be  safely taken from a tea spoonful, to a table
spoonful, in the morning, fasting.  The Avorms are said
to appear with the second or third dose, and, by means of
a purge, in some eases the stools have consisted entirely 
216
MATERIA MEDICA.
 of worms. A decoction of the roots of eoAvhage is esteem-
 ed a powerful diuretic, and a vinous infusion of the pods
 (twelve to a quart) is said to be a certain remedy for the
 dropsy;  the dose half a pint Avhen made into beer.
   Mr. Kerr has given a botanical description of the plant
 in the Medical Commentaries, vol. ii.

 Dorstenia  Contrajerva.   Contraycrva.   The root.

   This plant is perennial, and groAvs in  South America,
 and some of the Caribbean Islands.   The root is knotty,
 an inch or two in length, and about half an inch in  thick-
 ness; externally of a  reddish  brown colour; and pale
 within;  long, rough, slender  fibres  shoot out from all
 sides of it, and are generally loaded Avith  small, round
 knots.  It has a peculiar kind of aromatic smell,  and  a
 someAvhat astringent, Avarm, bitterish taste, Avith a slight,
 and sAveetish kind of acrimony Avhen long chewed.  Con-
 traycrva is a gentle  stimulant and diaphoretic, and is
 sometimes given in exanthematous diseases, typhus, and
 dysentery.  Its dose is about half a  drachm of the pow-
 dered root.

 Eugenia  Caryophyllata.   The  Clove  Tree.   The
            floAver bud, and its  volatile oil.

   This is a beautiful tall tree, a native  of the Molucca
 Islands.   Cloves are the unexpanded floAvers,  which are
 dried by fumigating them, and exposing them to the sun.
 They have a  strong aromatic odour,  and a pungent taste.
 They afford to Avater their flavour principally; to alcohol,
their  taste.   By distillation with Avater, they yield a fra-
grant essential oil, not very pungent.   The oil of cloves,
commonly met with, is rendered acrid by certain additions.
  Cloves are among the most stimulating  aromatics: the
dose of them does not exceed from five  to  ten grains.
They are employed principally as adjuvants, or corrigents
to other medicines.  The  essential oil is used with the
same  intention, and likewise, as a local  application in
toothach: but from its pungent nature, it is apt to corrode
the gums, and injure the adjacent teeth. 
materia  medica.
217
 Eupatorium Perfoliatum.   Thorough  Wort.   The
                  leaves and floAvers.

   This is a native annual plant, flourishing  abundantly
 in Avet meadows and other moist places.   The  stalk is
 hairy and rises  from two to four  feet, perforating the
 leaves at each joint, from which it is  sometimes called
 thorough stalk, or stem.  The floAvers  arc AVbite and ap-
 pear in July and August, forming a corymbus at the ter-
 mination of the branches.  The leaves at each joint are
 horizontal, serrated and rough, from three to  four inches
 long, and about one inch broad  at their base, gradually
 lessening to a  very  acute point, of a dark  green, and
 covered  with short  hairs.   Thorough  wort certainly
 possesses active  properties, and deserves the attention of
 American physicians.   It acts powerfully as a sudorifie
 and emetic, and sometimes as a  purgative, and has  been
 successfully employed in intermittents and other fevers,
 either in decoction or the leaves  in powder.   Every part
 of the plant may be advantageously employed, though
 the flowers appear  most active.  A watery  infusion  of
 the leaves is a powerful and not disagreeable bitter, and
 the flowers are deemed  superior in  this respect to those
 of camomile, and  ought to be kept in  the  shops.   The
 dried leaves in powder, or made into pills with  lenitive
 electuary, given in doses of tAvelve or fifteen grains, are of
 excellent effect as  a mild laxative, obviating  costiveness
 Avithout inducing  debility or heat; correcting bile and
 promoting  perspiration.  This plant is frequently em-
 ployed in the country as a drench hi diseases of cattle.
 There are several  species in the  United States.

 Eupatorium Pilosum.  Wild Horeltound.  The leaves.

   This species of Eupatorium is also an annual plant; it
rises from one to two feet.   It grows Avild in abundance
 in the southern states, where it has acquired great repute
as a domestic remedy in the prevalent fevers of that cli-
mate.  We are indebted to the honourable George Jones,
Esq. president of  the Georgia medical society, for the
following sketch of its medical virtues'..   " It serves as an
excellent substitute for the Peruvian bark; indeed. umoEig
the planters on or near the  sea board it supersedes the
 use of the  bark in the cure  ef fevers.   It  is tonic, dia-
         23 
218
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 phoretic, diuretic, and mildly cathartic, and does not op-
 press the stomach as the Peruvian  bark is apt to do;
 hence it may often be exhibited Avhere  the cinchona is
 inadmissible.   It is usually exhibited in the form of in-
 fusion; one ounce of the dried leaves infused in a quart
 of Avater may be taken daily in doses of from tAvo to four
 ounces  every  hour or two.   It  may  be advantageously
 combined with Peruvian bark; and although it may some-
 times fail of producing the desired effect, I think it well
 deserves a  station  among the articles  of the Materia
 Medica."

                    Ferrum.  Iron.

   A  metal  very abundant in  nature, of a  bluish gray
 colour,  highly ductile, scarcely fusible, but easily oxidat-
 ed in atmospheric air, and  subject  to  rust.  It seems
 even to be a constituent of organic substances, and is the
 only metal,  which, when taken into  the stomach, exerts
 no deleterious action upon if.
   The  general  virtues of this metal, and  the  several
 preparations of it, are, to constringe the fibres, to quicken
 the circulation, to promote the deficient secretions in the
 remoter parts, and  at the same time to repress inordinate
 discharges  into the intestinal  tube.   After the use of
 them, if they take effect, the pulse is very sensibly raised;
 the colour of the face, though before pale, changes to a
 florid red;  the alvine, urinary, and cuticular excretions,
 are increased.   Fetid eructations, and the feces voided of
 a black  colour, are  marks of their taking due effect.
   When given improperly or  to excess, iron  produces
 headach, anxiety; heats the body and often causes hsenioi--
 rhagies, or  even vomiting, pains in  the stomach, and
 spasms and pains of the bowels.
  Iron is given in most eases of debility and relaxation,
  1. In  passive hscmorrhagies.
  2. In  dyspepsia, hysteria, and chlorosis.
  3. In  most of the cachexies.
  4. In general debility produced by disease, or excessive
luemorrhagy.
  When cither a preternatural discharge, or suppression
of natural secretions, proceed from a languor and slug-
gishness of the fluids, and weakness of the solids: tliis
metal, by increasing the motion of the former, and the
strength of the latter, will suppress the flux, or remove 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
219
the suppression; but where the circulation is already too
quick, the solids too tense and rigid, Avhere there is any
stricture or spasmodic contraction of the vessels, iron,
and all the preparations of it, will aggravate  both dis-
tempers.
   Soft malleable  iron is the only kind fit for internal use,
as steel and cast-iron ahvays contain impurities, and often
arsenic: as its mechanical division is extremely difficult,
it is directed to be kept in the shops in the state of filings
or Avirc.

Ferri Oxidum Nigrum.  The black oxide of iron, such
   as are the scales of iron, formed at the foot of the
   blacksmith's anvil.

   When iron is heated to redness in the smith's forge, to
render it more malleable,  its surface becomes oxidized
by the action of the atmospheric air;  and  as the oxide
formed does not adhere to the iron, it is easily  separated
by percussion on the anvil,  and flies off in  the state of
sparks, Avhich, on cooling, constitute the scales of iron.
hi these, the iron is oxidized to that degree  in whicii it
is soluble in acids, without the production of hydrogen
gas : therefore, Avhen taken into the stomach, they do not
produce the distention  and flatulence occasioned by the
use of the filings.   These scales are purified for use by
the application of the  magnet.  For the magnet will at-
tract  only the smaller and purer  scales, and will  leave
those which are larger and less pure.

Ferula Ass a Foetid a.  Assafcetida.  The gum resin.

   The plant Avhich furnishes assa foetida is perennial and
a native of Persia.  It has, hoAvever, borne fertile seeds in
the open air, in the botanical garden of Edinburgh.  The
gum resin is procured  from'the roots of plants Avhich are
at least four years old.  The top of the root is cut off
transversely, and the  juice  suffered to exude, wliich is
afterwards exposed to  the heat of the sun to harden.  It
comes to us in large irregular masses, composed of various
little  shining  lumps or grains,  Avhich  are partly  of  a
whitish colour, partly  reddish, and partly of a Aiolet hue.
Those masses are accounted the best, Avhich are clear, of
a pale reddish colour, and variegated Avith a great number
of elegant white tears. This drug has a strong foetid 
220
MATERIA MEDICA.
smell, somewhat like that of garlic;  and a bitter, acrid.
biting taste.   It loses so ne of its smell and strength by
keeping: a  circumstance to be particularly regarded in
its exhibition.  It is the most powerful  of  all the fcetid
gums, and is a most valuable remedy.  It acts as a stimu-
lant, antispasmodic, expectorant, cmmenagogue, and an-
thelmintic.   Its action is quick and  penetrating, and it
affords great and speedy relief in spasmodic, flatulent,
hysteric, and hypochondriacal complaints, especially when
they arise  from  obstructions of the  boAvels.    Where
spasms and constipations have weakened the powers of
nature, and the functions are in a languid state,  it gene-
rally affords effectual relief; as  it promotes digestion,
enlivens the animal spirits, and by increasing the peris-
taltic motion of the. intestines, tends  to  open them in
persons of  an advanced age.  In the spasmodic, as well
as humoral asthma, unattended Avith fever, it is an excel-
lent remedy; for, in the former, it counteracts the stric-
tures of the  respiring organs, and in the latter, greatly
facilitates  expectoration.  The hooping cough has been
eurcd, and Avorms have frequently been expelled, by the
conjoined administration of assa fcetkla, bo.;h by the mouth
and in the form of clyster.  It is exhibited in the form of
pills, in doses of from five to twenty grains, cither alone,
or combined Avith bitter extracts or purgatives: or it may
be given in  tincture, or dissolved in some simple distilled
water.  In  the form of clyster, it is frequently directed
to the extent.of  two drachms, dissolved in eight ounces
of  water as an antispasmodic.

       Ficcs Carica.   The fig tree.   The fruit.

  This tree is probably a native of Asia, but grows plen-
tifully in the south  of Europe.   As the fruit  is  very
pulpy, it is dried when it is to be preserved.   They consist
almost entirely of sugar and mncilage, and arc therefore
demulcent.   They are grateful to the stomach, and more
easy of digestion than any other sweet fruit, and abound-
ing in saccharine  matter, they are  xery nutritious, but
apt to occasion flatulency, when eaten Avithout bread, or
other mealy substances.  A decoction of figs affords ex-
cellent  gargles to cleanse the throat and mouth.   This
fruit also forms an ingredient in lenitive electuaries, and
pectoral draughts, and is likewise applied externally to
soften, digest, and promote maturation. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
221
   Figs ripen very Avell by the middle  of September in
 Philadelphia, when enjoying a free exposure to the sun.
 In the southern states they flourish luxuriantly, and might
 become  an article of  extensive exportation, and home
 consumption, if pains Avere taken to introduce the large
 Levant fig.

 Frasera Carolinensis, Walth.") Columbo of Marietta.
 Frasera Waltheri,  Mich.    J     The root.

   This species of columbo is produced in  the vicinity of
 Marietta in  Ohio, and we are indebted to Dr. S. P. Hil-
 dreth of that place for a partial description of the plant.
 According to him the  Columba  Americana  is a regular
 and very elegantly proportioned plant, growing to the
 height of seven feet.
   It  is a production of high land, a rich and loamy  soil
 that is covered with  white oak, Avhite thorn, and tufts of
 prairie grass.  The stalk is covered witli a  smooth deli-
 cate  membrane of a deep purple colour at the root, but
 becoming lighter as  it  ascends toward the top.  Beneath
 this is a pulpy coat,  fibrous and vascular, Avhich covers
 another that is entirely ligneous  Avhich is the chief sup-
 port of the stalk. The remainder is medullary, and com-
 pletely fills the Avoody circle.  The Columbo of Marietta
 is a triennial plant.  The radical leaves, Avhen it springs
 from the seed,  are five in number, to these are added the
 second season five more.  The third spring it sends up a
 stalk with fixe whorls of leaves, when each Avhorl consists
 of five leaves, and four, Avhen  each whorl consists of
four, before it puts out any flowering branches.  The
 leaves are  in whorls smooth and spear  shaped.   The
 branches are axillary, upright, and of the same number
 Avith the leaves, from the basis of Avhich they immediate-
 ly rise  and  send out opposite fruit stalks.*  From  the
 whorls  where the flowering  branches commence to the
 top of the stalk, if it consists of five leaves, there are ten
 whorls growing gradually less to  the apex, which ends
 Avith five peduncles.  It floAvers in July.  The root as soon
 as it enters the earth  shoots out in a horizontal direction ;
 is spindle shaped; and when Avell groAvn is from eighteen
 to thirty inches in length, and two in  diameter at  the
 turn.  Near the  surface  of the earth the root is Avrinkled;
 its colour in the  young plant is  alight yelloAV;  and is
 solid and brittle.  After the stalk  is grown the root be- 
 ~~'-               MATERIA MEDICA.

 comes softer and less  bitter.   The proper time for col-
 lecting it seems to be in the spring of the third year.
 Dr. Hildreth asserts that from  the experiments he has
 made with American columbo, he is induced to believe it
 fully equal,  if not  superior to  the imported.   It  is in
 common use there, and has in one instance, in the heat of
 summer, put a stop to a wide spreading gangrene, on one
 of the loAver extremities, by internal use and external
 application, Avhen bark and other remedies had failed.
   The columbo plant is undoubtedly to be estimated as a
 valuable acquisition to our  Materia Medica.  The root,
 however, is found  on examination to be of a lighter
 colour, and to possess less of the  bitter principle than the
 imported root;  its comparative efficacy  is  therefore
 doubtful, and yet to be ascertained.

 Fraxinus Orxus.  Manna Ash.   The concrete juice,
                    called manna.

   Manna is obtained from other species of fraxinus  be-
 sides the ornus, and especially from the rotundifolia.   It
 is principally collected  in Calabria  and  Sicily.  In the
 warmest season of  the year, from the middle of June to
 the end of July, a clear juice exudes from the stem and
 branches of these trees, Avhich, when naturally concreted
 on the plants and scraped off, is called manna.  The best
 Calabrian  manna is imported in oblong, light, friable
 flakes, or pieces of a whitish or  pale yellow shade, and
 somewhat transparent.   The inferior sorts are  moist,
 unctuous, and of a  darker colour.
   Manna is a mild and agreeable laxative, wliich may be
 safely administered to  children and  the aged, though  in
 some constitutions  it is apt to induce flatulence, and to
 distend the boAvels;  but this inconvenience may lie  reme-
 died by the addition of a little cinnamon Avater, or other
 warm  aromatic.  The dose for children is according to
 their age, from one  to three drachms, and for adults, one
 ounce, or one ounce and an half;  as, however, its opera-
 tion Avhen by itself, is very mild, and  sometimes imper-
 ceptible, it is generally given in laxative mineral Avaters,
 or combined with salts,  senna, rhubarb, or similar ape-
 rient medicines.
  Manna is also one of the most useful demulcents in the
humid asthma, and similar pituitous as Avell as inflamma-
tory affections of the breast; it also beneficially promotes 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
323
expectoration, and is of peculiar service in the second
 stage of the small pox, or during the suppuration of the
pustules.

         Gambogia.  Gamboge.   A gum resin.

   A concrete vegetable juice, of a gunimy, resinous na-
ture.  It issues  from the cambogia gutta,  a native  of
Cambia in the East Indies; whence it is imported in large
cakes or rolls.  The best sort is of a deep yelloAV colour;
is divested of all  smell, and has very little taste.  When
taken as a medicine it operates violently, both upAvards
and doAviiAvards.  It  has been used in dropsies Avith cream
of tartar, or jalap, or with both, to accelerate their  ope-
ration ; but calomel has been found to be a useful addition
to gamboge in dropsical cases.   Gamboge is also recom-
mended to be taken for the expulsion of the tape-worm,
in closes of fifteen grains, early in the morning, and, if the
Avorni be not expelled in two or three hours, this powerful
dose is said to have been repeated with safety and success,
even to the third time, and in persons of delicate habits.
 Great precaution, however, is requisite in the use of this
precarious and active medicine; and, if accidentally, too
large a dose of it should be sAvallowed, the most effectual
antidote wilJ be copious draughts  of a solution of pearl
ashes in water.

       Gentiana Lute a.   Gentian.  The root.

   Gentian is  a perennial plant  which grows upon the
Alps, Pyrennecs, and  other  mountainous parts of  Eu-
rope. The roots are  long and thick, externally of a broAvn
colour, and Avrinkled;  internally  spongy, and of a yellow
colour, without any remarkable smell! but surpassing all
other European  vegetables  in bitterness. Alcohol dis-
solves only the bitter extractive ;  Avater, both the extrac-
tive and mucilage. Gentian possesses the general virtues
of bitters in an eminent degree, and is wholly devoid  of
astringency.   Taken into the stomach, it proves  a  pow-
erful tonic, and in large doses, it evacuates the intestines.
It is useful in debility of the stomach, in general debility,
and in gout:  combined Avith astringents,  it cures inter-
mittents.   The dose  of this  drug in powder, is from ten
to forty grains; though it is more frequently taken as the 
224
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 chief ingredient in bitter wines, tinctures, and infusions.
 There are several species of Gentian in the United States.
 Dr. Shoepf particularly praises a Ioav species Avith narrow
 leaves which he found in the glades in Pennsylvania.

  Ceoffr^ea Inermis.  Cabbage bark tree.  The bark.

   The bark of this tree, which groAvs  in Jamaica, is of a
 gray colour externally, but black, and furrowed  on  the
 inside.  The poAvder resembles jalap, but is not so heavy.
 It has a mucilaginous  and sweetish taste, and a disagree-
 able smell.  Its medical effects are much greater than its
 sensible qualities Avould lead us to expect.  It is given in
 eases of worms in form of powder, decoction, syrup, and
 extract.  The decoction  is preferable, and  is made by
 slowly boiling an ounce of the fresh dried bark, in a quart
 of water,  till it assume the colour of Madeira Avine. This
 sweetened, is the syrup; evaporated, it forms an extract.
 It commonly produces some sickness and purging; some-
 times more violent effects, as vomiting, delirium,  and
 fever.  These last are said to be owing to an over dose,
 or to thinking cold water; and are relieved by ay arm
 Avater, castor oil, or a  vegetable acid.  It should always
 be given at first in small doses;  and, Avhen properly and
 cautiously administered, it  operates as a  very powerful
 anthelmintic, particularly for the expulsion of the lum-
 brici, which are a Aery common cause of disease in  the
 West India islands, and there  it is very frequently em-
 ployed, with singular success.

   Geranium Maculatum, or Cranes Bill.  The plant
                      and roots.

  This is  a common plant near Philadelphia, and in many
 other parts of the United  States. It is commonly known
by the English name of" Cr on foot" and flowers in  the
spring.  It is  a poAverful  astringent, and will stop very
violent bleedings, if applied to  the Avoundcd vessel.   A
decoction  of this plant  has also, on some trials, manifest-
ed great  efficacy in restraining  internal  hrenion hagy.
The root  boiled in milk is  a common domestic remedy
for the bowel complaints of children. 
MATERIA  medica.
225
   Geum Urbanum.   Common Avens, or  Herb-bennet.
                       The root.

    This plant groAvs  by fences and borders of fields, the
  blossoms are Avhite or yellowish in July.   According to
  Dr. Willich the roof of avens has lately been employed
  in Europe Avith singular efficacy in the cure of obstinate
  agues.  A strong tincture of the root given to the quan-
  tity of half an ounce, or the decoction, or powder, in doses
  of one drachm several times in a day,  has  seldom failed
  to cure intermittents, Avhere the Peruvian bark had proved
  ineffectual.  The root has also afforded an  excellent re-
  medy in several chronic disorders, as a  general strength-.
  ener and astringent,  and its antiseptic power is said to be
  superior to the best Peruvian bark.  Dr. Withering says
  the roots gathered in the spring and put into beer give it
  a pleasant flavour and prevent its growing soar.  Infused
 in Avine  it is a good  stomachic, says Dr. Cutler.   When
 it grows in Avarm dry situations, its taste is mildly austere
  and aromatic.
   Dr. Cutler  describes  also  another  variety.   Water
 Avens.   Throat root.  Cureall.
   The blossoms are purplish.  In boggy meadoAvs. May.
 The root is powerfully astringent.  A decoction of it has
 been used, with good success,  as a gargle, and a drink,
 in inflamed and ulcerated sore throats, and cankers. It is
 said, that the poAvdered root will cure tertian agues, and
 that it is much used by the Canadians for that purpose.

 Glycyrrhiza Glabra. Liquorice. The root and extract.

   Liquorice is a perennial plant, and a native of the south
 of Europe, but is cultivated in considerable quantities in
 England, for medicinal purposes.  The root of this plant
 has a SAveet agreeable taste. This SAveetness is extracted
 by Avater, by infusion  or decoction; and, by  evaporation,
 a dark coloured extract, of the same sweet  taste,  is ob-
 tained, consisting principally of saccharine and mucilagi-
 nous matter.  Liquorice root  is a pleasant demulcent,
 Avhich is frequently  added to infusions of linseed  or
althaea.
  There  is no  doubt of its gentle deterging  qualities,
Avhich render it an excellent medicine in coughs, hoarse-
ness, asthma, &c.  for lubricating the throat,  softening
         29 
226
MATERIA MEDICA.
acrimonious humours, and affording relief to the organ*
of respiration.  But with  this  intention it ought to be
taken  as a diet drink in  considerable portions by way
of infusion.  This plant is found in the state of Vermont,
and on the borders of the Ohio river.

Guajacum Officinale. Officinal Guaiacum. The wood
                      and resin.

  Guaiacum, or lignum vitae, is a genus of  plants pro-
ducing three species, the principal of Avhich is the offici-
nale, or common lignum vitae, a native of the West Indies.
The wood  of this tree,  and the gum resin  obtained by
exudation from incisions in its trunk, are the parts of it
used in medicine.
  The Avood is hard and heavy,  of  a  yellow  colour, has
little smell, and a moderately bitter taste.  Its  virtues
depend on the small portion of resinous matter whicii it
contains.
  Gum guaiacum is of a friable nature, of a  deep green-
ish colour, and sometimes of a reddish hue, and has a pun-
gent acrid taste.*
  This medicine Avas introduced into practice as a remedy
in the treatment of lues venerea, and was at one time con-
sidered capable of effecting a  radical cure.  Its powers
are no\v better ascertained.  It is employed,  and with
some advantage, in promoting the action of mercury in
the confirmed state of the disease, and in alleviating the
various symptoms which arise  from a protracted mercu-
rial course.   The  general  virtues of guaiacum, are those
of a warm  aromatic medicine; it  strengthens the sto-
mach and other viscera, and greatly promotes the dis-
charge of urine and perspiration.   Hence it is of especial
service in cutaneous eruptions, and disorders arising from
obstructions of the excretory glands; in  rheumatic, and
other pains, unattended Avith fever, the liberal use of gum
guaiacum has often  afforded considerable  relief.  It is
likeAvise a good laxative, and  furnishes a more  active
medicine than either the Avood or bark of this tree. This
gum Avhen dissolved in rum, or combined Avith Avater, by

  * Guaiacum is a stimulating medicine,  proving diaphoretic
in a dose of about half a drachm, and purgative in a larger dose-
Its sudorific powers is promoted by opium, or the  preparations
of antimony. 
materia  medica.
means of mucilage or the yolk of an egg, or in the form
of tincture and elixir, has  been  found  useful in chronic
rheumatism, or even in such yy andering pains of the sto-
mach and other parts of the body, as could be  attributed
to the retrocedent gout.
  The form in Avhich guaiac wood is administered, is
always that of decoction.   A quart of it is drunk in the
course of  the day. If taken warm, it produces diapho-
resis.

  Hamamelis Virginiana.  Witch-ha%el.   The bark.

  This tree is a native of the United States.  The leaves
are  nearly inversely  ovate.   Blossoms, yelloAV:  stand
three or four together on short flower  stalks.  In loamy
land.  Blossoms,  September and October. This singular
shrub does not  commonly bloom  until its leaves  are
destroyed by frost, when its numerous bloss mis make a
gay and  agreeable appearance; and continue until  the
weather becomes  very cold, often until snow falls.  The
germen endures the severity of our winters uninjured ;
for the fruit does  not ripen until the next September, the
time of its blossoming again, Avhen ripe  fruit and blossoms
will be found on the same tree.  The Indians considered
this tree  as a valuable article in their Materia Medica.
They applied the bark, Avhich is sedative and discutient,
to painful tumors and external  inflammations.  A cata-
plasm of the inner rind of the bark, is  found to be very
efficacious in removing painful inflammations of the eyes.
The  bark chewed in the  mouth is, at first, somewhat
bitter, very sensibly astringent, and then leaves a pungent,
sweetish taste, which will remain for a considerable time.
The  specific qualities of this tree seem, by no means to be
accurately ascertained.  It is probably possessed of very
valuable properties.                         Cutler.

  Mr.  Bartram informs, that this shrub  grows ten or
twelve feet high, from one common  root.

Hbmatoxylum CampechianuMo  Logwood Tree.  The
                       Avood.

  This tree was introduced from Honduras into Jamaica,
where it is now very common.   Logyvood is of a deep red
colour; has scarcely any smell; its  taste is sweetish,  and 
22.8
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 astringent.   It is used principally as  a dye-wood,  and
 also with considerable advantage in medicine.  Its active
 matter is extracted by Avater. and by alcohol;  both solu-
 tions strike a black colour with the salt of iron.
   It has been employed in medicine as  an  astringent hi
 diarrhoea, and  chronic dysentery, under the form of de-
 coction, or watery extract.

   Helleborus Niger.   Black Hellebore.   The root.

   This plant is perennial, and  groAvs Avild  in the moun-
 tainous parts of Austria,  and the Pyrennees.  The root
 of this plant consists of small fibres attached to one head;
 externally dark coloured, internally Avhite.  Its taste is
 very acrid, but the acrimony is much impaired by drying
 and keeping.
   Its medicinal poAver seems principally to  depend on its
 resinous part.   By decoction Avith water, it yields  half
 its Aveight of gummy matter, with some resin;  the  ex-
 tract obtained  by inspissation  is milder than  the root
 itself.
   Black hellebore root is a very violent cathartic, in a
 dose from ten to twenty grains; so  violent, indeed, that
 it is seldom used.  On its cathartic poAver probably de-
 pends any advantage that  may be derived from its admin-
 istration in mania and melancholia, in Avhich diseases it
 was highly, celebrated by the ancients.   In  dropsy it has
 been employed as an hydragogue cathartic.   It was like-
 wise  strongly  recommended by Mead  as  an emmena-
 gogue, though  Avith others it has seldom been successful.

 Helleborus Fcetidus.  Bears Foot.  Setierwort. The
                        leaves.

   This species is found in meadows, shady places,  and
 under hedges, and is also perennial.  The stalk is about
 three feet high.  The leaves are of a deep  green, bird-
 footed.   All of them grow on the stem, none tovvards  the
 root.   It produces numerous green  floAvers, somewhat
 tinged with purple at the edges, which blow in April and
 May.  The leaves have an acrid, bitter, nauseous taste,
 and an unpleasant smell, especially ay hen they are fresh.
 When dried, they are frequently given as a domestic me-
dicine to  destroy worms; but they  must be used with
 great caution, being so violent in their operation, that 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
229
instances of their fatal  effects are recorded.  Since we
are not  destitute of safe  and efficacious  anthelmintics,
this dangerous remedy should be rejected.

  Heracleum Sphondylium.  Common Cow Parsnip.

   This article Avas brought into notice by the  late Dr.
Josc.h Orne, of Salem. In a commuuication to the Mas-
sachusetts Medical Society, October, 1803, he thus de-
scribes it:  Common Cow Parsnip. (Sphondylium vulgarc
hirsutum. Park. C. B.)  It groAvs in hedges; the stalk is
large and tubular, invested with a down whicii also covers
the leaves, that are large and jagged, five on each stalk,
and of the colour of Avormwood ; it is umbelliferous, and
floAvers in June; the root is divided into several long and
fibrous branches, resembling a large parsley root; and
the height of the plant, in its maturity, may be from two
to fc, ; r feet: the root has a rank  strong smell, and a
pungent and almost caustic taste; it  should be carefully
distinguished from the common parsnip, that grows wild
in gardens, and hedges; and indeed, it has a very differ-
ent appeaiancc.
   The particular disease in Avhich Dr. Orne commends
the Coav Parsnip, is that of epilepsy.   Three of the five
cases  which are. exhibited in his  communication, were
cured by the use of this medicine. The author judiciously
observes, that in the three successful cases, the patients
were remarkably liable to flatulence, with symptoms  of
morbid sensibility of the  stomach, and date their first
relief from the sensation  of a more  firm  and healthful
tone of that organ, and the carminative  effects of the
medicine. He commonly prescribed two or three drachms
•of the puherized root, to be taken every day for a great
length of time, and a strong infusion of the  leaves and
tops to be drunk at bed time.
  In the hands of other practitioners, this plant has mani-
fested  considerable efficacy, exerting its peculiar powers
immediately on the stomach, as an excellent carminative,
and, if it does not cure epilepsy, it generally mitigates
the distressing symptoms attending that disease.  In some
cases   of dyspepsia, accompanied with flatulencies and
cardialgia,  a strong decoction of  this plant has been
given by Dr. Mann with satisfactory success. 
230
MATERIA MEDICA.
         Hirudo Medicinalis.  The Leech.

   Tliat species of leech which is used in medicine has a
flat and slimy body, composed of rings tapering towards
the  head wliich  is  turbinated, commonly about two or
three inches long, and of the thickness of a goose quill,
but capable of elongating or contracting itself very much.
Its back is of a dull olive green colour, divided into three
nearly equal parts by four yelloAV longitudinal  lines, the
two  lateral entire, the two  central broken  Avith  black.
Besides these, between the lateral  and central lines on
each side,  there  are two others resembling a  chain of
black and yelloAV.  The belly is turkey blue, irregularly
marked with yellow spots.   It attaches itself to solid
substances by  either end, being furnished Avith a circular
sucker at the anal extremity, and a horse shoe one at the
head, with a triangular mouth in the centre.
   They should be collected in summer in water having a
clear sandy bottom,  as the bite of those found in stagnant
waters and marshes is said to  cause pain and inflamma-
tion.  For the same reason the horse  leech which is en-
tirely broAvn, or only marked with a marginal yellow line
is commonly rejected.
   Leeches  are best preserved for use. in a bottle  half
filled with  pure spring or river water, and covered with
gauze or muslin.  It is adviseable  frequently to change
the water  in which they are kept,  although there  are
instances of their living many  months and even years in
the same Avater, and it is remarkable water in which they
are, keeps much longer sweet than by itself.  They should
always be  kept in a moderate temperature about  50°
Fahr.  AVhen leeches have gorged themselves with  blood,
they frequently die of indigestion, and  cause  a  great
mortality even among those who have not been used.  To
avoid this  danger,  leeches which have recently sucked
should be kept by themselves until they have recovered
their usual vigour; and a little  salt applied to the head of
the animal will occasion it to vomit up the blood  which
it has received.   Leeches change their skin frequently;
at that time they are subject to indisposition and will rot
bite.
  Leeches  are very useful and convenient  remedies in
exvvy case requiring  local blood-letting.—'Flay cause less
irritation than cupping, and can often  be applied nearer 
MATERIA  MEDICA.               £31
to the part.  They are employed in inflammations of all
kinds,  as  opthalmia,  phrenitis, cynanche,  rheumatism,
odontalgia, and podagra.  In some  cases of rubeola and
scarlatina, in hamorrhois, in plethora of the head, mania,
dysuria and chincough.
  The application of leeches is sometimes attended with
difficulty.   In cloudy weather and in the evening they do
not readily bite.   If kept out of the water some minutes
before they are applied and alloAved to crawl on dry linen
they are said to  bite more eagerly.  The part to which
they are to be applied should be well washed; first with
soap and water and afterwards with water, or milk and
water, and if covered with strong hairs, should be shaved.
When they are not inclined to bite, the part  may be mois-
tened with milk, or a little blood drawn by a scratch Avith
a lancet.   A large leech will draw about  an ounce  of
blood ; but the quantity maybe much increased by bathing
the wounds with tepid water or applying  over them cup-
ping glasses.  Sometimes it is difficult to stop the bleed-
ing ; but it Avill always cease on applying a  little lint and
continuing pressure a  sufficient length of time.

Hordeum Distichon.  Barley.   The seed stripped  of
             its husk, called pearl barley7.

  Barley has from the earliest ages been considered as a
wholesome and nutritious food.  Pearl barley is prepared
by grinding off the husk of rough barley, and forming the
grain into little round granules, Avhich appear of a kind
of pearl whiteness.  In this state, barley consists almost
entirely of amylaceous matter, and when boiled forms an
excellent article of nourishment.  In diseases of the kid-
neys and the breast, as Avell as in that state of the body
where it is said to abound in acrimonious humors,  de-
coctions made  of this  grain,  sufficiently strong, and acid-
ulated with vinegar, are eminently useful.  As a cooling
and diluent beverage, barley water is of essential service
to febrile  patients, and in all inflammatory cases, where
preternatural heat and thirst prevail; but, to promote its
salutary effects, the grosser parts which remain after de-
coction, ought not to be swallowed.

Hcmulus Lupulus.   The common hop.   The floAvers.

  This perennial plant is a very strong bitter accompanied
Vith a degree of aromatie flavour and some astringency ; 
 232             MATERIA MEDICA.

 these are extracted by water  by infusion; by decoction
 the aromatic flavour is lost.   Along  Avith its bitterness
 it has  a narcotic power: of this the popular remedy,
 sometimes successful, of a  pillow of bops to procure sleep
 in the delirium of fever and in  mania,  is a proof.  It ac-
 cordingly, when given internally in a full dose, reduces
 the frequency of the pulse and procures  sleep.   It  has
 been employed as an anodyne, either in substance, in the
 dose of three grains, or under the form  of  infusion or
 tincture.  A cataplasm  or ointment,  prepared from it,
 has been also used as an anodyne application to cancerous
 sores.

   Hydrargyrum.   Argenlum Vivum.    Mercury or
                      Ojdcksilrer.

   Mercury  is sometimes found in  a native state in the
 boAvels  of the earth.   The most celebrated mines Avhieh
 produce it  are those of Idria, Hungary, Bohemia and
 Carinthia; those of Montpellicr in Francis of Normandy,
 of Spain, and those  of Peru.  This metal is peculiarly
 distinguished by its fluidity in  all natural temperatures,
 Avith  the exception  of the intense cold that  sometimes
 prevails in xery northern regions.  Its congealing point
 is 40° of Fahrenheit.  In its liquid state, it has the per-
 fect opacity and lustre characteristic of metals, and like-
 wise the property of great density, its  specific  gravity
 being to that of water as 13.5 to 1 nearly: it boils at a
 temperature a little above 600°, and when  boiling suffers
 oxidation from the action of the atmospheric air.  It is
 oxidated even at natural temperatures, when subjected to
 agitation; or still more easily  when triturated with  any
Viscid matter, which is interposed between its globules,
extending their surface.  Quicksilver is usually obtained
from the ore in Avhich it is combined  with sulphur, this
being submitted to heat mixed with iron or lime, either
of Avhich combines with the sulphur, and the mercury is
obtained by  distillation.  The quicksilver of commerce is
 sometimes impure, or adulterated by the intermixture of
other metals, particularly  lead and bismuth.  This may
be suspected when the metal loses its lustre speedily, and
is covered with a gray film, or from its diminished mobility
in consequence  of which  its globules do not preserve
exactly  the  spherical form, nor unite  easily  with each
other; and it may be discoAered, with more certainty, by 
                   MATERIA MEDICA,              2^3

exposing it to a heat sufficient to volatilize the quicksilver,
when any  other metal present Avill remain.  It is best
purified by distillation from iron filings in an iron retort.
Next to gold and platina, mercury is the heaviest of all
the metals, with most of which it unites, excepting iron
and  antimony.  Mercury taken into the stomach, in its
metallic  state, has  no action on  the  body,  except what
arises from its weight or bulk. It is not poisonous, as Yvas
vulgarly  supposed,  but perfectly inert.   There is never-
theless indubitable evidence that persons who work in the
mines, or are otherwise exposed to the fumes of quick-
silver, frequently experience its destructive consequences.
Among other diseases arising from this cause, Hoffman
mentions palsies, apoplexies, epilepsies, hectic fever, &c.
These remarks are corroborated by a recent occurrence
which took place on board two vessels in which, from the
fumes of quicksilver, an alarming* illness broke out among
the crews,  all of Avhom Avere more or less salivated.
  With regard to the medical history of mercury as re-
corded by a late writer* no mention is made of it in the
Avritings of Hippocrates, though Aristotle  and  his  con-
temporaries Avere not unacquainted Avith it.  Dioscorides,
Pliny, and  even Galen, considered it as highly corrosive,
and classed it among the poisons,  Avicenna was among
the  foremost Avho, influenced by the practice  of some
distinguished  Arabian physicians, become  reconciled  to
the opinion of its salutary tendency.   In the year 1497
this metal was introduced as a sovereign remedy in lues
venerea, and after a warm contention relative to its use,
between  the chemists and  Galenists,  it was received as
one of the most valuable articles of the Materia Medica.
Among  the various  substances with which Ave arc ac-
quainted in  medicine, the  preparations of mercury, as
respects  their operation on our system, is incomparably
the most important, nor have their properties, perhaps,
undergone investigation commensurate Avith  their avou-
derful poAvers  and  extensive utility.  According to Mr.
Murray, a late and  truly scientific writer on Materia Me-

  * Dr. John W. Frances, of New-York,in an inaugural dis-
sertation  on mercury, has presented a new view of the natural
and medical history,  and curative action of that metal.  His
production, couched in  perspicuous and elegant language, evin-
ces ability, and extensive research relative  to a subjcci of high
importance  to medical science, and has strong claims to the at-
tention of the physicians of the United States.
         30 
23*
MATERIA MEDICA.
dica, mercury is placed in the class of tonics, viewing its
tonic  power as its primary operation.  Its power of ex-
citing the salivary discharge is merely a secondary effect,
not constant nor  uniform, and whicii is not essential in
any, disease. It is the most general stimulant belonging to
the Materia Medica, pervading every part of the system;
as ting, as Cullen has remarked, as a stimulus to every
sensible and moving fibre  of the body, and producing the
most  permanent effects.  Hence it is the most general
evacuant Ave possess; and from  its stimulant  operation,
exerted directly or indirectly, we are able to explain its
utility in  many diseases.  When rendered active  on the
system, by any of the modes of preparation to Avhich it is
subjected, it is received into the blood, and enabled to act
on every part of the system.  Hence, when given  in mo-
derate quantity, it communicates general vigour; it in-
creases the force of  the circulation Avhen  this has been
languid; by the increased vascular action Avhich it excites,
it gives to the blood the  disposition to  ass ..i«e the huffy
coat; and by its stimulant operation on accreting organs,
it promotes the secretions, and hence s tht most general
evacuant avc have.  On its stimulant operation probably
depends its efficacy in diseases connected with  spasmodic
action, as tetanus and hydrophobia; and perhaps also that
derived from it  in various forms of fever,  particularly
the remitting fever of warm climates, and yellow fever;
and its local operation is distinctly marked in the  advan-
tage derived from it in  chronic hepatitis, and other vari-
eties  of visceral and glandular  obstructions, and in the
the different  species of cutaneous  eruptions.  It  is fre-
quently employed, and with  the utmost advantage, in
inflammatory diseases  and  in  dysentery; in  cachectic
diseases, as the  various  species of dropsical  affections,
and in many chronic morbid states of the system.
  Its most important  medicinal operation,  hoAvever, is
that displayed in removing  the disease  induced  by the
syphilitic poison.  In  this, its poAver  is  nearly,  if not
altogether specific,  no article  of the Materia Medica
could be substituted  for it;  and then may  be affirmed of
it, what cannot Avith equal justice be said of any remedy
employed in the treatment of any other morbid affection,
that if duly administered, it Avill scarcely ever fail in ef-
fecting a cure.   It is difficult to assign any satisfactory
theory of  its  operation.  Its efficacy lias  been ascribed
to its general evacuant power, in consequence of which 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
£35
 the syphilitic virus is discharged from the "body.  But the
speedy disappearance of the local symptoms  of syphilis
 under its use, affords a proof that it  operates  on  some
 other principle; no similar advantage is derived from otheF
 evacuants; and its efficacy is not proportional to the eva-
 cuation it excites, but  is frequently displayed  where this
 is altogether insensible.  The opinion has been advanced,
 that it acts as an antidote to the venereal virus, neutraliz-
 ing it somewhat  in  the  manner  in whicii  one chemical
 agent subdues the properties of another,—an opinion ex-
 tremely vague and hypothetical, and rendered improbable
 from the  consideration of the very small quantity of some
 of the more active preparations of mercury, from whicii
 a cure may be obtained, compared Avith the large quanti-
 ty of others less active, that requires to be administered.
   The  explanation  advanced by  Mr. Hunter,  that the
 efficacy of mercury  in the treatment of  syphilis depends
 on its general and permanent stimulant operation on the
 system, byr which  it  induces and keeps up an action in-
 compatible with that morbid action which constitutes the
 disease, until the virus is destroyed by  the chemical
changes going on  in the system, or until it is  eliminated
 from the body by the usual excretion,  is on the Avhole
 most probable:  it rests on a principle undoubted, that
 there are states of morbid  action incompatible, so that
 one suspends the  action of the other;  and  mercury does
 exert a Aery general action, inducing and keeping up Avhat
 may be regarded as  a morbid state.
   The  mode of administering mercury7, for the cure of
 the venereal disease, under all its forms, is now ascertained
 Avith  sufficient precision.  There is no advantage in giv-
 ing it so as to induce profuse salivation ; this is  even to
be avoided as hurtful; at the same time, it is proper that
 salivation should  be  excited to a certain extent,  not pro-
bably as essential to  its efficacy, but as a proof of its full
action on the  system  being obtained.  This is kept up for
a certain time, longer or shorter, according to the state of
the symptoms, and the previous  continuance of  the dis-
ease.    Exposure  to cold is  avoided, as being lie hie to
cause the  more partial operation of mercury on the sali-
vary glands; and the state of irritation is diminished, or
determination to   the  intestines  producing purging is
obviated, by the exhibition of an opiate.  When profit*
salivation  occurs,  the remedies employed to check it  are
cathartics in moderate  doses, small doses of opium, -the 
236
MATERIA  MEDICA.
application of a blister to the throat, and the administra-
tion of sulphuret of potash; the last being employed from
the doubtful hypothesis, that its  chemical agency may
neutralize the mercury.  Free exposure to a cool air is,
according to Mr. Pearson, more effectual than any other
method. Peruvian bark, mineral acids, and the assiduous
application  of astringent gargles  have their use, Avhile
the employment of mercury must  be discontinued for a
time.   On  the  other hand, the  sudden suppression of
ptyalism is not Avithout danger.  It is  most frequently
caused by cold liquids being taken into the stomach, or
exposure to cold and moisture, while under the influence
of mercury.
   Sometimes also a morbid condition of the system occurs
during  a  mercurial course, and Avhich  tends to a fatal
issue.   Mr. Pearson  has  termed  it erethismus.   It is
characterized by a great depression of strength; a sense
of anxiety about the  prrecordia; frequent sighing: tre mil-
ling, partial or universal; a small,  quick pulse, sometimes
vomiting; a pale contracted countenance; a s«nse of cold-
ness, Avhile  tiie tongue is seldom furred, or the vital ov
natural functions much disordered.   In  this stale, a vio-
lent or sudden exertion of muscular power, will sometimes
prove  fatal.
   To prevent dangerous consequences the administration
of mercury must be immediately suspended, and the pa-
tient exposed to a dry, cool air, in  such a manner as shall
be attended with  the least fatigue.   An incipient erethis-
mus has often been averted or cured by large doses of I he
volatile alkali, and by the camphor mixture.
   Dr. Frances expresses an opinion that the modus ope-
randi  of mercury remains a  question   far from being
decided.  He adopts the opinion, hoAvever, that in a state
of an oxide it is  one of the  most universal stimulants,
acting  on  the nervous  system, producing  restlessness,
anxiety, and debility.   On the sanguiferous system, dis-
posing the blood to take on the huffy coat, rendering the
pulse frequent and harder, increasing respiration and oc-
casioning other symptoms  of inflammatory action.   It
affects  the  secretions, inducing a  preternatural Aoav  of
saliva, an increased action of the  mucous vessels of the
trachea, lungs, digestive organs, ehylopoktic viscera and
wliole intestinal canal.  It excites  a copious discharge of
urine, and in the  smallest quantity operates Avith great,
certainty on the skin and produces increased action of the 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
23,7
absorbent vessels.  It is therefore on its very general and
stimulant operation in promoting the excretions  of the
wliole system, depends its curative action.  For the same
salutary effects will not be produced when its action is not
thus extensive, as Avhen  confined to  the salivary  glands
or exerts its influence on the intestinal canal alone.
  For more than half a century the mercurial practice
in the treatment of inflammatory and other febrile dis-
eases, has been prevalent among some physicians in New-
England; and in pneumonia, pleurisies, acute rheumatisms,
and other phlegmasia?, it has been  considered a remedy
of superior efficacy.  About the year 1735  a malignant
ulcerous sore throat became epidemical in  the vicinity of
Boston, and New-York, &c. which having baffled the skill
of physicians,  at length yielded in a surprising manner to
the administration of calomel.  Subsequently to this event,
the employment  of mercury has been  extended  to  the
various forms of malignant, pestilential, or yelloAV fever
of the West Indies, and to  the  intermitting, remitting,
and typhus fevers which haAe ravaged some  of the cities
of the L  ;ited States. • Various  opinions and much con-
troversy have subsisted in the medical  Avorld respecting
this  subject.   Dr. F.  has  noAV given  to it a  zealous
investigation.   To Dr. Chisholm he  ascribes exclusively
the credit of being the first who adopted the novel prac-
tice  of exhibiting mercury to the full extent;  having
given calomel to  the amount of four hundred grains, and
at a  subsequent season no less than eight hundred, and at
other times upwards  of one thousand grains were  em-
ployed. Nay farther! in one instance of yelloAV remitting
fever, before any xevy material change took place in  the
state of the patient, he had taken, says Dr. C. sixty-four
grains of calomel by  the mouth, thirty-four drachms by
clyster, and sixteen ounces of  the strongest mercurial
ointment carefully rubbed into bis arms and thighs; in all
live thousand  seven hundred and four grains in the course
of fixe days.   His recovery Avas  astonishingly rapid after
the change ay as effected.
  If it be conceded that the mercurial practice to a greater
or less extent in the hands of Dr. Chisholm, Dr. Wright.
and other eminently distinguished physicians in the West
Indies, Avas eroAvncd with success, exceeding that of any
other method, yet the utility of  a similar  mode of treat-
ment in the diseases of the same  type in the United States,
is deemed problematical.  This more appropriate point 
238
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 receives an able discussion by our author.  The climate
 of this country, he says, is singularly unfavorable to the
 salutary operation of this medicine.   While the  liver
 appears to be the most diseased organ in those who die of
 yelloAV fever in the  West Indies, this  important viseus
 seems to be in a remarkable degree exempt from derange-
 ment, in the same disease  in our country, as proved hy
 numerous  dissections.  The very nature and seat of the
 disease establish  the fact,  that, the brain  and nervous
 system are primarily affected, the stomach and duodenum
 exhibit marks  of high  inflammation, and  approaching
 sphacelus, attended by acute pain in the gastric region,
 and extreme irritability  of the stomach.  These symp-
 toms, instead of being removed by the use of calomel, are
 greatly aggravated,  and excessive  vomiting is  induced,
 whicii terminates but Avith the life of the patient.
   In the more advanced stage of yelloAV fever, Avhen the
 most formidable symptoms have occurred, the great pros-
 tration of  strength forbids the recourse to a medicine of
 such debilitating  powers; the rapid termination sets at
 defiance the slow accomplishment of salivation. Whether
 therefore,  with a view of its action on the salivary glands
 or otherwise, the indiscriminate employment of mercury
 in the treatment of yellow fever, or the various forms of
 intermitting or remitting fever of our country, is accord-
 ing to Dr. F. to be considered as an abuse of the medi-
 cine, and altogether inadmissible.
   With regard to the employment of mercury as a remedy
 in syphilis, Dr. F. accords in opinion  with other Avriters
 as to its almost infallible poAvers; with much propriety
 hoAvever, he  animadverts on the male ad ministration of it,
 as producing more destructive consequences than the dis-
 ease itself.    He is  most decidedly opposed to  the popular
 method of  treatment  by a profuse salivation, induced by
 throAving into the  system large quantities of mercury:
 no absurdity in medical practice having been destructive
 of more lives; none the source of more pain and calamity.
 A preternatural action from any one of the secretions is
not to be depended on; mercury must be in a state of so-
lution in the  juices of the body.  The specific pohen of
lues venerea, must be counteracted by a genera! operation
on the  constitution, or more directly in  promoting Ihe
 action of all the secretory vessels  of the body, and espe-
cially those of the surface.  Equally opposed therefore,
to the opinion declared by Mr. Bell, that no advantage i? 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
239
derived from any increase that  may be made to any of
the secretions, and  to that of Mr. HoAvard, Avho is the
advocate for profuse salivation even in the  mildest form
of the disease, and Avho contends  that the greater the dis-
charge the more certain  the cure; the most successful
practice, he observes, depends upon an increased discharge
from the excretory vessels of the  whole system.
  The preparation  more  peculiarly adapted to  effectu-
ate these several purposes is next  to be selected.   The
mnrias hydrargyri,  or the corrosive sublimate, is in his
view by far the most eligible.  The qualities of this and
other forms of mercury will be particularly  described
under the head of preparations.
  It has already been observed that quicksilver taken into
the stomach in its native state is perfectly inert.  It has
been prescribed in the first stage of the iliac passion be-
fore the  bowels are too much weakened and corroded by
the stagnant feces.  There are instances in which several
ounces, nay half a pound and upwards of pure quicksilver
have been swallowed vvith the happiest effects, given with
castor oil or fresh broth.  But in the last stage of obsti-
nate and violent colics, when inflammation and gangrene
have already taken  place in the bowels, its specific gravity
would  infallibly rend the intestines, and  accelerate the
fatal crisis.
  The high importance of the  above  subject will, it is
presumed, justify a reference to the opinions, and valua-
ble observations of several writers of distinguished merit,
collected into one view,  and to be found in Cooper's Dic-
tionary of Practical Surgery, under the words Mercury
and Venereal disease.

Hyoscyamus Niger.   Black  Henbane.   The herb and
                        6eeds.

  Henbane is a biennial  plant, whicii abounds in villages,
road-sides, and among rubbish, and flowers in July.  The
wliole  plant is  covered with long hairs, from which ex-
udes a clammy fcetid juice. The leaves are large and very
soft; they  are indented and embrace the  stalk closely.
The flowers come out in a very long spike, rather on one
side, and sit  close to the stalk.   The corolla is funnel
sha ;ed and obtuse, of a pale yellowish colour, beautifully
veined with purple. 
2iU
MATERIA MEDICA.
  The leaves of this plant, when recent, have a slightly
fcetid smell: and a mucilaginous taste;  when dried, they
lose both taste and smell, and also part  of their narct  ie
power.  The root possesses the same qualities its the
leaves, and even in  a  more  eminent degree.   Henbane,
more than any  other  narcotic, resembles opium in  its
action.  In  a moderate dose,  it  increases at first, the
strength of the pulse, and  occasions  some sense of heat,
Avhich is followed by diminished sensibility and motion;
in some cases by thirst,  sickness, stupor, and  dimness of
vision.  In a larger  quantity it occasions profound sleep,
hard  pulse, and sometimes fierce delirium,  ending in
coma or convulsions, with  a remarkable dilatation of the
pupil, distortion of the countenance,  a weak, tremulous
pulse, and eruption of petechia;.   On dissection, gan-
grenous spots have been found on the internal surface of
the stomach.  Its baneful effects arc  best counteracted
by a powerful emetic; and, after discharging the contents
of the stomach, it will be  necessary to administer emol-
lient  and oily clysters, and repeat them as often as they
are ejected; and  to drink as  large portions  of vinegar
and of the juice  of lemons as the stomach Avill support.
  Henbane has been used in various spasmodic and painful
diseases;  as  in  epilepsy, hysteria, palpitation, headach,
paralysis, mania, and scirrhus.  It is given in the form
of the inspissated juice of  the  fresh  leaves, the dose of
Avhich is  from  one  to two  grains, Avhich ought to  he
gradually increased.  It is sometimes employed as a sub-
stitute for opium, Avhere the latter, from  idiosyncrasy,
occasions  any disagreeable symptoms.   The henbane is
also free from the constipating quality of the opium, and
like this last also, its influence is very  much diminished
by  habit.   In  open ulcers, the powder of the leaves,
sprinkled  on the part, has  often  a  good  effect.

    Hissorus  Officinalis.   Hyssop. The herb.

  The leaves of hyssop have  an aromatic smeli, and a
Avarm pungent taste; they  are particularly recommended
in humoral asthmas, coughs, and other disorders of the
breast and lungs; being supposed ay onderfully to promote
expectoration.   According to  Rayr, these  leaves are of
great service Avhen applied in cataplasms to bruises, the
pain oT Avhich they  speedily mitigate,  and at the same
time disperse every  mark or spot from  the part affected. 
MATERIA  medica.
2+1
     Inula Helenium.  Elecampane.   The root.

   This is a very large doAvny perennial plant, sometimes
found Avild in moist rich soils.  The root, especially Avhen
dry, has an agreeable aromatic smell; its taste, on first
chewing,  is glutinous and somewhat rancid, quickly suc-
ceeded by an aromatic bitterness and pungency.   The
ancients entertained a high opinion of elecampane, which
is recommended for promoting expectoration in humoral
asthma and coughs; liberally  taken, it is said to excite
urine, and loosen the belly.
   In some parts of Germany, large quantities of this root
are^andied,  and used as a stomachic, for strengthening
the tone of the viscera in general, and  for attenuating
viscid humors.  Its dose is from  twenty to sixty grains
poAvdered; and  in this form it has been found, by expe-
rience, to possess considerable efficacy.

Icecacuanha.  Ijiecacuan.  A roof, either of the ccphse-
         lis ipecacuanha, or psychotria emetica.

   The  root of ipecacuan is brought  from   Spanish
America.  It is divided into two sorts, Peruvian and Bra-
zilian ; the eye distinguishes three, ash coloured  or gray,
broAvn, and Avhite.   The ash coloured or Peruvian ipe-
cacuan of the shops, is a small Avrinkled  root, bent and
contorted into a great variety of figures; it has very little
smell; the taste is bitterish  and subacrid, covering the
tongue with a kind of mucilage.  The broAvn  sort has
been sometimes observed, even in a small dose, to  produce
violent effects.   The white, though taken in a large one,
has scarce any effect at all.
   The first sort, the ash coloured or gray  ipecacuan, is
usually prefered for medicinal use.  It contains both a
resinous and gummy matter.   It is generally stated, that
its emetic power,  and, indeed  its principal virtues, re-
side  in the  former,  though Dr. Irving has  affirmed
that they depend on its gum.  Its active  matter  is com-
pletely extracted by alcohol, proof spirit, or wine. Vine-
gar  likewise dissolves it,  but  at the same  time greatly
Aveakens its poAver. By decoction  Avith Avater, its activity
is greatly impaired, though the  Avater distilled  from it
has scarcely any emetic  power.   It is even  injured by 
2-i2
MATERIA MEDICA.
 being kept  long exposed, in the state of powder,  to the
 air and light.
   Ipecacuan is the mildest of those emetics, which are
 at the same time  certain in their operation;  and pos-
 sesses this peculiar advantage,  that, Avhen it does not
 operate by vomiting, it passes off by the other  cinuncto-
 ries.   It  merely evacuates the contents of the  stomach,
 Avithout exciting violent vomiting, or extending  its action
 beyond the stomach; and is hence adapted to many cases
 where violent  vomiting would  be useless  or improper.
 The  medium  dose of  it  as an emetic is fifteen grains,
 though twenty or thirty may be taken with perfect safety.
 Ipecacuan is employed  with other intentions than as an
 emetic.   It was at one time much celebrated as a remedy
 in dysentery, given either in such a dose as to produce
 full vomiting,  or rather in the  quantity of two or three
 grains, repeated every  three or four hours, till it occa-
 sioned vomiting, diaphoresis,  or  purging.  It  has been
 given in  a similar mode in  obstinate  diarrluea.  In
 spasmodic asthma, it is given in a full dose to relieve the
 paroxysm;  and in  a dose  of three  or four grains, continu-
 ed every morning for some weeks, to prevent the  return
 of the disease.  In hsemorrhagies, it is given in nauseat-
 ing doses, the nausea diminishing  the force of the circu-
 lation. Combined with opium, it forms a very  poAverful
 sudorific.
   The primary effect  of ipecacuan, says Dr.  Duncan,
 is that of stimulating the  stomach.   If the dose be suffi-
 ciently large, it excites vomiting, by inverting the peris-
 taltic motion of the stomach and duodenum; in a smaller
 dose,  it only produces nausea, and operates by stool; and
 in still smaller doses, it gently stimulates  the  stomach,
 increases  the  appetite, and  facilitates digestion.  Its
 secondary effects depend  on the  sympathy  of the other
 parts  with the  stomach; and in this Avay only can Ave ex-
 plain  its action as an antispasmodic, diaphoretic, expecto-
 rant, and in checking hsemorrhagies.
   Its  beneficial effects in some cases, also, seem to he
 OAving to the general concussion -given to the Avhole sys-
 tem during the  action of vomiting.   It is found to increase
 the purgative  virtue of jalap remarkably.  Dr. Aiken
 asserts that fifteen  grains  of jalap, with two or three of
ipecacuan, purge more  than  tAvice the  quantity of jalap
by itself. 
                   MATERIA MEDICA.               213

   Ipecacuan  properly administered,  often  proves  ser-
 viceablc,
   1. In intermittent fevers.  It has frequently succeeded
 in stopping these,  when given about an hour  before an
 accession was expected, und also when giA en so as to pro-
 duce vomiting at the  time of an  accession, or at the end
 of the cohl  stage.
   2. In continued fevers.  We have never seen more de-
 cidedly beneficial effects from the  use of any medicine
 Avhatever, than  from the exhibition of inee.ienan in the
 comnieMcement  of typhus fever.   An  emetic,  succeeded
 by a diaphoretic regimen, Avhen administered sufficiently
 early  in tiiis  disease, very frequently cuts it  short at
 once ; and when it  fails in this desirable object, it always
 has  a beneficial  influence on the progress of the fever.
   3. In inflammatory diseases, rheumatism, bubo, swel-
 led testicle.
   4. In exanthematous  diseases, Avhen the eruption is
 disposed to recede.
   5. In hsemorrhagies, Avhen given  in nauseating doses.
   6. In profluvia,  especially in dysentery, so  niuch so,
 that it  Yvas  formerly esteemed a specific against that dis-
 ease.  But  Cullen  attributes its  good effects in this in-
 stance, to  its producing a steady determination of the
 peristaltic motion of the intestines downwards, vvhen given
 in repeated small doses.
   7. In many spasmodic diseases; in epilepsy; asthma;
 dyspnsea; pertussis; chronic diarrhoea; hysteria; melan-
 cholia ; mania.
   8. In cachectic diseases, as in some kinds of dropsy.
   9. In impetiginous  diseases; in jaundice.
   10. In local diseases; in amaurosis, and several of the
 dysorexise.
   11. In every  instance Avhen Ave Avish to evacuate  the
 stomach, as Avhen it  is overloaded with food, or  when
 poison,  especially opium, has been swalloAved.
   The use of ipecacuan, as an emetic, is contra-indicated,
   1.  Where there is a disposition to  haemorrhage.
   2.  Where there is  an  increased Aoav of blood toward
 the head.
   3.  In very irritable subjects.
  >.  In pregnant women, and persons afflicted vyith hernia.
   Ipecacuan is exhibited,
  J.  In sub.^ance; in powder.  Full  vomiting will  ge-
nerally be produced in an adult by a  scruple or half a 
ii-1
-MATERIA  MEDICA.
 drachm, and though less might answer the purpose, for-
 tunately an over dose is scarcely attended with any incon-
 venience, as the whole of it is vomited with the contents
 of tiie s(;niach as soon as it operates.   The vomiting is
 promoted and  facilitated by drinking copiously of warm
 waterv fluids.  On the  contrary, when vomiting is not
 intended, liquids must be rather drunk sparingly, and the
 dose must be diminished to a grain or less.   In such small
 doses it is conveniently combined with any proper adjunct,
 in the form of powder, pill, or bolus.
   2. In infusion.  One drachm may be infused in four
 ounces of water, and taken in repeated doses till it operate.
   3. Infused in wine.   (See vinum ipecacuanha;.)
   Ipecacuan not only checks the narcotic effects of opium,
 and is therefore one of the best antidotes for its poison,
 but  reciprocally the emetic powers  of  ipecacuan arc
 checked by the addition of opium, and the combination
 operates  by increasing  the cuticular discharge.   (See
 pulvis ipecacuanha} et opii.)
   It has recently been announced by Thomas Clark, ~M.
 D. an English physician, that a decoction of the root of
 ipecacuanha has been administered as injections in dys-
 entery and internal piles Avith surprising  success.   The
 practice has been adopted by several physicians, all of
 whom testify their confidence in the  superior efficacy of
 the remedy.  Dr. Clark directs for an adult affected  with
 dysentery three drachms of the bruised  root to be boiled
 in a quart of water  doAvn to a pint, strained, and given
 all at once as a lavement, and repeated if necessary.  In
 cases of internal piles, half that quantity will be sufficient.

Iris Pseudacorus.   Water  Flag.   Flower  de Luce.
                Blue Flag.  The root.

   This plant is perennial, and  grows in  great abundance
 by the brinks of rivers, and in other watery places. It
 blossoms in July;  its flowers are  blue,  variegated  with
 white,yellow, and purple; its leaves sword shaped.   The
 root has an acrid taste, and Avhen fresh  is highly cathar-
 tic.  The expressed juice of the root, recently gathered,
 given to the quantity of sixty or eighty drops, every hour
 or two, and occasionally increased, has  been productive
 of very copious evacuations, after jalap, gamboge, and
other strong purgatives had proved ineffectual. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
245
  This genus of plants consists of numerous species, and
of these Ave find many varieties in our swamps and mea-
dows.  The roots  of some are much more acrid than
others; and they do not in every instance  lose their pur-
gative quality by drying.  Some roots in a dried state
have acted as a powerful cathartic, and proved an effica-
cious remedy in dysentery.  It must be left to the trials
of experience  to determine whicii variety possesses the
most medicinal properties.

Juglans Cinerea.   Butternut.  JVldte  Walnut.  The
           unripe fruit, and the inner bark.

  This tree is generally known throughout the United
States, and is hoav introduced into the Materia Medica of
the Massachusetts Pharmacopoeia.  During the American
Avar, the extract, made from the inner bark of this tree,
attracted  the  attention  of Dr. Rush, and other medical
men in our military hospital; and, being frequently admin-
istered to patients under the operation of inoculated small
pox, it ay as proved to be an excellent substitute for jalap
or other cathartics.  It is noAV esteemed  as a valuable
purgative, in doses from ten  to  thirty grains, not occa-
sioning heat or irritation; and is greatly commended in
cases of dysentery. Conjoined ay ith calomel it is rendered
more  active and efficacious, especially in bilious habits.
As this extract is  often very carelessly prepared by the
country people, it ought to be prepared by the  apotheca-
ries, or practitioners themselves; and as a domestic medi-
cine of considerable importance, it should be adopted by
every physician.  The bark of the root of this tree will
excite a blister; and the bark and shells  of the nuts dye
a good brown  colour.   A decoction of the inner bark is
advantageously employed as a cathartic in the  disease of
horses, called  the yellotv water.   The extract  should be
made  from the bark in the month of May or June.

Juniperus  Communis.   Juniper.   The berries and
                       leaves.

  This is  an  evergreen shrub growing  on dry barren
commons and hilly grounds in different parts of the Unit-
ed States as in Europe.   If planted in a good soil it will
attain t«e  height of fifteen or  sixteen feet, and prodtie* 
2ifl
MATERIA MEMUM.
  numerous branches.  It is remarkable that no grass Avill
  grpAv beneath this shrub.  This tree has three "spreading
  pointed leaves coming out together, that are louger than
  the berry.   The wood is of a reddish collar, very hard
  and durable.  Gum  sandaraeh,  more  eoinmonly called
  pounce, is the product of this tree. The flowers are borne
  upon a conical catkin, the scales of which serve the pur-
  pose of a calyx.  The berries of the Juniper require tYVo
  years before they ripen, when they change from a green,
  or a blackish piu-ple, to a bluish  black colour.  Juniper
  berries possess a  strong  not disagreeable smell, and a
  Avarm  pungent sweet taste, which if they be long chewed,
  or previously bruised, is folloAved by a bitterish one.
   Their predominant constituents are, an essential oil,
  and  a sweet mucilaginous matter.  To the  oil, they are
  indebted for their stimulating, carminative, diaphoretic,
  and diuretic  properties.
   They arc most commonly used in the form of infusion,
  to whicii a little gin is added, as a diuretic drink in dropsy.
  The essential oil may be  separated  by distillation.  It
 possesses  the same properties in  a higher  degree, and
 imparts them to ardent spirits.
   The peculiar flavour, and well-known diuretic effects
 of Holland gin, are owing to the oil of juniper.

      Juniperus Sabina.  Savine.  The leaves.

   The  savine is also an evergreen shrub, spreading out
 much horizontally, rising but little in height.  The leaves
 are small, opposite, running doAvn the  stalk,  and  rather
 prickly.  It  produces  blue berries, only after it has ar-
 rived at a considerable age.  The wood is  internally of a
 beautiful  reddish  shade, resembling that  of  mahogany.
 The leaves of savine possess a bitter, acrid taste; and their
 smell is so powerful and disagreeable, that it expels moths
 and  similar vermin.  When distilled  with water, these
 leaves yield an uncommonly large  proportion of essential
 oil.
   Savine is a warm, stimulating medicine, capable of pro-
ducing diaphoresis, and increasing all the secretions, but
apt to excite hsemorrhagc, especially from the  uterus. It
has long been considered as a powerful emmenagogue,and
Dr. Home asserts, that in five cases of obstructions of
the menses, four Avere cured by the savine, which he gave
in powder, from a  scruple to a drachm, tAvice in a day. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
247
But this acrid and heating substance, in the opinion of
Dr. Cullen, is improper in plethoric habits, and should be
employed  with caution in those cases only Avhich proceed
from a relaxed state of the solids.
  The oil distilled from  this shrub  is one of the most
violent  emmenagogues, and  ought therefore  to be used
with the greatest caution in obstructions of the uterus or
other viscera, proceeding from laxity or Aveakness.  Savine
is also recommended as an anthelmintic, and said to  be
very efficient in the cure  of  the gout.
  Externally, the leaves are applied in the form of powder
or infusion, t■:> Avarts. carious bones, and old  ulcers; and
in cases of psora, gangrene, and tinea.  Farriers apply
this article with success to the ulcers of horses.  Equal
parts of poAvdercd  savine and verdegris will effectually
remove warts and other excrescences from the skin, and
the same preparation, when applied to issues, will greatly
promote their discharge.

Juxiperus  Virginian a.   Common Red  Cedar Tree.
                     The leaves.

  The red cedar tree is a native of the United States, and
groAvs to the height of fifteen or twenty feet.  Its  berries
are smaller than those of the true juniper.  In Virginia
and Carolina the berries  are distilled into brandy.  The
leaves  of  this tree  are hoav brought into notice  by the
inAestigation of Dr. Aaron Dexter, Professor of Chemis-
try, and Materia Medica,  in the University at Cambridge.
He has found this to be the only species of juniper in the
United States, Avhose leaves agree in their properties with
those of the savine, directed by Dr. Crowther, as the basis
of the saAine ointment.

 Kalmia  Latifolia.  Broad  leaved Laurel.   Winter
                 green.   Callico tree.

  This  is the largest of the  several species of kalmia,
groAving to the height of seven or eight feet, in swamps
and moist rocky pastures.  Blossoms arc Avhite, tinged
with red, in June and  July.  The Avood is bard and com-
pact, and the Indians are said to haA c made small dishes,
spoons, and other utensils out of the roots; they are said
also to have used a decoction of this plant to  destroy
themselves.  The leaves are highly poisonous to  horses, 
248               MATERIA MEDICA.
but deer and pheasants eat them with impunity; though
the flesh of these birds ay as once rendered poisonous by
eating the leaves or berries late in the winter, and occa-
sioned the death of some persons who ate of their flesh.
  The other species, kalmia angustifolia, narroAV-leaved,
or dwarf laurel; called also ivy.  Lambkill is an evergreen
common in cold wet land.  Blossoms reddish variegated.
June and July.  The leaves prove fatal to sheep.  From
an experimental inaugural dissertation published in Phi-
ladelphia in 1802, by Dr. Thomas, upon the above species
of kalmia, it appears that the leaves of both abound with
resin, but that the last is the most active of the two.
  From the same dissertation Ave find, that a decoction of
the K. latifolia, prepared by putting one ounce of the leaves
in eight ounces of Avater, and boiling it doAvn to four ounces,
cured a diarrhoea of eight weeks continuance.   The dose
at first was thirty drops six times a day, but producing
vertigo, it Avas diminished to four times a day.   The itch
was speedily cured by washing the parts with the decoc-
tion.   The scald head, tinea capitis, was also cured by
anointing the head with an ointment made of the leaves
and hogs lard.  Dr. Barton bears testimony  of the effi-
cacy of this ointment in the tinea.   A saturated tincture
of the leaves of this  plant in proof spirit is an active
remedy.  Some kinds of herjies and warty excrescences
have been known to yield to the repeated application of
an infusion of kalmia leaves.

                    Kino:  Kino.

  The  substance distinguished by this name was intro-
duced a number of years ago  into the Materia Medica
as a powerful astringent, little being known w ith regard
to its origin, farther than it was said  to be the produce
of Africa, and obtained probably from the plant affording
it by exudation.   Subsequent to its introduction, it Avas
met with in the shops very various in its qualities: it still
is so, and is obviously  of different origin, though there is
considerable  obscurity with regard to the natural history
of these varieties.   The London college have described
it merely as  the produce of an African plant unknown.
The Edinburgh college have inserted it in their catalogue
of simples, as the concrete juice of the eucalyptus rcsini-
fera,  a tree a native of New Holland; and there is reason
to believe that at least part of Avhat is called  kino in the 
MATERIA MEDICA.               249
 shops is imported from that country, and is the produce
 of this vegetable.  The Dublin college have considered
 kino, as the product of the butea frondosa, on the autho-
 rity of Roxburgh; but  incorrectly, as Dr. Duncan  has
 remarked.  He  has farther observed,  what is perfectly
 just, that much  of the  kino of  the shops  bears all  the
 appearance  of an extract  artificially  prepared, and is
 known to be formed from different astringent vegetables.
 It is not very easy to  discriminate exactly among  these
 various substances, and to assign to each its real origin.
 One variety, and whicii  bears the  highest  price in  the
 shops, lias all the appearance of a natural production:
 slender twigs are intermixed  in its substance; it is of a
 reddish brown colour, with a resinous lustre, is very brit-
 tle  and has a bitterish astringent  taste.  This corresponds
 in its characters  with  th<*  substance first introduced as
 kino, and is still said to be the produce  of Africa, and to
 be imported from Senegal.  The kind from New Holland
 has  also the appearance of a natural  production, frag-
 ments of bark being  intermixed with  it;  it is in  more
 solid masses than the  other, is less brittle, and with  its
 astringency has a disagreeable mawkish sAveetish taste.
 The third kind,  and Avhich is most commonly met v/itb,
 has  the appearance of an extract thoroughly dried; it is
 in small fragments, with a resinous fracture, is of a brown
 colour, more approaching to black than the others, and
 has  a  taste astringent and  slightly bitter.    This Dr.
 Duncan has stated, is said to be the produce of the coceo-
 loba uvifera.  I have also been informed, says Murray,
 that it is the extract of the  wood of the mahogany.
   The analysis of kino has been executed; but from the
 difficulty of ascertaining exactly  to what substance the
 name is applied, there  is  a difficulty in appropriating the
 results to any of the varieties that are met with.  AH of
 them. howeVer, appear to contain a large proportion  of
 tannin; their solutions giving a deep colour, not purple
 however, but green, with salts of iron, a copious precipi-
 tate with gelatin.  The active matter of all, or the greater
 number of them,  is soluble in water, with the assistance
 of heat, and is still more easily soluble in alcohol.
  Kino has been employed as an astringent for the same
purposes as catechu, and they are often given in combina-
tion.  The catechu being more uniform in its qualities,
ought perhaps to be prefercd.
        32 
250
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  Kino is exhibited internally, in doses of from  ten te
thirty grains, in substance, or dissolved in diluted alcohol.
It has been considered a powerful remedy in obstinate
chronic diarrhoeas and dysenteries; in all passive hannor-
rhagics, especially from the uterus: in fluor albus; and
in diseases arising from laxity of the solids.

Lactuca Sativa.  Common Garden Lettuce.  The herb.

  This plant, so valuable as an article of diet, abounds
Avith a milky juice, Avhich possesses all the characteristie
properties of the opium of the shops, and may be procur-
ed from it in sufficient quantity, to repay any labour be-
stowed on it for this purpose.  The laudanum made from
the opium of the lettuce increases the pulse in  force and
frequency, and produces generally the same effects as re-
sult from similar  doses of  common  laudanum.  It has
been used with advantage in allaying the pain of chronic
rheumatism, and  colic; in  cheeking  the  frequent stools
accompanying diarrhoea; in allaying cough, &c. &c.; and
doubtless the plant may be advantageously cultivated for
medical purposes,  especially as  the  opium is procured
after the period in which the plant is useful for the table.

Lactuca Virosa.  Wild or Strong-scented Milk-weed.
                 Lettuce.  The leaves.

  This plant is perennial. groAving spontaneously on rub-
bish and beside fences, and flowering in August and Sep-
tember.  The  Stem  rises to three or four feet, and is
prickly on its lower end.   All the leaves are horizontal
and greatly indented; they are arrow shaped,  and their
mid-rib prickly on the back part. Flowering branches
expanding, floral leaves similar to the stem leaves, but
smaller.  Blossoms numerous on short fruit stalks, yel-
low, opening about seven and closing about ten in the
forenoon.
  This plant affords a large quantity of milky juice which
smells like opium,  and is acrid and bitter.  It resembles
opium in some of its effects; its narcotic poAver like that
of the poppy head resides in its milky juice.  An extract
prepared from the expressed juice of the leaves of this
plant,  gathered Avhen in floAver, is recommended in small
doses in dropsy.  In dropsies of long standing, proceeding
from visceral obstructions, it has been given to the extent
of  half an ounce in a day. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
'2bi
  It is said to agree Avith the stomach, to quench thirst,
to be gently laxative, powerfully diuretic, and  somewhat
diaphoretic.  Plentiful dilution is alloAved during its ope-
ration.  Dr. Collin, of Vienna, asserts, that out of twenty-
four dropsical patients, all but one were cured by this
medicine.

Laurus  Cinnamomum.   The Cinnamon Tree.   The
               bark and its volatile oil.

  This valuable tree is a native  of Ceylon,  in the East
Indies, and is now cultivated in Jamaica and  other West-
India islands.   It grows from four to ten feet high, and
is very bushy.  The leaves resemble those of the laurel,
and have the hot taste and smell of cloves when chewed.
Cinnamon is the interior  bark of the tree; it is thin and
convoluted, of a  texture somewhat fibrous, of a slight
brown colour, having an agreeable pungent taste, with a
degree of SAveetness and an aromatic flavour.  Its virtues
chiefly depend on the small quantity of essential oil which
it contains.  This bark is a very useful and  elegant aro-
matic, more grateful both to the palate and stomach than
most other substances of this class.   Like other aroma-
tics, the effects of cinnamon are stimulating, heating,
stomachic,  carminative,  and tonic; but it is rather used
as an adjunct to other remedies, than as a remedy itself.
  The essential oil of cinnamon  has a  whitish yellow
colour, a pungent burning taste, and the peculiar fine fla-
vour of cinnamon in a very great degree.   It should  sink
in water, and be entirely  soluble  in alcohol.   It is prin-
cipally prepared in Ceylon.   This oil  is one  of the most
powerful stimulants Ave possess, and is sometimes used as
a cordial in cramps of the stomach, and  in syncope; or
as a stimulant in paralysis of the tongue, or to deaden the
nerve in toothach.  But it is principally  used as an  aro-
matic, to cover the less agreeable taste of other drugs.

Laurus Cassia.  The Cassia Tree. The bark and flower
           buds, gathered before they open.

  This tree is  very similar to the former.  The bark,
which is imported from different parts of  the East-Indies
and from China, has a very exact resemblance to the cin-
namon.  It is distinguishable from the cinnamon, by lie-., 
232
MATERTA  MEDICA.
 ingof a thicker and coarse texture, and  by its breaking
 short and smooth, while the cinnamon breaks fibrous and
 shivery.
   It resembles cinnamon still more exactly in its aroma-
 tic flavour and pungency than in its external appearance,
 and seems oidy to differ from it, in being considerably
 weaker, and in abounding more with a mucilaginous mat-
 ter.
   Cassia buds are  the  floAver buds  which  are  gathered
 and dried before  they  expand.  They  are of a brown
 colour;  their taste and flavour is similar to the bark, and
 they are used for the same purposes.
   Both the bark and buds of cassia possess the same pro-
 perties with cinnamon, though in an inferior degree. The
 bark is very frequently, and  sometimes unintentionally,
 substituted for the more  expensive cinnamon; and the
 products obtained from cassia bark and buds by distilla-
 tion, are in no respect inferior to those prepared from
 cinnamon.

  Laurus Camphora.  Camphor Tree.   The camphor.

   The camphor laurel  grows in great abundance, and to
 a very considerable size, in the forests of Japan.  It is
 not uncommon in green houses in England.
   Camphor is  a proximate principle of vegetables, con-
 tained in many plants,  especially those of  the aromatic
 kind.   For the purposes of commerce, it is obtained from
< the laurus camphora.   It exists in distinct  grains in the
 wood of the root and branches of this tree.  It is extract-
 ed by sublimation; in Europe  it is  purified by  a second
 sublimation, Avith  the  addition of one twentieth of its
 weight of lime.
   Pure camphor is colourless, semitransparent, tenacious,
 and somewhat  unctuous to the touch;  its smell  is strong
 and fragrant;  its taste  pungent and bitter.  It is volatile
 at every natural temperature; is fusible in a heat inferior
 to 212°; is inflammable;  scarcely soluble in Avater, but
 entirely soluble in  alcohol, ether, and  oils, essential or
 expressed.  It consists of carbon and hydrogen, and dif-
 fers from the essential  oils, in containing  a larger pro-
 portion of carbon, with some oxygen.  By combustion it
 affords carbonic and camphoric acids.
   In a moderate dose, camphor produces effects similar
 to those of other narcotics. Its stimulant operation, how- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
253
ever, is not considerable, even in  a small dose; and in
a large dose, it always diminishes the force of the circu-
lation;  induces  sleep,  and sometimes causes delirium,
vertigo,  and  convulsions, ending in total  insensibility.
These violent effects of  camphor  are most  effectually
counteracted by opium.   In a morbid state of the body,
caninhor allays inordinate actions.  When  the pulse is
hard and contracted, it renders it fuller and softer.
  It removes  spasms  and flitting  pains  arising from
spasms; and in delirium, when opium fails of producing
sleep, camphor will often succeed.
  The most general indication for the use of camphor, is
the languor or oppression of the  vis  vitse.
  It may therefore be given with advantage,
  1. In all febrile diseases of the typhoid type, especially
Avhen attended with delirium.
  2. In inflammations Avith typhoid fever, as in some cases
of peripneumonia and rheumatism.
  3. In eruptive diseases, to  favour the eruption, or to
bring it back to the skin, if from atiy cause it has reced-
ed, as in  small pox, measles, &c.
  4. In many spasmodic diseases, especially mania, me-
lancholy, epilepsy, hysteria* chorea, hiccough, &c.
  5. In indolent local inflammations, not depending on an
internal cause, to excite action in the part.
  As a stimulant, says Murray,  camphor has been used
in typhus, eynanehe maligna, confluent small pox, and
other febrile affections  accompanied with debility, in re-
trocedent gout, and to check  the progress of gangrene.
As  a sedative it is used in affections of "an opposite nature,
as in pneumonia, rheumatism, and gonorrhoea, combined
Avith nitre or antimonials, or by itself, where evacuations
have been made.   In mania, it has sometimes succeeded
as an  anodyne: as an antispasmodic,  it has been  em-
ployed with advantage  in asthma,  chorea, and epilepsy.
  The dose of camphor is from five  to twenty grains. It
cannot be given with safety in a  larger dose than half a
drachm ; and Dr. Cullen has  likewise remarked, that in
too small a dose, as that of a feAV grains, it has very little
effect.  In divided doses, it may  be given to the extent of
a drachm or more in the day.   Its poAver of checking the
progress  of gangrene is  promoted  by combination with
musk, or carbonate of ammonia: combined with opium,
it forms a powerful diaphoretic; and its efficacy in in-
flammatory diseases is augmented by antimonials. 
 254              METERIA  MEDICA.

   Camphor ought generally to be given in a state of mix-
 ture in some fluid form, as being then less apt to excite
 nausea.  It may be diffused in  water by trituration with
 sugar, mucilage, or  almonds.  To  reduce it previously
 to powder, a few drops of alcohol must be added.  Mag-
 nesia, by being triturated Avith it, has the effect of divid-
 ing and rendering it smooth,  and  may be used for its
 suspension; a number of  the gum-resins also act on it in
 such a manner, that, from their mixture, a soft uniform
 mass is formed, and this affords another mode of diffusing
 it in ayater.
  Externally, camphor is applied chiefly as  a means of
 exciting the action of the absorbents, and thus dispersing
 many kinds of swellings, extravasations, indurations, &c.
 Hence it is a very common ingredient in liniments.  It
 has also the property of  rousing the action of the nerves,
 and quickening the circulation, in  parts on  which it is
 rubbed.  For this  reason,  in  paralytic affections it is
 sometimes employed.  As an  anodyne in rheumatic and
 muscular  pains, and as a discutient in bruises; and in-
 flammatory  affections,  it  is  dissolved in  alcohol  or
 expressed oil, and applied by friction to the  part.  Per-
 haps  there is no composition, that has  greater power
 in exciting the absorption of any tumor or  hardness,
 than  camphorated mercurial ointment.  Added  to col-
 lyria, or mixed with  lard, it  is of service  in ophthal-
 mia.   Suspended in  oil, it is used as an injection in ardor
 urinse, and as an enema to relieve the  uneasy sensations
 occasioned by ascarides.  The combination of it with
 opium is useful as a  local application in toothach.
  Camphor is recommended  as singularly efficacious in
 cases of ardor urince, or scalding of the urine, and ner-
 vous headachs.  One of the most eligible forms in which
 camphor can be given, is, to rub about eighty grains in
 a mortar, with six or eight grains of myrrh,  having pre-
 viously dropped a few drops of spirits of wine in the cam-
 phor ;  then add ten or fifteen grains of gum  arabic, and
gradually as much Avater as will suspend the Avhole.

Laurus Sassafras.   Sassafras.  The Avood,  root, and
                      its bark.

  This tree is a native of North America, and is culti-
vated in Jamaica.   The wood,  root,  and its  bark arc
used;  they have a  moderately fragrant  smell, and a
sAVcetish aromatic taste.   Sassafras is  a warm aperient 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
255
and strengthening medicine; it has often been successful-
ly given in the form of infusion and decoction, for im-
proving the tone of the stomach and bowels, in persons
whose humors were in a vitiated state.  The essential
oil is highly stimulating and heating, and  must be given
only in very small doses, being a sudorific and  diuretic
remedy.  The bark is useful in intermittents;  and the
oil is said to be efficacious, applied externally to wens.

Lavenduea Spica.  Lavender.  The flowering spikes.

   Lavender is a well  knoAvn  small, shrubby, perennial
plant,  a native of the south of Europe, but frequently
cultivated  iu  our  gardens for the  sake of its perfume.
There are tw o varieties.   The floAvers of  both have a
fragrant, agreeable smell, and a warm pungent, bitterish
taste;  the broad leaved sort is  the strongest in both res-
pects, and yields in distillation  thrice as much essential
oil as the other; it is also hotter and specifically heavier;
hence in the southern parts of France, where both kinds
grow wild, this only is used for the distillation of what is
called oil of spike.  The narrow leaved, is the sort com-
monly met Avith in our gardens.
   Lavender is considered as a Avarm stimulating aromatic.
It is principally used as a perfume.

Leontodon Taraxacum.   Dandelion.   The root and
                       leaves.

   An indigenous, perennial plant,  growing  in meadows
and pastures,  on road sides, ditch banks, &c.  It pro-
duces a yellow floAver, Avhich  Woavs  from April to Sep-
tember, and  has the remarkable  quality of expanding
early in the morning, and  closing in  the evening.  The
root, leaves, and stalk, contain a large proportion of bitter
milky juice, which possesses considerable activity.  Its
more immediate operation is, to remove visceral obstruc-
tions, and promote the urinary discharge : the dose pre-
scribed by Boerhaave for this purpose, is four ounces, to
be taken three or four times in a day; and later experi-
ence has corroborated its great efficacy in dropsical and
other complaints connected Avith a disordered state of the
first passages.
  By modern writers dandelion is highly extolled in the
treatment of chronic inflammation  of the liver, or incipi- 
256
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 ent scirrhus of that  organ, and  also  in  several chronic
 derangements of the  stomach, in a dose of half a drachm
 of the extract  twice a day.  Either  a  strong decoction
 or the fresh expressed juice, in doses from two ounces to
 four, two  or three times within the twenty-four hours,
 will, however, be found more active preparations.

    Leonarus Cardiaca.  Motherwort.   The leaves.

   This is  a very common  indigenous plant, growing in
 waste places, and flowering  in  July  and August.   The
 stalk is square, the  leaves are  spear shaped  and  three
 lobed.  The flowers are in thorny whorls, purplish Avith-
 in, and white on the  outside.   The  leaves are opposite,
 two to each whorl.  They have a  strong, disagreeable
 odour, and bitter taste.
   Motherwort  Avas formerly supposed  to be useful in
 some nervous and hysterical complaints, and  as a streng-
 thener of the  stomach.  Its medicinal  virtues  are not
 undeserving of  notice.  Though rejected  from pharma-
 copoeias, it will not readily  be abandoned by the female
 class,  being  peculiarly  adapted  to  some constitutions
 when  affected with nervous  and hysterical agitations.
 An infusion of this plant is a common domestic medicine,
 taken at bed time, it composes and  procures refreshing
 sleep in a  manner similar to valerian, when, it could not
 be obtained by the operation of opium.

    Lichen Islandicus.  Iceland Moss.  The herb.

   This is a species of liverwort,  or rock moss, of which
 there are  many varieties.  It is brought  from Iceland,
 Avhere the  inhabitants make considerable use of it as an
 article of diet, and esteem it an excellent remedy in con-
 sumption.   Of late years it has attracted the attention of
 physicians  in the United States, and acquired considerable
 repute for its remarkable  mucilaginous  and  nutritive
 properties.  It has a bitter and someAvhat astringent taste,
 wliich are  in some measure destroyed by drying or infus-
 ing in water.  As a medicine, Scopoli and Haller recom-
 mended it in coughs and consumptions, and it  has proved
 efficacious  in diarrhoeas  and dysentery.    Doctor Kerr
found it so successful in dysentery,  that, after repeated
 emetics and cathartics, he never used any other medicine,
 except that he occasionally added opium.   Dr.  Crichton 
                    materia medica.             237

 has a high opinion of it only in two species of consump-
 tion : the phthisis hannoptoica and the phthisis pituitosu vel
 mucosa; for by the use of this, he has seen patients get
 so far the  better, as to be dismissed from the hospitals
 cured. It  is given  in decoction, boiling one ounce and an
 half in two pounds of milk, over a slow fire, exactly one
 quarter  of an hour.  If milk disagree, water may be
 used, to  Avhich, after straining,  a sufficient quantity of
 sugar may be added  to  make a syrup.  Three or four
 ounces of this are to be taken frequently in a day. When
 continued for several months, it has been found extremely
 serviceable as a restorative in consumptive cases, attend-
 ed by debility and an acrimonious state of the blood and
 juices.

 Linum Usitatissimum.  Common Flax.  The seeds
                  and their fixed  oil.

   Linseed  contaips about one fifth of mucilage, and one
 sixth of fixed oil.  It is therefore considered as emol-
 lient and demulcent.  The entire seeds are only used in
 cataplasms.. The  mucilage resides wholly in  the skin,
 and is separated by infusion or decoction.   The infusion
 is used as a pectoral drink, and in  ardor urinse, nephritic
 pains, and  during the exhibition  of corrosive sublimate.
 Flaxseed syrup is  made hy adding to tAvo pints of the
 mucilage one pint of honey; while simmering avvay by a
 gentle heat observe to take off the  scum as it rises. This
 is highly useful in all kinds of coughs, and other diseases
 of the breast  and lungs.   The oil is separated by expres-
 sion.  It is  one of the cheapest fixed oils; but is generally
 rancid or nauseous, and unfit for  internal use.  These
 seeds, when reduced to powder and properly blended Avith
 hot Avater, form one of the most convenient and useful of
 cataplasms.
   The cake which remains after expression of the oil,
 contains  the  farinaceous and mucilaginous part of the
 seed, and is used in fattening cattle, under  the name of
 oil cake.

 Lijiiodexdron Tulipifera.  Tulip bearing Poplar.
          Tulip tree.  The bark of the root.

  A  native and  Avell  known tree  in the United States,
called also  American poplar, Avhite  wood, and in some
         .33 
258
MATERIA  MEDICA.
parts of New-England improperly called cypress tree.  It
attains to a very large  size, rising as high as any forest
tree, and makes a noble and  beautiful appearance when
in flower, about the middle of May. This tree is remarka-
ble for the shape of its leaves, having the middle lobe of
the three truncate, or cut transversely at the end.  The
flowers are large and bell shaped; calyx of three leaves,
six petals to the corolla, marked Avith green, yellow, and
red spots;  and many lance shaped seeds, lying one over
another, and forming a sort of cone.  The bark of the
root has long been employed by medical men in the United
States, as a tonic, and Avhen joined with various propor-
tions of prinos virticillutus, and cornus fiorida, has afford*
ed a remedy of equal efficacy with Peruvian bark.  It is
a strong bitter, and considerably aromatic and antiseptic,
and has been found particularly beneficial in the last stage
of dysentery.   The powdered root combined with steel
dust is an excellent remedy in relation of the stomach.
According to Dr. Barton, the bark is used in some parts
in gout and rheumatism.  A decoction of it is said to be
a common remedy in Virginia for botts in horses.

Lobelia Inelata.    Lobelia Emetica.   Emetic Weed.
            Indian Tobacco.  The leaves.

  The lobelia inflata is indigenous, and annual, rising to
one or two feet, with branched  stems.   The leaves are
oblong, alternate;  slightly  serrated and sessile.  The
blossoms are solitary, in a kind  of spike, of a  pale blue
colour.  It is found common in dry fields, among barley
and rye stubble, and flower* in July and August;  its cap-
sules are inflated, and filled with numerous small seeds.
  The leaves chewed are at first insipid, says Dr. Cutler,
but soon become pungent, occasioning a copious discharge
of saliva.  If  they are held in the mouth for some time
they produce giddiness and pain in the head, Avith a trem-
bling agitation of the ay hole body; at length they bring
extreme nausea and vomiting.  The taste resembles that
of tartar emetic. A plant possessed of such active pro-
perties, notwithstanding the violent effects from chcAving
the leaves, may possibly become a a aluable medicine.
   It Avas employed by the aborigines  as  an emetic, and
also  by those empirics  Avho affect to  deal  in Indian
remedies only.  As a iicav article  it  has lately excited
much speculation  in the New-England States, and  its 
MATERIA MEDICA.              259
 properties have very frequently been subjected to the test
 of practical experiment.  It is found to operate as a speedy
 and active emetic, and it often induces a most profuse
 perspiration immediately after being received into the
 stomach.   It  has proved serviceable in eases of colic,
 where emetics were indicated.   In a variety of instances
 it has been administered as a remedy in asthmatic affec-
 tions, and 011 competent authority we are assured, that it
 has in general manifested considerable efficacy, and some-
 times proved more beneficial in  this distressing disease
 than  any other medicine.  From some of its effects, says
 an eminent physician, lobelia seems to be related to the
 narcotic plants; to the mouth and first passages it proves
 acrid and highly stimulant; its stimulus appears to be of
 the diffusive kind, as Dr. Cutler, on taking it, experienced
 an irritation  of  the  skin over the Avhole body.   It is
 probably one of the most poAverful vegetable substances
 Avith  which Ave are acquainted,  and  no rational practi-
 tioner will have recourse to it, but Avith  the  greatest
 precaution. The melancholy consequences resulting from
 the use  of lobelia infiata, as lately administered  by the
 adventurous bands of a noted empiric, have justly excited
 considerable interest, and  furnished  alarming examples
 of its deleterious properties  and fatal effects.  The dose
 in Avhich he is said usually to prescribe it, and frequently
 with impunity, is a common tea spoonful of the poAvdercd
 seeds or leaves,  and often repeated.   If the medicine
 does not puke  or evacuate poAverfully, it frequently de-
 stroys the patient, and sometimes in five or six hours.
   Even horses and cattle have been supposed to  be killed
 by eating it accidentally.  The specific qualities of this
 highly active plant, promising to be of utility as a remedy,
 should be particularly investigated by ingenious and intel-
 ligent men, that its rank in the Materia  Medica may be
 clearly ascertained.               4P
  The folloAving  highly  interesting  observations have
 been recently  received from the Rev. Dr. M. Cutler.
  When  I Avas preparing my botanical paper,  says  the
 Dr. I had given it (the lobelia) only a cursory examina-
 tion, and having some doubt about its specific characters,
 I suspected  it to  be  a new species.  Accidentally ascer-
 taining its emetic property, I inserted it Avith the specific
 name, emetic xceed.  By cheAving a  small part of it, com-
monly no more than one or two of the capsules, it proves
a gentle emetic.  If the quantity be a little increased, it 
160
MATI-.RIA  MEDICA.
operates as an emetic, and then as a cathartic, if ; effect*
being much the same as those of the common emetics
and cathartics.  It has been my misfortune, the author
observes, to be an asthmatic for about ten years.  1 luive
made trial of a great variety of the  usual remedies with
very little benefit.   In  several paroxysms  I  bad found
immediate relief more  frequently than from  any thing
else, from the  sk-nk-cabbage.  (Dracontium fwtidum.
Lin.  Arum America num.   Cateshy.  Sec that article in
this volume.)  The last summer I had the severest attack
I ever experienced.  It commenced  early in August, and
continued about eight weeks.  Dr. Drury of Marblebcad,
also an as'thtcv.tie, had made use of a tincture of the Indian
tobacco, by the advice  of a friend, in a severe paroxysm
early in the spring.  It gave him immediate relief, and
he has  been entirely free from the  complaint from that
time.  I had a tincture made of the fresh plant, and took
care to have the spirit fully saturated, which I think is
important.  In a paroxysm which perhaps was as severe
as I ever experienced, the difficulty of breathing extreme,
and after it had continued for a considerable time, I took
a table spoonful.  In three or four minutes my breathing
Avas as free as it ever was, but felt no nausea at the  sto-
mach.  In ten minutes I took another  spoonful whicii
occasioned sickness.  After teu minutes I took the third,
which produced sensible effects upon  the coats  of the
stomach, and a very little moderate puking, and a kind of
prickly sensation through the whole system, even to the
extremities of the fingers and toes.   The urinary passage
was perceptibly affected by producing a smarting sensation
in passing urine, Avhich ay as probably provoked by stimulus
upon the hhalder.   But all  these sensations  very  soon
subsided, and a vigour  seemed to be  restored to the con-
stitution, Avhich I hjjjf not experienced for years.  I have
not since had a parrijpini, and only a few times some small
symptoms of asthma,  Besides the violent attacks, I had
scarcely passed a night Avithout more or less  of it, and
often so as not to be able to lie in bed.   Since  that time
I have enjoyed as good health as, perhaps, before the first
attack.
  I !:rvc given yen  this minute detail of my OAvn case,
from an apprehension that this plant, judiciously employ-
ed, mny approach nearer to a specific in this most dis-
tressing  eoin-daint,  than any other that has been  yet
di covered.  But I am aware much  further experiment 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
261
is necessary to ascertain its real value.  Several medical
gentlemen have since  made  use of the  tincture in asth-
matic cases with much success, but the effects have not
been uniformly the  same.  In all instances of Avhich  I
have had information, it has produced immediate  relief,
but the effect has been different in different kinds of asth-
ma.  Some patients have been severely puked with  only
a tea spoonful, but in all cases some nausea seems to be
necessary. The asthma with Avhich I have been afflicted,
I conceive to be that kind which Dr. Bree, in his Practi-
cal Inquiries on disordered respiration, &e.  calls the first
species—(i a  convulsive asthma from pulmonic irritation
of effused serum."  My constitution has been free, I be-
lieve, from any other disorder, than what has been occa-
sioned by an affection of the  lungs, anxiety of the prsecor-
dia, and  straitness  of the breast, and  other  symptoms
produced by that affection.   In similar  asthmas,  the
tincture has been as successful as in my case.  It is ex-
tremely  desirable that  careful experiments  should be
made by  men of real medical knowledge.
  A particular case has  been related to me of an effectual
cure of the hydrophobia, in the last stage of the disease,
by the use of this plant.  I had the information from  a
man of undoubted veracity, that received it from the father
of the young man who was cured; but facts relating to the
case have not been sufficiently ascertained to  assert it to
be a remedy in this disease.   In a short time I expect to
obtain a more circumstantial and satisfactory  at count of
this case.
  With the vieAv of establishing a uniformity of strength
in the preparation, the Essex district medical society have
agreed, that the proportion for the tincture of lobelia shall
be two ounces of  the dried plant to one pint  of diluted
alcohol.
  The result of subsequent  praflKal  observation  has
amply confirmed the utility  of lobelia  inflata  in various
diseases.   In numerous  instances of asthma it has  pro-
cured the most  essential relief,  though in general its
effects were only temporary and palliative.  As a pectoral
it has been found useful in consumptive  and other coughs
depending on mucus accumulated in the bronchial vessels
by exciting  nausea and  expectoration.   From its  very
speedy operation as an emetic, and its stimulating effects
on the mouth and fauces, beneficial results might be ex-
pected from its use in croup and hooping-cough; and on 
2G2
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 some trials our expectations have beon  realized in thi*
 respect.   It  may perhaps  be  anticipated to  super nlr
 seneka as a remedy in the former, and antimonials in the
 latter affection.  More extensive practical knowledge  of
 the properties of this plant, and the various forms and
 circumstanees of its  administration is still. hoAVCYcr, a
 most desirable object.
   The leaves should be collected in August Avhile the plant
 is in blossom, and carefully  dried and preserved for use.
 From ten to twenty grains of the powdered leaves ay ill in
 general be found a suitable dose as an emetic for an adult,
 or it may be repeated in smaller quantities. As a pecto-
 ral it may be given in poAvder or pills alone, or combined
 with other remedies, repeated in small doses fill an evident
 good result is  observable.   Of the  saturated tincture,
 twenty, forty, or even  sixty drops may be safely given
 children  of one or two years old, increasing as occasion
 may require.

      Lobelia  Syphilitica.   Lobelia.  The  root.

   This plant  groAvs in  moist places  in Virginia.  It is
 perennial, has an erect stalk, three or four feet high, blue
 flowers, a milky juice, and a  rank smell.  The root, which
 is the part used, consists of Avhite fibres about two inches
 long, resembles tobacco in taste, Avhich  remains on  the
 tongue, and is apt to excite vomiting.
   Dr. Barton says, it is considerably diuretic; and Mr.
 Pearson found, that it generally disagreed with the stom-
 ach, and seldom failed of affecting the boAvels as a strong
 cathartic. It certainly possesses no poAver  of curing syphi-
 lis ; even  the Indians who have  the disease, are glad of
 an  opportunity of applying to the whites.   It is said to
 have cured gonorrhea.

           Lytta Vittata.   Potatoc Fly.

  There are four species of meloe that blister, found in
 the United States.  The lytta vittata Avas first  brought
 into notice by Dr. Isaac Chapman,  of Buck's county.
 Pennsylvania.   It feeds principally upon the potatoc vine,
 and, at the proper season of the year, may be collected
 in  immense quantities.  This insect has a xery near  re
 semblance, in its outAvard form, to the mcioe vesieatorius.
or Spanish fly; but is rather smaller, and of a xery differ- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
263
cut colour; the head  is a very light red, with black an-
tennae ;  the elytra or Aving cases are black, margined
with, pale yellow, and a stripe of the same colour extends
along the middle of them ; the tarsi have five  articula-
tions ; the mouth is armed Avith jaAVs, and furnished Avith
tarsi.
   In the abdomen  of this fly, is a hard, Avhite substance,
about the size of a grain of Avheat, which, Avhen poAvdered,
apjiears like meal, and, Avhen  rubbed Avith Avater, forms
a milky euu ision.
  The experiments and investigation  of Dr. Chapman
have proved, that, when applied to the human system,
the effects of the potatoe fly, are perfectly analogous to
those of the Spanish cantharis; being equal, if not supe-
rior to them in medicinal poAvers.*  The lytta vittata is
now introduced into the Materia Medica of the Massa-
chusetts Pharmacopoeia, and its properties have been made
the subject of a valuable communication to the Medical
Society of Massachusetts, by Dr. John Gorham of Boston.
From this interesting paper it appeal's, that for some years
past, the potatoe fly has been employed as a vesicatory by
Dr. Israel Allen, of Sterling.  That the insect in its dried
state, is from four to six lines in length, its head and elytra
are uniformly black, and the latter Avant the margin and
stripe of yellow,  observable in that described by  Dr.
Chapman.  Its belly is ash coloured, and in the cavity of
the abdomen is found  the hard white substance already
described.  The thickness of  the potatoe  fly,  Avhich is
nearly uniform throughout, is from one quarter, to one
third its length. It generally appears on the vines, about
the end of July, and the first week in August.  They in-
habit the soil at the foot of the plant; they ascend in the
morning and afternoon, but generally avoid the heat of
the sun at  noon.   As they fly  with^reat difficulty, they
are easily caught, and are prepared for medicinal purposes,
by shaking them from the plant into hot water, and after-
Avards drying them by the sun's rays.   Dr. Gorham pro-
ceeds to observe, that he has instituted an extensive series
of experiments  ay ith the lytta vittata; and  that they have
never failed, even in a single instance, of producing all
the immediate  effects which he anticipated, from their
external application, or internal exhibition : as a vesica-
tory, he has found them equal, if not superior to the can-
tharis usually employed for that purpose in this country.

                * Med. Repos. vol. 2. 
«6i
MATERIA  MEDICA.
The saturated tincture has been administered internally,
in many cases of diminished sensibility of the urinary or-
gans, in gleets, and as a diuretic in dropsy; and it has
been found, in all, to increase the discharge of urine, and
to produce a considerable irritation in the urethra, and
in the neck of the bladder.   It appears, therefore, from
the combined testimony of Drs. Chapman, Gorham, and
Allen,  that physicians, in various parts of the  country,
may collect from their oavii fields, an annual visitor, pos-
sessing all the properties of the genuine cantharis.   This
indigenous production cannot fail of being generally adopt-
ed, as an excellent substitute for an expensive exotic, not
ahvays to be obtained.
   We shall notice another kind of indigenous blistering
fly, the meloe niger of Professor Woodhouse, or the Penn-
sylvanicus of Linnseus.  This is not more  than  half the
size of  Chapman's fly, and is uniformly black.  It feeds
upon the prunella vulgaris,  or  self heal,  and ambi'osia
trifida,  or stick weed.   During the month of August, the
farmers of NeAV England find them in immense quanti-
ties, extracting nourishment from the potatoe vine, which
in  some seasons they  almost destroy.  These  flies, it
is well ascertained, are not inferior in point of efficacy
to any other species, whether of foreign or domestic pro-
duction, and they seldom excite  strangury  when applied
externally.

Malva Stlvestris.   Common  Malloxv.  The  leaves
                     and flowers.

   This  is an annual plant, growing in hedges, foot  paths,
and among rubbish.   The whole plant abounds with mu-
cilage.  The leaves Avere formerly often used  in food, to
prevent costiveness.   At present, decoctions of the plant
are sometimes prescribed in dysenteries and urinary com-
plaints ; though it is chiefly employed in emollient cata-
plasms, clysters, and fomentations.

MarantaArundinacea. Indian Arrow Root. The root.

   This  plant  Avas originally the production of the East
Indies, and is now cultivated in Jamaica and other West
India islands, and in  South America.  Arrow root agrees
with sago, salep, and tapioca in its general nutritious pro-
perty, but is reckoned to excel them, so far as to afford a 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
265
 much larger proportion of mucilage than any vegetable
 hithert) discovered.  11 nee it is of superior utility as an
 article of diet for tl«£ sick and invalids, and particularly
 in cases of acrimony, either in the  general  habit,  as in
 hectic fever or consumption; or in  particular secretions,
 as in affections of the  urinary passages, namely, inflam-
 mation, stone,  or gravel; and also in  affections of  the
 bowels, as in looseness and dysentery.   It furnishes also
 an excellent remedy for the bowel  complaints, which so
 commonly prevail in the United States during the warm
 season, especially among children.  The jelly is made by
 adding to a  table spoonful of the powdered root  as much
 cold water as will make it into a soft paste, then pour on
 boiling water, Stirling it  at the same time briskly,  until
 it become  a clear jelly, which may  be  seasoned  with
 sugar and nutmeg, or a little wine or lemon juice maybe
 added.  For children it may be prepared with milk, and
 if it ferment on the stomach, the addition of a little ani-
 mal jelly will obviate that effect.  Prepared in the form
 of pudding the arroAv  root  powder is  far preferable to
 any of the farinaceous  substances, and  affords a delicate
 and very proper food for convalescent patients.  Accord-
 ing to Dr. Wright,  of Jamaica, a decoction of the fresh
 root makes an excellent ptisan in acute diseases.   In a
 pamphlet published  in 1796,  by Mr. T. Rider, we find
 the culture of this Valuable article  highly recommended
 to the West Indian planters, and the new African colo-
 nists, as an  object of commerce, and the most eligible
 substitute for  starch made  of wheat.   By the author's
 computation eight millions  of pounds  weight of starch
 are made annually in Great Britain alone from that valu-
 able grain.  It appears also by the same authority that
 arrow root starch is of the  finest quality, and that one
 pound of it is equal to two pounds and a half of that pre-
 pared from wheat.  Fortunately the arrow  root has  of
 late years been introduced into the states of South Caro-
 lina and Georgia, and by practical experiment it is ascer-
tained that  the soil of the  southern  sea  coast is  Avell
 adapted to it.  John Cooper, Esq. an opulent planter  on
 St. Simon's, and Campbell Wylly, Esq. of Sapelo island,
 have,  it is understood, so far succeeded in their attempts
 as to afford the most flattering encouragement, that this
 important article may be added to the numerous sources
of wealth enjoyed by our southern planters.   The latter
gentleman asserts, that a spot  of land on bis plantation
         3* 
266
MATERIA MEDICA.
yielded arroAV root sago in the proportion of 1SiO pounds
to the acre.  No production it is presumed can promise
a more ample remuneration, to stimulate the planter to
attempt its cultivation; and when it is considered, that,
in proportion to the produce, the demand will be extend-
ed, its'claim as a rival staple with  rice and cotton may,
perhaps, be anticipated.

Marrubium Vulgare.   White Horehound. The leaves.

   This is a perennial plant,  which  groAvs wild on road
sides, and among rubbish. The leaves have a very strong,
not disagreeable smell, and a roughish, very bitter taste.
It is reputed to  be both attcnuant and resolvent; an infu-
sion of  the leaves in Avater,  SAveetcned with honey, is
recommended in asthmatic and phthisical complaints, as
well as in most other diseases of the breast and  lungs.
They promote the fluid secretions in general, and liberal-
ly taken, loosen the belly.
   Dr. Withering observes that it was a favourite medi-
cine ay ith the ancients in obstructions of the viscera.   He
says,  that it  is the  principal  ingredient in the  negro
Ca'sar s  remedy for  vegetable poisons.   That  a  young
man Avho had occasion to take mercurial medicines, was
thrown into a salivation which continued for more than a
year.  Every method that was tried to remove it, rather
increased the complaint.  At length Linnseus prescribed
an infusion  of this plant, aud  the patient got well in a
short time.

                    Mel.  Honey.

   A sweet  fragrant  vegetable juice, collected by bees
from the floAvers of various plants, and deposited in the
cells of the comb.  The honey produced  by young bees,
and Avhich fioAVS spontaneously, is purer than that expres-
sed from the comb; Aviienee it is calh'd virgin  honey: the
best sort is of a thick  consistence, and of a whitish colour
inclining to yelloAv; it possesses an agreeable smell and
a  pleasant taste.   In some  situations,  where noxious
plants abound, poisonous honey is met Avith, from the Ires
feeding on  such floAvers.  As an article of food, when
immoderately used, honey is pernicious to weak stomachs:
it ought therefore to be avoided by persons liable to erup- \
lions of  the skin, or  in whom there is a redundancy of 
MATERIA medica.
267
bile.  This vegetable substance contains an acid similar
to that of sugar, but is more spiritous :  hence it readily
ferments, occasions flatulency, and in some habits produ-
ces  gripes and looseness.   As a medicine, hoAvever, it is
a very useful aperient and expectorant, especially when
it has been previously boiled ; in whicii state, it may be
used ay ith safety and advantage by asthmatic patients;
for  it tends to dissolve viscid  humours, and to promote
the expectoration of tough phlegm.
  Honey is  also  convertible  into an  agreeable  liquor
termed mead; and it may be advantageously employed in
the folloAving  manner: dissolve one pound of honey in
three or four quarts of  water, and  being exposed to a
temperature betAveen the 70th and 80th degree of Fah-
renheit's thermometer, it Avill in a short time become a
very agreeable acid liquor, Avhich possesses an aromatic
flavour and strength, superior to that of the best vinegar
made of Avhite wine.  This cheap and agreeable substi-
tute for Avhite Avine vinegar appears to deserve every at-
tention in domestic economy.

Melaleuca Leucadendron.  The Cajeput Tree.  The
                     volatile oil.

  The tree whicii furnishes the cajeput oil is frequent in
the East Indies.  The essential oil, obtained by distilla-
tion from the  leaves and fruit, has a green or yelloAvish
colour, a strong  fragrant odour,  and an extremely pun-
gent taste.   It is highly volatile.  This oil has been used
as a  highly diffusible  stimulant  and antispasmodic, in
tympanites, hysteria, palsy, chronic rheumatism, and va-
rious other diseases of debility.  Its dose is three or four
drops.  It is also applied externally to relieve rheumatic
and gouty pains, and violent headachs.   But its most re-
markable effect is in that painful complaint the toothach.
From Avhatever cause this affection may proceed, Avhether
from a  carious tooth, rheumatic  acrimony, catarrh, &c.
the cajeput oil has generally been found efficacious in re-
moving it, if dropped on lint, and placed in the cavity of
the tooth, or even around the gum.

Melia  Azedarach.  Poison Ben*y  Tree.   Pride of
         India or China.  The fruit and root.

  This is not a native of America, but is now completely
naturalized to the states  of Carolina and Georgia; where 
2tiS               MATERIA  MEDICA.

it is  highly valued  for  the beauty of its foliage, anil
agreeable shade, which it affords during the sultry season.
In the city of Savannah  the streets and public walks are
ornamented by roAvs of this charming tree, and the com-
piler has recently been gratified with the enchanting view
which they exhibit.  The  azedarach has also obtained
considerable repute for the  medicinal virtues  which it  is
found to possess.   Professor Barton says, it is one of the
most valuable anthelmintics that  has  hitherto been dis-
covered, and many  respectable physicians in Savannah
repose the fullest  confidence in  its efficacy.  To Dr. L.
Kollock, vice-president of the Georgia Medical Society,
Ave are indebted for the following  information.  " It is a
vermifuge of efficacy.  Its  use is  in some  measure gene-
ral among the planters; and with many supersedes the
use of all others.  I have given it with success Avhere all
others in common use have failed of relieving.  But when
given in the months of March and April, while the sap is
mounting into the tree,  it has  sometimes  been followed
by stupor, dilatation of pupil, stertorous breathing, sub-
sultus, &e.   But  these symptoms, like those sometimes
produced  by spigelia, pass  off without any  perceptible
injury to  the system.  This article, like the  spigelia, is
also a useful febrifuge medicine, in those affections usually
denominated verminous  fevers, but where  no worms are
voided.  The common form is that of decoction. A large
handful, say about four ounces of the bark of the fresh
root is boiled in a quart of ayater, till it acquire the colour
of strong coffee, i. e. to about a pint, of which from half
an ounce to  an ounce may be given every two or  three
hours till it operate.  Given in this manner, its operation
is powerful, sometimes both vomiting and purging.   The
strength of the decoction is hoAvever varied according to
the intention."  The dried berries of this tree have been
advantageously employed as an anthelmintic, in Carolina;
children being allowed  to cat them at pleasure.   The
pulp of the fruit formed into an ointment Avith lard, it is
said, has been successfully employed in tinea capitis.

     Melissa  Oiticixalis.  Balm.   The leaAcs.

  Balm is much cultivated in our  gardens  on  account of
its pleasant aromatic smell, resembling that of the lemon,
and its fragrant tliough roughish taste.   It is  principally
employed in the form of a Avaterv infusion, Avhich is drunk 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
269
in the manner of tea; and in acute fevers, Avhen acidulat-
 ed with the juice of lemon, it is au useful diluent.

  Meloe Vesicatorius.  Cantharis.  Spanish  Flies.

  The cantharis is an insect, collected from the leaves of
 plants in Spain and Italy, and dried in the sun.  It is  of
 a lively green colour; has a faint unpleasant smell, and a
 taste slightly acrid.   The  active matter of  this insect
 inflames and excoriates the skin, and  is used as the basis
 of the common vesicatories.  Taken internally they often
 occasion a discharge of blood by urine, with exquisite
 pain:  if the  dose be considerable, they.seem to  inflame
 and  exulcerate the whole intestinal  canal;  the stools
 become mucous and purulent; the breath fcetid and cada-
 verous;  intense pains are felt in the lower  be'ly. the
 patient faints, grows giddy, delirious, and dies.  Applied
to the skin, they first inflame, and afterwards excoriate
the part,  raising a more perfect blister than any of the
vegetable acrids, and occasioning a  more plentiful dis-
 charge of serum.  But even the external application of
 cantharides is often followed by a strangury, accompani-
ed with  thirst and feverish  beat.   The inconveniences
arising from  the use of cantharides, whether token inter-
nally, or applied externally, are best obviated by drinking
plentifully of bland emollient liquids, such  as milk, de-
coctions of barley, linseed, solutions of gum arable, &c.
or by pouring warm water from a bottle, upon the loAver
part of the belly, as the person lies in bed.  The  specific
property of counteracting cantharides ascribed to cam-
phor, says Dr. Duncan, has no foundation.  Internally
administered, it acts with much violence on the urinary
passages.  In dropsy, it has been given as a  diuretic, in a
dose of one grain once or twice a-day, or a  few drops of
the tincture continued for some time: it  has  been pre-
scribed in a similar manner in obstinate gleet and  Ieucor-
rhcea,  and  in  retention of urine arising from  debility of
the  body, of  the bladder, or  in the opposite affection of
incontinence  of urine from debility of the sphincter.  It
is principally in these two last affections, that the internal
administration of cantharides is attempted.  The tincture
has been of late much recommended in tetanus, ke. and
in some instances has proved useful.
  Applied externally, cantharides are one of our best and
most powerful remedies.  By proper management tliev 
270
MATERIA  MEDICA.
may be regulated so as to act as a  gentle stimulus, as a
rubefacient, or as a blister.
  Blisters are applied, 1. To increase the activity of the
system in general, by means of their irritation.
  2. To increase the activity of a particular organ.
  3. To diminish morbid action in particular organs, by
means of the irritation they excite in the parts to which
they are applied.
  They may be employed Avith advantage in almost  all
diseases accompanied Avith typhus fever, especially if any
important viscus, as the  brain, lungs, or liver, be  at the
same time particularly affected.  In these cases the blis-
ters are not applied to  the diseased organs themselves,
but as near them as may be convenient.   When we wish
to excite action in an organ, the blisters are, if possible,
applied directly to the diseased organ.
  Cantharides are employed externally, either in sub-
stance mixed up with wax and  resin, so as to  form a
plaster, or ointment, or in the form of tincture.
  After a blister has been raised, it is  often of advantage
to convert the serous into* a purulent discharge, by excit-
ing suppuration, which is done by applying to the blister-
ing part any acrid stimulating ointment; one, for example,
containing a  small proportion of powdered  cantharides;
which answers the purpose  by the irritation it keeps up,
or which is  preferable the  savine cerate,  the favourite
application of Mr.  Crowther.   It is a practice often
employed with  advantage  in asthma,  paralysis,  and a
variety of chronic affections. Dr. Philip S.  Physick, and
Dr. Rush, have in several instances experienced the effi-
ciency of blisters to arrest the progress of  mortification
Avhen applied to the  diseased part.

     Mentha Viridis.  Spearmint.   The herb.

  Spearmint is perennial and groAvs  on the banks of
rivers, and in Avatery situations; and flowers in the months
of July and August.  The leaves  have a Avarm, roughish,
somewhat bitterish taste; and  a strong, not unpleasant,
aromatic  smell.  Their  virtues are stomachic and car-
minative.

    Mentha Piperita.  Peppermint.  The herb.

  Of the different mints, this is the one  which  has  the
greatest degree of pungency.  The leaves have a strong, 
MATERIA  MEDICA,
271
 rather disagreeable smell, and an intensely pungent aro-
 matic taste, resembling that of pepper; and accompanied
 Avith a  peculiar sensation of  coldness.  They afford an
 essential oil, rich in the aromatic quality of the herb. It
 also contains a small portion of camphor.
   Peppermint is used as a stimulant and carminative, to
 obviate nausea or griping,  or to relieve the symptoms
 resulting from flatulence, and very frequently to cover
 the taste and  odour of other medicines.  It is also an  ex-
 cellent stomachic, of great use in flatulent colics, languors,
 and hysteric cases, and in vomiting.   It is used under the
 forms of the Avatery infusion, the distilled water, and  the
 essential oil.  This last being dissolved in a due propor-
 tion of rectified spirit of wine, and  coloured vvith green
 grass, forms the  essence  of peppermint of the shops; a
 fashionable and pleasant carminative, which, Avhen taken
 on sugar, imparts a glowing taste, sinking into the tongue,
 and extending its effects through the  whole system, in-
 stantly communicating a glowing Avarmth.

 Mentha  Pulegium.   Penny  Royal.  The herb and
                       floAver.

   This herb is perennial, and possesses properties similar
 to those of the mint; but it  is more acrid, and less agree-
 able to the palate.  It has long been esteemed as an ape-
 rient and deobstruent, particularly in hysteric and other
 female  complaints.  Dr.  Withering  observes, that the
 expressed juice of penny royal, Avith a little  sugar, is an
 useful medicine in the hooping-cough.

 Mimosa Catechu.  Catechu.  The extract of the ayooi!
               called extract  of catechu.

   To this substance, formerly  knoAvn by the absurd name
 of Japan earth, the appellation of Catechu is nowr appro-
 priated.  It is  an extract prepared by boiling the interior
 Avood of the tree with Avater,  and the tenacious residual
 mass is dried by exposure to the air and sun.  It is of a
yellow or brown colour, has a  bitter and astringent taste,
leaving an impression of sAveetishness; but its qualities
Aary considerably.  Two kinds are at present met Avith
in  the shops ;  one is of a light yelloAvish  broAvn colour, is
smooth  and uniform in texture,  breaks short, is soft and
light; the other is of a dark broAvn colour, more hetero-
geneous, heavier, and considerably harder. 
272
MATERIA MEDICA.
     Catechu is almost entirely soluble in water, with the
  assistance of heat, the residuum consisting of accidental   '
  impurities.   It is nearly equally soluble in alcohol.  Its
  solution strikes a deep black colour with the salts of iron,
  and gives an abundant  precipitate with animal  gelatin,
  Fro;n Mr. Davy's experiments, it appears to  be com-
  posed of tannin,  extractive matter,  and mucilage;  the
  proportions in the best  catechu  being iVi.3 of the first,
  3i of the secoud,  6.5 of the third, and 5 residual matter.
  Our knoAvledge with regard to the principal named  ex-
  tract, is so imperfect, that it is difficult to establish any
  certain conclusion with regard to it;  and the subsequent
  experiments of Dr. Bostock, as  to  the modes of separat-
  ing what is called extract from the  tannin of catechu,
  do not exactly accord with those of Mr. Davy.  Dr. Bos-
  tock has remarked,  too, that catechu gives indications of
  the presence  of gallic acid, and that  its watery infusion
  even reddens the  more delicate vegetable colours.
    Catechu is in common use  as an astringent, and in the
  uniformity and   certainty  of its operation  is probably
  equal, or even superior  to  any of  the vegetable astrin-
  gents.   It is  used in diarrhoea generally under the form
  of the infusion, or the tincture:  or the officinal prcpara-
'  tion, the electuary of catechu, consisting of catechu and
  kino Avith some aromatics and a little opium, is diffused in
  water, forming what has been named the Japonic mix-
  ture.  In substance  it may be given in a dose from ten
  to forty  grains,  which may  be  frequently repeated.
  Und^r the form of troches, it is sometimes used in relax-
  ation* of the  uvula,  or sponginess of the  gums, being
  alloAvcd to dissolve sloAvly in the mouth.  It is also suc-
  cessfully employed in complaints  peculiar to females,
  laxity and debility of the viscera in general, and in vari-
  ous other diseases,  Avhich  require strengthening reme-
  dies.  As a mild  but excellent  astringent it  is applied
  Avith much advantage to apthous eruptions, or the thrush,
  and similar affections.

  Mimosa Nilotica.   Kgyplian Mimosa.   Gummi Ara-
          bicum.   The gum, called gum arable.

    This, the purest of the gums, is obtained by exudation
  from the mimosa, Avhich grows  in the  sandy deserts  of
  Africa, Arabia Petrcea, anil Egypt.  There are tAvo kinds
  of gum found in the shops, and sold promiscuously : distin- 
MATERIA MEDICA.
273
  guished by the names of Gum Arabic, and East India
  Gum.   Gum  arabic  consists  of roundish transparent
  tears, colourless, or of a yelloAvish colour, shining frac-
  ture, Avithout smell or taste, and perfectly soluble in water.
  The  pieces Avhich are most transparent, and have least
  colour, are reckoned the best.  They are sometimes se-
  lected from the gum arabic in sorts, and  sold for about
  double the price, under the title of picked gum.
    It has all the properties of gum ;  is insoluble in alco-
  hol or oils, and soluble in Avater, forming a viscid solution
  termed  mucilage.  Gum arabic is used as a demulcent.
  In catarrh it is alloAvcd to dissolve slowly in the mouth,
  and its mucilage is the basis of the mixtures usually em-
  ployed to allay  coughing.  Its solution in water, more or
  less viscid, is frequently exhibited in diarrhoea, dysentery,
  tenesmus,  strangury, and ardor urinje.   In pharmacy,
  mucilage of gum arabic is employed for a variety of pur-
  poses.  It  serves to suspend  heavy powders in waters; it
  gives tenacity to substances made into pills, and it effects
  a partial union  of oils, balsams,  and resins, with water.
    Gum, says Dr. Duncan, is highly nutritious.   During
  the Avbole time of the harvest, of the journey, and of the
 fall, the Moors  of the desert live almost entirely upon it;
 and experience  has proved, that six ounces are sufficient
 for the support  of a man during twenty-four hours.
   M.  Golberry  says, that he saw a young Englishman in
 Gambia recover from a very severe haemoptysis, bv tak-
. ing three ounces of gum, daily, dissolved in milk. *

 Moschus Moschiferus.  The  Musk Deer.  The sub-
   stance contained in  a follicle situated near the navel,
   called musk.

   The musk animal is an inhabitant of China, India, and
Tartary.  It is a gentle and timid animal; its general
 form resembles  the deer tribe, and is about three feet in
 length.  In the  male, behind the navel, and before the
 prepuce, there is situated an oval bag, fiat on one  side,
 and convex  on the other, about three inches long and iavo
 broad. In the adult animal this sac is filled Avith a secret-
 ed  matter, known by the name of musk.
  Fine musk comes to us in round thin bladders; which
are generally about the size of a pigeon's egg,  covered
Avith short brown hairs lined Avith a thin broAvn membrane,
well filled,  and Avithout any appearance of having been
         S3 
274
MATERIA medica.
 opened.   Th.i musk itself is dry, Avith a kind of unetu-
 osity, of a dark reddish broAvn, or rusty blackish colour, in
 small round grains, Avith very feAV hard black clots, and per-
 fectly free from sandy or other visible foreign matter.  If
 chewed, and rubbed Avith a knife on paper, it looks smooth,
 bright, yellowish, and is  free from grittiness.   Its taste
 is someAvhat bitterish, and its sine I i  extremely powerful
 and peculiar.   Musk yields part of its active matter to
 water, by infusion ; by distillation the water is impregnat-
 ed  with  its flavour;  alcohol  dissolves it,  the  impurities
 excepted.
  Musk  is  a medicine  of vei v great efficacy, and for
 which, in some cases,  there is hardly any  substitute.
 When properly administered, it  sometimes succeeds in
 the  most desperate circumstanees.  It raises the pulse
 without heating much ; it allays spasms, and operates re-
 markably on the brain, increasing thepoAvers of thought,
 sensation, and voluntary motion.  It is administered with
 advantage in the greater number of spasmodic diseases,
 especially in hysteria  and singultus,  and  also in diseases
 of debility.  In typhus it is employed to relieve subsultus
 tendinum, and  other  symptoms of a spasmodic nature.
 In cholera it frequently  stops vomiting,  and, combined
 Avith ammonia, it is given to  arrest the progress of gan-
 grene.  It is also used Avith the greatest benefit in cxan-
 thematous and  phlegmonic diseases, accompanied  Avith
 typhoid fever, and also in chin cough, epilepsy, trismus,
 &c.  Its  dose is from six to  twenty grains, repeated, if
 necessary, every five or six hours.  It is best exhibited in
 the  form of bolus.  To children, it is given in the form
 of enema, and is an efficacious remedy in the convulsions
 arising from dentition.

                       Murias.

  Muriate is the generic term for those secondary com-
pounds, Avhich contain  muriatic acid.   The muriates may
be divided into three families.
  1. Alkaline muriates,—soluble  in Avater, fusible and
vaporizable Avithout decomposition, forming no  precipi-
tate with  alkaline carbonates.
  2. Earthy muriates,—generally soluble in water, de-
composable  by  heat, forming a Avhite  precipitate with
alkaline carbonates.
  3. Metalline muriates,—The muriatic acid  is capable 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
275
 of combining with many metals, in two states of oxidize-
 nit-nt.  The muriates Avhich  contain  the metal in the
 stat;  of protoxide, are in general very acrid, and soluble
 both in water and  in alcohol.  The muriates which con-
 tain the metal in the state of peroxide are often insoluble,
 have a Yvhite colour, and contain an excess of base, or are
 sub-muriates.   The muriates are also the most volatile
 of the metallic salts, and often rise undecomposed in sub-
 limation or distillation.

 Murias Amaionle.  Muriate of Ammonia.  Sal Am-
                       moniac.

  Muriate of  ammonia is found native, especially in the
 neighbourhood of  volcanos.   It  was first prepared in
 Egvpt. from  the  soot  of  camel-dung,  by sublimation.
 But the greatest part of that now used, is manufactured
 in Europe, cither by  combining directly ammonia with
 muriatic acid, or by decomposing the sulphate of ammo-
 nia by means of muriate of soda, or the muriates of lime
 and magnesia by means of ammonia.  It is  prepared in
 solid masses, semitransparent, and somewhat ductile.  It
 is volatile in a small degree of heat; its alkali  is extri-
 cated in pungent vapours on the admixture of quick-lime;
 its acid is extricated in white fumes, on pouring concen-
 trated sulphuric acid upon  it.  It dissolves in rather less
 than thriCe its weight of water.
  Sal ammoniac, Avhen pure, promotes perspiration, and,
 in some cases, increases the secretion  of urine.  A drachm
 of it dissolved in water, if the patient be kept warm after
 faking it, generally proves sudorific.   By moderate exer-
 cise in the  open air, it operates  beneficially  on the kid-
 neys; given in a large dose, it proves aperient; and in  a
 still larger, it  acts as an emetic.
  As a cooling and diaphoretie medicine, the sal ammo-
 niac, dissolved either in vinegar and water, or combined
Avith small doses of the Peruvian bark, has often been
attended Avith the best effects, when  taken in fevers, and
especially \u intermittents,  after the  intestinal canal has
been properly evacuated.
  This  salt has also been employed externally in lotions
and embrocations, for scirrhous and other indolent tu-
mours ; for removing warts and other excrescences, and
in gargarisms for infla-'inflation of the tonsils.  External-
ly applied,  sal ammoniac is a valuable remedy.   It may 
276
MATERIA MEDICA.
 act in two ay ays, 1. By the cold produced during its solu-
 tion.  It is from this cause that fomentations of muriate
 of ammonia probably prove beneficial in mania, apoplexy
 from plethora, lesions of the head, and  in violent head-
 achs.   When used with this intention, the solution should
 be applied as soon as  it is made.  2. By the stimulus of
 the salt.   On this principle avc may explain its action as
 a discutient in indolent tumors of all kinds, contusion,
 gangrene, psora, ophthalmia, cynauchc, and in stimulating
 clysters.  ' In some cases, as in chilblains, and other indo-
 lent inflammations, both modes of action may be service-
 able.  When first applied, the coldness of the solution
 will diminish the sense of heat and uneasiness of the part,
 and the subsequent stimulus will excite a more healthy
 action in the vessels.

 Murias  Sod-e.  Muriate of Soda.   Common Sea Salt.

   This is the most common of  all the neutral salts.  It
 is not only found in immense masses, on, and  under the
 earth's surface, and contained in great quantities in many
 salt springs; but it is the cause of the saltness of the sea.
 Common salt differs from  all other neutral substances of
 tliis nature, in its taste being purely saline, and occasion-
 ing thirst after  it has been  sAvallowed.   The primitive
 figure of its crystals is that of a cube; but, on evaporat-
 ing a solution of salt, the small cubic particles assume the
 secondary form of IioIIoav squares.  When  the crystals
 are perfectly pure, they are not affected by moist air; and
 in this state, one hundred parts, according to  Bergman,
 contain fifty-tAvo of muriatic aeid, or spirit of salt; forty-
 two of soda, or mineral alkali; and six of water of crys-
 talization.
   Nature furnishes us Avith this neutral salt, either in a
 solid state; in mines; or dissolved in the sea; or in saline
 springs.   If it be obtained from the bowels of the  earth,
 it is called rock-salt;  and is generally  very bard and
 transparent, though it is sometimes opaque, Avhite, and
 sometimes  of red, green, blue, or  other shades.  The
purest of this kind is  colourless; the other species are
purified  by solution in water,  and by recrystalization,
before' they can be employed for culinary purposes.   The
principal mines of rock-salt are in the vicinity of Cracovy,
in Poland, and  at Northwich, in the county of Chester.
The salt, however, Avhich is thus easily procured, and in 
MATERIA  MEDICA.              gJ7
 very large masses, by no means affords a sufficient supply:
 hence numerous persons  are employed in extracting it
 from sea-water, or from saline springs.  The former
 yields only from one 50th to one 30th part of its weight;
 but the latter  produce the* greatest quantities; and we
 are informed by Dr.  Brownrigg,  that  the celebrated
 saline springs in Great Britain contain  more than  one
 6th part of good salt.
   Common  salt is obtained from these natural solutions
 by three different methods: first, the saline fluid is speed-
 ily evaporated, till the salt begin to concrete, and settle
 in the form of  grains at tiie bottom of the pans; after
 which it is put into proper vessels for draining the brine:
 and AVhen the process is completed, it  is called bay salt.
 By the second method the evaporation is sIoav and gradu-
 al; so that it is  continued only till a saline crust is formed
 on the surface of the liquor, Avhich soon shoots into crys-
 taline cubes.
  The  manufacture of salt in the United  States is of
 more importance than is generally imagined.  It appears,
 that from the 1st of October, 1800, to the 30th of Sep-
 tember, 1801, 3,282,063 bushels of salt Avere  imported,
 and of this  quantity more than one-third was imported
 from England.  This  salt, which  chiefly  comes  from
 Liverpool, and the Mersey, according to Dr. Mitchell, is
 both weak and impure; as sea-Avater, brine springs, and
 rock-salt,  generally  abound with various other earthy
 and saline ingredients, such as lime, magnesia, epsom-
 salt, gypsum, glaubers salt, &c. all  of which injure the
 quality  of salt,  and  disqualify  it for preserving animal
 flesh.
  On the shores of Cape Cod,  and  some  other parts of
 Massachusetts,  marine salt is manufactured to very con-
 siderable profit and extent, from sea-Avater, evaporated by
 the rays of the sun. The whole annual amount cannot be
 estimated; great improvements having been made in the
 construction of the works,  and in abridging the perform-
 ance of labour,  the manufacture is rapidly increasing.
 There  is,  however, every reason to conclude, that, with
proper exertion  and encouragement,  this article might be
furnished from our own shores, sufficiently abundant for
the consumption of the Ncav England States.
  This domestic salt excels in purity, whiteness, and
weight;  and is not inferior to the first quality of Isle of
May salt,  A circumstance which adds to its excellency. 
278
MATERIA  MEDICA.
is, that during the  process  of  evaporation, the lime is
entirely separated from it, by subsiding to the bottom of
the vats.
  Basket salt, may be prepared from small fine crystals
of common salt,  which must be cleansed, or purified, hy
dissolving,  and again evaporating to dryness;  in which
state it may be reduced to fine powder, and pressed hard
into wicker-baskets, and dried at  the stove or  oath for
use.
  With respect to its medicinal properties, common salt,
Avhen taken in small  quantities, promotes  the appetite
and digestion ; but. if given in large doses, for instance
half an ounce, it operates as a  laxative.  It is  useful in
some  cases of dyspepsia;  and in  large doses, it is said
to cheek vomiting  of blood.  According to Dr. Rush, a
table  spoonful of fine salt, taken dry, has frequently af-
forded instant relief in luemoptysis and other hsemorrha-
gies.   It is a common ingredient in stimulating clysters,
and is sometimes applied externally, as a fomentation to
bruises, or in the form of  bath, as a gentle stimulus to
the whole surface of the body.  [See the articles vinegar
and lemon juice.]

Mirica Cerifera Humilis. Dwarf Candleberry Myr-
        tle.  Baybewy.  The  bark of the root.

  There are in the United States several species of this
plant, from which myrtle  Avax  is obtained in abundance.
The dwarf candleberry myrtle, commonly called in the
Ncav England States, bayberry, is a plant which  possesses
considerable medicinal virtues.   The bark of the root is
much employed by common people in jaundice, from ob-
structions to the floAV of bile.  This medicine  has been
employed by the aborigines as a mild emetic.  According
to Dr. James Mann, of Wrentham, Avho  has  used  the
bark in powder, its strength is  equal to ipecacuanha.  A
more  particular  acquaintance with  its medicinal proper-
ties ought to be attempted by practical experiments.

Myristica Moschata.  The Nutmeg Tree. The kernel
  of the fruit, called nutmeg; its involucre, called mace;
  its  fixed oil, called oil of mace; and its volatile oil.

  Under the officinal name myristica, are comprehended
mix moschata or nutmeg, and  macis or mace ; the for- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.               %7%
 mer being the seed or kernel of the fruit, the latter the
 covering with which it is immediately surrounded.   The
 tree Avhich furnishes this elegant spice is a native of the
 Molucca  islands.   Nutmegs are round,  of a grayish
 colour, streaked Avith brown lines,  slightly unctuous;
 they have a strong aromatic flavour, and a pungent taste.
 They yield their active matter entirely to alcohol:  dis-
 tilled with water, they afford a fragrant essential oil; by
 expression, a sebacious oil is  obtained from them, retain-
 ing their fragrant odour, and part of their pungency.
   Nutmeg is  used  in medicine as a grateful aromatic,
 stomacliic, and  astringent:  hence this  drug has often
 been administered in diarrhoeas and dysenteries, in doses
 from ten to twenty grains in powder, or in  larger quanti-
 ties, Avhen infused  in port wine.  In violent headaehs
 arising from a debilitated stomach,  small doses of this
 medicine have frequently been found of real service; but,
 if injudiciously  employed, it is apt to affect the head not
 unlike opium, and other powerful narcotics.
   Mace, the involucre of the nutmeg, is a thin unctuous
 membrane,  of a yellowish colour, Avhich it  acquires by
 being dried in the sun.  It emits a very fragrant agreea-
 ble odour, and has a pleasant though acrid and oleaginous
 taste.
   It is reputed to  be an excellent carminative, and sto-
 machic, possessing all the virtues of the  nutmeg,  Avith
 less astringency. Its oil, whether distilled or expressed,
 is equally efficacious; and Avhen taken internally, in
 doses from one to five drops, frequently affords relief in
 colics.  Externally, it is of great utility,  if rubbed on
 paralytic  limbs; it also  promotes digestion, and often
 prevents vomiting and hiccoughs on being applied to the
 region of the stomach.

 Mvroxylon Peruiferum. Sweet smelling Balsam Tree.
         The  balsam, called Peruvian balsam.

  This  tree grows  in the  Avarmest  provinces of South
 America, and  is remarkable  for its elegant appearance.
 Every  part of it abounds  Avith resinous juice, even the
 leaves arc full of transparent  resinous points like those of
 the orange tree.
  The balsam, as brought to  us, is commonly of the con-
 sistence of thin  honey, of  a  reddish  broAvn colour,  in-
clining to black, an agreeable aromatic smell, and a very 
280
MATERIA MEDICA.
 hot biting taste.  It is said to be obtained by boiling the
 cuttings of the tAvigs in Avater, and skimming off with a
 spoon the balsam Avhich swims on the top. Peruvian bal-
 sam consists of a volatile oil, resin, and benzoic acid.  It
 is accordingly entirely soluble in alcohol, and in essential
 oils.
   Balsam of Peru is a very Avarm aromatic  medicine,
 considerably hotter and  more acrid than copaiva.  Its
 principal effects are, to  warm  the  habit, to strengthen
 the nervous system, and  to attenuate  viscid humors.
 Hence  its use in some  kinds of asthmas, gonorrhoeas,
 dysenteries,  suppressions of the uterine discharges, and
 other disorders proceeding from a debility of the solids.
 It is also employed externally for cleansing and healing
 wounds and ulcers.  " In several cases  of tetanus that
 have fallen under my notice arising from Avounds," says
 Dr. L. Kollock, of Savannah," I have attributed the cure
 to the external application, and internal use, of balsam of
 Peru, Aviiose influence has in several instances  almost
 immediately controlled the spasms, and of itself restored
 the patient when rapidly sinking under  the very liberal
 use of  opium, bark,  and  Avine.  Two drachms in  twelve
 or tAventy four hours is the largest  quantity I have ever
 found it necessary to give."

           Myrrha.  Myrrh.   A gum resin.

   A  gummy resinous concrete juice, obtained from a
 shrub groAving in the East Indies, but  of whicii Ave pos-
 sess no  certain account.
   The best myrrh is someAvhat transparent, of a uniform
 broAvnish, or reddish yelloAV colour; of a slightly pun-
 gent, bitter taste ; Avith a strong aromatic, not  disagree-
 able odour, though nauseous to the palate.
   In its medicinal effects, this aromatic bitter, when ta-
 ken internally, is supposed to Avarm and  strengthen the
 stomach and other viscera; it frequently occasions mild %
 diaphoresis, and^in general, promotes the  fluid secretions.
 Hence it has been used  Avith advantage in cases of debili-
ty; in diseases arising from suppression of the  urine, or
from immoderate discharges,  in  cachectic  habits, and
those persons Avhose lungs and throat are oppressed by
viscid phlegm.   It is farther believed to  resist putrefac-
tion in all parts of the body; on Avhich account it is highly
recommended in malignant, putrid, and pestilential fevers: 
MATERIA MEDICA.              281
 and in the small pox.   For these purposes it should be ta-
 ken in doses of half a drachm or upwards; and it may also
 be usefully combined with nitre, cream of tartar, or some
 other cooling salt.   Myrrh is an expectorant, which has
 been regarded as too stimulating to be employed in pneu-
 monic affections, or  in phthisis, but which has been often
 employed in asthma and chronic catarrh.  Its dose is from
 ten to twenty or thirty grains.   The tincture of  myrrh
 is in common use externally as a stimulating application
 to foul ulcers, and to spongy gums.

 Mtrtus Pimenta.  Pimento Tree.  The fruit, called
                   Jamaica Pepper.

   This is a native of Jamaica, and grows in all the wood
 lands on the north side.  The berries are pulled  before
 they are ripe, and dried in the sun.  The smell of this
 spice resembles a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and nut-
 megs : its taste  approaches to that of cloves, or a mixture
 of the three foregoing; whence it has received the name
 of allspice.
   Pimento  is a Avarm aromatic stimulant, and is much
 used as a condiment in dressing food.   As a medicine it
 is advantageously substituted for the more costly spices,
 especially in hospital practice.

    Nicotiana Tabacum.   Tobacco.  The leaves.

  The tobacco plant is a native of America, Avhere conr
 sidcrable quantities  are annually raised for exportation.
 The leaves  have a  strong, disagreeable, narcotic  smell,
 and a very acrid burning taste.   The active constituent
 of tobacco is  an essential oil; so active, that small amU
 mals  are almost instantly killed, when Avounded  by a
 needle dipped in it; and afeyv drops of this oil taken inter-
 nally have operated  as  a fatal poison.  Hence the perni-
 cious effects, which may result from smoking the leaves
 of this noxious plant  may be easily inferred.*

  * The reader who is anxious to  see its injurious effects  on
both body and mind, detailed in an ample manner, is refered to
an excellent paper of Dr.  Rush, in his Essays, Literary, Moral
and  Philosophical. Philadelphia,  1798; and to Dr. Water-
house's Lecture on the evil tendency of tobacco; &c. Canr-
hridge, Nov. 20, 1801.
         36 
282
METERIA medica.
  The effects of tobacco are those of a powerful narcotic.
Along with severe nausea  and  vomiting, it reduces the
force of the circulation, and occasions extreme muscular
debility, with insensibility and cold sweats. As a diffusible
stimulant,  the smoke of'tobacco, thrown into the intes-
tines, Avas at one time employed  in the recovery of drown-
ed persons, a practice now exploded as pernicious.  It is
employed Avith more advantage in ileus and incarcerated
hernia, though it requires to be managed with much cau-
tion. The watery infusion, of the strength of tAvo drachms
of the tobacco to one pound  of Avater, is a more convenient
mode of exhibiting it, as an enema.   The smoke received
into the mouth relieves the pain of toothach by its narco-
tic  poAver, or by exciting a profuse salivary discharge.
Reduced to powder, it proves an excellent errhine and
sternutatory, when snuffed  up the nostrils.   In infusion
it is also applied externally for the  cure of psora, tinea,
and other cutaneous diseases.
   In an inaugural dissertation by Dr. Brailsford of South
Carolina, (Philadelphia 1799)  the  author  asserts, that
the evident operation of tobacco on  the system, is that of
a sudorific and emetic, a cathartic, and a diuretic.  Hence
the propriety of its use, in a variety of diseases.  In cases
of  ascites  and other dropsical affections, it appears to be
an invaluable remedy.   As a diuretic  it is excelled by
feAv if  any of  our indigenous plants.   Dr.  Fowler, by
extensive experiments,  has  proved  it to be a  powerful
diuretic, in cases of dropsies and dysuries.  He prescrib-
ed it in the form of infusion; about eighty drops of which
he  considers as the average dose for an adult, or to begin
with sixty  drops, and increase the number by five, eight,
or ten at a time, to one hundred; or till by their obvious
effects on the system, the proper dose shall be ascertain-
ed.  The properest times for administering the medicine,
are two hours before dinner, and at bed  time ; it being
observed to disagree the most with  the stomach, in the
morning fasting.
   In cases of nephritis calculosa, or gravel, the infusion
was given  with astonishing  effect.  In  many cases of
asthma Dr. FoAvier found  the  infusion to prove a good
expectorant, and to afford  great relief.   The  decoction
of  tobacco exhibited in cases of colic, procured relief
almost instantaneously after other medicines bad proved
ineffectual.  One ounce of the infusion, in lialf a pint of
milk or gruel, is a medium dose in  the form of injection 
MATERIA MEDICA.              283
 for an adult of an ordinary constitution:  this is to be re-
 peated, or the strength  of it increased, as occasion may
 require.
   In  the iliac passion, and in hernia, both  the  infusion
 and smoke of tobacco have been employed in the form of
 injection with the happiest effects.  In tympanites intes-
 tinalis strong clysters of tobacco infusion have greatly
 relieved the patients.  As a vermifuge it is deserving of
 being held in high repute, either taken internally, or, ac-
 cording to professor Barton, the leaves are to be pounded
 with vinegar, and applied in the  shape of  a poultice to
 the region of the stomach, or other part of the abdomen.
 In consequence of this application, Avorms are often dis-
 charged, after poAverful  anthelmintics have been  exhibit-
 ed internally in vain.
   In cases  of obstinate  constipation  of the abdominal
 viscera, the infusion of  this medicine  has been adminis-
 tered, and often with  immediate relief, by occasioning a
 speedy expulsion of the  obstructed indurated feces.  In
 the tetanus,  or lock jaAV, injections of  this infusion have
 been usen Avith success; they not only produce  evacua-
 tions from  the bowels,  Avhich are generally obstinately
 constipated,  but from their antispasmodic poAvers, occa-
 sion a relaxation of the violent spasms so peculiar in this
 disease.  Dr. James Currie, of Liverpool, has employed
 with remarkable success, a cataplasm formed chiefly of
 tobacco, applied to the scrobiculus cordis, about  half an
 hour before the expected accession of the paroxysm, both
 in epilepsy, and in obstinate intermittents;  and  in tAvo
 cases of general convulsion, by means of the decoction
 in the  form of enema,  he performed  cures altogether
 surprising and unexpected.

 Nigelxa.   Golden-thread.  Mouth  Root.   (Cutler.)
                      The root.

  Golden-thread is a very small plant found in Avet sAvam-
py situations.  The  stems are erect  and naked.   The
leaves  groAV  by threes at the termination of the stems
and  are circular  and scolloped.  The  white solitary
blossoms appear in  May.  The roots appear singular,
being thread  shaped,  running, and of a bright yelloAV   ,
colour.   They possess a  considerable  degree of  astrin-
gency and bitterness, and  have long  been employed by
the people in the country as a remedy in apthas and can- 
28 i
MATERIA MEDICA.
kerous sores in the mouths of children with considerable
benefit.  From the bitter  property possessed by these
roots they are supposed by some to be useful as a stoma-
chic bitter.

                       Nitras.

  Nitrate is the generic term for secondary compounds
Avhich consist of nitric acid, combined with any base.
  There are three families of nitrates.
  1. Alkaline nitrates;—soluble in water; solubility in-
creased by increase of temperature; erystalizable; form-
ing no precipitate Avith alkaline carbonates.
  2. Earthy nitrates; soluble in water; forming a white
precipitate with alkaline carbonates.
  3. Metallic  nitrates; generally soluble, both in water
and  in alcohol; decomposable by heat, furnishing nitric
oxide gas, and leaving the metal oxidized to a maximum.

Nitras  Potass^.   Nitrate of  Potass.  Nitre.  Salt
                        Petre.

  This salt, consisting  of nitric acid and potass, is found
ready formed on the surface of the soil in Avarm climates.
In the south of Europe, its production is accelerated by ar-
tificial arrangements.   Animal and vegetable substances,
in a state of decomposition, are  mixed Avith a quantity
of carbonate of lime, and exposed to the air, but protect-
ed from the rain.  After a certain period, the materials
are found to contain nitrate of lime and nitrate of potass.
These salts  are extracted bylixiviation with water; potass
is added by Avhich the nitrate of lime is decomposed, and
the quantity of nitrate  of potash increased; and this salt
is purified by repeated solutions and crystalizations.  It
is also found in several parts of the United States.
  During the  process  by Avhich the nitrate of potass is
formed, it appears that the azot of the  animal  matter
combines partly Avith the oxygen of the atmospheric air.
and  partly with the oxygen of the animal substances. The
resulting compound, the nitric acid, is attracted  in part
by the lime present, and in part by a quantity of potass,
which seems to be likewise formed during the process.
  Nitre  is  of  a sharp, bitterish,  penetrating  taste, fol-
loAved  by a sensation  of coldness.  When pure, it dis-
solves in about six times its Aveight of Avater,  and  on 
MATERIA MEDICA.
285
evaporating the latter concretes into transparent crystals.
It easily melts in  the fire, where it  deflagrates Avith a
bright flame,  accompanied with a crackling noise, and
afterwards deposits a large portion of alkaline earth.
   Purified nitre is  prescribed with advantage in numerous
disorders.   Its virtues are  those  of a  refrigerant and
diuretic.  It is usually given in  doses from two  or  three
grains, to a scruple, being a very cooling and resolvent
medicine, which, by relaxing the spasmodic  rigidity  of
the vessels, promotes not only the secretion of urine, but
at the same time insensible perspiration, in febrile disor-
ders ; while it allays thirst and  abates  heat; though  in
malignant cases in  Avhich the pulse is Ioav, and the patients
strength exhausted, it produces  contrary effects.
   When combined Avith the Peruvian bark, nitre affords
a useful corrective to that drug, in the cure of spreading
gangrenes; as it prevents the additional heat Avhich the
bark frequently occasions: so that the  efficacy of the latter
is increased by the antiseptic quality  of the former. But
this cooling salt should never be administered in cases
where the violence of the fever depends on bilious  or
putrid impurities in the abdomen, and Avhere the patient
is subject to hsemorrhagies or fluxes of blood, arising from
a vitiated state of the fluids.   On the contrary, saltpetre
Avill be most beneficially used in acute  rheumatisms, in-
flammatory fevers, and even in those hsemorrhagies aris-
ing from congestions of the blood in general, or from a
plethoric state.
   This poAverful  salt, Avhen inadvertently taken  in too
large quantities, is one of the most fatal poisons.  There
are several attested cases  on  record, and some recent in-
stances might be added, in Avhich from half to a  whole
ounce of salt petre has occasioned violent vomiting, con-
vulsions, SAvelling, and other painful symptoms, in persons
who, by mistake, had swallowed it in a dissolved  state,
instead of glauber, or similar salts.   The most p-roper
antidote  in such distressing  situations, will be a scruple
or half a drachm  of ipecacuanha, with a teacup full  of
sweet oil, and  a large quantity of Avarm Avater to be drunk
after it, to promote its operation, as an emetic.  It will
be necessary  also  to make use  of copious and frequent
draughts of mucilaginous decoctions, of marsh  mallows.
pearl barley, arroAv root, &c. after which a gentle opiate
will afford the desired relief.  For some interesting ob-
servations  relative to the deleterious properties of salt 
286
MATERIA MEDICA.
 petre, the reader is refered to Dr. Mitchell's  letter to
 Dr. Priestly.*

 Oiea Europjsa.   The Olive Tree.  The fixed  oil of the
                  fruit, called olive oil.

   The olive tree is  a native of the southern parts of Eu-
 rope, especially Italy, Spain, France and Portugal, where
 it is cultivated to a very considerable extent, on account
 of its fruit, from which the sweet or salad oil is extract-
 ed ; and which also, when pickled, forms an article of
 food.   Olives  possess,  in their natural state, an acrid,
 bitter, and extremely disagreeable taste ; which, however,
 is considerably improved when this fruit is pickled.  On
 account of the great quantity of oil they contain, olives, if
 eaten by persons of delicate  habits, are extremely hurt-
 ful, especially if taken by way of desert, after a solid or
 heavy dinner.   As  an article of food, olive oil is prefera-
 ble to animal fat; but it ought always to be  mild, fresh,
 and of a sweet taste.  It should not hoAvever be eaten by
 persons of Aveak stomachs; for  even in its mildest state,
 it produces rancidity and acrimony, which are extremely
 injurious to digestion.
   Medicinally  considered, olive oil has lately been found
 an excellent preventive  of the plague,  Avhen rubbed over
 the whole body, immediately after the contagion is sup-
 posed to have taken place.  The oil, when properly appli-
 ed, and followed by a  considerable degree  of friction,
 occasioned a copious sweat over the wliole body, by Avhich,
 it is said, the patients were immediately cured.
   Olive oil  has also been employed Avith success as an
 antidote against the poison occasioned hy the bite of ser-
 pents, especially that of the rattlesnake.  In several cases
 apparently desperate, when a few  spoonfuls  of  oil had
 been  swallowed, the violent  symptoms  instantaneously
 subsided, and cures were soon effected.  In gouty patients,
 sweet oil rubbed  into  the pained limb, proves a very
 soothing, safe, and useful  application.   It is  also bene-
ficially  employed internally  for recent colds,  coughs,
hoarseness, &e. and  as a gentle laxative, it is  sometimes
given in cases  of Avorms.  It is also  directed in large
quantities to mitigate the action of acrid substances taken
into the stomach.  Externally it is  used in frictions, in
gargles, and in  clysters; but its principal use is for the
composition of ointments and plasters.
               * Med.Repos. vol. 3. p. 14. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
287
             Orchis Mascula.  Salop.

  The root of this plant, by  maceration in Avater and
beating, affords the feeula known by the name of salop.
Its  qualities and virtues are similar to  those of  sago.
Both  of the je when boiled  in milk or Avater, Avith the
addition of sugar and wine,  form a nutritious jelly, pre-
scribed in diarrhoea and dysentery  as  a  demulcent, and
in convalescence as  a nutritious article  of diet easy of
digestion.

  Dr. Cutler describes one species of orchis, the produc-
tion of our OAvn  soil, thus,
   Lady's  Plume.  Female-handed Orchis.  Blossoms
in large spikes;  Avhite or purplish, or flesh coloured.   In
wet meadoAvs.  August.

        Ostrea Edulis.   Oyster.   The shells.

  These shell-fish cast their spaAvn in the month of May,
Avhen they become subject to a periodical affection; the
male  fish, having a  black substance in the fin, is black-
sick; and the female oyster, from a  milky juice in its fin,
is said to  be Avhite-sick: in June and July they begin  to
recover, and are in August  perfectly sound. They are
saltish in the pits, more saline in the beds or layers, and
very salt in the  sea.
  Oysters are esteemed as excellent food, and are  eaten
both raAv, and dressed, in various ways: in a fresh state.
hoAvever, they are doubtless  preferable ; for, by cooking.
they are in a great measure  deprived of their nourishing
jelly, and of the salt water which promotes their digestion
in the stomach.
  The shells of the oyster are  composed  like all the
mother-of-pearl  shells, of alternate  layers of carbonate
of lime,  and a  thin membranaceous  substance. Avhich
exactly resembles coagulated albumen, in all its proper-
ties.  By burning, the membrane is destroyed, and they
are converted into lime, which, although very pure, pos-
sesses no advantage over that of the mineral kingdom,

Ovis  Aries.  The Sheep.   The fat, called mutton suet.

  Mutton suet is officinal, for the purpose of giving con-
sistency to oiuiments air.I plasters. 
288
MATERIA  MEDICA.
    Oxalis Acetosella.  Wood Sorrel.   The leaves.

   This is a small perennial plant, growing wild in woods,
 and shady hedges.  The leaves contain  a  considerable
 quantity of stiper-oxalate of potass, and have an extreme-
 ly pleasant acid taste.   They possess the same powers
 with the vegetable acids in general, and an infusion of
 them makes a very palatable  diet drink in ardent fevers;
 and on being. boiled  in milk, they form an agreeable
 ay hey.  But the most easy and efficacious way of preserv-
 ing these leaves is that of converting them into a conserve
 with the addition of  double their weight of  sugar;  in
 which form  they are  an excellent substitute for lemons,
 and may be given with advantage in all putrid and other
 fevers, Avhere antiseptics are indicated.
   The leaves of Avood sorrel simply bruised, have been
 applied to  scrofulous  ulcers with excellent effect, pro-
 moting suppuration and granulation in the most satisfac-
 tory manner.
   The super-oxalate of potass is extracted in large quan-
 tities from the leaves  of this  plant, and  sold under the
 name of Essential salt of lemons.

        Oxidum Arsenici.  Oxide of Arsenic.

   Arsenic is a heavy,  opaque, crystaline  substance, of a
 very singular nature,  contained in  greater or less quan-
 tity in the ore of most metalline  bodies, particularly in
 those  of tin  and bismuth, and in the mineral, called
 cobalt, from Avhich last most of the arsenic brought to us,
 is extracted in Saxony, by a kind  of sublimation.  It  is
 in  a white crystaline, brilliant, transparent mass, but
 soon becoming opaque, yet without losing its whiteness.
 Its true nature is so  little known, that chemists  have
 hesitated whether it ought to  be ranked among the salts
 or semi-metals; because it may, by various processes, be
 made to assume either a saline or metallic  state.  It  is
 very volatile, and easily oxidated.  By oxidation,  it  is
 converted into a Avhite poAvder, which has been consider-
ed  as  an oxide, and lately, perhaps more justly, as  an
 imperfect aeid.
   Oxide of arsenic is one of the most sudden and violent
poisons Ave are acquainted Avith.  In mines, it causes the
destruction of numbers Avho explore them; and it is fre- 
MATERIA  MEDICA-,
289
 quently the instrument  by Avhich  victims are sacrificed,
 either by the hand of wickedness,  or imprudence.
   The fumes of arsenic are so deleterious to the lungs,
 that the artist ought to be on his guard, to prevent their
 being  inhaled by the mouth; for  if they be  mixed  and
 swalloAvcdwith the saliva, effects will take place similar to
 those whicii follow its introduction into the stomach in a
 saline state ; namely, a sensation of a piercing, gnawing,
 and burning kind, accompanied with an acute pain in the
 stomach and intestines, which  last are violently contort-
 ed ;  convulsive vomiting; insatiable thirst, from  the
 parched  and rough  state of the tongue and throat; hic-
 cough, palpitation of the heart, and a deadly-oppression
 of the whole breast, succeed  next; the  matters ejected
 by the mouth, as well as the stools,  exhibit a black, fcetid,
 and putrid appearance; at length, Avith the mortification
 of the bowels, the pain subsides, and death terminates
 the  sufferings of the patient.  Soon  after death, livid
 spots appear on the surface of the body, the nails become
 blue, and often fall eff along with the hair, and the Avhole
 body becomes  very  speedily putrid.  AVlien the quantity
 is so very small as not to prove fatal, tremors, paralysis,
 and lingering hectics, succeed.
   On dissection, the stomach and bowels are found to be
 inflamed, gangrenous, and corroded, and the blood is fluid.
   The antidotes which have been  recommended  to the
 poison of arsenic, are various.  Vomiting must be im-
 mediately excited by giving some brisk emetics, as half a
 drachm of white  vitriol, and after it, plenty of sweet,
 linseed, or almond oil; large  draughts of milk, barley
 gruel, or warmed  beer with a third part of oil, or fresh
 butter, should be taken.
  Mr. Navier  prescribes one drachm of sulphurate  of
 potass (iiver of sulphur),  to be dissolved  in  a pint  of
 water, which the patient is to drink at several draughts.
 The sulphur unites with the arsenic and destroys it caus-
 ticity and effects.   According to Hehneman, a  solution of
 white soap is the best remedy.  One pound of soap may
 be dissolved in four pounds of hot  water,  and a cup full
 of this solution  may be drunk lukewarm every three  or
four minutes, that the patient may swalloAV several pounds
in the course of tAvo  hours.  To promote the evacuation
of the,poison by stool, clysters composed of the preceding
liquids, and a third part of castor oil, ought te be speedi- 
:yo
MATERIA MEDICA.
Iy administered, and the whole abdomen fomented with
soap water.
  Though the most violent of mineral  poisons, arsenic,
according to Murray, equals, when properly administer-
ed, the first medicines in the class of tonics.  This is well
displayed in its efficacy in the treatment of intermittent
fever, the disease in which it has been principally used.
The employment of oxide of arsenic is iioav  extended to
remitting fever, periodical headach, dropsy, hydrophobia,
lepra, elephantiasis, and certainly with safety and success,
though  its administration will ahvays require to be con-
ducted Avith the utmost care.
  It is employed medicinally under various forms; the
arsenical solution introduced by Dr. Fowler, being in
general prefered, Avill be found in its place under the head
of preparations.
  In the diseases mentioned above, particularly intermit-
tents, it has been found to be a safe and efficacious reme-
dy, by Drs. FoAvler, Withering, and other respectable
practitioners.
  A preparation similar to that directed by Dr. FoAvler,
and called the white tasteless ague drops, has lately been
given with singular efficacy in the hooping cough.
  The celebrated professor Barton observes, that he has
for several years employed the  oxide of arsenic  in sub-
stance, in preference to Dr. Fowler's solution.   He com-
monly gives it in combination Avith opium.   One grain of
the arsenic is united to four or eight grains of the opium,
and made into a mass with conserve of roses, or honey.
This  is divided into sixteen  pills, of wliich  an adult pa-
tient  is to take two or three at  different periods in the
course of the day and night, especially during the apyrexia,
in intermittent fevers.
   Such are the powers of this medicine, that two grains
of it are often sufficient to cure an intermittent, that has
continued  for weeks! For children, he directs that the
arsenic be rubbed Avith  honey, and molasses and Avater,
and sometimes Avith  a portion of gum arabic.   In this
form it is vcrv conveniently  given to  children by drops;
and the  quantity of mineral, in each dose, may be esti-
mated with considerable accuracy.
   As an external remedy, arsenic has long been known
as the basis of the  most celebrated cancer powders; and
it has frequently been resorted to in various forms, with
the view of correcting the intolerable fsetor  attending 
MATERIA MEDICA.
291
cancerous  and  other  foul  ulcers, Avith great success.
Arneman recommends  an ointment  of one drachm  of
arsenious acid, (oxide of arsenic) the  same quantity of
sulphur, an ounce of distilled vinegar, and an ounce  of
white oxide of lead, in cancerous, obstinate, ill-condition-
ed sores, and in suppurated scrofulous glands.  Le Febure
washed cancerous sores  frequently in the course of the
day, with a solution of four grains of oxide  of arsenic in
tAvo pounds of Avater.
  Arsenic has even been applied in substance, sprinkled
upon the ulcer; but this mode of using it is excessively
painful, and extremely dangerous.  There have been fatal
effects produced from its absorption.
  The principal thing to be attended to ir  arsenical ap-
plications, is to diminish their activity to a certain degree.
They then cause little irritation or pain; but rather ex-
cite a gentle degree of  inflammation, which causes the
diseased parts to slough off; and it has the  peculiar ad-
vantage of not extending its operation laterally.
  No other escharotic possesses equal powers in cancerous
affections; it  not unfrequently amends the discharge,
causes the sore  to contract in size, and cases have been
related of its  having effected a cure.
  Mr. Morvealt,  it is said, has brought arsenic  to the
state of a true neutral salt, readily soluble  in water, by
mixing  it with equal quantities of nitre, and then sub-
mitting them  to a chemical  process.   Mr. Milner, of
Cambridge, England, has also produced an arsenical salt
of the same nature, Avhich has been  employed Avith the
greatest success in that neighbourhood by several  prac-
titioners.
  The red and yellow arsenics, both native and factitious,
have little  taste, and are much  less virulent in their ef-
fects than the Avhite arsenic.  Sulphur, which restrains
the poAver of mercury and the antimonial metal, remark-
ably abates the virulence of this poisonous  mineral also.
Such of these substances as participate more largely of
sulphur, seem to be almost innocent:  the  factitious red
arsenic, and the native orpiments, have been given to dogs
in considerable quantity, Avithout being  productive-of .any
apparent ill consequences. 
292
MATERIA MEDICA.
   Oxidum Peumbi Album.  Wliite  Oxide of Lead.
                        Cerusse.

   The Avhite oxide of lead is manufactured in  several
 countries; it is prepared by exposing had to the vapour
 of vinegar.  To accelerate the oxidizement, the lead is
 cast into thin plates, Avhich are  suspended over a vessel
 containing vinegar, in a moderately warm place, that the
 vapour arising from the acid may circulate freely round
 the plates: a Avhite poAvder settles in the course of tYvo or
 three Aveeks  on the surface of the metal, Avhich is in due
 time removed;  and the remains of the plates again ex-
 posed  to  the vapour of vinegar, until  they be entirely
 corroded, and  converted into  a Avhite  calx, when it is
 called cerusse, or Avhite  lead.
   White oxide of lead is used in surgery; and on account
 of its cooling, drying, and astringent properties, is of con-
 siderable service Avhen sprinkled over running sores, and
 ulcers.  In pharmacy it is used only in the composition
 of ointments and piasters.

 Oxidum Pjlumbi Rubrum.  Red  Oxide of Lead.  Red
                         Lead.

   The preparation of red lead is so troublesome and te-
 dious,  as. scarcely ever to be attempted by the apothecary
 or che mist.  The makers melt large  quantities of lead at
 once, upon the bottom of a reverberatory furnace built
 for this purpose, and so contrived, that the flame acts
 upon a large surface of the metal, Avhich is continually
 changed by the means  of iron rakes draAvn backwards
 and  forwards, till the fluidity of the  lead  be destroyed;
 after Avhich the oxide is only noAv and then turned.
   The red oxide of lead is obtained  in the form of a very
heavy  powder, consisting of minute  shining scales, of a
bright scarlet, verging towards yellow, especially  if trit-
urated.
   In medicine  red lead  is only employed externally • it
ohtunds the  acrimony of humors; mitigates iniian.ma-
tions; and if judiciously applied, is of excellent service in
cleansing and healing old ulcers. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
293
Oxidum Pxumbi Semivitreum.   Semi-vitrified Oxide
                of Lead.   Litharge.

   If oxidized lead be urged with a hasty fire, it melts
into the appearance of oil, and on cooling concretes  into
litharge.  Greatest part of the litharge met with in the
shops, is produced in the purification of silver from lead,
and the refining of gold and silver by means of this metal.
According to the degree of fire and other circumstances, it
proves of a pale or deep colour : the,first has been com-
monly called litharge of silver, the other litharge of gold.
   The oxides of lead  dissolve by heat, in expressed oils;
these  mixtures are the bases of several officinal plasters
and ointments. Lead and  its oxides, when undissolved,
have  no considerable effects as medicines.   Dissolved  in
oils, they are supposed to be (when externally applied)
anti-inflammatory and desiccative.   Combined Avith vege-
table acids they are remarkably so; and taken internally,
prove powerful though dangerous styptics.

  Oxidum Zinci Impurum.  Impure  Oxide of Zinc.
                       Tutty.

   It is moderately hard and ponderous; of a brownish
colour, and full of small protuberances on the out side,
smooth and yellowish  within ; some pieces have a blueish
east, from minute globules of zinc in its metallic form.
   Tutty is celebrated as an ophthalmic, and frequently
employed as such in unguents and eollyria.

Papaver Somniferum.   White Poppy.   The capsules
       and their inspissated juice, called opium.

   The white poppy is an annual plant,  and is sometimes
found Avild in Great Britain; but it is probably originally a
native of  the Avarmer  parts of Asia.  The leaves, stalks,
and capsules, of  the  poppy, abound  Avith milky juice,
Avhich  may  be collected  in considerable  quantity, by
slightly Avounding them vvhen almost ripe.   This juice
exposed for a few days to the sun and air, thickens into
a stiff tenacious mass, Avhich in fact is opium.  It is then
Avorked up into masses, and covered with poppy or tobacco
leaves. 
29i
MATERIA MEDICA.
   A strong decoction of the dried heads, mixed with as
 much sugar as is sufficient to reduce it to the consistence
 of a syrup, becomes fit for keeping in a liquid form.  It
 is, hoAvever, a very unequal preparation, as the real quan-
 tity of opium  it contains is very uncertain, and  by no
 means equal to syrup, to  which a certain  quantity of
 solution of opium is added.  The seeds of the poppy are
 simply emulsive, and contain none of the narcotic princi-
 ple.  They yield a considerable quantity of oil by expres-
 sion.
   Two kinds of opium are found in commerce, distin-
 guished by the names of  Turkey, and East India opium.
   Turkey opium is a  solid compact substance, posse-sing
 a considerable degree of tenacity; Avhen broken, having
 a shining fracture and uniform  appearance; of a dark
 brown colour, and becoming yellow Avhen reduced to pow-
 der ; scarcely colouring the saliva Avhen chewed, exciting
 at first a nauseous bitter taste, Avhich soon becomes acrid,
 with some  degree of warmth;  and having a  peculiar,
 heavy disagreeable smell.   The best is in flat pieces, and
 besides the large leaves in which  it is enveloped, is cover-
ed with the reddish capsules of a species of  rumex, pro-
 bably used in packing it.   The round masses wliich have
 none of these  capsules adhering to them, are evidently
 inferior in quality.  It is bad if it be soft, friable, mixed
 with any impurities, or have an intensely dark or blackish
 colour.
    East India opium  has much  less  consistence, being
 sometimes not much thicker than tar, and ahvays ductile.
 Its colour is much darker; its taste more nauseous, and
 less bitter; and its smell rather empyreumatie.  It is
 considerably cheaper than Turkish opium, and  supposed
 to be of only half the strength.
   Opium is supposed to consist  principally  of gum and
 resin, in the proportions of about four and a  half of each
 in twelve  parts of the crude opium.   The  bitterness is
 said to reside in the gum; the astringency,  flavour, and
 narcotic quality in the resin. It affords a volatile princi-
ple; Avater distilled from it having its nauseous taste and
 smell, but none of its narcotic quality.  It contains also
 some saline  matter, and a substance insoluble cither in
alcohol or Avater.
   From its analysis may be estimated  the effects of dif-
ferent solvents upon it.   Alcohol and proof spirit, div
solving its resin, afford tinctures posse sing all its virtues. 
MATERIA MEDICA.,              295
Water dissolves its  gummy part, which is much less
active, but a part of the resin is at the same time taken
up by the medium  of the gum.  Wines also afford solu-
tions possessing the virtues of opium.  Vinegar dissolves
its active matter, but greatly impairs its power.
  The attempts made by some pharmaceutists, to obtain
a preparation  of opium, which  should  possess only its
sedative, without its narcotic effects, only succeeded in so
far as they dimin'shed its activity.
  The action of opium on the living system, has been the
subject of the  keenest controversy.   Some have asserted
that it is a direct sedative, while others  have asserted as
strongly, that it is a powerful stimulus, and that the seda-
tive effects, which  it certainly produces, depend entirely
on the previous excitement.   We cannot here pretend to
give even an abstract of the arguments used by the sup-
porters of each opinion.  We regret still  more, that the
contradictory results of their experiments render it diffi-
cult to ascertain even its primary and visible effects.
  Opium, when taken into the stomach to  such an extent
as to have any sensible effect, gives rise to a pleasant
serenity of mind, in general proceeding to a certain de-
gree  of  languor and drowsiness.   The  action  of the
sanguiferous system is  diminished, the pulse becoming
for the most part  softer, fuller, and slower than it was
before.
  By many, on the contrary, it  is said, in the first in-
stance at least, to increase  the  frequency of the pulse,
and the heat of the body.  It diminishes  all the secre-
tions  and excretions, except the cuticular discharge,
which it frequently augments  in a very sensible degree.
It excites thirst, and renders the mouth dry and parched.
  Opium taken into the stomach in a larger dose, gives
rise to confusion of head and vertigo. The powers of all
stimulating  causes of making impressions on  the body-
are diminished; and even at times, and in situations, when
a person would naturally be awake,  sleep is irresistibly
induced. In still larger doses, it acts  in the same manner
as the narcotic poisons, giving rise to vertigo,  headach.
tremors, delirium, and convulsions; and these terminating
in a state of  stupor, from which  the person cannot be
roused.  This  stupor is accompanied with slowness of the
pulse,  and with stertor in  breathing, and  the scene is
terminated in  death, attended with the same appearances
as take place in an apoplexy. 
296              MATERIA  MEDICA.
    From these effects of opium in a state of health, it U
  not wonderful that recourse should have been had to it
  in disease,  as mitigating pain, inducing  sleep, allaying
  inordinate  action, and  diminishing morbid  sensibility.
  That these effects result from it, is conlirmed by the daily
  experience of every observer;  and  as  ansAvering one or
  other of these intentions, most, if not all, of the good
  consequences derived from it in actual practice are to be
  explained.   If, therefore, by  a sedative  medicine, we
  mean an article capable of allaying, assuaging, mitigating,
  and composing, no substance  can have a better title to the
  appellation  of sedative than  opium.
    Some practitioners are averse to its  use in active in-
  flammation; but others have recourse to it in such cases,
  even at an early period, especially after bloodletting; and
  where such affections are attended not only Avith pain and
  spasm,  but Avith watchfulness and cough, it is often pro-
  ductive of the greatest benefit.  Opium combined Avith
  calomel has of late been extensively employed in  every
  forni  of active inflammation, and with the greatest suc-
  cess.    It is found also to be  of very great  service in
  allaying the pain and preventing the symptomatic fever
 liable to be induced by wounds, fractures, burns, or similar
  accidents.
   In intermittents, it is said to have been used Avith good
 effect before the fit in the cold stage, in  the hot stage, and
 during the interval.   Given even in  the hot stage, it has
 been observed to allay the heat, thirst, headach, and de-
 lirium, to induce sweat and sleep, to  cure the disease with
 less bark, and Avithout leaving abdominal obstructions or
 dropsy.
   It is often of very great service in fevers of the typhoid
 type, Avhen patients are  distressed Avith watchfulness or
 diarrhoea.  But Avhere these or similar  circumstances do
 not indicate  its use, it is often distressing to patients by
 augmenting thirst  and constipation.
   In small pox, AYhen the convulsions before eruption are
 frequent and considerable, opium is liberally used.   It is
 likeAYise given from the fifth day onwards;  and is  found
 to allay  the pain of suppuration, to promote the ptyalism,
 and to be otherAvisc useful.
   In dysentery, after the use of gentle laxatives, or along
 with them, opium, independent of any effect it  may have
 on the fever, is of consequence in allayiug  the tormina .
 and tenesmus, and in  obviating that laxity of bowels
which so frequently remains after that disease. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
297
    In diarrhoea, the disease itself generally carries off any
 acrimony that may be a cause, and then opium is used
 Avith great effect.  Even in the Avorst symptomatic cases,
 it seldom fails to alleviate.
   In  cholera and pyrosis, ft is almost the only  thing
 trusted to.
   In colic, it is employed ay ith  laxatives; and no doubt
 often prevents ileus and inflammation, by relieviug the
 spasm.  Even in ileus and incarcerated hernia,  it  is
 often found to allay the vomiting, the spasms, the  pain,
 and sometimes to diminish the inflammation, and prevent
 the gangrene of the strangulated gut.
   It is giveu to allay tie pain and favour the descent of
 calculi, and to relieve in jaundice and dysuria proceeding
 from spasm.
   It is of acknowledged use in the different  species of
 tetanus; affords relief to the various spasmodic symptoms
 of dyspepsia, hysteria, hypochondriasis, asthma, rabies
 canina, &c. and  has been  found useful in some kinds of
 epilepsy.
   In syphilis it  is only useful in  combating symptoms,
 and in counteracting the effects resulting from the im-
 proper use of mercury, for it possesses no power of over-
 coming the venereal virus.
   It is found useful in certain cases  of threatened abor-
 tion and lingering delivery, in convulsions during partu-
 rition, and in the after pains and excessive flooding.
   The only form perhaps  necessary for opium is  that of
 pill; and  as it is  so soluble  in every menstruum, there
 seems the less occasion for the addition of either gum
 or soap.  It  is more apt to  sit on the stomach in this
 than any liquid form, but requires rather  more time to
 produce its effects.  The administration of opium to the
 unaccustomed, is sometimes very difficult.  The requisite
 quantity of opium is Avonderfully different in different
 persons, and  in different states of the same person.  A
 quarter of a grain will in one adult produce effects ay liich
 ten times the quantity will not do in another; and a dose
 that might prove  fatal in cholera or colic, would  not be
 perceptible in many cases of tetanus or mania.  The
 lowest  fatal dose  to the unaccustomed as mentioned by
 authors, seems to be four grains; but  a dangerous dose
 is  so apt to puke, that it has  seldom time to occasion
 death.   When given in too small a dose, it is apt  to pro-
duce disturbed sleep, and other duagreeable consequences:
        58 
298
MATERIA MEDICA.
 and Avith some constitutions it seems not to agree in any
 dose or form.  Often, on the other hand, from a small
 dose, sound  sleep, and  alleviation  of pain will be pro-
 duced, Avhile a larger one gives rise to vertigo and deli-
 rium.   Some prefer the repetition of small doses, others
 the giving of a full dose at once. In some it seems not to
 have its proper effect till after a considerable time. The
 soporific operation of a moderate dose is supposed to last
 in general about eight hours from the  time of taking it.
   It is often given to promote healthy suppuration, and is
 a principal remedy  in arresting the progress of certain
 kinds of gangrene.
   Externally applied opium alleviates pain, and relieves
 spasmodic action. Hence the utility  of it in colic, tetanus.
 toothach, &c.  In the form of  enema, it  is  of singular
 efficacy in tenesmus, and it is employed  under the same
 form in other diseases, where its administration by the
 mouth is inconvenient or impracticable.
   In his medical reports on the effect of water, Dr. James
 Currie, relates a case of tetanus, and general convulsion,
 in Avhich  the patient first took  a grain of opium every
 other hour;  afterwards a grain every hour, and at last
 two grains every hour.  But  being  no longer able to
 swallow pills, the tincture (liquid laudanum)  Avas direct-
 ed, of Avhich in tAventy-four hours he took tAvo and a half
 ounces  without sleep or alleviation of pain. The dose
 being increased in the next twenty-six hours, he swallow-
 ed five and a half ounces of the laudanum, a quantity,
 Avhich at  that time, says the doctor, was  unexampled.
 He lay now  in  a state  of torpor.  The rigidity of the
 spasms  was indeed much lessened;  and the general con-
 vulsions nearly gone; but the  debility Avas  extreme; a
 complete hemiplegia had supervened;  the  patient's eyes
 Avere fixed, and his speech faultering and  unintelligible.
 It seemed no longer safe to continue the laudanum, and
 the patient Avas  afterwards cured by  the  cold bath and
 other remedies.
  Dr. Joshua Fisher,  in his interesting discourse read
 before the  Massachusetts Medical Society, asserts, that
 a young lady aged seventeen, being  seized  with excruci-
 ating spasms, the consequence of a rupture of the sarto-
 rius muscle, took twelve grains of opium every ten minutes
till she had  taken seventy-two  grains.   This  quantity
removed the spasms, produced  a comatose insensibility.
 sIoav, stertorous  breathing, and  a slow full  pulse.  I" 
                 MATERIA MEDICA.              299

i-Hit hours the spasms returned, and the opium Avas
given as before.  In this manner the opium was repeated
at intervals of eight hours,  for  three days,  when the
spasms  ceased  and  she recovered.  During this period
of three days, she took nearly eleven diachms  of excel-
lent opium, and not  a grain  more than  Avas absolutely
necessary.
   In the colica pictonum, or Devonshire colic, Dr. Fisher
administers opium in  doses from fifteen to forty grains ;
and has not for many years past,  seen a  single case  of
this distressing disease, Avhich has not yielded to its effi-
cacy in about an hour.
   This experienced physician has prescribed opium  in
large doses in cases of cholera Avith equal success.   A
gentleman, of about sixty-five years, Avas seized Avith this
disease in so violent a manner, that, in a few hours after
the attack, every symptom indicated his speedy dissolu-
tion.  As soon as practicable sixty grains of opium Avere
given, ten of Avhich were  returned by vomiting.  The
quantity retained, soon removed every distressing symp-
tom : gradually and  Avith difficulty he  recovered  his
strength.
   The soporific effects of opium  may be  checked, if a
proper quantity of the  vegetable acid be taken Avith, or
immediately after it.   Thus, if one ounee of pure lemon
juice, or twice that quantify of good vinegar, be added
to every grain  of opium, or  to twenty-five drops of lau-
danum, such a compound will produce a very different
effect.  Instead of  stupifying the head, and  producing
troublesome costiveness, it will not only relieve the boAV-
cls, but also occasion a degree  of cheerfulness, never
attainable by the use of opium alone, and aftenvards  in-
duce a composed and refreshing sleep.
   It is a  melancholy consideration, that  this excellent,
kind assuager of our bodily pains  and mental distress.,
is frequently resorted to for the horrid purpose  of self-
destruction.  The alarming symptoms induced by it, are,
vomiting, delirium, stupor, deep and difficult  breathing,
convulsions,  and death.  The remedies  are in the first
instance,  powerful emetics of sulphate of zinc; tAvcnty
grains of which should be  given immediately, in a glass
of warm water, and repeated every ten  minutes, until
copious vomitings arc  excited.   Warm water is then to
be freely  given, together with a smart purgative of rhu-
barb or jalap, joined with a few grains of potass.  These 
.300
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 should be succeeded  Avith Avatcr-gruel  or  butter-mifL
 sour whey,  and  particularly th-  vegetable acids,  or
 strong eoffee, Avhich last appears to be the most effectual
 antidote.
   The principal object to be kept in vicAV, according to
 Dr. Seaman, of Ncvv-York, is, to produee such a degree
 of irritation, as may  counteract the narcotic effects of
 this deleterious drug.   Hence it is very useful to stimu-
 late the nostrils with spirits of hartshorn, and to apply
 friction with salt over the Avhole body.  When the symp-
 toms  of apoplexy have  come on, the remedy is copious
 bleeding.  This has been used in four cases by Dr. Rush,
 who remarks, that it should  never  be prescribed, until
 great morbid action, or the suffocation of action from the
 excess of stimulus, (manifested chiefly in the depressed
 state of the pulse,) have taken place.

 Phtseter Macrocephalus.  Spermaceti Whale. The
   matter found within the cranium, called spermaceti.

   Spermaceti is a fatty matter obtained from the head of
 the particular species of whale above mentioned.  It is
 purified by melting and boiling Avith an alkaline solution.
 It is then in Avhite flakes, is unctuous and friable, and has
 neither  taste nor smell.   Its chemical properties are the
 same as those of the expressed oils and fats,  except that
 it does not easily unite with the alkalis.
   Its medicinal virtues are those of a mild demulcent, and
 as such is given in catarrh and  gonorrhoea,  mixed with
 sugar, or diffused in water by the medium of  the yolk of
 an egg.

 Phytolacca Decandra.   American Nightshade.  Gar-
          get.  The leaves, berries, and root.

   This  is  one of the most common North American
 p!a ts, Avell known in New-England by the name of cuni-
 cuni, skoke, or coakum.  In the southern states it is call-
 ed poke-Aveed.   It  has a thick, fleshy, perennial  root as
 large as  parsnips.   From this rise many pnrplisb herba-
 ceous stalks, about  an  inch thick, and  six or seven feet
 long;  which break into many branches  irregularly  set
with large, oval, sharp pointed leaves, supported on short
foot stalks.   These are, at first, of a fresh green  colour,
but as they grow old they turn reddish.   At the  joints 
MATERIA  MEDICA.              301
 and divisions of the branches, come  fortli long bunches
 of small bluish coloured  floAvers, consisting  of five con-
 cave petals each, surrounding ten stamina and  ten stiles.
 These are succeeded by round depressed berries, having
 ten cells, each of Avhich  contains a single smooth seed.
 The young stems Avhen boiled are as  good as asparagus,
 but when old  they are to be used with caution, being a
 plant of great activity,  operating both as an emetic and
 cathartic.   A tincture of the ripe  berries in brandy or
 wine, is a popular remedy for rheumatism  and similar
 affections; and it may be given Avith safety and advantage
 in all cases Avhere guaiacum is proper.  The extract of
 the juice of the ripe berries has been employed in some
 cases of scrofula; and cancerous ulcers have been greatly
 benefited by its application.  The juice of the leaves,
 however, is said to be more effectual.
   Dr. Shultz  in his ingenious inaugural dissertation on
 this subject, observes, that " scabies and herpes have been
 often removed by it. In  these cases, a  solution of the
 extract  in  water is generally substituted Avhere the ex-
 pressed juice cannot be had.  In rheumatisms, the Avhole
 substance of this plant has at different times been of es-
 sential service; although the berries have generally been
 prefered.   In those rheumatic affections  Avhich  some-
 times occur to syphilitic patients, its  virtue far exceeds
 that of opium; and it seems more valuable than guaiacum,
 especially when combined Avith mercury.
  •' For  medicinal purposes, the leaves should be gather-
 ed about July, when the foot stalks begin  to assume  a
 reddish colour, dried in the shade, and powdered for use.
 An extract may easily be  obtained from the leaves when
 gathered at this period, by gently evaporating  their ex-
 pressed juice to a proper consistence."
  A tincture may be made by dissolving either the extract
 or  the leaves, in their green  or dry state, in common
 brandy, or in the spirit distilled from  the berries.
  An ointment is also made by powdering the dried leaves,
 and  mixing them well with hogs  lard, or simple cerate:
 or by boiling some  hogs lard and bees Avax  Avith fresh
 leaves, and  straining the  mass.  The proper time for
 gathering the berries in this climate is in October, when
 they become soft and ripe, and are of  a blackish colour.
  The root is to be gathered ahout November or Decem-
ber, Avhen the  stalks of the plant are perfectly dead, and
to facilitate drying,  it should previously be divided into 
SQ2
MATERIA MED 1C A.
 small pieces.   An extract may be made from the root in
 the same manner as from the leaves or berries.
   It is affirmed  by a physician of reputation  and expe-
 rience, that the leaves of phytolacca decandra have been
 found  an admirable remedy in hsemorrhois.  A strong
 infusion is given internally, and if it does not  speedily
 relieve, the same infusion is to be injected into the rectum.
 This method will in general effect a perfect cure.
   According to the experience of Drs. Jones and Kollock.
 of Savannah, this plant may be relied on as an effectual
 remedy for syphilis in its various stages, even Avithout the
 aid of mercury; and they employ it Avith much confidence,
 both internally and externally in rheumatisms, and in
 cutaneous eruptions.  One ounce of the dried root infused
 in a pint of Avine, and given to the quantity of two spoon-
 fuls, operates kindly as an emetic.  The roots are some-
 times applied to the hands and feet of patients in ardent
 fevers.  Many country people use the extract with great
 confidence in  its efficacy in discussing indolent  tumors,
 and in  healing various-kinds of ulcers.  It is found to
 operate as a mild vegetable caustic, cleansing and healing
 foul ulcers better than most other remedies of that class.
 In three  cases of apparent fistula lachrymalis, it is re-
 puted to have  performed cures, by being applied to the
 tumors twice a day for tAvo or  three Avecks.   This root
 has also been employed in compounds as an  article of
 dying.

      Pimfinella Anisum.   Anise.   The seeds.

   Anise is an annual umbelliferous plant, growing natu-
 rally in Crete, Syria, and other places of the East.
   The seeds of anise have an aromatic odour, and a warm
 taste, Avith a share of sav eetness.  They afford by distilla-
 tion with Avater, a considerable  quantity of an essential
 oil, having a strong flavour, and a  sweet taste Avithout
 pungency.
   Anise is used as a good carminative in dyspepsia, and
in the flatulence to which children are subject. A drat hm
 or two of the seeds may  be taken, or a few  drops of the
 oil rubbed with sugar.—[See volatile oils.] 
MATERIA MEDICA.
30.3
Pinus Abies.  Common Spruce Fir.  The resin which
     concretes spontaneously, called Burgundy pitch.

  This substance is obtained by exudation, from incisions
in the trunk of the tree.   It is boiled with a small quan-
tity of water; is strained; and when cold, forms a concrete
resinous matter.  This, spread upon leather, and  applied
to the skin, excites a slight degree of inflammation, and
exudation of  serous fluid.
  In obstinate coughs, affections of the lungs, and other
internal complaints, plasters  of this resin, by acting as a
topical stimulus, are frequently found of considerable
service.

Pinus Baesamea.  Balsam Fir.  Hemlock  Fir.  The
         liquid resin, called balsam of Canada.

  This balsam exudes spontaneously from the trunk of
the tree.   It is  of a light yellow colour, tenacious, and
inflammable.  By keeping, it becomes thicker; its  smell
is agreeable; its taste pungent.   It is soluble in  alcohol
and oils, and affords an essential oil by distillation.
  The medicinal virtues of  this balsam seem to be the
same as those of copaiba, and it is used for the  same
purposes.  Its dose is from thirty to fifty drops.

Pinus Larix.  The Larch tree.  The liquid resin, called
  Venice turpentine; and volatile oil, called  oil  of tur-
  pentine.

  This balsam  exudes  spontaneously,  and   in  greater
abundance from incisions in the tree.   It is thick and te-
nacious, pellucid, of a yellowish colour, has  a pleasant
smell, and a  bitterish, pungent taste.  By  distillation.
with the addition of a small quautity of water, to  prevent
the temperature from rising too high, it affords  a  large
quantity of essential oil (oleum terebinthinse, oil of tur-
pentine); the residuum being a resin nearly insipid,  (com-
mon Avhite, or yellow resin.)
  Venice turpentine derives all its virtues from its essen-
tial oil, and it is this oil that is generally used in medicine.
It is a powerful stimulant, directed more particularly in
its action  to the urinary passages.  It has been employed
in gleet, and  in chronic rhcuraatism. especially in that 
301
materia medica.
 form of it termed sciatica and lumbago, in a dose of from
 five to tAvelve drops, gradually increased, generally mixed
 with a quantity of honey, by which its pungency is cover-
 ed.   It is apt, hoAvever,  to  induce  violent  symptoms.
 Externally, it is applied as a stimulant  to parts affected
 Avith cramp and rheumatism.   Oil of turpentine has of
 late been  successfully applied to scalds.   When seasona-
 bly applied to the scalded part, the  pain  has frequently
 been  removed in an hour, and blisters effectually pre-
 vented.  The turpentine itself is sometimes used inter-
 nally for the same purposes as its oil.  The white resin
 is somewhat stimulant and diuretic;  but  it is  only em-
 ployed in the composition of ointments and plasters, which
 it renders more adhesive, and perhaps more stimulating.
 Oil of turpentine has also been found to  possess styptic
 powers in restraining epistaxis when applied up the nos-
 trils.
   The rectified oil of turpentine has lately been admi-
 nistered by Dr. J.  B. BroAvn Avith complete success  in
 the case  of a  lad aged sixteen years  afflicted for  six
 years Avith taenia.  This lad swalloAved the oil undiluted
 in a dose  of one ounce, and  once in a dose of one ounce
 and half, and took three doses in sixteen hours.  It ope-
 rated powerfully as a cathartic and he discharged upAvards
 of tAventy feet of the teenia.  Dr. B. is convinced that the
 oil of turpentine rectified, may be given to the extent of
 two or three ounces Avith perfect safety, but prefers half
 ounce doses at short intervals.
        N. Eng. Med. Journal, No. 3,  Vol. 1. p. 269.

 Pinus Syxvestris.    Scotch Fir.   The  empyreumatie
   resin, called tar;  and the liquid  resin, called common
   turpentine.
  Tar is a thick, black, unctuous matter, extracted from
the Avood of the  pinus syivestris, by combustion in a close
smothering heat.  By long boiling, tar is deprived of its
volatile parts, and converted into pitch.   Tar is a mix-
ture of resin, empyreumatie oil, charcoal, and acetous
acid.   It Avas formeiiy in great repute as a medicine, both
in its original state, and also in infusion with water.
   It has been greatly recommended by hishop Berkley,
in the murrain of cattle; and likewise in cold and phleg-
matic habits of  mankind; as it not only raises the pulse,
and accelerates  the circulation, but, at the same time, 
materia medica.
30b
exhilarates the animal spirits.  At present, hoAvever, tar
water is seldom employed, though its external application
proves to be an excellent remedy for the stings of Avasps
and bees.  Tar is applied in the form of ointment, in tinea
capitis, and some other cutaneous diseases.
   The  common turpentine obtained from this tree, is
rarely given  internally; its principal  use is in plasters
and ointments among farriers, and for the distillation of
essential oil.
   A fluid extract, prepared by decoction from the twigs
or cones of the pinus syivestris, is the  usual well known
essence of spruce, which fermented  Avith molasses, forms
the fashionable beverage of spruce beer.

      Piber Nigrum.  Black Pepper.   The fruit.

   This tree is a native  of the East Indies, Avhere the
fruit or berries in their unripe state, arc gathered in the
month of October,and dried, by being exposed to the sun
for seven or eight days.  Its smell is aromatic: its taste
pungent.   Both are extracted completely by water; par-
tially by alcohol.
   Pepper,  from its stimulating and aromatic qualities, is
employed,  to  promote digestion,  to relieve nausea, to
check vomiting, or to remove singultus, and as a remedy
in retroccdent gout and paralysis.   Its dose is ten or fif-
teen grains.   Its infusion has been used as a gargle, in
relaxation  of the uvula.
   White pepper is the ripe berries of the same vegetable,
freed from tiic outer covering, and  dried in the sun.  It
is less pungent than the black.

      Piber Longum.  Long Pepper.   The fruit.

   This  berry is obtained from another species  of the
same  genus of trees.   It is about half an inch in length,
cylindrical, and indented on  the  surface.  In flavour,
taste, and other qualities, it is similar to the black pep-
per, and may be used for the same purposes.

         Pjlantago.  Plantain.   The leaves.

   Great plantain is  perennial, common in fields and by
the road sides, flowering  from June  to August.  The
country  peoplevapply the bruised leaves of this vegetable
         39 
306
MATERIA MEDICA.
to slight wounds, and inflamed sores and swellings av ith a
favourable  effect.  It has  been recorded in a Virginia
gazette, 1802, that  a gentleman was  bitten above the
knee by a  venomous spider.  In a few minutes he ob-
served  a  pain shooting upwards from the spot, whicii
presently reached his heart.  A quantity of plantain leaf
was immediately procured, and the juice being bruised
out was swallowed largely, by which the progress of the
poison Avas stopt, and finally a cure Avas effected.  Some
oil was also SAvallowed, but  the  plantain  leaf had the
entire credit of his recovery, and but for this remedy, he
said he could not have survived an hour longer.

                  Plum hum.  Lead.

   This is one of the imperfect metals, of a dull white,
inclining to a blue colour:  and, though the least ductile
and sonorous, it is the heaviest of metallic bouses, except-
ing mercury, gold, and plntina.  Lead is found  in various
countries; but it abounds in England.   It is obtained hy
various processes, from the ores dug from the earth.  In
its metallic form, it is scarcely an omYhiai article, and its
different oxides are  purchased  from the manufacturers,
and never prepared by the apothecary.
   Its effects on the body are emaciation, violent, colics,
paralysis, tremors, and contractions of the limbs; as they
generally come  on  gradually,  the cause  is sometimes
overlooked, until it be too late.  Poisoning from lead is
occasioned,   cither from  liquors becoming impregnated
with it, by being  improperly kept in vessels lined with
that metal, or to Avhich lead has been criminally added
to correct its  acidity; or  among manufacturers, who
work much Avith had, as painters and plumbers, and who
are not sufficiently attentive to avoid swallowing it.  The
only effectual antidotes to this insidious poison, areanti-
monial emetics; and after them, the internal use of liver
of sulphur,  together with vegetable oils, both  internally
and extern.illy, should be  libjeialiy continued.
  For the medicinal virtues of  lead, see its several pre-
parations.

Podophyllum Pextatum.   May  Apple.   Mandrake.
                      The root.

  This plant is very common throughout North America.
The fruit is esculent, and, by many, thought  delicious. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
307
The leaves are poisonous.   The root is an excellent pur-
gative in doses of tAventy grains. It is most advantageous-
ly used in combination with  calomel, or crystals of tar-
tar.   The root,  also, often  operates as an  athelmintic,
and as such, it is used by the Cherokee and other Southern
Indians.
   The best time of gathering the May apple, for medical
purposes, is  in autumn,  when the leaves have turned
yellow, and are about falling off.   The Indians dry it in
the shade, and powder it for use.

Polygala  Senega.   Seneka. Rattle Snake Root.  The
                        root.

  Seneka is a perennial plant, Avhich abounds in  nearly
all the United States, particularly in Virginia and Penn-
sylvania.  This root is usually about the thickness of the
little finger, variously bent, and  contorted,  and appears
as if compost d of joints, whence it is supposed to resem-
ble the tail of the animal Avhose name it bears; a kind of
membranous margin runs on each side, the Avhole length
of the root.
   This root Avas first introduced into use in 1739, by Dr.
Tennent, of Virginia, Avho wrote a pamphlet on the sub-
ject, and highly extolled it  as  a remedy for many com-
plaints, and particularly, as a  specific for the cure of the
bite  of the rattle-snake.  It is an  active stimulus, and
increases the force of the  circulation, especially  of the
pulmonary vessels.   It has  therefore been found useful
in typhoid inflammation of  the lungs, but it is apt to dis-
order the stomach, and to induce diarrhcea.   Some  have
likewise employed this root in hydropic  cases, and not
Avithout success.
  There are examples of its occasioning  a plentiful dis-
charge by  stool, urine, and  perspiration;  and by this
means removing the  disease, after the common diuretics
and hydragogues had failed.
  It sometimes induces salivation,  and it possesses diu-
retic, emetic, cathartic, expectorant, and diaphoretic
powers.  Dr. Archer, of Maryland, discovered the great
utility of seneka snake-root, as a remedy for that  fatal
disease, the croup, and speaks Avith confidence as to the
general  good effects  produced by it.  The decoction of
the root is the manner in which he generally gives it; the
strength must be determined by tlie physician : it must be
i 
30 b
MATCIll i  MEDICA.
so strong, as to act sensibly on his oAvn mouth and throatf
in exciting coughing, cu'/for in this disease, the larynx
(mouth of the Avind pipe) in a manner loses its natural
sensibility.  Half an ounce of the root of seneka, bruised,
and simmered in a  close vessel, in half a pint of water,
until reduced to four ounces, will, probably, hi most ca^s
be sufficiently strong.  A tea spoonful of this to be given
every hour or half hour, as the  urgency of the symptoms
shall  demand; and during  these intervals, a few drops
occasionally, to keep up a sensible action of the medicine,
in the mouth and throat, until it act as an emetic and
cathartic; then repeated in  small quantities, and so fre-
quently as to keep up  a constant stimulus  in the same.
By these means, in the course of two, four, six, or eight
hours, a  membrane is often times discharged by the
mouth, one, two, and often three inches in length; some-
times it is swallowed and voided by stool.
   Patients who use the medicine should  not be permitted
to drink anything Avhatever, for some minutes after each
dose.   The reason must be  obvious to all.  The powder
has lately been used by Drs. Archer and Son, in doses of
four or five grains, mixed Avith  a little Avater, Avith effects
equally as  pleasing as the decoction, and more so, unless
the latter  have been  carefully prepared.   It should he
remarked that this poAverful stimulant cannot with safety
be exhibited during the inflammatory stage of croup.  It
is in  the third  or last stage only, it has been  found ex-
tremely useful in exciting the vessels of the trachea and
lungs to a powerful excretion.
   Seneka  has been  usefully employed  in the decline of
pleurisies and  catarrhs,  to promote  expectoration.  In
suppressed coughs of aged persons, and in  asthma, it is
doubtless useful; a gentle and  constant  stimulus on the
throat should be kept up in these diseases.  It has also
been exhibited as a powerful remedy in cases of female
obstructions.  Dr.  Chapman of Philadelphia has found
it of great utility in obstinate amenorrhtea when given in
decoction prepared by adding an ounce of the root  to a
pint of  boiling Avater, Avhich  is sloAvly reduced  by  sim-
mering to the quantity of one third.   Four ounces of the
decoction is to  be taken during the  day,  increasing it
when the menstrual effort is expected,  as far as the sto-
mach Avill allow.  If this excite nausea, he  adds aroma-
tics.  To prevent disgust, it is omitted a Aveek or two in
the intervals of  the  menstrual periods.  The  polygala 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
309
sanguinea, a new species discovered  at  Savannah, has
been used as a substitute for the polygala seneka.

Polygonum Bistorta.   Great Bistort.   Snake Weed.
                      The root.

   This plant is perennial, and groAvs Avild in moist mea-
dows in  several parts  of Great  Britain.  The root  is
about the thickness of the little finger, of a  blackish
brown colour  on the outside,  and reddish Avithin: it  is
writhed  or bent vermicularly  (whence the name of the
plant) with a  joint at  each bending,  and full of bushy
fibres; the root of  the  species here mentioned, has, for
the most part, only one or two  bendings; others, three  or
more.  All  the parts  of bistort  have a rough austere
taste, particularly the root, which is one of the strongest
of the vegetable astringents.
   The root of bistort is employed in all kinds of immo-
derate hamiorrhagics,  and other fluxes,  both internally
and externally, Avhere  astringency is the only indication.
It is certainly a very poAverful  styptic, and is to be looked
on simply as  such.  To  the  sudorific, anti-pestilential,
and other virtues attributed to it, it has  no other claim
but in consequence of its astringency, and of the antisep-
tic power which it has in common with other vegetable
styptics.   The largest  dose of the root in powder, is one
drachm.

   PoLvroDUM Filix  Mas.  Male Fern.  The root.

   This fern is perennial, and grows in great abundance
in almost every part of Britain, where the ground is not
cultivated.  The root Avhen chewed, is someAvhat muci-
laginous  and SAveet,  and afterwards astringent and bitter.
  The vermifuge poAvers of fern, are Avell known.   It
appears to be particularly active in expelling  the tape
Avorm.  Dr. O. Jones relates the case of a lady in New
York, Avho after taking many Avorm medicines, with par-
tial good effects, drank a decoction  of fern in Avater,  (a
pint per day) until some gallons Ave re taken, Avhen a dose
of castor oil brought away the remnant of the worm,
measuring forty-five feet.
  The fern is the famous remedy of Madame Nuffcr  of
Switzerland, for the tape Avorm.  She acquired the know-
ledge of the remedy from her husband, who was a surgeon. 
.  310
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 and obtained a great price for the secret from Louis I5tli
 of France, by whose order it was published.
   The powdered plant was generally preferred by Mad.
 N. and may be given in doses of from sixty grains to two
 drachms.

 Prixos Verticillatus.   Winter Berry.  Black Alder.
                 The bark and  berries.

   This is a very common shrub in many parts of the
 laited States, and  grovvs in the greatest perfection in
 SAyamps and marshy places.   The bark is manifestly as-
 tringent.   It is likewise considerably bitter, and pungent.
   The berries, wliich are of a fine red  colour, greatly
 partake of the bitter qualify; and, if infused in wine or
 brandy, might be advantageously employed in cases where
 bitter tinctures are  exhibited.  The bark has  been used
 as a substitute for  the  Peruvian bark, in intermittents
 and other diseases,  both in substance and decoction.  It
 is supposed to be chiefly useful in cases of great debility
 unaccompanied with fever, as a corroborant in anasarcous
 and other dropsies,  and as  a tonic in  cases of incipient
 sphacelus or gangrene.  It is both given internally, and
 employed  externally as  a Avash.  On many occasions, it
 appears to be  more useful than the Peruvian bark.  Pro-
 fessor Barton says, it ought to have a place in the shops,
 and in the pharmacopoeia  of this country, ay hen such a
 desideratum shall be supplied.   Dr. Mease  observes,
 (Philadelphia Medical Museum, vol. 2.) it is  useful in
 mortification,  united with the root of sass.ifr:is,in decoc-
 tion, ke.   Care must be taken to distinguish our prinos
 from the swamp alder or candle alder.

 Phunus  Cesasus  Virgimana.    Wild  Chei*ry Tree.
           The bark of both the tree and root.

   The common wild cherry tree is often found in woods
 and hedges and is associated Avith the trees of the forest,
 groAving to the height of forty or more feet and  of a verv
 large size.  It is probably produced from the stones of
 the garden varieties  dropped by birds.   The  timber is
 capable of receiving a fine  polish, resembling mahogany,
 and  is used by turners and cabinet makers, for many
purposes.   The gum which exudes from the tree is said
to be equal to  gum arabic.    This tree produces in Au- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
311
tumn a small bitter cherry, black when quite ripe, which
serves for food for birds who frequently become intoxi-
cated from eating them.   They are also infused in bran-
dy  by the country people on account of the pleasant
aromatic flavour which they impart to the  liquor.  The
bark of the wild cherry tree is powerfully tonic, and has
been frequently substituted for the Peruvian bark, with
great  success.  It is  slightly narcotic,  and commonly
produces droAvsiness in those who  take it.  From the
experiments of Mr. C. Morris of Virginia, (Inaug. Diss.
1812, Phila.) it appeared  that the bark of the  root Avas
more poay erful than the bark of the trunk.  It has been
very useful in dyspepsia and in consumption of the lungs.
The Indians it is said,  use the bark in the cure  of syphi-
lis.  Very excellent effects have been  produced  by Avash-
ina;  ill conditioned ulcers with a decoction of  the bark,
and  the same has proved anthelmintic   The  leaves of
this  tv<*e are  poisonous to certain animals.  While this
valuable tree abounds in the United  States, we  act un-
Aviselv, says Dr. Mease, in sending thousands of dollars
out  o'* the country for the Peruvian bark.
   Cherries that are sub-acid are, according to Dr.  Wil-
licb, an excellent article of domestic medicine in the true
scurvy, in putrid fevers, and the dysentery; as likewise
to those persons, who are liable to  obstructions in the
alimentary canal.   Nor will  they be found less salutary
to constitutions Avhose  bile is vitiated, Avhose stomach is
trovbVd Avith foul  eructations, and who are afflicted with
an offensive breath: all such persons should eat them
fre"iv. particularly on  an emnty stomach.   For  similar
reasons, dried cherries form an excellent article of diet,
in acute and inflammatory disorders:  where they should
be used both  in substance and in decoctions, Avhich are
equally cooling and antiseptic.

Prunus Domestica.   The French Prune Tree.  Plum
        Tree.  The fruit, called French prunes.

  Numerous varieties of prunes or plum tree,  are culti-
vated by gardeners, the fruit of Avhich, Avhen dried, are
called  prunes.  Great quantities of the dried  fruit are
imported from the continent of Europe, but the French
prunes are thought the best.
  They contain much  mucilaginous and saccharine mat-
ter, and their medical effects are, to abate heat, and gen- 
ai2
materia medica.
tly loosen the belly, Avhich they perform by lubricating
the passages, and  softening the excrement.  They are
of considerable service in costiveness, accompanied with
heat or irritation, which the more stimulating  cathartics
Avould tfend to aggravate. Where prunes are  not of them-
selves sufficient, their action maybe promoted by joining
with them a  little rhubarb, or the like; to which may be
added some carminative ingredient,  to prevent their oc-
casioning flatulency.

Prunus Lauro Cerasus.   Cherry Tree  Laurel.   The
                        leaves.

  An exotic  narcotie plant, not cultivated among us, but
preserved in  some hot houses  and botanic gardens as a
curiosity.  The leaves have an  odour slightly fragrant;
their taste is extremely bitter.  They possess a highly
narcotic quality, whicii  is extracted by  infusion in alco-
hol or water, and is even brought over  by distillation iu
the state of  an essential oil, which the Avater  partly dis-
solves.  And the very singular fact has been established,
that the volatile principle  in Avhich the narcotic quality
of this plant resides is  the prussic acid.   It  had often
been observed, that the  odour  of this acid is  similar to
that'of the cherry-laurel, peach blossom, and bitter al-
mond.   Boltn found, that the distilled Avater of the bitter
almond contained prussic acid.   Scbroerier discovered it
in the distilled water of the peach  blossom and cheny-
laurel, prussiate of potass being obtained by distilling
them from the alkali; and Bucholz succeeded in separat-
ing the prussic acid from the essential oil of the cherry
laurel, by agitation with an alkaline solution.  This acid
in its pure state has been further found to be highly nar-
cotic; and the narcotic power of all these plants no doubt
depends on it.
   The distilled Avater of the cherry  laurel has long been
known as a poison to animals, and its effects are tiiose of
a pure narcotic.  It has not, says Mr. Murray, been em-
ployed in medicine, but a  cataplasm prepared from the
leaves has been used as an  anodyne application to painful
tumors and ulcers.
   Cherry-laurel  has  ever been considered as a poison of
the most deleterious energy, but if is now known, if may
be administered  internally with perfect safety,  hi the
few instances of its trial it has  been  found to give tone to 
materia  medica.
SIS
 the stomach, increase  the appetite, and to exhilarate.
 Dr. Mayer,  of Naples, gives the distilled water of laurel
 for the cure of virulent gonorrhoea, and by bis advice an
 American captain affirms, that he cured thirty sailors by
 this medicine alone.  It appears to retard the pulse and
 produce some sedative  effects.  It has been found  ser-
 viceable in phthisis pulmonalis on a few trials. Professor
 Wurzer, of Bonn, gave fifty drops of the laurel Avater
 three times in a day, Avhich Avas very efficacious in hypo-
 chondriac  and nervous complaints.  He finds the laurel
 Avater diminishes the too  great irritability  of the heart
 and muscular fibre, and augments, at the same time, the
 action of the absorbent vessels.  It is  recommended by
 some German authors in hydrophobia.   It may be given
 in saturated  tincture, a flew drops cautiously  increased
 until some effect  be observable.

 PTERocARrus Santolinus. Red  Saunders. The wood.

   This is a wood brought from the East Indies in large
 billets.   The best kind is  externally  of a  dull red, or
 nearly blackish colour, internally brown red; being of a
 compact texture, and possessing neither a peculiar smell
 nor taste.  Red saundcrs is chiefly employed as a colour-
 ing drug, in the compound tincture of lavender; there is
 scarcely any other oil to Avhich it communicates its tinge.
 It communicates  a deep red to rectified spirit,  but gives
 no tinge to aqueous liquors.

 Quassia Excelsa. Qjutssia. The Avood, bark, and root.

  The Quassia tree is a native of the West Indies, and of
 South America.  Quassia derives its name from a negro
 named Quassi, who employed it Avith uncommon success
 as a secret  remedy,  in the malignant epidemic fevers
 whicii frequently  prevail at Surrinam.   The root, wood,
 and bark of this tree, are all employed in medicine ;  but
 the latter, having a greater degree of bitterness, is more
efficacious.
  Quassia possesses no peculiar odour, but is one of the
most intense, durable, pure bitters  knoAvn.   Its infusion,
decoction, and tincture, are almost  equally bitter, and
yelloAvish,  and are not blackened by chalybeates.  It is
an excellent tonic, antiseptic, and febrifuge:  being one of
th,e least heating  drugs, it is found very serviceable in
         10 
o Li
MATERIA MEDICA.
exciting appetite for food :  expelling flatulency: assisting
digestion; and particularly in removing costiveness, when
produced by weakness of the intestines, such as is conse-
quent to sedentary occupations.
  Dr.  Lettsom prescribed it ay ith advantage, in cases of
debility after febrile affections; in dyspepsia, arising from
intoxication; and  in diarrhoea;  but he directed it with
the greatest success, Avhen combined with some absorbent
in the  hysteric atony of females.  It has been exhibited
in intermittent, and bilious fevers, lienteria,  cachexy,
dropsies, leucorrhcca. and  gout.
  It may be given, either in infusion, or in pills composed
of the watery  extract; the former preparation, how-
ever,  is generally prefered, in  proportion of three or
four drachms of the Avood,  to tAvelve ounces  of water;
Avhich is to be taken in doses of one, or two table spoon-
fuls, frequently repeated.

  Quassia  Simarouba.  Mountain Damson.  The bark.

  This tree grows in Guiana, and in Jamaica. The bark
of the  root of this tree is  brought to us,  some feet long,
and  some  inches  in breadth, folded lengtliAYise.  It  is
light,  fibrous, very tough ; of a pale yellow  on the inside;
darker coloured,  rough,  scaly,  and Avarted on  the out-
side ;  has little smell, and a bitter, not disagreeable taste.
It imparts its bitterness to alcohol and water.
  It has been  much celebrated in  obstinate  diarrhcea,
dysentery, anorexia, indigestion, lienteria,  and intermit-
tent fevers, but it is doubtful Avhether it  is better than
other bitters.   It is given  in powder, in doses of half, or
a whole drachm;  but its best form is in decoction.

         Quercus  Rqbur.   Oak.  The bark.

  The bark of this valuable tree, is a strong astringent,
and possesses tonic  and antiseptic virtues.   A chemical
analysis of the Avhite oak  bark,  as made by Mr. Davy,
affords from one hundred and eighty grains of the inner
bark in substance,  seventy  two grains of pure tannin (that
remarkable vegetable principle, the common and general
source of the  astringent and antiseptic properties).  In
every astringent bark, says Mr. Davy, the interior white
hark contains tiie largest quantity of tannin.
  White oak bark exceeds in  astringency the Peruvian 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
31b
hark, and falls but little, if any short  of it, in its tonic
powers.   Hence, we have a valuable domestic substitute
for Peruvian bark,  wliich is  successfully employed in
hiemorrhagies, alvine fluxes,  and other preternatural or
immoderate secretions.   On account of the great difficul-
ty in reducing it to a sufficiently fine poAvder, it is most
commonly given in decoction.
   Dr. Rousseau, in  a communication published in  the
Philadelphia Medical Museum, vol. 2. has mentioned the
efficacy of the black oak bark in intermittents, and it
appears to be Avell worthy the  attention of phy sieians.
The powder, as prepared by Mr. Benger, is of the most
extreme degree of fineness.
   The bark of the Spanish oak, quercus rubra montana,
red oak of the mountain, Dr. Barton  has used in a case
of gangrene of the foot, with such success, that he thinks
it equalled in power the best  Peruvian bark.  He gave
it in decoction in very large quantities, and the affected
part was constantly kept wet with the same decoction, or
Avith a poultice made of bread and milk with the bark.
   The medicinal virtues of the bark of Spanish oak, are
probably, in no  respect  materially different, from those
of the bark of the common white oak of New England.
Debilitated patients, Avhose  stomachs cannot  retain  this
medicine, may experience the  happiest effects from bath-
ing twice or thrice a day in a strong decoction of the oak
barks, about luke Avarm.  It is particularly serviceable
in the last stage of fevers.

Djjercus Cehris.   Oriental  Oak.   The nest  of  the
          cynips  quercifolii, called gall nut.

   This species  of oak is a native of the Levant, and of
the warm countries of Europe.                        ;
  An insect, the cynips  quercifolii, deposits its eggs in
the leaves, and  other tender parts of the tree.  Around
each puncture an excrescence  is presently formed, Avithin
Avhich the egg is hatched, and the insect passes through
all its stages of metamorphosis, until  it become perfect,
Avhen it eats its ay ay out of its prison.
   These excrescences are called galls, or gall nuts.  They
arc of different sizes, smooth  or knotty on the surface,
of a whitish, reddish, or  blackish  colour, and generally
penetrated with a small  hole.   Galls have an austere
styptic taste, without any smell; they are  said to be the 
S.16
MATERIA MEDICA.
 most poAverful astringent avc  possess, and have therefor*
 been often  employed  in  medicine.   It is asserted, (hat,
 by their internal use, in doses of half a drachm, or more,
 of the poAvder, intermittent fevers have been cured, even
 after Peruvian bark bad  failed.
   An infusion, or  decoction  of galls, may be  used with
 advantage as  an astringent gargle;  and an ointment of
 one part of finely poAvdered galls to  eight of any simple
 ointment is applied Avith  success in hscmorrhoidal affec-
 tions.

 Resina Pini.  Resin of Pine.   A resin, Avhich is pro-
   cured from pines of various  species,  deprived of its
   volatile oil.

   The proper turpentines contain a  large proportion of
 volatile oil, which is often separated from them by distil-
 lation.  The  residuum of the distillation gets different
 names, according to some peculiarities in its treatment.
 When the distillation is performed Avithout addition, and
 continued until the whole essential oil be driven off, and
 there appear  some traces of empyreuma, the  residuum
 is fiddlers resin, or colophony: but if, while the mass is
 still fluid, a quantity of Avater be added,  and thoroughly
 blended Avith the resin, by long and constant agitation, it
 is then called yelloAV resin.
   This article is employed as an ingredient in ointments
 and plasters.

 Rhamnus Catharticus.  Purging  Buckthorn.  Spina
          Cervina.   The juice of the berries.

   This tree, or shrub, grows in woods  or hedges; it attains
 if cultivated, the height of sixteen feet; it  flowers in June,
 and ripens its  fruit in September and  October.
   Buckthorn  berries  have a faint disagreeable  smell,
 and a nauseous bitter taste.   They have long been in
 considerable esteem as cathartics; and celebrated in drop-
 sies, rheumatism, and even in gout: though in these cases
they have no advantage above other purgatives, but are
more offensive, and operate more severely than many
with Avhich the shops are  furnished.
   They generally occasion gripes, sickness, dryness of
the mouth and thi oat; and leave a thirst of long duration.
A syrup, prepared  from  the  berries, is still  kept in the 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
317
shops, though seldom prescribed.  The dose is one ounce
of syrup, or about twenty of the fresh berries, and twice
or thrice this number in decoction.  '
   The bark of the buckthorn  is said  to be a mild tonic,
astringent, and antiseptic medicine, and is recommended
for the cure of intermittents; and in general debility,
after chronic diseases.  The decoction is of great service;
reducing inveterate inflammations of the eye; and curing
the itch, as it cleanses the skin, and abates the burning
heat, without repelling the humors.

Rheum Palmatum.   Palmated Rhubarb.  The root.

  Palmated,  true, or officinal rhubarb, is a native  of
China, and the East Indies; whence its culture has been
introduced into Europe.  The rhubarb hitherto employed
in medicine, is  imported from Turkey, Russia, China,
and the East Indies.   The first sort is brought in round-
ish pieces, perforated in the centre; and which are exter-
nally of a yellow colour, but,  on  being cut, they appear
variegated with reddish streaks.
   The Chinese rhubarb is imported in long pieces, which
are harder, anil  more compact than the Turkey rhubarb;
the former possessing a Aveaker aromatic flavour, is less
esteemed, though,  being  more astringent, it is, for some
purposes at least, equal to the  latter.  The general cha-
racters of good rhubarb are, its having a whitish or clear
yellow colour; being dry, solid, compact, and moderately
heavy;  brittle, easy to be pulverized, forming a  poAvder
of a fine  bright yellow, having  a  bitterish, someAvhat
astringent taste, and Avhen chewed  feeling gritty under
the teeth, speedily colouring the saliva, and not appear-
ing xery mucilaginous.
  The  principal constituent   of  rhubarb is  extractive
matter, soluble  both in alcohol and in  water.  By gentle
decoction, it loses above  one half its weight.   The  vir-
tues of this root are  destroyed by roasting, boiling, and
in forming the extract.
  Rhubarb is justly prized as  a mild cathartic, and mav
fie safely administered to  children, invalids, and delicate
women, in doses of from ten to twenty grains, though, in
irritable, hysterical, and phthisical habits it is apt to oc-
casion gripes, and aggravate febrile symptoms: hence it
ought never to be  given in the first stage of dysentery.
when this invaluable remedy, by premature usei may oc 
-H8
MATERIA MEDICA.
casion the most violent pain, and inflammation of the
bowels; but, after the fever is suppressed, and the disease
becomes a chronic diarrhoea, small doses of rhubarb are
attended Avith the best effects.
  Beside its purgative quality, it  is celebrated as an as-
tringent, by whicii it strengthens the tone of the stomach
and intestines, and proves useful in diarrhoea, and disor-
ders proceeding from laxity.   Rhubarb exhibited in sub-
stance in the form of powder, operates more powerfully
than in any other Avay.   The dose for an adult is from a
seruple to a drachm.  On account of its great bulk it is
sometimes unpleasant to the taste, and its laxative effects
are often  increased  by the addition of neutral salts, or
other more  active purgatives.  Combined Avith  calomel.
it is much more efficacious as a cathartic.  The infusion
is considerably weaker than the powder, and  requires
double the dose to produce the same effect.  It is well
adapted for children, but must be ahvays fresh prepared.
In the form  of tincture, its principal use is as a tonic,
and stomachic.  Small doses of the poAvder are frequent-
ly exhibited with the same intention.
  Attempts have been successfully made to introduce the
culture of this  valuable drug into Britai;,', and it appeals
from authentic accounts, that sufficient quantities of it
may be reared, and that the  English root  has proved to
be fully equal to the best sort obtained from  Turkey or
China.
  The cultivation of rhubarb in the United States is lobe
considered as an object of high importance.  That our cli-
mate is perfectly congenial to its growth, has been clearly
ascertained  by  successful experiments,  Avhich  ought to
encourage other attempts and more extensive plans. The
palmated or officinal rhubarb may be raised  from seed
sown either in the spring or autumn.  When  the plant-
appear they require to be kept  clear from weeds, and
during the winter  their roots should be covered with
litter.   The ensuing season they may be transplanted, or
thinned, to the distance of four  or five feet.   The soil
must be a light fine mould, deeply ploughed,  and the
plants should be  frequently watered, though too much
wet Avill injure the roots.  The young plants  require to
be sheltered from the sun till they have obtained a good
degree of strength.  The seed stalks ought to be cut off
on the withering of the radical leaves,  and  their  root*
PQXC'T'.L 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
319
  The roots of rhubarb must not be taken up until six or
seven years old, and it is supposed by some that they in-
crease in medicinal properties if suffered to remain in the>
earth for seven, eight, ten, or even tAvclve years.   Much
care is requisite in curing  and  preserving  the roots  for
use.  They loose about four-fifths of their Aveight in dry-
ing, which process is accomplished  in six months.
  The roots may be taken up early in the spring, or in au-
tumn, when the leaves are decayed. They are to be washed
clca i, and the small fibres and  external rind being pared,
or cut off, they should  be divided  into pieces about one
ounce in ay eight.   A hole should  be  perforated in the
middle,  and  the roots suspended on pack thread, in a
common kitchen, to dry;  care being taken that none of
the pieces come in contact with each other so as to occa-
sion mouldiness.  The foot  stalks of the leaves  of the
young plants impart an agreeable acidity, similar to that
of gooseberries, and are frequently used in pies and tarts.

Rhododendron Crysanthum. Fellow flowered Rho-
               dodendron.  The leaves.

  This  small shrub grows in the coldest situations in Si-
beria.  The  leaves  are  oblong, rigid, reflected  at  the
edges, rough on the upper surface, smooth, and paler on
the lower.   Wfien dried, they have  no smell, but a rough,
astringent, and bitterish  taste.   They also contain a
stimulant narcotic principle; for they  increase the heat
of the body, excite thirst, and produce diaphoresis, or an
increased discharge of the other secretions or excretions;
and, in  a larger dose, inebriation and delirium.
   The  Siberians use a  decoction of it in rheumatism and
gout.   They put about two  drachms of the (hied  shrub
in an earthern pot, with about ten ounces of boiling water,
keeping it near a boiling heat  for a night, and this  they
take in  the morning.
  Besides  its other effects, it is said to produce a sensa-
tion of prickling, or creeping in the pained parts ; but in
a few hours  the pain and disagreeable symptoms are re-
lieved,  and  two or three doses generally complete the
cure.   The use of liquids is not alloAvecl  during its ope-
ration, us they  areapt to induce vomiting. 
320              MATERIA  MEDICA.
 Rhus  Copallinum.   Narrow leaved  Sumach.   The
                       berries.

   Narrow leaved Sumach, grows naturally in most parts
 of the United States; rising to the height of six feet in a
 slaty gravelly soil.   The berries are very acid, and are
 sprinkled Avith a grayish  pounce, of an  agreeable acid
 taste.

 Rhus Glabrum. Pennsylvanian Sumach.  The berries.

   Rhus glabrum, smooth Pennsylvanian sumach, common
 or upland sumach,  rising  to the  height of eight or ten
 feet.  The leaA'es are feathered, saAved, lanced, naked on
 both sides, and change to a beautiful red in  autumn: it
 floAvers in July. The seeds are arranged like the floAvers,
 are  red, and covered Avith  a white powder of an agreea-
 ble  acid taste.
   The two  species above  described  arc considerably
 astringent.   An infusion of the berries sweetened with
 honey is sometimes used for a gargle in sore throats, and
 for  cleansing  the  mouth  in  putrid fevers.  They  are
 also recommended  as useful in several of the arts.   The
 leaves or berries arc found a valuable substitute for nut
 galls in dyeing or making ink, they give a deep and per-
 manent black.  The plants in all their parts may be used
 as a succcdancum for oak bark in tanning, especially the
 Avhite glove leather.

   Rhus Radicans. Poison Vine.  Poison Creeper.

  Poison vine, has a slender ascending stem,  and fre-
 quently climbs up to the top of our tallest trees.  The
 flowers, whicii  appear in June, are  produced along  the
 whole course of the smaller branches; they are small,
 are of a light yelloAV colour, and have a delightful odour.

 Rhus  TrniiNUM.   Virginian Sumach.  Stags  Horn.
             Vinegar Plant.  The berries.

  This plant groAvs  naturally in almost every part of the
United States.  In  Virginia and Pennsylvania, it  rises
to the height of tAvelve or fifteen feet, with a trunk of six
or eight inches  in diameter.  The young branches are 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
821
 •ofcred with a soft velvet-like  doAvn, and from their re-
 semblance to the horn of a stag, the common people have
 given it the appellation of stag's horn.  The flowers are
 produced in close tufts  at the  end of the branches,  and
 are succeeded by seeds inclosed  in purple, woolly, succu-
 lent covers; so that the branches are of a beautiful colour
 in autumn.
   This plant resembles in its properties the rhus copal-
 linum and glabrum.

 Rhus Toxicodendron.  Poison Oak.  Sicamp Sumach.
                     The leaves.

   Poison  oak, a  low shrubby stalk: leaves trifoliate, with
 pretty large foot stalks,  lobate,  entire,  smooth, and
 someAvhat heart shaped.   The flowers come out from
 the sides of the stalks, in loose panicles, are small, and of
 an  herbaceous  colour.    This  plant,  sometimes called
 poison Avood, is so acrimonious, that the touching of  the
 leaves, or rubbing them on the skin, occasions itching,
 inflammation, and eruption.
   Dr. Alderson, of Hull, has given the leaves in four
 cases of paralysis, in  doses of half a grain, or a  grain,
 three times a day, with marked success;  all his patients
 recovered to a  certain degree, the use  of their limbs.
 The first symptom of amendment was always an unplea.-
 sant feeling of prickling or twitching in the paralytic
 limbs.  It has been given in large doses, without experi-
 encing the same success.   It was not however inactive.
 In one case the patient discontinued its use on account of
 the disagreeable prickling it occasioned;  and in general
 it operated as a  gentle laxative, notwithstanding the toijr
pid state of the bowels of such patients.

 Rhus Vernix.   Varnish Tree.  Poison Oak.  Swamp
              Sumach.  Wliite Sumach.

  Swamp  sumach is the largest of our native species of
 rhus; grows in SAvamps, and makes a fine appearance. In
New England this is commonly  called dogwood.
  The rhus radicans, toxieodendruin and  vernix, are
 highly poisonous, and are  particularly active in Avarm
weather, after a  meal, and Avhen the part touching the
plant is moist with sAveat.   The rhus vernix is more vio-
lent than the other species, the poison avMI be «ommuni-
        41 
322             MATEUIA  MEDICA.

cated by torching, and by smelling any part of the shrub,
or even by the unoke Avhile burning, or the  steams of a
decoction of the plant.   In about forty-eight hours an
inflammatory  eruption appears  on the surface  of the
skin, attended by pain, swelling, itching, and fever. The
emotions sometimes suppurate, after Avhich, the inflam-
mation subsides, and the ulcers heal in a short time, but
the patieut frequently remains blind for several days.'
It operates, hoAvever, someAvhat differently in  different
constitutions; and Avhat is singular, some constitutions
are incapable of being poisorted Avith it at all. The reme-
dies are bloodletting; Avhen the symptoms arc violent,
smart purging, especially by sea Avater; cold Avater, or
ice, or a  Avash of spirits of sal ammoniac  diluted  Avith
water, or of lead Avater applied to the parts.  Dr. Barton
has ahvays found a  solution  of corrosive  sublimate in
Avater, to answer the purpose  of effecting a  speedy cure.
   One case of the remarkable  effects of this poison has
fallen under the  observation  of the compiler  of this
volume.  The patient, having incautiously expressed a
quantity of the juiee from the leaves of a species of rhus,
was soon after attacked Avith violent inflammation, erup-
tion, and swelling of the whole body,  with fever and
extreme pain.   The wliole surface of the body, swelling
of the head, and blindness, exhibited the appearance of
the most malignant kind of small pox; and so obstinate
were the dangerous  symptoms, that with  the loss of his
hair and nails, it Avas several  Aveeks before a cure Avas
effected.
  Dr. T. Horsefield, in his excellent inaugural disserta-
tion on the rhus vernix, rhus radicans, and rhus glabrum,
declares his full  conviction, after many judicious 'ex-
periments, that the  rhus vernix  is the  true  varnish
tree of Japan, described by Kempfer.  He found that the
greatest quantity  of juice Avas obtained from  incisions
made in the tree about the middle  of May.   Thunbery,
and others, are also of opinion, that the Japanese varnish
so much  celebrated, may be  obtained  from our  native
rhus.  h is a subject undoubtedly worthy of attention.
  A singular  instance is related in the  Medical Reposi-
tory, of the poisonous  effects  of the rhus  vernix on a
swarm of bees, the Avhole of which the day after they
attached themselves to the branch, Avere found dead, and
their bodies turned black,  and swelled to  nearly twior
their natural size. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
323
          Ribes.   Currant tree.   The fruit.

  The fruit of the red, and white currants of our gardens
arc greatly esteemed for their pleasant and nutritive
qualities.
  In  fevers, the juice of currants,  when mixed with an
equal quantity of sugar, and made into a jelly, is cooling
and grateful to the stomach; being in a slight degree
astringent and antiseptic.   Currant wine, with the addi-
tion of water, is an excellent beverage during the heat
of summer.  Various receipts are given for making this
liquor in the Dom. Encyclopedia.
  Black  currant is found growing, naturally, near Ken-
nebeck river, and they are also cultivated in gardens.
  This fruit is reputed to be very Avholesome, and their
juice  is frequently boiled doAvn  into an extract or syrup
with  sugar, in ay hich  state it is  called rob, and much
esteemed  in sore throats of the  inflammatory kind—
The fruit is often put into rum or brandy instead of black
cherries.   An infusion of the young roots is useful in
fevers of the eruptive kind;  and in the dysenteric fevers
of cattle.

Ricinus Communis.   Palma Christi.   The seeds and
            their fixed oil, called castor oil.

  The palma christi is a native of the West Indies, and
flourishes extremely well in  almost every part  of  the
United States.  In Georgia and South Carolina, its growth
is very luxuriant, rising to the height of fifteen or twenty
feet, even without the  assistance of the hand of culture,
and exhibiting a beautiful appearance. In Mr. Drayton's
history of South Carolina, it is asserted  that its produce
is from one hundred to one  hundred and fifty gallons of
oil per acre.  Estimating this at four dollars per gallon,
the ordinary price, it will be found to  afford ample  en-
couragement for its extensive cultivation, especially since
the plant is not  liable to be greatly affected by the vicis-
situdes of the season. It ansAvers best in a rich sandy soil,
and the seed should be put in early in the spring.   The
seeds are about the size of small beans, which, in their
brittle shells, contain white kernels, of a SAveet, oily, but
somcAvhat nauseous taste.  The skin is extremely acrid,
and one or two of the seeds  sAvalloAved entire, operate as
a drastic purgative or emetic. 
324               MATERIA MEDICA,
   The kernels yield almost a fourth part of their weight
 of a bland fixed oil. commonly called castor oil.
   It is obtained from them either by expression or decoc-
 tion Avith water. The former method is practised in Eu-
 rope ; the latter in Jamaica.  To  increase the product,
 it is common to parch the seeds over the  fire, before the
 oil is extracted from them; but the oil thus obtained, is
 greatly inferior to that prepared by cold expression, or
 simple decoction, and is apt to become rancid.  The most
 eligible method  is, to  shell the seeds and boil  them in
 water;  as the oil  rises, skim it  off.  This oil is SAveet,
 without bad taste, or smell, and as clear as olive  oil; and
 may be kept much longer than that obtained by expres-
 sion, because  the water detains the  mucilage, which
 abounds in the expressed oil, and disposes it the sooner to
 become rancid, and unfit for internal use. Genuine castor
 oil is thick and viscid, of  a whitish  colour, insipid or
 sweetish to the taste, and without smell.
   Castor oil is a gentle and useful purgative; it  in gene-
 ral produces its effects without griping, and may be given
 with safety, Avhere acrid  purgatives are improper, as in
 colic, calculus, gonorrhoea, &c. It is also one of the best
 vermifuges, and a most efficacious  remedy for  the dry
 bellyache and iliac passion, when administered in proper
 doses, to children and adults; viz.  the dose for  the for-
 mer, from one to two tea spoonfuls; and the latter, a
 table spoonful, repeated every two or three hours.  Half
 a tea spoonful  has been given with success to new-born
 infants, for  lubricating the intestines, and expelling the
 meconium.  As patients in general have a great aversion
 to this oil in its pure  state, it may be taken sAvimming
 either in a glass of peppermint, or simple Avater, or in the
 form of an emulsion, Avith mucilage, or with the  addition
 of a small quantity of rum.

      Rosa  Gallica.  Red Rose.  The petals.

  The Gallica, French or common  red rose, has large,
 spreading, half double,  deep red flowers.   It has not the
fragrance of the damask rose, but the beautiful colour
of its petals, and their pleasant astringency, have  render-
ed them officinal.  It must  however be remarked, that
their odour is increased  by drying, Avhile that of the
damask and mess roses is almost destroyed. 
MATERIA medica.
S.2£
    Rosa Damascena.   Damask Rose.   The petals.

   This is  justly termed the queen of flowers, and both
 its elegance and fragrance have rendered it the favourite
 ornament of every garden.  It is sometimes called Dutch
 hundred leaved rose.   The damask rose yields on  distil-
 lation, a small portion of butyrous oil, together with a
 water, which  possesses the odour and taste of the  roses,
 and are generally esteemed for the agreeable flavour they
 impart to culinary preparations, and also to cordials.  A
 valuable perfume is obtained from the floAvers  by  distil-
 lation, called  ottar or essence of roses.   The true ottar
 of roses is  sold in the East Indies, at the exorbitant price
 of twenty  guineas and upwards per  ounce.  It is doubt-
 less the most clegaut perfume in vegetable nature; as a
 single drop imparts  its fragrance throughout the room
 or dAvelling, and suppresses other less agreeable odours.

   Rosa Canina.  Dog Rose.  The fruit, called hips.

   The  common  Avild briar, or hip tree, an indigenous
 plant, growing in woods and hedges.  In  the month of
 June it bears oval flowers, vvhieh are succeeded by red
 egg shaped berries.   It is the fruit of this shrub, that is
 employed  in Britain  by the apothecary for making the
 conserve of hips.   The pulp of the fruit, besides saccha-
 rine matter, contains citric acid, which gives it an acid
 taste.

 Rosmarinus Officinalis.  Rosemary.  The flowering
                        tops.

   Rosemary is a shrubby perennial, which groAvs wild in
 the south  of Europe, and is cultivated  in'gardens.   It
 has a fragrant smell, and a warm pungent bitterish  taste,
 approaching to those  of lavender : the leaves and tender
 tops are strongest; next  to these the cup of the floAver;
 the floAvers themselves are considerably the weakest, but
 most pleasant.  From the leaves, tops, and floAvers of
 this plant an essential oil is prepared; or, when distilled
 Avith spirit  of wine,  they afford the celebrated Hungary
 water.                                              *
  These liquid medicines are esteemed  excellent eepha-
Hcs, in nervous and hysterical affections, and have been 
326
MATERIA MEDICA.
  found eminently serviceable  in  apoplexies, palsies,  and
  rertigoes, in which cases they are sparingly applied to
  the temples and forehead.

        Rubia Tinctorum.   Madder.   The root.

    Madder is perennial, and groAvs Avild in  some parts of
  Britain, but  the dyers are principally  supplied with it
  from Zealand, where it is cultivated in  large quantities.
    The roots consist of articulated fibres, about the thick-
  ness of a quill, which are red throughout;  have a weak
  smell, and a  bitterish astringent taste.  For the use of
  dyers, they are first peeled and  dried, then bruised and
  packed in barrels.
    The root of the common or Avild madder is an excel-
  lent detergent, and aperient; on Avhich account it has
  been highly recommended in visceral obstructions, parti-
  cularly of the  uterus; in coagulations of the blood, in-
  duced either by falls  or bruises;  in the  beginning of
  dropsical complaints, and especially in  the rickets.  It
  may be given pulverized in doses of from five to fifteen
 grains to children; and from half to a Avhole drachm,
 three or four times in a day, to adults.   When taken in-
 ternally, it possesses the  remarkable  quality of tinging
 the urine of a deep red colour, and produces similar ef-
 fects on the bones  of animals, if eaten with other food.
 Madder  might be  profitably  cultivated in the United
 States.

 Rumex Aquaticus. Water Dock.  The root and leaves.

   It groAvs in peat marshes,  Avet ditches, pools, at the
 sides of rivers, and in shallow  water.   It flowers in July
 and August, and is succeeded by large seeds.  This plant
 affords a medicine of considerable efficacy, when applied
 externally, as a wash for  spongy, putrid gums; its roots
 when pulverized have been found excellent  for cleaning
 the teeth.   These roots are of a bitter, astringent taste,
 and have often been employed  for the cure of scorbutic
 and cutaneous disorders, whether administered internally,
 or  applied externally in ointments, cataplasms, lotions,
 or fomentations.   Decoctions of the leaves are, likcAvise,
an efficacious laxative, and have  been taken with advan-
tage in rheumatic pains, and chronical diseases occasion-
ed by costiveness, or by visceral obstructions.  The dose 
MATERIA  MEBICA.
327
usually given, is a decoction of half an ounce of the fresh
roots, or from one to tAvo drachms of them, in a dry state.
  The Indians, says Dr. Cutler, used  the root of water
dock with great success in cleansing foul ulcers.  It is
said, they endeavoured to keep it a secret from the Euro-
peans.
  Dr. Withering says, he saw an ill conditioned ulcer in
the mouth, which had destroyed the palate,  cured by
washing the mouth Avith a decoction  of this  root, and
drinking a small quantity of the same decoction daily.

  Rumex Acutus.   Narrow Dock,   l   ™
  Ri mex Crispus.   Curled Dock.    J

  These  grow about barn yards and in cultivated fields,
flowering in July.  The  roots of both species are some-
Avhat cathartic.  The seeds are  said to  have been given
with advantage in dysentery.   The fresh roots  bruised
and made into  an ointment or  decoction cure the itch.
Some instances have occurred among the country people,
of ill conditioned ulcers, and hard tumors apparently of
a cancerous nature, having been entirely removed by the
application of the bruised roots of dock or a decoction
of the same.

        Ruta Graveolens.  Rue.   The herb.

  This  is a  small  shrubby plant  met Avith in gardens,
where it flowers in June and holds its green leaves through
the winter.  It has a strong ungrateful smell, and a bit-
terish, penetrating taste; the leaves when in full vigour,
are extremely acrid, insomuch as to inflame and blister
the skin if much handled.  Former writers on Materia
Medica have entertained a very high opinion of  the me-
dicinal virtues of this plant, and it is still retained in the
Massachusetts and  other Pharmacopoeias.  It has  been
considered as powerfully stimulating, attenuating,  and
detergent, and hence, in cold phlegmatic habits it quick-
ens  the  circulations, dissolves tenacious juices, opens
obstructions of the  excretory glands, and promotes the
fluid secretions.   Boerhaave is extravagant in his praises
of the essential oil and distilled water of rue, for their
efficacy in promoting sAveat and perspiration, and for the
cure of the hysteric passion and of epilepsies, and for
expelling poison.   In modern practice, rue is not regard-
ed as possessing much power as a remedy. 
528
MATERIA  MEDICA.
   Saccharum Officinarum.  Sugar Cane.   Sugar.

   a.  brown, or impure.
   b.  double refined, or most pure.

   The sugar cane  groAvs wild in  both the Indies, and
 fOrms the principal object of cultivation  in the West-
 Indies.
   It  grows to the height of from three and a half to
 seven, and sometimes to tAvelve feet, in strong, deep lands.
 When ripe it assumes  a fine straw colour, and is usually
 out at the age of tAvelve or fifteen months, according to
 the season, or the nature of the soil.
   Sugar is principally obtained from the plant by boiling
 down its expressed juice, with the  addition of  a certain
 proportion of lime or potass, until the  greater part be
 disposed to concrete into brownish or yellowish crystalline
 grains.  In this dry state, it is called raw or muscovado
 sugar, and is  sent to Europe, where it is subsequently re-
 fined.  This is performed by dissolving it in Avater, boiling
 the solution Avith lime water, clarifying  it with blood or
 Avhite of  eggs, and straining it  through woollen  bags.
 The  solution, when in a proper state, is poured into corn-
 eal forms of unglazed  earthen Avare, where it concretes
 into a mass of irregular crystals.  The syrup, which has
 not been crystalized, is then permitted to run off through
 a hole in the apex of the cone.  The upper or broad end
 of the cone is then covered with moist clay, the water of
 which gradually penetrates into the sugar, and  displaces
 a quantity  of  syrup, Avhich  Avould otherwise be retained
 in it, and discolour  it.  It is then carefully dried, and
 gets the name of loaf or lump sugar.  When the solution,
 and other steps of the process are repeated, the sugar is
 then said to be double refined.  Sugar is sometimes made
 to assume  a  more  regular form of crystalization, by
 carrying the  evaporation only to  a certain length, and
 then permitting the  syrup to cool  sloAvly: In this form it
 is called brown or white sugar candy, according to the
 degree of its purity.
   Sugar is a very Avholesome and powerful article of
nourishment; for  during crop time, the  negroes in the
West  Indies,  notwithstanding their increased  labours,
always grow  fat.  It produces no particular effect as a
medicine, except that the  coarser  and impure kinds are 
materia  medica.
329
slightly purgative.  In pharmacy, it is principally em-
ployed to cover bad tastes, to give form, and to preserve
more active substances.  In using it for the last purpose,
we  must always  remember, that if the proportion of
sugar employed be too small, it will promote instead of
retarding the fermentation of the articles it  is intended
to preserve.  Molasses or treacle is a very impure syrup,
which remains after refining the sugar.  Treacle is ap-
plied to many  domestic economical purposes; and,  in
hospital practice, may supersede the use of sugar in many
instances.   Sugar candy is used  by persons labouring
under hoarseness  and coughs;  the violence of which it
contributes to relieve, by lubricating the membranes, and
promoting expectoration.

Sa lix Alba.   While Willow.  The bark, and the bark
                     of the root.

  The species or varieties of the avUIoav, whicii have been
noticed by botanical writers, are very numerous ; and it
is probable that the bark of all of them possesses proper-
ties in many respects similar.   In  1763, Mr. Stone,  an
English clergyman, presented a paper to the Royal Soci-
ety,  on the beneficial effects  of the salix alba, or white
willow, in intermittent fevers; and Dr. Cullen, on this
authority, and from  the sensible  qualities  it possesses,
recommends it, in his Materia Medica, as a substitute for
the  cinchona.  Mr. Stone gathered the bark in summer,
Avhen it was full of sap; dried  it by a gentle heat, and
gave a drachm  of it powdered every four hours, betwixt
the fits.  In a few obstinate cases he mixed it vyith one-
fifth part of the  cinchona.  Some judicious physicians
here, says Dr.  Cutler, made trial of the bark of Avhite
willow,  and recommend it  as a  valuable substitute for
the  Peruvian bark. They have used principally the bark
of the root.

 Salix Latifolia.  Broad leaved Willow.   The bark.

  This possesses  greater medicinal properties than any
of the other species of salix; and is now substituted by
many British physicians for the Peruvian bark.  Three
British pamphlets upon this subject have been published
within a few years ; the last, by Dr. Wilkinson (1803) is
replete witii encomiums on the remedy in question. This 
330
MATERIA  MEDICA.
species of salix may be distinguished by the shape of its
leaves from all others, except the salix pentandra, or bay
leaved willoAV.  But the leaves of the latter are smooth
and shining, and of a deeper green; nor have they the
doAvny appearance on the  under  surface, Avhich is so re-
markable in the salix caprea or laiifolia.  It  is found in
woods and hedges on hilly situations, and delights in cold,
clayey, moist ground.   The most proper time to gather
the bark, is in Mayor  June; it  should be cut in small
pieces, and dried in the shade.   This bark is very astrin-
gent to the taste,  and somewhat bitter,  but it loses tho
latter quality Avhen dry.   Dr.  Wilkinson directs  one
ounce and a half of the  coarse poAvder  of the  bark to be
infused in one quart of  Avater for six hours; then to boil
it over a gentle fire for a quarter of an hour, and strain
for use:  of this the ordinary dose is two or three large
spoonfuls, three or four times a day; but in the ague and
fever, one or  tAvo  ounces  may be given every  third hour,
in the interval of the fit.   The strong decoction of this
bark resembles port wine in colour, for which, by several
who have seen it in vials, it has been mistaken.
   Dr. Wilkinson relates sixteen cases of disease, in wliich
this bark Avas employed with  decided advantage, and
from Avhich he does not hesitate to assign to it virtues
greatly  superior to those of the  cinchona: in particular
he relates a case of extreme emaciation from an ulcerated
foot, Avhich was perfectly cured,  after having resisted the
continued use of Peruvian bark, and the exertion of the
physicians of two public charities.    It is doubtless a
remedy of considerable efficacy, and  is strongly recom-
mended on account of its cheapness,  and  the facility of
procuring it.  It appears to be useful in most cases where
the cinchona is usually  resorted to.
   The attention of medical men should be directed to the
inquiry,  whether the salix laiifolia may be found in the
United States, as  it promises to afford a valuable substi-
tute for  the  cinchona; the price of Avhich has become
exorbitant, and its quality greatly impaired by base and
fraudulent adulterations.

      Salvia Officinalis.   Sage.   The leaves.

   The leaves of the sage have a peculiar aromatic smell,
and a Avarm aromatic taste, with some degree of bitter-
ness and astringency. 
MATERIA MEDICA.               331
   In its effects, sage agrees with other aromatics.  It is
 stimulant, carminative, and tonic.   In cold, phlegmatic
 habits, it excites appetite, and proves  serviceable in de-
 bilities of the nervous system.  The best preparation for
 these purposes, is an infusion of the dry leaves, drank as
 tea; or a tincture, or extract, made Avith rectified spirit,
 taken in proper doses; these contain the whole virtues of
 the  sage; the distilled water and essential oil, only its
 warmth and aromatic quality, without any of its rough-
 ness or bitterness.
   Aqueous infusions of the leaves, with the addition of a
 little lemon juice, prove an useful diluting drink in febrile
 disorders, being sufficiently agreeable  to the  palate.

 Sambucus Nigra.    Common Elder.   The inner bark,
                 flowers, and berries.

   This tree  is frequent in hedges; it flowers  in  May,
 and  ripens its fruit in September.   The berries contain
 malic acid, and have a sweetish, not  unpleasant taste;
 nevertheless, eaten in substance, they offend the stomach.
   The expressed juice inspissated to the consistence of a
 rob, proves an useful aperient medicine; it opens obstruc-
 tions of the viscera, promotes the natural evacuations, and,
 if continued a length of time, does considerable service
 in various chronical disorders.
   The inner green  bark of its trunk is greatly cathartic.
 An infusion of it in Avine, or the expressed juice, in the
 dose of half an ounce or more, is said to purge moderate-
 ly; and, in smaller doses to prove an efficacious deobstru-
 ont,  capable of promoting all the fluid secretions.
   The young leaf  buds are strongly purgative, and act
 with so  much violence, as to be deservedly accounted
 unsafe.  The  flowers are very different in quality; these
 have an agreeable aromatic flavour, which they yield in
 distillation with  water, and  impart by  infusion''to vinous
 and spirituous liquors.

 Saxgitnaria Canadensis.   Blood  Root.   Puccoon.
                 The seeds and root.

  This is a common plant in  the United  States, and  is
 calied also red root, Indian paint, turmeric.  The leaves
 arc roundish, and deeply indented ; stems naked, support-
ing single floAvers; blossoms  Avhite.  It  grows in ricb 
332
MATERIA  MEDICA.
woodland,  and flowers  in April.  When the fresh root
is broken, a juice issues in large drops resembling blood.
The Indians used it for painting themselves, and highly
esteemed it for its medicinal  virtues.  It is emetic and
cathartic, but must be given with caution.   An infusion
of the root in rum or brandy, makes  a good bitter.  If ft
be planted in rich shady borders, it flourishes well in gar-
dens : and the large leaves and blossoms make an agree-
able appearance soon after the frost is out of the ground.
           [Cutler's account of indigenous vegetables.]
  From an  inaugural  dissertation  on Sanguinaria, by
Dr. Downy (Philadelphia, 1803), the folloAving useful in-
formation is obtained.  " The root is from one fourth to
half an inch in diameter, from three to four inches long,
sending forth numerous stringy fibres, two or three inches
long: a  coloured liquor is throAvn out Avhen the root is
broken.  The stalk is six or eight inches long, and of the
thickness of a quill.  The leaves are cordate and lobate.
  *< There is but one leaf to a stalk; on each lobe, one large
fibre, of a light yelloAV colour, may be seen running from
the stalk, and uiauy smaller ones branching from it in all
directions.   The  poAvdered root, in doses of  fifteen or
twenty grains, is powerfully emetic.  Eight grains is a
mild dose, and is but little inferior to ipecacuan.  It con-
tains a large proportion of  gum, some resin, and extrac-
tive matter.  The first and last are the most active parts.
  " The leaves and seeds of the plant are powerful and dif-
fusible stimuli; promote sAveat, and  are given in  Mary-
land with that view to horses, to promote the shedding of
their coats.  A tincture of the root is used to  prevent
the  intermittent fever; and  a decoction of the roots to
cure the dysentery.   In one case,  it operated powerfully
upon the uterus, and produced abortion ; hence it might
be useful in female obstructions."
  The seeds are said, by professor Barton (collection for
Materia Medica) to possess  nearly the same quality of
those of stramonium, viz.  they induce  fever, delirium,
dilated pupil, ke.  A deleterious property resides also in
the leaves.   The root  has  been used in gonorrhoea, for
the bites of serpents, and  in  bilious diseases; and the
juice is  employed  to destroy ay arts.  In  some parts of
New England, a spirituous tincture  of the roots is used
as a tonic bitter.  It is expectorant, and is apparently
allied in properties to rattle snake root.
  The medical properties of Sana, ainariahaxc been iavc- 
                  MATERIA medica.               333

 t.igated by numerous trials in the hands of Aaron Dexter,
 \L D. professor of chemistry and Materia Medica, uni-
 vcrsiiy at Cambridge.  The experimental tests of this
 gentleman, corroborated by those of other respectable
 physicians, afford the most satisfactory  evidence, that  it
 possesses very active powers, and that in doses  of one
 grain of the powdered root, or ten drops of a saturated
 tincture, it. proves  efficacious as a stimulant and diapho-
 retic.  But in huge doses, it excites nausea and vomiting,
 and  if incautiously administered, it is of dangerous ten-
 dency.
  It is said to be efficacious  in removing jaundice, and is
 believed to be a  chief ingredient in the quack  medicine
 ki.oYMi by the name of RaAVson's bitters.
  Dr. Israel Allen, of Sterling, and others, have had re-
 course to this medicine as  a substitute  for digitalis, in
 coughs and pneumonic complaints; and on some  occasions
 it is said to have proved equally efficacious, and  less debi-
 litating than foxglove, Avhen exhibited with the same pre-
 cautions.
  The dose of the saturated tincture of the root is from
 thirty to eighty drops twice in the day,  increasing or de-
 creasing the  number as particular  circumstances  may
 require.

 SAro.   Soaj).   Prepared Avith  oil of  olives and soda,
                  called castile soap.          *

  Soap, is a composition of fixed alkaline salt, in a state
 of combination with animal  or vegetable oil;  it i some-
 times dry, and  hard; at others, soft  and liquid; being
 manufactured various ways, with and without heat.
  The only dLfeivr.ee in the various kinds of manufac-
 tured soap, is, in the oils employed in the composition.
 Thus, the common hard soap is prepared  from the caustic
 Ivy. with the addition of talloAV.  The Venice, Alicant or
 Spanish soap, with olive oil;  green  soap, Avith that of
 rape, hemp, or linseed ; black soap, Avith train oil; and,
 lastly, the ordinary soft soap, is forced by using potass
 as a substitute  for soda, together with  talloAV, or train
 oil. to Avhich is added a large quantity of common salt.
  The perfumed compounds, known  under the  names of
palm, violet, almond, or other soaps, are prepared in  a.
similar manner; the  oils of such vegetable substances
being employed instead of those of the usual  kind. 
3 Si
MATERIA MEDICA.
  The alkaline soaps have  an unpleasant  taste, and  a
peculiar smeil; form a milky solution with water, and  a
transparent one with alcohol, and are powerfully detergent.
  The only species Avhich is officinal in our pharmaco-
poeia, is  that composed of olive oil and soda.  It is only
prepared in the countries which  produce the oil.  For
medicinal use, avc prefer the Spanish.
  It should be Avhite and hard, dissolved entirely in Avater
and  in alcohol, forming Avith  the former a milky, and
with the  latter a transparent solution ; the solution should
froth freely on agitation.   It should  not be variegated in
its colour, feel greasy or moist, or be covered Avith a saline
efflorescence ; and the solutions should not have a rancid
smell or taste.   Some of  the foreign  dispensatories are
so very particular about the nature  of the  soap, used in
medicine, as to direct it to be prepared by the apothecary,
by simply triturating (Avithout the  assistance of  heat)
Provence oil, with half its Aveight of a solution of soda,
of the specific gravity of 1.375, until they unite.
   Soap is decomposed by all the acids, earths, and earthy
and  metalline salts.  The acids combine with the alkali
and  separate the  oil.  The  earths form  an insoluble
earthy soap with  the oil,  and separate the  alkali; while
Avith the salts there is a mutual decomposition, their acid
combines Avith the alkali,  and earthy, or metalline soaps
are formed.
  The detergent  property of soap,  or the poAver it pos-
sesses of rendering oily and  resinous substances miscible
Avith water, has given rise  to very erroneous notions of
its medical virtues.   It Avas supposed to render such sub-
stances more readily soluble  in the juices of the stomach,
and in the fluids  of the body, and to  be well fitted for
dissolving such oily and unctuous  matters as it may meet
with in  the body,  attenuating viscid juices, opening ob-
structions of the viscera, and deterging all the vessels it
passes through.
  It has likeAvise been supposed  a poAverful menstruum
for the urinary  calculus; and a solution of  soap in lime
Avater, has been considered  as one of the strongest dis-
solvents  that can be taken with safety into the stomach;
for the virtue of this composition has been thought con-
siderably greater than the  aggregate of the dissolving
powers of the soap and lime water when unmixed.
  How.erroneous these ideas are, appears evidently, when
we recollect the very easy decomposition of soap, AvhicU 
                  MATERIA MEDICA.               335

renders it perfectly impossible that it should enter the
circulating system, or indeed come into contact with the
fluids even of the mouth, without being decomposed.  As
to the solution of soap  in lime water, Ave  may observe,
that it is only a clumsy Avay of exhibiting a solution of
soda;  for the soap is decomposed, an insoluble soap of
lime is formed, and the soda remains in solution.  The
internal use of soap should therefore be confined, in our
opinion, to the giving form to other substances Avhich arc
not decomposed by it, and to decompose metallic poisons
Avhen they have been taken into the stomach.  For this
last purpose^ a teacup full of a solution of soap, in four
times its weight of Avater, may be drank every three or
four minutes, until a sufficient quantity be  taken.
  Applied externally, it is a very poAverful detergent, and
combines  the stimulating properties of the  alkali with
the lubricating nature of the  oil.   In this Avay it often
proves a poAverful discutient, and an useful  application to
sprains and bruises.  A weak solution of it in Avater forms
an excellent injection in virulent  gonorrhoea.

        Scilla Maritima.  Squill.  The root.

  The  squill  is a perennial bulbous rooted plant, Avhich
grows wild on the sandy shores of Spain, Portugal, and
the Levant.  The best sea-onions  ought  to be sound,
fresh, and to contain a viscous juice; they  are nauseous,
bitter, and, if much handled, arc so acrid as to ulcerate
the skin.  It is more commonly  met Avith  in the shops,
in the form  of dried scales, Avhich should be brittle, se-
mipellucid,  smooth,  but marked with lines, and Avhen
cheAved, should feel tenacious, and taste very bitter, Avith-
out manifest acrimony.
  The active constituent of the squill is the  acrid prin-
ciple; and, therefore, it becomes almost inert by drying,
or by being  kept too long in the form of powder.  The
squill is a powerful stimulant, promoting the discharge
of urine; and if the  patient be  kept warm, a profuse
perspiration.
  It is  chiefly employed in cases Avhere the organs of
perspiration are clogged, or oppressed with mucus.
  When combined with nitre, in  the proportion of from
five to ten grains of the dried root, with a double quanti-
ty of nitre, it has been greatly extolled for its efficacy in
dropsical sAvcllings, and in inflammation of the kidneys. 
336
MATERIA  MEDIC V.
If the squill be taken in a large dose, it operates as an
emetic; and, in some persons, as a piirgativc.   In some
eases it produces even strangury, bloody urine, inflam-
mation, and erosion of the stomach.   In smaller doses,
however, it proves an useful expectorant  and diurrtir,
and is peculiarly serviceable in phlegmatic  habits, where
the lungs are oppressed with  viscid matter.
  The dose of squill is one or two grains, two or three
times a-day; and the most commodious form, unless when
designed as an emetic, is that of a bolus, or pill: though
Avhen mixed with honey into an oxymel, it affords an use
ful medicine in obstinate coughs.

Scutellaria Laterifloea.  Blue  Scull-cap. Hooded
              Willow Herb.   The plant.

  The Scutellaria is perennial, of Avhich there arc nume-
rous species indigenous to the United  States.  The plant
is found in great abundance  on the banks of rivers and
the borders of ponds; flowering in July or August. The
stem is square, branched, and attains  the height of from
one  to three feet.  The leaves are  opposite,  narrow-
pointed, on long foot stalks.   The racemes are axillary
and  lateral, bearing small violet coloured blossoms, in-
termixed Avith small leaves.   The  calyx is  hooded, or
helmet-formed, from Avhenee  originated the generic name
of Scull-cap or Scutellaria. It is iioav introduced here on
account of its recently reputed efficacy as an  antidote
against the effects of canine madness.   Should this plant
ultimately prove a successful remedy for a disease so
truly deplorable in its nature, and destructive in its con-
sequences, no encomiums can surpass its merit even if re-
corded in letters of gold.  The remedy  was for many years
a secret, in the possession of a family by  the  name of
LeAvis, in  West Chester county, and in 1809 it Avas pro-
mulgated  by Mr. R. Bowne,  of Ncav York, accompanied
with strong evidence  in  favour of its antidotal powers.
To the publication of Mr. B. [Med. Repos. Hexade 3.
Vol. 2. No. 3.] Avas annexed an accurate engraving of this
species of Scutellaria, yet in his description he erroneous-
ly attached to it a specific name belonging  to a different
species, the  Scutellaria Galericulata.   This last species
is to be distinguished by its axillary flowers in  pairs, on
pedicles from the ake of the leaves, and pendulous.
  With regard to the anti-rabid virtues of  Scutellaria, it 
MATERIA MEDICA.
337
 is to be observed, that subsequent to its promulgation, it
 has been investigated and tested by practical experiment,
 so far as opportunity and the nature of the subject per-
 mit.  A mass of evidence in favour of its efficacy may be
 found in a production  entitled, " Observations on Hydro-
 phobia," lately published by the compiler  of this work.
 As, however, it is still  doubtful, and yet desirable to have
 the fact clearly ascertained how far this plant is entitled
 to the character of a  specific preventative of hydropho-
 bia, every humane person must consider himself war-
 ranted in resorting to  the use of it on any occasion Avhich
 may offer, either of alleviating the misery and distress of
 mankind, or of arresting the devastation among the brute
 creation.
   This remedy is to be given in the form of strong infu-
 sion of the leaves every morning, fasting, and to be con-
 tinued for several  Avecks.  For  cattle  it may be  mixed
 with their food or drink.

      Secale  Cornutum.   Ergot, or Spurred Rye.

   Rye is subject to a disease, particularly Avhen  a hot
 summer succeeds a rainy spring : the spurious substance
 thus produced is in France called ergot, from its resem-
 olance to a cock's spur, but in England it is termed horn-
 ed rye, spur, or hornseed.  In Cullen's Materia Medica it
 is termed secale cornutum.   Bread made of this kind of
 rye has a nauseous acrid  taste,  and  produces  numerous
 fatal diseases, as spasm, extreme debility, and mortifica-
 tion of the extremities.  At various periods subsequent
 to the year 1596, the most alarming and destructive con-
 sequences Avere occasioned among the poor in France and
 England, by the use of bread made of such damaged
 grain.  Horned rye is said to have been equally fatal to
 brutes and foAvls, when fed with it by Avay of experiment.
   Rye is affected Avith  the disease in this country similar
 to that in Europe, particulaiiy summer rye, in low, wet
 situations.  7 he singular production called ergot, is found
 projecting from  among the leaves of the spike, .or ear;
 it is a long crooked excrescence, resembling the spur of a
 cock, pointed at its  extremities, of a  dark brown colour
 externally, and white Avithin.   Some  spikes are occupied
 wholly by spurs, while others have  two or three only,
interspersed with genuine seeds of rye.
         43 
338
materia medica.
  The medicinal properties  of this extraordinary sub-
stance Avere first announced  to the public  by Dr. John
Stearns, of Saratoga county, in a letter to Dr. Akei ly, of
NeAV York, in which the article is extolled for its powers,
ad partum accelerandum.   It is noAV satisfactorily ascer-
tained, that ergot is capable of exerting a specific action
on the uterus, and of augmenting the powers of this or-
gan during the efforts of parturition. Hence, in lingering
and laborious cases it is found to be an invaluable medi-
cine, speedily inducing forcible pains, and greatly expedit-
ingdelivery. For obvious reasons, hoAvever, it isproperto
caution against employing this poAverful parturient in cases
of preternatural presentation.   In the form of poAvder,it
is given from  five to ten or fifteen grains; but it has
sometimes been found more active in the form of  decoc-
tion,  half a drachm of the powder being gently boiled in
half a pint of Avater; one third may be given every twenty
minutes, until proper pains  shall  have commenced.  A
large dose of decoction, or of pulvis ad partum accekran-
dum  will excite nausea and vomiting.   No example of
ergot having induced deleterious effects, has come to our
knowledge; but there is much reason to suppose  that it
is capable of producing abortion at any stage of preg-
nancy.
   We have iioav the satisfaction  of deriving instruction
on this subject from the experience of some practitioners
of eminence in our own metropolis.  A writer  in the
New England  Medical Journal,  No. I.  Vol. I, asserts
that  it has not appeared to relax the rigidity of the mus-
cular fibres, " but it has almost uniformly increased the
efforts of the uterus to expel the foetus."  And also, that
occasions have  occurred, authorizing  a  caution  of the
highest importance in practice.  The powerful and con-
tinued efforts of the Rterus, from the effects of ergot,
prevent the retreat of the child's head  after being ad-
vanced,  and that the  unceasing  pressure  has in some
instances occasioned the death of the child.  Let this
circumstance, therefore, have  its due effect, and induce
the utmost precaution in the administration of this pow-
erful article.  In  one  case  of  amenorrhea, Dr. Beck-
man  administered one drachm of ergot in decoction;
bearing down pains immediately ensued, and the suppres-
sion  Avas the next day removed. It has been successfully
employed, on similar occasions,  by other practitioners.
HoAvever extraordinary it may appear, the assertion  is
from the most  creditable source, that ergot has often 
materia  medica.
339
proved one of the most efficacious remedies in monorrha-
gia in all its stages;  and moreover, it restrains in a re-
markable manner the profusio uterina following the sepa-
ration of the placenta in parturition.
  In two instances ergot is stated to  have been adminis-
tered in considerable quantities during the early stage of
pre •»■ nancy.  In one case, about four drachms were taken
witiiiii  a few days; the consequence was regular pressing
down pains, resembling the severest throes of parturi-
tion ; and these recurred with  every repetition of the
medicine, yet on examination, the os uteri was not much
dilated.  In neither case was the natural term of gesta-
tion interrupted by the operation of the medicine.
  The  fact has long been  known among our farmers,
that rye itself possesses a quality of inducing abortion in
females of the animal tribe, and  they carefully withhold
that grain from such, during their periods of gestation.

Sesamum Ouientale.  Oily Grain.  Benne. The leaves
                     aud seeds.

  This originally  an African plant  has become well
known by the name of benne in South  Carolina and Geor-
gia, or the Vangloe of the West Indies.   It is an annual
plant, rising with an herbaceous four cornered stalk, two
feet high, sending  out a feAV short side branches ; the
leaves are oblong, oval, a little hairy, and stand opposite.
The flowers terminate the stalk in loose spikes ; they are
small, of a dirty white colour, shaped somewhat like those
of foxglove.  After the flowers  are  past, germen turns
to an oval acute pointed capsula, with four cells filled
Avith oval compressed seeds, which ripen in autumn.  Of
late years the seeds have been introduced into the states
of Georgia and South Carolina, by the African negroes,
Avhere the plant succeeds extremely well; and they boil
a handful of the seeds  Avith their allowance  of Indian
corn, which  forms a nourishing food.  But the excellency
of these seeds, consists in their yielding a larger propor-
tion of oil than any other  vegetable Avith which Ave are
acquainted.   One hundred weight of seed will produce
ninety  pounds of oil of an equal and even pref Table qua-
lity to Florence oil.  It  will keen good many years with-
out contracting any rancid  smeil or taste, and  when the
warm  taste  of the seed, discovered in the  oil when first
drawn, is worn off, it becomes quite mild, and is found to 
3A0              MATERIA MEDICA.
 be a pleasant and agreeable substitute for all the purpose*
 of salad oil.  The benne oil in some parts of the southern
 states is  esteemed as a  gentle laxative, in those cases
 where the more nauseous castor oil is usually employed.
 It also burns Avell in lamps.  The leaves of this plant by
 infusion or decoction are found to afford an excellent mu-
 cilage ; Avell adapted to all the intentions  of that class of
 remedies, and in 1803, Avas  used with  the most marked
 good effect, in an epidemic dysentery in South Carolina.
 Considering, therefore, the great utility and importance
 of the benne plant, its cultivation by our patriotic plant-
 ers cannot be too strongly recommended.

 Sinapis Alua. While Mustard.           ^
 Sinapis Nigra. Black or common Mustard. J Tne seeds*

   These plants  are both annual, both grow wild in Eng-
 land, and possess similar virtues.   They produce small
 round compressed  seeds, Avhich have  an acrid  bitterish.
 taste, and a pungent smell Avhen reduced to powder. The
 common mustard has blackish seeds, and is more pungent
 than the white.  They impart  their taste and  smell in
 perfection to aqueous liquors, Avhile rectified spirit ex-
 tracts extremely little of either : The Avhole of  the pun-
 gency arises Avith water in  distillation.  Committed to
 the press, they yield a considerable quantity of a  soft insi-
 pid oil, perfectly void  of acrimony; the cake left after
 the expression,  is more pungent than the mustard itself.
   The  imported  mustard,  so  common  at  tables, and
 wliich is generally prefered to our own, is the pulverized
 seed of the black species; the difference consists only in
 the preparation of the powder.
  The seeds  unbruised are  frequently given in palsies
 and chronic rheumatisms, and are found beneficial. They
 may be taken in the quantity of a table spoonful or more,
 and will gently relax the  bowels.   Rheumatic  pains in
 the stomaeh are often relieved by taking them in brandy.
 The powdered seeds, with crumbs of bread and  vinegar,
 are made into cataplasms, and applied to the soles of the
 feet in fevers, when stimulants are necessary.  They are
also topically applied in fixed rheumatic and sciatic pains.
Dr. Withering says, wherever we want a strong stimu-
lus, that acts upon the  nervous  system  without  exciting
much heat, we know none preferable to the mustard seed.
 An infusion of the seed, given in large quantities, vomits; 
MATERIA  medica.
341
 but, in smaller doses,  operates as an  aperient and diu-
 retic.  Mustard whey, with wine, is used as a drink  in
 fevers.  Its acrimony is said to consist in an essential oil.
   Mustard whey is made by boiling one  and half ounce
 of the bruised seeds in a pint of milk, and as much water,
 till  the curd be  perfectly separated.  This is  perhaps
 the most elegant form in  Avhich mustard can be exhibit-
 ed.   A little sugar may  he added, and an ordinary tea-
 cup full given four or five times a day in eases of Ioav
 nervous fever, greatly Avarms and invigorates the habit,
 and promotes the different secretions.

   Smilax Sarsaparilla.   Sarsaparilla.  The root.

   This root is brought from the Spanish West Indies.  It
 consists of a great number of long strings hanging from
 one head:  the long roots, the only parts made use of, are
 of a blackish colour,  on  the outside,  and Avhite  within,
 about the thickness of a goose quill.
   They have a glutinous, bitterish, not ungrateful taste,
 and no smell.  It was first brought into Europe by the
 Spaniards,  about the  year  1563,  with the character of
 being a specific for the cure of the lues venerea, a disease
 which made its appearance  a little before that time; and
 likewise of several obstinate chronic  diseases.   It has
 been combined Avith  sassafras,  guaiacum, liquorice, and
 other substances, in a decoction of the woods. It is,  Iioav-
 ever, a very inert, mucilaginous substance; and the dia-
 phoresis, Avhich it is sometimes supposed to produce, is
 entirely OAving to the warm and diluent regimen employ-
 ed at the same time.   Sarsaparilla is found in abundance
 in the vicinity of the Ohio river.

 Solanum Dulcamara.   Bitter  Sweet.   Woody Night
                 Shade.   The twigs.

   This  plant grows  wild  in moist hedges; has  Avoody,
 brittle stalks, and climbs on the bushes.   But if there
 be no shrubs in their vicinity, the shoots creep along the
ground, and frequently strike new roots.  It floAvers in
the months of June and July.   The taste of the tAvigs
and roots, as the name of the plant expresses it,  is both
biiter and sweet;  the bitterness being first perceived, and
the SAveetness afterAvards.
  The dulcamaru Avas formeiiy  much  esteemed  as  a
powerful medicine.  It is generally said te occasion some 
 3i2              MATERIA MEDICA.

 considerable evacuation by say cat, urine, or stool, particu-
 larly the latter.  It has been  recommended  as a discu-
 tient and resolvent medicine ; and it has been said to have
 been attended with  good effects in obstinate cutaneous
 diseases of the herpetic kind.  It has also been used, and
 sometimes Avith advantage, in cases of rheumatism, jaun-
 dice, and obstructed menstruation.
   The twigs are principally employed under the form of
 watery infusion, in doses of two teaeupfuls, morning and
 evening.   Dr. Hill  has found it very efficacious in the
 asthma,

 Sophora Tinctoria.  I Ann.   ~\ Wild  Indigo.  Indigo
 Podalyria Tinctoria.  Mich.)       Weed.
                  The root and plant.

   This vegetable  is indigenous,  and supposed to be ex-
 clusively American.   In  Dr.  Cutler's catalogue  it is
 called Indigo fera,  and it is sometimes known by the
 name of broom, but more commonly  Indigo weed.  It is
 perennial, growing in great  abundance in almost every
 barren  pasture and in woods.   The stalk rises to two
 feet or  more, sending off  numerous branches.   The
 leaves are small, ternate, inversely heart shaped, and ses-
 sile.  In July and August all its branches display, but-
 terfly shaped, golden coloured blossoms, which render the
 plant xery conspicuous.  The  seed vessels are inflated,
 containing numerous seeds.   The root is ligneous, rough,
 and irregular in shape, of a dark brown colour externally,
 and sending off many long slender branches.   Its taste is
 unpleasant, subacrid, and nauseous, very  similar to that
 of ipecacuan.   The particular medical properties of indi-
 go weed are yet to be ascertained; that it possesses great
 activity is unquestionably true;  those who in  the spring
 season have made the young shoots a substitute for aspa-
 ragus experienced its drastic evacuating poAvers.  In the
 hands of some physicians it is found to operate in a large
 dose, with much  severity  as an emetic and cathartic.
 But a weak decoction of the root  has frequently  been
 given Avith the effect only of a  mild laxative.   A decoc-
 tion of the bark of the root  has, it is said, been made
 known by an empiric experienced in its use, as a remedy
 in scarlatina anginosa, and  its employment has been ex-
tended in a few jnstances to typhus  or putrid fever  with
 such good effect  as to encourage farther trials.   An 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
3*3
 experienced physician considers it as  an excellent anti-
 septic and febrifuge, prefering it in some fevers to Peru-
 vian  bark.   As an external application,  its  antiseptic
 qualities  ought to be more extensively  known.  In the
 form of fomentation or cataplasm, it has proved eminent-
 ly beneficial when applied  to phagedenic and gangrenous
 ulcers, especially if the decoction be administered inter-
 nally at the same time.
   A liniment prepared by  simmering the cortical part of
 the root in cream, has been found an efficacious applica-
 tion to sore nipples and ulcerated breasts.  A violet or
 pale blue colour has been  prepared from the leaves and
 small branches of this plant, and used as a substitute for
 indigo.   The leaves turn black Avhen dried.

 Spigelia Marilandica.   Carolina Pink.   The  root.

   This plant is perennial,  and grows wild in most of our
 southern states.  The roots are celebrated as an anthel-
 mintic, particularly for the expulsion  of himbrici  from
 the alimentary canal.  Every part is possessed of the
 anthelmintic property, though the root is most active. It
 is commonly administered  in the  form  of infusion; an
 emetic is  generally premised, and its purgative effect as-
 sisted by  some suitable addition, as senna or jalap.  By
 some  the  poAvdered root is  directed in doses often or fif-
 teen grains; Avhile others  prescribe it in drachm doses.
 But it should be observed  that according to the late Dr.
 Lining, of Charleston, when exhibited in large doses, and
 without proper precautions, it sometimes produces very
 singular and distressing effects upon the nervous system,
 such as vertigo, pains  over the eyes, and dilated pupil.
 As a vermifuge, spigelia  has acquired  a superior confi-
 dence, and it often affords relief and effects a cure, in
 cases  where no Avorms are discharged.   It is supposed by
 Dr. Barton, that it will be  found  highly useful in  some
 febrile diseases of children,  unaccompanied by worms,
 especially in the insidious remittent Avhich so frequently
 lays the foundation of dropsy of the brain.

 SriRiEA Trifoliata.  Indian Physic.  Ipecacuan, &c.
                      The root.

  This shrub groAvs plentifully in the United States, and
is one of the few active  plants of the 'elass icosaudria. 
3ii
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 The root, the part  employed, consists, like that  of th*
 officinal Ipecacuan,  of a bark,  and woody part.   The
 active povver seems to reside exclusively in the bark.  It
 is a safe and efficacious emetic, in doses of about thirty
 grains.  It also seems to possess a tonic power, and has
 accordingly been thought peculiarly beneficial in inter-
 mittent fevers.   It  is sometimes very injudiciously em-
 ployed by the  country people, insomuch  that they are
 obliged to apply for  medical aid, to  remove the debility
 induced by the large doses of the root which they employ.
 Another species, it is said, grows  in Kentucky, which is
 still more valuable as an emetic, than the one under notice.

            Spongia Officinalis.   Sponge.

   Sponge is principally found in the Mediterranean and
 Red Seas.  It was long supposed to be  a vegetable pro-
 duction, but is iioav universally allowed to belong to that
 remarkable class of animals called Zoophytes, Avhich are
 negatively characterized by Cuvier,  as having no  verte-
 brae, no  sanguiferous vessels, no spinal marrow, and no
 articulated limbs.
   Sponge is a soft, light,  very porous and  compressible
 substance, which readily imbibes water.  It is of  exten-
 sive utility in domestic economy, medicine, and surgery.
 As it  strongly adheres to the orifices of wounded vessels,
 it is advantageously employed as a styptic; often prevent-
 ing the effusion of blood more effectually than the puff
 ball or agaric.
   From its property of imbibing and distending by mois-
 ture, it is sometimes made use of as a tent for dilating
 wounds and  ulcers.   To  fit it for these intentions, the
 sponge is immersed in  melted wax, aud subjected to pres-
 sure till oool.  In this state it may be easily formed into
 proper tents, so  as  to be introduced where necessary.
 And from the gradual melting of the  wax in consequence
 of the heat of the part, a dilatation of course takes place.
   Spohgc, cut in pieces, and burnt in a close iron vessel,
till it  become black and friable, and afterwards reduced
to a very fine powder, has been successfully  administered
internally, in scrofulous complaints and cutaneous disea-
ses, in doses of one scruple  and upAvards; it is also con-
sidered as a specific, on account  of its efficacy in removing
the glandular sAvellings of  the neck, knoAvn under the
name  of bronchocele.  But  the virtues of  burnt sponge 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
3A5
  probalffy depend on  the presence of a little  alkali.   It
  also contains charcoal; and its  use may be entirely su-
  perseded by these substances, which may be obtained in
  other Avays, and at a much cheaper rate.
    If sponge be cut  in small  pieces, fried, or dipped in
  honey, or salt butter, and given to rats, it distends their
  bowels, and effectually destroys those animals.

       Stannum.  Tin.  The filings and powder.

   Tin is one of the imperfect metals, and is found most
  frequently  mixed with other metallic  ores.  It is now
  only used as an  anthelmintic, especially in cases of tamia,
  and probably acts mechanically.
   Tin is reduced to powder, consisting  of small rounded
 particles, by heating  it nearly to its melting point, and
 agitating it briskly.  This poAvder is often employed as
 a remedy against Avorins, particularly the flat kind, which
 too often elude the force of other medicines.   The gene-
 ral dose is  from a scruple  to a drachm ; but Dr. Alston
 assures  us, in  the Edinburgh Essays, that its success
 depends on its  being given in much  larger  quantities.
 lie directs  an ounce of the powder on an empty stomach,
 mixed with four ounces of molasses; next day, half an
 ounce; and  the day folloAving, half an ounce more; after
 which, a cathartic is  administered.  He says the worms
 are usually voided during the operation  of the  purge, but
 that  pains  of the stomach  occasioned  by them, are re-
 moved almost immediately upon the first dose of the tin.
 This practice is sometimes successful in the expulsion of
 tsenia, but  by no  means so frequently as  Dr. Alston's
 observations would lead us to hope.

 Statice Ltmonium.  Marsh Rosemary.   Lavender
          Thrift.  Sea Lavender.  The root.

   This is well known in the New England States.   It is
 indigenous and perennial, growing on the sea shore, iu
 salt marshes ; and the fissures or clifts of rocks near the
 sea coaste it is in flower from July to September.   The
 stem  is naked, branched, and about a  foot high.   The
 radical leaves are long, pointed, and grow on foot stalks.
 The flowers are blue, and grow on long' spikes on  the
 tops of the branches. The roots of this plant are powerful-
ly astringent,  A decoction of tkeui is given and used as a 
3i€
MATERIA  MEDICA.
gargle with success in cankers and ulcerated sore throats.
We learn from an authentic source, that  the late Dr.
Hews, of Providence, held the root of this  plant in high
estimation in cases of aphthous states of fever accompa-
nying dysentery, ulcerous sore throats, or scarlatina an-
ginosa.   He valued it as  the greatest antiseptic  he was
acquainted with, and said be could administer it in cases
Avhere the bark Avas inadmissible.
  Dr. William Baylies, of Dighton, in a communication
to the Massachusetts  Medical Society, makes favourable
mention of this root from his experience in the ulcerated
sore throat, as it appealed in that toAvn in 1785 and 1786.
This  judicious physician observes,  " Among the many
medicines in high estimation with the common  people,
and used  by them without the advice of the physician, I
know of none worth the least consideration,  excepting the
marsh-rosemary, or, as it is commonly called, marsh root.
This  in a large dose operates as a vomit;  in a smaller,
proves a powerful expectorant; and from its sensible
qualities, one  would  suppose it  to  possess considerable
antiseptic powers.  I am well assured it was the basis of
a medicine used by a  physician in Providence, with very
great success in this complaint. It is undoubtedly of great
efficacy, and deserves a more thorough investigation."

Styrax Benzoin. Benjamin Tree.  The balsam, called
                       benzoin.

   This balsam, obtained by exudation, is in brittle mas-
ses composed of brown and white fragments;  its smell is
fragrant; it has little taste.  It consists almost wholly of
resin, and is therefore nearly entirely soluble in alcohol.
It likewise contains a portion of a  peculiar acid, which,
as it  exists in greater quantity in it than  in  any other
vegetable matter, is named acid of benzoin (flowers of
benzoin).  It  is obtained from  it by sublimation; is in
white, brilliant scales ; retains the flavour of the benzoin;
and, with acidity,  has also a  degree of pungency.  Ben-
zoin is rarely employed  in medicine: its acid is used as
an  expectorant in asthma, in  a dose of ten or  fifteen
grains, but it is probably a medicine of little poAver.  It
enters into the composition of the ammoniated and cam-
phorated tinctures of opium.
   Storax resembles benzoin  in its virtues.   It Avas for-
merly used as an expectorant, but is now little regarded. 
materia  medica.               347
 Sub Acetis Cupri.   Sub Acetite of Copper.   JErugo.
                      Verdcgris.

   This substance is a kind of rust of copper, prepared by
 ©orroding the metal with vinegar. It is rarely employed
 internally, but being the basis of an  empirical preventa-
 tive of hydrophobia, the author of it asserts, that he  is
 in the practice of giving not  less than one hundred and
 eighty grains conjoined with half an  ounce of calomel for
 one dose.  And according to  Dr. Parr, four drachms of
 this very active substance have  been swallowed without
 any other inconvenience than the present vomiting, yet in
 smaller  doses it excites the most violent symptoms, and
 often proves fatal.   Applied externally it proves a mild
 escharotic, aud is  employed  advantageously to callous
 edges, and  fungous flesh in wounds, and to scorbutic ulcers
 of the mouth, and deserves to  be tried in cancerous sores.
 Verdcgris  has been successfully applied to incipient chan-
 cres ; by its acting as a caustic, and completely destroying
 the diseased surface.  Equal parts of verdegris and pow-
 dered savine will effectually remove warts and  other ex-
 crescences from the skin, and the same compound is the
 best application to promote the discharge from  issues.

   Sub Boras Sodje.   Sub Borate of Soda.  Borax.

  This salt, consisting of  boracic acid, united Avith soda,
 (the soda being slightly in excess) is brought from Thibet,
 where it is  found  in a native state.  It is purified in Eu-
rope by crystalization; its taste  is cool;  it is soluble in
 eighteen parts of cold and  six of hot  Avater. It is decom-
 posed by several of the acids.
  The medicinal  virtues of borax have not been suffici-
 ently ascertained  by experience; it is supposed  to be, in
 doses of  half a drachin or two scruples, diuretic, emme-
 nagogue, and a promoter of delivery.  A solution of borax
in water, is the best of all  applications, for healing aph-
thous crusts, or the  thrush in  the  mouths and fauces of
children; or it maybe applied for the same  purpose in
the form of poAvder mixed Avith sugar.    There is  not
perhaps a more balsamic, or useful  application  to  sore
nipples, or chopped lips and hands in winter, than a few
grains of borax dissolved in warm water, with the addi-
tion of a little pure honey*.  There are strong reasons to 
3*8              MATERIA MEDICA.
believe, that the virtues of borax are much greater than
they are in general supposed to be : and that it  may be
more extensively used with advantage.  As an astringent
gargle in cases  of salivation  by mercury, and in other
affections of the mouth and throat, a  mixture of borax
with water and  honey is  undoubtedly  superior to every.
other.

                 Succinum.  Amber.

  This is a 9olid, brittle, bituminous substance, dug out
of the earth, or found upon  the  sea shores; particularly
along the coast of Polish  Russia and Pomerania. It is of
a  white yelloAV, or broAvn  colour; sometimes opaque,
sometimes very clear and transparent* By distillation it
affords a  little acetous acid, an essential oil,  and a pecu-
liar acid, named from it, succinic.
  Amber is regarded only for the empyreumatie oil and
acid obtained from it.

Super Sulphas Alvmtsm et Potassjb.   Super Sul-
         phate of Alumina and Potass.  Alum.

  This is a salt composed chiefly of argillaceous earth and
sulphuric acid,  the  acid  being  in excess.   It likewise
contains a smaller portion of potass,  and frequently of
ammonia.  It is found in a native state, or  is prepared
by exposing alum ores, Avhich are native compounds  of
argillaceous earth and sulphur, to atmospheric air; the
sulphur absorbing oxygen,  forms sulphuric  acid, Avhich
unites with the argillaceous  earth, and the formation of
the alum is completed by the addition of potass or ammo-
nia.   It is then obtained pure by crystalization.
  This salt is in large transparent masses; it has a styp-
tic taste, Avith a degree of sweetness.  From the excess
of its acid, it reddens the vegetable eolours.  It is soluble
in eighteen parts of cold, and in  less  than two of boil-
ing water. The variety termed roche or rock  alum (alum
rupeum)  has a reddish  colour, from the presence of a
portion of iron, but its other properties are the same  as
those of common alliim.
  Alum, from its astringent power, is employed to check
hcemorrhagies and serous evacuations; it is thus given
in menorrhagia, kucorrhcea, and diabetes.   It has like-
wise been used,  though less frequently, in intermittent 
MATERIA  medica.
3*9
fever,  malignant small  pox, and colica pictonum.  Its
dose is fro.i five to fifteen grains.   The addition of an
aromatic i > generally necessary, to prevent it from ex-
citing nausea, when it is  given in the solid form.  The
best form  of administering it, hoAvever, is that of the
alum whey, prepared by adding two drachms of powdered
alum to a pint of hot milk ; the dose of this  is three or
four ounces.   In uterine haemorrhage,  and in  diabetes,
this whey taken to the quantity of three or four ounces,
three times a day, has been attended with very favoura-
ble effects.
   It is also used externally, in astringent and  repellent
lotions and collyria.  But burnt alum  taken internally,
has  been highly extolled in cases of colic.  In such in-
stances, Avhen taken to the extent of a scruple for a dose,
it has been said  gently to  move the  belly, and give very
great relief from the severe pain.   Burnt alum is  applied
externally, as a gentle escharotic, to fungous ulcers.

Sulphas  Baryta.   Sulphate of Barytes.  Ponderous
                        Spar.

   This salt has been omitted in the list of the Materia
Medica of the Edinburgh college ;  but they afterwards
employ it for the preparation of the muriate of barytes.
It is found in  great abundance in many countries, either
in a loose earthy form, or compact, or foliated, or striat-
ed, or  acicular.
   The foliated is in general the purest.   Heated to red-
ness Avith charcoal, it is converted into a sulphuret, and
it may be decomposed either by boiling, or in a crucible,
with the carbonates of potass and of soda.  It contains
about eighty four of barytes, and sixteen of sulphuric acid
and water.

  Sulphas Cupri.   Sulphate of Copper.  Blue Vitriol.

   This article is made by stratifying plates of copper
with the sulphur; and, on slow combustion, the  sulphu-
ric acid corrodes the copper : the metal is then boiled in
Avater, till  the saline particles be dissolved;  Avhen, after
repeated solution, and subsequent evaporation, the Avhole
is reduced  to the chrystaline point.
   The sulphate of copper has a strong, styptic, metallic
taste, and is  chiefly used externally as an escharotio for 
550
materia medica.
destroying warts, callous edges, and  fungous cxercseeu.
ces, as a stimulant application to  ill-conditioned ulcers,
and as a styptic to bleeding surfaces.   Taken internally*
it operates, in very small doses, as a xery powerful eme-
tic.   Dr. Marryalt, an  English  physician,  employed
greatly to his satisfaction tiie  vitriolum cupri as an eme-
tic  in  phthisical cases.   Dr. Senter, late of Newport,
considered blue vitriol as one of the most safe and effica-
cious emetics in the same disease, joined with ipecacuan,
that the materia medica affords; and advises from seven
to ten grains of each, made up into pills, to be taken in
the morning, fasting, without drinking any thing after-
wards.   The good effects  of  this prescription is  amply
attested  by Dr. Thomas, author  of Modern Practice,
who has adopted it in  many cases of incipient phthisis
pulmonalis with infinite advantage.   When  given alone,
the dose is from three grains to ten  or fifteen, dissolved
in tAvo or three ounces of water.  A  vomiting is excited
soon after it is received into the  stomach, on whicii the
patient may drink a pint of water.  In phthisis pulmona-
lis the emetic  is directed to be given every  second or
third day;  and the same  medicine  is recommended in
intermittent fever and epilepsy.

Sulphas Magnesije.   Sulphate of Magnesia.  Sal
          Catharticus,Amarus.  Epsom Salt.

  This salt is  found in  mineral  waters, Avhence it has
been extracted, but is at present principally prepared by
art, from the  liquor remaining after the crystalization
of muriate of soda (sea salt) from sea water, which holds
a quantity of muriate of magnesia dissolved.  It is com-
monly in needle-like crystals, and deliquescent; but when
pure, it  forms  large, regular crystals, which are  rather
efflorescent.  They are soluble in nearly an equal Aveight
of Avater. Their taste is extremely bitter.
  This salt  is used as a purgative, in a dose of an ounce
or more, dissolved in a large quantity of Avater.  Though
its taste is bitter, it has  been remarked, that it remains
better on the stomach than many other cathartics, espe-
cially when given in small  repeated doses.   Exhibited in
this manner, it has been  particularly recommended in
ileus and colica pictonum.   It is a mild and gentle pur-
gative,  operating Avith sufficient efficacy, and in general,
Avith ease and safety, rarely occasioning any gripes, sick- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
351
ness, or the other inconveniences Avith  which purgatives
of the resinous kind are too often  accompanied.   Somo
allege that this salt has a peculiar effect in allaying pain,
as in colic, even independently of evacuation.
  Epsom  salt may be manufactured from the bittern, or
bitter water Avhich remains  in  the vats, after the crys-
talization  of common salts by evaporation.  The Rev.
Mr. E.  Briggs,  of Chatham, county  of Barnstable, is
probably the only person who has hitherto successfully
attempted the manufacture of this domestic article.  Ho
deposits vessels containing the bitter water (leaden ves-
sels are  preferable) in a cellar, or  other  cool place, out
of the influence of the sun; this salt will collect upon the
bottoms and sides of them, in very considerable quanti-
ties, baying the appearance of half melted snoAV:  in this
state it is  to be laid aside until the weather becomes cold,
and then crystalized afresh.  The  salt thus procured, is
found to be genuine sulphas magnesice, and equal in qua-
lity to any imported from Europe.

Sulphur  Suhlimatum.   Sublimed Sulphur.  Flowers
                     of Sulphur.

  Sulphur is a simple,  inflammable substance, found in
nature nearly pure,  and likewise  in  combination  Avith
several of the metals.  The sulphur of commerce is the
produce of volcanic countries.  It is naturally mixed with
earthy matter, from Avhich it is freed by sublimation.
  Pure  sulphur is of a light yellow colour;  is insipid;
has a faint smell, Avhen rubbed or heated; is very  fusible
and volatile; and, when heated in atmospheric air, burns
with a blue flame, and suffocating fumes.  It is insoluble
in water or alcohol, but is dissolved by oils, and combines
with the alkalis, several of the earths, metals, and me-
tallic oxides.
  Pure  sulphur loosens the belly, and  promotes insensi-
ble  perspiration : it seems to pass  through  the Avhole
habit, and manifestly transpires through the pores of the
skin, as appears  from the sulphurous smell of persons
who have taken it,  and from  silver  in their pockets
imbibing a blackish cast, whicii is the knoAvn  effect of
sulphurous fumes.   It is a celebrated remedy  against
cutaneous diseases, both given internally, and externally
applied.   It has likewise been recommended in conghs,
asthmas, and other disorders of the breast and lungs : and 
352
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  particularly in catarrhs of the  chronic  kind.  But it ia
  probable, that the benefit derived from it in these  cases,
  is principally, if not entirely, OAving to its operation as a
  gentle laxative.  Aud with this  intention it  is frequently-
  used with great advantage  in  hemorrhoidal  affections,
  and many other diseases in which it is proper to keep the
  belly gently open.  The dose is two or three drachms, in
  honey or molasses.

  SfuLFHURETUM Antimonii.   Sulphuret  of Antimony.
                   Antimony.  Stibium.

    Antimony, in the modern nomenclature,  is the  name
v  given to a peculiar metal.  This metal is found in nature,
  most abundantly combined with sulphur; and to this ore,
  the name of Antimony Avas once generally given.  T©
  distinguish it from the pure metal, it  is named Crude
  Antimony, or more properly, native sulphuret of antimo-
  ny, the simple name, antimonium  stibium,  being appro-
  priated to the metal itself.
    The native sulphuret is of a gray blue colour; has a
  shining surface, and  striated texture.  To  free  it  from
  the earthy matters with whieh it is mixed, when dug
  from the  earth, it is  fused.  Its lustre is greater, the
  more it is purified.  The proportions of its principles are
  various; sometimes they are nearly equal;  in other spe-
  cimens the quantity of metal is  larger.
    The pure metal obtained from the ore, is  of a  silvery,
  white colour, and plated texture, moderately hard, and
  very brittle; easily fusible, and even volatilized by a heat
  not very intense; oxidized  by exposure to the air at a
  temperature moderately increased; and when oxidized,
  capable  of combining with the greater number of the
  acids.
    The antimonial  metal is  a medicine  of  the greatest
  power of any known substance;  a quantity too minute to
  be sensible in the most delicate balance, is capable of
  producing violent effects, if taken dissolved, or in a  solu-
  ble state.
    Sulphureted antimony was employed  by the ancients
  in collyria, against inflammations of the eyes; and for
  staining the eyebrows  black.  Its internal uso does not
  seem to have been established till the end of the fifteenth
  century; and even at that  time it was  by  many looked
  upon as poisonous.  But experience has now fully  evin- 
MATERIA MEDICA.
353
 ced, that it has no noxious quality, being often used, par-
 ticularly in chronic eruptions; that some of its prepara-
 tions are medicines of great efficacy;  and,  that though
 many of them be most violently emetic and cathartic,
 yet even these by a slight alteration or addition, lose their
 virulence, and become mild in their operation.
   All the metallic preparations are  uncertain, as it en-
 tirely depends on the state of the stomach, whether they
 have no action at all, or operate with dangerous violence.
 The sulphuret is exposed, though in a less degree, to the
 same objections.
   The preparations of antimony do not exert any gene-
 ral stimulant operation, but are ahvays directed in their
 action to particular parts, so as to occasion some sensible
 evacuation.
   The principal general medicinal application of antimo-
 ny has been for the cure of febrile affections.   It is given
 so as to induce vomiting  or purging,  diaphoresis being
 also promoted; and, exhibited  in this manner in the com-
 mencement of the disease, it has been considered capable
 of cutting short its progress.
   In the latter stage of fever,  where debility prevails, its
 use is inadmissible.  Its  efficacy has been in general as-
 cribed to the evacuation  it occasions: others have con-
 sidered it, apparently Avith little reason,  as exerting an
 action specific or peculiar in itself, and not exphcable on
 the known effects it produces.
   Antimonials have been found to have the same good
 effects in intermittents as in continued  fevers, as well as
 in several of the phlegmasia? and exanthemata; and even
in several of the profluvia.  The general effects of anti-
monials are, in small  doses,  diaphoresis  and nausea; in
large doses, full vomiting and purging.  Some allege that
 antimonials are of more use in fever Avhen  they do  not
produce any sensible evacuation; as is said to be the case
sometimes with James' powder. They therefore prefer
this in typhus;  and emetic tartar in synochus; in which
there is the appearance at first of more  activity in  the
 system, and more apparent cause for evacuation.  As an
emetic, antimony is distinguished, for the certainty, ex-
tent, and permanence of its  operation.   The action it
excites in the stomach is both  more  forcible, and con-
tinues for a longer  time, than  that from  other emetics;
an! hence,  it produces more  complete evacuation, and
occasions in  a  greater degree  all those effects which 
35-i
MATERIA MEDICA.
result from the action of vomiting. Its action is also fc«,y
local.   It  is very generally  extended to the  intestinal
canal,  so as to produce purging; and very frequently to
the surface of the body, so as to occasion diaphoresis,
or sAveat.
  The virtues of antimony in the diseases of animals, arc
greatly extolled.  Pigs, that have the measles,  are at all
times recovered by it, which proAcs it to be a great pu-
rifier  of  the blood.   Horses, Avhich have  the running
heels,  and cannot be  cured by the common methods, will
generally be cured by this medicine, in a little time.  A
horse that is lean and scabby, and not to be fatted by any
other means, will become fat on taking one drachm of
erude  antimony every morning for two months together.

Super-Tartris Potassje.   Super-Tartrite of Potass.
        Crystals of  Tartar.  Cream of Tartar.

Super-Tartris  Potassa   Impurus.    Impure Suycr-
            Tartrite  of  Potass.   Tartar.

   Tartar  is a concrete  saline matter, which  separates
from Avines, after they have undergone complete fermen-
tation : it adheres to  the  top and sides of the cask, in red,
or whitish gray crystals, according  to the colour of the
liquor.  In this  state, it  is called crude tartar; having a
subacrid taste, and being with difficulty soluble in Avater.
   By  repeated  solution, filtration, and crystalization,
crude tartar may be depurated, or divested of all gross
and impure particles, Avhen it is called crystals of tartar;
and, if these be  reduced  to  powder,  cream of tartar.
   This salt  is  a  mild,  cooling, aperient,  and laxative
medicine: if half, or a  whole ounce  of it be taken in
substance, with treacle or any other vehicle, it proves an
effectual  purgative.  Farther, when dissolved  in water,
it affords, Avith the addition  of sugar, an  agreeable acid-
ulated drink. Avhich  is of great service in ardent fevers;
and likewise  forms a pleasant beverage during the sum-
mer.   It is  also to  be regarded as a valuable diuretic.
and, as one of those, most efficacious in  the treatment of
the dropsy.   It is given  under  Iavo modes of exhibition,
in Avhich  its effects are someAvhat different.  When given
dissolved  in a large  quantity of water, to the extent ol
four or six drachms  in a  day, it acts  simply as a diuretic;
 Avhen given to  the  same extent, gradually increased, in 
materia  medica.
355
ihe form of an electuary, without the free use of diluents,
along with a more or less diuretic effect, it acts as a hy-
dragogue cathartic.   The latter is the more usual, and
perhaps, more successful mode of exhibition.

   Swietenia Febrieuga.   Swietenia.  The bark.

   The bark  of the wood of this tree is of a red  colour
internally; externally it is covered with a gray epidermis;
it has an astringent bitter taste; it yields its active matter
to water, by infusion or decoction, and by evaporation an
extract is obtained, highly astringent. It Avas introduced
as a substitute for Peruvian bark, and in India where the
tree is a native, has been used as such with advantage.
It has been ascertained by Dr. Roxburgh that it contains
a much larger proportion of active, bitter,  and astringent
power, and to be more antiseptic than Peruvian  bark.
Its dose in substance is half a drachm.

   Swietenia  Mahagony.  Mahogany,  The bark.

   This species of the  same genus as the preceding, has
similar qualities and Airtues, being equally bitter and as-
tringent.   It has therefore been received into the  Edin-
burgh Pharmacopoeia, and may be employed to answer
similar indications.

Tamarindus Ixdica.  Tamarind Tree.  The preserved
               fruit, called tamarinds.

   This tree grows both in the  East and West Indies.
The pod  of the tree includes  several large  hard beans,
Avith a brown viscid pulp, very acid. This pulp, mixed
with  the  seeds and small fibres, and Avith a quantity of
unrefined sugar, forms the tamarinds of the shops.  Vau-
quelin found it to contain, beside the sugar mixed witli it,
citric and malic acids, acidulous tartrite of potass, free
tartarous  acid, gelatin, mucilage, and fibrous matter.
   The pulp of tamarinds, beside its virtues as  an acid,
proves laxative, when taken to  the  extent of an  ounce
and an half.  It is generally added to other cathartics,
which  are given in the form of infusion, with  the view
of promoting their operation, and covering their  taste.
It increases the  action of the purgative  sweets, cassia,
and manna, and weakens that of the resinous cathartics. 
356
MATERIA MEDICA.
By its acidity this fruit quenches thirst, and allaAs im-
moderate beat.

Tanacetum Vilgare.  Common Tansy.  The leaves
                      and  seeds.

  Tansy is an  indigenous  perennial  growing  by road
sides and the borders of fields, and is also cultivated in
gardens.  Its yelloAV blossoms  appear in  August.  This
plant  possesses a warm bitter taste ; it is deobstruent. not
ungrateful to the palate, and some have bad a favourable
opinion of it in hysteric disorders.  The leaAcs and seeds
have been  of  considerable esteem as  anthelmintics, and
are given in doses of  from one scruple to one drachm.
The leaves are frequently used to give colour and flavour
to pudding.  And if fresh meat be rubbed ay ith the plant,
it will be effectually preserved from  the  attacks of the
flesh fly.

Toluifera Balsamum.  Balsam of Tolu  Tree.  The
            balsam, called balsam of tolu.

  This tree grows in  Spanish  America, and the balsam
fioAvs from incisions  made  in  its bark, during the hot
season;  and is brought to us in gourd shells.  It is of a
yelloAvish broAvn colour, inclining to red: in consistence,
thick and tenacious:   by age it grows hard and brittle,
without suffering any  great loss from its more  valuable
parts.  The smell of  this balsam is extremely fragrant,
SomeAvhat  resembling that of lemons; its taste Avarm
and sweetish.
  LeAvis says  that he has sometimes procured benzoic
acid from it;  it yields very  little volatile  oil, although it
impregnates the distilled Avater strongly with its flavour.
By dissolving a proper quantity of sugar in this Avater, a
syrup  is obtained, greatly superior to that prepared in
the common Avay, with a decoction of the balsam.
  This is the mildest of all the balsams.  It has been
esteemed as an  expectorant, but  its poAvers are very in-
considerable, and it is employed principally on account
of  its flavour.   It possesses, however, all the virtues
of the other balsams, and is more fragrant than most of
them.
✓*' 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
357
       Tormentilla Erecta.   Septfoil.   The root.

     Tornientil is perennial, and  found wild in Avoods  and
   on commons; it  has long slender stalks, with usually
   scv ii long narrow leaves at a joint; the  root is for the
   most p-irt crooked and knotty, of a blackish colour on the
   outside, and a reddish within.   This root has an  austere,
   styptic taste, accompanied with a slight kind of aromatic
   flavour; it is one  of the most agreeable and efficacious of
   the vegetable astringents,  and  is  employed Avith good
   effect in all cases  where medicines of this kind are proper.
   It has been used  in diarrhoea, under  the form of decoc-
.  tion, and in intermittent fever in substance, in a dose from
   half a drachm to  a drachm.

   Triticum jEstivum.   Wheat.  The flour and starch
                 prepared from the seeds.

     Wheat flour consists principally of gluten, starch, al-
   bumen, and a sweet mucilage.  It is the presence of glu-
   ten that characterises wheat flour;  and on the  due  ad-
   mixture of it with the other  constituents, depends  the
   superiority of Avheat  flour for baking bread.  Bread is
   not only one  of the most important  articles of nourish-
   ment, but is also employed in pharmacy'  for  making
   cataplasms, and giving form to more  active articles.   An
   infusion of toasted bread has a deep colour aisd pleasant
   restringent taste  ; and  is an excellent drink  in febrile
   diseases, and in nausea and debility of the  stomac • ,* and
   also in cholera morbus: examples are related of several
   cases of this kind cured by it, without the aid of any other
   medicine.
     Starch, the fecula  of wheat, forms a gelatinous solu-
  tion when boiled with Avater, Avhich is used as  a demul-
  cent.  It is thus given as an enema  in dysentery and diar-
  rhoea, from irritation  of the intestines, and is the com-
  mon vehicle for giving opium in that form.

   Tussilago  Farfara.  Coltsfoot,   The leaves and
                         flowers.

    This grows Avild in  moist situations, producing yelloAV
  flowers in February and March : these soon fall off, and
  are succeeded by large, roundish  leaves, hairy under- 
358
MATERIA MEDICA.
 neath; their taste is herbaceous, somewhat glutinous and
 subacrid.  It is recommended in  coughs, phthisis, and
 other disorders of the breast and lungs, and some use if
 in scrofula.   It is chiefly directed to be taken with milk.
 and upon  this, probably,  more than  on  the  tussihigo
 itself, any benefit derived from it in practice is to be ex-
 plained.

 Ulmus Americana.  American Elm.  The inner bark.

   We have two species  of ulmus  or elm in the United
 States.  The red or  slippery  elm, or American rough
 leaved  elm of Marshal, (ulmus rubra of Mulenburgh)
 on account of its many valuable properties, deserves par-
 ticular mention.  It rises to the height of thirty  feet,
 with a pretty strong trunk, dividing into many branches,
 and covered  Avith a light  coloured rough bark.  The
 leaves are oblong, oval, and  sharp pointed,  unequally
 saAved on their edges,  unequal  at the base, xery rough on
 their upper surface, and hairy underneath.   The flowers
 are produced thick upon the  branches, upon short, col-
 lected foot stalks, and are succeeded by oval, compressed
 membraneous seed vessels, with entire  margins, contain-
 ing one oval compressed seed.   The inner bark, by infu-
 sion or gentle boiling in  Avater, affords  a  great  quantity
 of insipid mucous substance, that is applicable to a vari-
 ety of important uses.  Dr. Mitchell says it has been be-
 neficially administered in catarrhs, pleurisies, and quin-
 sies ; it has been applied as  a poultice to tumors, and as
 a liniment to chops and  festers.  [Letter to Dr. North,
 Amer. Museum, vol. 7th.]
   The surgeons of our revolutionary army, and also those
 of general Wayne's army,  who  defeated the Indians in
 August 179-i, experienced the most happy effects from
 the application of poultices of the  elm bark to gun  shot
 wounds, which Avere soon brought to a good suppuration,
 and to a disposition to  heal.   It Avas applied as the  first
remedy.  Vvhen tendency to mortification  Avas evident,
 this bark bruised, and boiled in water, produced the most
 surprising good effects.  After repeated comparative ex-
periments  Avith other emollient applications, as milk
and bread, and linseed poultice, its superiority Avas firinlv
established.  In old ill-conditioned  ulcers, and  in fresh
burns, equal benefit was  derived from it.   The infusion
 of the bark avus used  Avith advantage as a diet drink, in 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
35i>
pleurisy, and  catarrh, and also in diarrhoea and dysen-
tery.   Many  of the above facts relative to the medicinal
qualities of the red elm, were communicated, says the
editor  of the Domestic Encyclopaedia, by  Dr. Joseph
Strong, of  Philadelphia,  who  served as surgeon  in the
Avestern army;  and adds, as  a proof of the  nutriment
Avfiich  it affords, that a soldier ayIio lost his way support-
ed himself for ten days upon this mucilage and sassafras.
The editor  of the above mentioned work, (vol. 2d, p. 448)
proceeds to observe, that the red elm tree may be consi-
dered as a highly valuable addition to our stock of medi-
cines,  exclusively American, and ought to be carefully
searched for  by the medical gentlemen in the country,
and preserved from the indiscriminate axe.
  The inner  bark of the slippery elm, or its mucilage,
has been found by recent experience to be singularly be-
neficial Avhen applied to chilblains, cutaneous  eruptions,
and various kinds of sores and  ulcers ;  and there is much
reason to believe, that its internal use in dysentery,  con-
sumption, ke. may be attended with greater  advantage
than is generally imagined. This tree certainly may  be
recommended to the particular regard of medical practi-
tioners as  a neAV,  and domestic article of our Materia
Medica, whose  medicinal  virtues will  probably be found
to merit a large share of confidence.

    Urtica Dioica.   Common Nettle.   The plant.

  This is a well known perennial Aveed.  The leaves of the
fresh plant stimulate, inflame, and raise blisters on the part
of the  ski?i which they touch.  Hence, when a powerful
rubefacient is required,  stinging with nettles has been
recommended.  It has been said, sometimes to have suc-
ceeded in restoring sense and motion to paralytic limbs.
M. Zannetini, in Italy, asserts, that the flowers and seeds
of the co union nettle, may, with efficacy  be substituted
for the Peruvian bark, in all febrile affections, especially
in tertian and quartern agues.  It operates more speedily
than the bark;  and hi large doses, induces a lethargic
sleep;  the portion to be given should never exceed one
drachm, and should  be  administered in wine, two  or
three  times in  twenty-four hours.  The  same cautions
that are necessary in the  use of Peruvian bark, arc like-
wise to be observed in  taking the seeds and .lowers of the
nettle. 
360
MATERIA MEDICA.
Valeriana Officinalis.  Wild Valerian.   The root.

  This plant is perennial, and grows wild in England.
The root, which is the part used  in medicine, consists of
a number of slender fibres matted together, and attached
to one head, of a brown colour, having a strong and un-
pleasant smell, and a warm bitter taste.  Its active  af-
ter is extracted equally by water and  by alcoliol.  Its
infusion changes colour, on the addition of  sulphate of
iron.  By distillation, water is impregnated  with its ila-
vour, but not with its taste. No essential oil  is obtained.
  Valerian  is  one of the  principal modern  antispasmo-
dics, and is used with advantage  in chorea, epilepsy, and
hemicrania.   Some recommend it as useful in procuring
sleep, particularly in fever, even when opium fails; but
it is principally useful  in nervous and  hysterical affec-
tions.  The common dose is from a scruple to a drachm
in powder;  and in infusion, from one, to tAvo drachms,
three or  four times in the day, Avhich is increased gra-
dually, as far as the stomach can  bear it.  Its unpleasant
flavour is most effectually covered by a  suitable addition
of maee.  Valerian is  lately found in abundance on the
borders of the Ohio river, not inferior to that imported
from Europe.

Veratrum Album.  White Hellebore. Poke Root. Indian
                  Poke.  The root.

  This perennial  plant groAvs   in  wet  meadows  and
swampy places, often locally associated  with scunk cab-
bage, which, early in the spring season it considerably
resembles in appearance ; the latter plant, hoAvever, has
no stalk,  while the hellebore sends  forth one Avhich at-
tains to the height of two or three fec-t, terminating in
.fund in a spike  of flowers and  seeds.  The leaves are
large and handsomely plaited.  The root is bulbous, and
when fresh has a nauseous, bitterish, acrid taste, burning
(he mouth and fauces.   Snuffed up the nostrils in very
small quantities, it excites violent sneezing, with a sense
of heat and  a copious  discharge  of mucus.   The fresh
root, in form of ointment or decoction,  cures the  itch.
Crows arc destroyed by boiling Indian corn  in a  strong
decoction  of the  roofs, and strewing it on  the ground
where these birds resort.  The root when dried has no 
MATERIA MEDICA.
361
particular smell, but a durable nauseous and bitter taste,
and Avhen powdered and applied to issues or ulcers, is said
to produce griping and purging.   Taken internally, it
acts with extreme violence as an emetic and  cathartic,
and even in a small dose, has occasioned spasms, convul-
sions, and fatal consequences.  The ancients sometimes
employed this as  a remedy in obstinate maniacal cases,
and it is said, with success; but it has scarcely been re-
garded in modern practice.  The American species very
probably possesses all the properties of the foreign offici-
nal root. It is undoubtedly a plant  of highly active pow-
ers,  meriting a particular investigation as an article of
our Materia Medica.  In fact, a neAV interest has lately
been excited both in Europe and the United States, rela-
tive to the properties of white hellebore. It is even supposed
to be the basis  of the French  specific remedy,  called
Eau Medicinale d'Husson, so highly famed for its almost
infallible poAvers  in the cure of gout, as to command the
enormous price of from one to tAvo croAvns  a dose.   This
remedy was discovered about forty years ago, by M. Hus-
son, a French officer, Avho affirms it to be prepared from
a plant whose virtues Avere before unknown in  medicine ;
and it has long been  celebrated in France and other parts
of the European  continent.
  Dr. Edwin G. Jones, member of the Royal College of
Physicians, London, after a thorough investigation of the
subject, has, in a late publication, adduced  the most une-
quivocal evidence of the superior powers of the Eau Me-
dicinale, in  curing the most distressing  paroxysms  of
gout.  His experience  of its efficacy has been extensive,
and among the numerous and remarkable instances to
wliich he refers, are persons of distinguished  rank and
respectability, and whose cases were marked with symp-
toms of extreme severity.   We have therefore the autho-
rity of Dr. Jones to assert,  that  this singular remedy
exerts an extraordinary influence over the  gout; and that
it Avill safely, and almost immediately remove, often by a
single dose, the  severest paroxysms of that  cruel disease,
is sufficiently ascertained  by  a multitude  of facts, col-
lected from  various sources of unquestionable authenti-
city.  Scarcely an instance of its failure  has  yet been
knoAvn to occur in practice.  It is not, hoAvever, asserted.,
that it  perforins a radical cure of gout, eliminating the
disease altogether from the  system, but its operation is
different from that of any remedy  hitherto employed, it
        46 
362
MATERIA MEDICA.
removes the paroxysms as often and  almost as soon as
they occur. It in fact relieves the patient from agonizing
pain, from all the miseries of long confinement, and re-
stores him to his usual state  of health, and the exercise
of his limbs.  It appears to be a powerful sedative, dimi-
nishing  almost immediately the irritability of the system.
Hence it  allays pain, procures  rest and sleep, reduces
the pulse and abates fever.
  This  remedy has been extended to other diseases, and
in several cases it has removed very severe  acute rheu-
matisms in the same singular manner it does the gout.—
The full dose of this medicine, according to Husson, and
Dr. Jones, is about two drachms for an adult, mixed with
au equal quantity of water, and taken on an empty sto-
mach.  Its operation may be  promoted by some aromatic,
or by peppermint, pennyroyal, or ginger tea.  It in ge-
neral occasions some nausea and vomiting,  followed hy
bilious stools. A single dose Avill often carry off an attack,
but it sometimes requires to be repeated in under doses.
Some instances  are recorded of its violent effects when
exhibited  in a dose disproportionate to the constitution,
and particular circumstances.   On some occasions much
advantage has been derived from small doses taken every
day for a considerable time.
  The diseovery of the substance from which this reme-
dy is prepared Avould be an invaluable acquisition  to our
materia medica.  The importance and popularity of the
subject Avere incitements to various attempts for that pur-
pose, and to the ingenuity of  Mr. J.  Moor, member of
the  Royal college of surgeons, London, the public  are
indebted for a  composition, Avhich if not identically the
same, bears a strong resemblance to the Eau medicinak
in smell, taste, and dose;  and also in all its effects, so far
as it has been tried in the cure of gout.  The composi-
tion of  Mr. Moor consists of wine  of opium Sydenham,
one part,  wine of white hellebore, three parts, made by
infusing, for ten days, eight ounces  of the sliced root of
that  plant,  in two  and half pints  of Avhite Avine,  and
strained through paper. This compound, Avhen exhibited
in doses of from one to two drachms, has in a variety of
instances  effected a speedy  cure of  gouty  paroxysms.
There are indeed well attested examples where the most
painful gouty affection  has yielded to a single dose of
about one drachm, and the instances of its failure have
hitherto,  it is believ-ed, been more rare than can be  said 
MATERIA MEDIGA.
363
of any other remedy.  The employment of the composi-
tion of Mr. Moor, has also, in the hands of respectable
physicians, been extended to acute rheumatism, and to
some  comatose affections, with the most decided advan-
tage,  and a perseverance in similar trials is strongly re-
commended.  It has been observed, that beneficial effects
may more  certainly be  expected  when it excites  some
degree of nausea and  vomiting, whicii an overdose like
Eau medicinale seldom fails to induce.
  We have hitherto been furnished Avith the additional
evidence of every day's experience of the efficacy of Mr.
Moor's  composition in the cure of both gout and  rheu-
matism, and no cirsumstance, it is believed, has yet oc-
curred, tending to  impair  our faith in the analogy of its
principles with the original preparation  of M. Husson.
Farther particulars respecting the character and proper-
tics of this  interesting article, and the most eligible mode
of preparation, are anxiously anticipated.
  It has lately been  discovered, that the root of  Avhite
hellebore is employed as a valuable article in a new pro-
cess for tanning leather.

 Viola Odorata.  March Violet.  The  recent flower.

  This plant is perennial, and found Avild under  hedges,
and in shady places; but shops  are  generally supplied
from gardens.  Its flowers are so remarkable for their
delightful  odour,  and their peculiar richness of colour,
that they have given a name to both.
  They impart their  eolour and  flavour to aqueous li-
quors : a syrup made by this infusion has long maintained
a place  in the shops,  and  is said to  be an agreeable and
useful laxative for children; but is chiefly valued as a
delicate test of the  presence of uncombined acids or alka-
lis,  the former changing its blue to a  red, and the  latter
to a green colour.


Vitis Vinifera.   The  Vine.  The  dried fruit, called
  raisin,  and  the  fermented juice of the fruit, called
  Spanish white wine.

  The vine grows  in temperate situations in many parts
of the world, and is cultivated very generally for the sake
of its agreeable subacid  fruit.   Before  they are ripe, 
364
MATERIA MEDICA.
grapes are extremely harsh and  acid, and by expression
furnish a liquor which  is called verjuice.  It contains
malic acid, super  tartrite of potass, and extractive, and
may be made to furnish  Avine by the addition of sugar.
As the grape advances to maturity, the quantity of sugar
increases, Avhile that of malic acid diminishes; it, hoAvever,
never disappears entirely.  AVhen thoroughly  ripe, the
grape is one of the most agreeable fruits.   It is  cooling,
antiseptic, and nutritious ;  and, Avhen eaten in considera-
ble quantity, diuretic, and gently laxative.  In inflamma-
tory diseases,  and all  others  Avhere acids are indicated,
they form an excellent article of diet.
   Raisins, uvm passce, are grapes which have been care-
fully dried.   By  this means, not  only the water they
contain is dissipated, but the quantity of acid seems to be
diminished.   They become more saccharine, mucilagi-
nous, and laxative, than the recent  grape,  but  are  less
cooling.    *
   Wine is the juice of the grape altered by fermentation.
The numerous varieties of Avine depend principally on
the proportion of sugar contained in the  must,  and the
manner of its fermentation. AVhen the proportion of sugar
is sufficient, and the fermentation complete, the wine is
perfect and generous: If the quantity of sugar be too
large, part  of it remains undecomposed, as the fermenta-
tion is languid, and the wine is SAveet and luscious; if,on
the contrary, it be too small, the wine is thin and Aveak,
and if it be  bottled before the fermentation be completed,
it will proceed slowly in the bottle, and, on  drawing the
cork, the wine will froth and sparkle in the glass, as for
example, Champaignc.   When  the  must  is separated
from the husk of the  grape before it is fermented, the
wine has little or no colour: these are called white wines.
If, on  the contrary, the husks are  allowed  to remain in
the must Avhile the fermentation is going on, the alcohol
dissolves the colouring matter of the husks, and the wine
is coloured : such are called red wines.  Besides in these
principal circumstances, wines Aary very much in flavour.
The red Avines, are Port,  wliich is strong  and  austere,
and Claret, Avhich is thinner and higher flavoured.   Our
Avhite  wines are called Madeira. Sherry, Lisbon, Malaga,
and Hock.  Of these the last is most acidulous, and Ma-
laga the sAveetest.
   Wine, taken in moderate quantities, acts as a beneficial
stimulus to the Avhole system.   It  promotes digestion, 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
365
increases the action of the heart and arteries, raises the
heat of the body, and exhilarates the  spirits.  Taken to
excess, it produces inebriety and stupor, wliich are often
succeeded by headach, nausea, and diarrhoea, which last
for several days.  Habitual excess in wine debilitates the
stomach,  produces  inflammation of the liver, weakens
the nervous system,  and gives rise to dropsy, gout, apo-
plexv,  tremors, and/ cutaneous affections.
   To convalescents,  and in all diseases of general debili-
ty, and deficiency of the vital powers, wine is the remedy
on which we must place our chief dependance ; and when
properly administered, its effects are  often scarcely cre-
dible.
   In typhus fever,  attended by low delirium arising
from debility, wine  administered to the extent of one
bottle  or  more  in tAventy-four hours, surprisingly miti-
gates the  symptoms, and finally proves  a sovereign re*
medy.
   Its  administration is regulated by the effects it pro-
duces ; advantage being always  derived  from it when  it
renders the pulse more slow and firm ;  when the recur-
rence  of delirium is  prevented; Avhen irritation is lessen-
ed, and sleep induced. If the  pulse is quickened, and
the countenance becomes flushed, if it excite thirst, in-
crease the heat of the body, and occasion restlessness or
delirium, it is obviously injurious, and  its use should be
suspended.
   The wines prepared from other fruit than the grape
are less spiritous and more acescent, and are hence infe-
rior in tonic power. Fermented liquors, especially porter,
are  sometimes substituted for wine, where this is neces-
sary from idiosyncracy, and their poAvers arc somewhat
modified  by their other qualities, particularly by their
bitterness, and by the pungency arising from  their excess
of carbonic acid.  Their narcotic power is often greater
than is proportioned to their vinous  strength, owing  to
the addition of narcotic substances which they often re-
ceive in the preparation.
   In the hands  of Dr. Rush, and other  eminent physi-
cians  in the Uuited  States, wine, aided by the use  of
bark,  has  frequently succeeded as a radical remedy  in
tetanus.   Dr. Hosack,  of New York, effected a cure  in
a  case  of lock-jaAV, by administering Avine alone to the
extent of three gallons in four days.  Dr. James Currie,
of Liverpool, England, has also experienced  the  effi-
ciency of Avine  in the  same disease.  He asserts that a 
366
MATERIA MEDICA.
horse affected with lock-jaAv, having been made the sub-
ject of experiment, Avas  completely cured  by the  liberal
use of wine alone.
   Wine has been emphatically termed " the milk of the
aged," but parents  are seriously advised  to beware of
giving wine to their children indiscriminately ; because to
them it can be of service  only Avhen taken as  a medi-
cine ; and those injudicious persons, avIio encourage young
people to take wine  habitually at their meals, are guilty
of an  abuse, which  cannot be easily repaired by future
abstinence.
  Wine  is often adulterated with lead or other deleteri-
ous  drugs.  In order  to  detect  this fraud, take two
drachms of cream tartar, and one drachm of liver of sul-
phur ; put them into a two ounce phial of soft  Avater.
The  phial must be kept well corked, and occasionally
shaken for about ten minutes: Avhen the powder has sub-
sided, decant  the clear liquor,  and preserve it in a Yviil
stopped bottle.  From  sixteen to  twenty  drops of this
liquid are to be  dropped in a small glass filled with the
suspected Avine; and if the wine turns blackish or muddy,
and deposits a dark coloured sediment, Ave may be certain
it is  impregnated Avith sugar of lead, or some other pre-
paration of that metal equally destructive.

A Receipt to make an excellent American Wine, by Joseph
      Cooper, Esq. of Gloucester county, Neiv Jersey.

  " I put a quantity of  the comb from Avhich the honey
had been drained, into a tub, and added a barrel of cider,
immediately  from   the  press; this mixture Avas well
stirred and left for one night.  It  was then strained be-
fore  a fermentation took plaec; and honey  was  added
until the strength of the liquor was sufficient to bear an
egg.   It  was then put into a barrel; and alter the fer-
mentation commenced, the cask was nlk-il every day, for
three or four  days, that the filth might work out at the
bunghole.  When the fermentation moderated, 1 put the
bung in loosely, lest stopping it tight might cause the
cask to burst.  At the end of five or  six Aveeks, the  liquor
was draAvn off into a tub; and  the  whites of eight eggs,
well  beat up, with a pint of clean sand, were put into it:
I then added a gallon of cider  spirit;  and after mixing
the whole well together, I returned it into the cask, whicii
Avas well cleansed, bunged  it  tight, and place;! it in a
proper situation for racking off, when fine.  In the month 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
367
of April following, I drew it off into kegs, for use ; and
found it equal, in my opinion, to almost any foreign wine:
in the opinion of many judges, it was superior.
  " This success has  induced me to repeat  the  experi-
ment for three years; and I am persuaded, that by using
clean honey instead of the comb, as above described, such
an  improvement  might be made,  as would  enable the
citizens of the United States to supply themselves Avith
a truly  federal and wholesome wine, which would not
cost a quarter of a dollar per gallon, were  all the ingre-
dients procured  at the  market price; and  would have
this peculiar advantage  over  every other  wine, hitherto
attempted in this  country, that it contains  no  foreign
mixture, but is made  from ingredients, produced on our
own farms."

Xanthorhiza Afiifolia.   Shrub Fellow  Root. The
                   stem and root.

  Is a native plant of North Carolina,  first  brought by
the late John Bartram, from that state, and planted in his
garden at Kingsess, in the county of Philadelphia, Avhere
it has continued to flourish in a most luxuriant manner.
It is denominated Simplicissima by Marshal,  Apiifolia by
L'Herretier, and Marbosia, by Mr. William  Bartram, in
honour of Mr. De  Marbois.   Xanthorhiza tinctoria is a
more expressive name than any it has yet received.
  Dr. Woodhouse  has given an excellent account of this
valuab! > plant, in the fifth volume of the Medical Repo-
sitory of New York, from wliich the present extract is
taken.
  " The stems are three feet high, and somewhat thick-
er than  a goose quill.   The root is from three to tAvelve
inches long, and about the diameter of a man's little fin-
ger, sending off numerous scions.  The leaves are placed
alternately, having long petioles and pinnated, terminat-
ing in an old one; the follicles sessile, and lacerated deeply
on their edges.  The peduncles are branchy, and placed
immediately beneath the first leaves, from which cause
the flowers appear  before the  leaves, very early in the
spring."
  The stem and root are of a  bright yellow  colour, and
possess a strong bitter taste.
  The xanthorhiaa tinctoria contains a gum and resin,
both of which  are intensely bitter: the  resin is more
abundant than the  gum. 
36S
MATERIA  MEDICA.
   It imparts a drab colour to cloth, and a handsome yel-
 low to silk; but the dye will not take on cotton or linen.
   The  watery extract of  the  grated  roots  mixed with
 alum, and added to Prussian blue, was first used by Mr.
 James Bartram for colouring plants, and the plumage of
 birds of a  green  colour.   The  green is far more lively
 and elegant than that made with gamboge and Prussian
 blue, whicii is generally used for painting in water colours,
 and stands well  in the shade,  but soon contracts a dull
 colour when exposed to a  bright light, and to a high
 temperature.   Various subjects coloured by this green,
 and inclosed in a book, Avere as lively after one year, as
 when first  painted.
   It is a strong and pleasant bitter, and preferable to all
 our native  bitters. It sits easy on the stomach in the dose
 of two scruples.
   The colour of  the leaves appears to reside  in a resin
 which  is altered by fixe combined action of light and oxy-
 gen, by either of which, separately, it cannot be affected.
   As the xanthorhiza is a  strong and pleasant bitter, and
 very nearly allied to the columbo root, it promises to be-
 come a valuable addition to the American Materia Me-
 dica. It is  preferable to all our native bitters. Dr. Wood-
 house has often used the powdered stem and root of the
 xanthorhiza with  success, in the dose of two scruples to
 an adult, in many of thoSe  diseases in Avhich bitters are
 recommended, but generally combined with other reme-
 dies.   It is a medicine which sits easy on the stomach,
 and produces no disagreeable effects.

 Xanthoxylum  Clava  Herculis.    Prickley  Yellow
     Wood,  Fellow Hercules.   The Avood and  root.

   Is a natwe of Jamaica,  and other tropical countries,
 where  it grows to  the height of sixteen feet, and is about
 twelve inches in diameter.   This straight  tree somcAvhat
 resembles  the common ash: the bark of the trunk is
 covered Avith numerous prickles; and  the Avood is  of a,
 bright yelloAV cast.
   The Avood of the xanthoxylum is chiefly employed for
 the heading  of hogsheads, for  bedsteads,  and numerous
 other purposes: it also possesses remarkable medicinal
virtues. The fresh juice expressed from the roots, affords
certain relief in the painful disease, termed dry bellyache.
This important fact Avas discovered in the West Indies, 
MATERIA  medica.
369
 by watching a female slave, Avho collected the root in the
 avoous, and gave two spoonfuls of its juice to a negro,
 suffering under that cholic, at an interval of two hours.
 Such medicine occasioned a profound, but composed sleep
 of twelve hours; when  all sense of pain, and other dis-
 tressing symptoms, had vanished : the cure was completed,
 by giving an infusion of such expressed roots in water,
 by way of diet drink.   Farther, the juice of the prickly
 yellow wood, when preserved in rum, and administered in
 doses not exceeding  a wine-glassful,  has effectually7 re-
 moved  the most  obstinate epileptic fits; but Dr. Henry
 has not mentioned the manner in which this preparation
 ought to be managed.
   To the above observations of Dr. Willick, the follow-
 ing  by Dr. Mease are added :  flfom. Ency.J
   Two species groYV in the United States.
   1. Xanthoxylum fraxinifolium, or  ash-leaved  xan-
 thoxylum, growing in Pennsylvania, and Maryland: and
 xanthoxylum ealvis herculis, or  prickly yellow wood,
 which grows in the more  southern states.
   The bark and capsules are of a hot acrid taste, and
 when a small quantity is cheAved, powerfully promotes
 the  floAV of saliva.   It is  used in this  way to relieve the
 toothach.  A tincture of  the same parts of  the tree is a
 common country remedy for the chronic rheumatism.
   In the West Indies a decoction of the bark is used with
 great success as an internal remedy, and also as a AVash
 for foul ulcers, which it powerfully cleanses, and disposes:
 to healthy granulations.   The  powdered  bark is  also
 mixed with the dressings.  In the London Medical and
 Physical Journal, volume second, and  following, there
 are several cases related of the efficacy of this medicine
 in the above disease.

                  Zincum.   Zinc.

  This  is a semimctal,  naturally  obtained in a state  of
 combination with different minerals,  in England, Hun-
gary, and other parts of the globe : it is of a whitish co-
lour, neaiiy resembling that of lead, though it does not
speedily tarnish.
  Zinc exerts no  sensible action  on the system in its me-
tallic state;  it is employed,  therefore, under various"
forms of preparation, Avhere the medicinal virtues of the
article will be described.
         47 
370               MATERIA MEDICA.
          Alcornoque.  The wood and bark.

  The alcornoque is a tree which groAvs on the Spanish
main, South  America.  The Avood is of a solid texture,
ponderous, of a yellow colour, and  gratefully bitterish
taste, and sensibly stimulant. It has lately arrested some
attention, though the natural history of the tree is at pre-
sent involved in obscurity.   It is inserted here chiefly in
anticipation of its  utility, as no intelligence relative to
its character and properties has been obtained other than
the  contents of a printed paper communicated by a re-
sectable medical friend, as  follows :


               THE  ALCORNOQUE.

A REMEDY FOR  DISEASES OF THE LUNGS  AND LIVER.

              From the Gazette de la Martinique.
                                 St. Pierres, June 25,1810.

   Our readers will  learn with as much surprise as satis-
faction from the subjoined letter, the true and wonderful
effects of the Divine Alcornoque.
  If the extraordinary reputation this tree has acquired
as an  infallible specific in all diseases of the  liver, and
especially those of the lungs, reputed at the present mo-
ment  incurable, be maintained with all its renown, it
must certainly then lie acknoAyledged, (Avithout any need
to anticipate the other beneficial properties it may pos-
sess,) as the first of plants, Avhen valued from its healing
effects, and will ever merit  the first epithet bestoAved on
it of—Divine.
   TO  THE EDITOR OF THE MARTINIQUE GAZETTE.

     SIR,
   Persuaded that you would wish to give every publicity
to whatever may be useful to suffering humanity, I has-
ten to  make you acquainted with a Avonderful discovery,
for the cure of disorders, in which  medicine has, to the
present time, been  found only a palliative.
   Afflicted since eleven  years with a  pulmonary com-
plaint, wliich the physicians said was  tubercles in tl.<t 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
371
lungs, spitting  blood  and matter, in the most frightful
manner, and having never received the smallest benefit
from medicine,  one of my friends, (Mr. Soliers) residing
at the Caracas, having heard recited, tAvo extraordinary
cures, made by an Indian, spoke to me, on his arrival in
this country, of the wonderful remedy that had been dis-
covered ; I procured, in consequence, one hundred pounds
weight of the divine alcornoque.  I  used it, and in eleven
days, I was perfectly cured.   I hastened to administer it
to different persons, Avho all found  themselves recovered,
from using it; among others, Messrs. Dufond, Magceaux,
du Lamentine, and Hillarie de St. Pierre.
   I affix to this the receipt, written by Don Juan de Dios
de Maeias, merchant at Barcelona, one of those vvho was
miraculously cured.  Your countrymen will owe you an
eternal obligation for  its publication, and myself Avill
always remain Avithout bounds to my acknowledgments.
     Sir, your very humble servant,
                  (Signed)        .    P. Badollet.

Method which Don Juan de Dios 'de Maeias adopted when
            he  took the Divine Alcornoque.
  In the first place, says he, I proceeded into a situation
which, without being damp, Avas cool;—on my arrival I
took about tAvelve ounces of the Alcornoque, Avhich  I had
pounded in a mortar;  I infused it  in a regular quantity
of pure Avater, until the following  morning, when I took
fasting, a glass  full lukeAvarm, and continued to use it all
day as my ordinary drink, but cold; at bed time, I took
another glass lukewarm.  I followed this  method daily,
solely  observing to mix two spoonfuls of honey in the
glasses, which I took warm morning and evening.  I ex-
pended about three bottles of this drink per day, divided
into  eight or nine glasses.
  If the persons using this remedy feel a  great deal  of
heat, while adopting it, some barley Abater must be taken,
but Avithout any kind of aeid in it.
  As my disorder Avas occasioned by an abscess in the
liver, Avhich caused me frequently the most insupportable
pains in the side, I had the Alcornoque pounded until it
Avas reduced to powder, I then made a cataplasm or poul-
tice, and applied it to my side, and the pains  left me in-
stantly. 
rt ** Cl
ot 2
MATERIA  MEDICA.
   When the receipt is used, milk, acids, spices, and in
 short, everything of an irritating nature must be abstain-
 ed from: biscuit ought  to bo used in preference to new
 bread.  The daily food should be plain, boiled, or roasted,
 without any seasoning.
   I suffered a year and a half the most excruciating
 pains.   I consulted  most of the physicians, both English
 and French, in the  colonies, among others, M. Amic, of
 Gaudaloupe, and Dr. Gobert, of St. Pierres, Martinique,
 all of whom left me Avithout hope, at length reduced to
 the most deplorable state, bringing away blood and mat-
 ter.  I  adopted  the receipt  the Indian gave  me, and
 in tAvelve days I  vvas entirely cured, having discharged
 violently by the mouth, the Avhole  of the abscess.
   I omitted to mention, that after the eure, the patient
 should take  some cooling medicines,  and use, if possible,
 asses,  or mares  milk, as the Alcornoque is extremely
 hot.  The outer bark on the Alcornoque should be taken
 off, previous to being pounded and  made into an infusion.
     (Signed)      Don Juan de Dios de  Macias.

   The Alcornoque is a tree which grows on the Spanish
 Main, the wood of which is very compact and heavy; the
 true meaning of the word signifies cork, although it dif-
 fers essentially from this tree, as the cork, it is well
 known, is of a porous and light nature.


 The following are the directions, taken chiefly from, Paul
    Badollet,for administering the  Divine Alcornoque.

   The  Indian by Avhom this remedy  ayus discovered*
 directed that  twelve ounces  should  be infused in cold
 water; but  my experience induces  me to believe that
 quantity too  large, and I have adopted the folloAving plan
 as the best.
   Eight ounces ofthe Alcornoque may be given as a
 general dose;  but for persons avIio  arc much reduced in
 strength, six ounces, and sometimes a less quantity will
 be sufficient.  The wood  and  bark should be made fine
with a rasp, or pounded, or made into thin shavings hy a
plane.   Eight ounces should be put into two quarts of
boiling water, and infused for twenty-four hours, taking
care to keep the Avater hot, but not quite boiling.  This
may be done  on the  top of a close stove—Fresh Avater 
MATERIA MEDICA.
373
 must be added when a considerable quantity has evapo-
 i-ateo.—When the  decoction  is   completed,  strain  it
 through a coarse cloth.
   Mix  two spoonfuls of honey Avith half a pint  of this
 decoctio i. and take that quantity warm, morning and
 evening; the remainder of the two quarts should be taken
 cold, and  without honey, during the day.
   As this remedy is sometimes beating, if the patient be
 thirsty, barley water may be taken at intervals for drink.
 In case of costiveness, give injections, and bathe the feet
 and h'gs with warm water, on going to bed, taking care
 to rub them  after bathing, with a Avarm cloth or flannel,
 till they be perfectly dry.
   If there be any pain in the side (and this is a very
 frequent  attendant of diseases of the lungs  and liver)
 apply a warm plaster of the poAvder which remains  from
 the decoction, to the part; or, if shavings be used, pound
 them in a mortar, and heat them witii  a small quantity
 of boiling Avater, and apply them Avarm in a flannel to
 the side:  this will seldom fail to remove the pain in a
 few hours.
   During the use of the  Alcornoque,  the patient should
 attend  strictly to diet.   He  may  take plain boiled or
 roasted meat, but Avithout pepper, salt, or any kind of
 spices:  All acids  must be  aAoided: Biscuit  should be
 eaten in preference to fresh bread.
  If the patient cannot take the decoction as drink dur-
 ing meals, he may be allowed a small  quantity of white
 wine Avith Avater.
  The use of this remedy  is generally followed by a vio-
lent crisis,* which should be desired, rather than appre-
hended, Avith anxiety, as it frequently precedes an imme-
 diate cure.
  It is advisable that the person av!io employs this remedy,
should be  attended by a physician, under Avhose judgment
the doses may be increased or  diminished, according to
the condition of the patient.  The convalescent should
take for some time milk  and water with  barley boiled
in it.

  * The violent crisis is prohablv a copious discharge of mat-
ter from  the part diseased, 
CATALOGUE,
   OF NEW  ARTICLES THAT MERIT A FLACE IN THE
                 ArOTHECARIES  SHOES.

   It Avas the observation of professor Cullen, one of the
 most celebrated writers on the Materia Medica, that any
 age has produced, That the writings on that subject arc,
 for the  most part, a compilation of mistakes and  false-
 hoods.  And he adds, that  these errors  arise from the
 obstinacy of old professors, and their blind attachment to
 theory,  as  Avell as the vanity of young physicians, being
 the authors of  observations that arc hastily made and
 dressed  in the closet; and besides, many of the operations
 of nature have been  falsely imputed to the effects of me-
 dicines,  pretendedly  founded on experience.*  So distant
 are they from a true and faithful delineation of nature.
 Allied to these evils  are the numerous frauds and sophis-
 tications of chemistry and pharmacy, and the reprehen-
 sible practice of  administering  nostrums or secret re-
 medies,  and other popular  impositions,  the fertile and
 disgraceful sources of empiricism.   A knowledge of the
 medicinal powers, possessed by the indigenous vegetables,
 of which our OAvn soil is so abundantly productive, should
 be deemed an acquisition  of primary importance. How-
 ever disparaging to medical erudition, it is but justice to
 confess,  that Ave are  indebted to  the bold enterprise of
 illiterate pretenders for the discovery of some of our most
 active remedies.   It is, therefore, extremely desirable,
 that our patriotic physicians and  citizens should  unite
 their exertions in the investigation of native substances,
 and institute such chemical analyses and  experiments as
 Avill tend to elucidate their specific properties.
   The following catalogue, consists of a selection of new
 articles,  which merit a place in the apothecaries' shops;
many of whicii  should  be cultivated  in our gardens, and
claim the attention of every American practitioner, that
the importation of expensive foreign drugs may be super-
seded :

   * Vid  Cullen's Treatise on the Materia. Medica. Vol. T 
MATERIA MEDICA.
37i>
Aeorus Calamus.
Actea  Spicata.
Agrimonia.
Aralia Spinosa.
Arbutus Uva Ursi.
Arum  Americanum.
Arum  Triphyilum.
Asclepias Deeumbens.
Asculus Hippocastanum.
Cassia  Marilandica.
Convolvulus Panduratus.
Cornusflorida.
Cornus Sericea.
Datura Stramonium.
Eupatorium Perfoliatum.
Eupatorium Pilosum.
Frasero Carolinensis.
Geranium Maculatum.
Geum  Urbanum.
Hamamtiis.
Heracleum Sphondilium.
Iris Pscudacorus.
Juglans Cinerea.
Juniperus Virginiana.
Kalmia Latifolia.
Kalmia Angustifolia.
Leonurus Cardiaca.
Liriodendron tulipifera.
Lobelia Inflata.
Lytta Vittata.
Melia Azedarach.
Myrica Cerifera Humilis.
Nigella.
Phytolacca Decandra.
Prinos Verticillatus.
Prunus Virginiana.
Quercus Robur.
Rhus Toxicodendron.
Rumex Acutus.
Rumex Aquaticus.
Rumex Crispus.
Sanguinaria Canadensis.
Salix Alba.
Salix Latifolia.
Sentellaria Lateriflora.
Secale Cornutum.
Sophora tinctoria.
Statice Limonium.
Tanasetum Vulgare.
Ulmus Americana.
Vcratrum Album.
Xanthorhira Apiifolia.
Xanthoxylum Clava Her-
    ouiis. 
            COLLECTION AM) FRESERYATION

                           OF

                      SIMPLES.

   Each of the kingdoms of nature  furnishes  article)!
 Avhich are employed in  medicine,  either in their natural
 state, or after they have been prepared by the art of
 pharmacy.
   In collecting these,  attention must be  paid to select
 such as are most sound and perfect, to separate from
 them whatever is injured  or decayed, and to free them
 from all foreign matters adhering to them.
   Those precautions must be taken which arc best fitted
 for preserving them.  They must  in general  be defended
 from the effects of moisture,  too great heat, or cold, and
 confined air.        |
   When their activity depends on volatile principles, they
 must be preserved from the  contact of the air as much
 as possible.
   As the vegetable kingdom presents us Avith the great-
 est number of simples, and the substances belonging to it
 are the least constant in their properties, and most sub-
ject to decay, it becomes necessary to give a feAV general
 rules for their collection and  preservation.
   Vegetable matters should be collected in the countries
 Avhere they are indigenous; and those which  grow wild,
 in dry soils, and high situations, fully exposed to the air
 and sun, are in general to be  prefered to those which
 grow in moist, low, shady, or  confined placfes.
   Roots which  are annual, should be collected before
 they  shoot out their stalks  or flowers; biennial roots in
 the harvest of the first, or spring of the  second year;
perennial, either in the  spring before the sap has begun
 to mount, or in harvest,  after  it has returned.
   Those which are  worm eaten or decayed are to be re-
jected.   The others are  immediately to be cleansed ay ith
a  brush and cold water, letting them lie  in  it as short
time as possible ; and the fibres and little roots, when not
essential, are to be cut aAvay.
   Roots which consist principally of fibres, and have hut
a small tap, may be immediately dried.  If they be juicy, 
MATERIA MEDICA.
377
and not aromatic, this may be done by heat, not exceed-
ing 100° of Fahrenheit; but if aromatic, by simply ex-
posing them, and frequently turning them in a current of
cold, dry air:  If  very  thick and strong,  they are lobe
split or cut into slices, and strung upon threads ; if cover-
ed Avith a tough bark, they may  be peeled fresh, and
then dried.  Such as lose their virtues by drying, or are
directed to be preserved in a fresh state, are to be kept
buried in dry sand.
  No very general rule can be given for the collection of
herbs and leaves, some of them acquiring  activity from
age, and others,  as the  mucilaginous leaves, from  the
same cause, losing the property for Avhich  they are offi-
cinal.   Aromatics are jo be collected after the flower
buds are formed; annuals, not  aromatic, Avhen  they are
about to flower, or Avhen in floAver ; biennials, before they
shoot; and perennials, before they flower, especially if
their fibres become Avoody.
  They are to be gathered in dry Aveather,  after the dew
is off them,  or in the evening before it falls, and are to
be  freed  from  decayed, withered,  or foreign leaves.
They are  usually tied in bundles, and hung up in a shady,
warm, and airy place; or spread upon the floor,  and fre-
quently turned. If very juicy, they are laid upon a sieve,
and dried  by a gentle degree of artificial Avarmth.
  Sprouts arc collected before the buds open; and stalks
arc gathered in autumn.
  Barks and Avoods are  collected  Avhen the most active
part of the vegetables are concentrated in  them, which
happens in spring and in autumn.   Spring is prefered for
resinous barks; and autumn for the  others, which  are
not resinous but rather gummy.  Barks should be taken
from young trees, and freed  from decayed parts, and all
impurities.
  The same rules direct the collection  of Avoods; but they
must be taken from very young trees.   Among the resi-
nous Avoods, the  heaviest, which sink in Avater, are se-
lected.  The alburnum is to be rejected.
  Flowers are collected in clear,  dry weather, before
noon, but after  the dew is  off; either when they  arc
about to open, or immediately after  they  have  opened.
Of some the petals only arc preserve*!, and the colomhss
claAvs are even cut away; of others, whose calyx is odor-
ous, the Avhole flower  is kept.  Flowers which  arc too
small to be pulled singly, are dried Avith part of the stalk :
These are called heads or tops.
        ■18 
378
MATERIA MEDICA.
  FloAvers are to be dried nearly as leaves, but more
quickly, and with more attention.  As they must not be
exposed to the sun, it is best done by a slight degree of
artificial Avarmth.
  Seeds and fruits, unless when  otherwise directed, are
to be gathered when ripe, but before they fall spontane-
ously.   Some pulpy fruits are freed from their core  and
seeds, strung upon threads, and dried artificially.  They
are in general best preserved in their natural coverings,
although some, as the colocynth, are peeled; and others,
as the tamarind, preserved fresh.  Many of these  arc
apt to spoil, or become rancid; and as they are then  not
fit for medical use, no very large  quantity of them should
be collected at a time.
  The proper drying of  vegetable  substances is of the
greatest importance.  It is often directed  to  be  done in
the shade and sloAvly, that the volatile and active parti-
cles may not be dissipated by too great heat; but this
is an error, for they always  lose infinitely more  by a
slow, than by a quick drying.  When, on  account of the
colour,  they  cannot be  exposed to  the  sun,  and  the
warmth  of the atmosphere is insufficient, they should he
dried by an artificial warmth, less than 100° Fahrenheit,
and Avell exposed to a current of air.  When perfectly
dry and friable, they have little smell; but after keeping
for some time, they attract moisture  from the air, anil
regain their proper odour.
  The boxes  and draAvers in  Avhich  vegetable  matters
are kept, should  not impart to them any smell or taste;
and more certainly to avoid this, they  should he lined
with paper.   Such as are volatile, or of delicate texture,
or  subject to  suffer from  insects, must be  kept  in  well
covered glasses.  Fruits and oily seeds, Avhich are apt to
become rancid, must be kept in a cool  and dry, bnt by no
means a warm or moist air.
  Oily seeds,  odorous plants, and those containing vola-
tile principles,  must  be  collected  fresh every  year.
Others, whose properties are more permanent,  and  not
subject to decay, will keep for several years.
  Vegetables  collected in  a  moist and rainy season, arc
in general more Avatery, and apt  to spoil.  In a dry sea-
son, on the contrary, they contain more oily and resinous
particles, and keep much better.  They ought to be col-
lected annually, and if they have been kept for a longeif
period, should be rejected. 
PART  III.
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
  The practice of pharmacy is regulated by the different
pharmacopoeias, and these vary in no inconsiderable de-
gree in the mode of conducting the process,  and  even
Avith respect to the proportion  of the active  ingredients
Avhich constitute some of the  compositions, as directed
by the respective colleges. Having taken the Massachu-
setts pharmacopoeia, as the basis of this part of the Avork,
Avhich accords also with that of the Edinburgh college,
it seems inexpedient to introduce the analogous prepara-
tions of the London and Dublin pharmacopoeias.  I  have
not, however, neglected altogether to notice in course,
such essential differences as appear calculated to lead to
practical error and embarrassment.  I have also selected
from Dr. Powel's late translation of the London pharma-
copoeia, a few officinal preparations on account of their
obvious utility.
  A system of pharmacy is  thus presented amply  ade-
quate to all the purposes of American physicians, divested
of that tedious repetition Avhich is unavoidable Avhen the
processes of all the pharmacopoeias  are regularly intro-
duced. 
 
PART III.
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER I.
                    SULPHUR.


Sulphur  Sublimatum  Lotum.    Washed  Sublimed
       Sulphur.   #Washed Flowers of Sulphur.

  Take of
        Sublimed sulphur, one pound,
        Water, four pounds.
  Boil the sulphur for a little Avhile in the water, then
pour off this water, and wash aAvay all the acid by affu-
sions of cold Avater; lastly, dry the sulphur.
  A small portion  of sulphur in its sublimation  some-
times suffers oxidation from the air of the chamber into
which it is sublimed, and hence acquires a slight acidity,
which the present process is designed to remove.  This
is so rarely the case, hoAvever, that it is one perhaps  un-
necessary.

  * The translation of the ancient names are added in Roman
letters.   Tables are annexed containing the  ancient  names,
with their synonymies, and  the  systematic names with their
synonymies. 
582       PREPARATIONS AXD COMPOSITIONS.
                   CHAPTER II.

ACIDS,  ALKALIS,  EARTHS,  AND  THEIR COM-
                     POUNDS.

  The  term salt has long been  employed  in  chemical
language to denote an extensive order of substances; yet
it is difficult to assign to it a precise definition, or to dis-
tinguish these by characters at once sufficiently compre-
hensive and appropriate.
  Those properties Avliich have been assigned as the cha-
racters of the order are not possessed by every substance
which in chemieal arrangement is regarded as saline, hut
on the contrary the exceptions are very numerous. Thd
characters of this order therefore are now drawn rather
from the chemical composition of the substances arranged
under it.   It is thus understood as comprehending the
acids, the alkalis, and the compounds resulting from the
combination of acids with alkalis,  earths, and metallic
oxides.   The acids and alkalis are named simple or pri-
mitive salts; the others secondary, or  more commonly
neutral salts, as in general the properties of the acid, and
of the alkali, earth, or metal  of whicii they are formed,
are neutralized or lost.

Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum.   Diluted  Sulphuric
            Acid,  Diluted Vitriolic  Acid.

  Take of
         Sulphuric acid, one ounce,
         Water, seven ounces.
  Mix them gradually.
  The most simple form, in whicii sulphuric acid  can he
employed internally, is that in  which it is merely diluted
With water; for whicii  it has a  great attraction: and
their bulk, Avhen combined, is less than that of the Avater
and acid separately.   At the same time  there is  a very 
         PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.       583

considerable increase of temperature produced, which is
apt to crack glass vessels, unless the combination be very
cautiously made ; and for the same reason, the acid must
be poured into  the  water,  not the Avater  into the  acid.
Distilled water is preferable to spring water.
  This preparation Avas formerly called weak spirit of
vitriol, and has been considered as a useful astringent,
taken  to the extent of thirty drops; but its medicinal
properties have aiready been mentioned under the article
Acidum Sulphuricum, in the Materia Medica.

Acidum Nitrosum.   Nitrous Acid.  Glauber's  Spirit
                      of Nitre.
   Take of
         Nitrate of potass in coarse powder, or bruised,
           two pounds,
         Sulphuric acid, sixteen ounces.
   Having put  the  nitrate of potass into a glass retort,
pour upon it the sulphuric acid, and distill it in a sand
bath, Avith a heat gradually increased, until the  iron pot
 begin  to be red hot.
   The specific gravity of this acid is to that of distilled
 water as 1550 to 1000.
   In this process, the sulphuric acid, by its  superior affi-
 nity, combines  with the potass of the nitre  to form sul-
 phate  of potass, while the  nitric acid is separated, and is
 not only converted  into vapour by the application of the
 heat to the retort, but is also partially decomposed.   A
 portion of oxygen escapes in a gaseous form, and the nitric
 oxide  gas combines with  the nitric acid;  so  that the
 liquor condensed in the receiver is nitrous, and not nitric
 acid.

 Ajtdum  Nitrosum Dilutum.  Diluted Nitrous Acid.
                 Aqua Fortis Tenuis.

   Take of
          Nitrous acid,
          Water, equal weights.
    VAx them, taking care  to avoid the noxious vapours.
   In combining nitrous acid with water, the greater part
 of th-^ nitrons gas of the former is disengaged.   The
 dilot.-!;  uid is eo.-io/co  in  a number  of the  chemical
 processes of the Pharmacopoeia. 
 J Si       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.


    Acidum Nitricum.  Nitric Acid.   Aqua Fortis.

   Take of
         Nitrous acid, any quantity.
   Pour it into a retort, and having adapted  a receive^
 apply a very gentle he-it, until the reddest  portion shall
 have passed over, and the acid Avhich remains in the retort
 shall have become nitric acid.
   By the heat applied, the  nitrous gas contained in  the
 nitrous acid, and which gives to it the yellow  colour  and
 highly  fuming property, is expelled, and condenses in  the
 receiver, combined still with a small portion  of acid.
   The  nitric acid  remains colourless.  It  is applied to
 the same  purposes as the nitrous.  Little or no difference
 can exist between them in medicinal powers,  but the ni-
 tric is perhaps more uniform in strength.
   These acids, the nitrous and nitric, have been long
 employed as powerful  pharmaceutic agents.   They  are
 next in strength to the sulphuric, and  dislodge all others
 from alkaline salts or earths.  Under the name of aqua
fortis,  the nitrous acid of a certain  strength has long
 been employed for various purposes in the arts and manu-
 factures.   Great caution should be observed in the use of
 this poAverful liquid.   In casualties where  a person has,
 by mistake, sAvallowed a  portion of  aqua fortis, hike
 Avarm water ought to  be drunk in the greatest possible
 quantity, even to the amount of several gallons, to weaken
 the causticity of the poison, and to avert the imminent
 danger  of suffocation.   Next, a solution of  half an ounce
 of salt of tartar, or clear pearl ashes, in one pint of water,
 should  be  taken in about  six or eight draughts ;  and as
 the efferATseencc thus occasioned in the stomach, greatly
 tends to Aveaken that organ, it Avill be necessary to make
 use of  more water, and other diluent, oily, or mucilagi-
 nous drinks.
   The  use of the nitrous and nitric  acids in medicine,
 has lately been considerably extended.
   In the state of vapour, they have been used to destroy
 contagion in jails, hospitals, ships, and other places avIk re
 the accumulation of animal effluvia is not easily avoided.
 The fumigating  such  places with the  vapour of nitrous
 acid has certainly  been attended Avith success; but  we
 have heard that success ascribed entirely to the ventila-
tion employed at the same  time.  Ventilation n;:y cer- 
           PREPARATIONS  and  compositions.       38S

 tainly be carried so far, that the contagious  miasmata
 may be diluted to such a degree, that they shall  not act
 on the  body; but to us it appears no less certain, that these
 miasmata cannot come in contact with nitric acid or oxy-
 muriatic acid vapour, without being entirely decomposed,
 and completely destroyed.   It  is, besides, applicable in
 situations Avhich do not admit  of sufficient ventilation;
 and where it is, the previous diffusion of acid vapours is
 an excellent cheek upon the indolence and inattention of
 servants and nurses, as by the  smell we are enabled to
 judge whether they have been sufficiently attentive to the
 succeeding ventilation.  Nitric  acid vapour,  also, is  not
 deleterious to life, and  may be diffused in the  apartments
 of the  sick, Avithout occasioning to them  any material
 inconvenience.  The means of diffusing it are  easy.  Half
 an ounce of  powdered  nitre is put into a saucer, Avhich is
 placed  in a  pipkin of heated sand.   On the nitre tAvo
 drachms of  sulphuric acid are then poured.   The fumes
 of nitric acid immediately begin to rise.   This quantity
 Avill fill Avith vapour a cube often feet; and'by employing
 a  sufficient  number of pipkins, the fumes may be easily
 made to fill  a ward of any extent. After the fumigation,
 ventilation is to be carefully employed.  For introducing
 this practice, Dr. Carmichael Smyth  has received from
 the British parliament  a reAvard  of five thousand pounds.*

   * It is remarkable, that, while Dr. C. Smyth insists upen the
 efficacy  of  the  nitrous vapour, M. Guyton de  Morveau  is
 equally positive, that the  sutfocating fumes of the muriatic acid
 are the most certain destroyers of contagion.   The plans both
 of Morveau and Smyth, founded on the principle of the alkaline
 nature of contagion, are  in direct opposition to the theory of
 septic acid, suggested by  the ingenious Dr. Mitchill of New-
 York. The great efficacy of gaseous  fumigations by the mineral
 acids in  destroying contagion, has  been clearly demonstrated
 and the practice firmly established.   It may be of little impor-
 tance whether the nitrous, or the muriatic acid be employed, as
 the powers of both are extensive and certain.  When the mu-
 riatic is  prefered, one pound of muriate  of soda, is put  into
an earthern vessel, and a  small quantity of  sulphuric  acid is
 poured over it until the whole salt is moistened.  If a  gentle
 heat be applied, a larger quantity of vapour will be extricated.
 In every hospital, garrison,  jail,  ship, or any other crowded
place, or even  in private dwellings,  on the appearance of any
infectious disorder, we should not fail to advise the employment
»f these arid fumigations. 
386       PREPARATIONS AND COMTOS ITION >.

  The internal  use  of these  acids has also been lately
much extended.   In febrile  disease*, water acidulated
with them forms one of the best antiphlogistic and anti-
septic  drinks avc  are  acquainted with.   Hoffman and
Eberhard long  ago  employed it with  very great success
in malignant and petechial fevers; and in the low typhus,
wliich frequently rages among the poor in the suburbs of
Edinburgh, it has been repeatedly given Avith unequivocal
advantage.   In  the  liver complaint of the East Indies,
and in syphilis, nitric  acid has also been extolled as a
valuable remedy, by Dr. Scott,  and  the  evident  benefits
resulting from its use in these complaints, has given rise
to a theory, that mercury only acts by oxygenizing the
system.  It is certain, that both the primary and secon-
dary symptoms  of syphilis have been removed by the us«
of these acids, and that the former symptoms have not
returned, or  been followed by any secondary symptoms.
But in many instances they have failed, and it is doubtful
if ever  they effected  a  permanent  cure,  after the se-
condary  symptoms  appeared.   Upon  the Avhole, the
opinions of Mr. Pearson on this subject, lately agitated
Avith so much keenness, appear to us so candid and  judi-
cious, that we shall insert them here.  He docs not think
it eligible to rely on the nitrous acid in the  treatment of
any one form of the lues venerea; at the same time, he by
no'means Avisbes to see it exploded  as a medicine  alto-
gether useless in that  disease.  When an impaired  state
of the constitution renders the introduction of mercury
into the  system inconvenient, or evidently improper, the
nitrous acid will be found, he thinks, capable of restrain-
ing the progress of the disease, while at the same time,
it will  improve the health and  strength of the patient.
On some occasions, this acid may be given in conjunction
with a mercurial course, and  it will be found to support
the tone  of the stomach, to determine powerfully to the
kidneys, and to counteract in no inconsiderable degree the
effects  of mercury on the mouth and fauces.
  The common  method of giving the nitric acid at  first,
is to mix one  drachm with a pint of water, the mixture
being sweetened with simple syrup.  This quantity is to
be taken at different times, in  the course of twenty-four
hours,  through  a glass tube  or  quill, which is used to
prevent the teeth from being  injured. If no inconven-
ience is felt, the dose of the acid may be increased to two.
and even in certain cases to three drachms. 
         PREPARATIONS  AXD  COMPOSITIONS.       387


Acidum Muriatic cm.   Muriatie Acid.   Spirit of Sea
                        Salt.

  Take of
        Muriate of soda, two pounds,
        Sulphuric acid, sixteen ounces,
        Water, one pound.

  Let the muriate of soda be kept at a red heat for some
time in an iron vessel, and after it has cooled, put it into
a retort; then pour upon the muriate of soda, the  acid
mixed with the  water and allowed to cool.  Lastly, distill
in a sand bath, with a moderate fire, as long as any acid
is produced.
  The specific gravity of this acid is to that of distilled
water, as 1170 to 1000.
  This process  is an example of single affinity, The sul-
phuric acid combines with the soda of the muriate  of soda,
and the muriatic acid is  disengaged.  It combines Avith
the Avatery vapour, and is thus easily condensed.   It has
generally a yellowish tinge, from the presence of a small
quantity of iron, from which it can be freed by a second
distillation.
  The spirit of  sea salt  is the weakest of the  mineral
acids, but  stronger than  any  of  the  vegetable.   In its
effects on the animal  economy, and the mode  of its em-
ployment, it coincides with the acids already mentioned,
which almost proves that they do not act by oxygenizing
the system, as the muriatic acid cannot be disoxygenized
by any substance or process with Avhich avc are acquainted.
This preparation is sometimes given, properly diluted, as
an antiphlogistic, aperient, and diuretic, from ten  to sixty
or seventy drops.
  Dr.  Reich of Erling in Franconia, has cured  the ma-
lignant putrid fevers, by the liberal use of mineral acids,
and particularly the muriatic, or  spirit of sea salt.   Sir
WilliamFordyce, also recommends it as the best remedy
in all putrid diseases of the worst kind;  in  petechial,
camp, and jail distempers, as well as the malignant sore
throat, small pox, and plague.
  Dr.  Reich directs a mixture of  from one drachm to
half an ounce of the acid, eight ounces of Avater  and two
of syrup; the patient to  take a table spoonful  or more
every hour or two hours.  But in time of great danger, 
  388       PREPARATION'S  AND  COMPOSITIONS.

  from forty to one hundred  drops, properly diluted, may
  be given at once, ami such  doses often  repeated.   The
  internal exhibition, however, of this powerful remedy, is
  liable to many serious objections, which  must ever pre-
  vent its  general adoption.   But it may  in all cases be
  safely applied in the form of liniments, fomentations, and
  baths: thus  a very large and much larger proportion
  than by sAvallowing it, may be daily, nay, hourly intro-
  duced into the system, especially in the earlier stages of
  the disorder, before the patient's strength is too much
  exhausted.
    Dr. Robert Thomas, author  of the Modern Practice of
  Physic, observes, that the effects of the  mineral acids,
  more particularly the muriatic, in all febrile diseases of
  a malignant  nature are truly great, and from employing
  them for several years,  in all such cases, his piactice
  has been attended with the most decided success, and he
  cheerfully vouches for their efficacy.  He prescribes to
  adult patients ten or twelve drops of the muriatic acid,
  guarded with five drops of tinctura opii, with an infusion
  of columbo, after proper evacuations have been made, and
  increases the dose to eighteen or tAventy drops every lour
  hours.

  Acidum Acetosum Destiilatim.  Distilled Acetous
                 Acid,  Distilled Vinegar.

    Let eight pounds of acetous acid  be distilled in  glass
  vessels with a gentle  heat.  The two first pounds which
  come over, being too Avatery,  are  to  be  set aside; the
  next four pounds will be the distilled acetous acid.   The
  remainder furnishes a still stronger acid, but too much
  burnt by the  fire.
    Vinegar, as it is produced by fermentation, consists of
  acetous acid, largely diluted with water, and mixed with
  a number of other substances.   From these it is purified
  by distillation, but it is still largely diluted with Avater, a«
  the pure acid is not even so volatile  as  Avater; and, in
  general, it receives from the distillation somewhat of an
  empyreumatie odour.  The process should be conducted
  in glass  vessels, as directed in the  pharmacopoeia; as,
  from metallic ones, the acid would receive an impregna-
  tion that might prove noxious.
    Distilled acetous acid is chiefly employed as  a solvent
  of some vegetable substances, and in making some of the
- salts. 
PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.        389
  Acid l'm Acetosum Forte.  Strong Acetous Acid.

  Take of
         Sulphate of iron dried, one pound,
         Acetite Of lead, ten ounces.
  Having rubbed them together, put them into a retort,
and distill in a sand bath with a moderate heat, as long as
any acid comes over.
  The London pharmacopoeia directs this acid to be pro-
cured by the distillation of verdigris, and it is somewhat
uncertain whether the two products differ essentially from
each other, and Avhether these concentrated acids differ
except in strength, from the diluted acetous acid.
  These strong  acids  are  principally used as powerful
stimulants, applied  to the nostrils in languor  and as-
phyxia. Their odour is pungent and grateful. They are
capable of acting as poAverful rubefacients.

  Acidum Benzoicum.  Benzoic Acid.  Flowers of
                      Benzoin.

  Take of
         Benzoin, twenty-four ounces,
         Carbonate of soda, eight ounces,
         Water, sixteen pounds.
  Triturate the benzoin Avith the carbonate, then boil in
the water for half an hour, with constant agitation, and
strain.  Repeat the decoction, Avith other six  pounds of
water, and strain. Mix these decoctions, and evaporate,
until two pounds remain.  Filter anew, and drop into the
fluid, as long as it produces any precipitation,
         Diluted sulphuric acid.
  Dissolve the precipitated benzoic acid in boiling water;
strain the boiling solution through linen, and set it aside
to crystalize.  Wash  the  crystals Avith  cold water, dry
and preserve them.
  The benzoic acid when properly prepared has an agree-
able taste and fragrant smell.  It  totally dissolves in al-
cohol, and likewise by the assistance of heat in water;
but separates again  from the latter  upon  the liquors
growing  cold, shooting into saline spicule, which unite
together in irrcgnlar masses.  By the mediation of sugar, 
 890      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

 flowers of benzoin remain suspended in cold water, and
 thus form an  elegant balsamic syrup.   Some have held
 them in great esteem as pectoral and sudorific, in the dose
 of half a scruple or more ; but at present they are rarely
 used, except as an ingredient in the composition of the pa-
 ragoric elixir of the pharmacopoeia.

 Oleum Succini et Acidum Succinicum.  Oil of Jinx-
    ber and Succinic Acid.  Salt and Oil of Amber.

   Take of
         Amber reduced to  powder, and of pure sand,
           equal weights.
   Mix  them, and put them into a glass retort, of which
 the mixture may fill one half; then adapt a large receiver,
 and distill in a sand bath, Avith a fire gradually increased.
 At first a watery liquor will come over, Avith some yellow
 oil; then a yellow oil with an acid salt, and  lastly, a red-
 dish and black coloured oil.  Pour the liquor out of the
 receiver,  and separate the oil from the water.  Press the
 salt collected from the neck of the retort and sides of the
 receiver, between folds of blotting paper, to free it from
 the oil adhering to it; then purify it by  solution in warm
 water and crystalization.
   We are not  acquainted with any experiments which de-
 termine whether the succinic  acid exists as  such in the
 amber, or Avhethcr it be a product of the decomposition of
 the amber by the  action of heat,  for in  the  process em-
 ployed for obtaining  succinic acid, the amber  is com-
 pletely decomposed.
   Succinic acid, formerly salt of amber, has a penetra-
 ting subastringent acid taste.  It dissolves both in water
 and in rectified spirit; though not readily in either, and
 scarcely at all in the latter Avithout the assistance of heat.
 It effervesces Avith alkalis, and forms with them neutral
 compounds much resembling those composed of the same
 alkalis  and vegetable acids.  It  was formeiiy in repute
 as an aperient, diuretic, and antihysterie, but in modern
practice it is little regarded.
  The oil of amber is sometimes employed externally as a
 stimulant, and internally as an antispasmodic, but is also
falling into disuse.   A process is ordered in  the pharma-
 copoeia for its purification. 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       391


 Aoi'A. Ac'idi Carbonici.   Water  of Carbonic Acid.
          Water impregnated with fixed  Air.

   Take of
         Water, six pounds; place this  in the  middle
           part of a Nooth's apparatus, and expose it to
           a stream of carbonic acid gas arising from
         Carbonate of lime, in powder,
         Sulphuric acid, each three ounces,
         Water, three pounds, gradually and cautiously
           mixed.
   Ifa larger quantity of the liquor be required, the appa-
 ratus of Dr. Woulfe is preferable.
   In this and similar preparations, Avhere carbonic acid
 gas is combined with liquids, the liquor is better in pro-
 portion to the coldness of the air, and to the pressure to
 which it  is subjected.  It should be preserved in glass
 vessels well closed, and should not be exposed to any high
 temperature.
   In this  process the carbonie acid is separated from the
 carbonate of lime by the superior  affinity of sulphuric
 acid.   As it is disengaged,  it assumes a gaseous form,
 and would be dissipated in the atmosphere, if it were not
 made to pass through water, which, at a medium  tempe-
 rature, is capable of absorbing  about  an equal  bulk of
 this  gas,  and,  by  the assistance of pressure, a  much
 greater proportion.
   Various contrivances have been made for this purpose.
 Of these  the most easily managed,  and most convenient
 for general use, is the apparatus  of Nooth, and for larger
 quantities that of Woulfe, or some modification of it. By
 the proper application  of pressure, Mr. Paul is  able to
 impregnate water, Avith no less than six times its bulk of
 carbonic acid gas.
   Water, impregnated Avith carbonic  acid, sparkles in
 the glass, has a  pleasant acidulous taste, and  forms an
 excellent  beverage.   It diminishes thirst, lessens  the
 morbid heat of the body, and  acts as a powerful diuretic.
 It is also an excellent remedy in  increased irritability of
the stomach, as iu advanced  pregnancy ; and it is one of
the best anti-emetics Ave possess. 
392       PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.
 Aqua Potasszb.  Solution of Potass.  Water of Potass.
                      Caustic Ley.

   Take of
          Lime recently burnt, eight ounces,
          Carbonate of potass, six ounces.
   Throw the lime into an  iron or earthern vessel,  with
 twenty-eight ounces of warm Avater.   After the ebulli-
 tion is finished,  instantly add the salt; and having tho-
 roughly mixed  them, cover  the  vessel  till they cool.
 When the mixture has cooled, agitate it Avell, and pour it
 into a glass funnel, whose throat must be stopt up with a
 piece of clean rag.  Let the upper mouth of the funnel
 be covered, while the tube  of it is inserted  into another
 glass vessel, so that the solution of potass  may gradually
 drop through the rag into the  lower  vessel.  When it
 first  gives  over dropping,   pour into  the funnel  some
 ounces of water; but cautiously, so that the Avater  may
 swim above the  matter.  The water of potass Avill again
 begin to drop, and the affusion of water is  to be repeated
 in tiie  same manner, until  three pounds  have  dropped,
 which  Avill happen in  the  space of two or three days;
 then by agitation mix  the superior  and inferior parts of
 the liquor together, and put it up in a well stopt phial.
   The principle of mildness in all alkaline salts, Avliether
 fixed or volatile, vegetable or fossil, is very evidently car-
 bonic acid.  But quick lime has a stronger attraction for
 the acid than any of the salts.  Of course, when lime
 comes in contact with  carbonate of potass,  as in the above
 process, the carbonic acid quits the potass  to unite with
 the lime,  and the results of the mixtures are potass and
 carbonate of lime.  Now as the carbonate of lime is in-
 soluble in Avater, and the potass is very soluble, they may
 be  separated  by filtration.   The  method ofe filtrating
 through sand as employed by Dr. Black, is preferable to
 any other.
  The caustic ley is to  be considered as a solution of pure
 alkali in water.   It is  colourless, and will  neither effer-
 vesce Avith  acids, nor   form a precipitate Avith carbo-
 nate of potass.  The  solution of caustic  potass, under
 various names, has at different times been celebrated as a
lithontriptic, and as often fallen again into  disuse.  The
 very contradictory accounts of its effects as a solvent are 
         PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       39S

now in some degree explicable, since it has been discover-
ed that urinary calculi are very different in their natures,
so that some of them arc only soluble in acids, and others
only in alkalis.  Of the last description are the calculi of
uric acid, Avhich are very frequent, and those  of urate of
ammonia.   On these, therefore, alkalis may be supposed
to make some  impression,  and that alkalis, or alkaline
carbonates,  taken by the mouth, have occasionally re-
11- ved calculous complaints, is certain.   It is, hoAvever,
said, that their continued use  debilitates the  stomach;
and M. Fourcroy has proposed  applying the remedy im-
mediately to the disease, by injecting into the bladder a
tepid solution of potass or soda,  so  dilute that it can be
held in the mouth.  Before  the alkaline  solution be in-
jected, the bladder is to be completely evacuated of urine,
and washed  out with an injection of tepid water.  After
the alkaline  injection has remained in the bladder half an
hour or more, it is to be evacuated and allowed to settle.
If, on the addition of a little muriatic acid, a precipitate
be formed,  Ave  shall  have  reason  to  conclude that the
calculus  contains uric acid,  and that the alkali has acted
on it.
  Very dilute alkaline solutions may also be taken into
the stomach as antacids, but we possess others which are
preferable.  Tiie dose is from ten to thirty drops.   Ex-
ternally,  alkaline solutions have been more  frequently
used, either very dilute, simply as a stimulus, in rickets,
gouty sAvellings, gonorrhoea, and spasmodic diseases, or
concentrated as a caustic to destroy the poison of the viper
and of rabid animals.
    Potassa.   Potass.   Strongest Common Caustic.

  Take of
         Solution of potass, any quantity.
  Evaporate it in a covered very clean iron vessel, till,
on the ebullition ceasing, the saline matter flows gently
like oil, which  happens before  the  vessel becomes red.
Then pour it out on a smooth iron plate; let it be divid-
ed into small pieces before it hardens, and immediately
placed in a Avell stopped phial.
  Potass in this form is used as a caustic.  It  quickly
erodes animal matter, and,  mixed with  soap, has  been
used to open an ulcer.  But its use as  a caustic is inson-
         50 
39*      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

venient, from its being so quickly affected by the air, and
from its rapid  deliquescence, wliich renders it apt  to
spread.


Potassa  Cum  Calce.   Potass with Lime.    Milder
                   Common Caustic.

   Take of
         Solution of potass, any quantity.
   Evaporate this in a covered iron vessel till one third
remain; then mix with it as much neAV slack lime as will
bring it to the consistence of a pretty solid pap, whicii is
to be kept in a vessel closely stopped.
   The addition  of the lime in this preparation renders it
less apt to deliquesce, more easily  managed, and milder
in its operation  than the former.


Carbonas Potassje.  Carbonate of Potass. Fixed vege-
             table  Alkaline Salt purified.

   Let impure carbonate of potass, put into a crucible, he
brought to a low red  heat,  that  the oily impurities,  if
there be any, may be consumed; then triturate it with an
equal weight of water, and mix them thoroughly by agi-
tation.  Filtrate the liquor through paper into a very
clean iron pot,  and boil to  dryness, stirring the salt to-
wards the  end of the  process, to  prevent its sticking to
the vessel.
   The Pearl ashes of commerce are obtained by the inci-
neration of the wood of land vegetables.   They contain a
considerable proportion of foreign  salts, from Avhich they
are in  a great degree purified by the present process.
The salt thus obtained  is a subcarbonate of potass, or
potass imperfectly saturated Avith carbonic acid.  It is in
Avhite grains, is deliquescent, and possesses the alkaline
properties.   In like  manner is purified impure kali from
the ashes of any  kind of vegetable.
   The same salt  may be prepared from tartar which
must be burnt until it become of an ash colour. 
PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.       395
 The following easy and cheap method of preparing carbo-
   nate of potass, (sal aeratusj by saturating the vegetable
   alkali  with carbonic acid is recommended by that vene-
   rable and eminent physician E. A. Holyoke, M. D. of
   Salem.

   Take a cylindrical box of wood about nine or ten inches
 in diameter, bore eight or ten holes, half an inch in di-
 ameter in the side of it, just below the loAver edge of the
 cover, at  neaiiy equal distances all round; bore  also as
 many holes in the circular bottom of the box, close to the
 edge of it: then take another box of the same kind, but
 of a smaller diameter by half or three quarters of an
 inch; place  this in the larger, and to keep  it  steady,
 thrust  three  or four wooden  wedges  between the two
 boxes.  The two boxes being thus prepared, fill the inner
 one with  the purest salt of tartar, or clean, Avell calcined
 pearl ashes, or any clean, pure  fixed  vegetable alkali:
 put its  cover on the  outer box, leaving the inner one un-
 covered ; sling  this double box thus filled, with a cord,
 and suspend it in a distiller's vat or cistern,  Avhile  the
 wash is fermenting, a  little above the  liquor, or in an
 empty cistern, if it has been much used, and still retains
 the fixed air (carbonic acid); let it remain in this situation
 for six  weeks or two months, or longer if it is not Avant-
 cd;  let it then be taken out, and the salt noAv fully satu-
 rated Avith the acid, be exposed to  the sun and air to  dry.
   The salt thus prepared, does neither effloresce nor deli-
 quesce in the open air, and for all common purposes  is,  I
 believe, equal to that prepared by crystalization.
   Note,  The pearl ashes had better be put into the box
 in moderate sized  lumps than in poAvder, that  the fixed
 air may have free access to if.
   The salt is mifch more tolerable to the palate, and may
 be taken in larger doses than the naked alkali; and as it
 is  decomposed by vegetable acids, as Avell as the mineral,
 it  may be  exhibited instead of the alkali, in perhaps every
 case where the  latter is proper, unless the fixed air is
judged improper.
  It is ■much superior to common alkali in forming Rivc-
 rius' anti-emetie effervescing draught, as it  contains  a
■much larger  proportion of carbonic acid (in which the
principal  virtue of that medicine is supposed to reside) 
 396      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITION*.

 than the mildest fixed alkali, and is at  the same  time
 much more palatable.
   The doctor commonly directs tAvo  drachms or ratlin-
 more of this salt, to be dissolved in three ounces of Kir
 water;  a large spoonful of this  solution, added to the
 same quantity of good vinegar,  or lemon juice, at the
 instant of swalloAving it, makes an agreeable dose.  But
 the taste of this solution is so mild, that, if the prcseriber
 choose, a spoonful of it may be swalloAvcd alone at  ih'st,
 and as much vegetable acid immediately upon it, in Avhich
 case, none of the gas will be lost.
   When acidity abounds in the first passages, a little  of
 this salt added to any bitter infusion,  or the dry salt ad-
 ded to powder of columbo, or any peptic powder, is an
 effectual antacid.
   In calculous cases, this salt is recommended bv Avritern,
 particulaiiy by the celebrated Dr. Cullen, in his  Materia
 Medica, as being a happy expedient for conveying larger
 quantities of alkali into the stomach, than it can bear in
 its natural state.   Hitherto, says the doctor, the common
 mode of preparing the salt for this purpose, I believe, has
 been by impregnating a solution of fixed alkali Avith fixed
 air, by means of Dr.  Nooth's machine; but any one who
 has prepared the medicine in both ay ays, Avill readily give
 the" most decided preference to that above described, ow
 account both of ease and cheapness.


 Carbonas  Potassa  Purissimus.   Pure Carbonate of
               Potass.  Salt of Tartar.

  Take of
       Impure super-tartrite of potass, any quantity.
  Burn it to a black mass, by placing it among live coals,
 cither Avrapped up in  moist bibulous paper, or  contained
 in a crucible.   Having reduced this mass to powder, ex-
 pose it in an open crucible to the  action  of a  moderate
 fire, till it become white, or at  least of an  ash  gray
 colour, taking care that it do not melt. Then dissolve it
 in warm water;  strain the liquor through a  linen cloth,
 and evaporate it in a clean iron vessel, diligently stirring
 it towards the end of the process Avith  an iron spatula, to
prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the vesti.  A
 very Avhite salt will remain, which is  to be left  a  little 
           PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.      397

 longer on  the fire, till the bottom  of the vessel become
 almost red.  Lastly, Avhen the salt is grown cold, keep it
 in glass  vessels well stopped.
   By exposing the super-tartrite of potass to heat, the
 tartarous acid is decomposed.  Parts of its carbon and
 oxygen unite, and form carbonic acid, Avhich is attracted
 by the potass ; and, by continuing the heat, the remaining
 carbonaceous matter is burnt out.  By dissolving the sa-
 line matter, the portion oflime, and any other earthy or
 metallic matter Avhich the super-tartrite may have con-
 tained, are separated, and, by evaporation, a salt is obtain-
 ed, Avhich, like the former, is a  sub-carbonate of potass,
 but more pure.
   Carbonate of potass, formerly called sal tartari, is fre-
 quently employed in medicine, in conjunction Avith  other
 articles, particularly for the formation of saline neutral
 draughts and mixtures: but it is  used  also by itself in
 doses from three or four grains  to fifteen or twenty; and
 it frequently operates as a poAverful diuretic, particularly
 ay hen  aided by proper dilution.   [See Carbonas Potassai
 impurus in the Materia Medica.]


 Aqua Super-carbonatis Potassje.   Solution of Super-
                 carbonate of Potass.

  Take of
         Water, ten pounds,
         Pure carbonate of potass, one ounce.
  Dissolve and expose the solution to a stream of carbo-
 nic acid  gas, in  the same  manner as directed for the
 water of carbonic aeid.
  The colder the  air is, and  the greater pressure, the
 better is the liquor, Avhich should be  kept in avcU closed
 vessels. As soon as the preparation is finished,  the liquor
 should be draAvn off into  pint bottles, which  are  to be
 well corked and kept in a cool situation, Avith the  head
 (Ioavii, or laid on one side.  It should be perfectly trans-
 parent, and have an acidulous, not at all alkaline taste;
 and Avhen  poured out  of the bottles, it should have  a
 sparkling appearance.
  Potass, when used as a lithontripiic, irritates the sto-
mach and bladder so much, that its  use cannot be Avell
long continued.  But Avhen super-saturated with carbonic 
 398       PREPARATIONS  AN»  COMPOSITIONS.

 acid, as it is in this preparation, it is much more pleasant
 and less irritating; anil, though its lithontriptic  or real
 solvent power  is diminished, or perhaps entirely lost, it
 is capable of acting as a palliative, and of being continu-
 ed for any length of time.   Indeed, it is the only form in
 which Ave can exhibit  potass in sufficient  doses, and for
 a sufficent length of time, to derive much benefit from its
 use  in calculous complaints.  It has certainly been fre-
 quently  of advantage  in these  affections, but probably
 only in those instances in whicii the stone  consists of uric
 acid, or urate of ammonia; for although super-saturated
 with carbonic acid, yet the affinity of that acid for potass
 is so weak, that it  really  operates in a degree as an
 alkali.
   Six or eight ounces of this liquor may be taken two or
 three times a day.  It  in general proves poAverfully diu-
retic, and  sometimes  produces inebriation.   This last
effect is ascribed to the carbonic acid.
 Acetis  Potassa.  Acclite of Potass.  Diuretic Salt.

   Take of
          Pure carbonate of potass, one pound.
   Boil it with a very gentle heat, in four or five times its
 weight of distilled acetous acid; add  more acid at differ-
 ent times, till, on the watery part of the preceding quan-
 tity being  neaiiy dissipated  by evaporation, the new
 addition of acid cease  to raise any effervescence; wliich
 will happen, when  about  twenty pounds of the distilled
 acetous acid have been consumed.   It is then to be slow-
 ly dried. The impure salt remaining, is to be melted with
 a gentle heat, for a short time ; and afterwards dissolved
 in water, and filtered through paper.   If the liquefaction
 have been properly performed, the  filtered liquor will he
 limpid; but if otherwise, of a brown colo:.:'.  Afterwards
 evaporate this liquor with a  very gentle heat in a very
 shallow glass vessel, occasionally stirring the salt as it
 becomes C\i'y, that its moisture may  be sooner dissipated.
 Lastly, the  acetitc of potass ought,  to  be kept in a vessel
 very closely stopped, to prevent it from deliquescing.
   It is obvious, that, in this process, the acetous acid
 combines with the potass, disengaging the carbonic acid.
   The acetite of potass, obtained by the evaporation, is
of a brownish colour, from the presence, cither of some 
           PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       399

  extractive m. ter contained in the vinegar, or of carbo-
  naceous matter, from a partial decomposition of the acid.
  It is freed from this by the fusion which is directed; and,
  by the second solution and evaporation, it is obtained in the
  form of a Avhite  foliated  mass,  extremely deliquescent.
    Acetite of potass, formerly called sal diureticus, pro-
  vided it be properly made, is a medicine of great efficacy,.
  and may be  so dosed and  managed as to prove either
 -mildly cathartic, or powerfully diuretic : feAV of the saline
  deobstruents equal ii in virtue.   The dose is from half a
  scruple to a drachm or two.  A bare mixture, hoAvever,
  of alkaline salt and vinegar, Avithout exsiccation, is per-
  haps not inferior as a  medicine to the more elaborate
  salt.  Two drachms  of the alkali, saturated with vine-
  gar, have been known to  occasion, in hydropic cases, ten
  or twelve stools, and a plentiful discharge of urine, with-
  out any inconvenience.

  Sulphas Potassa.   Sulphate  of Potass.   Vitriolated
                         Tartar.

    Take of
           Sulphuric acid diluted, with six times its weight
            of Avater, any quantity.
   Put it into a capacious  glass vessel, and gradually drop
  into it, of pure carbonate  of potass, dissolved in six times
  its weight of water, as  much as  is  sufficient thoroughly
  to saturate the acid.  The  effervescence being finished,
  strain the liquor  through paper; and after due evapora-
  tion set it aside to crystalize.
   Sulphate of potass may be also conveniently prepared
  from the residuum of the  distillation of nitrous acid,  by
  dissolving it in warm Avater, and  saturating it  Avith car-
  bonate of potass.
   In the former of these processes, the sulphuric acid
  unites with the potass of the carbonate  of potass, and ex-
  pels the carbonic acid with  effervescence.  In the latter,
  whicii is the one generally followed, the excess of sulphu-
  ric acid attached to the  sulphate of potass, Avhich remains
  after the distillation of nitrous acid, is saturated by the
  addition of a sufficient quantity of potass.
   Sulphate of potass, formeiiy  vitriolated tartar, forms
  small transparent very hard  crystals,  generally  aggre-
  gated in crusts, and permanent in the air.  It has a bitter


# 
400      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

taste, and is slowly soluble in Avater.  In small doses, as
a scruple, or half a drachm,  it is  a useful aperient; in
larger ones, as four  or  five drachms, a mild cathartic,
Avhich does not pass off so hastily as the  sulphate of soda,
and seems to extend its action further.


Sulphas Potassje Cum  Sulphure.  Sulphate of Potass
            with Sulphur.   Sal Polychrest.

   Take of
         Nitrate of potass in poAvder,
         Sublimed sulphur, of each equal parts.
   Mix them well together,  and inject  the  mixture, by
little and little at a time, into a  red hot crucible;  the
deflagration being over, let the salt cool,  after Avhich it
is to be put up in a glass vessel well stopped.
   The nitrate of potass being decomposed by  the red
heat, affords oxygen to the sulphur, in such proportions
as  to convert it  into sulphuric and sulphurous acids.
Both acids are attracted by the potass.  In its medicinal
qualities, this saline  compound, formeiiy called sal poly-
chresius, does not appear to  differ  from the  sulphate of
potass; and it is soon converted into it by  exposure to
the air.


Suiphuretum Potassje.  Sulphuret of Potass.  Liver
                      of Sulphur.

  Take of
         Carbonate of potass,
         Sublimed sulphur, each eight ounces.
  Having ground them Avell together, put them into a
large coated crucible  ; and having fitted a cover to it, and
applied live coals cautiously around  it, bring  them at
length to a state of fusion.
  Having broken the crucible as  soon as  it has grown
cold, take out the sulphuret, and keep  it  in a well closed
phial.
  During the fusion of these tAvo substances, the sulphur
and potass combine, and the carbonic acid is disengaged.
The compound is easily fusible, and is  of a brown colour,
and inodorous.   It  is immediately partially decomposed
• 
PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.       401
 by water, and portions of sulphate of potass and sulphu-
 rated hydrogen formed.
   This preparation,  formeiiy  called  hepar  sulphuris
 (liver of sulphur), has been proposed to be used as an an-
 tidote to some of the metallic poisons, from the  supposi-
 tion  that  the  sulphur  would combine with the metallic
 preparation, and render it inert.  From a similar theory
 it has been imagined that it might obviate the effects o*f
 mercury on the system when these are too violent; but is
 very seldo.n bad recourse to with either intention.  The
 dose  in wliich it has been proposed to be given, is from
 ten to twenty grains,  three or  four times  a day.  It is
 said in some cases of cancer, to  have increased the effica-
 cy of cicuta as a palliative, in doses of five grains.

 Tartris Potassje. Tartrite of Potass.  Soluble Tartar.

   Take of
         Carbonate of potass, one pound,
         Super-tartrite  of potass, three pounds, or  as
            much as may be sufficient,
         Boiling water, fifteen  pounds.
   To  the  carbonate of potass  dissolved in the  Avater,
 gradually add the super-tartrite of potass in fine powder.
 as long as it raises any effervescence, which generally
 ceases before three times the weight of the carbonate of
 potass has been added ;  then  strain  the cooled liquor
 through paper, and, after due evaporation, set it aside to
 crystalize.
   The excess  of tartarous acid in the super-tartrite of
 potass, is  saturated by the potass of the carbonate  of
 potass, and the proper  neutral  salt formed.   It is  not
 easily crystalized.  In its preparation, therefore, the so-
 lution is usually evaporated to dryness. It has an unpleas-
 ant bitter taste.  It is soluble in four parts of cold water,
 and still more soluble in boiling water : and it is also so-
 luble m alcohol.
  This  neutral salt,  formerly  called  soluble tartar, is
 totally or  partially decomposed by all  acids.  On this
 account it is improper to join it  with tamarinds, or such
 like acid fruits, which is  too often done in the extempo-
 raneous practice of those  physicians who arc  fond of
 mixing different cathartics  together, and know little of
 chemistry.
  In .doses of a scruple, half a drachm, or a drachm, this
sult is «l  mild cooling aperient  : two or  three drachms
#        5J 
lO~       PREPARATIONS ANI> COMPOSITIONS.

commonly loosen the belly; and an ounce proves pretty
strongly purgative.   It has  been  particularly recom-
mended as a purgative for maniacal and  melancholic pa-
tients.  It is an useful addition to the purgatives of the
resinous kind, as it promotes their operation, and at the
same time tends to correct their griping qualify.

Carbonas Sodje.  Carbonate of Soda.  Purified fixed
                  fossil Alkaline Salt.

   Take of
          Impure carbonate of soda, any quantity.
   Bruise it; then boil in water till all  the salt be dis-
solved.  Strain the solution through paper, and evaporate
it in an iron vessel, so that after it has  cooled, the salt
may crystalize.
   Impure carbonate of soda, the Barilla of commerce, is
obtained from  the incineration of certain marine plants.
It consists of carbonate of soda, Avith charcoal, oxide of
iron, and various other impurities.  From these it is in
a great measure freed by solution and crystalization.  It
Avas formerly  called purified fixed fossil alkaline  salt,
and has been used principally as a lithontriptic, under the
form of the watery solution super-saturated with carbonic
acid, or made into pills with soap; of Avhich half a drachm
or a drachm, are taken in the course of  the day.
   Mr. William Dunn of  Boston has announced bis in-
tention of manufacturing carbonate of soda to any amount
whicii may be required.


Aqua  Super-Carbonatis Sod,e.   Solution of Super-
                  Carbonate of Soda,

   Take  of
          Water, ten pounds.
          Carbonate of soda, tAvo  ounces.
   Dissolve and expose the solution to  a stream  of car-
bonic  acid gas, in the same manner as directed for the
water of carbonic acid.
   It is used as a lithontriptic, in the  same  dose as the
water of super-carbonate  of potass,  and has generally
been prefered  to it, on the supposition of  being  more
pleasant.


                                                   P 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       403


        PiiosrnAs  SoDiB.   Phosphate of  Soda,

   Take of
         Bones burnt to whiteness, and powdered,  ten
           pounds,
         Sulphuric acid, six pounds,
         Water, nine pounds.
   Mix the powder with the sulphuric acid in an earthern
 vessel; then add the Avater and mix again.   Then place
 the vessel in a vapour bath, and digest  for three days ;
 after Avhich dilute  the  mass with nine pounds more of
 boiling Avater, and  strain the liquor  through a strong
 linen cloth, pouring over it boiling Avater, in small quan-
 tities at a time, until the Avhole acid be Avashed out.
   Set by the strained  liquor, that the impurities may
 subside, decant the clear  solution,  and evaporate it to
 nine pounds.  To this liquor, poured from the impurities,
 and heated in an earthern vessel, add carbonate of soda,
 dissolved in  Avarm water, until the  effervescence cease.
 Filter the neutralized liquor, and set  it aside to crysta-
 lize.  To the liquor that remains, after the  crystals  are
 taken out, add a little carbonate of soda, if necessary, so
 as to saturate exactly the phosphoric acid, and dispose
 the liquor by evaporation to form crystals as long as these
 can be produced.  Lastly, the crystals are  to be kept in
 a Avell closed vessel.
   The white residuum of burnt bones consists chiefly of
 phosphate of lime.  The sulphuric acid decomposes it, by
 combining with the lime; the phosphoric acid, Avhich is
 disengaged, dissolves, however, a portion of undecomposed
 phosphate of lime, forming a soluble compound.  When
 carbonate of soda is added to the acidulous liquor, obtain-
 ed by washing the materials, the soda combines with the
 free  phosphoric acid;  the  neutral  phosphate of lime,
 which was combined Avith that acid, is precipitated, and
 the phosphate of soda crystalizes on evaporation of  the
 strained liquor.  Its crystals are rhomboidal, efflorescent,
 and require for solution only four parts of cold water.
They consist, according to Thernard, of nineteen of soda,
fifteen of acid, and sixty-six of water.  Its taste is purely
 saline, Avithout any bitterness.
  Phosphate of soda Avas introduced into the practice of
physic by the ingenious  Dr. Pearson, of London.  It pos- 
40A       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

sesses the same medical qualities as the sniphatc of soda*
and the tartrite of potass and  soda, being an excellent
purge in the quantity of an ounce or ten  drachms; and
has the peculiar advantage over these  two salts in being
much less nauseous than they  are.  Its taste is extremely
similar to that of common salt;  and Avhen given in a bason
of water gruel, or veal broth without  salt, it is scarcely
perceptible by the palate, and  consequently is well adapted
for patients whose stomachs  are  delicate, and who hav«
an antipathy against the other salts.

 Sulphas Sodje.   Sulphate  of Soda.   Glauber's Salt.

  Dissolve  the  acidulous  salt  which remains after the
distillation  of muriatic acid,  in water; and having mixed
chalk with it  to remove  the superfluous acid,  set it
aside until the sediment subside ;  then decant the liquor,
strain it through  paper, and  evaporate it so that it may
crystalize.
  In the decomposition of muriate of  soda by sulphuric
acid,  to prepare muriatic acid, more sulphuric  acid is
used than is barely sufficient; and hence the  necessity of
saturating this excess by the  addition of chalk or carbo-
nate  of lime.  The neutral sulphate of soda crystalizes
in hexhsedral prisms; they are  efflorescent and soluble in
rather less  than three parts  of cold water.   Their taste
is at first salt, and afterwards disagreeably bitter.  They
consist, when dried, of fifty-six parts of sulphuric  acid,
and forty-four of  soda.
  Taken  from half an ounce to an ounce,  or more, it
proves a mild and useful purgative; and in smaller doses
largely diluted, a  serviceable  aperient and diuretic.  It
is commonly given in solution;  but it may also be given
in powder, after it has effloresced. In this form the dose
must  be reduced to one half.
  The very disagreeable taste  of cathartic salts may he
in a great measure destroyed by dissolving them in hot
lemonade,  or by adding to the solution  a little of the
vegetable acid.
  At the salt Avorks in the county of Barnstable, Glauber's
salt is prepared to great advantage from the bittern that
remains after the  crystalization of common  salt.   This
bitter liquor is  preserved  in  the vats; and  during the
cold in Avintcr the salt is found collected in fine crystal* 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       4Q&

at the bottom.  This is purified by moderately boiling in
fresh water,  and the  salt is  again crystalized in large
shallow vessels.  The sulphate of soda prepared at these
Avorks is equal in quality to any that is imported, and may
be made abundant enough for the whole home market,
and the West India Islands.   It has been sold at the low
price of three dollars per hundred weight; and has been
exported to the East and West Indies, Avhere it has come
to a profitable market.
  Like European salts, it is apt to effloresce, but if se-
cluded from  the  air and light, for tvyelve or eighteen
months, it becomes hard and permanent.

Tartris Potassje  et  SoD-E.  Tartrite of Potass  and
                Soda.   Rochelle Salt.

  It is prepared from the carbonate  of  soda and  super-
tartrite of potass, in the same manner as the tartrite of
potass.
  The excess of tartarous acid in the acidulous tartrite
of potass, being saturated in  this  preparation with soda,
a triple  salt is formed.  It erystalizes in rhomboidal
prisms.  Under the name of Rochelle salt, it has been
employed as a cathartic, in a dose of one ounce;  and is
often prefered, as being less disagreeable than the great-
er number of the saline cathartics.   It  consists of fifty-
four parts of tartrite of potass, and forty-six of tartrite
of soda.


Aqua Ammonije. Water of Ammonia. Water of Caustic
                     Ammonia.

  Take of
         Muriate of ammonia, one pound,
         Lime, fresh burnt, one pound and  an half,
         Distilled Avater, one pound,
         Water, nine ounces.
  Pour the water on the powdered lime contained in an
iron or earthen vessel,  Avhich is  then to be covered up
till  the lime fall to poAvder.   Then mix  the muriate pre-
viously ground into very fine powder, thoroughly with the
lime, by triturating them together in a mortar, and im-
mediately put the mixture into a retort of bottle glass.
Put the retort in a  sand bath,  and connect with  it  a 
 406       PREPARATIONS AMI COMPOSITIONS.

 Woulfe's  apparatus.   In the first and  smallest botflr,
 furnished with a tube of safety, put two ounces of the
 distilled Avater, and in the second the rest of the distilled
 water.
   The fire is noAv to be kindled, and gradually increased,
 until the bottom of the sand pot become red.  Mix the
 fluid contained in each of the bottles, and preserve it in
 small phials accurately closed.
   The theory of this process is precisely the  same with
 that directed for the preparation of the lixivium causti-
 cum.  The lime attracts the  muriatic acid of the muriate
 of ammonia, and the ammonia, or volatile salt, is disen-
 gaged, and arises in a liquid form.  By itself it is incon-
 densable,  but it combines with the Avatery vapour, and
 forms an  aqeous solution.  To  conduct the  process  to
 advantage, a  series of receivers  is necessary, in which
 Avater is disposed, to absorb entirely, the ammoniacal gas.
   When water is perfectly saturated with ammonia, one
 hundred grains are found to combine  with thirty-four;
 but, in the usual mode of preparing  this  solution, this
 perfect  saturation  is never effected. The  solution has a
 strong pungent smell, a  very acrimonious taste, and in-
 flames the skin.   It is used in medicine  as a poAverful
 stimulant  and diaphoretic internally, in a dose of twenty
 drops  largely  diluted. Externally, it is applied  to the
 skin as a rubefacient, and in the form of gas to the nos-
 trils, and to the eyes as a stimulant, in cases  of torpor,
 paralysis,  rheumatism, syncope,  hysteria, and chronic
 ophthalmia.

 Alcohol Ammoniatum.  Ammoniated Alcohol; or Spirit
                     of Ammonia.

   Take  of
         Alcohol, thirty-two ounces,
         Lime, fresh burnt,  twelve ounces,
         Muriate of ammonia, eight ounces,
         Water, eight ounces.
  From these ingredients, ammoniated alcohol  is prepar-
ed, in exactly the same manner, as the water of ammonia.
  Though  in this process  carbonate  of ammonia be the
principal product, from the decomposition of the muriate
of ammonia, by the carbonate of potass, yet,  from the
potass  not being fully saturated Avith  carbonic acid,  a 
          PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.      407

quantity of pure ammonia is disengaged, and combines
with the alcohol.  A part  of the water also of the dilut-
ed alcohol distilling over, dissolves a portion of the car-
bonate of ammonia.
  The compound has the pungent ammoniacal smell. It
is used principally as the menstruum of some vegetables,
with whicii ammonia coincides in medicinal operations.


Cabeonas Ammonije.   Carbonate of Ammonia.  Pre-
                  pared Ammonia.

  Take of
        Muriate of ammonia, one poun'l,
        Pure soft carbonate of lime dried, two pounds.
  Having  triturated them separately, mix  them tho-
roughly, and  sublime from a retort into a  refrigerated
receiver.
  This process is an example of double elective attraction.
The muriatic acid of the muriate of ammonia combines
with the lime of the carbonate of lime, and the carbonic
acid of the latter unites with the ammonia of the former.
The carbonate of ammonia which is formed, is sublimed,
and is obtained in a white crystaline  cake.   When the
process is carried on in the large way, the sublimation is
generally performed from  an iron pot, to Avhich the heat
is directly applied.
  Carbonate of ammonia has the smell and taste of am-
monia, but weaker.   It is  soluble in twice its weight of
cold water, and is more soluble as the temperature of the
Avater increases; but Avhen  it approaches to a  boiling
heat, the carbonate is volatilized.  It is efflorescent when
exposed to the air; and is decomposed by most of the
acids.
  The A'olatile alkali and spirit obtained from sal ammo-
niac are the purest of all the  medicines of this kind.
They are someAvhat  more acrimonious than  those pro-
duced directly from animal substances, whicii ahvays con-
tain a portion of the oil of the subject, and receive from
thence some degree  of saponaceous quality.
  The volatile salt and spirit prepared from hartshorn
and animal bones, are now entirely siu eisedcd  by those
obtained from sal ammoniac, and the process for prepar-
ing them is rejected by the Edinburgh college. 
408
preparations and  compositions.
   Volatile alkaline salts, and their  solutions called  spi-
 '"its, agree in many respects, Avith fixt  alkalis and their
 solutions or leys: as in  changing the colours of  a blue
 flower to a green : effervescing, when in their mild state,
 with, and neutralizing acids; and corroding the fleshy parts
 so as to act as caustics. By their stimulating smelJ, they
 prove serviceable in languors and faintings. Taken inter-
 nally, they stimulate, greatly promote perspiration, and
 act particularly on the nervous system.  They prove use-
 ful in lethargic cases; in hysterical and hypochondriacal
 disorders, and in the languors, headachs, flatulent colics,
 and other symptoms which attend them.  In some fevers]
 particularly those of a  low  kind, in  aged persons, and
 those  of  phlegmatic habits, and  accompanied with a
 cough, hoarseness, ke. they are of great utility,  raising
 the vis vitce, and exciting a  salutary  diaphoresis.  The
 dose of the salt is from  five  to fifteen grains, and of the
 spirit thirty or forty drops in cold water.
   The use of the volatile ammonia has lately been attend-
 ed with uncommon success in cases  of  the  bite of vene-
 mous serpents.   Mr. John Williams speaks in the most
 positive manner of the good  effects of the volatile alkali,
 (spirits of hartshorn  or spirit of sal  ammoniac) in curing
 the effects of the bite of veneinous snakes in the East
 Indies.  Dr. Wright, Avho practised many years in Ja-
 maica, directs forty drops of the  caustic volatile  alkali,
 as soon as possible after  the accident; the dose being re-
 peated every five minutes, while the parts  affected arc
 continually washed Avith the same  preparation.  A  re-
 markable instance is reported to have occurred at  Savan-
 nah, in Avhich was experienced the most  decided  benefit
 from the use of alkalis in a  negro Avho was bitten by a
 venemous snake  in the foot.  The patient was ordered
 one or two tea  spoonfuls of an alkaline solution everv
 fifteen minutes, and  the  part affected to be kept moist
 Avith the solution.  The first dose produced immediate
 good effects, in mitigating the excessive pain and swelling
which Avere making  rapid progress  up the limb  to the
body; and a proper repetition of the  remedy soon effected
 a complete cure.   The efficacy of this remedy in similar
alarming cases, has lately been confirmed, by a publication
 of Dr. Ramsey, of South Carolina.
  Ammonia is aycII known to possess  a like  antiseptic
quality  Avith  other alkaline  salts, and  is employed  for
similar purposes. 
preparations and compositions.      409
  \q,ua Carbonatis Ammonle.  Solution of Carbonate
           of Ammonia.  Water of Ammonia.

    Take of
           Muriate of ammonia,
           Carbonate of potass, each sixteen ounces,
           Water, two pounds.
    Having mixed the salts and put them into a glass retort,
  pour the water upon them, and distill to dryness in a sand
  bath, gradually increasing  the heat.
    In this preparation  of carbonate of ammonia by the
  humid way, carbonate  of lime (chalk) could not be em-
  ployed to decompose the muriate of ammonia; because
  the addition of the water prevents the application of the
  necessary heat, whereas carbonate of potass acts at a
  moderate temperature. The potass attracts the muriatic
  acid, the ammonia the carbonic acid.  The carbonate of
  ammonia is volatilized, and dissolved by  the watery va-
  pour.   The solution  is applied to the same  medicinal
  purposes as the concrete ammoniacal carbonate.
    A formula is given by the London College for a similar
  preparation, under the name of liquor carbonatis ammo-
  nia?, obtained  by the solution  of the solid  carbonate in
  water.  Eight ounces  of the carbonate of ammonia are
  dissolved in a pint of distilled water, and  the solution is
  strained through  paper.


    Aojja Acetitis Ammonia.  Water of Acetite of
           Ammonia.   Spirit of Mindererus.

    Take of
          Carbonate of ammonia in powder any quantity.
    Pour upon it as much distilled acetous acid as may be
  sufficient to saturate the ammonia exactly.
    In this preparation, the acetous acid combines Avith the
  ammonia, and  the carbonic  acid is disengaged Avith effer-
  vescence.   The acetite of ammonia remains dissolved in
  the water of the acetous acid.  As the strength of distill-
  ed vinegar is not always the same,  that of this solution
• must be variable; an inconvenience not easily obviated.
    The following  cheap and expeditious method of satu-
  rating the common solution obtained by dissolving sal 
*fO      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

ammoniac (carbonate of ammonia) in vinegar, Avith fixed
air, or carbonic acid gas, is too valuable to be omitted.*
  Take an  ounce of pure sal ammoniac  (carbonate of
ammonia) and one pint  and  a half of distilled vinegar;
put the latter in a decanter, provided with a  close glass
stopper; then introduce the salt, previously broken into
lumps, but not too small, as by plunging it too suddenlv
into the liquor, the extrication of the gas Avould be  too
quick, and a quantity of it dissipated.   Next,  the stopper
of the bottle should  be tied over with a bit  of leather,
and the whole be left undisturbed.  It Avould be further
useful, to add on  the  top  of the  bottle some weight or
pressure, by which means the combination of the carbonic
acid gas with the water will be greatly facilitated. After
having stood a few hours, the ammonia Avill be dissolved,
and the carbonic acid gas will be absorbed by the liquor.
By this simple process, the water of acetite of ammonia
becomes strongly impregnated with fixed air, while it is
almost entirely deprived of that disagreeable taste, wliich
is peculiar to this medicine, when prepared in the usual
way.
  Dr. Lynam, an English practitioner, speaks  from  ex-
perience of the superior qualities this preparation pos-
sesses as a febrifuge;  besides the very great  advantage,
that it tends to keep the boAvels  open, even under the
immediate influence of opiates.    It likewise generally
agrees with weak and irritable stomachs, which can retain
scarcely any other medicine.
  Acetite of ammonia, when assisted by a warm regimen,
proves an  excellent and powerful sudorific; and as it ope-
rates Avithout quickening the circulation or increasing the
heat of the body, it is admissible in febrile and inflamma-
tory diseases, in which the use of stimulating sudorifics
is attended  Avith danger.   Its action  may likewise  be
determined to the kidneys by walking about in a cool air.
The common dose is  half an  ounce, either by itself, or
along Avith other medicines adapted to the same intention.
  Pure vinegar is  sometimes  employed instead of the,
distilled acetous acid in this preparation.

       *  Vide Rees' Cycloped.  Article Ammonia. 
          PREPARATIONS and compositions.       411


 Hydro-Sulphuretum Ammonle.  Hydro Sulphuret of
                      Ammonia.

   Take of
         Water of ammonia, four ounces, subject it  in
           a chemical aparatus to a stream of the gas,
           which arises from
         Sulphuret of iron, four ounces,
         Muriatic acid, eight ounces, previously diluted
           with tAvo pounds and a half of Avater.
   Sulphuret of iron  is conveniently  prepared for this
 purpose, from
         Purified filings of iron, three parts.
         Sublimed sulphur, one part.
   Mixed and exposed to a moderate degree of heat in a
 covered crucible, until they unite into a mass.
   The sulphureted hydrogen is produced in this process
 by the muriatic acid disposing the iron to decompose part
 of the Avater.   The  hydrogen  disengaged, immediately
 combines Avith a portion of the sulphur present, and this
 compound escaping in the state of gas, is passed through
 the Avater of ammonia, Avith Avhich  it unites, and forms
 a liquor of a dark green colour, and very foetid odour.
   Hydro  sulphuret of ammonia acts powerfully on the
 living  system.  It induces vertigo, drowsiness,  nausea,
 and vomiting, and lessens the action of the heart and ar-
 teries.  It therefore seems to be a direct sedative.   The
 principal application of it is in diabetes, with the YieAV  of
 reducing the morbid  appetite  and increased action of the
 stomach.  It is given  in a dose of from five to fifteen drops
 twice a day.

       Murias Baryta,   Muriate of Barytes.

   Take of
                 •*
         Carbonate of barytes,
         Muriatic acid, each  one part,
         Water, three parts.
   Add the carbonate,  broken into little bits, to the water
 and acid, previously mixed.   After the effervescence has
 ceased, digest for an hour,  strain the  liquor, and set  it
 aside to crystalize.  Repeat the evaporation as long a*
any crystals are formed. 
412       preparations  and  compositions.

  If the carbonate of barytes cannot be procured, the mu-
riate may be prepared in the following manner from the
sulphate.
  Take of
         Sulphate of barytes, two pounds,
         Charcoal of wood in poAvder, four ounces.
  Roast the sulphate with fire, that it may be more easily
retluced to a very fine poAvder, with Avhich the charcoal is
to be intimately mixed.  Put the mixture into a crucible,
and having fitted it ay ith a cover, heat it Avith a strong fire
for six hours. Then triturate the matter well, and throw
it into six pounds of Avater, in an earthen or glass vessel,
and mix them by agitation, preventing as much as possible
the access of the air.
   Let the vessel stand in a vapour bath until the part not
 dissolved shall subside, then pour off the liquor; on the
 undissolved part pour four pounds more of boiling water,
 which, after agitation and deposition, are to be added to
 the former  liquor.   Into the liquor  while still warm, or
 if it shall have cooled, again  heated, drop muriatic acid
 as long as  it excites any effervescence.   Then strain it
 and evaporate it so  as to crystalize.
   Sulphate of  barytes may be decomposed by carbonate
 of potass by double affinity, and perhaps this is  the least
 troublesome process; but, when done with the view to
 the medicinal application of the barytes, it has been sup-
 posed defective, as it does not separate the metallic sub-
 stances Avith wliich the native sulphate  is so frequently
 intermixed.  The process of decomposing it, therefore,
 by charcoal, has been deemed preferable.  The carbona-
 ceous matter attracts the oxygen of the sulphuric  acid;
 the sulphur remains united Avith the barytes.  This sul-
 phuret of barytes, as avcU as a portion of hy dro-sulphu-
 ret formed during the solution, are  soluble in water; on
 dropping in muriatic acid, it combines Avith the barytes,
 the sulphur is precipitated, and the sulphurated hydrogen
 disengaged. By straining and evaporating the liquor, the
 muriate of barytes is obtained  crystalized.  It is  used
 under the form of solution, for whicii also the  following
 formula is given. 
         PREPARATIONS and compositions.       ilS


Solutio Muriatis Baryta.   Solution of  Muriate
                    of Barytes.

  Take of
        Muriate of barytes, one part,
        Distilled water, three parts,
    Dissolve.
  The saturated solution of muriate of barytes was in-
troduced by Dr. CraAvford, as a remedy in scrofula, and it
has since been used in Aarious forms of hectic fever.  Its
effects are to improve the appetite and general strength;
sometimes it occasions diaphoresis or diuresis.  Its dose
is live drops, gradually increased to twenty or more.   In
too large a dose  it occasions sickness, vertigo, tremors,
and insensibility.  The solution is also used externally as
a stimulating and gentle escharotic application in cutane-
ous diseases, fungous ulcers, and specks upon the cornea


             AquA Calcis.   Lime Water.

  Take of
         Lime recently burnt, half a pound.
  Put it into  an  earthen vessel, and sprinkle on  it four
ounces of water, keeping the vessel shut, Avhile 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 let this be  done about ten times, always
keeping the vessel shut, that the free access of the  air
may  be prevented.   Lastly, let the water be filtered
through paper, placed in a funnel, with glass rods inter-
posed between them, that the water may pass as quickly
as possible.
  It must be kept in very close bottles.
  The caution to exclude the air in  this process, arises
from the supposition that the lime would combine rapidly
with the carbonic  acid of the  atmosphere.  After  the
solution is strained, it is at least necessary, that it should
be kept in vessels avcU stopped.  Lime is not more solu-
ble in hot Avater, than in cold; therefore it is unnecessary
lo use boiling  water.  Only a very small quantity of time
is dissolved;   about two grains to the ounce. 
 *i4      PREPARATION".  \M) COMPOSITIONS,

   Lime Avater is transparent  and colourless.   It  has an
 austere,  acrid taste, and affects vegetable colours as the
 alkalis do.  When applied to the living fibre, lime water
 corrugates, and shortens it; it therefore possesses astrin-
 gent poAvers.  It is also a  powerful antacid; or, at least,
 it combines with, and neutralizes  acids when it comes in
 contact with them.   It also  dissolves mucus, and  kills
 internal worms.   From possessing these properties, it is
 used in medicine, in diseases supposed to arise from laxity
 or debility of  the  solids, as diarrhoea, diabetes, leu-
 corrhcea, scrofula, and scurvy; in affections of the  sto-
 mach, accompanied with acidity and flatulence, Avhen the
 intestines are loaded Avith  mucus; and in worms.   Lime
 water is scarcely capable of dissolving, even out of the
 body, any of the substances of Avhich urinary calculi con-
 sist; it has therefore no pretensions to the character of a
 lithontriptic.  It has been also recommended in crusta
 lactea, cancer, and chronic cutaneous diseases.   Exter-
 nally it is applied to ill-conditioned  ulcers, gangrenous
 sores, as  a wash  in tinea capitis and psora; and as an
injection in gonorrhoea, fistulas,  and ulcers of the bladder.
 When taken internally, its taste is said to be best covered
 hy hike Avarm milk.   Its  dose is commonly from two to
 four  ounces,  frequently repeated; but Avhen  long  con-
 tinued, it Aveakens the organs of digestion.
   Lime Avater is an excellent remedy for a broken Avinded
 horse.

 Carbonas Calcis Prjeparatus. Prepared  Carbonate
                       of Lime.

   Carbonate of lime, Avhether the  variety,  commonly
called chalk, or that called crab's eyes and  crab's stones,
 after having been triturated to powder in an iron mortar,
 and levigated  on a porphyry stone, with a little water, is
 to be put into a large vessel, and Avater to be poured upon
it; Avhich, after agitating the vessel repeatedly, is to be
again poured  off, Avhile loaded with  fine  powder.   On
allowing the water to settle, a subtile powder ay ill  sub-
side, which is to be dried.
   The coarse powder which the Avater  could not  sus-
pend, may  be levigated again, and treated  in  the same
manner.
   Carbonate of lime, formerly prepared  chalk, is com-
 mon Sy callct:  an  absoibeni earth,  it  certainly  is an 
         PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITION*.       *la

antacid, that is, it combines with and  neutralizes most
acids, Avhile its carbonic acid is expelled in the form  of
gas.  It is therefore  exhibited in affections of the sto-
mach, accompanied with acidity, especially when at the
same time there is a  tendency to diarrhoea.  The fear
of its forming concretions in the bowels,  is probably
imaginary;  for it is not warranted either by  theory or
experience.
  Applied externally, carbonate  of lime may  be cor, -i-
dered as an absorbent in another point of view; for its
beneficial action on burns  and ulcers,  prohably arises
entirely from its imbibing the moisture or ichor us mat-
ter, as a sponge Avould  do, and thus preventing  it from
acting on the abraded surfaces, and excoriating the neigh-
bouring parts.
  R^d  coral, (corallium rubrum) is ordered to  be pre-
pared in the same manner, in the London Pharmacopoeia;
but, as it has no qualities but those of carbonate of lime,
there is no necessity for retaining it in the  lists of the
Materia Medica.


Solutio  Muriatis  Calcis.  Solution of Muriate of
                       Lime.

  Take of
        Hard carbonate of lime, that is, white marble,
           broken into pieces, nine ounces,
        Muriatic acid, sixteen ounces,
        Water, eight ounces.
  Mix the acid with  the water,  and gradually add the
pieces of carbonate of lime.   When the effervescence has
ceased, digest them for an hour;  pour off the liquor and
evaporate  it to dryness.  Dissolve the residuum in its
Aveight and  a half of water;  and, lastly, filter  the so-
lution.
  The muriatic acid obviously combines with the  lime,.
and disengages the carbonic acid.  Its taste  is pungent,
bitter and disagreeable.  It is one of the most deliques-
cent salts  that we know,  and is soluble in water; that
fluid seems capable of dissolving twice its weight, or at
least forms Avith it a viscid  liquid.
  It Avas first  proposed  as  a medicine by Fourcroy,  in
scrofulous and glandular diseases, and has been lately
extravagantly extolled by Dr. Beddocs, in the same affee-
CS^ 
416      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.

tions.   A drachm,  diluted with an  ounce of water, he
considers as a  medium dose.   In an over dose, it has
produced qualms and sickness; and three drachms and
an half, killed a dog, whose stomach, upon  dissection,
had its villous coat blood-shot,  and in many parts almost
thick, and converted into a gelatinous slime.
   The solution of muriate of lime, lias been strongly re-
commended as a tonic, similar and not inferior to the
muriate of barytes.

Phosphas  Calcis  Impurus.    Impure  Phosphate  of
                        Lime.

   Burn pieces  of  hartshorn till  they become perfectly
Avhite; then reduce them to a very fine powder.
   In the burning of hartshorn, a strong fire, and the free
admission of air are necessary.  The potter's furnace was
formeiiy directed for the  sake of convenience, but any
common furnace or stove will do. If the pieces of horn be
laid on some lighted charcoal, spread on the bottom of the
grate, they will be burnt to a Avhiteness,  still retaining
their original form.
   Burnt hartshorn, from  its white earthy appearance,
was formeiiy considered as an absorbent earth. But since
it has  been accurately analyzed, that idea has been given
up, and  its use has been suggested as a remedy in the
rickets, a disease, in which the deficiency of the natural
deposition of phosphate of lime in  the bones, seems to be
the essential, or at least, most striking symptom.  Mr.
Bonhomme, therefore, gave  it to the extent of half a
scruple, mixed with phosphate of soda, in  several cases,
with apparent success. Whatever objections may be made
to his theory, the practice certainly deserves a trial.

Carbonas  Magnesle.   Carbonate of Magnesia.  Mag-
                     nesia Alba.

   Take of
         Sulphate of magnesia,
         Corbonate of potass, equal Aveights.
   Dissolve them separately in double their quantity of
warm  water, and let the liquors be strained or otherwise
freed from the feces; then mix them and  instantly add
eight times their quantity of warm Avater. Let the liquor 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       417

 boil for a little on the fire, stirring it at the same time •
 then let it rest till the heat be someAvhat diminished; after
 whicii strain it through linen ; the carbonate of magnesia
 Avill remain upon the cloth, and  it is to be  ay ashed with
 pure water till it become altogether void of saline taste.
   In this process there is a mutual decomposition of the
 two salts employed.   The potass unites itself to the sul-
 phuric acid, Avhile the carbonic acid combines Avith  the
 magnesia.
   The large quantity of water used, is necessary fbr the
 solution of the sulphate of potass formed ; and the boiling
 is indispensably necessary for the expulsion of a portion of
 the carbonic acid, Avhich retains a part of the magnesia in
 solution.
   Sulphate of potass may be obtained  from the liquor
 which passes through the filter, by evaporation.  This is
 not pure, however, but mixed with undecomposed carbo-
 nate of potass: for one hundred parts of crystalized car-
 bonate of potass, are sufficient for  the  decomposition of
 one hundred and twenty-five parts of sulphate of magne-
 sia ; and  as the carbonate of potass of commerce con-
 tains a larger proportion of alkali than the crystalized
 carbonate, a still less proportion should be used.  From
 these quantities, about forty-five  parts of carbonate  of
 magnesia arc obtained.  Boiling the liquor gives the car-
 bonate of magnesia a smoothness, which it has not Avhen
 this precaution is not observed.
   The ablutions should  be made  with pure Avater; for
 nicer purposes, distilled Avater may  be used; and  soft
 water is in every case necessary.   Hard water for this
 process, is peculiarly inadmissible, as  the  principle of
 water's giving the property called hardness, is  generally
 owing to a salt of lime, which decomposes the carbonate
 of magnesia by compound affinity, giving rise  to carbo-
 nate of lime, Avhile the magnesia unites itself to the acid
 of the calcareous salt, by which the quantity of the car-
 bonate is not only lessened, but is rendered impure by the
 admixture of the carbonate  of lime.  Another  source  of
 impurity, is the silica which the sub-carbonate of potass
generally  contains.   It is most easily got rid of, by ex-
 posing the alkaline solution to the  air for several days,
 before it is used.  In proportion as  it becomes  saturated
Avith the carbonic acid, the silica is  precipitated and may
be separated by filtration.
✓ 
 JbJLS      PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS".

   Carbonate of magnesia, however, is generally prepared
 on a  large scale from the bittern,  or  liquor  remaining
 after the crystalization of the muriate of soda, from sea
 Avater, Avhich is principally a solution of muriate of mag-
 nesia : and there  are some niceties of manipulation re-
 quisite to give it the lightness and smoothness, which are
 marks of its  goodness.
   The carbonate of magnesia is a very light, white, opaque
 substance,  without smell or taste, effervescing with acids.
 It is not, hoAvever, saturated with carbonic acid.  By de-
 composing sulphate of magnesia by an alkaline carbonate,
 without  the  application of heat, carbonate  of magnesia
 is gradually deposited  in  transparent, brilliant crystals,
 and soluble in about  four  hundred  and  eighty times its
 weight of Avater.   The crystalized  carbonate  of magne-
 sia consists of  fifty acid, twenty-five magnesia, and twen-
 ty-five Avater; the sub-carbonate consists of forty-eight
 acid, forty magnesia, and twelve water; and the carbo-
 nate of commerce of thirty-four acid, forty-five magne-
 sia, and twenty-one water.
   Carbonate of magnesia is  principally given to correct
 acidity of the stomach, and in these  cases to act as a pur-
 gative ; for solutions of magnesia in all acids  are bitter
 and purgative; Avhilst those of the other earths, are
 more or less austere  and astringent.  A large dose of
 magnesia, if the stomach contain no acid to dissolve it,
 neither purges, nor produces any sensible effect; a mo-
 derate otic, if an acid be lodged there, or if acid liquors
 be taken after  it,  procures several  stools;  Avhereas, the
 common absorbents,  under the same circumstanees, in-
 stead of loosening, bind the belly.
   When the  carbonate of magnesia meets with an acid in
 the stomach, there is extricated a considerable  quantity
 of carbonic  acid  gas,  Avhich sometimes causes uneasy
 distention of the stomach, and the symptoms of flatulence.
 In such  cases, therefore,  magnesia is preferable to its
 carbonate; but on  other occasions, good effects arise from
 the action of the gas evolved, as in nausea and vomiting.
 It is given  as an antacid, in a dose of from a scruple to a
 drachm.
   Some  attempts  have been made by the manufacturers
 of common salt, at Cape  Cod, to prepare  carbonate of
 magnesia from the bittern, which is well known to hold
a quantity  of the  muriate of magnesia  in solution, and
could the artists  acquire  the necessary practical -kill*
% 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       419
this article might be procured at those Avorks in a state
of purity, and to an extent adequate to every demand.
  It affords great satisfaction to announce that the manu-
facture of this article on an extensive scale has been com-
menced in this state  by Mr. William Dunn, apothecary
and chemist of Boston.  His apparatus is connected Avith
an  extensive salt-work.  He calculates to make thirty
thousand pounds a year, sufficient to supply the United
States and any other demand w hich may be made.  From
each gallon of bittern about five or six ounces of magne-
sia is obtained.   When first formed it is very pure, but
by exposure to the air it attracts  carbonic acid, and has
then all the appearance of the carbonate of magnesia  of
the shops.   Some specimens of it have been examined,
and pronounced equally as pure as that imported.  Con-
nected with the apparatus, kettles are prepared for burn-
ing the carbonate to  form the pure magnesian earth.

     Magnesia.  Magnesia.   Calcined Magnesia.

  Let carbonate of magnesia, put into a crucible, be kept
in a red heat for tAvo hours; then  put it up in close stop-
ped glass vessels.
  By this process the carbonate of magnesia is freed from
its acid and water; and, according  to the late Dr. Black's
experiment, loses about seven twelfths of its weight.   A
kind of opaque, foggy vapour is observed to escape during
the calcination, Avhich is nothing else than a quantity  of
fine particles of magnesia, buoyed off Avith a stream  of
the disengaged gas.   About the end of the operation, the
magnesia exhibits a kind  of luminous, or phosphorescent
property, which  may be  considered as  a pretty exact
criterion of its being  deprived of its acid.
  It is to be kept ia close vessels, because it attracts,
tliough slowly, the carbonic acid of the atmosphere.
  In medicine, it is used for the same general purposes
as the carbonate.  In certain  affections of the  stomach,
accompanied with much flatulence, magnesia is prefera-
ble, both  because it contains more magnesia in a given
bulk, and, being deprived of its acid, it neutralizes the
acid of the  stomach, without  any extrication of gas,
which is often a troublesome consequence when carbonate
of magnesia is employed in these complaints.
/ 
i20      preparations  and  compositions.


Super-Sulphas  Aluminje et Potass^e Exsiccatus.
  Dried Super-Sulphate of Alumina and Potass.  Burnt
  Alum.

  Melt super-sulphate of alumina and potass in an earth-
en or  iron vessel, and keep it over the fire until it cease
to boil. By this  process the alum loses its water of crys-
talization, and becomes more active as an escharotic, for
wliich  purpose  this  preparation  is used.   Unless for
external use as a dry poAvder, the virtues of alum are not
improved  by exposure to fire.  When burnt it is a mild
caustic, and is a principal ingredient in most styptic pow-
ders ;  and  as  a  gentle escharotic it is applied to fungius
ulcers. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      421
CHAPTER III.
         METALLINE PREPARATIONS.

  The following metals are employed in medical prac-
tice : Silver, Quicksilver, Copper, Iron, Tin, Lead, Zinc,
Antimony, Arsenic, and Bismuth.
  It has already been observed, that metals, in their pure
state, do not appear to exert any action on the living sys-
tem ; their combinations only possess medicinal virtues.
  The oxidation of metals, and the combination of their
oxides with acids, are the chemical changes which com-
municate to them activity.  In general they are more
active, in proportion  as they are more highly oxidated,
and are still more so Avhen combined with acids. Oxigen
is not, however, to be regarded, according to a modern
hypothesis, as the source of their activity:  each metal
possesses powers, which, though increased or diminished
according to the degree of oxidation, are peculiar to itself,
and remain in all its preparations.

                    ANTIMONY.

Sulphuretum  Antimonii  Pr^iparatum.   Prepared
              Sulphuret of Antimony.

  Sulphuret of antimony is prepared in the same manner
as carbonate of lime.  [See page 414.]

Oxidum  Antimonii Cum sulphure, Per Nitratem
  Potassa.    Oxide of antimony, with  Sulphur,  by
  Nitrate of Potass.  Crocus of Antimony.

  Take of
         Sulphuret of antimony,
         Nitrate of potass, equal Aveights.
  After they are separately powdered and Avell mixed,
let them  be injected into a red hot crucible; Avhen the
deflagration is over, separate the reddish metallic matter
from the whitish crust; poAvder it, and edulcorate it bv 
'i'i'Z       PREPARATIONS  A NO  COMPOSITION!":.

repeated washings with hot Avater, till the Avater come off
insipid.
  During the deflagration, the nitric acid of the nitrate
of potass is decomposed; its oxigen is attracted, partly
by the sulphur, and partly by the antimony.  The sulphu-
rous acid whicii is the principal product of the oxigena-
tion  of the sulphur,  is in part dissipated,  and in part
combined Avith the potass, and forms the  Avhite crust
Avhich is directed to be removed. By the union of another
portion of the  oxygen with the antimony,  a blown or
reddish oxide is formed.  It appears also, that part of
the sulphuret of antimony escapes  decomposition or oxy-
genation, and unites with the oxide.  The  preparation,
therefore, is an imperfect oxide of antimony.
  As an  antimonial,  this preparation is so  uncertain in
its operation, that it  is never  prescribed; it is used in
making some of the other preparations of this metal.

Oxidum  Antimonii, Cum Sulphure, Vitrificatcm.
   Vitrified  Oxide of  Antimony with Sulphur.  Glass of
  Antimony.

  StreAV sulphuret of antimony beat into a coarse powder
like  sand, upon a shallow unglazed earthen vessel, and
apply a gentle  fire underneath, that the sulphuret may
be heated slowly; keeping it at the same time continually
stirring, to prevent it from running into lumps.  White
v apours  of sulphurous smell will  arise from it.  When
they cease with the degree of heat first applied, increase
the fire a little, so that the vapours may again arise; go
on in the  same manner, till the poAvder, Avhen brought to
a red heat, exhale no  more vapours.   Melt  this powder
in a crucible with an intense heat, till it assume the ap-
pearance of melted glass;  then pour it out  on  a  heated
brass plate.
  In the first stage of this process the greatest part of the
sulphur of the sulphuret  of antimony is dissipated, and
the antimony is imperfectly oxidated.   This  oxide is then
vitrified by the more extensive heat applied.   According
to Thenard, it contains sixteen  of oxygen to the one
hundred.
  This preparation is violent, and at the same time un-
certain in its operation; and is not used, but in preparing
some of the other antimonials. 
           preparations and compositions.     423


 Oxidum Antimonii Vitrificatum,  Cum Cera.  Vi-
   trified Oxide of Antimony with icaa?.   Cerated glass
   of Antimony.

   Take of
         YelloAV Avax, one part,
         Vitrified oxide of antimony Avith sulphur, eight
           parts.
   Melt the Avax in an iron vessel, and throAV into it the
 poAvdered oxide ; roast the mixture over a gentle fire for
 a quarter of an hour, continually stirring it; then pour it
 out, and Avhen cold, grind it into poAvder.
   The glass melts in the Avax with a very gentle heat.
 After it has been about twenty minutes  on the fire, it be-
 gins to change its colour, and in ten more, conies near to
 that of Scottish snuff, which  is a mark of its being suffi-
 ciently prepared; the mixture loses about  one ninth of
 its Aveight in the process.
   The eerated  glass  of antimony Avas  for  some time
 much esteemed in  dysenteries.  The dose is from two or
 three grains, to tAvelve, or  more, according  to  the age
 and strength of the patient.   In its operation, it is both
 emetic and  cathartic; though it has sometimes effected a
 cure without occasioning any evacuation or sickness.  It
 is  noAV, however, much less used than formerly.

 Sulphuretum Antimonii  Pr^ecipitatum.   Precipi-
   tated  Sulphuret  of Antimony.   Golden Sulphur of
   Antimony.

   Take of
         Solution of potass, four pounds,
         Water, three pounds,
         Prepared sulphuret of antimony, two pounds.
   Boil them in  a covered iron pot, over a  slow fire for
 three hours, adding more  water if necessary,  and fre-
quently stirring the mixture Avithan iron spatula; strain
 the liquor while Avarm through a double cloth, and add to
it Avhen filtered, as much diluted sulphuric acid as is ne-
cessary to precipitate the sulphuret, Avhich  must be avcII
 washed Avith Avarm Avater.
   When the liquor, obtained by boiling the  solution of
potass on the sulphuret of antimony, is strained, and a!- 
^Zy      preparations  and compositions.

loAved to cool, before the  sulphuric acid  is added, it de-
posits a red coloured poAvder, Avhich has been known by
the name of Kermes mineral, and has been much esteem-
ed  in Europe, as an  active preparation.   When the sul-
phuric acid is added, it unites with the potass, and the
antimonial oxide, combined Avith parts of the sulphurated
hydrogen and sulphur, is  precipitated  in  the form of a
light or orange coloured poAvder, called sulphur auralum
antimonii.
  In its action  on the  body, the sulphuret of antimony
coincides  with the kermes  mineral:  but on account of
the larger proportion of sulphur, it must be given in
somewhat  larger  doses;  the former  not exceeding a
grain, or  grain  and  an half; the latter to the extent of
five or six grains.   They have been employed principally
as diaphoretics and sudorifics, but are always uncertain
in their operation.
  A composition of equal  parts of sulphur auratum anti-
monii and tnercurius dulcis, has been found a powerful,
yet safe alterative in cutaneous disorders; and has com-
pleted a cure, after salivation  had failed.  In venereal
cases, likewise, this  medicine has produced excellent ef-
fects. [See Pilulse Plummeri.]

Oxidum Antimonii cum Phosphate Calcis.  Oxide
  of Antimony  xvilh Phosphate  of IAmc.   Antimonial
  Powder.

  Take of
         Sulphuret of antimony in coarse powder,
         Shavings of hartshorn, equal weights.
  Mix, and put them into a Avide red hot iron pot, and stir
the mixture constantly,  until it be burnt into a matter of
a gray colour, Avhich is then to be removed from the fire,
ground into poAvder,  and put into a coated crucible. Lute
to this crucible another  inverted over it, and  perforated
in the bottom ay ith a small hole, and apply the fire, Avhich
is to be raised gradually to a white heat, and kept in that
increased state for two hours.  Lastly, grind the matter,
Avhen cold, into a very fine powder.
  This has been introduced into the Pharmacopoeias, as
affording a preparation, similar to the celebrated empiri-
cal  remedy, James9  powder.  For the process, we are
indebted  to Dr. Pearson, of London.  By analysis, he 
          preparations and compositions.       425

 found the genuine powder of Dr.  James, to consist of
 forty-three parts of phosphate of lime, and fifty-seven of
 an oxide of antimony, part of which Avas vitrified; and by
 the above formula he was  enabled to prepare a powder,
 similar to it in qualities and chemical composition.
   The theory of the process is  sufficiently obvious.
 During the first  stage, the animal  matter of the bone is
 decomposed and burnt out; the sulphur of the sulphuret
 of antimony is expelled, and the metal is imperfectly oxi-
 dated.  In the  second, the  metal is  more  completely
 oxidated, partially vitrified, and perhaps brought in com-
 bination with the  phosphate of lime, which is the  resi-
 duum of the bones.  From Mr. Chenevix's experiments,
 it appears, that, in this preparation, more of the oxide of
 antimony is vitrified, than in the genuine James' powder.
   The oxide of antimony with phosphate of lime, (James'
 poAvder,) is one of the best antimonials we possess.  It
 has been long celebrated as a remedy in febrile affections.
 It acts as a very general  evacuant, occasioning sweat,
 purging, and frequently vomiting;  and, by this general
 action, appears to  arrest the progress of the disease.  Its
 dose is five or six grains, repeated every six hours, until
 its effects are obtained.  It is better adapted to fevers of
 an inflammatory nature, than  to those of the typhoid kind.
 It has been affirmed, that the  preparation obtained by the
 above process, is neither so  certain, nor so powerful in its
 operation, as the  powder of James; eight grains of the
 former, being not  more than  equal to  six of the latter.
 The difference, if it exist, may be owing to some peculi-
 arity in the process, by wliich, perhaps, a difference of
 oxidation, or of vitrification of the  oxide  may be occa-
 sioned; or according  to the  opinion of Dr. Fordyee, to
 the intermixture  of a portion of tartarized antimony in
 the empirical preparation.

 Murias  Antimonii.  Muriate of  Antimony.  Butter
                   of Antimony.
  Take of
         Oxide of antimony Avith sulphur, by nitrate of
           potass,
        Sulphuric acid, each one pound,
        Dried muriate of soda, two pounds.
  Pour the sulphuric acid into a retort, gradually adding
'he muriate of soda  and oxide of  antimony previously
       ■  5i 
 426      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

 mixed.  Then perform the distillation in a sand bath.
 Expose  the distilled matter for several days to the air,
 that it may deliquesce, and then pour the liquid part from
 the feces.
   In this mode of forming muriate of antimony, the mu-
 riate of soda is decomposed by the sulphuric acid com-
 bining with the soda; the muriatic acid disengaged, unites
 with the oxide of antimony, aud the compound is volati-
 lized.  It is at first of  a soft consistence, from Avhich it
 takes the name of butter of antimony, but soon attracts a
 sufficient quantity of humidity, to render it fluid. If water
 be poured upon it, it is  decomposed, and a sub-muriate of
 antimony is precipitated.
   This preparation is unfit for internal use;  externally,
 it has sometimes been used as  a caustic. Decomposed by
 potass, it affords  an oxide, which has been used in pre-
 paring the tartrite of antimony.

 Tartris Antimonii.   Tartrite  of Antimony.  Emetic
                        Tartar.
   Take  of
          Oxide of antimony Avith sulphur, by nitrate of
            potass, three parts,
          Super-tartrite of potass, four parts,
         Distilled water, thirty-two parts.
   Boil in a glass vessel for a quarter of an hour, strain
 through  paper, and  set aside the strained liquor to crys-
 talize.
   The excess of tartarous  acid in the super  tartrife of
 potass, is capable of combining with a  number of the
 metallic  oxides, and forming ternary compounds.  With
 oxide of antimony, Avhen not too highly oxidated, it unites
 Avith  facility, forming a combination of this kind, which
 constitutes the present preparation.  As the tartarous
 acid is saturated, partly by  potass, and partly by oxide of
 antimony, it is  not a pure tartrite of antimony, but a tar-
 trite of antimony and potass.   According to the analysis
 of it by Thenard, it consists of thirty-eight parts of oxide
 of  antimony, .thirty-four  of tartarous acid,  sixteen  of
potass, and eight of water.
  As this is the most important of the antimonial prepa-
rations, the processes for obtaining  it have been often
varied, pri eipally, in the selection of the oxide of anti-
mony employed. 
           PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       427

    The vitrified oxide is, perhaps, the most unexception-
  able ;  it contains, indeed, a portion of siliceous earth,
  which accompanies the oxide of antimony in its combina-
  tion with the tartarous acid; and, Avhen the liquor is con-
  siderably evaporated, gives to it a gelatinous consistence:
  but, before this happens, the greater part of the tartrite
  of antimony and potass may be procured by  crystaliza-
  tion; or, according to VauquehVs method,'the solution
  may be directly  evaporated to dryness, and, on again
  dissolving the saline  matter in Avater, the  silex remains
  undissolved.  The solubility of tartar emetic has been
  variously stated, and  appears to vary, according to  the
  quantity of antimonial oxide contained in it, from proper
  preparations.
   According to Dr. Saunders, one ounce of water at 60°,
  dissolves fifty-two grains of the fully saturated salt, Avhile
  of that generally met with,  it dissolves from  thirty-two
 to thirty-five.   This affords, even  a mode of judging of
 the strength of this preparation. It is very susceptible of
 decomposition,  suffering it not only from alkalis, earths,
 acids, and a number of neutral salts, but even from vege-
 table infusions  and decoctions; the vegetable matter, at-
 tracting apparently part of the oxygen of the oxide.   If
 kept dissolved in water, it is also decomposed, from the
 spontaneous decomposition of the tartarous acid.   Of all
 the preparations of antimony, this  is the most certain in
 its operation; and, it is almost indispensable in the prac- '
 tice of medicine.   In  doses  from one  to eight grains, it
 operates as an emetic, and sometimes as a cathartic.  In
 smaller doses, it excites nausea, and proves a poAverful
 diaphoretic and  expectorant.  As an emetic, it is chiefly
 given in the beginning of fevers, and febrile diseases, in
 chin cough; and, in general, Avhenever Ave Avish to eva-
 luate the stomach quickly.   When great debility is pre-
 sent, and in the  advanced stages of typhoid fever, its use
 is improper, and even sometimes fatal.  As a diaphoretic,
 it is given in small doses, of from an eighth to a quarter
 of a grain; as an expectorant, in doses  still smaller.
   The only proper form for  exhibiting it, is in solution;
 and as the intensity of its action on the  body, is liable to
 variation, from difference in  its own strength, and in the
constitution  of the patient, it should aimost  always be
JA'iven in divided  doses, at short intervals, if Ave  wish  to
excite vomiting ; and, at longer intervals, if we only wish
h to act on the skin and lung-. 
*28      PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.

  Tartrite of antimony in solution is much employed in
Europe for increasing the gastric secretions, and main-
taining for a length of time a lax state of the  bowels.
And it is not uiifrequently recommended as a stimulating
application to the region of the stomach in angina pecto-
ris, and in chin cough.


      Panacea Antimonii.  Panacea Antimony.

  Take of
         Antimony, six ounces,
         Nitre, two ounces,
         Common salt, one ounce and an half,
         Charcoal, an ounce.
  Reduce them to a fine powder, and  put the mixture intt
a red hot crucible, by half a spoonful at a time, continu-
ing the fire a quarter of an hour after the last injection:
then, either pour the matter into a cone, or let it cool in
the crucible; which, when cold, must be broken to get it
out.  In the bottom Avill be found a  quantity of regulus;
above this, a compact, liver coloured substance;  and on
the top, a more spongy mass:  this last  is to be reduced
into poAvder, edulcorated with Avater, and dried; when it
appears of a fine golden colour.
  This preparation is found  in  a  former Edinburgh
Pharmacopoeia, and is supposed to have been the basis of
the long celebrated Lockyer's pills.   Ten grains of the
powder, mixed  Avith an ounce  of Avhite  sugar candy, and
made into a mass, Avith mucilage of gum tragacanth, may
be divided into  an hundred small pills;  of wliich, one,
two, or three, taken at a time, arc found to work gently
by stool and vomit.  The dose  should  be gradually in-
creased,  until the proper effect  be produced.   Under
certain  circumstances  of  the  patient,  they moderately
evacuate the stomach, and in  dropsical cases, they have
frequently succeeded as one of the most efficacious  ca-
thartics.  In many cutaneous affections, the use of these
pills, Avhen duly persisted  in. has been attended ay ith tlio
happiest effects, 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      429
                      SBLVER.

Nitras Argenti.   Nitrate of Silver.  Lunar Caustie.

  Take of
         Purest silver, flatted into plates, and cut in pie-
           ces, four ounces,
         Diluted nitrous acid, eight ounces,
         Distilled water, four ounces.
  Dissolve the silver in a phial 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 gentle, and afterward increased by de-
grees, till the mass  Aoav like oil; then pour  it into  iron
pipes, previously heated and anointed with tallow. Lastly,
let it be  kept in a glass vessel well closed.
  The silver, in this process, is oxidated  and dissolved
by the nitrous acid.  By the subsequent fusion, part  of
the acid  is expelled; so that this is rather  a sub-nitrate,
than a nitrate of silver.   It is a strong caustic, and pos-
sesses the advantage of being easily applied.  It is, there-
fore, the one in most general use, for consuming fungous
excrescences, callous edges, Avarts, strictures in urethra,
and the like.  It is  also employed to destroy the venereal
poison in chancres,  before it has operated on the system.
A weak  solution of it may be applied as a stimulus to in-
dolent ulcers, or injected into fistulous sores.
  Notwithstanding  its causticity, it has been  given in-
ternally.   Boerhaave, Boyle,  and  others, commend it
highly in hydropic  cases.  The former assures us, that
made into pills, with crumb of bread, and  a little sugar,
and  taken  on an  empty stomach, (some warm water
sweetened  with honey, being drank immediately after)
it purges gently, Avithout griping, and brings aAvay a
large quantity of Avater, almost Avithout the patient's per-
ceiving it: that it kills worms, and cures many ulcerous
disorders.   He nevertheless cautions against using it too
freely, or in too large a dose, and observes, that it always
proves corrosive, and Aveakcns the stomach.
  It has been more recently employed, and with success,
in epilepsy and  angina  pectoris.   The former disease,
when not depending on organic derangement, is frequently 
430       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

connected with morbid susceptibility, and Avhich tonics
sometimes remove.   The  advantage derived from the
administration of nitrate of silver has been established
on the testimony of Dr. Sims, Dr.  Cappe, Dr. Bostic,
and others.  The dose is a quarter of a grain of the crys-
talized nitrate, Avhich may be given three or  four times
a day.  Distilled water must be employed to dissolve it,
as spring water would decompose it; and the solution
may be made into pills with bread.  It sometimes acts as
a cathartic, and if it occasion much cathartic effect with
griping, or excite nausea, the dose must be  diminished.
Dr. Cappe  has related a case of angina pectoris, the
symptoms of whicii were removed by a  similar adminis-
tration of nitrate of silver.
                     COPPER.

Ammoniaretum Cupri.  Ammoniaret of Copper.  Am-
                  moniacal Copper.

  Take of
         Purest sulphate of copper, tAvo parts,
         Carbonate of ammonia, three parts.
  Rub them carefully together in a glass mortar,  until
after the effervescence have entirely ceased; they unite
in a violet coloured mass, Avhich must  be  Avrapped up in
blotting paper, and first  dried  on a chalk stone, and
afterwards by a gentle heat.  The product must be kept
in a glass phial Avell closed.
  The sulphate of copper is decomposed by the carbonate
of ammonia.  One portion of ammonia  combines  with
the sulphuric acid, another portion of it  unites with the
oxide of copper; and the violet coloured mass which is
formed, is  a  mixture  of the two resulting compounds:
the carbonic acid is disengaged with effervescence.
  This preparation has sometimes been serviceable in epi-
lepsies, but, from its frequent  want of success, and the
disagreeable  consequences Avith which its use  is some-
times attended, it has not lately been much prescribed.
It is employed by beginning with doses of half a grain
twice a day ; and increasing them gradually to as much
as the stomach will bear.  Dr. Cullen sometimes increas-
ed the dose to five grains*. 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       431


Solutio  Sulphatis  Cupri  Composita.   Compound
   Solution of Sulphate of Vopper.  Styptic Water.

  Take of
         Sulphate of copper,
         Super-sulphate  of alumina and potass,  each
           three ounces,
         Water, two pounds,
         Diluted  sulphuric acid, an ounce and a half.
  Boil the sulphates in the water to dissolve them, and
then add the acid to the liquor filtered through paper.
  This is merely a combination of poAverful astringents.
It has been applied  topically to check hsemorrhagy, and,
largely diluted with water, as a wash in purulent ophthal-
mia.  This preparation, or a similar one made extempo-
raneously, in doses of fifteen or tAventy drops, often repeat-
ed, Avill be found a remedy of superior efficacy and speedy
relief in obstinate menorrhagia.

                        IRON.

Ferri  Limatura Puripicata.   Purified filings of
                        Iron.

  Let a piece of pure iron be filed Avith a clean file, then
place a sieve over the filings, and apply a magnet, so that
the filings may be attracted upwards through the sieve.
  The iron is in this manner obtained nearly pure, the
interposition of the sieve in a great measure preventing
particles of other  metals, or impurities which are gene-
rally mixed Avith the iron filings, got from the  work-
shops, from being entangled in the cluster which adheres
to the  hiagne.t.   The scales of the oxide of iron, which
are to be found at the foot of the blacksmith's anvil, are
also to  be purified by the application of the magnet.  For
the magnet will only attract the smaller, and purer scales,
and will leave those Avhich are larger, and less pure.

Oxidum Ferri Nigrum Purifigatum.   Purified Black
         Oxide of Iron.  Purified Iron Scales.

  Let  the scales  of the  oxide of iron,  Avhich are to be
found at the foot of the blacksmith's anvil, be purified by 
iS2       preparations and  compositions.

the application of a magnet. For the magnet Avill attract
only the smaller and  purer scales, and will leave those
wliich are larger and less pure.

Carbonas  Ferri.   Carbonate of Iron.  Rust of Iron.

  Moisten purified filings of iron frequently with water,
that they may be converted into rust, which is to  lie
ground into an impalpable powder.
  During exposure to  air and moisture, iron is oxidated,
and this oxide is found to be combined with carbonic acid,
absorbed, probably from the atmosphere.
  As a chalybeate, it is more active than the pure metal,
and more mild than the other saline combinations of irou.
Its dose is from ten to twenty grains.

Carbonas Ferri Pr^ecipitatus.  Precipitated  Carbo-
                    nate of Iron.

Take of
         Sulphate of iron, four ounces,
         Carbonate of soda, five ounces,
         Water, ten pounds.
  Dissolve the sulphate in the water, and add the carbo-
nate of soda, previously dissolved, in a sufficient quantity
of Avater, and mix them thoroughly.
  Wash the carbonate  of iron, which is precipitated, with
Avarm Avater, and afterAvards dry it.
  On mixing the solutions of these salts together, there
is an immediate mutual decomposition.  Sulphate of soda
is formed,  Avhich remains in solution, and carbonate  of
iron, which is precipitated of a green colour.  The pre-
cipitate,  when first formed, is the carbonate  of black
oxide of iron, or contains the iron, in the state  of black
oxide, the state in which it exists in the green sulphate
of iron;  but in the  process of drying, it absorbs more
oxygen, becomes of a red colour, and is converted into the
carbonate of red oxide  of iron.
  The carbonate of iron  is  an excellent and safe chaly-
beate.  It may be given as a tonic, in doses of from five
to thirty grains; but  all chalybeates  ansAver better  in
small doses, frequently repeated, than  in*|Jarge doses.
The formula of  Dr. Griffiths, which has  been  highly
celebrated as a chalybeate, is an extemporaneous pre-
paration of thi; kind. 
PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.       433
Aqjua  Sufer-Carbonatis  Ferri.   Solution  of the
              Super-Carbonate of Iron.

  It is prepared in the same manner as the water of car-
bonic acid, by suspending in the Avater half an ounce of
iron wire.
  This is a very elegant chalybeate.   The iron  is in a
state of black oxide, and is  dissolved by means of carbo-
nic acid.   It was first prepared by Bergman, in imita-
tion of the natural chalybeate Avaters, and it forms an ex-
cellent substitute for them.

  Sulphas Ferri.  Sulphate of Iron.  Salt  of  Steel.

  Take of
         Purified filings of iron, six ounces,
         Sulphuric acid, eight ounces,
         Water, tAvo pounds and a half.
  Mix them, and after the effervescence ceases', digest
the mixture for some time upon Avarm sand; then strain
the liquor through paper, and after due evaporation, set
it at rest to crystalize.
  The sulphuric acid, by a disposing affinity, enables the
iron to attract  the oxygen of the Avater with rapidity, and
unites Avith the oxide thus formed.  This oxide  is at the
minimum of oxidation, and the  salt  which  it forms is
named the green sulphate  of iron, to  distinguish it from
the red sulphate, in Avhich  the metal is more highly oxi-
dized.   This green sulphate is prepared for  the various
purposes for Avhich it is used in the arts, on a  large scale,
by exposing the native sulphuret of iron to air and mois-
ture ; but it is impure: By the present process, it is ob-
tained in a state of greater purity.
   Sulphate  of iron is one of the most  active preparations
of the metal, and is frequently7 employed in cachectic and
eldorotic  eases,  for  exciting the uterine  discharges,
strengthening  the tone of the viscera, and destroying
Avorms.   Its medium dose  is from three to five grains.
  The common green  vitriol, or copperas, is sometimes
substituted  for this  preparation:  but the former, often
containing zinc or copper, is too inquire for internal use. 
434       PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITION S.


Sulphas Ferri Exsu catus.   Dried Sulphate of Iron.
                   Calcined Vitriol.

  Take of
         Sulphate of iron, any  quantify.
  Expose it to the action of a moderate  heat in an un-
glazed earthen vessel, until it become Avhite and perfectly
dry.   The heat applied here must not be so great as to
decompose the sulphate of iron, but only to deprive it of
its water of crystalization.
  This is merely the  sulphate of iron,  freed from its
water of crystalization.  It Avas  never medicinally  em-
ployed, and has a place in the Pharmacopoeia, only from
being  employed in one  or two pharmaceutical prepa-
rations.

Oxidum Ferri Rubrum.  Red Oxide  of Iron.  Col-
                   cothar of Vitriol.

  Expose dried sulphate of iron to an intense heat, until
it be converted into a very red matter.
  By an intense heat, sulphate of iron is decomposed;
its acid is partly expelled, and  in part suffers decompo-
sition.  The red oxide is the residuum.   It is scarcely
medicinally employed, but is used in some pharmaceutical
preparations.

Murias Ammonia et Ferri.  Muriate of Ammonia
             and Iron.  Martial FloAvers.

  Take of
         Red  oxide of iron, ay ashed and again dried,
         Muriate of ammonia, equal weights.
  Mix them thoroughly and  sublime.
  Oxide of iron  decomposes muriate of ammonia, by at-
tracting the muriatic acid, and, in the present process,
this decomposition takes  place.   But, from  the propor-
tion of the substances  employed, part of the muriate of
ammonia escapes decomposition ; it is sublimed by the heat
applied, and elevates along with it, part of the muriate
of iron that had been formed.  The process, therefore.
is rather an unscientific  mode of obtaining a muiiate of 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      435

iron:  the preparation too,  has been found uncertain  in
strength, more or less of the muriate of iron being sub-
limed, according to the heat applied ; and, accordingly,
it has now fallen into disuse.   It has been found service-
able in hysterical and hypochondriacal cases, and in dis-
tempers  proceeding  from a laxity and vyeakness of the
solids; as the rickets.  From two or three, to ten grains,
may be conveniently taken in the form of bolus.

Mistura Ferri Composita.    Compound mixture  of
                Iron.  (Lond. Phar.)

  Take of
         Myrrh poAvdered, a drachm,
         Sub-carbonate of potass, tAventy-five grains,
         Rose Avater, seven ounces and a half,
         Sulphate of iron powdered, a scruple,
         Spirit of nutmeg,  an ounce,
         Refined sugar, a drachm.
  Rub together the  myrrh, the sub-carbonate of potass
and sugar,  and during the trituration, add  gradually;
first, the  rose Avater and spirit of nutmeg, and last the
sulphate of iron. Pour the mixture immediately into a
proper glass bottle,  and stop it close.
  This, with a feAV trivial  alterations, is  the celebrated
antihectic mixture of Dr. Griffith, and is now introduced
from  the London pharmacopoeia, for the purpose of giv-
ing precise directions for its preparation.  As first invent-
ed, says Mr. Murray, it Avas undoubtedly an unehemical
mixture, the prcseriber not being aware  of the changes
produced in the active ingredients by their mutual action,
but which, in practice, Avas found possessed of peculiar
advantages.   The sulphate of iron, it is obvious, is de-
composed by the sub-carbonate of potass, the sulphuric
acid combining with  the potass, while the carbonic acid
unites Avith the oxide of iron. The carbonate of iron Avhich
is formed is diffused in the mixture along with the myrrh,
and both  are probably kept more completely suspended
by an excess of alkali.  This chalybeate proves  much
less irritating than tlie sulphate of iron, producing  no
unpleasant effect on the  stomach, and at  the same time
it is more active than the common carbonate or rust
of iron, in Avhich the iron is at the maximum of oxidation,
while, in the present preparation, it i &a Uhe minimum. 
%o&       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

is in a different 'state of  aggregation, and probably com-
bined Avith a larger quantity  of carbonic acid.  To pre-
serve it in this low  state  of oxidation, it is ordered to be
kept in a bottle closely stopped : but as iron has a strong
tendency to pass to  a more highly oxidated state, and suf-
fers this change very rapidly from the action of the air,
it is preferable that the preparation should be always ex-
temporaneously made.   Griffith's mixture Avas employed
as a remedy in hectic fever,  in chlorosis, and other dis-
eases, in Aviiich iron is given  as a tonic.  The mixture of
the London pharmacopoeia, Avhich is nearly of the same
strength, may be given in the same cases, in a dose of an
ounce, once or tAvice a  day.  It  is employed with the
greatest success in  those cases of hectic fever which are
unattended by any  great degree  of heat  or thirst, and
Avhich do not  show  manifest signs of inflammation.  It
Avill in general be found to sit easy on the stomach; but
should it disagree,  or should hectic fever and flushings
prevail to a high degree, the  proportion of the ingredients
may be changed, or the sulphate of iron altogether omit-
ted.

                   QUICKSILVER.

  Hydrargyrus Purificatus.   Purified Quicksilver.

  Take of
         Quicksilver, four parts,
         Purified filings of iron, one part.
  Rub them together, and distill from an iron vessel.
  Quicksilver is sometimes adulterated with other metals.
To obtain it perfectly pure, is the design of this process.
The  addition  of the  iron  filings renders  the distilled
quicksilver more bright  and mobile, an effect not  per-
fectly explained, but ascribed to the iron retaining com-
bined with it any foreign metal, or any portion of carbon
that  might have been  contained in the quicksilver.


     Acetis  IIydrargyri.   Acetite of Quicksilver.

  Take of
         Purified quicksilver, three ounces,
         Diluted nitrous acid, four ounces and a half, or
           a  little  more than may be  required for dis-
           solving the quicksilver, 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       437

         Acetite of potass, three ounces,
         Boiling ay ater, eight pounds.
   Mix the quicksilver Avith the diluted nitrous acid, and
after the effervescence has  ceased, digest  if  necessary,
Avith  a gentle heat, until the quicksilver be entirely dis-
solved.   Then dissolve the acetite of potass in the boiling
Avater, and immediately to this solution, still hot. atld the
former, and mix them by agitation. Then set the mixture
aside to crystalize.  Place the crystals in a funnel, and
wash them with  cold  distilled water; and, lastly, dry
them Avith as gentle a heat as possible.
   In preparing the acetite of quicksilver, it is important
that all  the vessels and funnels employed, be of glass.
   For making the acetite of mercury, the nitrate is  pre-
pared Avith a very gentle heat; and with excess of acid,
that it may be retained  in perfect solution, and that there
may be  no possibility of any  admixture of subnitratc Avith
the acetite formed.  A larger proportion of acid  is used
by the Edinburgh College, than by the other  Colleges;
but we believe it to be unnecessary.  In mixing the solu-
tions, we must be careful to pour the mercurial solution
into the acetite of potass, because by adopting the  con-
trary procedure, subnitrate of mercury will be precipitat-
ed undeconiposed, if any of it be contained in mercurial
solution.
   For dissolving  the acetite of potass, the London and
Dublin Colleges only use  as much Avater as is capable of
retaining the nitrate of potass in solution :  the acetite of
mercury is therefore precipitated,  and is purified by
again dissolving it in boiling Avater, and cry stalizing it.
This part of the process is  simplified by tiie Edinburgh
College, Avho use as much water for dissolving the acetite
of potass, as is capable of retaining, as long as it is hot, the
acetite of mercury in solution, and of allowing it to crys-
talize as it cools.   In this way, therefore, it is procured
at once  sufficiently pure.
  The exsiccation of the acetite of mercury, is an  opera-
tion of great delicacy; for it is so  spongy, that it retains
the moisture with great obstinacy ; and it is decomposed
so easily, that heat can  scarcely be employed.  It is best
(hied, by compressing it between  several folds of bibu-
lous paper.
   Acetite of mercury is scarcely soluble in cold  Avater,
but dissolves very readily in boiling water.
   As an anti-syphilitic  remedy, it  is-very mild in its ope-
ration;  but its effects arc not considered us  sufficient;; 
T
 ioS      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITION s.

 permanent, to  warrant its  effecting a radical cure; al-
 though it Avas  the  active  ingredient of the celebrated
 Keyser's  pills.  Its dose is  a grain, night and morning.
 In solution, it has also been recommended externally, to
 remove freckles and cutaneous eruptions.

 Murias IIydbvrgvri.  Muriate of Quicksilver.  Cor-
                   rosive Sublimate.

  Take of
         Purified quicksilver, two pounds,
         Sulphuric acid, two pounds and a half,
         Dried muiiate of soda, four pounds.
  Boil the quicksilver with the sulphuric acid in a gins*
 vessel, placed in a sand bath, until the matter be dried.
 Mix the matter Avhen cold, in a glass vessel, Avith the
 muriate of soda, then sublime in a glass cucurbit, with a
 heat gradually increased.  Lastly, separate the sublimed
 matter from the scoria?.
  In  the first  stage of this process, the sulphuric acid
 oxidizes the mercury, and combines with the oxide; and,
 by the heat applied, the salt thus formed is that  whicii
 contains the metal in a high state of oxidizement.   This
 salt, in its dry  state, is mixed with muriate of soda, and,
 by the application of heat, a double decomposition is ef-
 fected; the  soda  attracts  the  sulphuric acid, and the
 muriatic acid combines with the oxide of mercury. The
 muriate of mercury  being easily volatilized, is separated
from the sulphate of soda by sublimation.
  According to the analysis of muiiate of mercury by
 Mr. Cheacvix,  the compound  consists  of mercury in a
 high state of oxidation united with muriatic acid; the
 oxide, Avhich is its basis, he concluded, consists of eighty-
 five of mercury and fifteen  of oxide; and one hundred
 parts of the  salt are composed of eighty-two of this oxide
 and eighteen of muriatic acid.  Its ultimate  principles,
 therefore, and their proportions  are 18 of  acid, 1^.3
of oxygen, and  G9.7 of quicksilver.  Zaboada, from  a
more recent analysis, has infered, that the  oxide does
not contain more than ten of oxygen in one hundred parts,
and that eighty of this oxide are combined with twenty of
acid.   According to this, the ultimate principles and their
proportions  will be twenty of acid, eighty-five  of oxygen,
and 71.5 of  quicksilver.  The muiiate of mercury is so- 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       439

iuble in Avater and in alcohol, has a taste styptic and me-
tallic, and exerts a degree of escharotic poAver.  It turns
several vegetable colours to a green; is  decomposed by
the alkalis and earths,  and by a number of compound
salts, and likewise by vegetable infusions.
   Mercury, says Mr. Murray, oxidated  and combined
Avith muriatic acid, forms two very aetive preparations,
differing in the degree of oxidation, and in the proportion
of acid with which the oxide is combined.  The one has
been long knoAvn by the name  of Corrosive Sublimate of
mercury, the other by that of Mild Sublimate or Calomel,
The former is novy named Muriate of Quicksilver by the
Edinburgh  College, and Oxymuriate  of Quicksilver by
the London  College; the latter, by both  Colleges,  sub-
muriate of mercury; names not  sufficiently distinctive,
and  chemically incorrect.   The  old distinguishing epi-
thets are still the least ambiguous, and even as  a chemi-
cal nomenclature are properly used.
   Corrosive muriate of mercury  is the most powerful of
the mercurial preparations. According to Murray, its dose
cannot safely exceed the fourth of a grain, nor can more
than one grain be given in twenty-four hours.  As an  anti-
syphilitic remedy it acts speedily, and its action is more
general on the system, or  less determined to particular
organs: These advantages have led to its  frequent use,
especially under the form of various empirical remedies,
wliich have  been employed in  the treatment of syphilis.
They are more than counterbalanced, however, by the
occasional violence of its  operation,  and by the uncer-
tainty which attends it, so that it cannot be relied on in
establishing a permanent cure.
   In other diseases besides lues venerea, it is occasionally
exhibited, particularly in  cutaneous affections.  Exter-
nally, its solution is employed as an escharotic in chancre
and venereal ulcers of the mouth; and a very dilute so-
lution of it has been used as an injection, to excite inflam-
mation in obstinate  gleet, and also  as  a collyiium in
venereal  ophthalmia, and a  lotion  in some cutaneous
affections.  But even externally its use  requires  some
caution.
   Corrosive sublimate was highly praised  for its  anti-
syphilitic virtues  by the celebrated Van  Swieten, but in
modern medicine there is  a diversity of opinion relative
to  the subject.  Mr. Pearson says that it will sometimes
cure the primary symptoms of syphilis,  especially if h 
 140      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

 produce considerable soreness of the gums, and the com-
 mon specific effects of mercury in the system ; but it will
 often fail, and will not secure the  patient from a consti-
 tutional affection.  It is  on some occasions, however, a
 useful auxiliary to a mercurial course, in quickly bring-
 ing the system under the influence  of mercury, and in
 supporting its action after the use of frictions, and is pe-
 culiarly efficacious in relieving venereal pains, in healing
 ulcers of the throat, and in promoting the desquamation
 of eruptions.  On some occasions during the use of this
 medicine  new symptoms  will appear, and it will  fail of
 affording the least advantage to the patient from first to
 last; and on no account does he think it safe to confide in
 this preparation  singly and uncombined, for the cure of
 any truly venereal symptoms.
   In the discussion hoAvever, of this  subject by Dr. Fran-
 ces, as mentioned Avhen speaking of mercury in the Ma-
 teria Medica,  Ave find names of  great celebrity, who,
 since the year 1754 have been the advocates for this form
 of mercury, and  who have made the most favourable re-
 ports of its  antivenereal poAvers.   Among these, Dr. Lo-
 eher of the Vienna hospital is adduced, as having cured,
 from the year 1754 to 1762, no less than 4880 persons by
 this preparation alone, without inducing  salivation, or
 the least painful  or dangerous symptoms whatever. But
 the writer farther substantiates his favourable opinion of
 corrosive sublimate by the respectable testimony of Pro-
 fessor  Hosack, Avho for the last 17 years has employed it
 for the removal of lues venerea in its various stages with
 uniform success.   In the course of the extensive private
 and  public practice of the Professor, no disappointment
 Avas experienced, not a case occurred in whicii the cure
 has not been permanent.  By a cautious  administration
 of the  medicine, salivation Avas scarcely ever induced, and
 those injurious effects upon the stomach and bowels which
 are so  greatly apprehended, Avere  also avoided.   In the
 spring of the year 1811, the antivenereal powers of cor-
 rosive sublimate were again  put to the fairest experiment
 in the Ncav York  hospital, by Mr. I. Chcesman, the house
 surgeon, and complete success was the result of the nu-
 merous instances of trial.  Since  that period the  use of
this medicine has been more  generally adopted  and ap-
proved. It appears, therefore, from the authority adduc-
ed, that of all mercurials, the corrosive sublimate soonest
affects  the  system, and suspends the action of the vene- 
          PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.      441

real virus; that it is the most mild, safe, and certain
remedy, and that it ought to be prefered in every instance
of syphilis.  As a proof of its comparative mildness, Dr.
F. affirms, that when given to delicate children, or even
infants, labouring under some hereditary taint, obstinate
eruptive disease, or other symptoms indicating an altera-
tive course, it has never in his  practice, or that of Pro-
fessor Hosack, induced pernicious effects, excepting that
an over dose will excite some nausea.  For these delicate
subjects, two grains of the sublimate are dissolved in one
ounce of common brandy, of which four  drops to a child
of one year, and six or eight to  one of three years, are
given three times a day in a little sweetened water. After
its use two or three days the  dose may be a little increas-
ed.   As an antivenereal remedy in the various stages of
syphilis, it is administered either in the  form of spiritu-
ous solution or of pills;  the latter is generally to be pre-
fered.  To fifteen grains of the corrosive  sublimate add
the same quantity of  the muriate  of ammonia; having
well rubbed them together, pour on one  drachm of pure
water, combine with  the mixture a sufficient quantity of
the crumb of stale wheat bread to absorb all  the fluid,
and divide the  mass  into one hundred and twenty pills.
One of these is to be taken every night  and  morning,
though in some  aggravated  cases another pill may be
taken in the middle  of the day.  Thus a quarter of a
grain of this preparation will be taken in twenty-four hours
Avithout any inconvenience, though the same quantity in the
form of solution might induce nausea, and some serious
derangement of the stomach and bowels.  The employ-
ment of the medicine ought in  general to be continued
two or three weeks after the disappearance of the disease,
in order to effect with more certainty a radical cure.  As
auxiliary to the above course, the decoction of guaiacum
and sarsaparilla  Avas employed, and attended Avith advan-
tage.   On some  occasions mucilaginous diluents and the
use of opium may appear requisite to obviate any irrita-
tion excited by an over dose of the medicine.
  Ganglions of the tendons  may be  effectually removed
by injecting a solution of corrosive sublimate into an in-
cision made for that purpose.
  This active medicine is too frequently resorted to by the
most unqualified persons, and taken in a very unwarran-
table manner.   While writing on this article application
Mas made  by a sea captain for twenty grains of sublimate,
         5C> 
i*2       PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.
  and twelve grains of the oxide of arsenic, to be dissolved
  in one ounce of liquid laudanum !  Ten or twelve drops of
  such compound he had been taking, he said, twice  a day
  for  several weeks Avithout experiencing any particular
  effect.
    In the Contributions of Medical Knowledge by the late
  Dr. Beddoes, it appears that Mr. Addington has adopted
  a mode of effecting a rapid salivation for the cure of go-
  norrhoea virulenta Avith the corrosive sublimate  dissolved
  in rectified spirit of wine.   He asserts that be has  cured
  hundreds in a very short time in this manner, Avithout the
  least disagreeable consequence. Three grains of the sub-
 limate are to be dissolved in one ounce of rectified spirit of
  wine.  Half of this mixture is to be taken undiluted at
  going to bed ; it produces a copious salivation for an hour
  and a half or longer, and the patient spits a quart.   Some
 .Glauber's  salts are to be taken on  the second day after
 this operation, and on the evening of that day he is to re-
 peat the draught, and the salts on the day but one folloYv-
 ing.   Dr.  Darwin has suggested  the administration of
 corrosive sublimate in the same manner, with the design
 of exciting a rapid salivation as a remedy in hydrophobia.


 Sub-Murias Hydrargyri.  Sub-Muriate of Quicksilver.
                        Calomel.

   Take of
         Muriate of quicksilver, ground to powder  in a
            glass mortar, four ounces,
         Purified quicksilver, three ounces.
   Rub them together in a glass mortar,  with  a little
water, to prevent the acrid  powder from rising, until the
quicksilver  be extinguished; and having put the powder,
after being  dried, into an oblong phial,  of ay hich it tills
one third, sublime from Avarm sand.   After the sublima-
tion is finished, having broken the  phial, tbroAV away
both the red matter found near the bottom of the phial,
apd the white matter near its neck, and sublime the  rest
of the mass.  Grind  this into a very minute poAvder, which
is, lastly, to be Avasbed Avith boiling distilled Avater.
  In this process, the directions  for  performing which
arc sufficiently explicit, an additional quantity of quick-
silver is brought into chemical union with the constitu-
ent principle of muriate of mercury.  In that compound, 
PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.       4i3
the metal is highly oxidated, and the oxide is combined
with a considerable quantity of muriatic acid.  In con-
verting  it into the sub-muriate  of mercury, as  it is
named, the portion of  metal which is added attracts part
of the oxygen  of the oxide, and the Avhole  becomes an
oxide of mercury with a comparatively small portion of
oxygen;  and this oxide, requiring less  muriatic acid for
its saturation than the one more highly oxidated, finds a
sufficient quantity in the pre-existing muriate.   The one
is  merely imperfect oxide of  mercury combined  with
muriatic acid; the other perfect oxide of mercury united
to the same acid, the latter at  the  same time containing
more acid in its composition than the former. Mr. Chene-
vix's analysis, has fixed the proportions with accuracy'.
  Those of the muriate, as it has been named,  have been
already  stated; those of the submuriate are, muriatic
acid, 11.5, oxide of mercury, 88.5,  [this oxide being com-
posed of quicksilver, 89.3, and oxygen,  10.7 ;] so that the
ultimate constituent parts of sub-muriate  of mercury,
are, quicksilver, 79, oxygen, 9.5, and muriatic acid,  11.5.
  The names Avhich have been chosen to distinguish these
two muriates of mercury, are not, in the opinion of Mr.
Murray, the best that might have been selected.   In a
chemical point of  view, the prefixing the syllable sub,
to denote the one, is incorrect,  since the use of that syl-
lable is restricted to those salts, in Avhich the case is the
same, but when there is a deficiency of acid; and, in the
muriate to Avhich  it is here applied, the case is  not the
same, and  there  is no deficiency of acid,  the metallic
oxide being saturated, or combined Avith as much as it is
disposed  to unite with.  As a medical nomenclature, the
adoption of it is still more to be regretted, as the merely
prefixing the syllable to the same  name is insufficient to
guard effectually against the dangerous mistake of con-
founding preparations which   differ so Avidely in  their
powers.
  The epithets corrosive and mild, have long been made
use of,  to discriminate them; they do  so more clearly,
and, as systematic names, they are preferable,  as accord-
ing with the established nomenclature of  the metallic
salts, Avhich draws the distinctions between the salts
formed  from  the  different oxides  of the  same metal,
united with one acii?.  from some  qualify in which they
differ.   The one preparation ought to  have been named
murias hyd.rargyri corrosivus;  the other, nzirias hydrnr-
gyri mitis. 
iM       PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITION*.

  This preparation of mercury, differs from the former,
in being perfectly insipid, and  insoluble in water or in
alcohol.   By sublimation it may  be  obtained  in  small,
short prisms, but it  is usually in the form of a mass,
someAvhat duatile, semi-transparent, and very heavy.  It
is decomposed by  the alkalis, earths, and  various com-
pound salts.
  A method has lately been introduced by Mr. Howard,
of conducting the  sublimation in  an  apparatus, so con-
structed, that the vapours are not  condensed in the upper
part of the vessel, forming a  solid mass,  but are con-
densed  on  the surface of water.  The  aggregation,
whence a certain degree of ductility  and hardness arise,
that renders difficult the levigation of the  sublimate,
is thus obviated; it is obtained at once, in the state of a
fine  powder, and any corrosive muriate that may rise
with it is abstracted.
  The mild muriate of mercury, or calomel, as it is safer
to prescribe  it by the arbitrary name  by Avhich  it has
been long known, is one of the most useful preparations
of the metal.   By proper management, it may be made
to increase, in  a remarkable manner, almost any of the
secretions, or excretions.  As an anti-venereal, it is given
in the dose of a grain, night and morning;  or  in larger
doses, its usual determination to the intestines being pre-
vented, if necessary, by opium.  Thus directed, this pre-
paration is capable of curing syphilis in every form.  It
is the preparation, which is, perhaps, most usually given
in the other diseases in which mercury is employed, as in
affections of the liver,  or neighbouring organs, in cuta-
neous diseases, chronic rheumatism,  tetanus, hydropho-
bia, hydrocephalus, and febrile affections, especially those
of warm climates.  It is  employed as a cathartic alone,
or to promote the operation of other purgatives.  With
jalap it  forms  the favourite cathartic  of Dr. Rush, in
bilious and in yellow fevers; with rhubarb, it is highly
extolled  by sir  John  Pringle, in dysentery.  Its anthel-
mintic poAver is justly celebrated ; and it is perhaps supe-
rior to the other mercurials, in assisting the operation of
diuretics in dropsy.   Combined  with diuretics, it proves
diuretic; and with sudorifics, sudorific.   It also produces
very salutary effects in  obstructions,  and chronic inflam-
mations  of the viscera, especially of the liver;  and in
general, eh he;  with or  without opium, it if, applicable to
every case, in which mercurials are indicated. Combined 
           PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       445

 in the proportion of one part of opium to four of calomel
 it is administered Avith very great success in almost every
 form of active inflammation.  As  a vermifuge, says  a
 late  writer,  " repeated  experience  has  convinced  me,
 that  no remedy  is  so  safe,  so  mild,  or  so  certain, as
 calomel.  Procure the medicine from  an  apothecary of
 character, give it in the dose suited to the age and con-
 stitution of the  child, and keep him  warm  during the
 operation,  avoiding cold and sour drinks, for two or three
 days, and no danger can ever attend the use of the reme-
 dy.   Rhubarb or jalap may be mixed with the calomel to
 quicken the  operation.   A  nausea, which  sometimes
 comes on during  the operation, may be relieved  by mint
 water; and an unnecessary purging may be restrained by
 tYvo or three drops  of laudanum.  A child, between the
 ages of tAvo  and four years, in general, may take from
 one to three  grains at a dose  in syrup."  From its great
 specific gravity, it ought always to be given in the form
 of bolus or pill.
  In cholera infantum, its superior effieacy is confirmed
 by ample experience, as appears by an excellent  disser-
 tation upon  that  disease, by Dr. James Mann, which
 gained the Boyistonian prize for the year 1803.
  As a cathartic, its dose for an adult may be from five
 to ten or twenty grains or more.  It is worthy of remark
 that when taken in a dose of twenty-five or thirty grains,
 calomel operates  with less disturbance to the system than
 when a dose of six or eight grains is given.  The larger
 dose exciting an  action adequate to its own expulsion,
 while the smaller quantity occasions a continual irrita-
 tion on the coats of the intestines.  Calomel Avithin a feAr
 years, has been extensively used as a medicine. It should
 never be trifled with ; and, during its exhibition, confine-
 ment to an equable temperature in a room, is  indispensa-
 ble.   The best way to give it, is in small doses regularly,
 so that the effects maybe gradually exerted on the system ;
 and the impression  once made, should be carefully kept
 up as long as is necessary, to prevent much loss of time.
  The patient who commences a course of  mercury, be-
sides beginning with small doses and proceeding gradually,
should be eareful not  to  stimulate the salivary glands
either by rubbing  or keeping the parts too  warm Avith
flannel.  He should likewise avoid as  much as possible any
exposure to cold Avhich Avill endanger inilanunation, and
tumefaction of these glands and  thereby give rise to a 
 i*6      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

 salivation.  His diet should consist of plain animal food,
 thin broths, puddings, milk, vegetables, ripe fruit, ke.
 carefully avoiding all  salted and high  seasoned meats,
 spirituous liquors and  acids ; and in fact abstaining from
 every substance of a heating or stimulating nature.  Mer-
 cury has  been used Avith  success in consumption:  and
 several cases of its happy exhibition are related by Dr.
 Rush, in the Medical Repository, vol. 5.
   One grain of calomel mixed with sugar,  and snuffed
 up the  nostrils, is recommended as a poAverful errhine in
 amaurosis.  The  same mixture  is blown into the eye to
 remove specks from the cornea.
   The general use of that excellent medicine calomel,
 says the judicious  Avriter  above refered to, renders  its
 perfect preparation a matter of great importance.
   The folloAving  method to determine its purity is given
 by an  able chemist, Mr. Frederick Accum.
   " Calomel ought to be perfectly  saturated with mercu-
 ry.  Complete saturation can only be known, by boiling
 for a few minutes, one  part of calomel  and  one twelfth
 part muriate of ammonia in ten parts of distilled water.
 The fluid must then be filtrated and examined by means
 of carbonate of potass.   If the calomel be Avell prepared,
 no change will take  plaee on the addition of this re-agent;
 but, if the preparation be imperfect, a precipitate will
 ensue, forty-seven parts of which indicate forty-eight of
 muriatic acid.  One hundred and fourteen parts of calomel
 perfectly  saturated with mercury contain ninety-seven of
 metal, and nineteen  of acid.   It should be perfectly ino-
 dorous  and  tasteless, and wlien rubbed in a stone mortar
 with ammoniac, become intensely black."

 Sub-Murias Hydrargyri Pr.ecipitatus.  Precipita-
      ted Sub-Muriate of  Quicksilver.   Calomel.

   Take of
         Diluted nitrous acid,
         Purified quicksilver, each eight ounces,
         Muiiate of soda, four ounces and a  half,
         Boiling  water, eight pounds.
   Mix the quicksilver Avith the diluted nitrous acid, and
toAvards the end of the effervescence digest with a gentle
heat, frequently  shaking the vessel in  the  mean time.
But it  is necessary to add more quicksilver  to  the arid
/ 
           PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.       447

 than it is capable of dissolving, that a perfectly saturated
 solution may be obtained.
   Dissolve at the same time, the muriate of soda in the
 boiling water, and into this solution pour the other, while
 still hot, and mix them quickly by agitation. Pour off the
 saline liquor after the precipitate has subsided, and wash
 the sub-muriate  of quicksilver  by repeated affusions of
 boiling water, whicii is to be poured off each time after
 the deposition  of the sub-muriate, until the water come
 off tasteless.
   Mild muriate of mercury is in this process obtained by
 a double elective attraction.   On mixing  together  the
 solutions of nitrate of mercury  and muiiate of soda, the
 nitric acid is attracted by the soda, and the  muriatic aeid
 by the  oxide of mercury.  In order that the mild,  and
 not the corrosive muriate should be formed, it is evident,
 that the  mercury in  the nitrous acid should be in its
 least oxidated state.  Mild muriate of mercury, prepar-
 ed in  this mode, is precisely the same  in its chemical
 composition, as Avhen formed by the former process of
 sublimation.  It has been supposed, however, that it dif-
 fers somewhat in its operation,  and that in  particular it
 is more liable to purging.  If such difference ever exist-
 ed, it is probably owing to the presence of the subnitrate
 of mercury,  wliich, Avhen the usual directions are observ-
 ed, may be mixed with the mild muriate.  If the latter
 be pure, its  operation must be  the same as that of  the
 muriate prepared by sublimation, as it.differs from it only
 in being of a much finer powder than the other can be
 reduced to, and this has  been supposed to  give it some
 superiority.

 Si b-Murias Hydrargyri et  Ammonite.  Sub-Muri-
   ate of Quicksilver and Ammonia.  White Precipitate
   of Mercury.

   Take of
        Muriate of quicksilver,
        Muriate of ammonia,
        Solution of  carbonate of potass, each half a
           pound.
  Dissolve first the muriate of ammonia,  afterAvards the
muiiate of quicksilver, in distilled Avater, and add to these
the solution  of carbonate of potass.  Filtrate and wash
the powder until it become insipid. 
 448       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

   The theory of this  process is somewhat complicated.
 The potass decomposes the muriate of ammonia, by coin-   •
 bining Avith  the  muriatic  acid;  and the disengaged am-
 monia decomposes the muriate  of mercury.  Hence, if
 ammonia be added to a solution  of corrosive muiiate of
 mercury, the same preparation is obtained as by this pro-
 cess.   The action of the ammonia in decomposing the
 corrosive muriate of mercury, is also somewhat peculiar.
 It  does not  merely attract the muriatic  acid,  and sepa-
 rate the pure mercurial oxide, but  this oxide retains com-
 bined  with it a portion both of the  ammonia and acid. It
 is, therefore, a triple compound, consisting, (according to
 Fourcroy's analysis of it by decomposing it by heat,) of
 eighty-one parts of oxide of mercury, sixteen of muriatic
 acid, and three of ammonia.
   This preparation, sub-murias hydrargyri et ammonia1,
 formerly known by the name of white precipitate of mer-
 cury, is used, only externally in the form  of ointment, as
 an  application in some cutaneous affections.

 Oxidum Hydrargyri Cinereum. Ash-coloured Oxide
 . of Quicksilver.   Ash-coloured  powder of Mercury.

   Take of
         Purified quicksilver, four parts,
         Diluted nitrous acid, five  parts,
         Distilled water,  fifteen parts,
         Solution of carbonate of  ammonia, a sufficient
           quantity.
  Dissolve the quicksilver in the  nitrous acid ;  then gra-
 dually add the distilled water, and pour into the mixture
 as much Avater of the carbonate of ammonia as shall be
 sufficient to precipitate the whole of the oxide of quick-
 silver ; which is then to be washed  with pure Avater and
 dried.                     '*>
  In this process, the  nitric acid oxidates the  mercury,
 and combines Avith the oxide.  The action of ammonia
 on the nitrate of mercury, is peculiar : it does not merely
 decompose it by combining with the acid,  and separating
 the oxide, but it exerts a farther action on  the oxide, par-
 tially deoxidating it, by part of its hydrogen attracting a
part of the  oxygen.   The oxide precipitated, therefore, is
that in which the metal is combined with the least pro-
portion of oxygen. 
          PREPARATIONS and COMPOSITIONS.      4i9

  In order, however, that this may be the nature of the
precipitate, it is necessary that the solution  of the mer-
cury in the nitric acid should have been made in the cold,
and with a diluted  acid.  When, from these circumstan-
ces not having been attended to,  the  mercury has been
too highly oxidated, ammonia throws  down from the so-
lution a white precipitate ; aud the present preparation is
often met with, of a light gray eolour, from the inter-
mixture o,f this precipitate, with the dark coloured oxide.
When properly prepared, it is of a dark blue colour.
  Ash-coloured oxide of mercury is  very similar  in  its
operation, to the preparations in Avhich quicksilver is oxi-
dated by trituration.  It is given as an antivenereal, in a
dose of one  grain  night and morning, generally in the
form of pill.

Oxidum Hydrargyri Rubrum, per Acidum Nitri-
  cum.   Red Oxide of Quicksilver, by Nitric Acid. Red
  precipitated Mercury.

  Take of
        Purified quicksilver, one pound,
        Diluted nitrous acid, sixteen  ounces.
  Dissolve the quicksilver, and evaporate the solution,with
a gentle heat, to a dry white mass; Avhich, after  being
ground into powder, is to be put into a glass cucurbit, and
to have a thick  glass plate laid upon its surface.  Then,
having adapted  a capital, and placed the vessel in a sand
bath, apply a gradually increased heat, until the matter
be converted into very red scales.
  The quicksilver  is in this preparation first oxidated  by
the nitrous acid, and then combined with  a portion of it.
By the increase of heat, this nitrate is decomposed, and
the greater part of the acid expelled :  it is doubtful, how-
ever, if it be ever  Avholly expelled, so as to leave a pure
oxide, the  preparation being different in appearance from
the red  oxide,  obtained by  the heat, and being always
much more acrid.   It is too much so for  internal use. It
is principally used  externally, as an escharotic.
           57 
a50       preparations and compositions.


Sub-Suxphas Hydrargyri  Fxavus.   Fellow Sub-Sul-
       phate of Quicksilver.  Turpcth Mineral.

  Take of
         Purified quicksilver, four ounces,
         Sulphuric acid, six ounces.
  Put them into a glass cucurbit, and boil them in a sand
bath to dryness.  Throw into  boiling  Avater the  white
matter, Avhich is left in the bottom, after having reduced
it to  poAvder.   A yellow powder will  iniinediately be
produced, which must be frequently Avashed with Avarm
Avater.
  The quicksilver is first oxidized by the sulphuric acid,
and afterAvards combined Avith it, forming super-sulphate
of mercury, by the continuance of the heat, this is par-
tially decomposed, and a sub-sulphate of mercury remains.
On this, boiling Avater is poured ; a portion of sulphate
of mercury still present in the saline matter is dissolved;
and the yelloAV poAvder Avhich remains is  an oxide of mer-
cury, Avith  a small quantity of sulphuric acid combined
Avith it.
  It is a strong emetic, and Avith this intention, operates
more poAverfuIly than any of the mercurials  which can
be safely  given internally.  Its action,  hoAvever, is not
confined to  the  primse  vise; it  will sometimes excite a
salivation if a purgative be not taken soon after it.  This
medicine is chiefly used in virulent gonorrhoeas, and other
venereal cases, Avhen there is a great flux of humors to
the parts.   Its chief use at present is in swellings of the
testicle from a general affection; and it seems not only to
act  as a mercurial, but also, by the vomiting it occasions,
to perform the office of a discutient, by accelerating the
motion of the blood in the parts affected.
  It is said, likewise, to have been employed Avith success,
in robust constitutions,  against  leprous disorders, and
obstinate glandular obstructions; the dose is from Iyvo to
six  or eight grains.  It may be given hi  doses of a  grain
or tAvo, as  an alterative and diaphoretic.  It is a violent
errhine, and has been employed as such, mixed Avitli any
mild vegetable poAvder.
  On the Avhole, hoAvever, Dr. Duncan considers it as a
superfluous preparation,whose place may be more securely
supplied by other mercurials, or emetics. 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       451
 Suiphuretcm Hydrargyri Nigrum.  Black Sulphu-
        ret of Quicksilver.   iEthiops Mineral.

   Take of
         Purified quicksilver,
         Sublimed sulphur, each equal weights.
   Grind them together in a  glass mortar, with  a glass
 pestle, till the globules of quicksilver totally disappear.
   It is also prepared with twice the quantity of quick-
 silver.
   By this trituration, a chemical combination appears to
 be effected betAveen the quicksilver and sulphur, and per-
 haps the metal is at the same time imperfectly oxidated.
 It is in the form of a very black powder.
   The combination is much facilitated by the application
 of heat,  and it  can at once  be effected by adding the
 quicksilver to the melted sulphur.
   This is, perhaps, the most  inactive of the mercurial
 preparations.  It is  principally used as an alterative in
 glandular affections, and in  cutaneous diseases.  As an
 anthelmintic, it  is sometimes given in a dose of five or
 ten grains,  according  to the  age.  But even in doses of
 several drachms, continued for a considerable length of
 time, it has scarcely  produced any  sensible effect.


 Sulpiuretum Hydrargyri Rubrum.  Red Sulphuret
         of Quicksilver.  Factitious Cinnabar.

   Take of
        Purified quicksilver, forty ounces,
         Sublimed sulphur, eight ounces.
   Mix the  quicksilver Avith  the melted sulphur, and if
 the mixture take fire, extinguish it by covering the ves-
 sel ; afterwards reduce the mass to poAvder, and sublime it.
   In this preparation it Avas  conceived, that, during the
inflammation  of the  materials, the quicksilver Avas oxi-
dated, and, that therefore the resulting compound vvas a
combination of sulphur and oxide of mercury.  The ex-
trication of heat and light, Avhich arises from the  mutual
action of the ingredients, appears, however, not to be an
example of oxygenation, but. to be rather of the same
kind, as that which takes place from the combination of 
io2       PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.

different metals with  sulphur :  and, according  to the
analysis of Proust, cinnabar consists of sulphur with me-
tallic mercury, in the proportion of fifteen of the former,
to eighty-five of the latter.
  Red sulphuret of quicksilver is sometimes used in fumi-
gations, against venereal  ulcers in the nose, mouth, and
throat.   Half a drachm of it burnt, the fume being im-
bibed Avith the breath, lias occasioned a violent saliva-
tion.   This effect is by no means  owing to the medicine
as a sulphuret; for, when set on fire, it is no longer such,
but mercury dissolved into vapour, and blended with sul-
phurous acid gas ; in Avhich circumstances, this mineral
has a very powerful effect.
  Mr. Pearson, from his experiments on mercurial fumi-
gation, concludes, that where checking  the  progress of
the disease suddenly is an object of great  moment, and
where the body is covered with ulcers, or large and nu-
merous eruptions, and  in  general, to ulcers, fungi, aud
excrescences, the vapour of mercury is an application of
great efficacy and utility;  but, that it is apt to induce a
ptyalism rapidly, and great consequent debility; and, that
for the purpose of securing the constitution against a re-
lapse, as great  a quantity of mercury must be introduced
into the system by  inunction, as if no  fumigation had
been employed.

                       LEAD.

 Acetis  Plumbi.   Acetite of Lead,  Sugar of Lead.

  Take of
         White oxide  of lead, any quantity; put it into
           a cucurbit, and pour upon it of
         Distilled acetous acid, ten times its weight.
  Let the mixture stand  upon Avarm sand till the acid
become SAveet;  vvhen it is to be poured off, and fresh acid
added until it cease to  become SAveet.  Then evaporate
all the liquor, freed from impurities, in a glass vessel, to
(he consistence of thin honey, and set it aside in  a cold
place, that the crystals  may be formed, which are to be
dried in the shade.   The remaining liquor is again to be
evaporated, that new crystals  may be formed; and  the
evaporation is to be  repeated until no more crystals con-
crete. 
PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.
453
   The oxide of lead is in this preparation combined with
 acetous acid; the salt formed concretes in acicular crys-
 tals.   The process is  generally carried on  on a large
 scale, to furnish it for various purposes in the arts.
   Like the other preparations of lead, this  is a violent
 poison. It has been used internally hoAvever, as a styptic,
 in profuse monorrhagia, in a dose of half a grain repeated
 every half hour.   But its employment requires much
 caution.   The internal use of acetite of lead, says Dr.
 Duncan, notwithstanding the encomiums some have been
 rash enough  to bestow upon it, is entirely to be rejected.
 It forms, however, a  valuable external application, in
 superficial and pblegmouic inflammations, bruises,  and
 diseases  of the skin.  It is always applied  in solution,
 cither simply, as to the eyes, or by means of cloths soak-
 ed in it, or mixed  Avith bread crumb.  A drachm, with
 five ounces of any distilled water, forms a strong solution,
 and with ten ounces of Avater, a weak solution.   If com-
 mon water be  used, the addition of about a drachm of
 acetous acid will be necessary to keep the lead in solution.
 It is frequently employed as an injection in gonorrhoea,
 and a collyiium in ophthalmia.  Lately, acetite of lead
 has been exhibited  internally Avith satisfactory success, in
 obstinate cases of diarrhoea; Dr.  John Archer, jun. of
 Maryland, and some others, speak of it in terms of great
 praise.  Professor Rush has made some successful trials
 of this medicine in the epilepsy of children, and it  has
 been  exhibited with advantage in hysteria  and chorea.
 The dose  for adults is from one to three or four grains]
 and for children, from one quarter to one grain, according
 to the strength and exigency of the case.   [See Med.
 Repos. vol. 3.]

 VquA  Lithargyri Acetati.    Water  of  Acetated
              Litharge.  Extract of lead.

  Take of
         Litharge, one pound,
         Strong vinegar, Iavo pints.
  Put them together into a  glazed earthen  pipkin,  and
let them boil,  or rather simmer, for an hour, or an hour
and a  quarter, taking care to stir them all the ay hile,
Avith a wooden spatula.  After the wir»le has stood to set-
tle, pour off the liquor, AYhich is upon the top, in^o bottles
for use. 
45i       PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.

   This is the original preparation of Goulard, a French
surgeon, Avho many years  since introduced it into practice
under the name of extract of saturn;  one hundred drops
of which, with four tea spoonfuls of brandy, mixed with
a quart of water, form bis famous vegeto-mineral water.
The proportion of the extract may be increased or dimi-
nished according to the  nature of the  disorder,  or the
greater or less degree of  sensibility of the part affected.
In his treatise on the virtues of lead,  the author has bc-
stoAved  on this preparation high  commendation,  as a
remedy in various extcrr  ! .""'seases, such  as inflamma-
tions, burns,  bruises, strains, and ulcers.   He likewise
prepares Avith his  extract, a number  of other  composi-
tions,  as  cataplasms,  plasters, ointments, cerates,  kc.
Avhich he affirms are happily adapted to the indications, in
phlegmon, scirrhous and  indolent tumors, and in  anchy-
losis, and other rigid states of the joints and tendons.
Every purpose, however,  to be answered  by these, may
probably be obtained from the employment of the other
preparations of lead in common use.  Goulard's extract
may be considered as analogous to  a  solution of  acetite
of lead in Avater, Avith an excess of  acid, and must be
ahvays variable in strength.  It is  applied  to the same
external purposes as the acetite of lead, but from long
experience Ave  are disposed to admit its superior  utility
in many particulars.


                       ZINC.

Oxidum Zinci.   Oxide  of Zinc.   FloAvers of  Zinc.

  Let a large crucible be  placed  in a  furnace filled with
live  coals,  so  as  to  be somewhat  inclined towards its
mouth; and Avhen the bottom of the crucible is mode-
rately red, throw into it a small piece of zinc, about the
weight of a drachm.  The zinc soon inflames, and  it is at
the same time converted into Avhite flakes, which  are
from time to time to be removed from the surface of the
metal with an iron spatula, that the combustion may be
more complete; and at last,  when the zinc  ceases to
flame, the oxide of zinc is to be taken out of the  crucible.
Having putvin another piece of zinc, the operation  is to
be repeated, and may be  repeated as often as  is neces-
sary.   Lastly, the oxide of zinc is to  be prepared in the
same Avay as the carbonate of lime. 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.
-kOO
  Zinc is  the most inflammable of the metals.  At the
temperature of ignition, it attracts the oxygen of the at-
mospheric air, and burns vividly.  The product is a Avhite
oxide, insipid, insoluble, and infusible.
  White oxide of zinc is applied externally, as a deter-
gent, and exsiceant remedy.  With tYvice its weight of
axunge, it forms an excellent application to deep chops,
or excoriated nipples.   But, besides being applied exter-
nally, it has also of late been used  internally.   In doses
from one, to seven or eight grains, it has been much cele-
brated in  the  cure of epilepsy, and several  spasmodic
affections ;  and their  are sufficient testimonies of their
good effects, Avhere tonic remedies  in those cases  are
proper.

Carbonas  Zinci  Impurus Prjeparatus.    Prepared
   Impure Carbonate  of Zinc,   Prepared Calamine.

  The impure carbonate of zinc, after being roasted by
those Avho make brass, is prepared in the same Avay as
carbonate of lime.
  Calamine is an  ore of zinc,  in Avhich, sometimes the
metal is merely oxidated, and in other varieties combined
Avith carbonic acid.  It is used as an application to super-
ficial  inflammation, dusted on  the part, and as the basis
of the common healing cerate.   For these purposes, it
ought to be very finely levigated.

Oxidum  Zinci  Impurum Prjsparatum.   Prepared
       Impure Oxide of Zinc.   Prepared Tutty.

  This is prepared in  the same manner as carbonate of
lime.
  Tutty is  a substance of Avhich the origin is  doubtful,
but  it appears to he artificial,  and to consist  chiefly of
oxide of zinc with argillaceous earth.  It is used exter-
nally for the same purposes as  calamine; and hence re-
quires to be very finely levigated.

Sulphas Zinci.   Sulphate of Zinc.  White  Titriol.

  Take of
         Zinc, cut into small pieces, three ounces,
         Sulphuric acid, five ounces,
         Water, twenty ounces. 
*56      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

   Mix them, and  when  the  effervescence is finished, di-
gest the mixture for a little while on hot sand ; then Mr:;in
the decanted  liquor through paper, and  after  proper
evaporation, set it apart, that it may crystalize.
   The sulphuric acid, by a disposing affinity, enables the
zinc to oxidate itself by decomposing the water, a?>d  then
combines with the oxide.  The salt is obtained in aciuu-
lar crystals. The process, however, is scarcely ever per-
formed in the shops, the sulphate of zinc  being prepared
on a large scale, from certain varieties of the native sul-
phuret of the  metal.   As the crystalization of it is diffi-
cult, it is always in the form of hard white masses.  The
London Pharmacopoeia orders this  salt to be purified, by
dissolving it in water, adding a small portion of sulphuric
acid, and crystalizing.
   Sulphate of zinc in doses of from ten grains to  half a
drachm, operates almost instantly as an emetic, and is at
the same time perfectly safe.  It is therefore given, Avhen
immediate vomiting is required, as in cases when  poison
has been  swallowed.  By administering it  internally, in
small doses, it acts as a good toHic, and some physicians
in the southern states  employ it  to cure intermittent
fevers, wliich it frequently docs even after the bark has
been given  Avithout success.   Dose for adults from two
to five grains, for  children in proportion.   Dr. Mosely,
of Jamaica, states that, in  chronic  dysentery unattended
with fever,  there is not a more efficacious  remedy than
the following solution, taken every morning, and an opiate
at bed time. Take sulphate of zinc three drachms, alu-
men two drachms,  spirit lavender half an ounce, boiling
water one pint.  Dose for adult from four to six drachms,
on an empty stomach Avithout diluting it, in some cases to
be  repeated every  six  hones.  When evacuations  are
required,  the  quantity of alum may be  diminished, or
entirely omitted ; and Avhen astringency is required, the
alum increased, and the sulphate  of zinc  diminished.
Externally this medicine is used as a styptic application
to stop haemorrhages, diminish increased  discharges, as
gonorrhoea; and to cure the external inflammations aris-
ing from debility and relaxation of the blood vessels, as
in some cases of ophthalmia.
   Externally, this medicine is used  as a styptic applica-
tion  to stop hemorrhages and  diminish  increased  dis-
charges; two grains being dissolved in an  ounce of water
is in common use as an injection in gonorrhoea, when the 
           PEPRARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       457

 inflammatory state has subsided,  and in gleet.  A solu-
 tion of nearly the same  strength  is likewise used as a
 collyiium in ophthalmia, the astringent power of this be-
 ing increased by the addition of a few drops of sulphuric
 aeid.  Dissolved with alum it forms a very styptic liquor,
 wliich has long been in use for stopping haemorrhage
 and  checking increased discharges by  external  appli-
 cation.

 Solutio  Acetitis Zinci.  Solution of Acetite of Zinc.

   Take of
          Sulphate of zinc, a drachm,
          Distilled water, ten ounces.
     Dissolve.
   Take of
          Acetite of lead, four scruples,
          Distilled water, ten ounces.
     Dissolve.
   Mix the solutions; let them stand at rest a little, and
 then filter the liquor.
   The sulphuric aeid of the sulphate of zinc, is attracted
 by the oxide of lead; the acetous acid of the acetite  of
 lead,  by the oxide of zinc; the  sulphate of lead,  being
 insoluble,  is precipitated;  the acetite of zinc remains in
 solution.
   This solution is used as an injection in gonorrhoea; it
 is considered as more astringent than the acetite of lead,
 and less irritating than the sulphate of zinc.

 Liojjor Arsenicalis.   Arsenical  Solution.   (Lond.
                      Pharm.)

   Take of
        Prepared oxide of arsenic, in very fine powder,
        Subcarbonate  of potass from  tartar, of each
           sixty-four grains.
        Distilled  water, a pint.
  Boil them together in a  glass vessel until  the  arsenic
be entirely dissolved.  When the  solution  is cold, add
compound  spirit of lavender four fluidraehms: then add
as much distilled water as  may be necessary to make up
the measure of a pint.
        58 
458       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

  By combination Avith potass  arsenic is  rendered solu-
ble in Avater ;  and to render the solution of it more per-
fect, and obtain it in a form in  which its dose  can  be
easily regulated, is the object of the present process—
The  formula was introduced by Dr. Fowler,  as giving a
substitute for the arsenical  preparation known under the
name of Tasteless Ague Drop.   Each ounce  of the solu-
tion contains four grains of the oxide.  The dose of this
solution should be accurately regulated as follows : From
two years old to four, two drops, or  three to five; from
five to seven, five to seven drops; from eight to  twelve
seven to ten  drops ; from  thirteen  to eighteen, ten to
twelve drops, and the same to adults.  These doses may
be repeated once in eight or twelve  hours,  diluted with
gruel or barley  water.  The spirit of  lavender is  added
merely to communicate colour .and flavour.
  The  particular diseases  in  which  arsenic has  been
found useful £s a remedy, have  been enumerated under
its medical history, in the Materia Medica. 
PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.       459
                  CHAPTER IV.


        ETHER, AND ETHERIAL SPIRITS.

..Ether Sulphuricus.   Sulphuric  Ether.   Vitriolie
                       Ether.

  Take of
         Sulphuric acid,
         Alcohol, each thirty-two ounces.
  Pour the alcoliol into a glass retort fit for sustaining a
sudden heat, and add to it the acid  in an uninterrupted
stream.
  Mix  them by  degrees, shaking them moderately and
frequently:  this  done,  instantly distill from sand pre-
viously heated for the purpose, into a receiver kept cool
Avith Avater or snow.  But the heat is to be so managed,
that the liquor shall boil as soon as possible, and continue
to boil till sixteen ounces  be  drawn off: then let the re-
tort be removed from the  sand.
  To  the distilled liquor add two drachms of potass;
then distill froni  a  very high retort, with a very gentle
heat, into a cool receiver, until ten ounces have been
draAvn  off.   If sixteen ounces of alcohol be poured upon
the  acid remaining in the  retort after the  first distilla-
tion, and the distillation be repeated, more ether Avill  be
obtained, and this may be  repeated several times.
  In the formation of sulphuric ether, it is found by ex-
periment, that the alcohol suffers decomposition ; a por-
tion of its carbon is separated in a  sensible form, and
renders the residual  liquor thick and dark coloured; a
quantity of water is formed, and the remaining elements
of the  alcohol  unite to form the ether.   Ether differs
from alcohol in containing less  carbon, or  rather more
hydrogen; and  this difference  is established, not only  by
the  facts with  regard to its formation, but likewise  by
the  comparative products of their combination.  With
regard to the  agency  of the  sulphuric acid, by which
these changes are effected  in the composition of the alco-
hol, two opinions  arc at present maintained by chemists.
According to the older doctrine, part of the sulphuric
acid is  decomposed: its oxygen combines with a portion 
460      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

of the hydrogen of the  alcohol, and forms water; the
balance of attractions among the elements of the alcohol
being broken, carbon is deposited, and ether formed from
a new combination of these remaining elements.
  The ether obtained by the first distillation is impure.
It is diluted  Avith  Avater and alcohol, and impregnated
generally with sulphurous acid.  It is rectified, according
to the directions in the Pharmacopoeia, by distilling it a
second time with a very gentle heat, with the addition of
potass,  Avhich attracts the sulphurous acid ;  or, what
succeeds better, with the addition of black oxide of man-
ganese, which converts that acid into sulphuric.
  Ether properly prepared, has a  penetrating diffusive
odour, and a very pungent taste.   It is  highly volatile,
evaporating rapidly at the  common  temperature of the
atmosphere.    It  is soluble in  ten parts of Avater, and
combines with alcoliol in every proportion.   The diffe-
rent ethers, as produced by the different acids, vary in
their composition and proportions.  They are the lightest
and most volatile of all known fluids, and are highly in-
flammable ;  their smell is fragrant, and taste hot and
pungent.
  In their medicinal poAvers,  the ethers  resemble alco-
hol ; but they are rather less  permanent  in their action.
  Sulphuric  ether, or that obtained from the action of
sulphuric acid  on alcohol, is principally used.   As a
medicine taken internally, it is  an excellent antispasmo-
dic, cordial, and stimulant.  It has been  used in cases of
rheumatism, gout, and hooping-cough, with great success.
In a paroxysm of  suffocating  asthma, and all  those dis-
eases where the organs of respiration are affected, half a
tea spoonful of ether in a table spoonful of Avater, quickly
swallowed and occasionally repeated, has often produced
instant  relief.    Even the simple  evaporation of this
volatile fluid, a spoonful of which may be placed at a time
in a shallow  vessel contiguous to the patient,  has fre-
quently been  found  of service,  and  alleviated  the most
distressing shortness of  breath.   Or in catarrhal and
asthmatic complaints, its vapour  may be  inhaled with
advantage, by holding in the mouth a piece of sugar, on
which ether has been dropped.   It is given as a cordial
in nausea, and in febrile diseases of the typhoid type; as
an antispasmodic in hysteria, and in other spasmodic and
painful diseases; as a stimulus in soporose  and apoplec-
tic affections ;  and to mitigate the  unpleasant sensation 
         PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       461

of sea sickness:  regular  practitioners  seldom give so
much as half an ounce, much more frequently only a few
drops for a dose ; but empirics have sometimes ventured
upon much larger quantities, and Avith incredible benefit.
When applied externally, it is capable of producing two
very opposite effects, according to its management; for,
if it be prevented from evaporating, by covering the place
to whicii it is applied closely with the hand, it proves a pow-
erful stimulant and rubefacient, and excites a sensation of
burning heat.  In this Avay it is frequently used for remov-
ing pains in the head, and Dr. Conyers declares, that a tea
spoonful applied to the affected jaAV, and repeated till the
pain cease, is a never failing  remedy for the toothach.
But, if it be dropped  on any part of the body, exposed
freely to the contact of the air, its rapid evaporation pro-
duces an intense degree of cold;  and as this is attended
Avith a proportional diminution of bulk in the part, appli-
ed in this Avay it has frequently facilitated the reduction
of strangulated hernia.  The great utility of ether in ef-
fecting this last purpose,  has been confirmed by recent
experience.  To mitigate sea sickness, put a tea spoonful
of sulphuric ether to a wine glass full of Avater Avith some
refined sugar previously dissolved in a phial, let the ether
be put in quickly and shake them Avell together.   Take
this for a dose, and repeat it as occasion  may require,
but not oftener than every four hours.

jEther Suephuricus cum Alcohoie.  Sulphuric Ether
      ivith Alcohol.  Dulcified Spirit of Vitriol.

  Take of
        Sulphuric ether, one part,
        Alcohol, two parts.
  Mix them.
  By this dilution of ether with alcohol, little  is gained,
except that it is more soluble in Avater.  It Avas formerly
known by the name of spirit of vitriolic  ether.   The
London College apply that name to ether obtained by the
first distillation, and unrectified.  But  this,  and some
other similar preparations directed by that College, may
be regarded as superfluous. 
462      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
Spiritus ^Etheris Nitrosi.  Spirit of Nitrous Ether.
              Dulcified Spirit of Nitre.

  Take of
         Alcohol, three pounds,
         Nitrous aeid, one 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
distill the liquor with the heat of boiling water into a
receiver kept  cool Avith Avater or snow,  as  long as any
spirit comes over.
  This is a solution of nitrous ether in alcohol.   To pre-
pare pure nitrous ether is difficult, and not Avithout  dan-
ger, from the violent chemical action which  takes place
when so much nitrous  acid is added as  is necessary to
convert the whole alcoliol into ether. This pharmaceutic
preparation,  therefore, has  been  prefered,  and, as a
medicine, answers perhaps all the  purposes  which could
be derived from the ether.   Even it requires caution in
its preparation.
  The theory of the action  of acids on alcohol,  and of
the formation of ethers, is, notwithstanding modern re-
searches, obscure; and that of nitrous ether is veiy im-
perfectly elucidated. It is ascertained, however, that dur-
ing its production, portions of oxalic and acetous acids arc
formed;  and the  experiments of  Bayen have clearly
proved, that a very considerable portion of the nitric acid
is decomposed or combined in  such a manner with the
principles of the  alcohol, that it is  no longer capable of
saturating an  alkali.   Perhaps it  may be infered,  that
the acid, by parting with oxygen to the elements of the
alcohol, causes the formation of the oxalic  and acetous
acids, and that the remaining  elements  of the alcohol
unite to form  the ether.   It appears  to  contain more
carbon than sulphuric ether.
  The  spirit  of  nitrous  ether always contains a very
sensible portion of acid, from which it may be freed by
a second distillation, with  the addition of magnesia or
potass.   But on  this acid, perhaps, some  of its virtues
tlepend. 
          PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.      463

  Its odour is extremely fragrant, its taste pungent and
acidulous; it is very volatile and inflammable; soluble
in alcoliol and water.
  Dulcified spirit of nitre has been long deservedly held
in great esteem. It quenches thirst, promotes the natural
secretions, expels flatulences, and moderately strengthens
the  stomach.  It may be given in doses of from twenty
drops to  a drachm, in any  convenient vehicle.  Mixed
Avitii a small quantity of spiritus ammonise aromaticus, it
proves  a mild, yet  efficacious diaphoretic, and often re-
markably diuretic; especially in some febrile cases, Avhere
such a salutary evacuation is wanted.  It is employed as
a refrigerant  and diuretic, sometimes as an  antispasmo-
dic.  Dulcified spirit of nitre given to the extent of half
an ounce, combined with one drachm of liquid laudanum,
and repeated every half hour has been found remarkably
efficacious in the removal of strangury from ay hat ever
cause it  may arise.   A small proportion of this  spirit
added to  malt spirits, gives them  a flavour approaching
to that of French brandy. 
464       PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER V.
EXPRESSED AND INSPISSATED  JUICES.
   Vegetable juices are obtained by expression.  They
 consist of various proximate principles of the plant, par-
 ticularly of mucilage, extractive matter, tannin, fecula,
 and some saline  substances dissolved  or suspended in
 water, and  Avhen recent, may possess the medicinal  vir-
 tues which  belong to any of these principles.  It is
 impossible, however, to  preserve vegetable  matter in
 solution in  water for  any length of time without suffer-
 ing decomposition, and hence juices are unfit for officinal
 preparations. Where the virtues of any vegetable reside
 in  a principle whicii  is contained  in the juice obtained
 from it by expression, and Avhere this principle is at  the
 same time not volatile, inspissation by a moderate heat
 Avill contribute to its preservation, as the soft  mass  ob-
 tained  by this process is much less liable to chemical
 changes than Avhen the re-action of its constituent parts
 is favoured by  dilution with Avater. ' The preparation,
 however, is  still liable to disadvantages.  By the heat
 employed in the inspissation, part of its active matter is
 generally dissipated; and another source of injury is  de-
 rived from the oxygenation Avhich the extract is liable to
 suffer  when thus heated in contact with the atmospheric
 air; and the preparation  itself being still soft and humid,
 must gradually undergo chemical alterations.  Hence,
 inspissated juices are generally variable in their medici-
 nal qualities.


 Succus   Spissatus  Aconiti  Napelli.   Inspissated
            juice of Aconite, or Wolfsbane.

  The fresh leaves of the aconite are to be bruised, and
 being enclosed in an hempen bag are to be pressed strong-
 ly,  that they may give out their juice, which is to be  re-
duced  by evaporation  in open vessels heated  by boiling 
          PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       465

water saturated Avith muriate of soda to the  consistence
of thick honey.   The mass, after it  has cooled,  is to
be kept in glazed earthen  vessels, and moistened  Avith
alcohol.  This iispissated juice is the form under which
wolfsbane was introduced  into practice  by Storck.   He
recommended it in glandular swellings, scrofulous and
venereal affections, gout, and in  obstinate chronic  rheu-
matism, in a dose of half a grain  night and morning, and
gradually increased to five  or six  grains.   In  modern
practice it is very  seldom  prescribed.
  In the same manner are prepared the folloAving inspis-
sated juices from the leaves  of their respective plants.

Succus Spissatas Atropje Beuladonnjb.   Inspissated
             Juice of Deadly Nightshade.

  The inspissated  juice of Belladonna  has been recom-
mended by the German physicians in  schirrus, cancer,
epilepsy, mania, and hydrophobia, in a dose of one grain,
and gradually increased. It  retains the peculiar property
of the  plant, that of occasioning dilatation of the pupil,
whence it has also been prescribed in amaurosis.

Succus Spissatus Conii Macuiati.    Inspissated  Juice
                    of Hemlock.

  Under this form, hemlock Avas employed by Storck in
schirrus aud cancer.   The dose is at first two grains, but
it requires to be quickly increased, and  it has at length
been taken to the extent of several drachms in the day.
  It has already been observed of this plant in the Mate-
ria Medica, that in various  spasmodic  affections, and in
phthisis pulmonalis,  its great utility has often been de-
monstrated.
  In this preparation  of it,  the narcotic poAver of the
plant  seems always to be more or less impaired; it is
also injured by keeping, and  we have no other test of its
activity than the strength of its narcotic odour.   It is
therefore inferior to the dried leaves of the plant, which
are likewise, however, liable to a considerable degree of
uncertainty, according to the manner in  which they  have
been dried and preserved.  A common form of exhibition
is that of the inspissated juice made into pills by the a;!ni-
tion of a sufficient  quantity of the powder of the leaves;
but  on the whole,  the powder alone is to be prefercd,
        59 
466       PREPARATIONS and compositions.

both as being in general more active and uniform, and as
we have a test of its proper preparation more certain in
the richness of its green colour.
  Cicuta combined Avith mercury as in the following form
is reported as having proved remarkably successful in the
cure of croup.
  Take of
         Extract cicuta, two drachms,
         Quicksilver, half a drachm,
         Honey, one ounce,
         Mint water, six ounces.

  First rub the  extract and quicksilver  together till  the
globules disappear, then mix the honey and water.  Add
to it a spoonful  of spirit to preserve it from moulding.
Shake the phial, and give a desert spoonful every four,
six, or eight  hours, according to the urgency of the case
and age of the patient.

Succus  Spissatus Hyoscyamus  Nigri.   Inspissated
                Juice of black Henbane.

  This inspissated juice retains a considerable degree of
narcotic power, and  the plant resembling  opium in its
operation, it is occasionally employed as a  substitute for
it.  The dose has been usually one grain, Avhich requires
to be increased; two grains are perhaps not more than
equivalent to one grain of opium.  The tincture has been
introduced as a more certain preparation.

Succus Spissatus Daturje  Stramonii.  Inspissated
                 Juice of Thorn Apple.

  The inspissated juice of the leaves is the form in which
Storck, and other German  physicians usually employed
the stramonium in maniacal, and in  epileptic affections,
but of late the saturated tincture is prefercd, though an
extract made by evaporating a decoction of the leaves, or
the leaves  themselves  in powder,  will be  found equally
convenient and useful.   Stramonium is known  to be of
great importance, and its use is extended to various indi-
cations in medicine, as will be seen  under  that head in
the Materia Medica part of this volume.   The dose of
the extract or inspissated juice is from one to ten grains. 
preparations  and compositions.       467
 Pulparum Extractio.  The  Extraction of Pulps.

  Boil unripe pulpy fruits, and ripe ones, if they be dry,
in a small quantity of water, until they become soft; then
press out the pulp through a hair sieve, and afterwards
boil it  down to the consistence  of  honey in an earthen
vessel,  in a Avater bath, stirring  the matter continually,
that it  may not burn.
  The  pulp of cassia fistularis is in like manner to be
boiled out from the  bruised pod,  and reduced afterwards
to a proper consistence, by evaporating the water.
  The  pulps of fruits that are both ripe and fresh, are to
be pressed out through the sieve, without  any previous
boiling. 
468       PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS,
CHAPTER VI.
    FIXED OILS, AND OILY  PREPARATIONS.


  The  chemical properties  of  these oils have already
been described.  They exist  unmixed in the fruit and
seeds of vegetables, and are  obtained by expression, or
decoction Avith water.  The former is in general to be
prefered ;  and to afford the oil pure it must be perform-
ed without heat, Avhich, though it favours the separation
of the oil, communicates to it an  unpleasant flavour.  To
preserve them  from becoming rancid, they ought to he
kept secluded from the air.
  A process in Pharmacy somewhat difficult is  to mix
these oils with any Avatery fluid, so that they may be con-
veniently exhibited.  It is usually done by  the medium
of mucilage, or of an alkali.  If triturated Avith mucilage,
and a small quantity of sugar, the oil is diffused through
the water,  and a milky liquor formed.   A combination
still more permanent is effected, by adding a few drops of
water of ammonia, or tAvo or three grains of carbonate of t
potass.

  Oleum  Amygdali Communis*  Oil of Almonds.

  Take of
        Fresh SAveet almonds, any quantity.
  After having bruised them in a stone mortar, put them
into a hempen bag, and express the oil Avithout heat.
  The oil thus obtained is the purest of the expressed
oils, being entirely free  from  odour or taste, and is used
for the general purposes of expressed oils.

  In the same manner is to be expressed from  its seeds.

    Oleum Lini  Usitatissimi.   Oil of Linseed.

  From the seeds of the plant*  Being rather less pure,
it is used only as an external application.
  For the  preparation of oleum  ricini, and oleum oliva-
vum.  [See those articles in the Materia Medica.] 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      469
  Oleum Ammoniatum.  Ammoniated  Oil.  Volatile
                      Liniment.

   Take of
         Olive oil, tAvo ounces,
         Water of ammonia, two drachms.
   Mix them together.
   The above preparation may be made with three or four
 times the quantity of water of ammonia.
   This preparation is very frequently used externally as a
 stimulant and rubefacient.    Dr. Pringle observes, that
 in inflammatory sore throats,  a piece of flannel moistened
 Avith this liniment, applied to the throat, and renewed every
 four or five hours, is one of the most efficacious remedies.
 By means of this warm stimulating application, the neck,
 and sometimes the Avhole body, is put into a sweat, which
 after bleeding either carries off, or lessens the inflamma-
 tion.   When too strong, or too liberally applied, it some-
 times occasions inflammations, and even blisters.  Where
 the skin  cannot bear the acrimony, a larger proportion
 of the oil may be  used.

   Oleum Lini cum Calce.   Linseed Oil with IAme.

  Take of
         Linseed  oil,
         Lime Avater, of each  equal parts.
  Mix them.
  This liniment is extremely  useful in cases of scalds or
 burns, being singularly efficacious in preventing, if appli-
 ed  in  time, the  inflammation subsequent to burns or
 scalds ; or even in removing it, after it has come on.

 Oleum Sulphuratum.  Sulphurated Oil.   Balsam of
                      Sulphur.

  Take of
         Olive oil, eight ounces,
         Sublimed sulphur, one ounce.
  Boil them together in a large  iron pot, stirring them
continually, till they unite.
  Sulphurated oil, formerly balsam of sulphur, has been
strongly recommended in coughs, consumptions, and other 
470       PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.

disorders  of the breast and lungs.   But the reputation
which it had in these cases, does not appear to have been
derived from any fair trial or experience.    It is mani-
festly hot, acrimonious, and irritating ; and should there-
fore be used Avith the utmost  caution.  It has frequently
been found to injure the  appetite,  offend the stomach
and viscera,  parch  the body,  and  occasion thirst  and
febrile heats.  The dose of it is from ten to forty drops.


      Oleum Camphoratum.   Camphorated Oil.

  Take of
         Olive oil, two ounces,
         Camphor, half an ounce.
  Mix them so that  the camphor may be dissolved.
  This is a simple solution of camphor in fixed oil, and
is an excellent application to  local pains  from Avhatever
cause, and to glandular swellings, which are to be  rubbed
Avith the application  once, twice, or thrice a day, accord-
ing to circumstances. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      471
                  CHAPTER VII.


       DISTILLED WATERS, AND SPIRITS.


  By distillation of water from vegetable substances,  it
is frequently impregnated with their flavour and taste.
This  is owing to their  essential  oil being volatilized at
the temperature at Avhich Avater boils, and being dissolved
in  small proportion by the Avater condensed.  It is very
seldom that any important virtue of vegetables resides in
that principle, and hence the different distilled waters are
more  used as vehicles of other remedies, than  as being
themselves active medicines.   It is evident that it  is only
those  vegetables  wliich contain  a  sensible quantity  of
essential oil, that can be subjected with advantage  to this
process ; and  that any quality in the other principles of
the vegetable  will not be obtained in the distilled  water.
To preserve the distilled Avaters from decomposition, to
Avhich they are liable,  from  the  small quantity of vege-
table  matter they  contain, a proportion of alcohol, about
one fiftieth of their weight, may  be added to them; and
they require to be secluded from the air.
   Distilled Spirits are prepared by distilling pure alcohol,
or diluted alcohol, from vegetable substances.  Alcohol in
its pure state, seldom receives any sensible impregnation;
because, although it is capable of dissolving the essential
oils of plants, there are very few of them  which it can
bring over  in distillation: a higher temperature being
necessary to volatilize them than the alcohol.  But, by
employing diluted alcohol, a liquor is obtained more
odorous and pungent.   When heated with the vegetable,
the alcohol first distills over, and afterAvards the Avater
with  the essential oil,  and the whole, Avhen condensed,
forms a transparent fluid.   These distilled spirits, like
the distilled  waters, are  in  general merely agreeable
vehicles for the exhibition of other medicines, or grateful
stimulants, sometimes used to relieve nausea and flatu-
lence.  The  directions for preparing them arc given in
the Pharmacopoeia, under the spirit of Caraway. 
472
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITION*..
         Aqua Destillata.  Distilled Water.

  Let water be distilled in very clean vessels, until about
tAvo thirds of it have come 0Arer.
  In nature no Avater is found perfectly pure.  Spring or
river Avater ahvays contains  a  portion of saline matter,
principally sulphate of lime; and,  from this impregna-
tion, is unfit for a number of Pharmaceutic preparations.
By distillation a perfectly pure Avater is obtained.


    Aqua Citri Aurantii.  Orange Peel Water.

  Take of
         Fresh orange peel, two pounds.
  Pour upon it as much  Avater as  shall be sufficient to
prevent any empyreuma,  after ten  pounds  have been
draAvn off by distillation.
  After due maceration, distill ten pounds.

  The same quantity  of Avater is to  be distilled in the
same manner, from
      Six pounds of the recent petals of the
    Damask rose, to prepare Aqua rosce  damascene.
                              Damask rose Avater.
      Three pounds of
    Peppermint in flower......Aqua menthw piperita;.
                             Peppermint Avater.
      Three pounds of
    Pennyroyal in floAver......Aqua menthas pulegii.
                             Pennyroyal water.
      One pound  and a half of
    Spearmint in floAver......Aqua mentlue viridis.
                             Spearmint water.
      One pound of
    The bark of cinnamon......Aqua, lauri cinnamomi.
                               Cinnamon Avater.
      One pound of
   The bark of cassia.......iqua lauri cassirr.
                            Cassia  Avater.
      Haifa pound of
    The fruit of pimento......Aqua myrii pimenlw.
                            Pimento  water. 
          PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       473

   To each pound of these waters add half an ounce of
 diluted alcohol.
   The virtues of all these waters are nearly alike; and
 the peculiarities of each will be easily understood by con-
 sulting the account given in the Materia Medica of the
 substances from which they are prepared.

 Spiritus Cari  Carui. Spirit of Caraway. Spirituous
                   CaraAvay Water.
   Take of
         CaraAvay seeds bruised, half a pound,
         Diluted alcohol, nine pounds.
   Macerate two days in a close vessel; then pour on as
 much water  as  will prevent  empyreuma,  and draAV off
 by distillation nine pounds.
   In the same manner is prepared the same quantity of
 spirit from
       One pound of                 Spiritus
    Bark of cinnamon, bruised......Lauri Cinnamomi.
                                Spirit of cinnamon.
      One pound and  a half of
    Peppermint in flower......Mentha? piperita?.
                          Spirit of peppermint.
      One pound and a half of
    Spearmint in flower......Menthce viridis.
                          Spirit of spearmint.
      Tavo ounces of
    Nutmeg, Avell bruised......Myristicw moschata;.
                             Spirit of nutmeg.
      Half a  pound of
    The fruit of pimento bruised......Myrti pimenice.
                        Spirit of pimento, or allspice.

Spiritus  Lavandula   Spicje.   Spi7*it  of Lavender.
             Simple Spirit of Lavender.
  Take of
        Flowering spikes  of lavender, fresh gathered,
          two pounds,
        Alcohol, eight  pounds.
  Draw off by the heat  of boiling Avater, seven pounds.
60 
474       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

  By these directions, and  in  the same  quantify is pre-
pared,

Spiritus Rorismarini Officinalis.   Spirit of Rose-
                        mary.

Spiritus Juniperi Compositus.   Compound Sjririt of
                       Juniper.

  Take of
         Juniper berries, Avell bruised, one pound,
         CaraAvay seeds,
         SAveet fennel seeds, each bruised, one ounce and
           a  half,
         Diluted alcohol, nine pounds,
         Water, sufficient  to prevent empyreuma.
  Macerate two days, and draw off nine pounds by distil-
lation.
  It is unnecessary to make  particular  observations on
each of these simple spirits, as their virtues arc the same
with those of  the substances from which they are ex-
tracted, united to the stimulus of the alcoliol.

Alcohol Ammoniatum Foetidum.  Fetid Ammoniated
          Alcohol.  Fetid Spirit  of Ammonia.

  Take of
         Ammoniated alcohol, eight ounces,
         The  gum resin of assa foetida, half an ounce.
  Digest in a  close vessel twelve hours ; then distill off
With the  heat of boiling Avater eight ounces.
  This spirit is designed as an anti-hysteric, and is un-
doubtedly a very  elegant one.   Volatile spirits, impreg-
nated for these purposes Avith  different fetids, have been
usually kept in the shops.  The ingredient here chosen,
is the best calculated of any for general use, and equiva-
lent in virtue to them all.  The spirit is pale when newly
distilled, but acquires a considerable tinge  by keeping.
Its dose is thirty  drops. 
preparations and compositions.      475
CHAPTER VHI.
 VOLATILE OILS.   DISTILLED, OR ESSENTIAL

                       OILS.


  Volatile oils are prepared nearly in the same man-
 ner as the distilled waters, except that less water is to be
 added.  Seeds and Avoody substances are to be previously
 bruised  or rasped.
  The oil conies over with the water, and is afterwards
 to be separated from it, according as it may be lighter
 than the water, and swim upon its surface, or heavier,
 and sink to the bottom.  Besides, in  preparing both dis-
 tilled Avaters and oils, it is to be observed, that the good-
 ness of  the  subject,  its texture, the  season of the year,
 and similar causes, must give rise to so many differences,
 that no  certain or general rule can be given to suit accu-
 rately each example.
  Therefore, many things are omitted, to be varied by
 the operator according to his judgment, and only the
 most general precepts are given.
  Volatile oils, medicinally considered, agree in the gene-
 ral qualities of pungency and heat; in particular  virtues,
 they differ as much as the subjects from which they are
 obtained, the oil being the direct principle in Avhich the
 virtues,  or at least a considerable part of the virtues of
 the several subjects reside.  Thus the carminative vir-
 tue of the warm seeds,  the  diuretic  of juniper  berries,
 the emmenagogue of savin, the nervine of  rosemary, the
 stomachic of mint, the antiscorbutic of  scurvy grass,
 the cordial of aromatics, &c. arc supposed to be  concen-
 trated in their oils.  The  more grateful oils are fre-
 quently  made us0 of for reconciling to the stomach medi-
 cines  of themselves disgustful.  Volatile  oils are never
 given alone, on  account  of their extreme heat and pun-
 gency ;  whicii in some is so great, that a  single drop let
fall  upon  the tongue,  produces a  gangrenous  e-.ehar.
They are readily imbibed by pure dry sugar,  and in this
form may be conveniently exhibited.  Ground with eight 
476       PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.

or ten times their Aveight of sugar, they become soluble in
aqueous liquors, and thus  may be diluted to any assigned
degree.   Mucilages also render them miscible with water
into a uniform milky liquor.  They dissolve likewise in
spirit of Avine ; the more fragrant in an equal Aveight, and
almost all of  them  in less than four times their own
quantity.   These solutions may be cither taken on sugar,
or mixed with syrup, or the like.  On mixing them with
water, the liquor grows  milky, and the oil separates.
The more pungent oils are employed externally against
paralytic complaints, numbness, pains, aches, cold tumors,
and in other cases where  particular parts require to be
heated or stimulated. The toothach is sometimes relieved
by a drop of these almost  caustic oils, received on cotton,
and cautiously introduced into the holloAV tooth.  Volatile
oils should be  kept in small bottles, closely stopped, in a
cool place.

   Oleum Juniperi Communis.  Oil of  Juniper.

  When genuine, this oil  has the flavour  of the juniper
berries, and is soluble in alcohol.  It is stimulating, eainii-
naiive, diaphoretic, and diuretic in doses often or fifteen
drops.   There is generally substituted for it in the shops
an oil distilled from some species of turpentine much less
grateful, Avhich alcohol does not dissolve.

      Oleum  Juniperi  Sabine.   Oil  of  Savin.

  This plant yields more essential oil than any other does,
two pounds affording not less than  five ounces.  The
virtues  of the savin  seem also  to depend on it, as the
essential oil is said to be  a powerful emmenagogue, in a
dose from three to ten drops.  In cold phlegmatic habits,
it is undoubtedly a medicine of great service.

   Oleum  Mentha  Piperita.   Oil of Peppei'inint.

  This is  one of the most pungent of the essential oils,
diffusing  almost as soon  as  taken a glowing  Avarmth
through the whole system, and at the same time exciting
a peculiar sensation  of coolness.  In colics,  accompanied
Avith great coldness, and in some hysteric complaints, it
is of excellent service.    And as a remedy in flatulence, 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
477
 anorexia, and cramps of the stomach, it has often afforded
 much relief.   Two or three drops are in general a suffi-
 cient dose. The preparation named essence of peppermint
 is a solution of one part of the oil in seven parts of alcohol,
 and coloured by the addition of grass or garden parsley.
 This is an agreeable and convenient preparation, and is in
 common use as a carminative in doses of twenty or thirty
 drops on sugar or in Avater.

      Oleum  PiMPiNELLiE Anisi.  Oil of Anise.

   This oil is of a light colour, and has rather an unplea-
 sant smell.   It congeals even at a very moderately cold
 temperature.  It has less pungency than any of the other
 essential oils, and is therefore Avell adapted to the purpose
 to which it is usually applied, that of relieving flatulence
 and the symptoms arising from it in children.  To one
 ounce of Avhite sugar  candy,  or refined sugar, add one
 hundred  drops of the  best oil of aniseed; having rubbed
 them together in a marble mortar, let them be Avell mix-
 ed with one ounce of spermaceti in powder.  About twenty
 grains of this compound given in a little milk every three
 or four hours  Avill be found  extremely beneficial in such
 cases of convulsions in children, prior to the age of denti-
 tion, as proceed from acrid irritating humors'in the first
 passages, and having been preceded by gripings, green
 stools, flatulence, and pain.

    Oleum Lavendul^e  Spice.  Oil of Lavender.

  This is used principally on account of its fine flavour.

         Oleum  Carui.  Oil of Caraway.

  This is one  of the most grateful of the essential oils,
and well adapted to act as a carminative, or to communi-
cate an agreeable  pungency, and cover the  flavour of
unpleasant remedies.


Oleum Rorismarini Officinalis.  Oil of Rosemary.

  It is sometimes  used in ointments as a perfume, and it
enters as a stimulant into  the composition of the soap
liniment. 
478      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITION"!.
      Oleum Myrti Pimento.  Oil of Pimento.

   It is sometimes used on account  of the flavour of
 pimento, Avhich it possesses.

    Oleum Menthje Viridis.   Oil of  Spearmint.

   The flavour  of this oil is similar to that of peppermint,
 rather less grateful, and not  so much  esteemed.  It is
 sometimes useful in relieving nausea and vomiting.

        Oleum Pulegii.  Oil of Pennyroyal.

   This oil may be regarded as superfluous.

  Oleum Fobniculi Dulcis.   Oil of  Sweet Fennel.

   The flavour  of this oil is similar to that of anise.

 Oleum Volatile Pini Purissimum.   Purified Volatite
       Oil of Pine.   Rectified Oil of Turpentine.

   Take of
         Oil of turpentine, one pound,
         Water, four pounds,
   Distill as long as any oil comes over.
   The oil of turpentine of commerce is obtained by dis-
 tillation from  Avhat is named common turpentine, the
juice of the pinus larix, or sometimes from the Avood of
 the tree. It appears to contain a small portion of resinous
 matter, as when distilled it leaves a little of a thick resi-
 duum, and the distilled oil has been said to be more vola-
tile.
  The spirit of turpentine, as this essential oil has been
 styled, is frequently taken internally as a diuretic and
 sudorific, and it has sometimes a considerable effect when
taken to the extent of a few drops only.  It has, however,
been given in much larger doses, especially when mixed
with honey.  Recourse has principally been had to such
doses in  cases  of chronic  rheumatism, particularly in
those modifications of it which are termed sciatica, and
lumbago, but sometimes they induce bloody urine.  Ex- 
          PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.       47g

 tcrnally it is applied by friction as a stimulant to  parts
 affected w th cramp and  rheumatism; sometimes  too it
 is used as an application to burns, or as a styptic to bleed-
 ing wounds.  Mixed with the Basilicon ointment it forms
 the celebrated application for burns recommended by Mr.
 Kentish.  This  oil has lately been administered by Dr.
 I. Brown  Avith complete success in the case of a lad aged
 sixteen years afflicted for  six years with taenia.  He  swal-
 lowed it undiluted in a close of  one ounce, and once in a
 dose of one  and half ounce, and took  three  doses in
 sixteen hours. It operated powerfully as a cathartic, and
 he discharged upwards of twenty feet of the taenia.   Dr.
 Brown is  convinced  that  the rectified oil  of turpentine
 may be taken to the extent of two or three ounces  with
 perfect  safety, though he prefers half ounce  doses at
 short intervals.

 Oleum Succini Purissimum. Purified Oil of Amber.

  Distill oil of amber in a glass retort, with six times its
quantity of Avater, till two thirds of the Avater have passed
into the receiver; then separate this very pure volatile oil
from the water, and keep it for  use in Avell closed vessels.
  The rectified oil has a strong bituminous smell, and a
pungent acrid taste.   Given in a dose of ten or twelve
drops, it heats, stimulates, and  promotes the fluid secre-
tions. It is chiefly celebrated in hysterical disorders, and
in deficiencies of the uterine purgations.  Sometimes it
is used  externally, in  liniments for weak or  paralytic
limbs and rheumatic pains. 
480       PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.
                   CHAPTER IX.


          INFUSIONS AND  DECOCTIONS.


   Infusion is a term employed in pharmacy, to denote
 that operation in whicii water, on remaining for sometime
 on vegetable matter, dissolves part of it;  and also to ex-
 press the preparation which results from  that operation.
 It is obvious, that infusion, understood in this sense, can
 be applied with propriety only to those plants whose vir-
 tues depend on principles soluble in water. The strength
 of the infusion is considerably influenced by the tempera-
 ture of the fluid, hot water dissolving more of the soluble
 matter than cold; Avhile  cold  Avater, from this circum-
 stance, frequently affords a prepaiation which, if weaker,
 is more grateful.   From dried vegetables,  the soluble
 matter is in general more easily obtained than from those
 which are recent.   Infusions  are  always extemporane-
 ous preparations, and cannot be preserved in a sound state
 for more than a fevv days.
   By boiling  vegetable substances in wafer, their active
 matter is more abundantly dissolved than by simple in-
 fusion.   The preparation  thus obtained  is  termed  a
 decoction.   In a number of cases, part  of the matter
 dissolved by the assistance of the high temperature sepa-
 rates as the liquor cools, especially where it is of a resi-
 nous matter;  in others, however,  it is  retained.
   Though a large portion of matter is dissolved by the
 water in this mode of preparation, yet it cannot be always
 advantageously employed.  Wherever the virtues of the
 substance subjected to it depend, in whole  or in part, on
 any  volatile principle, they  are necessarily  injured by
 this being dissipated.  At the temperature of 212°. hu-
 mid extractive matter combines too with oxygen from
 the atmospheric air; and perhaps at the same tempera-
 ture, some vegetable principles suffer decomposition from
 the reaction of their constituent parts: hence many vege-
 tables suffer injury from boiling, even where this cannot
 be ascribed to the  dissipation of their volatile parts.
These circumstances limit considerably the application
of this form of preparation. 
          PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.      481

  Decoctions  are  ahvays  extemporaneous  preparations.
In general, during the boiling, the air should be excluded,
and the liquor ought to be strained Avhile hot.

InfusUxM  Cinchonjs Officinalis.  Infusion of  Cin-
                       chona.

  Take of
         Bark of cinchona, in coarse powder,  one ounce,
         Mucilage of gum arabic, two ounces,
         Water, one pound.
  Triturate the cinchona with the mucilage, and add the
water during the trituration.  Macerate for tAventy-four
hours, and decant the pure liquor.
  This is a very elegant form  of exhibiting  the  active
principles of the  Peruvian bark, and that in  which it
will  sit lightest on weak  and  delicate  stomachs.   The
trituration will promote the solution, and the  addition of
the mucilage will suspend  the finest particles of the  sub-
stance of the bark itself.
  This preparation is used principally in dyspepsia, in a
dose of two ounces occasionally.

Infusum  Digitalis Purpurea.   Infusion of Com-
                   mon Foxglove.

  Take of
         Dried leaves of common foxglove, one  drachm,
         Boiling Avater, eight ounces,
         Spirit of cinnamon, one ounce.
  Macerate for four hours, and filtrate.
  Infusion is the form under which Dr. Withering,  avIio
introduced the use of digitalis in dropsy, recommended
it to be given.   The dose is half an ounce, taken twice a
day, and gradually increased till the effects of the remedy
appear.   The spirit of cinnamon is added to improve its
flavour, and to  counteract its sedative effects.
61 
j)b82      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
Infusum Gentianje Compositum.  Compound Infusion
             of Gentian.   Bitter Infusion.

  Take of
        Root of gentian sliced, half an ounce,
        Rind of Seville oranges dried and bruised, one
           drachm,
        Coriander seeds bruised, half a drachm,
        Diluted alcohol, four ounces,
         Water, one pound.
  First pour on the alcohol, and three hours  after add
the Avater; then macerate  Avithout heat for twelve hours
and strain.
  This infusion is an extremely good bitter, and  is of
great service in dyspepsia, and in all cases Avhere bitters
in general  are necessary.   It strengthens  the stomach,
and increases the appetite; besides acting as a tonic on
the other parts of the body, and on the vascular system.
The alcohol is a useful addition, both in promoting the
extraction  of the virtues of all the  ingredients, and in
preserving the infusion longer from spoiling.  Its dose is
two ounces occasionally.

Infusum   Mimosa; Catechu.   Infusion of Catechu.
                   Japonic Infusion.

   Take of
         Extract of catechu in poAvder, tAvo drachms and
           a half,
         Bark of cinnamon bruised, half a drachm,
         Boiling water, seven ounces,
         Simple syrup, one ounce.
   Macerate the extract and cinnamon in the hot water.
in a covered vessel, for two hours; then strain it and add
the syrup.
   The extract of catechu is completely soluble in Avater.
This preparation,  therefore, formerly called Japonic in-
fusion, possesses all its virtues  uninjured,  and rendered
more grateful  by the addition of the cinnamon.  It is a
powerful  astringent solution.    Its  principal  use is in
diarrhoea.  Dose one ounce every third or fourth hour. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      483
 Infusum  Rhei Palmati.   Infusion  of Rhubarb.

  Take of
        Root of rhubarb, bruised, half an ounce,
        Boiling water, eight  ounces,
        Spirit of cinnamon, one ounce.
  Macerate the rhubarb in a close vessel with the water
for twelve hours; then having added the spirit, strain the
liquor.
  This appears to be one of the best preparations  of rhu-
barb, when designed as a purgative; water extracting its
virtue more effectually than either vinous or spirituous
menstrua.   The  infusion of rhubarb is supposed  to have
more of the purgative than of the astringent power. It is
accordingly used as a mild cathartic.  Dose two  ounces.

Infusum Rosa;  Gailice.   Infusion of Roses.  For-
              merly Tincture of  Roses.

  Take of
        Petals of red roses, dried, two ounces,
        Boiling water, five pounds,
        Sulphuric acid, one drachm,
        Double refined sugar, two ounces.
  Macerate  the petals  with the  boiling Avater in  an
earthen vessel, whicii is  not glazed with lead, for four
hours; then having poured on the acid, strain the liquor
and add the sugar.
  The rose leaves have very little effect, except in giving
the  mixture  an  elegant red colour.   Its sub-acid and
astringent virtues depend entirely on the  sulphuric acid.
Altogether, however, it is an elegant medicine, and forms
a very grateful addition to juleps in hemorrhages, and
in all  cases Avhich require  mild coolers and sub-astrin-
gents.   It is sometimes taken  with  boluses or electuaries
of the bark, and likeAvise makes a good gargle in cases of
cynanche.

Infusum Tamarindi et  Sennje.  Infusion of Tama-
                  rinds and  Senna.

  Take of
        Preserved tamarinds, one  ounce,
        Leaves of senna, one drachm. 
484       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
         Coriander seeds bruised, half a drachm,
         Brown sugar, half an ounce,
         Boiling Avater, eight ounces.
   Macerate them for four hours, occasionally agitating
 them in a close earthen vessel, not glazed with lead, and
 strain the liquor.
   It may also be made with double, triple, &c. the quan-
 tity of senna.
   This combination  affords  a very pleasant purgative,
 mild in its operation.  The whole quantity may be taken
 at  intervals  as a dose.  The taste  of the  senna is well
 covered by the aromatic, sugar, and by the acidity of the
 tamarinds. It is excellently suited for delicate stomachs,
 and inflammatory diseases.  Ginger may be used instead
 of coriander  seeds.

  Decoctum  Althjeje Officinalis.  Decoction of
                   Marsh-Malloiv.

   Take of
         Root of marsh-mallow, dried and bruised, four
           ounces,
         Raisins stoned, two ounces,
         Water, seven pounds.
   Boil to five pounds ; place apart the strained liquor till
 the feces have subsided, then pour off the clear liquor.
   Marsh-mallow roots contain nothing soluble in water,
 except mucilage, which is  very abundant in  them. This
 decoction is therefore to be considered merely as an em-
 mollient, rendered more pleasant by the acidulous sweet-
 ness of the raisins.

 Decoctum  Cinchona;  Officinalis.   Decoction of
                      Cinchona.

   Take of
         Bark of cinchona in powder, one ounce,
         Water, a pound and a half.
  Boil for ten minutes in a covered vessel, and strain the
liquor while hot.
  Peruvian bark readily yields its active  principles  to
the action of boiling water, and in greater quantity than
eold water is capable of retaining dissolved ; therefore,
ay hen a saturated decoction cools, it becomes turbid, and 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       485
 there is  always a deposition  of a  yellowish or reddish
 powder,  while the supernatant liquor is reduced to the
 strength of a saturated cold infusion*   Decoction, there-
 fore, presents us with an easy means of obtaining imme-
 diately an active preparation of cinchona bark, and one of
 greater strength than a cold  or  even a warm infusion,
 provided it be drunk while tepid, and before it forms any
 deposition, or if the precipitate be  diffused by agitation,
 after it is formed.
  Formeiiy it was supposed that the strength of a decoc-
 tion of cinchona bark, and similar substances, was in-
 creased by continuing  the boiling for a  great length of
 time, but this is iioav knoAvn  to be a mistake; and, in-
 deed, after a certain time, the decoction becomes Aveaker
 instead of stronger, because water  at different  tempera-
 tures is capable of dissolving only a determinate propor-
 tion of their active principles ; and, therefore, as soon as
 it is saturated, any further decoction is unnecessary. But
 moreover, these principles, Avhen dissolved in water, are
 liable to be decomposed and become inert, by the absorp-
 tion of atmospheric oxygen, and their decomposition is
 increased by increase of temperature ; and as boiling con-
 stantly presents neAV surfaces  to the action of the air, it
 is evidently hurtful when protracted longer than what is
just necessary to saturate the water.   Ten minutes is sup-
 posed by the colleges to be sufficient for that  purpose.
 This decoction is given in general when bark in conside-
 rable doses is requisite, and where  the poAvder  does not
 remain on the stomach.   The  dose is two ounces repeat-
 ed occasionally.

 Decoctum Daphnes Mezerei. Decoction of Mezereon.

  Take of
         Bark of the root of mezereon, tvyo drachms,
         Root of liquorice bruised, half an ounce,
         Water, three pounds.
  Boil with a gentle heat to tvyo pounds, and strain.
  The use of the liquoriee is to  cover the pungency of
the  mezereon.  The decoction is given in a dose of six or
tight ounces, three or four times a  day, in the  cases in
whicii mezereon i > employed, principally in  the secon-
dary symptoms of syphilis, and in  rheumatic affections.
It operates chiefly by perspiration. 
486      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
DecoctUxM  Guaiaci Compositum.   Compound  Decoc-
     tion of Guaiacum.  Decoction  of the Woods.

  Take of
         Raspings of the wood of guaiacum, three ounces,
         Raisins, two ounces,
         Root of sassafras sliced,
         Root of Liquorice bruised, each one ounce,
         Water, ten pounds.
  Boil the guaiacum and raisins Avith the water,  over a
gentle fire, to the consumption of one half; adding towards
the end  the sassafras and  liquorice.  Strain  the liquor
Avithout expression.
  This  decoction is of use in some rheumatic  and cuta-
neous affections.  It may be taken by itself, to the quan-
tity of a quarter of a pint, two or three times a day, or
used as an assistant in a course of mercurial or antimo-
nial  alteratives ;   the patient, in either  case, keeping
warm, in order to promote the operation of the medicine.


Decoctum  Hordei Distichi.   Decoction of Barley.

  Take of
         Pearl barley, two ounces,
         Water, five pounds.
  First Avash the barley from the mealy matter that ad-
heres to it.Avith some cold Avater ; then boil it a little with
about half a pound of Avater, to extract the  colouring
matter.   Throw this away, and put the barley thus pu-
rified into five pounds of boiling Avater;  which is to be
boiled down  to one half, and strained.
  This decoction is to be used freely, as a diluting drink
in febrile and  other  acute disorders.  However trivial
medicines of this  class may appear to be, they  arc of
greater  importance  in the cure of acute diseases than
many more elaborate preparations.

Decoctum Polygal.e Senega;.   Decoction of Seneka.

  Take of
         Root of seneka, one ounce,
         Water, two pounds.
  Boil to sixteen ounces and strain. 
         PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      487

  The virtues of this decoction will be easily understood
from those of the root from which it is  prepared.   The
dose in hydropic cases, and rheumatic or arthritic com-
plaints, is two  ounces, three or four times a day, accord-
ing to its effect.  It is given also as  an expectorant in
pneumonia, and as a stimulant in croup.


  Decoctum Smilacis Sarsaparilla;.  Decoction of
                    Sarsaparilla.

  Take of
         Root of sarsaparilla sliced, six ounces,
         Water, eight pounds.
  Macerate for two hours with a heat of about 195° ; then
take out the root and bruise it; return  the bruised root
to the liquor, and again macerate it for tvyo hours. Then
the liquor, being boiled  to  the measure of four pints,
press it out and strain.
  Under this form sarsaparilla has been given in the
secondary symptoms of syphilis.   It is indeed  a very
doubtful remedy, and its diaphoretic effects are probably
owing to its being drunk warm.   It is totally incapable
of curing syphilis; but by some it is thought useful in
the sequelse of that disease. 
488      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER X.
         EMULSIONS AND MUCILAGES.

   Emulsions are preparations in which the expressed
oil of seeds or kernels is suspended in water by the me-
dium of the mucilage, and perhaps also  of the fecula
which the seeds contain.  They are always  opaque and
milky : as the oil is merely diffused through the water, it
gradually collects and  rises to  the surface ; and owing
to the vegetable matter dissolved in the liquor, they are
also liable to become sour.  They likewise suffer decom-
position from vinous spirits or acids.

Emulsio Amygdali Communis. Emulsion of Almonds.
                    Almond  Milk.

   Take of
         Sweet almonds blanched, one ounce,
         Water, two pounds and a half.
  Beat the almonds  very thoroughly in  a  stone mortar,
gradually pouring oh them the Avater; then strain off the
liquor.
  This is used merely as a demulcent in  catarrh and go
norrhcea, or to  obviate strangury during the application
of a blister,  being drunk ad libitum.

   Emulsio Camphorata.  Emulsion of Camphor.

  Take of
         Camphor, one scruple,
         Sweet almonds blanched, two drachms,
         Double refined sugar, one drachm,
         Water, six ounces.
  This is to be made in the same manner as the almond
emulsion.
  Camphor  is less apt to induce nausea when  given in
liquid than when in a solid form ;  and this is one of th«
best forms of preparation.   Its dose is two  ounces. 
          preparations and  compositions.      489


  Emulsio Ammoniaci.  Emulsion of Ammoniacum.
                Ammoniacum Milk.

  Take of
        Ammoniacum, tAvo drachms,
        Water, eight ounces.
  Rub the gum resin with the Avater, gradually  poured
on, until it become an emulsion.
  In this mixture the resin and oily matter are suspended
in the water by the medium of the gum, and a milky
like fluid formed, from which the resin gradually subsides.
It is given as an expectorant, in a dose from half an ounce
to an ounce at a time.

Mistura Carbonatis Calcis.  Mixture of Carbonate
             of Lime.  Chalk Mixture.

  Take of
        Prepared  carbonate of lime, one ounce,
        Double refined sugar, half an ounce,
        Mucilage  of gum arabic, two ounces.
  Triturate together, and then  gradually add of
        Water, two pounds and a half,
        Spirit of cinnamon, tAvo ounces.
  Mix them.
  This is a very elegant form of exhibiting chalk, and is
an useful remedy in diseases arising from, or accompanied
with acidity in the primie vise.   It is frequently employed
in diarrhoea proceeding from that cause.  The mucilage
not only  serves to keep the chalk uniformly diffused, but
also improves its virtues.   The  dose  of this medicine
requires no nicety.   It may be taken to the extent of a
pound or tAvo in the course of a day'.


      Mucilago Amyli.  Mucilage of Starch.

  Take of
        Starch, half an ounce,
        Water, one pound.
  Triturate the starch, gradually adding the water: then
boil them a little.
           62 
490      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.

  The mucilage thus formed is very useful in those cases
Avhere a glutinous substance is  required.  It is often suc-
cessfully employed Avith opium, as a clyster, in diarrhoea
depending on acrimony in the intestines.


 Mucllago Astragali Tragacantha.   Mucilage of
                 Gum  Tragacanth.

  Take of
         Gum tragacanth in powder, one ounce,
         Boiling water, eight ounces.
  Macerate  twenty-four  Lours ;  then triturate  them
careiully, that the gum may be dissolved, and press the
mucilage through linen cloth.
  Gum tragacanth is difficultly soluble in Avater.  When
macerated  in it, it swells, but  does  not  dissolve.  To
effect the solution it must be  beaten  into  a paste with
some of the water; and the rest of the water must be
added gradually,  and incorporated Avith the paste by
beating them together.  It is used principally in making
troches.


 Mucilago Mimosa Nilotica.    Mucilage of Gum
                       Arabic.

  Take of
         Gum arable in powder, one part,
         Boiling water, two parts.
  Digest with frequent agitation, until the gum be dis-
solved ; then press the mucilage through linen.
  This is the  mucilage that  is usually  employe:) for
pharmaceutic purposes; such as suspending substances
insoluble in water, rendering  oils miseible  with watery
liquors, &e.  It is also much used for rre>r>c rties peculiar
to those  substances of its own  class, and of all the gums
this seems to be the purest. 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.       491
CHAPTER XL
SYRUPS.
   Syrups are solutions of sugar in Avater, either pure, or
 containing other substances dissolved.  They are seldom
 active medicines, but are  principally designed to render
 others pleasant.   The proportion of  sugar with which
 they are generally made, is about two  parts to  one of
 fluid.

          Syrupus Simplex.  Simple Syrup.

   Take of
         Double refined sugar, fifteen  parts,       ,
         Water, eight parts.
   Let the  sugar be dissolved in the Avater by a gentle
 heat, and boiled a little, so as to form a syrup.
   This solution of sugar is used merely to communicate
 SAveetness of taste.   It is more convenient in extempora-
 neous prescription than sugar  undissolved.


 Syrupus Altileje  Officinalis.   Syrup of Marsh-
                      Mallow.

   Take of
       Fresh roots of marsh-mallow sliced, one pound,
       Water, ten pounds,
       Double refined sugar, four pounds.
   Boil the Avater  Avith the roots to  the consumption of
one half, and strain  the  liquor, strongly expressing  it.
Suffer the strained liquor to rest till the  feces have sub-
sided ; and to the depurated  liquor add the  sugar;  then
boil so as to make a  syrup.
  This is merely a mucilaginous syrup, and is chiefly
used in nephritic  cases for sweetening emollient decoc-
tions, and in coughs produced by irritation. 
 492      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.


    Syrupus Amomi Zingiberis.   Syrup of Ginger.

   Take of
         Roots of ginger bruised, three ounces,
         Boiling Avater, four pounds,
         Double refined sugar, seven pounds and a half.
   Macerate the ginger in the water in a close vessel, for
 tAventy-four hours ;  then to the liquor strained, add the
 sugar in powder, so as to make a syrup.
   This is an agreeable and  moderately aromatic syrup,
 impregnated Avith the flavour and virtues of the ginger.

 Syrupus Citri Aurantii.,  Syrup of Orange Peel

   Take of
     The fresh outer rind of Seville oranges, six ounces,
     Boiling Avater, three pounds,
     Double refined sugar, four pounds.
   Macerate the rind in the Avater for twelve hours ; then
 add to the filtrated liquor the sugar in powder, and apply
 a gentle heat,  so as to form  a syrup.
   This syrup  is a very  elegant and agreeable one, pos-
 sessing a great share of the fine flavour of the orange peel.

 Syrupus Citri  Medica.  Syrup of Lemons.  Syrup of
                    Lemon Juice.

  Take of
     Juice of lemons, suffered to stand till the feces have
       subsided,  and afterwards strained,  three parts,
     Double refined sugar, five parts,
  Dissolve the sugar in the juice, so  as to make a syrup.
  This pleasant syrup is used to SAveeten and acidulate
mixtures, especially those of the mucilaginous kind.

 Syrupus Papaveris Somniferi.   Syrup of While
                Poppies.  Diacodium.

  Take of
         Capsules of white poppy dried, and freed from
           the seeds, two pounds, 
PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.
493
         Boiling water, thirty pounds,
         Double refined sugar, four pounds.
   Macerate the sliced capsules  in the Avater for twelve
 hours ;  next boil till only one third part of the liquor re-
 main; then strain it by expressing if strongly.  Boil the
 strained liquor to the consumption of one hah", and strain
 again.  Lastly, add  the sugar, and boil a little, so as to
 form a syrup.
   This  syrup, impregnated with  the opiate matter of the
 poppy heads, is given to children in doses of two or three
 drachms, to adults, from half an ounce to an ounce, for
 casing pain, procuring rest, and  answering the other
 intentions of mild opiates.  It is uncertain in its strength.

 Syrupus Rhamni CathAtici.  Syrup  of  Buckthorn.

   Take of
         Juice of ripe buckthorn berries depurated, iavo
           parts,
         Double refi ned sugar, one part.
   Boil them so as to form a syrup.
   This  preparation, in doses of three or four spoonfuls,
 operates as a brisk cathartic.  The principal  inconve-
 niences attending it are, being very unpleasant, and occa-
 sioning a thirst and dryness of the mouth and fauces, and
 sometimes violent gripes :  these effects may be prevented
 by drinking  liberally of Avater  gruel,  or other Avar in
 liquors, during the operation.

 Syrupus Rosa Damascena.  Sijrup of Damask Roses.

   Take of
        Fresh petals of the damask rose, one pound,
        Boiling Avater, four pounds,
        Double refined sugar, three pounds.
  Macerate the roses in the water  for a night; then  to
the liquor strained and freed from the dregs, add the so-
gar ; boil them into a syrup.
  This syrup is a very mild purgative, and  as such,  is
given to children in a dose  of two or  three tea spoonfuls. 
494       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
   Syrupus Rosa  Gallica.  Syrup of Red Roses.

  Take of
         Dried petals of red roses, seven ounces,
         Double refined sugar, six pounds,
         Boiling Avater, five pounds.
  Macerate the roses in the ay ater for twelve hours, then
boil  them a little  and strain the liquor; add to it the
sugar, and boil them again for a little, so as to form a
syrup.
 * In  this preparation the slight  astringency of the red
rose is supposed to be preserved; and Avhere a syrup hav-
ing this quality is indicated, this is generally prefercd.

   Syrupus Scilla Maritima.   Syrup of Squills.

  Take of
         Acetous acid with squills, two pounds,
         Double refined sugar  in poAvder, three pounds
           and a half.
  Dissolve the sugar Avith a gentle heat, so as to form a
syrup.
  This is an active remedy, and is the form under whicii
squill is generally given as  an expectorant.
  Its dose is one or two drachms.   It is  also given to
children as an emetic, especially in pertussis.

Syrupus Tolltfera  Balsami.   Syrup of Balsam of
              Tolu.   Balsamic Syrup.

  Take of
         Simple syrup, two pounds,
         Tincture  of balsam of tolu, one ounce.
  With the syrup recently prepared, and  when it has
almost grown cold, after it  has been removed  from the
lire,  gradually mix the tincture, with constant agitation.
  This syrup can he valued  only on account of the agree-
able flavour of the balsam with which it is moderately
impregnated. 
          PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.       495


    Syrupus Viola  Odorata.  Syrup of Violets.

  Take of
        FloAvers of fresh violets, one pound,
        Boiling Avater, four pounds,
        Double refined sugar, seven pounds and a half.
  Macerate the violets in the Avater  for tvyenty-four
hours in a glass or a glazed earthen vessel, close covered;
then strain without expression, and to the strained liquor
add the sugar, poAvdered, and make into a syrup.
  This syrup  is a very gentle laxative, and as  such is
given to infants in  a dose of one or two tea  spoonfuls.
  It is apt to lose in keeping the elegant blue colour, for
Avhich it is chiefly valued.
  When pure it forms an excellent test of the presence
of acids and alkalis; the former  changing it to  a red,
the latter to a green colour.   It  is obvious that a pre-
scriber would be deceived if he  should expect to give any
blue tinge to acidulated or alkalized juleps or mixtures,
by the addition of the blue syrup. 
496      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER XII.
             MEDICATED  VINEGARS.


  Vinegar is capable of dissolving several of the princi-
ples of vegetables.  It frequently, hoAvever, alters their
poAvers, or does not coincide with them in virtue.  There
are, therefore, few medicated vinegars in use.

Acetum   Aromaticum.   Aromatic   Acetous  Acid.
                 Aromatic  Vinegar.

  Take of
         Tops of rosemary dried,
         Leaves of sage dried, each four ounces,
         Flowers of lavender dried, two ounces,
         Cloves in coarse powder, two drachms,
         Distilled acetous acid, eight pounds.
  Macerate for seven days, express the liquor and filtrate
through paper.
  From the impregnation of the vinegar with the flavour
of these  aromatic vegetables, it becomes a grateful per-
fume, to wliich purpose chiefly this preparation is applied.

 Acetum  Scilla  Maritima.   Acetous  Acid  with
              Squills.   Squill Vinegar.

  Take of
         Dried root of squills, two ounces,
         Distilled acetous acid, two pounds and a half,
         Alcohol, three ounces.
  Macerate the squills with the acetous acid for  seven
days; then press out the liquor, to Avhich  add the alcohol;
and Avhen the feces have subsided, pour off the clear liquor.
  A preparation similar to that formerly kept under the
name of oxymel of squills, may be made by mixing ex-
temporaneously  any  quantity of honey  with the  above
preparation. 
          PREPARATIONS  and compositions.      497

  Vinegar is the proper menstruum-of squill; and  this
preparation possesses all its powers unimpaired.  It is a
very powerful stimulant; and hence it is frequently used,
with great success, as a diuretic  and expectorant.  The
dose is from a drachm to half an  ounce ; where crudities
abound in the first passages, it may be given at first  in a
larger dose, to  evacuate them by vomiting.  It is most
conveniently exhibited along Avith  cinnamon,  or other
agreeable aromatic waters which prevent the nausea it
would otherwise, even in small doses, be apt to occasion.


 Vcidum Acetosum Camphoratcm.   Camphorated
                   Acetous Acid.

  Take of
         Strong acetous acid, six ounces,
         Camplior, half an ounce.
  Reduce the camphor to  poAvder, by triturating it with
a little alcohol; then add it to the acid, hi Avhich it should
be dissolved.
  This solution is a powerful analeptic remedy.  Its va-
pour snuffed up the nostrils, whicii is the only  method of
using  it,  is  one  of the most  pungent stimuli AYe possess.
It is so  extremely volatile, that  it  cannot be  preserved
without excluding it from the contact of the air; and it
is so poAverful a menstruum, that it corrodes  cork,  and
almost all common metals except gold.  It should there-
fore be kept in glass phials, with ground glass  stoppers.
63 
498
PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER  XIII.
                    TINCTURES.

   Tinctures are solutions  of vegetable,  animal, and
 sometimes of mineral substances, in spirituous  liquors.
 The solvent may be either pure alcohol, diluted  alcohol,
 or alcohol impregnated with ammonia or ether.   They
 generally contain the virtues  of the substances dissolved,
 in a concentrated state, though sometimes altered, or lost
 in  those of the  menstruum.   They are little liable to
 decomposition,  and this  gives  them  a  superiority over
 those preparations in which the solvent power of water is
 employed.  Alcohol is the solvent  of a number  of the
 immediate principles  of vegetables;  of resin, camphor,
 essential oil, and extract; and hence is capable of extract-
 ing the virtues  of many important remedies. Tinctures
 made with it are in general decomposed on the addition
 of Avatery liquors.
   Diluted alcohol, or proof spirit, is a still more  general
 solvent; as the water it contains dissolves several princi-
 ples which are not soluble in pure alcohol.  It is therefore
 more generally employed.  Alcohol,  impregnated with
 ammonia, or ether, is employed in forming tinctures only
 of a few substances, whose operations  are supposed to he
 promoted by these agents.


 Tinctcra Aloes Socotorina.   Tincture of Soctotorim
                        Aloes.

   Take of
         Socotorine aloes in poAvder, half an ounce,
         Extract of liquorice, an ounce  and a half,
         Alcohol, four ounces,
         Water, one pound.
  Digest for seven days in a closed vessel, with a gentle
heat and frequent agitation,  and Avhen the feces have
subsided, decant the tincture. 
         preparations and compositions.       499

  These directions are to be observed in  preparing  all
tinctures.
  In this simple tincture, all the active parts of the aloes
are suspended in the menstruum.  The extract of liquo-
rice serves both to promote the suspension and to cover
the taste of the aloes; and in those cases Avhere we Avish
for the operation of the aloes alone, this is perhaps  one
of the best formulae under Avhich it can be exhibited in a
fluid state.  About an ounce may be taken  for a dose.
                                                   /
Tinctura Aloes et Myrrha.  Tincture of Aloes and
            Myrrh.  Elixir Proprietatis.

  Take of
        Myrrh in powder, two ounces,
        Alcohol, one pound and a half,
        Water, half a pound.
  Mix the alcohol with the water, then add the myrrh;
digest for four days; and lastly add of
        Socotorine aloes in powder,
        Saffron sliced, each two ounces.
  Digest again for three days, and pour off the tincture
from the sediment.
  This may be considered as being the Elixir Proprieta-
tis of Paracelsus, improved with regard to the manner
of preparation.  It has long been in repute as a warm
stimulant and aperient.  It strengthens the stomach and
other viscera, cleanses the first passages from tenacious
phlegm, and promotes the natural secretions in general.
Its  continued use has frequently done  much service in
cachectic and icteric cases, uterine obstructions, and other
similar disorders ; particularly in cold, pale, phlegmatic
habits.  The dose may be  from one drachm to two, tAvice
in a day.  This preparation is rendered more pleasant
and efficacious by age.

Tinctura Amomi Repentis.  Tincture of Cardamom.

  Take of
        Lesser cardamom seeds bruised, four ounces,
        Diluted alcohol, tvyo pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days, and filtrate through paper. 
500       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITION'S.

   Tincture of cardamom has been in use for a considera-
ble time.  It is a pleasant  Avarm  cordial,  and may be
taken, alongSvith a proper  vehicle, in doses of from a
drachm to a spoonful or two.

Tinctura Aristolochi.e Serpent ari.e.   Tincture of
                 Virginian Snakeroot.

  Take of
         Root  of Virginian snakeroot bruised,  three
           ounces,
         Cochineal in powder, one drachm,
         Diluted alcohol, tAvo pounds and a  half.
  Digest for seven days, and filtrate through paper.
  This tincture, which contains the Avhole virtues of the
root, may be taken to the quantity  of a spoonful or more
every five or six hours; and to this  extent  it often  ope-
rates as an useful diaphoretic.

 Tinctura Ferula Assa Foetida.    Tincture of
            AssOf Foetida.   Fetid  Tincture.

   Take of
         Gum  resin of assa  foetida, four ounces,
         Alcohol, two pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days, and filtrate through paper.
   This tincture possesses the  virtues of  the assa foetida
itself; assd may be given in doses of from ten drops to
fifty or  sixty as a remedy in hysteria.

Tinctura Benzoin  Composita.   Compound Tincture
          of Benzoin.  Traumatic Balsam.

   Take of
         Benzoin in powder, three ounces,
         Peruvian balsam, two ounces.
         Hepatic aloes in powder,  half an ounce,
         Alcohol, tAvo pounds.
   Digest with a gentle heat for seven days, and  filtrate
through paper.
   This  preparation may be considered as an elegant sim-
plification of some very complicated compositions, Avhich 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       501
Avere celebrated under different names; such as Wade's
balsam, Friar's balsam, Jesuit's  drops, &c.  These, in
general consisted of a confused farrago of discordant sub-
stances.  They, however, derived considerable activity
from the benzoin and aloes;  and  every thing to be ex-
pected from them, may readily  be obtained from the
present formula.
  The compound tincture of benzoin, has  been highly
recommended,  externally, for  cleansing  and healing
wounds and ulcers, for discussing cold tumors, allaying
gouty, rheumatic,  and other old pains and aches; and
likewise internally for warming and strengthening the
stomach and intestines, expelling flatulences, and reliev-
ing colic complaints.  Its  dose  is  from thirty to  sixty
drops.   In  modern practice  it is  much less used than
formeiiy.                            •

Tinctura Camphora.  Tincture  of Camphor. Elixir
                    of Camphor.

  Take of
         Camphor, one ounee,
         Alcohol, one pound.
  Mix them together, that the camphor may be dissolved.
  It may also be made with a double or triple proportion
of camphor.
  This solution of camphor is only employed externally,
against rheumatic  pains, paralytic numbnesses, for dis-
cussing tumors, preventing gangrenes, or restraining their
progress.   Bruises and strains are also relieved by this
application by way of friction to the part.

 Tinctura Eleutheria.   Tincture of  Cascarilla.

  Take of
         Bark  of cascarilla in powder, four ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, two pounds.
  Digest Avith a gentle heat for eight days and filtrate.
  This tincture maybe employed to ansAver most of those
purposes for Avhich the bark • ;elf is recommended;- but
in the cure of intermittents, it in general requires to be
exhibited in substance. 
502
preparations and compositions.
  Tinctura Angustura.    Tincture of Angustura,

   Take of
         Bark of angustura in powder, four ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, two pounds.
  Digest with a gentle heat for eight days and filtrate.
  In cases of dyspepsia this tincture has been found ser-
viceable in doses of one or two drachms.

Tinctura  Senna  Composita.   Compound Tincture
            of Senna.  Elixir of Health.

  Take of
         Leaves of senna, three ounces,
         Root of jalap bruised, one ounce,
         Coriander seeds,
         CaraAvay seeds, each bruised, half an ounce, ■
         Lesser cardamom seeds bruised, tAvo drachms,
         Diluted alcohol, three pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days, and to the liquor filtrated through
paper add of
         Double refined sugar, four ounces.
  This tincture  is in very common use as a carminative
and cathartic, by those especially who have accustomed
themselves to the use of spirituous liquors; it oftentimes
relieves flatulent complaints  and colics, where the com-
mon cordials have  little effect.  Dose from one to two
ounces.

     Tinctura Castorei.   Tincture of Castor.

  Take of
         Russian castor in poAvder, an ounce and a half,
         Alcohol, one pound.
  Digest for seven  days, and  filtrate through paper.
  This is a fjseble  remedy, given sometimes as an anti-
spasmodic, in a dose of from  half a drachm to a drachm.

Tinctura Cinchona  Officinalis.   Tincture of Cin-
             chona.  Tincture of Bark.

  Take of
         Red bark  of cinchona in powder, six ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, Iavo pounds  and a half. 
         preparations  and compositions.      505

  Digest for seven days, and filtrate through paper.
  The active  matter of bark is entirely  extracted by
diluted alcohol, but  the poAvers of the menstruum itself
do not allow of the  use of bark under this form, Avhere
large doses of  the remedy are necessary.   It is used  in
dyspepsia, occasionally, in a dose of two drachms.

Tinctura Cinchona Composita.   Compound Tincture
         of Cinchona.   Huxham's Tincture.

  Take of
         Red bark of cinchona in poAvder, two ounces,
         External rind  of Seville oranges dried, one
           ounce and a half,
         Root  of  Virginian  snakeroot bruised, three
           drachms,
         Saffron, one drachm,
         Cochineal in poAvder, two scruples,
         Diluted alcohol, tAventy ounces.
  Digest for fourteen days and  filtrate.
  This has been for a considerable time celebrated under
the title of Huxham's Tincture of Bark.
  As a corroborant and stomachic, it is given in doses of
two or three drachms ; but when employed for the cure
of intermittents, it must be taken to a greater extent.
It is more grateful than  the  simple tincture, and in
dyspeptic affections, it proves a pleasant and efficacious
remedy.

     Tinctura Colomba.  Tincture of Colomba.

  Take of
         Colomba root in pow der, two ounces and a half.
         Diluted alcohol, tAvo pounds and  a half.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  Tliis is used merely as a bitter tincture in dyspepsia,
 in a dose of three or four drachms.  It may be advanta-
 geously  employed  against bilious vomitings,  and those
 different  stomach ailments, in Avhich the colomba has
 been found usefr.l:  but where there does not occur some
objection to its use in substance, that form is iu general
preferable to the tincture. 
501-       PREPARATIOnS AND COMPOSITIONS.
 Tinctura Convolvuli Jalapa.   Tincture of Jalap.

   Take of
          Root of jalap in powder, four ounces,
          Diluted alcohol, fifteen ounces.
   Digest for seven days and filtrate through'paper.
   The activity of jalap resides in its resin, which in this
 preparation is extracted along Avith a portion of mucilage.
 The tincture may be  given as a cathartic, in a  dose of
 four or six drachms.

    Tinctura Croci  Sativa.  Tincture of Saffron.

   Take of
          English saffron sliced, one ounce,
         Diluted alcohol, fifteen ounces.
   Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
   This tincture is to be valued only for its colour.

 Tinctura Digitalis Purpurea.   Tincture of  Com-
                   mon Fox-Glove.

   fake of
         Dried leaves of common fox-glove, one ounce,
         Diluted alcohol, eight ounces.
   Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
   This is  a very active preparation ;  it is  the one in
 Aviiich the virtues of digitalis are longest preserved unin-
 jured, and appears to be the best form under Avhich that
 remedy can be exhibited, to obtain its narcotic  effects.
 Its dose is  ten drops,  Avhich, according to the general
 rules observed in the administration of  digitalis, is to be
 gradually increased.  It has been chiefly used to diminish
 the force of the circulation of  the blood in haemoptysis,
 and often with remarkable success.   It is in this form
 that digitalis is  generally  exhibited  for the cure of
 phthisis pulmonalis.  The chief advocates for this reme-
 dy in England are undoubtedly men of eminence in their
profession, some of whom were on its first introduction
 so extremely sanguine as to imagine that it approximates
to a specific; although such expectations cannot be fully
realized, it is evidently a remedy of great efficacy, some- 
          preparations and compositions.      505

times effecting a radical cure, and seldom failing to alle-
viate the most distressing symptoms attending that fatal
disease.  The attestations and facts adduced in its favor
are sufficient to encourage the most persevering trials in
every case of incipient phthisis pulmonalis.


Tinctura  Gentiana Composita.    Compound  Tinc-
        ture of Gentian.    Stomachic Elixir.

  Take of
         Root of gentian sliced and bruised, two ounces,
         Rind of Seville oranges dried and bruised, one
           ounce,
         Bark of canella alba bruised, half an ounce,
         PoAvder of cochineal, half a drachm,
         Diluted alcohol, two pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  This is a very elegant spirituous bitter, formerly called
stomachic elixir.  The aromatics are here very commo-
dious ingredients, as  in this spirituous menstruum they
are free from the inconvenience Avith Avhich they are
attended in  other  liquors, of diminishing their transpa-
rency.
  This tincture is employed in  dyspepsia, in a dose  of
two or three drachms given occasionally.

Tinctura  Guajaci Officinalis.   Tincture of Guai-
                       acum.

  Take  of
         Gum resin  of officinal guaiacum  in  povvder,
           one pound,
        Alcohol, tAvo pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  What is  called gum guaiac is in fact  a resin,  and
perfectly soluble in alcohol.  This solution is a powerful
stimulating sudorific, and may be given in doses of about
half an ounce in rheumatic and arthritic cases.
64 
506       PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.


 Tinctura Hellebori Nigri.   Tincture of  Black
                      Hellebore.

  Take of
         Root of black hellebore bruised, four ounces,
         Cochineal in poAvder, half a drachm,
         Diluted alcohol, two pounds and a half.
  Digest seven days and filtrate through paper.
  This is perhaps the best preparation of hellebore, Avhen
designed for an alterative, the menstruum here employed
extracting the whole of its virtues.   It has been found by
experience  particularly serviceable  in  uterine obstruc-
tions.  In  sanguine constitutions, where chalybeates are
hurtful,  it has been said that  it seldom fails of exciting
the menstrual  evacuations, and removing the ill conse-
quences  of their suppression.   A  tea  spoonful  of the
tincture  may be taken  twice a day in warm water, or
some other convenient vehicle.

 Tinctura Hyosciami  Nigri.    Tincture  of Black
                       Henbane.

  Take  of
         Leaves of black henbane dried, one ounce,
         Diluted alcohol, eight  ounces.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate  through paper.
  This tincture, although not yet come into general use,
is a valuable anodyne, aud in many cases may be substi-
tuted Avith  advantage for the tincture of opium, especially
where the latter produces obstinate constipation;  or,
instead of its usual soporific and  sedative effects, it causes
uneasiness, restlessness,  and  universal irritation.  Its
dose is from a scruple to a drachm.

         Tinctura Kino.   Tincture  of Kino.

  Take  of
         Kino in poAvder, tAvo ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, a pound and a half.
  Digest seven days and filtrate through paper.
  This is  certainly a very astringent tincture, and  Avill
be found an excellent medicine in obstinate diarrhoea and
in lienteria. The dose is from half a drachm to a drachm. 
preparations and compositions.       507
Tinctura Lauri Cinnamomi.  Tincture of Cinnamon.

  Take of
        Bark of cinnamon bruised, three ounces,
        Diluted alcohol, two pounds and a half.
  Digest for sevren days and filtrate through paper.
  This is used merely as an aromatic and cordial, in
doses from one drachm to three.

Tinctura Cinnamomi Composita.   Compound Tinc-
       ture of Cinnamon.  Aromatic Tincture.

  Take of
        Bark of cinnamon,
        Lesser cardamom seeds, each bruised, one ounce,
        Long pepper in powder, two drachms,
        Diluted alcohol, two pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  In this formula, the Dublin and London  colleges di-
minish the quantity of cardamom  seeds, and substitute
ginger.  This  Makes no alteration  on the virtues of the
preparation,  whicii  is a warm aromatic, too hot to be
given without dilution.  It was formerly called aromatic
tincture.  A tea spoonful or two may be taken in wine,
or any  other convenient  vehicle, in  languors,  weakness
of the stomach, flatulences, and other similar complaints;
and in these cases it is often employed with advantage.

Tinctura Lavandula  Composita.   Compound Tinc-<
  ture  of Lavender.  Compound Spirit of Lavender.

  Take of
        Spirit of lavender, three  pounds,
        ............  rosemary, one pound,
        Bark of cinnamon bruised, one ounce,
        Flower-buds of the clove tree bruised,  tAVO
          drachms,
        Nutmeg bruised, half an ounce,
        Wood of red saunders rasped, three drachms.
  Macerate for seven days and filtrate.
  This is a grateful cordial in common use, as relieving
languor and faintness.  From ten  t  <»;$* hundred drops 
508       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

may be conveniently taken, dropped upon sugar.  It docs
not appear very clearly whether it should be considered
as a spirit or tincture;  for although the spirit of laven-
der be the predominant ingredient, yet the mode of pre-
paration is that of a tincture, and the spirit as a men-
struum dissolves astringent colouring, and other substan-
ces, which would not rise with it in distillation.

Tinctura Meloes Vesicatorii.   Tincture of Can-
                       tharides.

  Take of
         Cantharides bruised, one drachm,
         Diluted alcohol, one pound.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  This tincture contains the  active principle of the can-
tharides, Avhatever it may be.   It is applied externally as
a stimulant and rubefacient, and is sometimes given in-
ternally, in doses of from ten to twenty drops as a diuretic.

Tinctura Meloes Vesicatorii Fortior.  Strong
              Tincture  of  Cantharides.

  Take of
         Cantharides bruised, ten drachms,
         Diluted alcohol, one pound.
  Digest  for  fourteen days and filtrate through paper.
This is intended merely for external application.

Tinctura Mimosa Catechu.  Tincture of Catechu.
                  Japonic Tincture.

  Take of
         Extract of catechu in  powder, three  ounces,
         Bark of cinnamon bruised, two ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, tAvo pounds and  a half.
  Digest for eight days and filtrate through paper.
  The cinnamon is a very useful addition to the catechu,
not only as it Avarms the stomach,  ke. but likewise as it
improves  the  roughness and astringency of the other.
This  tincture is of service  in all  kinds of defluxions,
catarrhs,  loosenesses, uterine  fluors,  and other disor-
ders,  Avhere  mild astringent medicines  are  indicated. 
           preparations and  compositions.      509

 Two or three tea  spoonfuls may be taken frequently in
 red wine, or any other proper vehicle.


        Tinctura Moschi.  Tincture of Musk.

   Take of
         Musk, two drachms,
         Alcohol, one pound.
   Macerate for seven days and  filtrate.
   In this form it is almost impossible to give such a quan-
 tity of niusk as is  necessary  for our purpose ; and hence
 this article is  more frequently  employed under the form
 of julep or bolus.


 Tinctura Muriatis Ammonia et Ferri.  Tincture
   of Muriate  of Ammonia and Iron.  Ammoniac Tinc-
   ture of  Iron.

   Take of
         Muriate  of ammonia and iron, four ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, sixteen ounces.
   Digest and  filtrate.
   This is seldom prepared, being much less elegant than
 the folloAving.


 Tinctura  Muriatis Ferri.   Tincture of Muriate
             of Iron.   Tincture of Iron.

   Take of
         Carbonate of iron, half a pound,
         Muriatic  acid, three pounds,
        Alcoliol, three pounds  and  four ounces.
  Pour the muriatic acid  on the carbonate of iron in  a
glass vessel; and shake the mixture noAv and then, during
three days.  Set it by,  that the feces may subside; then
pour off the liquor; evaporate this to sixteen ounces, and
when cold,  add  to it the alcohol.
  The black oxide of iron combines Avith the muriatic
acid, and, during  the  solution,  acquires more oxygen,
partly by absorption from  the atmosphere, and partly by
decomposition  of the water,  which  is promoted  by the 
     510       PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.

     heat applied.  The muriate of iron, in Avhich this mora
     perfect oxide is  contained, is soluble  in alcohol.   The
     present  preparation is such  a tincture  diluted with the
     water of the muriatic acid.   When first prepared, it
     contains a portion of muriate of iron, in which the metal
     is imperfectly oxidated; but this soon attracts more oxy-
     gen ; and hence, the colour  of the  tincture deepens on
     keeping.  It is a very active and excellent chalybeate,
     and may be  given in doses often or twenty drops, twic«
     or thrice a day, in airy proper vehicle.
       The mminted tincture of iron is a remedy which often
     proves extremely efficacious in suppressions of urine aris-
     ing from  spasm, if given in doses of ten drops, and re-
     peated every ten minutes until some  sensible effect is
     produced,  it Avill seldom fail of  removing the spasm, and
     after six doses the urine usually Aoavs freely.


          Tinctura Myrrh a.   Tincture  of Myrrh.

       Take of
             Myrrh in powder, three ounces,
             Alcohol, twenty ounces,
             Water, ten ounces.
       Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
       Tincture  of  Myrrh is recommended internally for
     Avarnling the habit, attenuating viscid  juices, strength-
     ening the solids, opening obstructions, particularly those
     of the uterine vessels, and resisting putrefaction.  The
     dose is from fifteen to forty drops, or more.  It may
     perhaps be given in these cases to advantage ;  though it
     is more  commonly used  externally as  a stimulant and
     antiseptic application for cleansing foul ulcers, and pro-
     moting the exfoliation of carious bones.


     -,Tinctura Opii.   Tincture of Opium.   Thebaic
j^              Tincture.  Liquid  Laudanum.      *

z&   'Take  of
             Opium, tAvo ounces,
             Diluted alcohol, two pounds.
       Digest seven days and filtrate through paper.
       This tincture is the most usual form under which opium
    is administered, having, long been known under the name
    of liquid laudanum. 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.
511
   The proportion of opium to the solvent is five grains
 to the drachm ;  but  by evaporation it is found that  one
 drachm of the  tincture  holds  three  grains and a half
 dissolved.  The usual dose is twenty-five drops.  It is to
 be  regretted that this tincture is not so well adapted  for
 keeping as could be  wished ;  in long standing  a part of
 the opium is gradually deposited, and consequently  the
 tin* Jure becomes weaker ;  the part which thus separates
 amounts sometimes, as it is said, to near one fourth of the
 quantity of opium at first dissolved.
  The occasions for  the use of laudanum in families are
 so numerous, that the  utmost  certainty with regard  to
 the uniformity of the  strength, anil the dose, ought to
 prevail.  According  to the London College, ten drachms
 of Oiium  go to one pint of proof spirit.  Dr. Donald
 Monroe observes, one drachm (sixty drops,) of such
 tinctuF-e. contains, by experiment, three and two thirds
 grains of  opium;  so that three drachms of it contains
 eleven grains: hence if we mix eight draebms of proof
 spirit, with three drachms of the above tincture, we form
 a tincture, each  drachm of which  contains one grain* of
 opium; if Ave want a  still  Aveaker preparation, Ave may
 add eleven drachms more of spirit, when we shall have a
 tincture, each drachm  of which contains  half a grain of
 opium.  In most cases, however, it is adviseable to ad-
 minister laudanum in small quantities, (say fifteen drops
 to a grown person,) at  a time; until the desired effect be
 produced.   A single full dose of twenty, thirty, or thirty-
 five drops, will frequently disappoint our wishes, by proving
 either too great, or too small a quantity for the necessities
 of the system.  Laudanum should ahvays be given in a
 perfectly pure state: that  Avhich has by long keeping
 deposited a portion of the opium previously held in solu-
 tion, and thereby  become thick, and  strong, should  be
 marked, and rese ved for external application.


Tinctura Opii Camphorata.  Camphorated Tincture
           of Opium.  Paregoric  Elixir.

  Take of
        Opium,
        Benzoic acid,  of each one drachm,
        Camphor, two scruples,
        Volatile oil  of aniseed, one drachm.
        Diluted alcohol, two pounds. 
 bi*Z       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

   Digest for ten days and filtrate through paper.
   In this formula the virtues of the opium and camphor
 arc combined.  It gets  an agreeable flavour  from the
 acid  of benzoin, and the essential oil.  The latter will
 also render it more stimulating ; but whether it derives
 any salutary virtues from the former, Ave do not know.
 It Avas originally prescribed under the title of elixir asth-
 maticum, whicii it does not ill deserve.  It tends to allay
 the tickling which provokes frequent coughing, and, at
 the same time, it is supposed to open the breast, and give
 greater liberty  of breathing.   It  is given to children
 against the chin cough, &c. from  five to twenty drops;
 to adults, from twenty to an hundred.  Half an ounce, by
 measure, contains about a grain of opium.

   Tinctura Rhei Palmati.   Tincture of Rhubarb.

   Take of
         Root of rhubarb in coarse powder, three ounces,
         Lesser cardamom seeds bruised, half an ounce,
         Diluted alcohol, iavo pounds and a half.
   Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
   This tincture contains all the virtues of rhubarb.  Its
dose is from half an ounce to an ounce.

 Tinctura Rhei et Aloes. Tincture of Rhubarb  and
                Aloes.   Sacred  Elixir.

   Take of
         Root of rhubarb in coarse powder, ten drachms,
         Socotorine aloes in powder, six drachms,
         Lesser cardamom seeds bruised, half an ounce,
         Diluted alcoliol, two pounds and a half.
   Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.

Tinctura Rhei et Gentiana.  Tincture of Rhubarb
      and Gentian.  Bitter Tincture of Rhubarb.

  Take of
         Root of rhubarb in coarse powder, two ounces,
         Root of gentian sliced and  bruised, half  an
           ounce,
        Diluted alcohol, two pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper. 
preparations and compositions.       513
 Tinctura Rhei Dulcis.   Sweet Tincture of Rhubarb.

   Take of
         Root of rhubarb in coarse  powder, two ounces,
         Root of liquorice bruised,
         Anise seeds bruised, each one ounce,
         Double refined sugar in powder, two ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, two pounds and a half.
   Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
   All the foregoing tinctures of rhubarb, are designed as
 stomachics and corroborants, as well as purgatives;  spi-
 rituous liquors excellently extract those parts of the rhu-
 barb in which the tAvo first qualities reside, and the addi-
 tional  ingredients considerably promote their  efficacy.
 In weakness of the stomach, Indigestion, laxity of the
 intestines, diarrhoeas, colic, and other similar complaints,
 these medicines are frequently of great service.  The
 sacred elixir has been mueh employed as a warming cor-
 dial purge,  and for the general purposes of aloetics, with
 which, however,  it combines the medical properties of
 rhubarb.
   A spoonful or tAvo may be taken for a dose, and occa-
 sionally repeated.


 Tinctura Saponis.   Tincture of Soap.  Saponaceous
                     Liniment.

   Take of
         Soap in shavings, four ounces,
        Camphor, two ounces,
        Volatile oil of rosemary, half an ounce,
        Alcohol, tAvo pounds.
  Digest the soap in the alcohol for three days ; then add
to the filtrated  liquor, the camphor and oil, agitating
them diligently.


Tinctura Saponis et Opii.    Tincture  of  Soap and
             Opium.   Anodyne Balsam.

  This is prepared in the same way and from the same
substances as the tincture of soap, but with the addition
from the beginning of one ounce of opium.
        65 
 51*      PREPARATIONS ANB COMPOSITIONS.

  These tinctures are used externally as powerful stimu-
lant applications in strains and rheumatic pains.   The
latter long knoAvn under the title of anodyne balsam,
possesses great efficacy in removing local pains, especially
if a tea  spoonful be at the same time taken internally.


 Tinctura Scilxa  Maritima.   Tincture of Squill.

  Take of
         Root of  squills  fresh dried and bruised, four
           ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, two pounds.
  Digest for eight days and pour off the liquor.
  As vinegar best covers the nauseous taste of squill, it
is generally used as its menstruum.  This  tincture  con-
tains, hoAvever, the active matter of this, and may be
given in a dose of from twenty to sixty drops.

Tinctura Toluifera Balsami.  Tincture of Balsam
                      of Tolu.

  Take of
         Balsam of tolu, an ounce and a half,
         Alcohol, one pound.
  Digest until the balsam be dissolved, and then filtrate
the tincture through paper.
  This  solution of balsam of tolu possesses all the virtues
of the balsam itself.  It may be taken internally, with
the several intentions for Avhich that  valuable balsam  is
proper, to the quantity of a tea spoomul or two, in any
convenient vehicle.  Mixed Avith the plain syrup of sugar,
it forms an elegant balsamic syrup.

   Tinctura Veratri Albi.   Tincture of Wliite
                      Hellebore.

  Take of
         Root of white hellebore bruised, eight ounces,
         Diluted alcohol, tAvo pounds and a half.
  Digest for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  This tincture has seldom been employed, and is  now
 altogether superseded by the vinous tincture of the same
 root mentioned under Ad'atrum Album in the Materia
 Medica. 
preparations and compositions.       515
       Tinctura Humuli.   Tincture of Hop.

  Take of
         Hops, five ounces,
         Proof spirit, tAvo pints.
  Macerate for fourteen days, and strain.
  Hop haviug been introduced as a narcotic, the tincture
affords a convenient form for its administration.  It has
been supposed to be nearly of the same strength as tinc-
ture of opium, but it requires in general to be given in a
dose of from half a drachm to a drachm, to produce much
sensible effect.
 TINCTURES MADE WITH ETHERIAL  SPIRITS.

  We have classed these tinctures by themselves, because
they are more strongly characterized by the nature of
the menstruum, than of the  substances dissolved in it.
Indeed, the etherial  spirits are used in these instances,
not to dissolve bodies which would resist the action of the
alcohol and water, but for the sake of their oavii direct
action on the body.

Tinctura Aloes  JEtherea.   Etherial Tincture of
        Aloes.   Vitriolic Elixir Proprietatis.

  Take of
         Gum resin  of socotorine aloes,
         Myrrh, of each in powder an ounce  and  a half,
         English saffron sliced, one  ounce,
         Sulphuric ether with alcohol, one pound.
  Digest the  myrrh Avith the liquor for four days in a
close vessel, then add the saffron and aloes.
  Digest again for four days, and when the  feces haAre
subsided, pour off the tincture.
  By first digesting the myrrh Avith  the spirit, a sufficient
quantity of it is dissolved, which Avould not be, were the
aloes added to it; and, by the second  digestion, a sufficient
quantity of the latter is" taken up.  The formula is the
improvement of one Avhich has long  kept its place  in the
different  pharmacopoeias.   It agrees generally  in its 
 516       PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.

 effects, Avith the other tinctures of aloes, the only diffe-
 rence arising from the more penetrating and stimulating
 nature of the menstruum itself.  As a purgative, it is
 given in doses of one or two drachms.

 JEther Sulphuricis cum  Alcohole  Aromaticus.
         Aromatic Sulphuric Etlier with Alcohol.

   This is made  of the same aromatics, and in  the same
 manner as the compound  tincture of cinnamon ;  except
 that in place of the alcohol, sulphuric ether with alcohol
 is employed.
   The additions to the sulphuric ether in this  formula,
 are of so little  importance, that the preparation is scarcely
 ever used.

 Acidum Sulphuricum Aromaticum.  Aromatic Sul-
         phuric  Acid.   Acid Elixir of Aitriol.
   Take of
         Alcohol, two pounds,
          Sulphuric acid, six ounces.
   Drop the acid gradually into the alcohol.
   Digest the mixture Avith a very gentle heat in a close
 vessel for three days, and then add of
         Bark of cinnamon bruised, an ounce and a half,
         Root  of ginger bruised, one ounce.
   Digest again in a close vessel for six days, and then fil-
trate the tincture through  paper placed in a glass funnel.
   This is a valuable medicine in Aveakness and relaxation
of the  stomach, and decays of  the constitution, particu-
larly in those Avhich proceed from irregularities,  Avhich
are accompanied with sIoav febrile symptoms, or  which
follow  the  suppression of intermittents.  It frequently
succeeds, after  bitters and  aromatics. by themselves, had
availed nothing; and, indeed, great  part of its virtues
depend on the  sulphuric acid, which, barely diluted with
Avater, has, in  eases where the stomach could bear aci-
dity, produced happy effects.  It is very  usefully con-
joined  with  cinchona,  and other tonic  barks,  both  as
covering their  disagreeable taste, and as coinciding with
them in Airtue.  It may be given in doses of from ten  to
thirty drops, or more, several times a day. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      517
   AMMONIATED OR VOLATILE TINCTURES.

 Alcohol  Ammoniatum  vVromaticum.   Aromati*
                Ammoniated Alcohol.
  Take of
        Ammoniated alcohol, eight ounces,
        Volatile oil of rosemary, one drachm and a half,
        Volatile oil of lemon peel, one drachm.
  Mix them, that the oils may be dissolved.
  By this combination of the ammonia Avith the alcohol,
and the addition of the aromatic oils, it is rendered more
grateful than the water of ammonia.  This preparation
is therefore sometimes used in preference to the other, as
a stimulating perfume, and even for internal exhibition.
Dose from fifteen to thirty drops.

Tinctura Castorei Composita.  Compound Tincture
                     of Castor.

  Take of
        Russian castor in poAvder, one ounce.
        Gum resin of assa  foetida, half an ounce,
        Ammoniated alcoliol, one pound.
  Digest for seven days in a close stopped phial, and fil-
trate through paper.
  This composition is a medicine of real efficacy, parti-
cularly in hysterical disorders, and the several symptoms
which accompany them.   The spirit here used is an ex-
cellent menstruum,  both for the  castor  and the assa
foetida, and greatly adds to  their  virtues.  The dose is
from half a  drachm, to one drachm.

Tinctura  Guajaci  Ammoniata.   Ammoniated Tinc-
  ture of Guaiacum.  Aolatile Elixir of Guaiacum.

  Take of
        Gum resin of officinal guaiacum, four ounces,
        Ammoniated alcohol, one pound and a half.
  Digest for seven days and  filtrate through paper.
  This is a v cry elegant and efficacious tincture; the
ammoniated spirit readily dissolving the resin, and at the
same time promoting its medicinal virtue.  In rheumatit 
518       preparations and compositions.

cases, a tea or even table spoonful, taken every morning
and evening, in any convenient vehicle,  particularly iu
milk, has proved of singular service.

  Or it may be prepared as follows :

  Take of
         Gum guaiacum, eight ounces,
         Pimento in powder, two ounces,
         Subcarbonate of potass, tAvo drachms,
         Alcohol diluted, two pounds.
  Digest for  seven days and filtrate through paper.
  To four ounces of this tincture  add ammoniated alco-
hol one ounce, more or less, as the  case may require.

Tinctura Opii Ammoniata.   Ammoniated  Tincture
                      of Opium.

  Take of
        Benzoic acid,
        English saffron  sliced, each three drachms,
         Opium two drachms,
         Volatile oil of anise seeds, half a drachm,
        Ammoniated alcohol, sixteen ounces.
  Digest  for seven days in a close vessel, and filtrate
through paper.
  This is a preparation of considerable efficacy in many
spasmodic diseases, as  chincough, ke. the ammonia re-
moving the spasm immediately, while the  opium tends to
prevent its return.   Each drachm contains about a grain
of opium under the name of paragoric  elixir.   This pre-
paration has been highly esteemed in catarrhal affections,
and other complaints of the breast.  Itsdose is from half
a drachm to a draehm. 
preparations and compositions.      519.
CHAPTER XIV.
              MEDICATED  WINES.

  Wine, from its composition, and especially from th»
alcohol and water it contains, is capable of dissolving the
active matter of many vegetables.  Solutions of this kind
are named  medicated wines.  They are more liable to
decomposition from keeping than tinctures.   To obviate
this, it is usual to add to them, when prepared, a portion
of alcohol.

Vinum Aloes Socotorina.   Wine of Socotorine Aloes.
                  Sacred Tincture.

  Take of
         Gum resin of socotorine aloes in powder, one
           ounce,
         Lesser cardamom seeds bruised,
         Root of ginger bruised, each one drachm,
         Spanish white wine, two pounds.
  Digest for seven days, stirring now and then, and after-
wards filtrate.
  This medicine has long been  in great esteem, not only
as a cathartic, but  likewise as a stimulus.  It appears,
from long experience, to be a medicine of great utility.
The dose, as a purgative, is from one to two ounces.  It
may be introduced into  the habit, so as to be productive
of excellent  effects as an  alterant, by giving it in small
doses, at proper intervals; thus managed, it does not for
a considerable time operate remarkably by stool;  but at
length proves  purgative,  and  occasions a lax habit of
much  longer continuance, than that produced by other
cathartics.

  Vinum Ferri.   Wine of Iron.  Chalybeate Wine.

  Take of
         Purified filings of iron, one ounce,
         Spanish Avhite wine, sixteen ounces. 
520      PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.

   Digest for a month, often shaking the vessel, and then
filtrate.
   This is merely a solution  of  tartarized iron in wine;
for the iron is only dissolved  in the vvine by means of the
super-tartrite of potass it contains.  But  a solution of a
known proportion  of tartarized  iron  in  wine, will give
a medicine of more equal powers, and  may be made ex-
temporaneously.  The dose is from a drachm to half an
ounce, twice or thrice a day in chlorotic cases.

Vinum Gentiana Compositum.  Compound Wine  of
               Gentian.   Bitter AVine.

   Take of
         Root of gentian sliced  and  bruised, half an
           ounce,
         Red bark of cinchona in powder, one ounce,
         External  rind  of  Seville oranges,  dried and
           bruised, two drachms,
         Bark of canella alba in poAvder, one drachm,
         Diluted alcohol, four ounces,
         Spanish Avhite wine, two pounds and a half.
   First, pour  on the diluted alcoliol,  and after tAventy-
four hoursj add the wine; then macerate  for seven days
and filtrate.
   This wine is intended to supply the place of the Vinum
Amarum, as it Avas formerly called.
   Wine is fully capable of extracting the  active powers
of the  different ingredients;  and it supplies us with a
very useful and elegant stomachic  medicine.  Its dose is
six drachms.

     Vinum Ipecacuanha.   Wine of Ipecacuan.

   Take of
         Root of ipecacuan in poAvder,  one ounce,
         Spanish Avhite wine, fifteen ounces.
  Macerate for seven days and filtrate  through paper.
  This medicated wine is preferable to a tincture of ipe-
cacuan, as being less pungent, Avhile it holds  the active
matter of the root fully dissolved. Its dose, as an emetic,
is one ounce to an adult. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
521
   Vinum Nicotiana Tabaci.    Wine of Tobacco.

  Take of
        Dried leaves of tobacco sliced, one ounce,
        Spanish white wine, one pound.
  Macerate for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  AVe have already, under the article Nicotiana in  the
Materia Medica, offered some observations upon its intro-
duction into practice by Dr. Fowler, as a very useful
remedy in the cure of dropsies and  dysuries.   From his
treatise on that subject, the present formula is taken;
and we may observe, that while in practice, Ave have
frequently experienced from tobacco those good effects,
for which Dr.  Fowler recommends it, we are inclined
to give the present formula the preference to every other
AYiiich he  has proposed.
  Dose, thirty drops,  gradually increased to sixty or
eighty, twice a day.

Vinum Opii Compositum.  Compound Wine of Opium.
                 Thebaic Tincture.

  Take of
         Opium, two ounces,
        Flower buds of the clove tree bruised,
         Cinnamon  bruised, each one drachm,
         Spanish white wine, sixteen ounces.
  Macerate for seven days and filtrate through paper.
  This is the liquid laudanum of  Sydenham,  with  the
exchange of Canary Avine for Mountain, and the omission
of an ounce of  saffron ; and Avas the tinctura thebaica, or
liquid laudanum,  of the London pharmacopoeia.  The
aromatics here directed are in so small quantity, that no
considerable effect can be expected from them, the pro-
portion of each that goes to a grain of opium amounting
to no more than the sixteenth part of a grain.   Even the
minute proportions, hoAvever,  are  in  a good measure
sufficient  to take off the ill odour  of the opium, which
seems to be all that is intended by them.
  The principal  advantages of exhibiting opium in  this
form are, that  by being already dissolved, it exerts itself
sooner in the body, and that by some persons, liquids are
more  coinmodiously taken, than a bolus or pill.  The
         66 
522       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

common dosesof the tincture are from ten drops to forty,
fifty, or more, according to the exi^en ies of the case.
"it is to be vvished  that the dose could be more exactly
ascertained,  by weight or measure ; as the drops may,
according to different circumstances, vary in quantity,
though in number the  same;  and as an error therein
may,  in  some cases, be of mischievous consequences.
 Twenty drops contain, at a medium,  about one grain of
 opium, or rather so much  as that quantity of wine will
 extract from one  grain ; for the  liquor docs  not dissolve
 the whole substance of the opium, nor is the solution
 equivalent, in  its  effect, to the  full quantity of opium
 employed in  it.
   A liquid opiate, free from the inconveniences here com-
 plained of, may be found under the head of tinctures, page
 510.

     Vinum Rhei Palmati.    Wine of Rhubarb*

   Take of
          Root of rhubarb sliced, two ounces,
          Bark of canella alba bruised, one drachm,
          Diluted alcohol, two ounces,
          Spanish Avhite wine, fifteen ounces.
   Macerate for seven days  and filtrate through paper.
   This is a warm, cordial, laxative medicine.  It is
 used chiefly in w eakness of the stomach  and  bowels, and
 some  kinds  of loosenesses, for evacuating the offending
 matter, and  strengthening the  tone of the viscera.  Its
 dose as a purgative is from half an ounce to an ounce.

 Vinum Tartitris Antimonii.   Wine of Tartrite of
             Antimony.   Antimonial Avine.

   Take of
          Tartrite of antimony, twenty-four grains,
          Spanish white wine, one pound.
   Mix them so  that the tartrite of antimony may be
 dissolved.
   Tartrite  of antimony dissohed in Avine,  can be pre-
 served longer without decomposition than when dissolved
 in water; but, even on long keeping, part of the antimo-
 nial oxide is deposited.   In its employment and effects, 
PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.
the vinous solution of tartar emetic does not differ from
one made with water.   It  is given as an  emetic in the
dose of one ounce ; as a diaphoretic, in a much  smaller
dose.   It contains two grains of tartrite of antimony in
the ounce, but it is not of sufficient strength.  The for-
mula directed by the London and Dublin Colleges, con-
taining four  grains  in  the ounce, will be found more
convenient in practice.
  In the  old formula for the preparation  of  antimonial
wine, vitrified  (glass)  of antimony Avas directed  to be
used; but as the tartarous acid contained in the wine acts
on the oxide of antimony, and renders part of it soluble,
the quantity must be uncertain, and the wine cannot be
uniform in strength.  The preparation, therefore, ought
to be entirely rejected, since its strength cannot be known. 
52 i      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER XV.
                    EXTRACTS.


      EXTRACTS  MADE WITH WATER.

  AVhen vegetable matter is dissolved in Avater or alcohol,
by evaporation of the solvent, a concrete tenacious  mass
is  obtained, termed  an extract.   When prepared  from
an aqueous solution, it is named a watery, when from one
in alcohol, pure or diluted, a spirituous extract. The for-
mer must consist chiefly of those  proximate principles
Avhich Avater can easily dissolve; mucilage, tannin, ex-
tractive, and saline matter: the latter, of a portion of
these Avith resin.
  In either preparation, the volatile principles must ne-
cessarily be dissipated; and in many cases, especially in
the preparation of the watery extracts, decomposition or
oxygenation of the more fixed parts take place.  Hence
there are feAV vegetables Avhose virtues are obtained un-
injured in their extracts.   Water is the menstruum most
economically employed in making extracts, as it is  capa-
ble of dissolving all the active principles except  resin,
and can have its solvent povyers assisted by a considerable
degree of heat.
   It is indifferent, Avith regard to the medicine, whether
the  subject be used fresh or dry, since nothing that can
be preserved in this process, will be lost by drying.
   The  evaporation  is  most conveniently performed in
large, shalloAV vessels; the larger the  surface of the
liquor, the sooner will the^aqueous parts exhale.   It  is
necessary to keep a constant stirring toward the end of
the process, in order to prevent an empyreuma, and that
the extracts may be of an uniform consistence, and free
of clots.

Extractum  Gentiana Lutea.  Extract of Gentian.

   Take of
          Root of gentian, any quantity.
   Having cut and bruised it, pour upon it eight times its
quantity  of water.   Boil to the consumption of one half 
         PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       55,5

of the liquor, and strain it by strong expression.   Evapo-
rate  the decoction  immediately  to  the consistence of
thick honey, in a bath  of Avater saturated with muriate
of soda.*
  This extract is intensely bitter. It  is generally used to
form other medicines into pills, particularly those with
which it coincides in  medicinal  virtues, as  tonics and
enimenagogues.

  In the same manner are prepared
    From the roots of
  Liquorice,           Extractum glycyrrhizee glabra;.
                        Extract of  liquorice.
  Black hellebore,     Extractum hellebori nigri.
                        Extract of black hellebore.
    From the inner bark of
  Butternut,          Extractum juglandis cinerece.
                        Extract of butternut.
    From the leaves of
  Rue,                 Extractum rutcr graveolentis.
                          Extract  of rue.
  Senna,               Extractum  cassia; senna;.
                          Extract of senna.
    From the floAvers of
  Chamomile,          Extractum anthemidis nobilis.
                          Extract of chamomile.
    From the capsules of
  White poppy,         Extractum papaveris somniferi.
                         Extract of Avhite poppy.
    From the wood of
  LogAvood,      Extractum hcematoxyli campcchcnsis.
                      Extract of logwood.
  All these extracts  are supposed to  contain the  virtues
of the substances from wliich they  are prepared, in a very
pure and concentrated form.-  But this supposition is, Ave
believe, in several  instances erroneous.   Extract of
liquorice root consists chiefly of mucilage and saccharine
matter,  and is used as a demulcent in catarrh.  It is
sometimes purified by solution in water, straining, and
a new  evaporation.  This  is named refined  liquorice.
AVhcn made with care,  it is  exceedingly  sweet, not at all
bitterish or nauseous, more agreeable in taste than the
root itself, of a pleasant smell, and reddish brown colour.
This preparation Avould be  very convenient for  many
purposes in the shops, if kept in a somewhat softer con-
sistence than that of an extrart. 
526       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
   EXTRACTS MADE  WITH  ALCOHOL AND

                      WATER.

Extractum  Cinchona  Officinalis.   Extract  of
           Cinchona.   Extract of the bark.

   Take of
         Bark of cinchona in powder, one pound,
         Alcohol, four pounds.
   Digest for four days, and pour off the tincture.
   Boil the residuum in five pounds of distilled water for
fifteen minutes, and filtrate the  decoction  boiling  hot
through  linen.   Repeat this decoction and filtration with
an equal quantity of distilled water, and reduce the liquor
by evaporation to  the consistence  of thin honey.  DraYV
off the alcohol  from the tiucture by distillation, until it
also become thick; then mix the liquors thus inspissated,
and evaporate  in a bath of boiling water, saturated with
muriate of soda, to a proper consistency.
   This preparation is undoubtedly preferable to the wate-
ry extract of bark.  By the joint action of the alcohol
and water, every principle adhering to the mere ligneous
fibre  of the bark, is dissolved; and  in  the subsequent
evaporation, the dissolved  matter suffers  less injury,
partly from less heat being required to  bring it  to  the
due consistence, and partly,  perhaps, from the alcohol
resisting the oxygenation of the extract.  It is, however,
much more  expensive; and the extract of  bark  to be
found in the shops, is generally that prepared by the pre-
ceding formula.  The dose of this extract is ten grains.

Extractum Cona olvuli Jalapa.   Extract of Jalap.

   This is prepared in the same Avay.
   This extract as  a cathartic  is  capable of operating
fully in a dose of ten or twelve grains. 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.      527
CHAPTER XVI.
                  OF POWDERS.


  This form is proper for such materials only, as are
canable of being sufficiently dried for pulverizing, without
the loss of their virtue.  There are  many substances,
however, of this kind which cannot be conveniently taken
in powder;  bitter,  acrid, and fetid drugs  are too disa-
greeable ; emollient and mucilaginous herbs and roots are
too bulky;  pure gums cohere, and become tenacious in
the mouth; fix'd alkaline salts deliquesce when exposed
to the air; and volatile alkalis exhale.  Many of the aro-
matics,  too, suffer  great  loss of their odorous principle
when kept in powder, as in that form they expose a much
larger surface to the  air.
  The dose of poAvders, in extemporaneous prescription,
is generally about half a drachm; it rarely exceeds a
Avhole drachm, and is not often less than a scruple.  Sub-
stances which produce poAverful effects in smaller doses
are not  trusted to this  form, unless  their bulk be in-
creased by additions of less efficacy; those wliich require
to be given in larger ones are better fitted for other forms.
   The usual  vehicle  for  taking the lighter poAvders, is
any agreeable thin  liquid.  The ponderous povYders, par-
ticularly those prepared from metallic substances, require
a more consistent vehicle, as syrups; for from thin ones,
they soon subside.

Pulvis  Cinnamomi  Compositus.   Compound Poicdcr
          of Cinnamon.  Aromatic Species.

   Take of
         Bark of cinnamon,
         Lesser cardamom seeds,
         Root of ginger, each equal parts.
   Reduce them to a very fine powder, which is to be kept
in a glass vessel well closed. 
 52S      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

   This formula is a very eligible one, and may be admin-
 istered in all cases Avhere powerful aromatic mcdiciues
 arc required.  Its dose is from ten to twenty grains.
 Under the title of aromatic powder it has been employed
 in cold phlegmatic habits, and decayed constitutions, for
 warming the stomach, promoting digestion, and streng-
 thening the tone of the viscera.

 Pulvis  Asari  Compositus.    Compound Powder  of
             Asarabacca.   Sternutatory.

   Take of
         Leaves of asarabacca, three parts,
         ...............sweet marjorum,
         Flowers of lavender, each one part.
   Rub them together to a powder.
   This is an efficacious errhine, and  superior  to herb
 snuff.   It  is often employed with great  advantage in
 cases of obstinate headach, and of ophthalmias resisting
 other modes of cure.  Five or six grains snuffed up the
 nostrils at bed time will operate the  succeeding  day as a
 powerful  errhine,  inducing frequent  sneezing, and  a
 copious discharge from the nose.

 Pulvis Carronatis  Calcis Compositus.  Compound
    Powder  of  Carbonate of Lime.  Chalk powder.

  Take of
         Prepared carbonate of lime, four ounces,
         Nutmeg, half a drachm,
         Bark of cinnamon, one drachm and a half.
  Reduce them together to poAvder.
  The addition  of the aromatics in the above formula,
 coincides with the general intention of the remedy, wliich
 is indicated for Aveakness and acidity in the stomach, and
 in diarrhoea proceeding from acidity.  Dose from a scru-
ple to a drachm. 
            PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.     529


 Pulvis Ipecacuanha et Opii.  Powder of Ipecacuan
             and Opium.  Dover's Powder.

   Take of
         Root of ipecacuan in  powder,
          Opium, of each one part,
         Sulphate of potass, eight parts.
   Triturate them together into a fine poAvder.
   The  sulphate  of potass, from the grittiness of its
 crystals, is perhaps better fitted for tearing and dividing
 the  tenacious opium, than any other salt.   The operator
 should be careful that the opium and ipecacuan be equally
 diffused through the Avhole mass of poAvder, otherwise
 different portions of the powder must be different in de-
 gree of strength.
   In this composition Ave have  an  example of the power
 whicii one medicine has of modifying the action of ano-
 ther, the ipecacuan rendering the operation of the opium
 as a sudorific, much more certain than it Avould otherAvise
 be, and appearing also to diminish its narcotic effect. This
 poAvder is  the most certain sudorific we possess, and as
 such was recommended by Dr.  Dover as an effectual re-
 medy in rheumatism. Modern practice confirms its repu-
 tation, not only in rheumatism, but also in dropsy, and
 several other diseases, Avhere it  is often difficult by  other
 means to produce a copious sweat.  The medium dose is
 fifteen grains; the operation of Avhich  is to be assisted
 by the sweating regimen; and frequently it is necessary
 to give additional smaller dos^s at intervals, to produce
 sYveat.

 Pulvis  Jalapa Compositus.   Compound  Powder of
                       Jalap.

  Take of
        Root of jalap, one part,
        Super-tartrite of potass, tAvo parts.
  Grind them together to a very fine powder.
  By this addition of super-tartrite of potass to jalap,
the operation of the latter is supposed to be rendered less
irritating, and more  refrigerant.   It is an excellent ca-
thartic, operating freely in a dose of a drachm and an half. 
030      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
         Pulvis Opiatus.   Opiate Powder.

  Take of
         Opium, one part,
         Prepared carbonate of lime, nine parts.
  Rub them together to a very fine powder.
  In this poAvder, the opium is the only active ingredient;
it is merely divided by the substance mixed with it. Ten
grains contain one grain of opium.

Pulvis Scammonii Compositus.  Compound Powder
                   of Scammony.

  Take of
         Gum resin of scammony,
         Super-tartrite of potass, equal parts.
  Rub them together to a very fine powder.
  In this poAvder, the operation of the scammony is sup-
posed to be rendered milder as a purgative, by the super-
tartrite of  potass.  It is also prefercd to the seanmony
alone, as a hydragogue cathartic.  Its dose is from ten
to tAventy grains.

Pulvis Super-Sulphatis Alumina et Potassa Com-
  positus.    Compound Powder of  Super-Sulphate  of
  Alumina and Potass.   Styptic Powder.

  Take of
         Super sulphate of alumina and potass, four parts,
         Kino,  one part.
  Rub them together to a fine powder.
  This powder is composed of two very powerful astrin-
gents, and is sometimes used internally in monorrhagia,
in repeated doses of ten or fifteen grains, and externally
as a styptic application to bleeding Avounds. 
          PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.      531


 Pulvis Aloes cum Canella.  Powder of Aloes with
                       Canella,

   Take of
         Socotorine aloes, one pound,
         White canella, three ounces.
   PoAvder separately, and then mix them.
   This composition has  long been known in the shops
 under the title of hiera picra.   It is still retained in the
 London Pharmacopoea.  It  furnishes us with a useful
 aloetic purgative, the canella operating as a good corri-
 gent for the aloes.  It is generally made into a tincture,
 by infusing in spirits.

 Pulvis Astragali Tragacantha Compositus.  Com-
            pound Powder of Tragacanth.

   Take of
         Gum tragacanth,
         ........arabic,
         Starch, of each one ounce and a half,
         Double refined sugar, three ounces.
  To be conjointly pulverized.
  This preparation is one of the mildest emollient reme-
dies in hectic cases, coughs, strangury, and similar disor-
ders, occasioned by a thin,  vitiated state  of the fluids;
the dose being two or three drachms often repeated. 
532       PREPARATIONS  and compositions.
CHAPTER  XVII.
        CONSERVES  AND  ELECTUARIES.


  In these preparations, vegetable matter bruised is mixed
 with about three times its weight of sugar, and beat into
 a uniform pulpy mass.   It Avas supposed that the sugar,
 by its antiseptic quality would prevent the decomposition
 of the vegetable matter.  This, hoAvever, is not the case.
 This form of preparation therefore, is not applied to any
 active medicine.   The shops were formerly encumbered
 with many  conserves altogether insignificant; the few
 now retained, have, in general, either an agreeable fla-
 vour to recommend them, or  are  capable  of answering
 some useful purposes as medicines.  The  sugar should
 be pounded by itself, and passed through a sieve, before
 it be mixed with the vegetable mass, for Avithout this it
 cannot be properly incorporated.  The  common dose is
 the bulk of a nutmeg, or as much as can be  taken at once
 or twice on the point of a knife.
   Electuaries are compositions of the  consistence, nearly
 of honey, and are generally made by adding to any powder,
 a sufficient proportion of syrup or mucilage. It is a form
 adapted to the exhibition of such medicines as are not
 ungrateful in taste  or flavour.  The  ingredients are so
 proportioned, that the dose shall not be less than a tea-
 spoonful, and not more than twice or thrice  that quantity
 at a time.
  Conserve of the outer rind of oranges, and conserve of
 red rose buds, require no particular remarks, except that
 their taste and virtues are compounded of those of sugar
 and the substance combined with it.  The former is a
 pleasant stomachic, and  the latter,  a mild astringent.

 Electuarium  Aromaticum.   Aromatic  Electuary.
                 Cardiac Confection.
  Take of
         Compound powder of cinnamon, one part,
         Syrup of orange peel, two parts.
  Mix and beat  them well together, so as to form an
electuary. 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       533

  This composition is sufficiently grateful, and moderate-
ly warm.  It is given in the form of a bolus, in doses of
from five grains to a scruple, or upwards, as a cordial, or
as a vehicle for more active substances.

Electuarium Cassia Fistula.  Electuary of Cassia.
  Take of
         Pulp of the fruit of the cassia tree, six ounces,
         Pulp of tamarinds,
         Manna, each an ounce and a half,
         Syrup of damask roses,  six ounces.
  Having beat the manna in a mortar, dissolve it in a
gentle heat in the  syrup; then add the pulps and evapo-
rate  them with a regular continued  heat to the consis-
tence of an electuary.
  This composition is a very convenient officinal, to serve
as a basis to purgative  electuaries and other similar pur-
poses.   It is likewise taken by itself  to the quantity of
two or three drachms  occasionally, for gently  loosening
the belly in costive habits.

Electuarium Cassia  Senna.  Electuary of Senna.
                 Lenitive Electuary.
  Take of
         Leaves of senna, eight ounces,
         Coriander seeds, four ounces,
         Root of liquorice,  three ounces,
         Figs,
         Pulp of prunes, each one pound,
         .......of tamarinds, half a pound,
         Double  refined  sugar, two pounds and a half.
   Powder the senna with the coriander seeds, and sift
out ten ounces of the mixed powder.   Boil the remain-
der' Avith the figs and liquorice in four pounds of water, to
one half; then press out and strain the liquor.  Evapo-
rate  this strained  liquor to the Aveight of about a pound
and a half;  then  add the sugar, and make  a syrup; add
this syrup by degrees to the pulps, and, lastly, mix in the
powder.
   This  electuary  is  a  very convenient laxative, and has
long been in common use among practitioners.  -Taken
to the size of a nutmeg or more, as occasion may require,
it is an excellent laxative for loosening the belly in costive
habits. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
    Electuarium Catechu.   Electuary  of Catechu.
                  Japonic Confection.
    Take of
          Extract of catechu, four ounces,
          Kino, three ounces,
          Bark of cinnamon,
          Nutmeg, each one ounce,
          Opium diffused in a sufficient quantity of Spa-
            nish white wine, one 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 having mixed them
  with the opium and syrup, make thein into an electuary.
    This electuary affords a combination of the more pow-
  erful  astringents, rendered  grateful by aromatics, and
  having its efficacy, as a remedy in  diarrhoea, increased
  by the opium.  It is the  basis of the common extempora-
  neous astringent  mixture.  One grain of opium is con-
 tained in rather more than three drachms.

 Electuarium Opiatum.  Opiate Electuary.  Thebaic
                      Electuary.

   Take of
          Compound powder of cinnamon, six ounces,
          Virginian snakeroot in fine powder, three ounces,
          Opium diffused  in a sufficient quantity of Spa-
           nish white wine, half an ounce,
          Syrup of ginger, one pound.
   Mix them and form an  electuary.
   This has kept its place in the  Pharmacopoeias as a
substitute for the inithridate and theriaca andromachi;
officinal  preparations once highly celebrated, but now
discarded.  Each  drachm  prepared   according to the
above formula, contains a grain and a half of opium.
  The  action which this electuary  will produce on the
living system, is abundantly apparent from the nature of
its ingredients. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      535
CHAPTER XVIII.
                    TROCHES.

  Troches or Lozenges, consist of powders brought to a
solid form by the addition  of mucilage.   When moist,
they form a soft paste, in which state they are cut into
square or round pieces ;  and these are hardened by dry-
ing.   It is a form adapted principally to such medicines
as are designed to dissolve slowly in the mouth, and hence,
they are always rendered pleasant by the addition of a
large proportion of sugar.   They are seldom  active
remedies.

Trochisci Carbonatis Calcis.  Troches of Carbonate
             of Lime.  Troches of Chalk.

  Take of
         Prepared carbonate of lime, four ounces,
         Gum arabic, one ounce,
         Nutmeg, one drachm,
         Double refined sugar, six ounces.
  PoAvder them together and form them with Avater into
a mass, Avhich is to be made into troches.
  This is a pleasant form under which carbonate of lime
may be given  as an antacid ; and it is useful in diarrhoea.


 Trochisci  Glycyrrhiza cum  Opio.   Throches of
               Liquorice with  Opium.

  Take of
         Opium, tAvo drachms,
        Tincture of balsam of tolu, half an ounce,
         Simple syrup, eight ounces,
        Extract of liquorice, softened in warm water,
         Gum arabic in  poAvder, each five ounces.
  Grind the opium  Avell with the tincture, then add by
degrees  the  syrup  and  extract ;  aftenvards gradually 
b36       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

sprinkle  upon the mixture  the  poAvdered  gum arabic.
liastlv, dry them so as to form a mass to be made into
troches, each Aveighing ten grains.
  These troches are Aery effectual in relieving the tick-
ling cough frequently attending catarrh.  The  opium is
the active ingredient; the others cover its taste and fla-
vour, and render the composition pleasant, adding at the
same time a demulcent quality.  One drachm or six
grains contain one grain of opium, and from six to twelve
may be taken in tAvcnty-four hours.


   Trochisci Magnesia.   Troches of Magnesia.

  Take of
         Magnesia, four ounces,
         Double refined sugar, two ounces,
         Root of ginger poAvdered, one scruple.
  Triturate them together, and with the  addition of the
mucilage of gum arabic, make troches.
  Magnesia may  be conveniently administered, under
this form, as an  antacid, and at the same time it tends to
keep the boAvels  open. 
PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.        537
CHAPTER  XIX.
PILLS.
   To this form, those drugs are particularly adapted,
 wliich in a small dose, and whose nauseous and offensive
 taste or smell, require them to be concealed from  the
 palate.  Pills dissolve the most difficultly in the stomach,
 and  produce the most gradual and lasting effects, of all
 the internal forms.  This is, in some cases, of great ad-
 vantage ; in others, it is a quality not at all desirable;
 and sometimes, may even be of dangerous consequence,
 particularly Avith regard to emetics, which, if they pass
 the stomach undissolved, and afterAvards exert themselves
 in the intestines,  operate there as violent  cathartics.
 Hence emetics are scarce ever given iii pills;  and hence,
 to the resinous and difficultly soluble substances, sapona-
 ceous ones ought to be added, in order to promote their
 solution.
   Gummy resins, and inspissated juices, are  sometimes
 soft enough to be made into pills, without addition. Where
 any moisture is requisite, spirit of Avine is  more proper
 than syrups and conserves, as it unites more readily Avith
 them, and does not sensibly increase their bulk.   Light,
 dry poAvders require syrups or  mucilages, and the more
 ponderous, as the mercurial and other metallic prepara-
 tions, thick honey conserve or extracts.  Light poAvders
 require about half their weight of syrup; or of honey,
 about three  fourths their Aveight, to reduce them into a
 due consistence for forming pills.  Half a drachm of the
 mass will make five or six pills of a moderate  size.
   Gums and inspissated juices, are to  be first softened
 Avith the liquid prescribed; the  powders are  then to be
 added, and the Avhole beat thoroughly together, until they
 be perfectly mixed.  The masses for pills are best kept
 in b'adders, wliich should be moistened Avith some of the
 same kind of liquid that the mass Avas made up Avith, or
Avitli some proper aromatic oil.
68 
538
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
          Pilula Aloetica.   Aloetic Pills.
   Take of
          Gum resin of socotorine aloes in powder,
          Soap, equal parts.
   Beat them with simple syrup into a mass fit for mak-
 ing pills.
   Under this simple form aloes is very commonly exhi-
 bited as a cathartic.  Two pills are a medium dose.

 Pidula Aloes  et  Assa  Foetida.   Pills of Aloes
                  and Assa  Foetida.

   Take of
          Gum resin of socotorine aloes in poAvder,
          Gum resin of assa foetida,
          Soap, equal parts.
   Form them into a mass with mucilage of gum arabic.
   These pills,  in doses of about ten grains twice a day,
 produce the  most salutary effects in cases of dyspepsia,
 attended with flatulence and costiveness.

 Pilula  Aloes  et  Colocynthidis.   Pills of Aloes
          and  Coloquintida.    Pilulse  Coccise.

   Take of
         Gum  resin of socotorine aloes,
         •.....;.............scammony, each eight parts,
         Fruit of coloquintida, four parts,
         Volatile oil of cloves,
         Sulphate of potass  with  sulphur, each one part.
   Reduce the  aloes and  scammony into a powder with
 the salt; then let the fruit of coloquintida, beat into a
 very fine powder  and  the oil be added;  lastly, make it
 into a proper mass Avith the mucilage of gum arabic.
   In these pills we have a very useful and active purga-
 tive ;  and Avhere  the simple aloetic pill is not sufficient to
 obviate costiveness, this will often effectually ansAver the
purpose. These pills often produce a copious discharge in
cases  of obstinate costiveness, when taken to the extent
of only five or ten grains; but they may be employed in
much larger doses.  They  are, however, seldom used
*v 
         PREPARATIONS and compositions.       539

with a  view of producing proper cathartics.   Half a
drachm of the mass, contains about five  grains of the
colocynth, ten of aloes, and ten of scammony.

 Pilula Aloes et Myrrha.    Pills of Aloes and
              Myrrh.   Rufus's Pills.

  Take of
         Gum resin of socotorine aloes, two ounces,
         Myrrh, one ounce,
         Saffron, half an ounce.
  Beat them into a mass with a proper quantity of simple
syrup.
  These pills have long continued in practice, as a stimu-
lating aperient.  Given to the quantity of half a drachm
or tvvo scruples,  they  prove considerably cathartic, but
they ansAver much better purposes in smaller  doses as
laxatives or alteratives.   Two or three for a dose.

Pilula Assa Foetida Composita.  Compound  pills
            of Assa Foetida.  Gum Pills.

  Take of
         Gum resin of assa foetida,
         Galbanum,
         Myrrh, each eight parts,
         Purified oil of amber, one part.
  Beat them into a mass Avith simple syrup.
  These pills are designed for anti-hysterics, and emme-
 nagogues,  and are very  well calculated  for answering
 those intensions.  Half a scruple, a  scruple, or more,
 may be taken every night or oftener.

 Pilula Acetitis Plumbi et   Ipecacuanha.   Pills
          of Acetite of Lead and Ipecacuan.

  Take of
         Acetite of lead,
         Root  of Ipecacuan in  powder, of  each one
            drachm,
         Opium, ten grains.
  Beat them with simple syrup into a mass to be divided
 into forty equal  pills. 
540       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

  In most cases of internal haemorrhage, but more one-
cially in uterine profluvia attended by debility, these phis,
taken one every three or four hours, seldom  fail to pro-
duce  the  desired  astringent effect; and if their use be
duly persisted  in,  will  in  general induce  that salutary
change in the system upon wliich a radical  cure depends.

Pilula  Ammoniareti Cupri.  Pills of Ammoniarct
               of  Copper.   Copper Pills.

  Take of
         Ammoniaret of copper in fine poAvder, sixteen
           grains,
         Bread crumb, four scruples,
          Solution of  carbonate  of ammonia, as much as
           may be sufficient.
  Beat them into a mass,  to be divided into thirty-two
equal pills.
  It is under  this form that ammoniaret of copper is
given in epilepsy  and the  other spasmodic  diseases  in
which it has been  employed.  Half a grain of it is con-
tained in eaeh pill.  One pill is given  at first, night and
morning,  and the dose is gradually increased.

Pilula Hydrargyri.  Pills of Quicksilver.  Mercurial
                       Pills.

  Take of
         Purified quicksilver,
         Conserve of red roses, each one ounce,
         Starch, two  ounces,
  Triturate the quicksilver Avith the conserve, in a glass
mortar, till the globules completely  disappear, adding
occasionally a little mucilage of gum  arabic ; then add
the starch, and beat the Avhole  with water into a mass,
which is immediately to be divided into four hundred and
eighty7 equal pills.
  The common mercurial  pill is one  of the  best prepa-
rations of mercury, and may in  general supersede most
other forms of this medicine.   In its preparation  the
mercury is minutely divided, and probably converted into
the black oxide.  To effect its  mechanical  division, it
must  be  triturated Avith some viscid  substance.  Soap, 
         preparations and compositions.       5±i

resin of guaiac, honey, extract of liquorice, manna, and
conserve of roses, have all been at different times recom-
mended, and either of them may be employed.
  We learn Avhen the mercury is completely extinguished,
most easily, by rubbing a very little of the mass Aviththe
point of the finger on  a piece of paper, if no globules ap-
pear.   As soon as this is the case,  it is  necessary to mix
Avith the mass a proportion of  poAvder of liquorice or
starch, to give it a proper degree of consistency.   It is
necessary to form the  mass into pills immediately, as it
soon becomes hard. AVhile this preparation of mercury is
much milder in its operation than some others, it is per-
haps capable of answering every purpose which the reme-
dy can serve.  The common dose, given with the vieAV of
inducing the common mercurial action,  is two pills at bed
time, and one in the morning, Avhich in particular cases
and habits, require  to be increased.   Four, or six pills
given at once, generally excite purging.  Each pill con-
tains one grain of quicksilver.

  Pilula  Opiata.   Pills of Opium.   Thebaic Pills.

  Take of
        Opium, one part,
        Extract of liquorice, seven parts,
        Jamaica pepper, two parts.
  Soften the opium  and extract  separately, with diluted
alcohol, and having beat them into a  pulp, mix  them;
then add the pepper reduced to powder;  and lastly, having
beat them Avell together, form the whole into a mass.
  This  affords  a form  under Avhich the  exhibition of
opium may be concealed from the patient.   Two pills or
ten grains of the mass contain one grain of opium.  In
the formula of the London College, the  aromatic is omit-
ted, and the proportion of opium increased; so that each
pill contains one grain.
  Some complain that the extract  of liquorice occasions
the mass to become too hard  and difficult to manage.
The following formula, therefore, may  be substituted, or
a stronger preparation : viz.

  Take of
        Castile soap, eight parts,
        Camphor, six parts,
        Opium, four parts. 
 542      PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

   The several articles being separately powdered, mix
 and beat them into a mass.

 Piluia; Rhei Composita.   Compound Pills of Rhu-
               barb.   Stomachic Pills.

   Take of
         Root of rhubarb in powder, one ounce,
         Gum resin of socotorine aloes, six drachms,
         Myrrh, half an ounce,
         Volatile  oil of peppermint, half a drachm.
   Make them into a mass with  a sufficient quantity of
 syrup of orange peel.
   This is a moderate laxative much employed, especially
 in dyspeptic affections, to obAiate costiveness, and gently
 stimulate the stomach and  intestines.  Two pills are
 taken at bed time.

          Pilula Scillitica.   Squill Pills.

   Take of
         Dried root of squills in fine powder, one scruple,
         Ammoniacum,
         Lesser cardamom seeds in poAvder,
         Extract of liquorice, each one drachm.
   Mix and form them into a mass with simple syrup.
   This is an elegant and commodious form for the exhi-
 bition of squills, whether for promoting expectoration,
 or with the other intentions to which that medicine is
 applied. As the virtues of the compound is derived chief-
 ly from the squills, the other ingredients are often varied
 in extemporaneous prescriptions.  If, however, the above
 form should be  found to  be too hard and difficult to
 manage, the following formula may be prefered: viz.

  Take of
         Dried root of squills in fine powder,
         Gum ammoniacum, each one drachm,
         Castile soap, one ounce.
  Mix them into  a mass with a sufficient quantity of
balsam copaiva. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
513
        Pilula Plummeri.  Plummets Pills.

  Take of
        Precipitated sulphur of antimony,
        Mild muriate of mercury, each three drachms,
        Extract of gentian,
        Hard Spanish soap, each one drachm.
  Let the  mercury be triturated with the sulphur ; then
add the extract, and form a mass Avith jelly of soap.
  These pills Avere recommended to the attention of the
public, about forty years since, by Dr. Pltimmer, whose
name they long bore.   He represented them in a paper,
Avhich he published in the Edinburgh Medical Essays, as
a very useful alterative; and on his authority they were
at one time much employed.  In some  cutaneous and
even venereal affections, they are yet in repute, as being
an efficacious remedy in doses of from  four to eight  or
ten grains, morning and night.

Pilula Gambogia Composita.  Compound Gamboge
               Pills.  (Lond, Pharm.)

  Take of
        Gamboge in poAvder,
        Socotorine aloes in powder,
        Compound powder of cinnamon, of each, one
          drachm,
        Soap, two drachms.
  Mix the powders together, then, adding the soap, beat
the whole into one mass.
  By the addition of the gamboge to the aloes, its cathar-
tic poAver is increased, and a composition afforded, more
active than the  aloetic pill.  Tavo or three pills are a
proper dose.

Pilula Ferri  cum  Myrrha.   Pills  of Iron with
             Myrrh.   (Lond. Pliarm.)

  Take of
        Myrrh, beat to powder, two drachms,
        Sub-carbonate of soda,
        Sulphate of iron,
        Sugar, of each a drachm. 
54i       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.

  Triturate the myrrh Avith the subcarbonate  of soda;
then, having added the sulphate of iron, triturate thcni
again; lastly, beat the Avhole together, until they form an
uniform mass.
  This is the same composition, Avith regard to the active
ingredients, as forms the basis of the compound mixture
of iron, the  substitute for Griffith's mixture, and it may
be occasionally convenient to prescribe it under the form
of pill, or to form the mixture from it extemporaneously
bj diffusion in water. 
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      545
CHAPTER  XX.
CATAPLASMS.
  By cataplasms, are in general understood, those exter-
nal applications, which  are  brought to a due consistence
or form for being properly applied, not by means of oily
and fatty  matters,  but by water or watery fluids.  Of
these, not a few are had recourse  to in  actual practice;
but they are seldom prepared in the shop of the apothe-
cary, and, in some of the best modern  Pharmacopoeias,
no formula of this kind are introduced.  The London and
Dublin Colleges, hoAvever, although they have abridged
the number of cataplasms, still retain a few; and it is not
without some advantage that  there arc fixed forms for
the preparation of them.

       Cataplasma Lini.   Linseed  Poultice.

  Take of
        Linseed in powder, half a pound,
        Hot Avater, one pound and a half.
  The poAvder is to be  gradually  sprinkled into the hot
water, Avhile they are quickly blended together Avith  a
spoon.
  Poultices are commonly made too thin, by which means
the least pressure, or their own gravity remove them from
the part; they should be thick enough  to support a cer-
tain form  Avhen applied.  This is the best and the most
convenient  of  all the emollient poultices for  common
cases,  and may in a great measure  supersede the bread
and milk one so much in use formerly, and which is so
liable to become brittle Avhen  dried.  The mucilage of
the slippery elm  bark  Avill also  be found an excellent
application of this kind  for most of the purposes required.
        69 
546       preparations and compositions.
        Cataplasma Dauci.   Carrot Poultice.

  Bruise the fresh carrots in a mortar into a pulp, or the
carrots may be first boiled.
  The carrot  poultice is employed as an application to
ulcerated cancers, scrofulous  sores of an irritable kind,
and to various malignant ihveterate ulcers.


   Cataplasma Fermenti.   Fermenting  Poultice.

  Take of
         Flour, a pound,
         Yeast of beer, half a pint.
  Mix them, and apply a gentle heat until the mixture
begins to rise.
  The yeast mixed Avith the flour, and  aided by the heat
applied, soon excites fermentation, and the cataplasm in
this state has  been applied with much advantage as an
anodyne in painful and irritable sores, and as an antisep-
tic in ulceration Avith foetor.   Its efficacy appears to
depend on the  carbonic acid gas evolved by the fermenta-
tive process.


Cataplasma Aluminis.  Cataplasm  of Alum.  Alum
                        Curd.

  Take the whites of two eggs;  agitate them  with a
piece  of alum, until a coagulum be formed.
  This  preparation  taken from Riverius,  is a useful
astringent epithem for sore  moist eyes.    AVhere the
complaint is violent, this preparation, after the inflamma-
tion has subsided a little  to bleeding, is one of the best
external remedies.  It is to be spread upon  lint and ap-
plied at bed time.


    Cataplasma  Sinapeos.  Mustard Cataplasm.

  Take of
         Mustard, in poAvder,
         Crumb of bread, of each, half a pound,
         Vinegar, as much as is sufficient.
  Mix and make a cataplasm. 
preparations  and compositions.
  Cataplasms  of this kind, are commonly known by the
name of sinapisms. They Avere formerly, frequently pre-
pared in a more complicated state, containing garlic,
black soap, and  other similar articles.  But the above
simple form will ansAver every purpose Avhich they are
capable of accomplishing.   They are  employed only as
stimulants; they often inflame the part, and raise blis-
ters;  but not so perfectly  as cantharides.  Their chief
advantage depends upon the suddenness of their action.
  This preparation is the common sinapism which is ap-
plied with advantage, as a powerful  stimulant, to the
soles of the feet in typhus, Avhere there is a determination
to the head, and in comatose affections. 
5i8
PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.
CHAPTER XXI.
   LINIMENTS,  OINTMENTS,  CERATES,  AND

                     PLASTERS.

   These are all combinations of fixed oil, or animal fat,
 with other substances, and differ from each other only in
 consistence.   A liniment is  of  the  consistence  of thin
 honey; an ointment is firmer; and a cerate still harder.
 Oil or lard is their common basis; the due consistence is
 given by wax or spermaceti, and to the composition may
 be added any substance which is to be used under this
 form.  Plasters are the most solid, and when cold, should
 be firm, and  should not adhere to the fingers, but when
 gently heated, should become sufficiently  soft to spread
 easily, and should then adhere to the skin. Plasters
 derive their firmness, either  from a  large proportion of
 Avax, or from the presence  of some metallic oxide, such
 as that of lead.  The following general  directions are
 given in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia for their prepa-
 ration.
   In making these compositions, the fatty and resinous
 substances are to be melted Avith a gentle heat, and then
constantly  stirred, adding at the same  time the dry
ingredients, if there be any, until the mixture on cooline
become stiff.

     Linimentum Simplex.  Simple Liniment.

   Take of
        Olive oil, four parts,
        AVhite wax, one part.

      Unguentum Simplex.  Simple Ointment-

  Take of
        Olive oil, five parts,
        AVhite wax, tAvo parts. 
          preparations and compositions.       549


 Unguentum  Physeteris  Macro  Cephali  Sevi.
               Ointment  of Spermaceti.

  Take of
         Spermaceti, tAvo parts,
         Olive oil,
         AVhite Avax, each one part.
  Melt them together over a slow fire, stirring them
constantly and briskly until they be cold.
  These  several compositions differ merely in consist-
ence.   They  are useful cooling ointments for excoria-
tions and other  frettings, and for softening the skin  and
healing chaps.  They are aiso applied spread on linen as
usual dressings  to slight wounds and simple ulcers. Fre-
quently they  are employed as the basis  of more com-
pounded ointments.

Linimentum Hydrargyri  Compositum.  Compound
       Liniment of Quicksilver.   (Lond. Pharm.)

  Take of
         The strong mercurial ointment,
         Prepared lard, of each four ounces,
         Camphor, one ounce,
         Rectified  spirit  of wine  (alcohol) two flui-
           draehms,
         Water of ammonia, four fluid ounces.
  Rub the camphor  first with the spirit, then Avith the
lard and mercurial ointment, lastly adding gradually the
water of ammonia, mix the  Avhole together.
  This is designed as a stimulating application and  dis-
cutient, to be applied to indolent tumors or collections of
fluid, a truly excellent formula for all cases in which the
object is to quicken the  action of the absorbents,  and
gently  stimulate the surface of parts.   It is a capital
application for diminishing  the indurated state of parti-
cular  muscles,  a peculiar  affection every now and then
met with in practice ; and it is particularly well calculat-
ed for lessening the stiffness and chronic thickening often
noticed in the joints. 
 550       preparations and  compositions.

 Unguentum Oxidi Plumbi AlLbi.  Ointment of White
           Oxide  of Lead.   AViiite  Ointment.

   Take of
          Simple  ointment, five parts,
          AVhite oxide of lead, one part.
   Or, the oxide may be added in the same proportion to the
 spermaceti ointment, its firmer consistence being better
 adapted to the purpose of keeping the oxide uniformly
 suspended.
   This is a cooling desiccative ointment of great use
 when applied  to excoriated surfaces; and  has been a
 common application to burns and  superficial inflamma-
 tion.

 Unguentum Acetitis  Plumbi.   Ointment of Acetite
            of Lead.  Saturnine Ointment.

   Take of
         Simple ointment, twenty parts,
         Acetite  of lead, one part.
   This is an excellent cooling ointment, and of the great-
 est use in many cases.  It is applied to the same purposes
 as the preceding,  and is more frequently employed.

 Ceratum  Lithargyri Acetati Compositum.  Com-
  pound Cerate of Acetated Litharge. Goulard's Cerate.

  Take of
         AYater of acetated litharge, two ounces and a
           half,
         YelloAV Avax, four ounces,
         Olhe oil, nine ounces,
         Camphor, half a drachm.
  Rub the camphor Avith a little of the oil.   Melt the
wax Avith the remaining oil,  and as soon as the mixture
begins to thicken, pour in by degrees the water of acetat-
ed litharge, and stir constantly until it be cold; then mix
in the camphor previously rubbed Avith, oil.
  This  ointment,  usually named Goulard's cerate, has
been rendered famous by the recommendations  of Air.
Goulard, a French surgeon.  It is unquestionably hi many
cases very useful;  it cannot, hoAvever, be considered as 
preparations and compositions.      551
varying essentially from the saturnine ointments already
mentioned.  It is employed Avith neaiiy the same inten-
tions, and differs from them chiefly in consistence.

     Unguentum Rosarum.   Ointment of Roses.

  Take of
         Hog's lard,
         Fresh damask roses with  their calices, each
           equal parts.
  Let the roses  be  slightly bruised  in a marble mortar
with a pestle of wood, and put them  in a vessel Avith the
lard ; place  this over a  gentle fire,  so as to evaporate a
great part of the moisture; then press it through linen
and suffer it to cool.   Separate the feces which are on the
top, and melt it in order  to depurate.

Unguentum Aqua Rosa.   Ointment of Rose Water.

  Take of
         Oil of sweet almonds, two ounces,
         Spermaceti, half an ouuce,
         AViiite wax, one drachm.
  Melt the Avhole in a Avater bath, stirring it frequently;
Avhen melted, add of
         Damask rose water,  two ounces,
and stir the mixture continually till it is cold.
  These more elegant compositions being similar in their
properties to the preceding, are used for the same pur-
poses.

Unguentum Stramonii.  Ointment of Thorn  Apple.

  Take of
         Leaves  of  thorn apple recently gathered and
           sliced, five pounds,
         Hog's lard, fourteen  pounds.
  Let them simmer  together  over a gentle  fire till the
leaves become crisp  and dry.   Then press out  the lard,
return it  into the vessel Avhen cleansed, and add to every
pound of the compound, of
         ATcHoav Avax, two ounces.  £ 
 552      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.

 Set the whole on the fire; when the Avax has melted re-
 move the vessel, and let it rest Avhile the contents gradu-
 ally cool, that the impurities may subside.   These must
 then be separated from the ointment.
   This ointment has been found to afford relief in exter-
 nal inflammations, and hsemorrhoids.   It is  also highly
 beneficial in burns, and to allay the swelling of a cow's
 udder.

   Unguentum  Resinosum.    Resinous  Ointment.
                 Basilicon Ointment.

   Take of
          Hog's lard, eight parts,
          Resin of pine, five parts,
          YelloAV wax, tAvo parts:—Or

   Take of
          Yellow resin,
          ..........Avax,
         Hog's lard,
          Oil of olives, equal weights.
   This ointment, long known under the name of yellow
 basilicon, is commonly employed in dressing, for digest-
 ing, cleansing, and incarning Avounds and ulcers.

         Unguentum Picis.   Tar  Ointment.

   Take of
         Tar, fhe parts,
         YelloAV wax, two parts.
   Equal parts of tar and mutton  suet arc prefered by
 some as forming an ointment of a more firm consistence.
 The two compositions, however, cannot be considered as
 differing essentially from each other.  As far as they
have any peculiar activity, this entirely depends on the
tar.  From  the  empyreumatie oil and saline matters
Avhich  it  contains, it is  undoubtedly  of some activity.
Accordingly it has been  successfully  employed  agaiiH
foul ulcers, and some cutaneous affections,  particularly
tinea capitis. 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       553


Unguentum Infusi Meloes Vesicatorii.   Ointment
  of Infusion of Cantharides.  Mild Epispastic Oint-
  ment.

  Take of
         Cantharides,
         Resin of pine,
         Yellow Avax, each one part,
         Hog's lard,
         Venice turpentine, each two parts,
         Boiling water, four parts.
  Infuse the cantharides in the ay ater for a night; then
strongly press  out and strain the liquor and boil  it Avith
the lard  till the water be  consumed ; then add the resin
and Avax, and Avhen these  are melted, take the ointment
off the fire and add the turpentine.
  This ointment, containing the soluble parts of the can-
tharides, uniformly  blended Avith other  ingredients,  are
more  commodious,  and in general occasion  less pain,
though little less effectual in their action, than the com-
positions Avith the fly in substance.

Unguentum Pulveris Meloes Vesicatorii.   Oint-
  ment of the Powder  of Cantharides.    Strong Epis-
  pastic Ointment.
  Take of
         Resinous ointment seven parts,
         Powdered cantharides, one part.
  This ointment  is employed in the dressings for blisters,
intended  to be  made perpetual, as they are called, or to
be kept running for a considerable time ;  which in many
chronic, and acute diseases, is of great service.  Parti-
cular care should be taken, that the cantharides employ-
ed in these compositions, be reduced into a very subtle
poAvder, and that the mixtures be made as equal and
uniform as possible.

Unguentum Sulphuris.  Sulphur Ointment.  Anti-
                  sporic  Ointment.
  Take of
        Hog's lard, two parts,
        Sublimed sulphur, one part.
70 
 55i       PREPARATIONS  and compositions.

   To each pound of this ointment, add of
          Volatile oil of lemons, or
          ................  of lavender, half a drachm.
   Sulphur is a  certain  remedy  for the itch, more safe,
 than mercury.   A pound of this  ointment serves for four
 unctions.  The  patient is to be rubbed every  night, a
 fourth  part of the body each time.   Though the  disease
 may be thus cured by a single application, it is in general
 adviscable to touch  the parts most affected for a few
 nights longer, and to  conjoin the internal use of sulpur.


  Unguentum Acidi Nitrosi.  Ointment of Nitrous
                         Acid.

   Take of
          Hog's lard, one pound,
          Nitrous acid, six drachms.
   Mix the acid gradually with the melted lard, and  dili-
 gently  beat the  mixture as it cools.
   The  axunge in this ointment seems to be oxidized; for,
 during the action of the  acid upon  it, there is  a great
 deal of nitric oxide gas disengaged.  It acquires a yel-
 loAvish  colour, and a firmer consistency; and forms an
 excellent  and cheap substitute,  in  slight  herpetic and
 other cutaneous affections, for the ointment  of nitrate of
 mercury.

 Unguentum Hydrargyri.   Ointment of Quicksilver.
             Strong Mercurial Ointment.

   Take of
         Quicksilver,
         Hog's lard, each three parts,
         Mutton suet, one part.
   Rub the quicksilver carefully in a mortar with a little
 of the hog's lard, until the globules entirely disappear;
 then add the remainder of the lard and the suet, rubbing
 them Avell together.

 Unguentum Hydrargyri Mitius.   Mild Ointment of
            Qiiicksilver.  Blue Ointment.

  This is to be  prepared as the preceding ointment, ex-
cepting tfcat only one part of quicksilver is to be employed. 
PREPARATIONS  AND COMPOSITIONS.
HO .1
   During the trituration of mercury Avith unctuous mat-
 ter, it cannot be doubted that an oxidation of the metal
 is effected ; and the efficacy of the ointment depends, in a
 great measure, on  this oxide  of  mercury.  It  has been
 also supposed, with a sufficient probability, that the por-
 tion of sebacic acid formed in animal fat, when exposed
 to the air, may promote this oxidation, and combine with
 the oxide ; and the improvement of the ointment on keep-
 ing, a fact long observed, is probably OAving to the gra-
 dual formation of this sebate of mercury.
   Mercurial ointment, is the form by which mercury is
 introduced into the system by external friction.  It is a
 mode employed with  advantage, in  eases Avhere the pre-
 parations administered internally, are  liable  to be too
 much determined to the intestines, so as to occasion grip-
 ing and purging, and  Avhen it is necessary to introduce a
 large quantity of mercury speedily into the system ; iike-
 Avise in  some local affections, particularly bubo.  One
 drachm  of the  strong  ointment, (that  containing equal
 parts of the mercury7 and lard,) is introduced by friction
 in the evening, and frequently in  the  morning,  until the
 system be affected.  The inside of the thighs  and legs,
 are the  parts most suitable for  the  application of the
 frictions.  But it is frequently necessary to change the
 place, as eAen the mildest  ointment is sometimes apt io
 excite topical  inflammation, and render further applica-
 tion very inconvenient.  It is requisite that the ointment
 should be prepared with Arery great care; for, upon the
 degree of triture Avhich has been employed, the activity
 of the mercury Aery much depends.
   Several expedients  have  been  contrived to facilitate
 the extinction of the  mercurial globules by trituration;
 the most of these,  however, are inadmissible.   If sul-
 phur be used,  it will  probably render the  mercury inac-
 tive, and turpentine renders the ointment so acrid, that
 when applied by friction it produces irritation on the skin,
 or inflammation.  Rancid fat,  it  has  been found, extin-
 guishes the quicksilver better than recent fat, and by the
action of the metal the rancidity of the fat appears to be
corrected.  If the  trituration  lie made at first  with a
 little tallow, as being  a harder  substance than fat, the
operation may be completed without much difficulty.
  Half  a drachm of camphor, added to one  ounce of
strong mercurial ointment, is much recommended to  be
rubbed on thickened, indurated parts .with a view »f ex. 
556      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.

citing the action  of the absorbents.  Rubbed along the
course of the urethra, it is very serviceable in diminish-
ing and removing chordee.

Unguentum Oxidi Hydrargyri Cinerei.  Ointment
           of Gray Oxide of Quicksilver.
  Take of
         Gray oxide of quicksilver, one part,
         Hog's lard, three parts.
  This is  designed  as a  substitute  for the mercurial
ointment, and as the quicksilver is fully oxidized, it has
been  supposed  that  it will prove  more active.  If this
were  sufficiently established, the facility and certainty of
its preparation Avould be attended with great advantages.


Unguentum Sub-Muriatis  Hydrargyri et Ammo-
  nia.  Ointment of Submuriate of Quicksilver and
  Ammonia.

  Take of
         Submuriate of quicksilver  and ammonia, one
           drachm,
         Ointment of roses, one ounce and a half.
  Let them be mixed very intimately.
  This is a very elegant mercurial ointment, and is fre-
quently made use of in the cure of obstinate cutaneous
affections.

Unguentum Oxidi  Hydrargyri  Rubri.   Ointment
             of Red Oxide of Quicksilver.
  Take of
         Red oxide of quicksilver by nitrous acid, one part,
         Hog's lard, eight parts.
  This is an excellent stimulating ointment, often of very
great service in  indolent, ill conditioned sores, Avhen we
Avish to excite them to greater action.  If it  prove too
stimulating, it may be Aveakened with axunge; and in
this state,  it is often applied to the eye-lids, in chronic
ophthalmia. 
PREPARATIONS  AND  COMPOSITIONS.       557
Unguentum  Nitratis  Hydrargyri.   Ointment of
      Nitrate  of Quicksilver.   Yellow Ointment.

  Take of
        Purified quicksilver, one part,
        Nitrous%acid, two parts,
        Hog's lard, three parts,
        Olive oil, nine parts.
  Dissolve the quicksilver in the nitrous acid, by diges-
tion in a sand heat, and, Avhile the solution is hot, mixAvith
it the lard and oil, previously melted together, and just
beginning to grow stiff.   Stir them briskly together in a
glass or wedgewood mortar, so as to form the Avhole into
an ointment.
  In this ointment, the nitrate of the quicksilver com-
bines  with  the lard; and as there is also an excess of
nitric acid, it acts chemically on the fat,  and gives to the
composition a  very firm consistence.  It is a very active
ointment,  and as such, it is  frequently employed  with
success in cutaneous and other topical affections, a small
quantity being rubbed on the part.

Unguentum  Nitratis  Hydrargyri Mitius. Milder
         Ointment of Nitrate of Quicksilver.

  This is prepared in the same manner as the preceding,
with a triple quantity of hog's lard,  and  olive oil.   It isj
of course, a much milder application, and is designed to
be also of a softer consistence ; but, to obtain the latter
convenience, it is better to reduce the  strong ointment,
Avith the requisite proportion of lard.

Unguentum  Sub-Acetitis Cupri.   Ointment of Sub-
      Acetite  of  Copper.  Ointment of Verdigris.

  Take of
         Resinous ointment, fifteen parts,
         Sub-acetite of copper, one part.
  This ointment is used for cleansing sores, and keeping
doAvn fungous  flesh.  AVhere ulcers continue to run from
a weakness of the vessels of the parts,  the tonic poAvers
of the copper promise considerable advantage.  It is also
frequently used with advantage in cases of ophthalmia, 
 558      preparations  and compositions.

 depending on scrofula, Avhere the palpebral are principally
 affected ; but, when it is to be thus applied, it is in gene-
 ral requisite that it should be someAvhat weakened, by the
 addition of a proportion of simple ointment of bog's lard.

 Unguentum  Oxidi  Zinci  Impuri.  Ointment of Im-
       pure Oxide of Zinc.  Ointment of Tutty.

   Take of
          Simple liniment, five parts,
          Prepared impure oxide of zinc, one part.
   This and the following ointment  are  chiefly used in
 affections of the eye, perticularly in those cases where
 redness arises rather from  relaxation than  from active
 inflammation.

 Unguentum Oxidi Zinci.  Ointment of Oxide of Zinc.

   Take of
          Simple liniment, six parts,
          Oxide of zinc, one part.

         Ceratum Simplex.  Simple Cerate.

   Take of
         Olive oil, six parts,
         White wax, three parts,
         Spermaceti, one part.
   This differs from the simple ointment, in containing a
greater proportion of wax to the oil, and in the addition
of the  spermaceti.  But by these means, it obtains only a
more firm consistence,  Avithout any essential change of
properties.

Ceratum Carbonatis  Zinci Impuri.   Cerate  of Im-
    pure Carbonate of Zinc.  Turner's Cerate.
   Take of
         Simple cerate, five parts,
         Prepared impure  carbonate of zinc, one part:
—Or,

  Take of
         Olive oil, two pounds,
         Yellow Avax, 
         PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.      55:J

        Prepared impure carbonate of zinc, each one
           pound.
  This composition is formed upon that Avhich was for-
merly c.dled Turner's cerate.   The inventor strongly
recommends it in cutaneous ulcerations and excoriations.
It appears,  from experience, to be an excellent epulotic.,
and as such, is frequently made use of in practice.

         Ccrvtum Sabina.   Savine Cerate.

  Take of
        Fresh lea- es of eedar savine, bruised, tAVO pounds,
        Yellow wax, one pound,
        Hog's lard,  four pounds.
  Boil the leaves of the savine Avith the lard  and wax
melted together till  they become crisp, and  AYhile hot
strain the mixture through a coarse cloth.  It is some-
times prepared from the  leaves, reduced to fine powder,
and mixed with lard.
   The  ceratum sabinje (see  juniperus virginiana)  is
designed as an  irritating application with the view of
exciting a perpetual discharge from blisters as a remedy
in chronic diseases of the joints, ke. and in other cases
where such discharge is required.  It  is an  admirable
preparation of that shrub, and has been found by experi-
ence to answer every purpose for which it was originally
suggested by Dr. Crowther.  On the use of this cerate,
immediately after the cuticle raised by the blister is re-
moved, it should be remarked, that experience bas proved
the advantage of using  the application lowered by half
or two thirds of the unguentum certe: an attention to this
direction will produce less irritation and more discharge,
than if the savine cerate is used in its full strength.  But
as the discharge  diminishes,  the strength  of the savine
dressing should be proportionally increased.

      Emplastrum  Simplex.  Simple Plaster.

  Take of
        Yellow Avax, three parts,
        Mutton suet,
        Resin of pine, each two parts.
  The principal  use of this plaster is as a dressing, when
spread thin  on linen, to the part to which a blister has
been applied. 
 560      preparations  and  compositions.


 Emplastrum  Resinosum Compositum.   Compound
                  Resinous Plaster.

   Take of
         Burgundy pitch, tAvo pounds,
         Galbanum, one pound,
         Resin of pine,
         YelloAV wax, each four ounces,
         Fixed oil of mace, one ounce.
   To the pitch, resin and wax melted together, add firsi
 the galbanum and then the oil of mace.
   This plaster has been applied to the region of the sto-
 mach, as a stimulus, to relieve nausea and vomiting, and
 is considered as the most elegant formula of the kind.

 Emplastrum Meloes Vesicatorii. Plaster of Spa-
            nish  Flies.   Blistering Plaster.

   Take of
         Mutton suet,
         YcIIoav Avax,
         Resin of pine,
         Cantharides, each equal Aveights.
   Beat the cantharides into a fine powder, and add them
 to the other ingredients previously melted and  removed
 from the fire.
   This is the plaster usually employed to raise a blister.
 It is of a softer consistence than the other plasters, that
it may admit of being spread Avithout the assistance of
heat, wliich Avould impair the acrid quality of the cantha-
rides.   It requires to be applied twelve hours to produce
 a perfect blister; it is then removed; the vesicle is cut, and
the inflamed surface dressed Avith simple cerate or plaster.

Emplastrum   Meloes   Vesicatorii   Compositum.
         Compound Plaster of Spanish Flies.

  Take of
        Venice turpentine, eighteen parts,
        Burgundy pitch,
        Cantharides, each tAvelve parts,
         YelloAV Avax, four parts, 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       561

         Sub-acctite of copper, two parts,
         Mustard seed,
         Black pepper, each one part.
  Having first melted the pitch and wax, add the turpen-
tine, and to these in fusion, and still hot, add the other
ingredients, reduced to a fine powder and mixed, and stir
the whole carefully together, so as to form a plaster.
  It occasionally happens,  that the common plaster of
cantharides is insufficient to excite a blister, even when
its  surface has been sprinkled over with powdered  can-
tharides.  In such cases, or even in others, where it is ne-
cessary that a blister should be quickly raised, this more
powerful  composition  may be employed.   It  certainly
contains  a sufficient variety of stimulating ingredients,
and its operation is accompanied with a pungent sensation
of heat.

Emplastrum  Oxidi Plumbi Semivitrei. Plaster of
  the Semi-Vitrified Oxide of Lead.  Common Plaster.

  Take of  ^
         Semi-vitrified oxide of lead, one part,
         Olive oil, two parts.
  Boil them, adding water, and  constantly stirring the
mixture till the oil and oxide be formed into a plaster.
  Oxides of lead, boiled Avith  oils, unite with them into a
plaster of an excellent consistence, and which  makes a
proper basis for several other plasters.
  In the boiling of these compositions, a quantity of Ava-
ter  must be added to prevent the  plaster from burning
and groAving black.  Such water  as it may be necessary
to add during the boiling, must be previously made hot;
for  cold  liquor would not only prolong the process, but
likewise occasion the matter to explode, and be throAvn
about with violence, to the great danger of the operator.
This  accident will  equally happen upon the addition of
hot water, if the plaster be extremely hot.   It is  there-
fore better to remove it from the fire a little, before each
addition  of water.  This plaster, which has long  been
known under the name of diachylon, is a common appli-
cation in excoriations  of the  skin, slight fresh wounds,
and the  like.  They keep  the part soft, and  somewhat
warm, and defend it from the air, which is  all that can
be expected in these cases, from any plasters.
         71 
562      PREPARATIONS AND  COMPOSITIONS.

Emplastrum Resinosum.   Resinous Plaster.  Adhe-
                     sive Plaster.

  Take of
         Plaster of semi-vitrified oxide of lead,
         Resin of pine, equal Aveights.
  This  plaster rendered  more adhesive, and somewhat
stimulating, by this  intermixture of resin, is used  for
keeping on other dressings, for retaining the edges of
recent Avounds together, when  we are endeavouring to
secure them by the first intention, and  for giving mecha-
nical support to neAV flesh, and contracting the  size of
ulcers in the manner recommended by Mr. Baynton, for
the cure of ulcers of the legs.

Emplastrum Assa Foetida. Plaster of Assa Fozlida.
               Anti-Hysteric Plaster.

  Take of
         Plaster of semi-vitrified oxide ofltcad,
         Gum resin  of assa foetida, each two parts,
         Galbanum,
         Yellow Avax, each one part.
  As an application  to the umbilical region, or over the
Avhole abdomen, in hysteric cases, this plaster has some-
times  produced good effects.   But probably more from
its giving an additional  degree of heat to the part, than
from any influence, derived from the fetid gums.

      Emplastrum  Gummosum.  Gum Plaster.

  Take of
         Plaster of  semi-vitrified oxide  of lead, eight
           parts,
         Ammoniacum,
         Galbanum,
         YelloAV Avax, each one part :—Or,
  The following form is prefered by some for the same
purposes.
  Take of
         Plaster  of  semi-vitrified oxide of lead, three
           pounds,
         Strained galbanum, half a pound,
.v 4 
          PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.       563

         Common turpentine,
         Frankincense, each three ounces.
   Melt the three first articles together, and add the last
 in powder;  stir them well together.
   This plaster is used  as a digestive and  suppurative;
 particularly in abscesses, after a part of the matter  has
 been maturated and discharged, for suppurating or dis-
 cussing the remaining hurt  part;  but it is very» doubtful
 Avhetber it derives any advantage from the gums entering
 its composition.

   Emplastruai Saponaceum,   Saponaceous Plaster.

  Take of
         Plaster of  semi-vitrified oxide of lead, four
           parts,
         Gum plaster, two  parts,
         Soap sliced, one part.
  To the plasters  melted together, add the soap; then
 boil for a little Avhile so as to form a plaster.
   This is likewise supposed to possess a discutient qua-
 lity, but is much inferior to the mercurial plaster, and is
 scarcely ever used.

 Emplastrum Hydrargyri.  Plaster  of  Qiiicksil-ser.
                    Blue Plaster.

   Take of
         Olive oil,
         Resin of pine, each one part,
         Quicksilver, three  parts,
        • Plaster of semi-vitrified oxide of lead, six parts.
  Melt the oil and resin together, and Avhen this mixture
is cold  let the quicksilver   be  rubbed Avith it till the
globules disappear; then add by degrees the plaster of
 semi-vitrified oxide of lead  melted, and let the Avhole be
accurately mixed.
  This  mercurial  plaster is considered  as  a  powerful
resolvent  and  discutient,  acting Avith  much  greater
certaiuty for  these intentions than  any composition of
vegetables  alone.  Pains in the  joints and limbs from a
venereal cause, nodes,  tophi, and  beginning indurations
lire said sometimes to yield to its application.
• 
564       PREPARATIONS AND COMPOSITIONS.


Emplastrum Oxidi Ferri Rubri.   Plaster of Red
        Oxide of Iron.  Strengthening Plaster.

  Take of
         Plaster of semi-vitrificd oxide of lead, twenty-
           four parts,
         Resin of pine, six parts,
         A^ellow wax,
         Olive oil, each three parts,
         Red oxide of iron, eight parts.
  Grind the red oxide of iron Avith the oil, and then add
 it to the other ingredients, previously melted.
  This plaster spread on leather is used as the common
 strengthening plaster in Aveaknesses of the large muscles,
 as of the loins ;  and its  effects seem to proceed from the
 artificial  mechanical support given  to the part, which
 may also  be done by any other plaster that adheres with
 equal firmness. 
APPENDIX.
                       No.  I.


             OF MINERAL WATERS.


 J he  chemical analysis of mineral waters is of conside-
rable importance, as determining the principles in Avhich
their active poAvers reside, and thus enabling the physi-
cian to employ them Avith  more advantage and discrimi-
nation.  Mineral waters include all such fluids as are
naturally impregnated with heterogeneous matter, which
they have dissolved within  the bowels of the earth, whe-
ther sulphureous,  metallic, or saline ;  and as many of
these are successfully employed  in  medicine, they have
received the appellation of medicinal Avaters.   They de-
rive their peculiarity of character in general either from
containing carbonic acid, or soda not neutralized, sulphu-
retted  hydrogen, purging salts, earthy salts, or iron;  or
from their temperature exceeding in  a greater or less de-
gree that of the atmosphere.   These Avaters have also a
specification  depending on  the foreign substances which
they contain.  Waters impregnated  with free carbonic
acid gas sparkle when  draAvn from the spring, or poured
into a glass;  they have a taste more or  less pungent and
acidulous, bat soon  become vapid from exposure to the
air.  Along with the carbonic acid, there generally are
present portions of saline, earthy or  metallic matter,
chiefly  carbonates of  lime, magnesia,  and iron.   The
quantity of carbonic acid contained in the mineral Avaters
is very various.  AVhen highly impregnated Avith carbo-
nic acid gas, they are  grateful from their pungency, sit
light on the  stomach, and  in a large dose produce even
sensibly a degree of exhilaration ; they increase the ap-
petite,  and generally have a diuretic effect.  They prove
useful in dyspeptic affections, from the grateful and mode- 
566
APPENDIX.
 rate stimulus exerted by the carbonic acid on  the  sto-
 mach, aided by the diluent operation of the Avater ;  and
 hence the advantage derived from them in the numerous
 chronic affections connected with impaired poAver of the
 digestive organs.  They generally also contain some sa-
 line substances  Avhich communicate additional powers,
 and the  operation of these is usually promoted,  or  at
 least they are rendered  more grateful by the carbonic
 acid.  Those which contain carbonate of soda, as Seltzer
 Avater, prove more poAverfully diuretic, and are employed
 Avith advantage as palliatives in urinary  calculus, and in
 the painful discharge  of urine from other affections of the
 urinary organs.   Those  waters impregnated  with iron
 are more particularly employed in those diseases in Avhich
 that metal is employed.
   The sulphureous mineral waters owe their distinguish-
 ing character to an impregnation of sulphuretted hydro-
 gen, and they are at  once recognized by their peculiar
 fcetid smell.  They almost uniformly contain saline sub-
 stances Avhich modify  their powers.  From the action of
 the sulphuretted hyrdrogen, they are  employed more par-
 ticularly in cutaneous affections; and from the combined
 action of this and the saline matter which generally has
 a  purgative effect, they are farther used in diseases of
 the digestive organs,  dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, torpor
 of the intestines, and  visceral obstructions; and also in
 scrofulous affections.  They are also applied  locally in
 cutaneous eruptions, and the warm sulphurous baths have
 been in particular celebrated for their efficacy  under this
 form of application.
   The  saline mineral waters comprise those in which,
 Avithout any large proportion of aerial matter, various sa-
 line compounds, generally neutral, exist.  The  salts most
 u.-soally present are sulphates, muriates, and carbonates;
 and the bases Avith which the acids forming  these are
 combined, are soda, magnesia, and lime.   These Avaters
 are usually aperient, the substances Avhich they hold dis-
 solved being either so far as can be determined inert,
 such as the sulphate and carbonate of lime ; or being ca-
thartic, as the greater number of the other compound
 salts.  It has ahvays been remarked  too Avith regard to
them, that their cathartic power is  greater than could
be supposed from the extent of their saline impregnation
as  determined by analysis ; a proof of the influence of
dilution in the  operation  of mineral  waters.   They are 
APPENDIX.
567
 usually employed in diseases, where it is of advantage to
 stimulate the digestive system, the intestinal canal, and
 the secreting organs connected Avith it, or Avhere advan-
 tage is derived from moderate and continued evacuations.
 Hence their celebrity in the treatment of some forms of
 dyspepsia and hypochondriasis, chlorosis, chronic hepa-
 titis, jaundice, and in scrofula.
   AVhen these waters  are impregnated  Avith  carbonic
 acid,  which  they  frequently are, they become  more
 grateful, and sit easier on the stomach. When they have
 an impregnation  of iron, they acquire tonic powers, and
 more efficacy as remedies  in amenorrhcea and the  other
 chronic diseases in Avhich this metal is employed.
   Sea Avater, in strict chemical arrangement,  must be
 regarded as belonging to the class  of saline mineral wa-
 ters, as it holds  dissolved merely various neutral  salts,
 chiefly inuriate of soda and of magnesia, and sulphate of
 soda and magnesia  with a little sulphate of lime.  It
 much exceeds, however, in the extent of impregnation,
 any common mineral Avater.  Its medicinal poAvers are
 similar to  those of the saline mineral waters; from the
 extent of its  saline  impregnation it is more active as a
 cathartic, and this renders it more stimulating than fresh
 water as a bath.
   Chalybeate mineral waters owe their characteristic
 properties chemically and medicinally to an impregna-
 tion of iron.   The oxide of iron is almost uniformly held
 dissolved by carbonic aeid, the acid being usually in ex-
 cess ; in a feAV mineral waters, sulphate of iron is pre-
 sent ; but these are rare, and are in general too active to
 be  Avell adapted to  medicinal use. Chalybeate waters
 have a peculiar styptic taste ; they are  transparent when
 taken from the spring, but Avhen exposed for some time
 to the air, a pellicle forms on the surface, and a quantity
 generally minute of ochrey sediment subsides, the water
 at the same time losing its taste.  This change is accele-
 rated by heat.
  Chalybeate mineral Avaters are remedies of considera-
ble activity and power.   They act as  tonics, increasing
the strength of the system, raising the foree of the circu-
lation, giving  tone to the digestive organs, augmenting
muscular vigour,  and promoting  the excretions. They
are of course employed in those diseases in which iron is
principally  used, amenorrhcea, chlorosis, some states of
menorrhagia, leucorrhcea, dyspepsia, scrofula, and vari- 
56S
APPENDIX.
 ous forms of chronic debility.  And as iron always suc-
 ceeds best when given in small do>es, and  in a state of
 considerable dilution, the chalybeate Avaters  afford the
 best form under which it can be  prescribed, that av liich
 is at once attended with  least irritation, and from which
 the  greatest  benefit is  obtained.  The powers  of these
 waters,  too,  are  often aided by  the presence of  other
 ingredients.  The impregnation  of  carbonic acid,  when
 it is present  in excess,  gives them a grateful stimulant
 quality,  which is exerted on the sto nach;  anil saline
 substances communicate  to them an aperient power.
   It Avould be foreign  to  the object  of  this sketch to
 attempt  a particular history connected with the various
 celebrated mineral springs, so much resorted to on the
 European continent,  but some account of the principles
 and  medicinal properties of those of our  own country
 cannot fail  of being acceptable, since the most  serious
 consequences  frequently result  from an  indiscriminate
 employment of these Avaters.
   The Ballston Mineral Waters  are those most celebrat-
 ed in the United States, and the following is the result of
 their analysis, by an eminent French chemist.

   1. Carbonic acid, three times its volume.
   2. Muiiate of soda,                      31  grains.
   o. Super.saturated carbonate of chalk,    22  grains.
   4. Muriate of magnesia,                 12{ grains.
   5. Muriate of chalk,                       5 grains.
   6. Carbonate of iron,                     4  grains.

   To the preceding analysis, published in  an excellent
 periodical Avork, the American Medical and Philosophi-
 cal Register,  Professor Hosack,  of New York, has sub-
joined  some valuable '•' Observations on the use of the
 Ballston mineral waters in various diseases."
   " The Ballston Avaters  have been long known to yield a
 great quantity of fixed air, and to hold in solution a large
 portion  of iron.   By the analysis refered to,  it appears
 that they yield a much larger proportion of fixed air, and
 that they contain a greater quantity of iron, than any
 other mineral Avater that has hitherto  been discovered,
 not excepting  that of Vichy, one of the strongest cha-
 lybeate  waters in Europe.   But it  appears,  that they
 also contain another substance, viz. the muriate of lime,
 which, with the other ingredients Avith  Avhich it is asso-
ciated, promises to he of great and extensive utility. 
APPENDIX.
569
  «AVe are accordingly from this analysis induced  to
ascribe more virtues to  the  Ballston waters than physi-
cians have generally believed them to possess.  Althougb
much is due to exercise, change of air, and an agreeable
occupation of the mind, Avhieh the amusements of water-
ing places usually afford, I have no doubt, from the sensi-
ble effects produced upon the system by the Avaters them-
selves, that they also are productive of great good  in a
variety of diseases, some of which I shall iioav  briefly
enumerate.
  " 1st. From the  effects of the Ballston  waters,  as a
strong chalybeate, they may be employed with advantage
in most diseases of debility, whether directly or indirectly
such.   But in those complaints Avhich are  attended  with
an  increased excitement of the  Avhole system, or  with
local inflammation they are manifestly prejudicial.  These
principles are deducible from the qualities of the  Avaters
alone; but they are also confirmed by the experience and
observation  of physicians who  have attended to their
operation.
  "Accordingly in  intermittent fever, dropsy, dyspepsia.
hypochondriasis,  and hysteria,  connected  with, or  pro-
ceeding from debility of the digestive organs; in paraly-
sis, chronic rheumatism, gout in its chronic state, chloro-
sis, fluor albus ; in suppression of the menses when arising
from w eakness, in Avorms, and in other diseases of debility,
whether of the intestinal canal, or of the  whole system,
the Ballston Avaters  have been long and justly celebrated.
On the other hand,  in a plethoric state of  the system  as
in pregnancy, in consumption of  the lungs, inflammation
of the liver, acute rheumatism, dysenterij,  and other dis-
eases of an inflammatory nature, in Avhich  they are often
times resorted  to, they invariably do injury.  AVe may,
perhaps, except from this remark a species of consumption
Avhich arises in females about the time of puberty,  iu
which, from Avant of energy in the system, menstruation
does not take place at the period in whicii it usually ap-
pears; dyspepsia ensues, folloAved with general irritation
of the nervous system, pain in the breast, cough, some-
times hpemerrhage from the lungs, and ultimately termi-
nating in confirmed consumption.  These consequences
have frequently been prevented by a course of iron, and
vegetable tonics, aided  by generous diet, and exercise,
especially riding  on horseback.  Under similar circum-
stances I have no doubt that the Ballston waters ma a  be 
570
APPENDIX.
serviceable  in  this species of phthisis in its incipient
state; but they should never be employed in diseases of
this nature, without the advice of a physician.
  " 2d. From  the  saline impregnation of these waters,
and their operation upon the urinary organs as Avell as by
perspiration, they are indicated in diseases of the kidneys
and Madder, in gout, chronic  rheumatism, and eruptions
upon  the skin, all Avhich diseases are most frequently
produced by, or connected Avith a morbid condition of the
fluids, and an impaired state of the secretions.  In these
complaints, I  have repeatedly prescribed  these waters
with the best effects.
  " But according  to the foregoing analysis, they contain
an ingredient of great value besides those already enume-
rated; I mean the muriate of lime.   It appears upon the
authority of Dr. Beddoes, Dr. R. Pearson, Dr. Wood,
and Dr. Schraud of Vienna, that this substance has lately
been discovered to  be a remedy for scrofula, Avhieh hi-
therto has been the opprobrium of our profession.  It is
true,  cases have been recorded by Russell and others of
the cure of this disorder  by the  use of sea Avater.  But
as it has been  ascertained by  chemists, that the muriate
of lime enters into the composition of sea Avater, it is very
possible that much  of the efficacy of the latter, in that
disease, may be derived from the muriate of lime which it
has been found to contain.
  " But as scrofula is usually attended Avith a general de-
bility of the system, as  Avell as a morbid condition of the
fluids, the Ballston waters will probably be found pecu-
liarly serviceable, inasmuch as they possess the means of
invigorating the system, at the same  time that they  con-
tain the antidote to  the peculiar virus of that disease.
  " But to obtain the benefits of the Ballston waters in
any of the diseases  Avhich have been  noticed, it is neces-
sary that in the use of them, as it regards  the time of
taking them, the quantity taken, the stage of the disease,
and other circumstances Avhich must govern their exhibi-
tion, the  directions of the physician arc indispensably
necessary.   As Avell might the patient make use of any
other article of the Materia  Aledica Avithout medical
advice, as drink these Avaters  in  the  manner in Avhich
they arc usually taken.   It is  but a short time  since,  a
very valuable life Avas destroyed by the imprudent use of
them  during a state of pregnancy.   A few days ago  I
Avas consulted by two gentlemen who had left the springs 
APPENDIX.
571
 much worse than they had gone to them. The one labor-
 ed under  dyspepsia, attended with  habitual costiveness.
 Neglecting to relieve his bowels, he commenced the use
 of the Avaters; the consequences Avere, an aggravation of
 bis disease, followed with fever, acute pain in the head,
 and other symptoms of general excitement.   The other
 person refered to, had come from Airginia, on  account
 of an obstinate chronic diarrhoea,  attended Avith great
 debility, and general emaciation.  Without advice he im-
 mediately began  to drink the waters to the quantity of
 several quarts daily.  The  consequences may readily be
 imagined; an increase of his disease, and  a  degree of
 debility from which he Avith difficulty recovered."


 OF  THE  WATERS OP  STAFFORD SPRING IN
         THE  STATE OF CONNECTICUT.

   The Avaters of Stafford spring have been subjected to a
 partial analysis by the late Dr. Samuel Willard.
   Though far  from being complete,  for the Avant of
 proper  agents  or tests,  the results of his  experiments
 favor the conclusion, 1st.  That  "iron is the  prevailing
 ingredient in the water,—that it is held in solution by the
 carbonic acid,—that when the water is exposed to the
 action of the atmospheric air, or is acted on  by heat, the
 acid is extricated,  and the iron precipitated,—the purple
 colour struck by the vegetable astringents, and by distill-
 ed spirits—the precipitate produced  by the caustic fixed
 alkali, and the blue tinge communicated to the  water, by
 calcareous and alkaline prussiates all indicate the presence
 of iron.
  2d. That the water is also impregnated Avith the  sul-
 phuretted hydrogenous gas, its sulphureous smell, its pos-
 sessing the property of blackening silver, and its receiv-
 ing a green tinge from the admixture of vegetable purple
juices, may be considered as proofs.
  3d.  That the water contains aluminous and magncsian
 earth, its effects on soap, its effervescing with the sulphu-
 ric acid, when deposited as a sediment, and the nevv com-
bination which takes place on the admixture of that acid,
induce a belief of this fact." 
572
APPENDIX.
A  SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE ARTIFICIAL MINE.
    RAL WATERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
              Taken from Conversations on Chemistry.
   The extensive utility of many  of the natural mineral
waters  has  been long established by the  experience of
mankind, and  sanctioned  by the  opinions of  the  first
medical practitioners of every enlightened country.
   The  accurate analysis of all the most important and
celebrated mineral Avaters has been accomplished by men
competent to the task; and we are thus informed not only
concerning the nature, but the proportion  of the ingredi-
ents wliich they contain. They are either solid substances
such  as Avater can dissolve, or gases, capable of being
combined Avith this fluid.   To both of these the mineral
Avaters OAve their  medicinal powers, and to the latter
alone,  and  chiefly  to  the  carbonic acid,  their peculiar
activity, briskness, and pungency.
   In the manufacture of artificial mineral  Avaters, the
Original water is perfectly imitated, by the addition of all
the ingredients in the proper proportions; and the gas,
by a peculiar and very powerful apparatus is afterwards
forced in, till the Avaters  acquire a degree of briskness
 and  activity far surpassing any  thing Avhich they ever
 exhibit in nature.
   The impression, entertained by some,  that  a perfect
 imitation of the native mineral Avaters is impossible, is
 therefore equally contrary to the  decisions of good sense,
 as it is repugnant to experience;  for in London, in Paris,
 and in many other great towns, artificial  mineral Avaters
 are thus fabricated; and used to  great extent.
    In the artificial waters, Ave  always have  it in our
 power to  leave out noxious, or  useless ingredients; to
 substitute others, and to vary the proportions at pleasure.
 Every species of mineral waters  whatever can be pre-
 pared  by  art;  but the principal ones that have been
 attempted in this country, are the Ballston, Soda, and the
 Seltzer Avaters.

                BALLSTON WATER.

    The Ballston  water  is  Avell  known  in  the United
 States as a gentle cathartic ; an active diuretic; a remedy
 against gravelly complaints; a tonic to the stomach, and
 generally to the system; not to mention its efficacy against 
APPENDIX.
573
rheumatic and cutaneous complaints, when applid exter-
nally, as Avell as internally. It remains to !>.>, added only,
that the artificial Ballston Avater is found by experience
to produce the effects of the natural water;  it is, how-
ever,  more  powerful,  and therefore  an equal quantity
produces more marked effects.

                   SODA WATER.
   The  Soda is  not an exact imitation of any natural
water, but has been directed by medical men as a remedy
in a number of common and troublesome complaints.  It
is ordered in the Pharmacopoeias and Dispensatories, and
their prescriptions should be followed  in this manufac-
ture.  It is a complete remedy against  sourness of the
stomach, commonly called heartburn, and in most cases
of indigestion and weakness of the stomach if is very use-
ful ; gradually restoring the appetite, and with it the tone
of the organ. It is a preventative of many of the diseases
of the stomach and boAvels, Avhich proceed from acidity,
 and for the same reason it often removes or prevents the
 sick headach.  As a palliative,  and even a  remedy, in
 some cases of urinary calculi and gravelly complaints, it
 is preferable to the Ballston Avater.  It may prevent,
 arrest, retard, or remove the complaint, according to cir-
 cumstances.
   The Soda Avater is also a very refreshing, and to most
 persons a very grateful drink, especially after heat and
 fatigue, and  may  be made a complete  substitute for the
 beverages of which ardent spirits form a part. AVith wine
 and sugar it is very grateful.

                 SELTZER WATER.
    The Seltzer  Avater has long been known, and is one
 of the most famous of the natural mineral Avaters of Eu-
  rope.  On account of its agreeable taste and exhilarating
 effects, it is largely used at table, and as a beverage  at all
 hours.   It is a  diuretic, and possesses considerable effi-
 cacy in nephritic and urinary complaints. It is very use-
  ful against bilious and dyspeptic affections, and in many
 cases of cutaneous eruptions.  It possesses a peculiar
  power of allaying feverish irritation, and has done much
  service in  sio\v hectic fevers.  It  mixes Avell Avith milk,
  and is thus used Avith advantage by hectic patients.  It is
  used also Avith sugar and Avine.
     The manufacture of mineral waters upon correct
  chemical principles, Avas undertaken in New Haven, Con- 
574
APPENDIX.
 iiecticut, about three years  ago ; and  during the last
 summer, a public establishment for this purpose Yvas
 opened in the same town, under the direction of Professor
 Silliman.  An establishment of the same kind, aud under
 the same direction, was  effected in New York in April of
 this year (1809) by Noyes, Darling, and Co. Fountains
 of Ballston, Soda, and Seltzer waters were opened in tee
 bar of the Tontine  Coffee House. The cisterns are placed
 in the cellar,  and the waters are conveyed into the bar in
 block-tin tubes, which  pass  up  into mahogany pillars,
 croAvned Avith  gilt  urns, lettered Avith the names of the
 rcspecthe Avaters.   The pillars, with their urns, stand a
 foot apart, and the  middle one is raised above the others;
 silver stop-cocks inserted into the sides of the pillars,
 give  the whole much neatness and richness  of appear-
 ance.
   The proprietors of this establishment intend, as wc
 understand, to open fountains at the City  Hotel, in the
 month  of May, in  a spacious room, fitted up and orna-
 mented in a handsome style, and adapted to the accom-
 modation of ladies as well as gentlemen.
   The Ballston and Seltzer Avaters are prepared accord-
 ing to an accurate analysis; and in order to give the Soda
 Avater its proper efficacy, it is made Avith the full pro-
 portion  of  soda directed by the Dispensatories.  The
 waters  are  bottled for  exportation, in  any quantity de-
 manded.
   Soda water has been made  in  NeAV York by Air.
 LTsher, for a year or more, and has had a  good reputation
 and an extensive sale.  It has been sold from a fountain,
 and in stone bottles.  We understand that he is  about to
extend his establishment.  There have  been, for some
 time, manufactories of mineral Avaters in  the city of Phi-
 ladelphia, and Ave are  informed that these  waters  have
 been extensively used.

   To the preceding statement it remains  to be added,
that a public establishment of a similar nature has been
introduced into the  town  of Boston by Mr. John P. Whit-
will.  The Soda and other Avaters Avhich  he manufac-
tures have acquired considerable  reputation, and proved
extremely salutary  and useful.  From the  great atten-
tion and  exertions of the proprietor, very satisfactory and
beneficial effects have been derived, and the  utility of his
undertaking is becoming more and  more extensive and
important. 
No. II.
          MEDICAL  PRESCRIPTIONS.

The  principal objects designed to be attained by the
composition of medicines, are, to communicate an agree-
able taste or flavour; to give a convenient form; to cor-
rect the operation of the principal medicine, or obviate
some unpleasant symptom  it  is liable to produce; to
promote its action, by the additional article exerting one
of a similar kind; to obtain the joint operation of tAvo
remedies, having different powers; or to alter their usual
effects, by the power which one may have of modifying
the action of another.
  A prescription has been usually divided into four parts,
which  compose  it,—the basis, or principal article; the
adjuvans, or  that designed to promote the action of the
former;  the corrigens, or that Avhich is intended to cor-
rect its operation, or obviate  any  unpleasant  symptom
Avhich it  may  be apt to produee; and the constituens, or
that which gives to the other ingredients consistence or
form.  These are not necessarily  present in every for-
mula;  nor is the division of much importance, "except as
perhaps affording the best principle for regulating the
order in  Avhich  the ingredients of a prescription should
be enumerated.
  The folioAving are the principal circumstanees to be
attended  to in  forming a prescription.
  1st,  Simplicity should be attained, as far as is consist-
ent with the objects of the prescription.  Nothing ought
to enter into the composition Avhich does not add  to its
virtue, render it less ungrateful, give it a convenient
form, or which is not necessary to conceal any particular
ingredient; and, in general, the practice of accumulating
a number of articles in one prescription is to  be avoided.
  2dly, Substances, it is  evident, ought not to be mixed
together, which are capable of entering into  chemical
combination, or of decomposing each other,  unless it be
Avith the view  of obtaining the  product of the  combina-
tion, or decomposition, as a remedy. 
576
APPENDIX.
  3dly, Those mixtures are also to be avoided, in Avhich
one medicine, by its peculiar action  on the stomach or
general system, modifies and changes the  action usually
exerted by another, unless Avhere the object is to obtain
the effects of that modified operation.
  4thly, The error of contra-indication is to be guarded
against, or those  medicines ought not to be combined, the
virtues of which are not merely different, but are, in
some measure, opposed to each other.
  5thly, The ingredients Avhich are to be mixed, must be
such as will mix  properly together, so that the form in
which the remedy  is designed to  be exhibited, may be
easily obtained and preserved.
  Lastly, The form under Avhich a medicine is prescribed,
must be adapted to  certain circumstances; principally to
the nature of the disease, the nature of the remedy itself,
and, as far as may be possible, to the taste of the patient.
  The doses of medicines are not reducible to any gene-
ral rules, from their general similarity of operation, or
any other circumstance.  The principal circumstances
by which they are influenced are,  Age, Sex,  Tempera-
ment, Idiosyncrasy, Habit, and Disease.
  Age.....From infancy to manhood, a larger dose of any
medicine is requisite to produce its  effect, in proportion
to the advance in life.  From manhood to old  age, there
is a similar gradation with regard to diminution of dose,
though in a much less proportion than that which regu-
lates the increase.  The following table has been suppos-
ed to shew these  proportions.

                       TABLE.

Let the dose for a person of middle age be .... 1 or 1 drachm.
For one from xiv to xxi years, it will be......  ■§- or 2 scruples.
.................. vii to xiv,.................................  -§- or half a dr.
.................. iv to vii, ................................... -j or 1 scruple.
............. of iv years of age,....................... \ or 15 grains.
..................iii ......................................... \ or half a scr.
................., ii .......................................  | or 8 grains.
.................. i  ..........................................  y1^ or 5 grains.

  Sex.....AVornen, in general, require  smaller doses of
any medicine  than  men. a difference probably owing to
their greater sensibility from their habits of life.
  Temperament.....Those of the sanguine  temperament
are supposed to be  more affected Ly medicines, and there- 
APPENDIX.
577
fore to require smaller doses than those of the phlegma-
tic or melancholic; but in what has been said on^this
subject, there is so much uncertainty, that little reliance
can be placed on it.
  Idiosyncrasy.....This denotes that disposition in indi-
viduals  to  be affected by  certain causes, in a manner
different from the generality of mankind.  Such idiosyn-
crasies are observed Avith regard to medicines, as well as
to other agents; and, where they are known, require to
be attended to by the prcseriber.
  Habit.....This  has an important influence on the ope-
ration of medicines.   In general, they lose some of their
power by having been long continued.   This is particu-
larly the case Avith all strong stimulants and narcotics,
and is even observed,  to a certain extent, in some of the
other classes of the Materia Medica. In a few instances,
the reverse has been supposed to hold true.
  Disease.....This has an influence on the doses of medi-
cines not less important;  the  susceptibility to  external
impressions, and to action, being much  varied in morbid
affections, and the  operations of remedies of course being
modified by such variations.  The state of susceptibility
being in general apparent, Avhen  it v.c-ies much  from the
healthy standard,  the doses of the  medicines  adminis-
tered are easily regulated.                   Murray.
73 
No.  III.
ON  THE  NATURE AND MEDICINAL  USES  OF

                   THE  GASES.


  BY A FELLOAV OF THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAl SOCIETY.

 J. he  term  gas,  introduced  into the nomenclature of
chemistry, by Van Helmont, is synonymous Avith air, and
applied to a class of bodies, invisible, highly attenuated,
compressible, and permanently clastie at the common
temperature of the  atmosphere, and the lightest of sub-
stances, whose specific  Aveight is  susceptible of demon-
stration.
  Every species of gas owes its form to the caloric Avitli
which it is combined.  By the introduction of this agent^,
the particles which constitute the basis of the air, arc
made to recede to a greater distance  from  each other,
cohesive attraction is destroyed, and a repulsive power is
acquired, iu consequence of which, they would fly  off to
an  indefinite distance,  were it not  counteracted  by a
proportional  external  pressure.   By the  abstraction
of  caloric  to  a certain  degree,  the  distance between
the particles of the air or gas is diminished, they are
still capable  of  moving  freely  over  the  surfaces of
each other, although  cohesive  attraction   be so far
augmented  as  to  constitute them liquids.   Hence, as
the  airs obviously owe their specific forms merely to
the  quantity of  caloric  with  which they  are united,
it has been  infered by  chemists, that they are formed
by the solution of certain  unknown bases in heat.   For
example,  the term oxygen  is  applied  to a  substance
of peculiar properties, which, by its union Avith caloric, is
rendered capable  of assuming  the form of an invisible,
inodorous, insipid, permanently elastic, and compressible
fluid, denominated oxygen gas.   AVhen this air or gas ex-
erts an attraction for other substances, and enters into 
APPENDIX^
579
combination with their particles, the oxygen, or the base
alone, is the subject of the  change, and the other princi-
ple, the  calorie,  is evolved  or becomes sensible.  Hence
the  origin of the heat during the transition  of oxygen
from the aeriform to the solid state.  The same observa-
tions are equally applicable to  the other species of gases.
By the diminution of the capacity of an air for caloric,
even Avithout altering its form, by simple compression, a
quantity of heat may be evolved, sufficient to produce, by
a peculiar arrangement, the ordinary effects of combus-
tion.  Of the precise nature of the bases of the different
gases, Ave are  still  ignorant, for no  attempts  to obtain
them independent of their combinations, have yet proved
successful.
  The difference betAveen ^gas and vapour is the property,
possessed by the  former, of remaining permanently elas-
tic (vvitji the single exception of the oxygenized muriatic
acid gas*) at  the  common temperatures of the atmos-
phere, while the latter, though it retain its elasticity for
a time, is ultimately condensed, and restored to the state
4f a liquid.
  The  gases are susceptible of their peculiar form at
very Ioav temperatures, for the  abstraction of caloric to
the greatest extent observed in nature, or produced by
art, has never been sufficient to deprive them  of their
elasticity,  and reduce them to  the state of liquids, or of
solids :  on the contrary, in the formation of vapour, the
temperature of the liquid is augmented above that of the
surrounding air,  it rises in the atmosphere, where its ca-
loric, from its repellent poAver or tendency to equilibrium
when accumulated in a body, is gradually abstracted, its
particles again approximate tOAvard  each other, and it
Tcassumes the form  of liquid.  Hence,, says Mr. Murray,

  * Gaseous ammonia is another exception to the general ob-
servation, that the  airs are incapable of undergoing a change of
form by a reduction of temperature.   This abstraction of heat,
however, mast be great, and is to be effected by art.  Accord-
ing to the experiments of Ckiyton, ammonia retains its elastic
form at any temperature above 56*% but below thai point it is
converted into a liquid, an effect ascribed by Mr. Murray, to
the  presence of water, with  a portion of which, that gas is
always found strongly combined.  It rcassumes the a-erial form
as the temperature rre?. 
580
APPENDIX.
" the distinction betAveen gas and vapour is merely rcla-
tive, and  arises from  the difference of temperature, at
Which they Avere formed."*
  In the enumeration of the different  species of the  qx-
tensive genus of gases, Ave shall confine ourselves to  the
description of the properties of those, Avhich, in conse-
quence of their peculiar  action  on  the nervous  system,
and their well known influence in exciting or depressing
the vital poAvers, have been lately introduced as a distinct
class of remedies, into the Materia Medica.  The obser-
vations  of Lavoisier,  confirmed by the  more extensive
and hazardous experiments of Mr. Davy, have sufficiently
demonstrated, Avhich indeed was thought probable a pri-
ori, that the different species of airs, when taken into the
lungs, produce very powerful effects on animal life. The
respiration of some of them is  accompanied with all the
effects of increased  excitement.  The pulsations of the
heart and arteries are accelerated, respiration is hurried,
the brain labours Avith intense thought, new ideas and
images present themselves to the imagination, and produce
neAV combinations and  associations, a propensity to mus
cular motion, almost irresistible, is excited, and the whole
frame glows Avith  a sense of "pleasurable  existence."!
The breathing of others,  on the contrary, is folloAved by
vertigo and sickness, the senses grow less acute, a painful
sensation  of stricture across the chest is  produced, respi-
ration becomes  irregular and  laborious, aud the pulsa-
tions of the heart almost imperceptible, the wish and even
the power of muscular motion is for a time extinguished,
and the vital powers of the system  slowly recover from
the almost annihilating influence of these invisible agents.
Hence it is obvious,  that the airs are capable of acting as
remedies  in tAvo Avays, either by exalting or by depressing
the vital poAvers of  the  constitution.  Of the first class
there exist but two species, oxygen gas and nitrous oxide
gas.
  1. Oxygen Gas.
  This gas,  generally obtained from the black  oxide of
manganese by the application of heat, is an invisible, ino-
dorous, insipid, permanently elastic fluid, rather heavier
(ban atmospheric air, and  characterized by the  property

  * Murray's Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 10.
  f Davy's Researches. 
APPENDIX.
581
of eminently supporting the processes of respiration and
combustion.  As the capacity of atmospheric air to con-
tinue these actions has been sufficiently demonstrated to
depend  on the oxygen it contains, it was reasonable to
suppose, that, ay hen respired pure and undiluted, it Avould
have no inconsiderable influence  in increasing the acti-
vity of the vital  poAvers.   The experiments, however, of
Air. Davy prove that this stimulant effect is not so posi-
tive'as  might  be infered, for on breathing from and into
a bag containing twenty quarts of oxygen gas, nearly six
minutes, the only deviation from his usual standard of
health,  perceptible,  Avas* an  increased hardness of the
pulse, and an oppression at the chest analogous to that
arising from the want of fresh air.*  It is probable that
during the respiration of this air the system is excited,
partly by a stimulating quality imparted to the blood, and
partly by  the more direct application of the stimulant to
the nervous expansions on the membranes of the lungs.
The diseases, in whicii oxygen gas has been administered
medicinally, are those of a chronic nature, Avhere the va-
rious functions of the system are languid and debilitated.
In these it has been respired  always more or less diluted
Avith atmospheric air, in the quantity of from  one to two
quarts  daily, according  to the  effects produced by its
inhalation.f
  2. Nitrous Oxide Gas.
  This interesting compound, the effects of Avhich on the
human  system Avere first discovered by Mr. Davy, is
formed  by the union of thirty-seven parts of oxygen and
sixty-three of  nitrogen.   It is a  product of art, and is
obtained in the greatest purity by the  deeomposition of
the nitrate of ammonia by heat.   The  degree of tempe-
rature must be regulated by the texture of the salt. In
order to obtain it Avith ease from the compact nitrate, the
temperature should be preserved  between the 340° and
480° Fahrenheit; the decomposition of the fibrous ni-
trate  is effected betAveen 400° and 450p.  The products
of this distillation are water and nitrous oxide gas.   The
theory of  the  formation of these substances is obvious.
The hydrogen of the ammonia combines with a portion
of the oxygen of the nitric aeid, and forms water, while
the remaining oxygen unites with the  residnal nitrogen

  * Researches, p. 474.
  + Murrav. Mat. Med. vol. ii. p. 286—7. 
£82
APPENDIX.
 both of the ammonia and acid, and produces the nitrous
 oxide, Avhich passes over into the receiver in the form of
 gas, carrying  Avith it a portion of the  salt which may
 have escaped decomposition, from which it may be freed
 by standing a short time in contact Avith water.
   The effects on the system, resulting from the respira-
 tion of this gas, are very remarkable, and are amply de-
 tailed in the " Researches" of Mr. Davy.  It operates like
 a very povverful and general •stimulus on the vital powers;
 Objects appear to the subject under its influence magnifi.
 ed and of a dazzling lustre. The sense of hearing is often
 painfully acute; the Avhole frame glows Avith a conscious-
 ness of pleasurable sensation. If the inhalation be con-
 tinued the patient nearly  loses all connection with the
 objects Avhich surround  him; he gradually passes into a
 state of delirium,  when the various faculties of the mind
 act with unknown and uncontrollable energy; respiration
 is hurried, the pulse is  accelerated, and an irresistible
 propensity to muscular motion is evinced, which exhausts
 itself in  laughing,  stamping, exclamations of joy, and
 walking.   These effects continue for a few minutes, and
 at length gradually subside, though the impression on
 the system often  gives  a charm to existence for many
 hours.  Unlike the operation of other stimuli, the respi-
 ration of the  nitrous oxide gas is unattended by any
 exhaustion or debility of the  vital powers, and although
 the stimulation have perhaps amounted to a degree, be-
 yond Avhich the functions of the body might remain per-
 manently impaired, it passes off almost insensibly, and
 leaves no  unpleasant traces  of its powers. " A substance
 capable of acting in such a  manner, we might suppose,
 would prove one of our most valuable  remedies.  The
 transient nature of its operation must undoubtedly limit
 its medicinal efficacy, but still in diseases of extreme de-
 bility Ave seem  justified in expecting from its exhibition
4he most beneficial effects.   The dose which is necessary
 to produce its peculiar effects varies from  four to  nine
 quarts, which may be breathed pure  or  diluted Avith at-
 mospheric air.   It cannot be breathed for more than four
 minutes and a half, insensibility being induced/'*
  The gases inimical to animal existence constitute a
 much more extensive class than the preceding, and appear
to be destructive of life,  either by simply excluding oxy-

        * Murray's Mat. Med. vol. ii. p. 288—9. 
APPENDIX.
583
gen from the lungs, or  by some positive action on the
nervous system.  All  the airs, Avith  the  exception  of
oxygen and  nitrous oxide, may be supposed to produce
their effects in one of these modes.  The administration,
however, of these has been confined to hydrogen, nitro-
gen, carbonic acid, and carburetted hydrogen gases; the
tAvo first of which are negative, and the tAvo last positive,
with regard to their action on the human system.
  1. Hydrogen gas.
  For the purposes of respiration this gas should always
be procured by the decomposition of Avater transmitted
in vapour over the surface of ignited iron.  " In a pure
state, if the lungs have been previously emptied as  much
as possible  of  atmospheric air,  it cannot be  breathed
above three quarters of a minute.  It quickly occasions
a giddiness  and sense of suffocation;  the  countenance
becomes livid,  and the pulse sinks  rapidly; but,  Avhen
diluted Avith "cwo thirds or an equal bulk of atmospheric
air, it can be safely breathed;  nor does it appear to pro-
duce any very important effect.  It occasions some dimi-
nution of muscular power and sensibility, and of the force
of circulation.   It has been used in catarrh, haemoptysis,
and phthisis, but its powers seem merely those of  a pal-
liative."*   Hence it may be infered that hydrogen, Iik6
nitrogen gas, operates only by the exclusion of oxygen,
and not by  any positive influence on the nervous system.
  3.  Carbonic acid gas.
  This aerial fluid has acquired  some celebrity in medi-
cine, and has often  been administered by respiration;  by
the introduction of substances into the stomach from
Avhich it is easily disengaged; and as an  antiseptie in
eases  of topical gangrene.  It  may  be obtained with
facility, and in a state of purity by the exposure of car-
 bonate  of lime to a strong red heat in an iron tube, and
collecting the gas  over  water.  By the experiments of
 Mr.  Davy,  it appears  to produce an acid taste  in  the
 mouth and  fauces, and a sense of burning at the  top of
 the uvula^  AVhen arrived to the upper  part of the tra-
 ehea, it is instantly stimulated to such a degree as to
 excite a spasmodic" constriction of the glottis, and render
 it incapable of transmitting a particle of the air into  the
 lungs.  The same effects are produced even when diluted
 with an equal bulk of atmospheric  air.  But  Avhen  the
* Murray's Mat. Med. 
&84
APPENDIX.
 proportion of the tAvo gases is about three quarts of car-
 bonic acid to nine  of atmospheric air, the mixture may
 be breathed for a short time Avith impunity.  The symp-
 toms resulting from its respiration in this Avay. are those
 of a weak sedative, producing a slight degree of giddi-
 ness, and an inclination to sleep.  The effects, IiOAVever,
 are temporary, and rapidly disappear after ceasing to
 breath the air.
   This gas has been highly recommended in the cure of
 diseases of increased  excitement, particularly phthisis
 pulmonalis;  and patients have even been  persuaded  to
 visit daily, and even to reside in those places, particularly
 brewhouses, in which there is a constant copious pro-
 duction of this depressing power.  There are few eases
 on record, in  which it has done  more than act like an
 anodyne to diminish sensibility, and thus smooth the path
 to the grave.
   This substance has perhaps proved more permanently
 useful as a  local  application to  phagedenic ulcers and
 incipient gangrene, conycyed  to  the part  through  the
 fermenting poultice, from Avhich it is  extricated, or by
 means of a flexible tube, in its pure uncombined state.
   4. Carburetted Hydrogen Gas.
   This is undoubtedly the most  deleterious of all the
 gases Avhich have been employed to diminish the morbid
 actions of the animal system.  It is usually prepared hy
 passing the vapour of Avater over the surface of charcoal,
 heated to ignition in an iron  tube.  The fluid is decom-
 posed ; its oxygen enters into combination with a portion
 of the carbon, and produces carbonic acid, Avhile the hy-
 drogen thus liberated unites with the remaining carbon.
 forms carburetted hydrogen gas, Avhich, mixed with the
 other aerial product, passes over into the receiver, and is
 freed from the latter by agitation  over lime Avater.   Re-
 spired in a diluted state, it produces very alarming ef-
 fects on the vital powers, and Avhen pure almost immedi-
 ate death.  The rashness of Air. Davy, in attempting its
 respiration, had neaiiy cost him his life.   AVjien diluted
 Avith atmospheric air, in the proportion of three quarts of
 the former to two of the latter, its inhalation Avas folloAV-
 cd by a slight  giddiness, pain in the head, and momen-
 tary loss of muscular poAver,  attended  by a quick  and
feeble pulse.    AViien pure, however,  the  effects avc re
 much more positive and  alarming.  "After a forced ex-
 haustion of my lungs," says Mr. Davy, «I made three 
APPENDIX.
585
 inspirations and expirations of the hydro-earbonatc. The
 first inspiration produced a sort of numbness and loss of
 feeling in the chest, and  about  the pectoral  muscles.
 After the second inspiration, I lost all power of perceiv-
 ing external things, and had no distinct sensation, except
 a terrible oppression on the chest.  During the third ex-
 pi. lion this feeling disappeared.  I seemed sinking into
 annihilation, and bad just power to drop the mouth pieee
 from  my  unclosed lips."—"Putting my finger on my
 Avrist, I found my pulse thread-like, and  beating with
 excessive quickness."  The system was a  long time in
 recovering from the  effects of this experiment.  From
 the action of this gas on his nervous system, it was infer-
 ed by Mr. Davy, that its operation is directly  sedative,
 or productive of a diminution of vital powers and debility,
 without previous excitement.
   The medicinal effects of this  air  are most obvious in
 phthisis pulmonalis,  and it  is to this disease, that its ad-
 ministration has in general  been directed.   According to
 the experiments of Dr. Beddoes, it has in many cases
 relieved the symptoms and suspended the  disease.  Its
 respiration, however, must be regulated with caution.
 The gas should at first be highly diluted, and its strength
 gradually increased, in proportion as the system becomes
 accustomed to its  action.   The  quantity to be respired
 should vary from one to four quarts a day.

   [The practice  of pneumatic medicine Avas at no very
 distant period  advocated by European physicians of the
 most respectable rank.  Drs. Priestley, Percival,  AVith-
__ ering, and Beddoes Avere those, Avho reported in favour of
 the efficacy of both the carbonic acid gas, and carburetted
 hydrogen gas,  in that fatal  disease phthisis pulmonalis.
 In some instances, permanent cures were effected by their
 use. and in numerous others the hectic fever Avas greatly
 diminished, and  the  matter expectorated rendered less
 offensive and  better digested.  By some the aerial fluid,
 when  administered, Avas mixed with atmospheric air, by
 others, the patients were directed to inspire the  gas from
 an effervescing mixture of chalk and vinegar, or vinegar
 and potass, from Avhich much relief was constantly expe-
 rienced.  The same mode of treatment has been adopted
 by Dr. Jonathan Leonard,  of Sandwich, in this state, a
 man of experience and correct observation, who affirms
 that, in five patients  with ulcerated lungs, he persevered 
586
APPENDIX.
in the use of the capbonic acid gas until perfect cures wcrt
effected, and in no instance of trial has it ever failed in
his hands.  The patients exhibited unequivocal marks of
phthisis pulmonalis, some had hectic  fever, and  all were
afflicted with that description of symptoms, which in com-
mon practice we are accustomed to consider as desperate.
He  asserts that the carbonic acid gas reduces the fre-
quency of the pulse with as much certainty as the digitalis,
and that it speedily produces a copious expectoration, not
uiifrequently a nausea and some vomiting, and ultimately
the appetite is in  some measure  impaired.  In one case,
there Avas no expectoration of pus after commencing the
process of inhaling the gas, though previous to it the pu-
rulent discharge was great, and the patient vvas evidently
hectical.  During the  course he prescribed only some
demulcent expectorants, to Avhich no part of the cure  is
to be ascribed.   The gas is administered by a very simple
process; a quantity of carbonate of lime (chalk or mar-
hie)  coarsely powdered, is  put into a common bottle.
Sulphuric acid diluted to the strength of about five or six
parts of water to one of the acid being poured upon the
carbonate, the gas is instantly extricated, and the patient
inhales  it through a small tube  or quill passing through
the cork.   A sensation of pain and heat, about the uvula
and glottis, is induced  by the gas, but it is in general
found practicable to continue the inspiration about fifteen
or tAventy minutes each time, and the  operation is repeat-
ed three or four times in twenty-four hours.   The prac-
tice is often persevered in for several weeks, and some
patients have expended one or two pounds «f the sulphu-
ric acid.] 
No. IT.
             MEDICAL ELECTRICITY.


 The application of this subtle fluid to medicinal pur-
 poses, was thought of, soon after the  discovery of the
 electric shock.  At the first introduction of electricity as
 a remedy, it was very highly celebrated  for its efficacy in
 a number of diseases; and after various turns of reputa-
 tion, its medical virtues seem noAV to be pretty well esta-
 blished.
  The medicinal operation of electricity may be refered
 to its stimulant power.  It produces forcible contractions
 in the irritable fibre ;  excites therefore to action if duly
 applied ; and Avhen in excess, immediately exhausts irri-
 tability.   It possesses the important advantage of being
 easily brought to  act locally, and of being  confined to
 the part to Avhich it is  applied, while it can also be em-
 ployed in every degree of force.
  Electricity is applied to the body under the form of a
 stream or continued discharge of the fluid, under that of
 sparks, and under that of shock; the first being more gen-
 tle, the second more active, and the last  much more pow-
 erful  than either  of the others.   The stream is applied
 by connecting a pointed piece  of Avood,  or a metal Avire,
 with the prime conductor of the electrical machine, and
 holding it by a glass handle, one or two inches from the
 part,  to which it  is to be directed.  A very moderate
 stimulant  operation is  thus  excited, which is better
 adapted to some particular cases, than the more power-
 ful spark or shock.  The spark is drawn by placing  the
 patient on the insulated stool, connected with the prime
 conductor, and, while the machine is Avorked, bringing
 a metal knob within a short distance of the part, from
 whicii the spark is to be taken.   A  sensation somewhat
pungent is excited, and slight muscular  contractions may-
 be produced : these efforts"being greater or less, accord- 
h&8
APPENDIX.
ing to the distance at which the knob is held, if the ma-
chine  be  sufficiently poAverful.   The  shock is  given by
discharging the Leyden phial, making the part of the
body,  through which it is intended to be transmitted,
part of the  circuit.  The  sensation it excites is unplea-
sant, and the muscular contractions considerable, if the
shock be  moderately strong.
   The general rule for the medical employment of elec-
tricity, is to apply it at first under the milder forms, and
gradually to raise it, if necessary, to the more powerful.
Mr. Cavallo,  Avho has published the latest and best trea-
tise on medical electricity, entirely disapproves of giving
violent shocks, and finds it most efficacious to expose the
patient to the electrical aura discharged from an iron or
a wooden point; or, if shocks be given, they should  be
very slight, and not exceed thirteen or fourteen at a time.
In this Avay he recommends it as  effectual in  a great
number of disorders.   The patient may be electrified
from three to ten  minutes; but, if sparks be drawn, they
should not exceed  the number of shocks above mentioned.
   Rheumatic disorders, even oflong standing, are reliev-
ed, and generally quite cured, by only drawing the elec-
tric fluid  by a wooden point from the part, or by drawing
sparks through flannel.  The operation should be conti-
nued for about four or five  minutes, repeating it once or
twice, every day.
   Deafness, except Avhen it is occasioned  by obliteration,
or other  improper configuration of the parts, is  either
entirely or partly  cured hy  draw ing the sparks from the
ear Avith the glass tube director, or by draAving  the fluid
Avith a Avoodcn point.
   Toothach, occasioned by  cold, rheumatism, or inflam-
mation, is generally relieved by drawing the electric fluid
with a point, immediately from the part, and  also exter-
nally from the face.  But when the  body of the tooth is
affected, electrization is of no use, for it seldom  or never
relieves the disorder, and sometimes increases the pain to
a prodigious degree.
   Swellings, in general, Avhich do not contain matter, are
frequently cured  by drawing  the electric fluid with  a
wooden point.   The operation  should  be  continued for
three or four minutes every day, and in obstinate cases it
is sometimes necessary to persevere in its use for several
weeks.
   In inflammations of the eyes, the throwing of the elec-
tric fluid, by means of a wooden point, is often attended 
APPENDIX.
589
with great benefit; the pain being quickly abated, and
the inflammation being  generally dissipated in a few
days.   In these cases, the eye of the patient must be kept
open ;  and care should be taken not to bring the wooden
point very near it, for fear of any spark.  Sometimes it
is sufficient to throw the fluid with a metal point;  for in
these  cases,  too  great an  irritation  should always be
avoided.   It  is not necessary to continue this operation
for three or four  minutes Avithout intermission, but after
throwing  the fluid for  about half a minute, a short time
may be allowed to the patient to rest and wipe his tears,
which  generally Aoav very copiously;  then the operation
may be continued again  for another half minute, and so
on for four or five times every day.
  Palsies are seldom perfectly  cured  by means of elec-
tricity, especially when  they are  of long standing;  but
they  are  generally relieved to a certain degree;  the
method of electrifying in those cases, is to draw  the fluid
with the Avooden  point, and to draw sparks through flan-
nel, or through the usual covering of the parts, if tkey
are not too thick.  The  operation may be continued for
about five minutes per day.
   Ulcers, or  open sores of every kind, even of longstand-
ing, are generally disposed to heal by electrization.  The
general effects  are a diminution of the inflammation, and
first a promotion of  the discharge of properly formed
matter; which  discharge  gradually lessens, according as
the limits of  the  sore contract, till it be quite cured.  In
these  cases, the gentlest  electrization must  be used, in
order to avoid too great an irritation, Avhich is generally
hurtful.   To draw or  throw the fluid with a wooden, or
even with  a  metal point, for three or four minutes per
day, is fully  sufficient.
  Cutaneous  eruptions have been successfully treated
with electrization; but in these cases it must be observ-
ed, that if the Avooden point be  kept too near the skin, so
as to cause any considerable irritation, the eruption will
be caused  to spread more; but if the  point be kept at
about  six  inches  distance, or  farther  if the electrical
machine be very  powerful, the  eruptions will be gradu-
ally diminished till they are quite cured.  In  this kind
of disease, the  immediate and general  effect of  the
wooden point, is to occasion a warmth about the electri-
fied part,  Avbieh is always a sign that the electrization is
rightly administered. 
590
APPENDIX.
    Scrofulous  tumors, when they are just beginning, are
 generally cured  by drawing the electric  iluid  with a
 wooden or metal point from the part.   This  is one of
 those kinds of diseases in which the action of electricity
 requires particularly the aid of other medicines in order
 to effect a cure  more easily;  for  scrofulous  affections
 commonly accompany a great laxity of the habit, and a
 general  cachexy, Avhich  must  be obviated by  proper
 remedies.
   Locked-jaw has in some instances been speedily cured
 by small shocks passing through the jaws.
   Nervous headachs,  even  of  long standing, are gene-
 rally cured by electrization.   For in this disease, the
 electric fluid  must be  thrown Avith a wooden, and even
 sometimes Avith a metal point, all round the head succes-
 sively.  Sometimes exceedingly small  shocks have been
 administered;  but these can seldom be used, because the
 nerves of persons subject to this disease are so very irri-
 table, that the shocks, the sparks, and  sometimes even
 the throwing the  electric fluid Avith a Avooden point kept
 Aery near the head, throAV them into convulsions.
   Amenoi*rhoea, a disease of the female sex, that often
 occasions the most disagreeable and alarming symptoms,
 is  often  successfully and speedily cured  by means of
 electricity, even when the disease is of longstanding, and
 after the  most poAverful  medicines, used for  it, have
 proved ineffectual.   The  cases  of  this  sort, in  which
 electrization has proved useless, are so few, and the suc-
 cessful ones so numerous, that the application of electri-
 city for  this disease,  may  be  justly considered  as  an
 efficacious and  certain remedy.
   Small  shocks, that is, of abougt* one  twentieth  of an
 inch, may be  sent through  the pelvis; sparks may be
 taken through  the clothes from the parts adjacent to the
 seat of the disease;  and also the electric fluid maybe
 transmitted, by applying the metallic or wooden extremi-
 ties of two directors to  the hip  in contact with the
 clothes: part of which  may be removed, in ease 'hey be
 too thick.  Those  various  applications  of  electricity
 should be regulated according to the constitution  of the
patient.   The number of shocks may be about twelve or
fourteen.   The other applications may be  continued for
two or three minutes; repeating the operation everyday.
But either strong  shocks,  or a stronger application of
electricity than the patient can conveniently bear, should 
APPENDIX.
591
be carefully avoided; for by those  means,  sometimes
disagreeable symptoms are produced.
  The application of electricity has also been beneficial
in other diseases besides the abovementioned; but as the
facts arc not sufficiently numerous to afford the deduction
of any general rules, we have thought not proper to take
any particular notice of them.  We may lastly observe,
that, in many cases, the help of other remedies to be pre-
scribed by the medical practitioner, will be required to
assist the action  of electricity, Avhich  by itself would,
perhaps, be useless; and, on the other hand, electrization
may often be applied to assist the action of other reme-
dies, as of sudorifics,  strengthening medicines,  &c.  It
not  uiifrequently happens that electricity is relinquished
as an unsuccessful remedy, Avhen by a more rigid perse-
verance a cure might have been effected.

  N.  B.  The  substanfce  of the above article  may  be
found in the Encyclopedia, American edition. 
No. V.
                    GALVANISM.

 The peculiar poAver,  Avhich  is generated, Avhen two
 metals moistened are  in contact, at  first named animal
 electricity, since Galvanism, discovered by Professor Gal-
 vani, at Bologna, has  been recently applied as a remedy
 in various morbid  affections.   Its effects on  the animal
 system are such as warrant this application.  Its activity
 is shewn,  by  its exciting strong sensations, in  sensible
 parts, and powerful contractions in parts endowed Avith
 irritability.   These singular  phenomena take place in
 consequence of a mutual communication between any tAvo
 points of contact, whether more or less distant,  in a sys-
 tem of muscular and  nervous organs.   The extent of
 this communication may be  considered as a complete
 circle divided into two parts,  one of Avhich, comprising
 the organs of the animal uuder the experiment, is called
 the animal arc; the other, Avhich is formed  by the  ine^
 tals or galvanic exciters, is denominated the excitatory
 arc;  and  consists  of  more than one piece of various
 kinds.
  Beside the effect thus produced on the  muscles, the
 impressions made  on  the  organs  of sense are equally
 remarkable.   For  instance, if a thin  plate of zinc be
 placed on the upper surface  of the tongue, and half a
 crown, shilling, or  teaspoon, be laid on the lower surface
 of the tongue,  and both metals after a short  space of
 time be brought into contact, a  peculiar sensation, simi-
 lar to  taste, Avill be perceived, at the moment when the
 mutual touch happens.  A similar perception will result
 both at the moment of contact, and that of separation, if
 one of the metals be applied as high as possible  between
 the gums and upper lip, or even under the tongue.
  Signior Volt a*.s apparatus consists of a number of cop-
per or silver plates, (which last are preferable,) together
Avitli an equal number of plates composed of tin, or still
better  of zinc, and a similar number of pieces of card,
leather, or woollen cloth, the last of wiiich  substauces
appears to be the most suitable.   These last should be
weil soaked in water saturated  Avith  common salt, mu-
riate of ammonia, or, more effectually, with nitre.   The 
APPENDIX.
59.3
 silver or  copper may be pieces of money, and the plates
 of zinc may be cast of the same  size.   A pile is then to
 be formed, by placing a plate of silver on a corresponding
 one  of zinc, and on them a piece of wet cloth or card;
 which is  to be  repeated alternately, till the number re-
 quired be  arranged in  regular  succession.   But, as the
 pieces are apt to tumble down, if their numbers  be con-
 siderable, unless properly secured, it Avill be advisable to
 support them by means of three rods of glass, or baked
 wood, fixed into a fiat wooden pedestal, and  touching the
 pieces of metal at three equi-distant points.   Upon these
 rods may be made to slide a  small  circular piece of
 wood, perforated with three holes, which will serve to
 keep the top  of the pile firm, and the  different layers in
 close contact.   The moistened pieces  should likeAvise be
 somewhat smaller than  those  of metal, and  gently
 squeezed before they are applied, to prevent  the superflu-
 ous moisture from insinuating itself between the pieces
 of metal.—Thus constructed,  the apparatus will afford a
 perpetual  current  of animal  electric  fluid, or galvanic
 influence, through any conductor that  communicates be-
 tween the uppermost and lowest plate; and, if one hand
 be applied to  the  latter, and the other to  the  highest
 metal, a shock Avill be perceived, which may be repeated
 as often as the  contact  is renewed.  This shock greatly
 resembles  that given by the torpedo,  or gymnotus elec-
 tricus: and, according to the larger  size of  the metallic
 plates, the shock will be proportionably  stronger.  The
 intensity of the charge, hoAvever, is so low, that it cannot
 penetrate  the dry skin; it will therefore be  necessary to
 wet both hands, and to grasp a piece of metal in each, in
 order to produce the desired  effect: its power  may be
 considerably increased, both by an elevation  of tempera-
 ture, and by augmenting the number of pieces that com-
 pose the pile.   Thus tAveiity pieces of  each  will  emit a
 shock that is  very perceptible in the arms;  if one hun-
 dred be employed, a very severe- but  tremulous sensation
 will extend even to the shoulders;  and, if the surface of
 the skin be broken, the action of the galvanic influence
 will be uncommonly painful.
  The sensation of a flash, or shock Avith this apparatus,
 does  not  materially differ from  that  produced  by  tAvo
 simple plates;  but it  may be effected in various Avays,
 especially if one or both hands be applied in a Avet state
 to the lowest plate of the pile ; or any part of the face be
brought in contact Avith a wire communicating with the
         75 
594
APPENDIX.
top piece.  Farther, if a wire be held betAveen the teeth,
so as to rest upon the tongue, that organ, as well as the
lips, will become convulsed, the flash will appear before
the eye, and a very pungent taste will be perceived in the
mouth.
   Between galvanism and electricity there are  so many
points of resemblance, that they have been considerd  as
ultimately the same poAver, or, as the same subtle matter
in different states.  AVhether this opinion be just or not,
the effects of galvanism on living  matter, are different
from those of electricity.  The sensation, which the for-
mer excites, though somewhat analogous to that produced
by the latter, is still dissimilar; the action of galvanism
is more extended, both to the nervous and muscular sys-
tems, than that of electricity, which is more local in its
action.  The galvanic excitation produces sensations and
contractions in the parts, which, from disease, are insen-
sible to electrical impressions ; and the stimulant power,
which both exert, appears in galvanism, to be greater in
proportion to its intensity, than in electricity; or the sen-
sations and  muscular  contractions, which the galvanic
discharge excites, are more than proportioned to its
power of producing electrical phenomena.
   The diseases, in which galvanism has hitherto been
employed, are principally those of the nervous kind.  In
paralysis, it has been affirmed to have restored the capa-
bility of muscular contraction,  and  consequently the
power of motion.  Cases  of chorea, tetanus, and some
 other spasmodic affections, have been related, in which
perfect cures were accomplished by its  application.  It
 appears, in several instances, to have  relieved deafness,
 especially that  species of it  arising from torpor of the
 auditory nerve; and it has been successful in discussing
 indolent tumors.
   Galvanism is applied by connecting tvyo metallio Avires
 with the two extremities of a galvanic battery, and bring-
 ing them in contact Avith the part affected, so that it shall
 form part of the circuit of the galvanic  discharge; the
 one Avire is kept in contact with the part it touches; the
 other is alternately applied for a moment and  removed.
 If the skin be moistened,  the galvanic influence  is com-
 municated more readily and effectually; and still more
 so if a small piece of metallic leaf be laid on the parts to
 which the Avires are applied.  Sometimes even the cuticle
 has bem previously removed by a blister, but the galvan-
 ic application is then attended Avith pain. 
No. VI.
AN ABRIDGMENT  OF DR. CURRIE'S MEDICAL

      REPORTS ON THE USE OF WATER.

Dr. Currie has published a work in medicine appa-
rently of the utmost  importance, and particularly so to
the United States; for whose uoav reigning disease it flat-
ters us Avith some appearance of relief, if not of cure.
The veracity of the author in all situations, is as well
established as  his  reputation for  solid and  ingenious
talents.
  Dr. William Wright, f. r. s. formerly of Jamaica, and
well knoAvn for his writings  in  medicine and  botany,
seems  to have  furnished a case  to our author, whieh,
joined to his own previous opinions, led him to the train
of practice and  observation of Avhich we are about to give
the aceount.—Dr. Wright, while  on a voyage from  Ja-
maica, in  1777,  being attacked with fever, on the  third
day of it, ordered three buckets of salt Avater to be thrown
upon himself, Avhich gave him instant relief; and this,
being repeated on the tAvo following days, removed every
symptom of disease.  Another passenger, Avhose attack
from fever had  begun on August 9, copied the example,
and was restored to health.  A seaman, Avho  originally
communicated the fever to Dr. Wright, refusing proper
assistance, died.   Encouraged by  these  incidents,  and
finding that Dr. Brandreth, of Liverpool, had employed
cold water externally in cases of fever, with happy ef-
fects, Dr. Currie resolved upon a series of experiments.
  In December, 1787, Dr. Currie, in  seven cases of con-
tagious fever, threAV cold water from a bucket upon the
body of each patient; and the  whole  recovered.   An
eighth patient died, Avith whom the practice was omitted.
The cure Avas chiefly entrusted to this remedy in one hun-
dred and fifty-three cases, of Avhich  the  author kept  a
register;  besides many  subsequent cases, of which he
kept no register, unless where the application failed of
success. 
596
APPENDIX.
  The 30th regiment of British infantry, in particular,
while quartered at Liverpool, in 1792, afforded him an
opportunity of trying this application Avith  some preci-
sion ; and the result of the experiment is instructive.  A
guard-room, prison room, tAvo sick-rooms, and a cellar,
had, by their foulness, either caused or increased a fever,
which soon  affected a number in the regiment.  Dr.
Currie being called in, the primary causes of the disaster
were removed,  and the patients all  cleansed.  Those
Avhose strength  was not greatly reduced, had  cold salt
water poured upon them; and the rest were sponged over
with tepid vinegar.  The remainder of the regiment Avas
drawn up  in its ranks, and seventeen  others  Avho had
marks of the disease were separated, and subjected to the
cold affusion ;* Avhich cut the disease short in all but two
of these.   Those  who Avere yet well, were ordered to
bathe in the sea ; being regularly mustered for that pur-
pose.  The number infected in the whole was fifty-eight;
of whom twenty-six had the disease, by these means,
brought suddenly to a close; but in the remaining thirty-
two it ran its course. It was fatal, hoAvever,  only to two;
who had been Aveakened by visiting the West Indies, and
by being bled, and who  besides had not received the cold
aspersion, not having been visited by Dr.  Currie till  the
twelfth or fourteenth day of the disease. The fever broke
out about the beginning of June, but no new attack  oc-
curred after the thirteenth of that month.  The Avater
employed was taken from the river Mersey; having in it
1-32 or 1-33 part of sea salt; and being of the tempera-
ture  of 58 or 60  degrees of Fahrenheit's,  which is  our
common, thermometer.
  AVhen Dr. Currie speaks of fever simply, he means the
low contagious fever; which frequently is called the ner-
vous, and in  certain cases the putrid,  fever; being  the
common fever of England, and prevailing chiefly among
the poor, Avho are most exposed to the causes producing
it.   Dr. Cullen gives it the name of typhus ; terming it a
contagious fever ; in which the heat is but little increased;
the pulse small, weak, and mostly quick; the  urine scarce-
ly changed; the functions cf the brain and senses much
disturbed ; and the strength greatly reduced.

  * By affusion or aspersion, the author means the pouring of
water upon a patient, as for example, from a bucket.
                                        [Compiler.~\ 
APPENDIX.
597
  In fevers called  continued, there is nevertheless (see
Dr. Cullen and others) at least  one increase  and one
abatement  in each  day.  This increase of the  fever  is
known by  thirst, restlessness, and increased flushing;
and also by the heat in the internal parts  of the body,
raising the thermometer one op tAvo degrees beyond the
average observed during other moments of the fever. As
this increase (or paroxysm) usually occurs in the after-
noon or evening, Dr. Currie  prefers this period (other
things  being equal) for the  cold  affusion ; thinking  it
most safe, as Avell as most useful, to apply the Avater  at
the height of the fit, or immediately after it has begun  to
decline.  But  he says, that the  remedy may be safely
used, when there is no sense of chilliness present, when the
heat of the surface is steadily above what is natural, and
ivhen there is no general or profuse perspiration ; Avhich
he observes are particulars of the utmost importance.*
  During the cold stage  of  the  fever, the cold water
nearly suspends  the  respiration, greatly disturbs  the
pulse, increases the chill, and seems to bring on the strug-
gles of death;  and really vvould do so, if repeated.  The
thermometer therefore is never to govern the practition-
er, where  the chilliness  of the  patient  contradicts its
indications.  On  the  other hand, the absence of chilli-
ness is  no guide, unless the thermometer concurs to sheAV
a heat more than natural.  Lastly, profuse perspiration,
in fever, must for the time, deter from the operation ;
and especially in proportion to its continuance.   Though
perspiration is in itself a cooling process, yet the load  of
heated bed-clothes may prevent an internal diminution  of
the heat from being immediately  perceived. Under these
restrictions, Dr. Currie thinks,  that the cold affusion
may be used at any  period of fever; but preferably in the
beginning.
  The author seems after each affusion to have rubbed
the body hastily Avith towels.
  The cold affusion generally reduces the heat from two
to six  degrees  of Fahrenheit's thermometer;  and the
pulse sinks by it from two to above twenty beats in the

  * One important caution appears  to have escaped  both Dr.
Currie and his able commentator. That when fevers are com.
plicated, (as  they often are  in this  climate) with pneumonic
inflammation, or other dangerous affections of the luogs, cold
ablution is inadmissible.  [Compiler.] 
598
APPENDIX.
minute; and in one case, somewhat dubious indeed as to
its issue, it fell at least forty beats.
   AVhere the heat is reduced  and  the debility great,
some cordial should be given immediately after the affu-
sion ; and the author thinks that warm wine is the best.
In case the affusion produces effects unusually  severe,
then to the cautious use cf warm cordials in small quan-
tities, friction, and especially of the extremities, is to be
added, and a bladder of hot water applied to the pit of the
stomach.
   Several examples are  ghren of the effect of the cold
affusion in the first, second, third, fourth, and succeeding
days of fever.  On the first and second days, the disease
often instantly vanishes  Avith one aspersion; and  some-
times on the third day; but on the fourth day this is rare.
Each aspersion,  however, instantly removes the symp-
toms ; and a few repetitions of it on the successive returns
of the paroxysm, in two or three days happily terminate
the disease, with none or trifling aid from medicine.
   In advanced periods of the disease, the author com-
monly employs Avater only fifteen or tAventy degrees below
the natural heat of the human body.  After the eighth
or ninth day he often simply sponges the Avhole body with
tepid vinegar, to which he sometimes adds water.  But
Avhere the heat has remained considerable, and where the
sole object has been its removal, he has still  persisted in
the tepid aspersion.
   Hence another limitation occurs to the author's general
doctrine;  for  the cold affusion is to be changed after a
certain number of days for the tepid, and the tepid affu-
sion in various cases is to give way after a time to mois-
tening and washing the body.
   Since cold, cook  and even tepid water, employed exter-
nally, each reduce  the patient's heat; Ave see why this
heat should not be too low at the moment, lest too great
a chilliness should folloAV.  Hence also the same patient,
whose disease has been removed by cold water judiciously
applied, would often  suffer from repeating the applica-
tion in his convalescent state.  But if Ave think we per-
ceive why this rude remedy answers so  happily at the
delicate moment of the hot fit; we are  still to inquire,
whence it often removes the whole of the disease, of whicii
the heat seems to constitute only a part ?
   Dr.  Currie, as might be expected, has extended his
trials Avitli Avater to other species of fever.  One  species 
APPENDIX.
599
and one alone, he has found in every shape insensible to
his great remedy, of aspersion Avith cold water; but this
species  Avas  generally  insensible also to every other
remedy, and Avas not made worse by cold water.  This
fever occurs, he says, chiefly in the winter season; and in
persons Avho are in the floAver or vigour of life, and who
are also possessed of considerable sensibility of mind, and
arc in habits of more  than ordinary mental exertions.
Other  particulars of this complaint must be looked for
in Dr. Currie; who is the first perhaps Avho has noticed
it, as a distinct species of fever; to which indeed it seems
to lay claim, not merely by its  refusing to yield to his
applications, but by its symptoms; and particularly by the
acuteness Avhich prevails in all the senses of the patient,
beyond perhaps the state of nature, and certainly beyond
Avhat occurs in common fever.
   In intermittents, the  cold affusion with vigorous pa-
tients, applied before the period of the cold fit, has pre-
vented the whole of the fit; but Avhere weakness  made
the attempt hazardous, the cold fit was suffered to arrive
and pass, and the affusion was applied to the hot fit when
thoroughly formed.  The  disease Avas  sometimes cured
in the first case; but in the second, there was only a so-
lution of the pending fit; though four or five repetitions
of the practice finally removed the  disease.   In any
event, opportunity was  given for throAving in medicines.
   Dr. Currie  has  found not only that eruptions on the
surface of the skin, but that  salivation, are no obstacles
to the cold affusion, under the  restrictions before men-
tioned.
   A friend of his has tried it also in the first commence-
ment of  scarlet  fever (scarlatina,) and with complete
success.  The efflorescence on the skin and the affection
of the throat Avere even prevented; which has  led Dr.
Currie to consider  the tendency to these symptoms  as
being  the effect, and not the cause, of this  fever.  Dr.
Currie having had no  late  opportunity of treating the
scarlet fever in its early  stages, has contented himself
Avith prescribing for  it in  its later stages, immersion  in
the  tepid bath, heated  from ninety-two to ninety-six de-
grees of Fahrenheit.
   In the eruptive fever of the small pox, Dr. Currie has
found a neAV object for  the successful use of the cold af-
fusion ; regulating himself as usual  by the actual state of
the  patient's heat* as appearing from the thermometer,- 
600
APPENJD1X.
  provided the indications of the thermometer are conlirmed
  by the patient's sensation of heat.  In the confluent small
  pox, after the eruption is completely formed, he is diffi-
  dent of its benefit.   But he is the more anxious to apply
  it in the eruptive fever, since he  says that the. assimila-
  tion of the quantity of contagious matter produced from
  the first contagion, is invariably found to bear an exact
  proportion to the eruptive fever.  He declares that in the
  eruptive fever, he  has  instantly abated the  symptoms,
  however severe, and that the disease has assumed a be-
  nignant form.  He tells us, that the Chinese are stated
  to have long followed this practice with success.
    Dr. Currie  treats of cold water  applied internally in
 fevers.   He says that in the cold stage, it is never to be
  employed, however urgent the thirst; which  ought only
 to be gratified in this stage of the fit, or paroxysm, with
 warm liquids.   AYlien the hot stage is fairly formed, and
 the surface of the body dry and burning; cold water, he
 says, may be drank with the utmost freedom; and if it
 succeeds, in lowering the pulse and heat, as is usual,
 perspiration and sleep commonly folIoAV.  Its effect how-
 ever is never so poAverful, according to his experience,
 as to dissolve even the existing fit of the fever, and much
 less the  fever  itself. But  he  holds draughts of cold
 water as  an useful auxiliary in these  cases, and says that
 they may be used more freely in proportion as the heat
 is more advanced above the natural standard.  He allows
 cold water to be drank, though  more sparingly, even in
 the beginning of the SAveating stage; since it may pro-
 mote the  flow  of perspiration ; Avhich after it has com-
 menced, seems to be checked, if a fresh increase of ani-
 mal heat  occur.  But after the perspiration has become
 general and profuse, the use of cold drink  is  strictly
 forbidden; the rule being, in all other respects, the same
 as laid down for cold water used externally.
   In case of injury from drinking cold water, the author
 recommends hot water to be applied in a bladder to the
 pit of the stomach; and small and frequent doses of tinc-
 ture of opium to be administered,  which Dr. Rush  re-
 commends in cases  of injury from  cold Avater  drank  in
 warm Aveather.
  Though Dr. Currie is persuaded that injury has some-
times followed from cold water  drunk  in hot weather,
and from cojd bathing used ai':er strong exercise; yet he
denies  that any inconvenience is necessarily  to follow. 
APPENDIX.
601
He affirms, that inconvenience arises only for the Avant
of making proper distinctions.  In situations Avhere the
body, after having been much heated and  enfeebled by
severe exertions, is losing its surplus heat by perspira-
tion, and in general by a cessation of the exertions Avhich
caused the heat; he alloAvs that cold water, whether ap-
plied inwardly or outwardly, may often be injurious and
sometimes even fatal.   But while the surplus heat is
kept up  by a continuance  of the  exertion, he says that
cold water may be  drank safely in  moderate quantities.
The same he asserts respecting the cold bath; and there-
fore he  has  for some years constantly directed infirm
persons to use such a degree of exercise before plunging
into the  cold bath, as would produce some increased ac*
tion of the vascular system, with some increase of heat;
and thus secure reaction under the shock. It will appear,
however, that the patient here ought not to perspire; or
if perspiring, ought not to stand still, either dressed or
undressed, sufficiently  long to become chilled from the
effect of the act of  perspiration, or from the evaporation
follovying it.
   Under the above persuasions  our author  contends
against  Dr. Rush; that Avhere  the party is  warm, no
attempt  should  be used  to reduce the heat, previous to
drinking cold  water.    It  follows however  from  Dr.
Currie's OAvn premises, that no objection  occurs either
against removing the chill from the water, by means of
the sun, of common fire, or of animal heat;  or against
continuing to exercise for a short time after the draught:
and as either of these expedients is simple, it would be
Avell to  employ one or both of them; as  the sole object
in view is quenching the thirst, and not curing a disease
upon speculative principles.  AVe  may here also observe
the benefit of Avearing cottbn or even woollen next to the
skin, where perspiration is probable from hot Aveather or
violent  exercise, especially where both are combined;
since Avet linen aided by evaporation, conducts aAvay the
heat of the body so  rapidly, in certain situations, as  often
to occasion severe  chills.  Few however are  the  cases,
in  Avhich it will not be safe and highly  adviseable to
throAV off the wet linen,  rub or wipe  from the skin the
matter perspired Avith sometliing dry, and put on a  fresh
and dry covering  next to the body;  as  those who have
had experience in the case, will cheerfully testify.
          76 
602
APPENDIX.
   As to using  the  cold bath when the body is warin,
there are so many facts on both sides of the question that
it requires an expedient to reconcile them ; and this Dr,
Currie certainly seems to  offer.   By his means, Ave per-
ceive whence the Roman youth could plunge in the course
of their  daily exercises into the river Tiber, and yet
Alexander suffer from  tbroAviug  himself into the river
Cydnus, after being fatigued and chilled with perspira-
tion ; as Avell  as Avhence the Russians  and others jump
from a vapour or hot bath into the snoAV, or into a cold
bath; Avhile merely to sit  in a cold stream of air, after
violent  exercise, is  sufficient  to bring others, nay the
very same people, to the grave.  A number of other
seemingly contradictory,  and yet authentic  relations,
peceive here  also a  similar solution.   Hence we may
assure ourselves, that if the waters of the Mississippi
never injure those Avho drink them in summer, Avhatever
be their state as to perspiration or fatigue; it is not OAving
to the quality of these waters, but.to their warmth, in
consequence of their long exposure to the sun.  In like
manner, if the water issuing neAvly from the  ground in
Abyssinia, is  harmless  in all  cases; it is because the
spring-Avater of that country (Avhich every where nearly
corresponds with the average temperature of the Aveathcr
of the place) is never very cold.
   But Ave pass on to neAV cases of disease.
   Before  and since the year 1790, the author has wit-
nessed thirteen cases of tetanus (that is, stiffness accom-
panied at intervals Avith convulsion, as  instanced in the
disease  known by the name  of the locked jaAV.)  This
disease is distinguished into the proper or primary, called
idiopathic;  and  the  concomitant  or secondary, called
symptomatic, being an occasional attendant upon Avounds,
especially in hot  countries.  The author from his later
experience, is disinclined to  use  the cold bath in any of
its forms in the symptomatic tetanus; unless in the earlier
stages of  the  disease, when the vigour is less impaired,
and the disease less rooted.  One reason is, that change
of posture is required for the  purpose, in a case where
the mere action of the will on the muscles is often alone
sufficient to bring on  a general convulsion.   He rather
prefers Avine given in large quantities, a remedy first in-
troduced by Dr. Rush; but Avishes it combined with very
large doses of opium.  AVine, it seems, has in this disor-
der been  given  ay ith success also to horses; but it is 
APPENDIX.
603
queried, Avhether other strong or spirituous liquors Avould
not answer as avcU.  It is observed that the constitution
under this disease, powerfully resists the  intoxicating
quality  of the  wine and opium.   In tetanus  also, Dr.
Currie has applied pressure, Avith evident  good effect;
moistening at the same time the bandages Avith ether, but
taking care lest inconvenience should arise from too great
an evaporation, the natural consequence of  ether  being
exposed to a current of  air.  In the idiopathic or simple
tetanus, the author has applied water of an  exceeding
cold temperature (exhibited in a bath Avhere the effect
was sudden, and the limbs could be stretched out,) with
a very marked success, though all other applications had
failed.  Let us observe here, that since to rub in sweet
oil  has  been found a powerful remedy Avith many, in
cases of cramp of the external muscles; it might be Avell
always to  try it in tetanus, though medical persons often
slight it.  In any event,  those subject to  this painful
affection of the cramp,  especially  pregnant Avomen and
SAvimmers, may do Avell to remember this use of oil.
Oily substances may also be tried by the mouth  or  clys-
ter, in cases of cramp or spasm in the stomach or intes-
tines.
  The author has applied a very cold bath to more than
one case of insanity, Avith  brilliant success; but it Avas
Avhen the fit was at the highest.  The ordinary delirium
of fever is acted upon by cold water in different shapes,
in common with all the other symptoms of fever.
  In  children's convulsions, it is also serviceable;  stop-
ping the fit,  and giving time for other remedies.  AVhen
the author mentions  that  convulsions may sometimes
arise from Avorms or other causes; perhaps he ought to
have added, that teething is one of these causes, and that
John Hunter has given instant relief, by cutting the gum
over a young tooth Avith a lancet.   On  the whole, Dr.
Currie recommends caution in the applications of water
in early infancy; sometimes tempering his water, and
sometimes only pouring it on, in preference to bathing in
it;  but  making the operation sudden and transient, and
providing  means  ready for securing the  re-action, and
even omitting it  altogether when  little vigour  is left.
But Avith thes6 precautions he has  seen great  benefit re-
sulting from the application of cold water.
  In cases of St.  Aitus's dance he  has found  no encou-
ragement, for a reason  hereafter to be mentioned; but 
60i-
APPENDIX.
he recommends electricity in this complaint, as  one of
the feAV in which this operation seems advantageous.
   He promises  us little from his remedy in  the case of
epilepsy,  where his experience does not seem indeed to
have been extensive.  Instead however of his own favour-
ite remedy, he mentions benefit derived, in a case of peri-
odical epilepsy,  from a plaster formed chiefly  of tobacco,
applied near the pit of the stomach before the expected
attack.   He has used tobacco also in tAvo desperate eases
of convulsion,  folloAved  by continued  coma,  (that is,
sleepiness and loss of sense;)  but it  was in the form of
a decoction  applied, as a clyster, which he prefers to the
fumes of tobacco;  the  quantity for the  decoction being
half a drachm  of tobacco in four ounces of water.  In
epilepsy also be applies oxide of zinc (that is the calx of
the  semi-metal  zinc;) and still more efficaciously the
digitalis pui*purea, or purple foxglove, concerning Avhich
Dr.  AVithering  and others have lately Avritten largely.
The author might have added, that hartshorn or ether
mixed Avith Avater and given during the epileptic fit, tend
powerfully to shorten it.
   But let us close the author's account of his treatment
of convulsive diseases with the folloAving general remarks,
extracted from his work.  The efficacy of the cold bath
in convulsive disorders, is much promoted by  its being
employed during the moment of convulsion; or (as he
afterwards chooses to express himself,) its chief benefit
depends on its being used in the paroxysm of convulsion;
its efficacy consisting in resolving or abating this parox-
ysm, by Avhich means the  return is greatly retarded, if
not entirely prevented.  This  laAV or principle in the
disease, the  author tells  us, bears analogy to the fact,
that madness is best treated in the height of frenzy.  He
also remarks, that the cold bath seems Avithout effect in
every spasmodic disorder,  (as St. Aitus's  dance,) which
does not rise to the height of convulsion.  Lastly, he
observes, that in cases of madness and convulsion, there
must be no considerable wound or other  lesion of  struc-
ture ; that the disease  should  not  be too  habitual, and
especially so as to produce insensibility to impression;
that the fit should have a general influence on the frame;
and that the digestion should not be  too much impaired
nor the vigour of the circulation much debilitated, lest
the action of the cold be too strong for the living powers.
   " Cold  Avater (says our  author)  cannot be  used as a
drink during the paroxysm of convulsions ; and of course 
APPENDIX.
605
we cannot shew the analogy between its external and
internal use in these, as in other diseases.
  " That its effects (he adds) taken internally, are most
salutary, in a numerous class of chronic diseases, is how-
ever well knovyn; though perhaps  not acknowledged to
the full extent of the truth.  A considerable part of the
virtue of mineral Avaters  is doubtless to be attributed
either to the diluting quality of the pure element itself;
or to the invigorating effect of cold on the stomach, and
through it, on the system at large.   * * * In hypochon-
driacal, hysterical and dyspeptic* affections, cold water
taken internally has produced the most salutary effects.
Hoffman praises it in headach, whether arising from indi-
gestion or some primary affection  of the nerves of the
head.  The  following case will shew the  use of cold
drink in certain convulsive affections."  Here the author
cites from Hoffman the case of a Jew boy, cured of vio-
lent convulsions in a  fortnight,  by drinking cold  water
frequently every day.
  Dr. Currie  applies  the  term tepid, to water heated
from eighty-seven to ninety-seven degrees of Fahrenheit,
where it is used for affusion ; though water will seem to
be Avarm to the body  at some degrees lower, if used as a
bath, for in this case  the evaporation is excluded.  The
cold from evaporation is so considerable, that Avater in
the warmest climates will chill the person moistened with
it, if standing in a current of air in the shade.
   The author finds the coolness remaining from the warm
affusion (strange as it may be thought) as great, as that
from the cold  affusion; and  perhaps greater; but the
cold is less sudden and stimulating.   Without inquiring
into  the author's  reasonings,  let  us observe that he
applies the tepid affusion to certain  other  cases  Avhere
there is fever;  provided the chief view is to diminish the
heat, and provided there is no contagion present, nor any
foul matter in the boAvels, as likewise no local inflamma-
tion;  for Ave must never forget, that affusion is only
recommended  Avhere the heat is general.  Under these
impressions,  the author employs the warm affusion fre-
quently Avith children;  and he has used it also where the
lungs Avere affected;  and especially in his own case,dur-
ing the lieetic fit, in hereditary  consumption.  But inde-

   * Dyspepsia, in general includes the obvious diseases arising
from indigestion. 
606
APPENDIX.
  endent of the possibility of the respiration being affected,
  e remarks that in hectic cases, the body  soon parts with
 its heat, Avhich is then seldom great, even in the extremi-
 ties.  He recommends, however, in any event to moisten
 the inside of the hands and feet; since from the sensation
 of heat in the extremities, great irritation follows to the
 system.
   Dr. Currie every Avhere insists, that Avhen the patient
 feels chilly, neither affusions, nor Avet sponges,  of any
 kind,  are to be applied;  but he repeats,  that the cold
 affusion (whicii he calls an energetic remedy) is not only
 the most effectual, but safest application,  in many of the
 eases  where it can  be used;  since the  system  often
 accommodates itself to  a sudden cold Avhich is general
 and stimulating, but shrinks from a cold which is sIoav
 and successive.
   Water tempered from  75 to 87 degrees, (whicii the
 author terms cool) is recommended for febrile diseases;
 but more frequently for palsy and other cases of debility.
 If the system is to be strengthened, or if diseased asso-
 ciations (or habits) are to be broken through, the  appli-
 cation is  to  be quick and  brief; but if it is merely to
 allay heat, and there is no danger of indirectly affecting
 the respiration, it may be used more sloAvly.
   Such are the principal  uses of water here to be men-
 tioned from  Dr. Currie.—We may be permitted  to add
 one of two to his list.  Iu eases of strains, dislocations, or
 fractures, cold water employed  externally has had the
 happiest effects : operating in the first case like a charm;
 and in the others, allaying inflammation and preventing
 sAvelling,  till the arrival of the surgeon, Avho then finds
 less  impediment in examining the bones.  AVith  bruises
 and burns, similar advantages perhaps may be expected.
 But in all cases, it must be remembered, that the  appli-
 cation must  be immediate and long continued, and used
merely to the part affected; and the Avater changed Avhen-
CA'cr the cold goes off.
  That the facts respecting the use of cold water in cer-
tain diseases, as detailed in these sheets, may seem appli-
cable to the case of the inhabitants of the United States;
the author of this abridgment has judged it proper to cite
the following evidence of  some eminent  physicians of
America,  on this subject.
  In the " History of the yellow fever, as it appeared in
the city of New lTork in 1795, by Dr. Alexander Hosack,
I 
                       APPENDIX.                  60J7

jun. of that city," we are told that  " the most certain
and successful means [of cure] were, to Avash the Avhole
surface of the body with cold vinegar and watep; and,
immediately after, covering the patient Avith blankets, to
administer such medicines as possess the effect of bring-
ing  on sweating.   Of these, the spiritus  mindereri and
saline  draughts of Riverius succeeded Avell; more espe-
cially if the warm drinks Avere continued; such  as the
infusion of snake-root, gruel, toast Avater, tamarind Ava-
ter, lemonade, &c.  These Avere much aided by applying
to the  feet of  the patient a warm brick, steeped in vine-
gar and covered in a flannel  cloth wet Avith vinegar or
spirits : the steam, thus emitted and diffused through the
bed, bad  a wonderful  effect  in  softening the skin and
exciting sAveat; especially Avhere the cold Avashing had
been previously employed.
   " Some practitioners have prefered the practice of
plunging the patient several  times in a  ©old bath, and
violently dashing the body Avith cold water.   But  simply
washing the patient Avith  cloths dipped  in  cold Ainegar
and water, Avas found much  preferable to immersion ;*
both because it more effectually diminished the heat of the
system and Avas less fatiguing to the patient.  Experi-
ments  have proved, that repeatedly Aviping  and Avashing
with water, in the ordinary way in which the  operation
is performed; diminished the heat seven or eight degrees
more than simple immersion, or dashing it over the body
Avith pails.
   " The practice  of cold bathing in fevers  of this type,
is not a neAV  one, but  was very commonly employed at
BreslaAV in Silesia; and of late years has been very suc-
cessfully applied in the AVest Indies,f as well as in diffe-
rent parts of Europe, where diseases of this type prevaiL
   " Professor Gregory, of Edinburgh, and Dr. Currie,
an eminent physician at Liverpool, have  also prescribed
it with great advantage in  the low typhus fevers of those
cities.   But its great success in the New Fork hospital,
as employed  by  Dr. Samuel Bard,  and in the private
practice of my brother, have fully convinced  me of its
use.
   " It is also  proper to remark, that Avhere the physician
Avas not called to the patient in the first stage of the dis-

     * Before deciding here,  we must consult Dr. Currie.
     f  See Dr.  Jackson on the Diseases of Jamaica. 
608
APPENDIX.
ease, and putrid symptoms had appeared, and the patient
had become much debilitated, the  cold bath was injuri-
ous : and from the abuse of cold bathing, by employing it
in the last stage of the disease, it has fallen into disrepute
with some practitioners.  But as the abuse of a thing is
no  argument  against  its use,  I repeat my observation,
that in the first or inflammatory stage of the disease, it
was one of the most useful remedies that was employed.
  " When the cold bath had been thus made use of, and
immediately after followed by the spiritus mindereri or
saline mixture, with plentiful dilution, it rarely failed to
produce sweating in the course of  fifteen minutes; and
when once induced, it was easily continued by the repeti-
tion of the sudorific medicines and drinks, until a  solution
of the fever was obtained.  In some instances, where the
patient refused his drink and medicines, or from the care-
lessness of the nurses  they had not been supplied as fre-
quently as was proper, and the perspiration had been sup-
pressed, it became neeessary to repeat the cold bathing ;
whicii seldom failed to procure a return of the sweating.
By the continuance of this discharge, an abatement of all
the symptoms took place.  It appeared to operate as a
specific in the disease ; the pulse in a short time become
moderate; the heat  of the skin diminished ;  the pain in
the head and back, before so distressing, Avas also relieved;
the sickness of stomach and vomiting were removed; and
in  the course of two or three days from the  attack, the
patient had little else to contend Avith but mere debility."
  Thus far Dr. A. Hosack, jun. Avho, as we perceive,
cites the authority of his brother Dr. D. Hosack, and of
Dr. G. Bard, both of New York, in addition to his own.
We must observe, that neither of these gentlemen, at the
time of the publication of Dr. A.  Hosack's pamphlet,
had seen the larger Avork of Dr.  Currie ;  of which the
first edition appeared at the close of 1797, and the second
in 1798.   This Avork therefore merits an examination by
itself, even by the physicians of Kcav York.   One of
them, Avhose name has  not yet been mentioned, but whose
oavii productions are read even in the eentre of Germany,
mentions in a  private letter, that Dr. Currie's work did
not reach NeAV York till the present year (1799.)  He
himself says of it, that  " it appears to be a judicious and
interesting practical work."  But not to  dwell upon an
opinion given incidentally only, however weighty may be
the judgment of the party; we proceed to other evidence. 
APPENDIX.
609
  An American physician, Avhose name is known in every
part of the civilized world, states that " he can from the
experience of five years, subscribe to all Dr. Currie's re-
marks upon the use of eold  Avater in the disease which
has  lately afflicted * * * Philadelphia."  He adds,  « its
efficacy is now admitted by nearly all our physicians___
It is so far from interfering Avith, that it aids the opera-
tions of bleeding,  and mercury.  Where  cold Avater has
been too feeble to compose the inordinate actions of the
blood vessels, I have used ice Avith great advantage. When
the head is much afflicted, I confine the ice in a bladder
and  apply it to the forehead.   In a few minutes I have
seen it  abate pain, remove  a delirium, and sometimes
induce the most salutary sleep.  Its effects are equally
obvious when applied to the  seats of violent disease in
other parts of the body; provided none of those circum-
stances forbid its application whicii are mentioned by Dr.
Currie."
  In various eastern countries, we find cold water used
as an instrument in medicine ; the custom probably being
derived to them  from ancient times.   Dr. Currie not
only cites the example of the Chinese, but of  others;
and  he  especially refers to the treatment of the sickness
of Sir John Chardin in Persia; and Dampier says,* that
he himself was cured of a flux, by bathing daily in a river
in some of the eastern parts  of Asia.  But it is not from
the  rude practice  of the orientals, nor even  from Hippo-
crates or Galen, who  each employed cold water medici-
nally, that Ave are to expect nice distinctions in these
cases.   Such do not in general offer themselves suddenly
even in our ovvn times.
  Dr.  Wright made  his  experiment in 1777, and (as
every physician ought to do  where he has  the  opportu-
nity) he made it upon himself.  He has great merit; but
that merit does not consist in having given us sufficient
rules.  In 1788, a part of the practice in  question Avas
established in the Liverpool infirmary ; whence it spread
into  the town of Liverpool and its surrounding country.
In 1791, Dr. Currie's colleague published an account of
these methods  iu Dr. Duncan's medical commentaries
for  that year.  Dr.  Carrie  himself published another
partial account in 1792.  Dr. Gregory (the younger) of

         * This fact is stated  upon memory  only.
77 
610
APPENDIX.
Edinburgh, has spoken on the subject in his public  lec-
tures ; and even in 1737 it was used in a vague manner
in Silesia, though it is now probably neglected  there.
Aarious practitioners also have resorted to cold Avater in
the AVest-Indies, and some likeAvise in the United States.
But as the practice has not gained ground generally, and
chiefly for Avant of the rules necessary to prevent mis-
takes, especially in the  case  of fever;  Ave have sufficient
proof of our obligations to  Dr. Currie.   AVhat  thanks
Avould not be due to him, Avho should teach Avith certainty
Avhen to employ, and Avhen to avoid  blood-letting;  and
especially should he give so accurate a guide as a thermo-
meter and the feelings of  the patient  as  to  heat, when
confirming each other ?*
   The thermometer indeed cannot ahvays be used by the
country practitioner,  to Avhom Ave shall  soon suggest a
substitute; but to others, Avho can more easily obtain this
useful assistant, we address the folloAving information.
   Mr. John Hunter,  in the London Philosophical Trans-
actions for  1778 (see  also those for  1779)  describes a
thermometer of his own invention and  of Mr. Rurnsden's
Avorkmanship; which  was  short, slender, and with so
small a bulb, that he could upon  occasion  put the whole
into  a peacock's quill; even including the scale, which
Avas moveablej and of transparent ivory, being in the form

   * This was written before seeing Dr. Rush's late brief and
simple rules for blood-letting.
   The members of the three learned professions in America,
notwithstanding the worth and  well known talents of many
among them, have long been liable to the  reproach, of having
contributed little  to the  progress of their respective sciences,
by means of their publications.  The American practitioners
in medicine have lately relieved themselves from this charge, by
somevaluable works.   Among  the earliest of these  authors we
 must certainly place the amiable  and respectable  Dr. Rush,
who has so eminently contributed to excite an emulation among
the  medical  students in  his own  state.   Professor Mitchell,
and others, have most happily introduced a like emulation into
the state of New-York;  which it is hoped will soon spread
itself.
   + A moveable scale admits the application of the naked ther-
mometer in certain cases;  and the  observer by a mark on its
tube, is easily enabled when the scale is  afterwards  restored to
its place, to ascertain Yvhere  the mercury has stood during his
experiments. 
APPENDIX.
611
of a hollow tube, and no Avhere touching the bulb.   The
results of this thermometer differed from those of others
before used by John Hunter,  and even from his own ex-
pectations.   It Avas this sort of thermometer which Dr.
Currie employed with his patients; taking care to make
the stem head backwards in order to admit of his stand-
ing behind the sick, to avoid infection from their breath.
Dr. Currie recommends as a farther improvement to add
a guage like  that used by Air.  Six, in his thermometers
made upon the plan of those invented by Lord C. Caven-
dish.  (See  London Phil.  Trans, for 1782 and  17.i7.)
But a thermometer with  spirits of wine (vyhich suffi-
ciently corresponds Avith one of mercury in the high  tem-
peratures here in  question)  Avould probably be  visible
enough to answer every purpose, Avere  the spirits, as is
usual, coloured ;  and it does not appear,  why excessive
diuiinutiveness is so necessary a quality in mere medical
thermometers.
  ATe have hinted  that country practitioners must often
be  content, and may do sufficiently well, Avithout ther-
mometers ; and especially in these parts  of the United
States, where thermometers are so seldom found corres-
ponding Avith each other; and where, even if good,  they
are  with  difficulty  replaced in case of accidents.   The
uses of the thermometer in Dr. Currie's system of prac-
tice are chiefly two; one to sheAV the heat of the patient,
and the other the temperature of the Avater to be applied
to him.
  Let us  begin with the latter  subject.  It is known  to
every practitioner, that boiling Avater is  always of the
same heat  in the same state  of the atmosphere.   Next,
it Avill soon be shewn, that Avater can ahvays easily be found
at hand at certain other knoAvn degrees of temperature.
Lastly, rules may be given, for producing any interme-
diate temperature between  that of boiling water and of
water of any  other known temperature, merely by mixing
them in certain proportions  and  with certain precautions.
  We shall iioav sheAV that Avater may generally be found
of  several temperatures,  Avhich  are  easily ascertained
Avithout the aid of thermometers.  1° In Avinter, Avater
which has remained  a certain  time  filled Avith ice or
pounded snow, after it is  poured off,  will stand at the
freezing point; or at thirty-two degrees of Fahrenheit's
thermometer.  Water  will also stand  at the freezing
point; when  taken  from underneath a surface of thick
ice,  formed upon it in Avinter  in a vessel of moderate 
612
APPENDIX.
size.*   23 The average temperature of the air through-
out the year may be knoAvn for any place;  and this tem-
perature is one and the same with that of the springs of
the place Avhen first issuing from the ground, aud also of
the earth  of the place at a feAV feet  beloAV the surface.
3° The average  temperature of each month also may
easily be knoAvn for any place; and when known, it will
commonly neaiiy mark the temperature of the ay ater ac-
cidentally found in any considerable vessel, placed  under
shelter from the Avind  and sun, but exposed to the  open
air; especially upon making certain obvious alloAvanccs.
  Enough then has been said as to the fixed points of heat
at Avhich Avater may be found and the methods by which
it may be tempered by being mixed in different propor-
tions at different temperatures, for the purpose of bath-
ing, aspersing, or moistening the bodies of different pa-
tients according to their respective cases.  Happily very
great nicety is not found  to be  requisite; and perhaps
the guess of the practitioner will always abundantly suf-
fice.  In this  case, Avhat has been said on these subjects
will not be lost, since it will find its place with those
attentive to meteorology and other branches  of natural
philosophy.
   As to calculating the patient's heat, without help from
a thermometer, in general, Ave may depend on the patient's
feelings, the rapidity of the pulse, the precedence of the
the cold stage of fever, the colour of the skin, its freedom
from perspiration, the  fulness of the face, and the marks
of universal heat  to the touch of the observer.  That the
practitioner may not be misled by the remains of heat
which the bed clothes may have kept  in the patient from
a preceding hot fit;  let the bed clothes be thinned with
judgment and for a short time; and if the patient still
remains hot, he will offer a neAV criterion as to his tem-
perature.  If other rules are wanting, the folloAving arc
some which present themselves.
   Take a short tube of glass, exceedingly thin, and with
a  very small  bore, haAing one end open and the other
closed.  Having  first heated it  gradually by  placing its
outside in heated Avater,  plunge its open  mouth  into a
small quantity of spirits coloured Avith  cochineal, or of
aqua-fortis made blue by vitriol or copper; or if quick-
silver is at hand,  put it into a little quicksilver.  As  the
air cools in  the tube, fluid will rise into it; and Avhen a
  *  Mr. Nairne instrument maker at London, first noted this
fact, in itself so evident. 
APPENDIX.                  61$
very short column (amounting only to a drop or tvyo) has
been taken up, we have an instrument suited to our pur-
pose.—A cork may be placed in the open end, Avhen this
instrument is  not in use, to prevent dirt entering, or the
evaporation of the spirit or Avater;  but the cork must be
carefully AvithdraAvn, to preserve the connection Avith the
atmosphere, when the instrument is employed.*  Let the
practitioner place it during some time under his arm-pit,
when at the sick bed;  and, marking the spot then occu-
pied by the column or  fluid, let him Avipe the instrument,
and place it under the  arm-pit of his patient.  If the pa-
tient's heat be greater than his oavii, the air behind the
column of fluid  confined by the closed  end of the tube,
Avill noAV be most rarified, and drive the fluid farther out
than  Avith himself;  if the  contrary, the reverse will
happen.   This  instrument must at some one  time  be
compared Avith the thermometer, merely to shew Iioav its
scale of variation agrees Avith that of the thermometer,
unless this can be guessed at by other methods.  But the
degree in which an instrument of this sort will be affect-
ed by the changes in the Aveight of  the  atmosphere, (for
it is a species of barometer) render it necessary that the
comparison of it Avith the heat of a healthy person, should
always take place.  An object to be farther attended to
is, that the patient's  heat be  not only greater than natu-
ral, but at a high pitch even for fever heat.
  Perhaps chemists uiay invent some compositions, wliich
by their melting or effervescence  may indicate fixed de-
grees of heat, Avhich may be  contrived to serve as stan-
dards for the heat of fever.
  AVith respect to the standard heat  of the human subject
taken internally in a state  of health; it varies Avith age,
constitution, exercise, fulness  from meals, and other cir-
cumstances, independent of disease.  The usual average
temperature is perhaps at 97; but  eating, for example,
increases it one  or more degrees.  In disease, according
to Dr. Currie's  observations, it sometimes  in extraordi-
nary cases, sinks as Ioav as 92; and sometimes in cases
equally extraordinary,  it rises to 105.   Repeated doses
of the purple fox-glove have  reduced the heat to 89, and
the pulse to 32 in the minute.   Dr. Currie constantly
treats the heat under the tongue ay hen the mouth is shut,

  * Whenever  the fluid  employed is carried off by evaporation
qr other accident, it is easy to put in a fresh quantity, in the
manner used for putting in the first. 
614
APPENDIX.
 and the heat under the arm-pit when the body is properly
 covered,  as  one and the same; and takes them for his
 standard of the internal heat.  The experiments of John
 Hunter, Dr. CraAvford, and others, upon animals Avhose
 bodies have been opened during life, prove that the heat
 Avithin, near the heart and lungs, is greater than in the
 other parts  of the body.   But it is  needless to repeat
 these cruel experiments, which  can offer no  guide with
 patients ;  the stations  assigned by Dr. Currie for receiv-
 ing the instruments to measure the internal heat, answer-
 ing every purpose in the cases here in view.
   Dr. Currie says, in  a note; "I intended to have intro-
 duced one or two registers of the heat and pulse, taken
 every half hour, during the paroxysm of intermittent;
 but this is delayed, till I am enabled to speak from  more
 numerous observations."  Dr. Currie, it is to be hoped,
 will feel himself bound to fulfil this task.  If these lines
 should chance  to meet his notice he is requested by one
 Avho respects his benevolent zeal, as Avell as his abilities,
 to extend his views; and to favour us  with a more accu-
 rate account of the internal heat of the human subject
 in all cases refered to  in the preceding paragraph,  short
 of living  dissections.
   To encourage him or others to labours of this kind
 (whicii are best pursued in large towns,  particularly if
 possessed, as they are  generally, of infirmaries,) avc may
 be allowed to  state something  concerning the standard
 rate of the pulse in the human subject.  The pulse offers
 an important criterion in fever; and the pulse  of persons
 under given circumstances, Avhen in health, furnishes a
 necessary point of comparison for the pulse of the same
 class of persons during disease.   We shall folloAV in this,
 the  good Dr.  AVilliam Heberden; observing that he
 speaks of the pulse as  it is found in England.*

 Rales of the beats of the pulse in the human subject, during
                the course of one minute.
        t On the day of birth,              130 to 140;
 During  A Through the first month,          108 to 140;
  sleep.  "A Thence, during the first year,       108 to 120;
        \ Through the second year,          90 to 100;
 Thence to the sixth year, decreasing,          80 to 108;
 During the seventh year,               72 and  upwards;
 Thence to the twelfth year,             70 and  upwards.

  * See  Medical  Transactions  published by the  College  of
Physicians  in London, vol. 2. 
APPENDIX.
(315
  N. B. The pulse up to this age is more easily quick-
ened by illness than afterwards.
  Afterwards the pulse is  from sixty to  eighty; but in
men, it  sometimes goes  to ninety, and in women  even
beyond ninety.   Sometimes the pulse is below forty.  It
frequently likewise intermits.
  After a full meal  the pulse increases ten or twelve
beats.   But if it has ten pulsations beyond the natural
rate of the patient's pulse,  vieAved as varying according
to accidental circumstances, it indicates disorder.
  In disorder during the first year, the rate may pass
from one hundred and forty to  one hundred and sixty;
but want of sleep and appetite, with thirst and the  state
of the infant's breathing, are here better indications.
  Sometimes one hundred and forty-four is  a rate fatal
at two years; but with others, one  hundred and fifty-six
and one hundred and fifty-tAVO, are not fatal rates, at the
age of four and nine  respectively.
  With children a reduction of fifteen or tAventy beats
of the  pulse, accompanied Avith signs of considerable
illness, mark an affection of the brain.   With adults, a
sudden abatement of  pulse in fever, and an aggravation
of other symptoms, equally indicate disease in this organ.
  Avith adults, one hundred beats  denote commonly no
evident danger;  but  dauger begins at one hundred and
twenty, and unless there be delirium, all beyond  is  com-
monly fatal.  The author  excepts  cases  of  acute rheu-
matism and cases previous to a deposit of matter ; when
there have been recoveries  even at one hundred and fifty
and one hundred and tAventy respectively.   He  excepts
also cases of low fever at ninety  or one hundred; for
here may still be danger.
  It is hard to count one hundred and forty beats, unless
distinct; but vvhere distinct Ave may count one hundred
and eighty in a minute.
  Schirrous  and ulcerous cases, Avith a hectic, are often
for  a long time from ninety to one hundred and tAventy.
  Great pain in certain cases, docs not quicken the pulse;
as is instanced with gall-stones.
  It must not be forgotten in disease, as Avell as in health,
that Avomen  sometimes have quicker pulses than  men,
other things being equal.
  Thus far Ave collect from Dr. Hcberden.
  A practitioner Avishing to pursue  observations of this
kind, may not always be provided  Avith a watch beating 
616
APPENDIX.
seconds; and, in these parts of the United States, he can-
not always be certain of access even to a pendulum clock.
It may therefore be convenient to  know, that in these
latitudes, a pendulum beating seconds, may be made of a
very fine  thread  and a small leaden ball;  extending in
the whole about thirty-nine inches and tAvo  tenths, from
the point of suspension;  Avhich point wc Avill  suppose
formed by a very strong dressing pin.  Theoretically, a
pendulum should be somewhat shorter in these latitudes ;
but the above total length will ansAver for practice with a
pendulum of the above description.   The habits of astro-
nomers shew, that it is easy to learn to count seconds by
memory.  The practitioner who is able to do this, may,
in certain cases, station one  upon Avhom he can depend,
to note the pulsations Avhich have occured  in a  patient,
Avhile he has been  counting apart  a certain number of
seconds.   It can be of no disservice also for a patient to
learn the ordinary rates of his ovvn pulse, to tell to his
physician in case of disease.
  AVith respect to other indications of the pulse, in Avhich
not only certain individuals, but certain nations pretend
to a peculiar nicety, Ave refer to the various authors Avho
have written more or less expressly on the subject.

  We  do not MIoav Dr. Currie in his history  of the
theory of fever.  AVe rather give his own account of the
leading symptoms of this affection, when  vieAved inde-
pendent of circumstances and  under general characters,
in order to accompany it with his remarks.
  Fever begins with a languor of a peculiar kind, seen
even in the countenance, and is followed  by paleness,
cold, and trembling, and (he should have added here) by
a shrinking of the surface of the body;  the  action of the
mind and of the Avhole system being enfeebled.  The heart
and lungs, being roused by the fluids now crowding in-
Avards, soon press them outwards. A tightness or spasm,
however, in the vessels at the surface opposing, the inter-
nal re-action becomes increased.  If in the  struggle, the
stomach becomes affected by sympathy, a tendency to
sickness ensues.  At last, the powers of life prevailing,
heat appears, first in one part  of the surface and then in
another, but Avith some fluctuation; till the hot stage
becomes universal, when the vessels on the surface finally
yield a passage to perspiration, though not  ahvays Avifh-
out a check.   Such is  the course of a single fever fit, 
                      APPENDIX.                  CI 7

when it obrMns a regular termination.  But in cases of
continued fever, both the  spasm and beat remain longer;
till at length as the patient weakens, the spasm decreases
so as to admit of perspiration, and the heat is sometimes
brought almost to its natural state; the quickness of the
pulse alone persisting, as the effect of a habit produced
in the course of the disease.  Thus he says,  Avhen a hot
room or bath raises  the heat in the human subject four
or five degrees, and most  of the other symptoms of fever
appear; yet after the external heat is removed, and the
internal heat  becomes natural, the increased pulse still
continues; which he attributes to the principle of asso-
ciation, peculiar to life and pervading the vital phenome-
na, intellectual and  corporeal.   The author from the
same case of artificial heat proves the existence of spasm;
since perspiration follows this heat so plentifully, as to
make it difficult to increase the internal heat beyond one
hundred or one hundred and one;  Avhereas at the same
temperature  in fever, perspiratjpi is often refused.  He
observes also, that both in hot fever and in  the  sudden
increase of heat in health, the tightness of the Aessels at
the surface often exists : but Avhen the heat abates, it dis-
appears so as to admit of perspiration;  the spasm in the
case of health being the result of a resistance to a violent
stimulus.  This resistance he  calls another laAV of tin*
living system, belonging to every species of vital  action,
Avhether of mind or of body.
  In these circumstances, he conceives that the  general
and powerful spur or stimulus of cold water dissolves the
spasm  or  tightness;  perspiration and evaporation now
succeeding, which naturally tend to reduce the heat and
pulse.   AVhethcr the  cold as a new stimulus aids the
stimulus already existing in the blood vessels;  or whether
the cold acts by dispelling or by counter-balancing the
spasm on the surface; or whether these causes stand more
or less combined, will not here  be disputed.   Certain it
is, that the cold  of the water operates more  than its mois-
ture; because Avarm water in general less  easily effects
a cure,  even when producing a greater coolness through*
its longer application;  though it is possessed of those ad-
ditional chemical poAvers for  dissolving or penetrating
substances which are derived from heat.   On the other
hand, even sudden cold reduces the animal heat, chiefly
by affecting the body as  consisting of organized living
matter.  Hence a variation in  the effects, both tempo-
78 
618
APPENDIX.
rary and permanent, of the cold and other affusions, &e.
whether Ave compare these effects with themselves or Avitli
each other, in cases similar in a mere mechanical view.
   As to the diminution of thirst following the cold  affu-
sion on the surface, Dr. Currie by no means admits that
much water is ever absorbed by the  skin; and therefore
attributes this diminution of thirst to the removal  of a
spasm in the mouth, jaws, and stomach.   AVhether  it be
the removal of spasm or something else which is effected
within, Avill not be discussed : it suffices, that a sympathy
obtains between all these parts.   It is no  less true, that
thirst is  allayed by a draught of fluid before it can have
entered the circulation;  as  likeAvise, that perspiration
often as immediately follows.
   The author (as has been hinted) attributes the reduc-
tion of heat by the  tepid affusion, to cold arising from
evaporation; but as  this stimulus is always  slight  and
necessarily transient, the heat ultimately returns and the
effect becomes merely palliative.  Even the cold affusion
cures at once,  only in the early stages of disease;  and
though uniformly advantageous while the morbid  heat
continues, its effects are less decisive Avhen morbid asso-
ciations have once been produced.
   AVhat then, says Dr. Currie, ought to  be the indica-
tions in the cure of fever 1  To diminish the cold iu the
cold stage ; to moderate the heat in the  hot stage; to
resolve the tightness  or spasm on  the  extreme vessels;
and, Avhere the inordinate action of the vascular system
still continues, to support the poAvers  of life, till the  dis-
eased associations die away from the ceasing of their
causes.   It is  also essential, to secure the  proper action
of the bowels; and, in every case, to unload them of their
morbid contents, Avhether these are the effect or the cause
of the disease.
   It is a serious error, according to Dr. Currie, to sup-
pose that febrile poison received into the  system, is the
principal cause of the symptoms of fever; and that these
symptoms  consist in  a  struggle of nature to expel the
poison.   It is safer to consider the poison, as an agent
that excites the system into fever ; the fever being after-
wards carried on, not by  the agency  of this poison, but
of the principles Avhich regulate the actions oflifc.   AVe
are not therefore to  Avait for a restorative process, by
Avhich nature is conceived to throw off the poison; but to
oppose the fever in every stage with all our skill, and 
APPENDIX.
619
 bring it to as speedy a termination as is possible.  By
 the poAverful means of the  cold affusion applied in time,
 the Avhole of the feverish symptoms vanish.  Hence the
 safety and wisdom of decisive measures before the strength
 is materially impaired or diseased habits established.
   Those Avho practice within the  tropics, Avhere fever
 runs its dreadful course with such rapidity, ought espe-
 cially, he says, to be aAvare of this truth.   They ought
 also  to combat  the  disease not merely by cold affusions,
 (Avhich whether supplied by springs or by the sea,  can
 seldom there be below the temperature of 77 or 78 ;) but
 by actual immersion of the patient  in a bath, or in  the
 sea, supposing this at hand.  The duration of the immer-
 sion he thinks must  be governed by the pulse, by the sen-
 sations of the patient, and by the thermometer.  He refers
 for the success of this practice to the case of Sir John
 Chardin ; and to that of persons, who in the delirium of
 feAcr, and chiefly in Avarm climates, have plunged into
 the sea, and avIio in every instance within his knowledge
 (where they have been saved from drowning) have reco-
 vered.*  To increase the cold of water in hot climates,
 he refers to the AveJl known artificial modes of cooling
 water. He also hints at the practice of alternately plung-
 ing the patient  in Avater, and then raising  him into  the
 air, where the wind blows OArer his  naked body, farther
 to cool it; but he says  that the utmost care  is necessary
 to guard against fatigue; and Ave venture to add, that it
 will be prudent to have  means  at hand to remove both
 chilliness  and  faintness,  should  either occur.  In  the
 northern and middle latitudes of the United States,  the
 effects of cold Avinters upon  springs,  furnishes cold Avater
 at all times; and ice-houses admit  of rendering  it still
 colder.
   In  hot climates, to cold Avater for the  surface, the  au-
 thor would add cold  drink in large quantities, Avhere  the
 patient's  heat Avill bear it,  especially the heat Avithin at
 the stomach; and he considers a tendency to vomit as no
 objection.  He confirms his opinion by the practice of the
 ancients, by the treatment used in the Hungarian fever
 (whicii he holds as resembling the yelloAV fever,) and by
 the recommendations of Hoffman in bilious vomitings and
 dysentery.

  * See a remarkable case of this kind in the London Phil.
Trans, for 1786, p. 190. 
G20
APPENDIX.
  AVe now proceed to glean a few other detached par-
ticulars from the author's work, Avhich arc  either theo-
retical or conjectural; or have no immediate relatiou to
the use of Avater;  or have not before been sufficiently
noticed.
  The author Avishes  both cold Avater  and cold drink to
be tried in the case of the plague, should the heat in that
disease be considerable; but if it is no greater than in the
confluent  small  pox,  which is little, if at all above the
natural standard, he has little hope.
  The best explanation Avhich he can give of the success
of his favourite remedy,  in convulsive diseases and in
insanity, if applied at  the moment of their height, is taken
from John Hunter and  Dr. DarAvin;  namely, that no
two great actions seem to take place in the human con-
stitution at the same time; and that if the balance of vital
energy can be turned  in  favour of a shock from cold, it
will  supersede the disposition  to the diseases in question
at their critical  moments, and thus break through their
associations.  Tobacco used in the crisis  of epilepsy, is
another instance Avith him of the benefit of employing, in
these cases, the  balance  of power  in one stimulus  over
that in another.   From both these remedies thus respec-
tively applied;  the good effect  he says, has repeatedly
been permanent.
  In cooling  the surrounding air, or in any other appli-
cation of cold, in fever ; care must be taken to watch the
limits within Avhich it is grateful to the sensations; in
which case the author's experience has uniformly shewn
it to be advantageous.
  It is believed  that the author  somewhere speaks of a
wet blanket having been  used  with success.   Dr. Craw-
ford certainly gave temporary relief even from delirium,
to a patient in fever, by this means; and nothing  but its
being used too late, seemed to have made it a palliative
rather than an effectual remedy.
  The author says, that the action of cold may be con-
veyed over the whole  system by its application to a single
part; as when cold  substances are applied to some single
part, to stop bleedings.  Hence,  for bleeding  from the
lungs, he has dipped  the  feet  in cold Avater; though he
thinks that  it might  perhaps have been better to  have
applied cold  permanently to the scrotum, &c.; and  he
has often here found it safe and efficacious to plunge the
patient into cold water up to the  hips.  In  all these in- 
*
                     APPENDIX.                  621

stances, the application of cold must be both powerful
and permanent.
  The same rule as to permanency and degree, is neces-
sary for cold applied locally to parts Avhich are inflamed.
Thus  even ice, snoAV, and the clay-cap,  are successfully
employed, not only for  reducing, but preventing inflam-
mation ; the sensation of cold in the parts  acted  upon,
speedily subsiding.                                  4
  He  does not apply cold to local inflammation, if at-
tended with fever; chiefly, because in such cases there is
too great a sensibility to cold and indeed to  other stimu-
lants; but this is a  subject Avhich he avoids treating at
length.
  He  extends this objection however to measles, catarrhs,
(or colds,) &c. and he is not persuaded that cold can be
useful in pleurisy or peripneumony.  Yet in inflammations
of the brain, stomach, intestines, ke,  and especially if
desperate,  he thinks the cold bath should be hazarded.
But in all inflammatory cases, he inclines to  judge it
proper to  moderate the  cold, if employed.   Besides sink-
ing for example, gradually, into the  cold bath; the state
of the pulse and of the heat  is to be examined; though
the author remarks  from his own case, Avhile in health,
that the heat within the trunk of the body is wonderfully
sustained in the cold bath, notwithstanding it is speedily
and permanently lessened at the extremities.
  The House of Recovery, instituted in  May, 1796, at
Alanchester, in England, affords  a singular instance of
success in preventing infection throughout a large  town;
and merits a short abstract from our author.  Into this
asylum on the first notice of  fever, the patient is remov-
ed; and proper methods (being  in  part  chemical) are
taken to purify his habitation.  The prevalence of fever
has hence diminished to a degree beyond all rational ex-
pectation ; and the fears that the institution might spread
contagion  in  its particular  neighbourhood, are  found
groundless; since not one case of fever appears there for
ten or fifteen cases which prevailed there before.   About
one in nine only of those admitted, die; and as the result
has made  considerable  impression,  it will  still farther
greatly reduce both the deaths and the danger of  conta-
gion,  should the poor apply in  the early stages  of the
disease.   The importance of such an institution, in great
toAvns, may be known from  tAvo other facts related  by
Dr. Currie; First, the apartments for fever-cases, in the
Liverpool  Avork-housc, are  in the  very  centre  of the 
629
APPENDIX.
  building, and cannot he entered except through the com-
  mon stair-case ,* and yet not a single instance is known
  of contagion spreading thence, to the other patients  in
  the house.  Secondly, the number of fi ver-cases annu-
  ally presented to the medical attendants at the Dispen-
  sary at Liverpool (a toAvn with a population resembling
  that of Philadelphia)  is above three  thousand; and the
  average duration of the fever is about fourteen days,
  besides fourteen days  consumed in the recovery, Avhere
  the recovery happens.  The fever-cases, in short, make
  neaiiy one fourth of the wliole number of maladies; the
  loss to the public occasioned by Avhich may easily be con-
  ceived.  In Liverpool (and this  is another remarkable
  fact) eighteen hundred cellars are  inhabited  by about
  seven thousand  persons, besides nine thousand Avho live
  in close and confined houses; and many of these persons
  taste no animal food; tea being generally drank, once, if
  not tAvice in the  day; from Avhich causes principally, and
  the use of  spirits, above five hundred patients, who are
  chiefly females, are annually found among those applying
  to the dispensary on account  of diseased digestion.
   When our author, however, in  speaking of the above
 institutions, affirms  with  Dr.  William  Heberden, that
 cold winters are unhealthy in England; and states that
 the most unhealthy moment  is that when they are ex-
 changed  for warmer weather; an inhabitant  of these
 northern parts of the United States cannot but indulge
 a smile.  Perhaps  in  no part  of  the civilized Avestern
 world, is the entire severity of a cold Avinter  actually
 more  fully  braved, than in these parts; nor can a more
 sudden transition from  heat to cold easily offer; and yet
 in no  one country in the known world, is there less dis-
 ease, or fewer deaths, upon a given number of inhabi-
 tants.  This fact, and especially in a  comparative view,
 merits a particular attention, which will perhaps  be given
 to it on a future occasion.
  The common treatment of fever by the gentlemen be-
 longing to the Liverpool  dispensary  (which is  distinct
 from the  infirmary)  consists in giving first, antimonial
 emetics; and then, bark,  opium, and  wine;  nourishing
 food being occasionally administered; but seldom  washing
 with cold  water (which would  indeed  be difficult in the
 cellars where this disease is usually found.)
  Dr.  Currie will now offer some more particular and
interesting information on the use of opium  and strong
liquors in fever.                                     e 
APPENDIX.
623
  Dr. Currie, treats of opium, pursuant to the engage-
ment in the title to his work; viewing it as administered
in health and in fever.
  In a state of health, if the mind is vacant and external
objects excluded, and provided also that  the stomach is
empty; opium usually procures sleep.   This  sleep is
preceded by agreeable  sensations, happy slumbers,  and
 fentle perspiration; the surface and extremities of the
 ody acquiring the same heat with the internal parts.
As the full sleep approaches, the pulse quickens, and the
breath becomes slightly irregular; but  Avhen profound
sleep bas^ actually arrived, the pulse abates to its slowest
rate; while the breathing, besides growing sIoav, becomes
regular also, and deep.
  In fever, if the heat reaches or exceeds  one hundred
degrees of  the thermometer, Avith a dry skin; opium
commonly seems  to  add to the heat and restlessness.
When the  skin has  softened, and the  heat, though  still
great, is yet subsiding, opium often  accelerates the per-
spiration;  and by this means, diminishes the heat; in
Avhich case tranquillity and  sleep generally follow.
  Hence, in the case of continued  fever, which is com-
monly greatest in the evening, and is  then accompanied
Avith tAvo or more additional degrees of heat, an opiate
(or anodyne) may injure at night,  and yet do service at
two or three o'clock in the morning. Hence also in con-
tinued fever, it may be proper to lower the  temperature
of the surface and prepare for perspiration, by cold or
tepid affusion or drink, (applied according to rules) before
giving, or even after giving, the opium. In intermittents,
on the other  hand,  where the disposition to perspire is
more easily excited, opium may be given with fewer pre-
cautions; though  if administered in the hot stage, its
salutary effects  may be much  promoted by moderate
draughts of liquids; which should  be cold, if the heat
is great.
  The author conceives water  to  be  a  better assistant
to opium in procuring perspiration, than ipecacuan or
antimonials;  except  in inflammatory  diseases and in
dysentery.   His dose of opium is tAvo or three grains of
the extract, or from ten to  sixty drops, of the tinc-
ture;  for he finds that a very small quantity judiciously
applied, will produce considerable effects ; and he thinks
that whatever is beyond necessity, it would be unwise to
employ. 
62<i
APPENDIX.
   Alcohol is another of the topics standing in the title to
 Dr. Currie's  Avork; by Avhich term, he docs not mean,
 Avith common chemists, spirits of wine; but vinous and
 spirituous drinks.  Alcohol (or strong drink) he says, is
 more heating than opium, and has  less tendency to pro-
 duce perspiration and sleep;  but yet has  a striking
 resemblance to opium in its effects.
   In health, like opium, if the mind is vacant, and exter-
 nal  objects excluded, and  the stomach empty; strong
 drink inclines to sleep.  But as  sleep approaches, the
 heat of the body rising throughout and the pulse quicken-
 ing, au agitation follows, which is often opposed to sleep.
 If the dose however has for the  moment stupified all
 sense, still on the first return of sense, the drunkard is
 roused from his apoplectic slumbers by intolerable heat;
 amounting in  one  case (that of Dr. Alexander, avIio tried
 the  experiment on himself)  to  one hundred and seven
 degrees;  and  this is accompanied with thirst, agitation,
 and  consequent Aveakncss, as also Avith obstructed perspi-
 ration.   The  author here, as perhaps in all other cases,
 where there is heat and a dry skin without local  inflam-
 mation, would prescribe large draughts of Avater, or the
 affusion;  Avhieh is likely to prove more effectual, if cold,
 than if Avarm.  Opium, Avhere the skin softens, favours
 perspiration in the drunkard; and  sometimes, and per-
 haps by this very means, affords remarkable relief.
   In fever, strong drinks must be  given with the same
 precautions, as opium; that  is,  be avoided in cases of
 great heat and a dry skin; and reserved for those cases,
 where the heat is only a little above the natural standard;
 unless perspiration is certain, Avhen  they may be used in
 a heat somewhat beyond the natural.
   Such are the author's  remarks  on opium and strong
 drinks.  They are offered onlyr Avith a vieAV to fever;  and
 he so little considers them as complete, that he proposes
 to resume the subject.

   In the author's title page stands another topic yet un-
noticed by us; namely inanition, or abstinence; and along
Avith it, he handles  another important, as  Avell  as long
disputed point; namely,  whether fluids, and consequently
nourishment if Avanted, can pass through the skin.
   A part of his conclusions on the subject of inanition or
starving, are drawn from a case where  a scirrhous tumor
took away the poAver of SAvalloAving.   The heat  and in 
APPENDIX.
625
 general the pulse Avere natural  to the last; the spirits
 even;  the  intellect good;  the strength sufficient  for
 Avalking about the house; neither hunger nor thirst on
 the whole troublesome; but after a certain  number of
 Aveeks, a distortion of vision was followed by delirium and
 other symptoms, which closed the scene.   Nourishing
 clysters gradually increased, in  Avhich liquid laudanum
 Avas largely mixed, especially in the evening,  together
 with a warm bath of Avater and  of milk, Avere the only
 applications.  Another patient whose power of swallow-
 ing was destroyed by a different disease,  used the clys-
 ters, but omitted the  bath; and  never  complained of
 hunger, nor always, nor very much of thirst; his pulse
 being good, unless previous  to death, Arhich in him Avas
 easy and accompanied with the perfect use  of all the
 faculties.
   Hence the  author remarks  as follows; 1°  A regular.
 pulse  is no certain indication of the system being in
 order.  2° Vital heat is not principally owing to diges-
 tion ; the increase of heat after  food appearing to arise
 from the influence of the stomach on other parts.  3° As
 the first patient did not easily recruit his heat, when heat
 Avas taken from  him,  the  power of doing this is to  be
 held in proportion to the force of the living principle;
 (and this is  a fact Avhich might before have been infered
 from the experiments  of  John  Hunter in the  papers
 already cited, in  the case both  of vegetables and ani-
 mals; Avhich Dr. Currie at  the moment seems to have
 forgotten.)

   We come iioav  to some particularities respecting the
 passage through the skin, to which the first case leads us.
 The patient in  a balance  sensible  to the amount of a
 drachm, was found to have had no difference produced in
 his xveight by using the warm bath, in three instances
 where the trial  Avas made.  According to  the  rate  at
 Aviiich his body  wasted from day to day, during  many
 days, he ought to have lost five sixths of an ounce during
 the time he  spent in the bath:  but he appeared  neither
to have lost nor gained.   He seemed indeed to perspire;
but the author conceives the appearance to have been
owing to the vapour of the bath resting on his forehead.
At the heat of eighty-tAvo in the public baths at Buxton,
in England, the  author (with various others) has found
no change of weight: in other experiments he has found
         79 
626
APPENDIX.
no change in himself in baths variously heated between
the temperatures of eighty-seven and ninety-five;  and in
several cases of the diabetes, (where indeed  a disease in
the skin according to him usually occurs) the warm bath
has produced no change of weight.
   These  experiments do  not countenance the common
supposition,  that in case of a deficiency of liquids at sea,
thirst may be prevented  by Avet penetrating inwards
through the  skin. The author is indeed aAvare of several
conjectures to be urged in favour of this supposition ; as
for example that Avhat is taken invyards may not shew
itself in the weighing  machine, from being counterba-
lanced by what escapes outwards; and that fluid may be
taken inwards at lower temperatures than those of the
Avarm bath.   But he inclines to overlook these conjec-
tures ; and he likeAvise dissents from the experiments of
Dr. Falconer and Mr. Abernethy, as made only on a part
of the human body at once.
   He is strongly inclined to think, that though certain
vessels* in the skin afford a passage outwards ; yet that
the absorbent vessels lie beloAV the  skin, and never take
up any thing from without; unless in consequence  of
mechanical pressure, or of a wound  or a  disease  in the
skin,  or of the destructive nature of the matter applied
to it.   He explains therefore the benefit derived in cer-
tain cases from Avetness at  sea, either to the coolness pro-
duced ; or to its  preventing  the wasting effects Avhich
would attend evaporation,  could the air have access. The
removal of the thirst, he attributes to  a relaxation  of
those vessels in  the skin  which pass outwards, having
effect on the  vessels of the stomach by sympathy; just as
perspiration  in fever abates the thirst, Avithout the aid of
drinking.

  * He conceives with Dr. G. Fordyce and Mr. Cruikshanks,
of London, that the matter of  the perspiration  is separated
from the blood by the capillary arteries, and then thrown out
by organic pores existing in  the cuticle (however difficult  to
be discovered) which are connected with the extremities  of
these arteries; and he supposes that in this process, there is not
a separation merely, but  a new combination ; during which a
loss of heat may take place, accounting for a part of the cool-
ness attending sweating. 
APBENDIX.
627
  But some experiments made in France by M. Seguin,
the coadjutor of the celebrated Lavoisier, Avhich are re-
lated by M. Fourcroy, prove the necessity of a neAV exa-
mination of the Avhole subject.  In low temperatures, as
from about 54° to 59° of Fahrenheit, the loss  of weight
in the human body, says M. Seguin, is much greater when
the body is exposed in air, than Avhen it is exposed in Ava-
ter ; because, according to him the air in the latter case,
cannot, pursuant to  its office, dissolve the perspirable
matter on the skin; so that a loss of Aveight can noAv only
arise from what escapes through the lungs.   At about
70°, the disproportion of loss somewhat increases; as the
air entering the lungs, from having been previously load-
ed with the moisture of the  bath,  does not  so rapidly
dissolve the perspirable matter in the lungs.  At 90° and
upwards, by the increased action of the heart and arte-
ries, sweat flows from the skin, and lessens  the above
disproportion; which from being about three  to one in
favour of the air, becomes now only as about two to one.
But in no circumstances, does M. Seguin find any abso-
lute increase of weight in the bath.
  To decide hoAvever more precisely whether absorption
through the skin occurred in water, M. Seguin dissolved
in water a preparation of mercury, in which different ve-
nereal patients bathed their feet, and apparently without
taking any of the mercury into circulation ; unless Avhere
the skin Avas broken, as in  the itch, ke.  At last  he di-
rected his experiments upon  himself,  as  a   person in
health; bathing a  part of his arm in  water  containing
a preparation of mercury ;  and covering the glass which
held it, as also his whole body, his mouth excepted, Avith
gummed or with waxed silk according to the  case.  Iu
Ioav temperatures, he found no effect.   At about 72° of
Fahrenheit, mercury was taken into the body,  but no
water ; Avhence he concludes, that the  lymphatic vessels
did not perform this absorption, since they Avould more
readily have imbibed the water.  When the heat of the
bath Avas pushed on nearly to blood  heat, even mercury
was no longer taken up. Henee the author  supposes that
the mercury when the water was at 72% penetrated info
the drops of sweat slowly moving  outwards and thence
into the body ;  which could not happen, when the drops
of sweat rolled out faster, in greater heats.           ,
   AVhen other substances act through the skin,  M. Seguin
in effect explains the case nearly as Dr. Currie.  He dc- 
£28
APPENDIX.
 cides also  from these experiments, that  contagion  acts
 through the air and  lungs, and not through the skin by
 contact; that the diabetes arises from Avater  left in the
 lungs;  and that dropsies occur from the absorbing being
 stronger than the exhaling  vessels, (the absorbing being
 supposed to operate only on Avhat is within the body, in-
 cluding Avhat is found in the lungs.)   Some of his other
 conclusions do not seem to regard our purposes.
   Upon a comparison, it will appear, that in Dr. Currie's
 experiments,  no Aveight Avas lost in the  Avarm bath, at
 least that Avas discoverable by his  weighing machine;
 but that in those by M. Seguin, Aveight was actually lost
 in the bath, though less than was  lost under the same
 circumstances in the air.  Surely these matters require
 elucidation, and happily they may be pursued by  any
 person  in any country.  Indeed our inquiries demand to
 be extended to many other objects still  more familiar.
 So simple a fact as the state of  heat in starving persons,
 (supposing the  cause of the  ambiguity not to be in the
 nourishing clysters)  is still the subject of dispute;  and
 the same as to the heat in the diabetes.  And Dr. Cur-
 rie has perpetually to complain, that the heat is little
 observed in any disease Avhatever.

   Whoever inquires experimentally into the comparative
 weights of the body and of the powers of the skin, will of
 course  seek to consult Sauctorius and other celebrated
 authors; but let him not overlook the English Dr. Stark,
 of Avhose  experiments Dr. Franklin Avas  so fond.   Dr.
 Stark,  like many others in Europe, exposed his life in
 medical researches, and Avould  himself have been more
 celebrated, had not his zeal brought upon him a prema-
 ture death.  Lieutenant, (now Admiral) Bligh has given
 a relation of a famine at sea suffered by himself and his
 companions, which deserves particular' consultation; for
 he was  left adrift in a boat  in the Pacific Ocean, during
 six Aveeks ; in consequence of a mutiny on board his  ves-
 sel, which Avas conveying the bread-fruit, spice, and other
 plants, to the British West Indies.   Nor will Dr. Frank-
lin's remark be useless, as to the loose texture of the skin*
after having long remained immersed in Avater.
  The practice of anointing the skin anion- some of the
ancients who were fully clothed,  and among'many nation*.
ancient  and modern using little  clothing;  also calls for
attention.    Unction  with  them seems"a custom alike 
APPENDIX.
6.29
prevailing in warm and cold weather.  If new principles
are called fop to explain these usages, modern lights and
modern accuracy Avill probably lead to them.
  Dr. Currie  connects the warm bath with the subject
of unguents.   He says, that the warm bath is used in the
French, and is beginning to be used in the English West
Indies; and he  supposes it salutary after exercise; and
that it restrains profuse SAveating, keeps up the heat of
the surface and  extremities so as to prevent re-action  in
the arterial system, and  sooths the  sensations; but he
adds,  that on  leaving the bath, friction should folloAV,
Avith the anointing of the surface to prevent evaporation.
To this system,  however,  he  Avould join flannel clothing
next to the  skin, after the Greek and Roman manner.
Perhaps these things should accompany each other; but
without going so  far, it  is clear  that cotton Avould be
useful next to  the  skin both in hot and in cold countries;
pursuant to the boast of the English cotton manufacturer,
who says that whoever uses cotton  once, never quits it.
The use of oil is also proper for sAvimmers; and among
other reasons (as Dr. Currie  remarks)  that  the body
may glide more  easily through the Avater, as well as to
guard them (as we have added) against the cramp.
  Dr. Currie thinks that the perspirable matter of Euro-
peans is not well fitted for the torrid zone, as being too
liquid ; adding that the sAveat of the negro is  unctuous
or oily.  Has  he or others made the comparison in a sci-
entific view ; and taken the case of the Hindoo and other
Asiatics, Avith that of the original Americans, into the
account?  The  question   demands to be  treated with
caution.

  Dr.  Currie, in a paper in the Appendix to his  work,
speaks of a ship-wreck of some Americans near Liverpool;
adding remarks on the influence of fresh and salt water,
hot and cold, on the powers of the living body immersed
in it:  the article being extracted from the London Phil.
Trans, for 1792.
  It  appears  as to  the Americans, that  tAvo who died
early during the accident, suffered from  an alternate ex-
posure  to air  and to Avater (both  salt and fresh;) that
others  survived, Avho were  more plunged in the sea,
one excepted, who Avas desponding, but  who died  later;
and that he Avho suffered least, Avas a black,  ay ho ay as
covered to the shoulders in the sea.   The sea was about 
630
APPENDIX.
 thirty-five  degrees in its temperature, according to the
 author's present conjecture.  The air Avas probably still
 loAver, and attended during part of the time with  sleet
 and siioav and a piercing  Avind.   The  stay on the Avreck
 on the whole  Avas twenty-three hours.  The  two who
 died first, Avere delirious , none were ever drowsy; but
 all Avere thirsty and hungry.   Mr. Amyat  who related
 the story, had his hands and feet swelled and numb, but
 not senseless; his mouth parched;  a tightness at the pit
 of the stomach; and distressing cramps in his sides and
 hips.  Henee we may perceive  the advantage of having
 been continually covered with the salt water.

   This accident led the  author into a  train  of experi-
 ments on Avhat he esteemed the  most fundamental power
 attending life;  namely, the capacity of the body to  pre-
 serve the same heat under different circumstances.
   In his first experiment a young man Avho Avas plunged
 into a bath at 44° of Fahrenheit, bad the thermometer
 under his tongue reduced from  98?  to 87° ; then raised
 gradually in twelve minutes to above 93° ; but upon being
 exposed to the Avind at 44°, though attendants were rub-
 bing him, it fell again in tAvo minutes to  87° ; nor did he,
 though every resource Avas  employed, entirely recover
 his heat under three hours.   A second experiment on the
 next day, gave  neaiiy the same  result; as did a third on
 the folloAving day;  but in the third, the  man  Avas after-
 wards  plunged into a warm bath on being taken out of
 the cold air, Avhen the thermometer sunk two  degrees.
 But the thermometer  rose again more  quickly than in
 the cold bath, and the heat Avas general over the body,
 and not confined (as in the cold bath) to  the trunk alone.
 In a fourth experiment  on  another day, a longer  stay
 in the bath produced inconveniences  someAvhat resem-
 bling those felt by Mr.  Amyat; and  great pain  fol-
 lowed afterwards from a Avarm bath at 104°,* into which
 the party was too suddenly transfered.   Three other

  * In cases of this sort, "  Heat (says John Hunter) must be
gradually applied,  and proportioned to the  living principle;
 but as the life increases, we  may increase the degree of heat."
See his  Proposals for recovering persons apparently drown-
ed,  in  the  London  Phil.  Trans,  for  177G.   Mortification
arising from heat  too suddenly applied  to a  frost-bitten limb.
 is one of the facts, on which he founds his opinion. 
APPENDIX.
g&i
experiments offer little essential variation, though tAvo of
them Avere tried on a new subject.
  The cold water had ahvays salt mixed in it, in the
proportion of one to  tAventy-four; and  the cold  was
always lessened one  or more  degrees by  the stay made
in it.
  The parties immersed Avere generally agitated, so that
the  pulse  was quickened; but the cold bath sunk it
twenty beats in the minute from its last rate; and at the
wrist, it Avas scarcely to be felt.  A sense of cold at the
stomach  Avas generally folloAved by a  rapid fall of the
thermometer; and heat applied there so generally restor-
ed the heat in  other parts that the author is persuaded
that  the  stomach or diaphragm, or  both,  have some
concern in the process of animal heat.
  The follovying facts also appeared.   1° The  parties
best resisted situations tending to produce  cold, when
they possessed most of their natural heat, as by wearing
a flannel  dress.  2°  Cold wind operated more severely
than colder calm Aveather.   3°   Though  the human
body rapidly  accommodates  itself to  change, yet the
change may be  made  too quick,  especially when the
strength is diminished.   4° The action of cold water is
more or less considerable, according to the vigour of the
constitution.   5° The  condition of the  mind  operates
also; fear increasing the influence of cold; and attention
pointed to other objects, as in madness, diminishing it.
6°  These experiments require great  caution,  and the
presence of every means necessary for counteracting their
effects when carried too far.
  The author, in an experiment upon himself, passed
alternately but gradually out of a cold into a hot bath,
twice; staying a  short time only in each bath, and being
covered with a flannel dress;  but his internal heat never
varied from 96.
  By another experiment, it was found, that the cold of
fresh water is more difficult to  support, than that of
salt Avater.

  In another paper of the Appendix, Ave And Dr. Wright
again coming into notice, through Dr. Duncan's Medieal
Annals for 1797.   He  Avas still, among other things,
using, in the AVest Indies, external applications of cold in
various shapes in the early stages of the ship fever and of
the  yellow fever, and with continued success; and in the 
63Z
APPENDIX.
 latter stages, he  employed calomel  in  small  doses, to
 proeure purging and sweating.  AVhere the stomach was
 too irritable for calomel, recourse Avas had to Capsicum
 (or Cayenne, commonly  ealled Kian, pepper) made  into
 pills; and it has cured even after the black vomit. This
 pepper has been given in the  putrid  sore throat, in the
 West Indies, with the most signal benefit.
   In the course of this  paper concerning Dr. AVright,
 Dr.  Currie observes  that perspiration  seems useful in
 every fever in  every  country, not excepting  the famous
 English sweating sickness; but that for this purpose it
 must be profuse, and  also early, since in the latter stages
 of fever it is often injurious.  The mode of exciting it,
 he says,  may  however  be  mechanical.  Mr.  Thomas
 Graham for example, covers the Avhole surface  of  the
 body for this purpose Avith  warm vapour, in the early
 stages.  In the plague,  Count  Berchtold relates, that
 perspiration may be produced by a pint of olive oil, rub-
 bed during four minutes,  upon the patient in a  close room
 over hot coals, with a clean sponge;  or  if the first trial
 fails, then after wiping the body Avith a warm dry cloth,
 it may be repeated, and be aided by sudorific drinks.  But
 in every case, the  SAveating must not  only be early,  but
 may be employed during  the cold fit; when it will  still
 leave room for the use of eold Avater in the hot fit, should
 the hot fit still occur.

   Before quitting Dr. Currie, Ave shall give him pleasure,
 by affording him an opportunity to rectify two or three
 oversights.
   First, Dr. Cullen does not, as he  intimates,  neglect
 cold  as a cause of fever.
   Next, Dr. Currie attributes the discovery  concerning
 the near agreement of the heat of springs with the ave-
 rage heat of the place where they are  found, to Dr. John
 Hunter; a British physician of eminence,  (but not related
 to the celebrated surgeon and  anatomist  of that name.)
Dr. Hunter's reputation does not need the aid of borrowed
fame.   The first observer of  the  fact appears to have
been Dr. John  Roebuck, F.  R. S. at  least Dr. William
Heberden's comment  upon the subject implies it.  (See
London Phil. Trans, for 1775.)
  Lastly, Dr. Currie seems also to have omitted to notice
Dr. Crawford's  paper in the  London Phil. Trans,  for
1781; Avhere that amiable philosopher stated, that the 
APPENDIX.
633
difference between the colour of the venous and arterial
blood increases Avith cold and lessens with heat; and that
from the event  connected with this difference, nature
finds the means of proportioning the  generation of beat
to the call for it.* Dr. Currie knows that this difference
of colour had its proper causef assigned to it, by Dr.
Priestley;  which paved the Avay  for  Dr.  Crawford's
application of the fact, to explain  the origin  of animal
heat as coming from the action of the air on the blood in
the lungs.  The above additional fact noticed by Dr. Craw-
ford, if confirmed by a feAV more experiments, will pro-
bably go far to remove Dr. Currie's difficulties concerning
this beautiful discovery respecting animal heat, which he
extended  also to combustion.  Air. Cavendish and the
French chemists have by their new system led to  some
modification of this discovery, (for  it is no longer to be
called theory;) but however this shall be decided by time,
the essence of the wliole is Dr. CraAvford's, and will ren-
der his name immortal.   Dr. Rutherford, of Edinburgh,
under their modification, explains the supply of Avater in
diabetes to arise from " a portion of the oxygen, (whicii
in the ordinary course of tilings is exhaled in the form of
an elastic vapour,) being absorbed in the form of water."
But Dr. Crawford's discovery requiring to be treated at
length, we for the present drop any further discussion of
it; especially  as  this hypothesis  regarding  diabetes,
leaves its symptoms still unexplained.

  In taking  leave of Dr. Currie, let us do justice to his
ingenuity, industry and candour.  If his work stands the
test of time, immortality also will be his lot.  He is well
knoAvn to many Americans frequenting Liverpool; but it

  * Is there any decisive difference in the colour of the venous
and arterial blood  in insane persons indicative of their known
power to  resist  cold;  which the practitioner can pursue
through all its mazes, so as to arrive at the means of assisting
their malady ? Their power of resisting  cold has  indeed its
limits, since their limbs may be frost-bitten; and perhaps it
seems greater than it is, from their attention (where they can
command any) being directed to other objects;  in which they
agree also with children.
  + Mr. Hewson and  others had been  aware that the air ope-
rated here, but they knew not hois it operated.  See London
Phil.  Trans, for 1776.
88 
634
APPENDIX.
is  not perhaps knoAvn to  all Americans,  that  besides
Middlesex, no county in  England can boast of so many
able and spirited medical  men, as that of Lancaster;
especially if  we include  Dr. Haygarth in  the number,
as united Avith them  by  intercourse, though residing in
Chester.  Among the foremost of these,  Ave may  cer-
tainly place the excellent Dr.  Percival, of  Alanchester;
to Avhose zeal for philosophy and for humanity, Ave may
attribute in no small degree the honourable pre-eminence
here mentioned.
   As to our  analysis, though  it includes the chief  sub-
stance of Dr. Currie's book containing 347 octavo pages,
the reader will not fail to peruse that Avork, with plea-
sure ; nor, having read that work, will the reader perhaps
regret his having seen this analysis.  Dr.  Currie is not
in every respect methodical;  but he is  more; he is ori-
ginal on some of the most important of medical subjects.
  The foregoing abridgment waspublished in a pamphlet,
during the melancholy devastation of our cities by the
prevailing epidemic fever.   The respected and benevo-
lent  author Avill not, it  is presumed, require an apology
for the republication of a work so honorary to himself,
and  so extensively useful to the community. 
A  BRIEF  ANALYSIS.
  OP THE SECOND VOLUME OF CURRIE'S MEDICAL REPORTS.

 1 his volume is composed chiefly of additional evidence
in favour  of the opinions and practice proposed in the
volume preceding.  This evidence is furnished not only
from  Dr. Currie's own experience, but is communicated
to him from practitioners in various situations, and from
various climates.
  The following  is a  comprehensive statement by Dr.
Currie of his experience at the time of publishing this
volume.
  " In the six years, which have elapsed since  the pub-
lication of the second edition of the first volume, I have
invariably employed the affusion  of Avater, cold and tepid,
in the diseases pointed out in the, original publication,
and I have extended it to some  others, of Avhich I shall
afterwards speak.  Its success has equalled  my expecta-
tions;  I have nothing to detract from  the accounts  I
have formerly given of its efficacy.  I repeat, that used
in the three first days of fever the cold affusion very
generally stops the  disease—that the same happy effects
sometimes follow  its  use on the  fourth or even fifth day,
but seldom  later; that even in the subsequent  stages,
where the heat continues  preternaturally great, and  the
skin dry, it is of great and manifest advantage, almost
immediately  relieving the most distressing symptoms,
particularly restlessness  and delirium, and  conducting
the disease to a safe and speedier issue.
  " The tepid affusion is, as I formerly observed, appli-
cable, and possesses very considerable, though inferior
efficacy.  I find it, however, very safe, easy of applica-
tion, and in a high degree grateful, and I have extended
it to almost the Avhole class of febrile diseases.  In my
practice the cold and tepid affusions are very often com-
bined in the same disease. Avliile the heat is great, the
skin  dry,  and the vascular action  strong,  I use Avater
perfectly cold;  when  these symptoms  diminish, I use it
cool; and as they  subside still farther,  I make it tepid." 
636
APPENDIX.
  The precise meaning of these terms is given in Chap-
ter X. Vol. I.
  The limits of this analysis Avill permit us to state only
such  remarks as are most essential, and those in very
general terms.
  Dr. Currie describes an epidemic  dysentery, which
prevailed in Liverpool in 1801.  In this  disease, which
was attended Avith fever, he did not try the application of
cold iu any form ;  for he had learnt by experience that
that remedy Avas not successful in fever, attended with
affections of the bowels.   The tepid affusion he did try,
but Avithout any permanent benefit, although it abated the
heat.
  In  Scarlatina of the same year  he employed very ex-
tensively  <• the affusion, both cold and tepid, with  the
happiest effects."   In this disease he followed the same
rules, as in fever, without any regard to the eruption.
Both Dr.  Currie, and  Dr. Gregory, professor  of  the
practice of medicine in  the  university of Edinburgh,
evidenced their confidence in the cold  affusion by apply-
ing it to their oavh children, Avhen affected  with Scarla-
tina.
  In this disease it is commonly necessary to repeat the
affusion very often, and at very short intervals; in some
instances ten or twelve times in twenty-four hours.  Dr.
Currie assisted this remedy by giving cold drinks, and by
opening  the  bowels, if necessary,  with sub-muriate of
quicksilver; and in a few cases he  also employed tartrite
of antimony as a diaphoretic.   He suggests doubts res-
pecting ciuchona in this disease; and strongly reprobates
the use  of Avine, while there is any considerable heat on
the surface.
  In typhus, which al«o  prevailed  in Liverpool in 1801,
our author did not find his favourite remedy so useful as
on  former occasions.  The affusion, seldom lower than
cool, generally tepid, Avas employed in most cases of the
fever of that season.  It Avas beneficial, but did not  cut
short the disease, even when employed  at an early stage.
But there was an unusual deficiency of heat, and there-
fore no opportunity  was afforded of employing the cold
affusion, which is much more efficacious than the tepid
water.  Dr.  Currie suggests, in  contradiction however
to his own principles and cautions, that " a practice some-
what  bolder might have been more successful."
  Dr. Currie avers, that he has not seen nor heard of any
instance, in which the practice of  cold affusion has been 
APPENDIX.
637
injurious.  He doubts the utility of this practice in eases,
Avhere there is an unusual sensibility of the surface of the
body to cold.   Yet he gives a ease, in Avhich Mr. Dal-
rymple, of Norwich, disregarded this doubt not only Avith
impunity, but with advantage.
  In some cases of cynanche tonsillaris, or inflammatory
sore throat, and likeAvise of measles, the cold affusion was
employed in the early stages under a mistake  respecting
the nature of the cases.   In these instances, there Avas no
injury produced ; and they were noticed as proving sin-
gularly mild.
  Dr. C. did  not employ the affusion of Avater  on any
person affected Avith influenza, except himself.  While he
had that disease he submitted to the shower bath at 85°
every three  or four hours.  The effects seem  to have
been beneficial.   But Dr. AVright informed him that he
employed the cold affusion in this disease to " keep down
heat and  flushings," at  the same  time  he allowed Avine
and a liberal diet; " a mode of treatment, Avhich he found
invariably successful."
  The folloAving statement is quoted, as  it relates to cases
of yellow fever,  originating in our own country.
  '•Air. Wilson, surgeon of his Alajesty's ship the Hus-
sar, employed the cold affusion with extraordinary success
in  1795.  The  Hussar had taken a French ship from
Gaudaloupe, off the Capes of Virginia, which had brought
the yelloAV fever out of port with her, of Avhich many had
died.   The disease spread rapidly among the  crew of the
Hussar, and the ship, running northwards, landed eighty-
three persons  ill of the fever, at Halifax, in Nova Scotia,
in the month of June.  There not being accommodation
for them in the hospital, tents were fitted up for them on
the shore, in Avhich Air. AVilson attended them. His prac-
tice was  to bleed early, generally in an hour after the
accession of the hot  stage.  He then gave a  solution of
emetic tartar.   The cold affusion was ahvays administer-
ed  in cases  of delirium, which it  immediately removed,
inducing tranquillity, and sleep.   Of  these eighty three
cases, Mr. Wilson did not lose one."

   Among many very important communications and tes-
timonials in favour of the  practice of cold affusion is an
interesting letter from Mr. Nagle, surgeon to his Alajes-
ty's ship Ganges, to Dr. Currie ; but its length forbids
its insertion here, nor does the subject require  a moro
ample illustration. 
638
APPENDIX.
   Although not precisely connected with the subject, we
Cannot omit to notice one very interesting case, in which
an ounce of tincture of opium was SAvallowed by mistake.
After vomiting, the  other usual effects Avere following,
but these Avere almost completely counteracted by the
repeated affusion of water heated to 106° and 108°, over
the naked body.
   It does not belong to this place to decide either on the
merit or on the precise extent of the utility of the prac-
tice  recommended by Dr. Currie.   We must, however,
exhort  every  man who practises physic, to study the
Avork,  of which this is a very short  analysis,  and in
adopting its principles to regard all the  rules and cau-
tions it inculcates.
   The  treatment  of malignant or typhus fever by the
affusion or ablution of cold Avater has been adopted since
Dr.  Currie's publication, by  some  of the most  eminent
physicians on  both  sides of the Atlantic.  Dr. Thomas,
author  of modern  practice, a work of superior merit,
asserts as an indisputable fact, established upon the firm-
est basis, that affusing the body Avith cold water is one of
the most powerful and efficacious means  Avhich we  can
employ in typhus  fever.  But its effects will be more
salutary in proportion  as it is adopted early, or  during
the first stage of the disease, and  it ought always to be
employed immediately after having evacuated the contents
of the alimentary canal.  He refers to an ingenious pub-
lication on the subject, by Dr. Jackson.   (Exposition on
the practice of applying cold in  fevers.)  Both these phy-
sicians having resided in the AVest Indies, experienced
extensive opportunities of putting in practice this remedy
in the malignant fevers of that climate, and they adduce
the most substantial evidence of the success which attend-
ed the practice both in their  OAvn hands and in  those of
many other respectable practitioners.
   Among other testimonials of successful results, the au-
thor mentions that Mr. Marshall, surgeon of the Cheshire
regiment, employed it at an early period, in sixty-four
cases, in sixty of which, the disease was happily arrested
by having recourse to it three  or four times, and in the
other four which were  advanced in  their progress, al-
though  the disease was not prevented from going through
its natural course, still all the patients recovered.  Mr.
Marshall mentions, that from the time he began the cold 
APPENDKC.
639
affusion he used little or no wine, no opium, nor indeed
scarcely any other remedy in any one  case in Avhich the
cold affusion was employed; which report Dr. T. thinks, is
of itself sufficient to establish its decisive superiority over
every other mode  of treatment.  Dr.  T. ahvays  takes
the precaution of giving a glass of Avarm wine, or some
other powerful cordial, immediately after employing the
remedy.  He relates numerous extraordinary recoveries
under this mode of treatment, and says, that the same
practice has also been adopted  in the London House of
Recovery, and apparently with the most decided success;
and expresses  a hope, that the prejudice against the
remedy will soon subside, that the public may receive all
the advantage wliich it is calculated to afford. 
COLD AND  WARM  BATHING.
  A he  observations here  subjoined relative to the im-
 portant subject of cold and warm bathing, selected from
 various respectable sources,  will not be deemed super-
 fluous.
   Cold baths are those  of a  temperature varying from
 the thirty-third to the fifty-sixth degree of Fahrenheit's
 thermometer.  The general effects, produced in a healthy
 person by immersion into an ordinary cold bath (that is,
 Avater of the temperature of forty-eight or fifty degrees)
 are, according to the accurate statement of Dr. Saunders,
 as follow: ** First, there is a general sensation of cold,
 forming that sudden shock to the whole system, which is
 one of the most important  effects of the cold bath.   This
 is almost immediately succeeded  by an equal universal
 sense  of  warmth, which  increases rapidly to a certain
 point,  so as to  cause the surrounding water, though
 actually cold, to feel of a comfortable warmth; and this
 feeling is  sooner produced, and continues longer, in pro-
 portion as  the  person is  in  full  health, and naturally
 possesses a vigorous circulation.  By degrees, however,
 if the  body continues  immersed, it becomes chilled ;
 violent  shivering conies on; the extremities grow numb
 and pale; sometimes sickness takes place ; and, at last,
 the animal powers are exhausted by cold and fatigue.  In
 this process, the most remarkable effects are those wliich
 occur first, and are directly consequent to the shock of
 immersion;  and  these require particular attention in a
 medical view, as it is only to the production of these that
 the cold bathing should be  suffered to proceed.
   ". The sensations of returning warmth Avhich take place
 directly after the cold of the first immersion, constitute
 what has been cal'ed the re-action of the system; and this
 is certainly  a proper and  characteristic term, as it im-
 ports an action produced in the body itself, to resist an
 external impression.  Re-action in this  place  seems to
 be a peculiar effort of the living power, and to be excited
in a degree proportionate to the force of that power, and 
APPENDIX.
641
to the intensity of the cause wliich called it into action.
It implies not merely  an increase  of the  production of
animal heat, but superadded to this, a sudden effort within
the body, and the whole arterial system, to overcome an
impression on the extremities as  sudden and powerful.
Hence it is, that a mere abstraction of heat, by a cold
medium, will not produce that Avhich is precisely meant
by re-action, except the external cold be applied suddenly,
and to a large surface.  These two  conditions  are  ful-
filled by sudden  immersion into cold water.   The supe-
rior power of conducting heat, which water possesses over
air, is also a circumstance that is  always to be kept in
mind in applying cold externally.   This is particularly
sheAvn Avhere a person continues long in this cold medium
beyond the first effects of re-action.  On account of the
high  conducting power of water, the body must be con-
stantly employed in producing an unusual  quantity of
heat; and this appears to be a great  effort in the consti-
tution, Avhich, if carried too far, goes directly to destroy
the animal powers."  Thus three effects are produced by
immersion in cold water; viz. an instantaneous and pow-
erful  shock, a sudden abstraction of heat from the surface
of the body, and that exertion of  the vital  energies to
counteract the shock and restore the lost quantity of ani-
mal heat, whicii is termed  re-action.  It is easy to per-
ceive, that Avhen the body is placed under  such  circum-
stances for a few seconds, a considerable impression must
be made, first upon the sentient system, that is, the brain,
and its ramifications, the nerves ; and, secondly, upon the
sanguiferous and absorbent systems:  and that such  im-
pression may be rendered subservient to the prevention
and cure of various diseases.   It contributes in various
ways  to brace the human body.   The relaxed fibres of
the skin and the muscles acquire more solidity and com-
pactness from contraction.  Their elasticity is increased,
and thus a considerable defect removed.  The nerves are
stimulated and excited to those powerful  exertions, on
Avhich the vigour of the body so much depends.   Hence
the superior advantages of cold bathing over all  internal
corroborants, its immediate salutary action being on  the
solids, vvithout the intervention of the  organs of digestion
and nutrition.   It is peculiarly adapted to those constitu-
tions  Avhich, though robust and apparently healthy, are
liable to nervous, hysteric, bypocondriaeal, and paralytic,
affections, as well as to frequent attacks of flatulency, and
consequent indigestion.  As cold bathing  is a remedy,
         r;.t 
642
APPENDIX.
which is successfully employed for the cure of various
disorders, -o is it a preservative against others, and par-
ticularly against febrile infection.  When used by persons
in health, it increases the tone of the muscular fibre,
strengthens the digestive organs, and by diminishing the
sensibility of the Avhole system, and particularly of the
skin,  renders  the body less susceptible of atmospheric
impressions from cold, wet, and sudden changes of tem-
perature ; thus contributing to the production of what is
termed a robust or athletic constitution.  The duration
of every cold bath applied to the Avhole body ought to be
short; for its efficacy depends upon the sudden impres-
sion of the cold upon the skin and nerves.  Aluch mischief
is frequently done by  staying in too long.  It is a vulgar
error, that it is safer  to enter  the Avater when the body is
cool, and that persons heated  by exercise and beginning
to perspire, should Avait till they are perfectly cooled.
Thus plunging into it in this state they experience a sud-
den chilliness that is alarming and dangerous.  In such
cases, the injury is generally imputed to going into  the
Avater too warm,  Avhereas in truth it arises from going in
too cool.   To use the  cold bath Avithout danger, and, on
the contrary, with great advantage, is to dip  into  the
water Avhen the heat of the body has been a little increas-
ed by exercise.  In this way only is the plunge produc-
tive of a shock, Avithout which not the smallest benefit
arises from cold bathing.  Healthy persons may continue
in it much longer than valetudinarians; and both Avillbe
influenced by the temperature of the air, so that in sum-
mer they can enjoy it for an hour, Avhen iu  spring or
autumn, one or tAvo minutes may be sufficient.  The head
should first come in contact with the water, either by im-
mersion, pouring Avater upon it, or by the application
of a Avet cloth, and then diving head foremost into  the
Avater.  The immersion ought to be sudden, that the first
impression maybe uniform all over the body; a contrary
method Avould be dangerous; as it might propel the blood
from the lower to the upper parts of the body, and thus
occasion a fit of apoplexy.  The best place for cold bath-
ing is in the invigorating  Avater of the sea, or a clear
river.  The morning or forenoon is the most proper time,
either when the stomach is empty, or two hours after  a
light  breakfast.   AVhile in water the person  ought to
move about, in order  to promote the  circulation of the
blood from the inner parts of the body to the extremities.
After immersion the whole body ought to  rubbed dry as 
APPENDIX.
643
quick as possible, with a dry and somewhat rough cloth.
Moderate exercise out of doors if convenient is advisable,
and indeed necessary after bathing.  If after going into
the cold bath a glowing warmth pervade the whole body,
we are  assured of its salutary effects, but if the patient
feel dull or chilly, or complain  of headach or tightness
across the chest,  it is a proof that it  disagrees, and it
should accordingly be discontinued.  A temperate bath
(i. e. from 70° to 85° or more) is applicable to the same
eases as the cold bath, and maybe used in the same man-
ner.  It is preferable in many cases  where the  shock
of the ordinary cold  bath is too great.  It should be
remarked, that this  powerful remedy is not suited to
those, avIio have a tendency to consumption, nor to such
as are  constitutionally liable to boAvel complaints.  It
should also be prohibited in cases of general plethora, or
full habit of body; in hsemorrhages, and in every kind of
inflammation ;  iu constipations, in diseases of the breast,
difficult breathing, short and dry coughs,  ke.; in an
acrimonious or sharp state of the fluids, bad colour of the
face,  difficult healing of the  flesh, and the scurvy, pro-
perly so called; in fits of the gout; in cutaneous diseases,
and'in a state of pregnancy.
   AVhere persons cannot resort to the sea or a river the
most  eligible  method is  by the shower bath, a proper
apparatus for which is to be had at the tin shops; or wa-
ter may be poured from a common  water pot over  the
head  and  shoulders, while the person  sits upon a stool,
placed  in a large tub;  by this  method considerable
benefit is derived from the  gravity as Avell  as  the tonic
power of the water.   The head and breast  are secured
from danger by receiving the first shock, and the Avater
is quickly transmitted over the whole body.  The tem-
perature of the Avater too may be more easily modified
and adapted to the circumstances of the patient.  For
these and other reasons the shower bath possesses advan-
tages superior to all others.
   The  cold bath is  highly  useful to preserve children
from the boAvel complaints, which prevail in the  summer
throughout the United States, and in cases of rickets it
is eminently benefieial.
   The warm or tepid  bath is about the same temperature
with  the  blood, between  ninety-six and ninety-eight de-
grees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.   Warm bathing h  a
remedy not less efficacious than  the former in diseases of
an opposite nature ; but concerning  the operation o 
644
APPENDIX.
Avhich, Avrong notions have till very lately been entertain-
ed by the generality of medical writers and medical prac-
titioners.  It has been  imagined  that the  warm bath
relaxes and weakens, Avhereas it  produces a contrary
effect; unless indeed the temperature be so high, or the
time of immersion continued so long, as to bring on that
degree of debility, wliich is accompanied with deliquium.
But this  arises only from an abuse of hot bathing, and is
even then the consequence of  an  excess of  stimulation.
So far is immersion  of the  body in Avater, heated to
ninety-six, from having a  lowering or weakening opera-
tion, that when duly regulated, it is found to raise the
spirits, to mend the pulse and appetite, and to refresh and
invigorate the Avhole frame.   Hence the benefit derived
from it after  great  fatigue; in old age ; in  atonic gout,
accompanied with stiffness and pallid sAvellings of the
joints; in  paralysis;  in chlorosis; in diseases arising
from a certain  torpor of  the  lymphatic and glandular
system;   such  as scrofula, leprous,  and other chronic
eruptions, &c.   In cases of predisposition to phthisis, it
abates the frequency of the pulse, and tends to retard al
least, if  it does not vyholly prevent, the pulmonary affec-
tion.  In  consequence of its soothing and agreeable
impression upon the  surface of the body, it produces very
beneficial effects in certain disordered states of the  ali-
mentary canal,  originating in diminished action ;  and it
affords the best  and  speediest relief in a great variety of
painful  disorders, whether connected Avith local inflam-
mation or not; such as  chronic  rheumatism, certain
forms of lues venerea, nephritis, calculus  vesica1, colic,
enteritis, ke.   Dr. Charleton, of  Bath, in  England, as-
serts that, of nine  hundred and  ninety-six paralytics,
most of Avhom had resisted the  powers of medicine, eight
hundred  and thirteen were benefited by the proper appli-
cation of the Avarm bath.   The time of immersion should
be varied according to the temperature of the Avater, and
the feelings of the patient.  In  a bath of ninety-six, a per-
son  mayr remain fifteen, twenty, or  thirty  minutes, or
even longer ; but in  one of ninety-eight or one hundred,
it will seldom be proper, and  indeed there are feAv per-
sons that can bear to remain  beyond ten  minutes, and
in the generality of cases not  so long.  Patients labour-
ing under chronic rheumatism and palsy, bear the high
degree of temperature best.   When say eating is desired
the warm bath should be used in an evening, and the pa-
tient should immediately afterwards be put into a Avarm 
APPENDIX.
645
lied, and remain there until late the next morning: but in
ail  other cases, the best time for using the warm bath
will be in the forenoon, about two hours after breakfast.
In these eases the bathers should not retire to bed, nor
confine themselves Avithin doors, but  go about as usual;
unless the Aveather should be particularly damp or incle-
ment. Hot bathing, like cold bathing, is applied topically
by pumping on the diseased part.  Sometimes steam is
applied  to the body instead of warm Avater.  The Avarm
bath is of Aery great utility to such individuals as are
troubled Avith a parched and rough skin; in this and  in
most other cases a free use of friction with a flannel cloth,
while in the water, Avill prove extremely beneficial.
   The  celebrated  count Rumford has paid particular
attention to the subject of Avarni bathing; he has exa-
mined it by the test of experiments long and frequently
repeated, and  bears testimony  to its excellent effects.
" It is not merely on account of the advantages," says the
count, " which  I happened to receive from warm bathing,
wliich renders me so much an advocate for the practice.
Exclusive of the  Avholesomeness  of the warm bath, the
luxury of bathing is so great, and the tranquil state  of
mind and body, vyhieh  follows, is so exquisitely delight-
ful, that I think it quite impossible to recommend it too
strongly, if we  consider it merely as a rational and ele-
gant refinement."   " The manner, in Avhich the warm
bath operates," continues the count, " in producing  its
salutary consequences,  seems  very evident.  The genial
warmth, Avhich is applied to the skin, in the place of the
cold air of the  atmosphere, by which we are commonly
surrounded, expands all those very small vessels, where
the extremities of  the arteries and veins unite, and  by
gently stimulating the  whole frame, produces  a free and
full circulation, Avhich, if continued  for a certain  time,
removes all obstructions in the vascular system, and puts
all.  the organs into that state of regular, free, and full mo-
tion, which is essential to health, and also to that delightful
repose,  accompanied by a consciousness of  the poAver  of
exertion,  Avhich  constitutes the  highest animal  enjoy-
ment of Avhich avc are capable.  If this statement be cor-
rect, it  cannot  be difficult to  explain, in a manner per-
fectly satisfactory, why a warm  bath is often found  to
produce effects  when first used, and  especially by those.
who stay in the bath for too short a time, whicii are very
different from those wiiich it ought to produce, and Avhich
it cannot fail to produce when properly managed.  AVc 
646
APPENDIX.
 shall likeAvise be  enabled  to  account for  the  feverish
 symptoms, Avhich sometimes result from  going  out of a
 warm bath into a warm  bed.  The  beginning of that
 strong circulation, which is occasioned on first going into
 a warm bath, is an effort of nature to remove  obstruc-
 tions; and, if time be  not given her to complete  her
 work, if she be checked in the midst of it, the conse-
 quences must necessarily be  very different from those
 which would result from a more scientific  and  prudent
 management.  Hence avc see  Iioav necessary it is to re-
 main in a warm bath a sufficient time, and above all how
 essential it is that the bath should be really warm, and
 tepid, or what has been called temperate." Ree's Cyclop.
   " Dr. Marchard, resident physician of Pyrmont, has,
 in our opinion," says Dr. Willich, (Dom. Eiicy.) " satis-
 factorily demonstrated,  that  the Avarm bath,  in  many
 eases of debility, from spasms, pain, anxiety, and other
 causes,  as  Avell as to hectic and emaciated  persons, is,
generally, of eminent  service, and almost the only means
 of restoring their health, and prolonging their lives.  In-
 stead of heating the human body, as has erroneously been
asserted, the warm bath has a cooling effect, in as much
 as it obviously abates the quickness of the pulse, and re-
duces the pulsations in a remarkable degree, according
to the length of time  the patient continues in the Avater.
After the body has been over-heated by fatigue from tra-
velling,  violent exercise, or from whatever cause, and
likeAvise after great exertion or perturbation of mind, a
tepid bath is excellently calculated to invigorate the whole
system, Avhile it allays those tempestuous and irregular
motions, wliich otherwise prey upon, and at length  re-
duce, the constitution to a sick-bed."   Upon the Avhole,
it were much to be Avished that the use of the warm baths
Avere more general among all classes of people.  " Con-
sidered as a species of universal domestic remedy, as one
which forms the basis of cleanliness, bathing in its diffe-
rent forms maybe  pronounced one of the most extensive,
and beneficial restorers of health and vigour.

   X. B. Those who are desirous of improving a fund of
instruction and amusement,  relative to this interesting
subject, are refered to Dr. Saunders's " Treatise on Ali-
neral AVaters," "A view of the Russian Empire, ke. by
the Rev. Air. Tooke.  But more  especially, a truly ani-
mated and brilliant account of the use of the warm bath,
to be found in M. Savory's ♦• Letters on Egypt." 
No. VII.
                ON THE CULTIVATION

                       or THE

PAPAVER SOMN1FERUM, OR POPPY PLANT.

      AND  THE  METHOD  OP PREPARING OPIUM.


btrcH is the  intrinsic  value  of opium, and such the
high price  which it commands, that every method, pro-
mising to increase the quantity in the market, should be
encouraged as of great importance to the community.
  The citizens of the United States have not in general
been apprized, that this exotic may be cultivated on our
own soil to an extent adequate to every exigency, and
with a profit exceeding that of many other productions of
husbandry.
  Opium is the inspissated juice of the papaver somnife-
rum, or white poppy, and also of the common garden
poppies of every description.  From the testimony of
travellers, Ave learn that in the several provinces  of Asia,
the Avhite poppy  plant attains in one season the height of
from thirty to forty feet, bearing capsules Aveighing ten
or" twelve ounces, from Avhich opium is  obtained in im-
mense quantity,  by tapping them at the proper season.
In England the  climate and soil are not favourable to
such luxuriant production, but according to  the experi-
ments of Mr. John Ball, fields cannot be sown with any
thing more lucrative to the farmer, especially  if those
field's have a  south exposure.  The society for the en-
couragement of the arts, &e. for the year 1796, granted
a premium of fifty guineas to Air. Ball, and also a similar
reward to Mr. Jones, for their exertions, and a discovery
of their method  of preparing opium from poppies reared
in England, which proved iu all respects equal  in effect
and superior in purity to the best foreign opium.  By a 
liiS
APPENDIX.
calculation, says he,  Avhich I  have made, suppose one
poppy to grow in one  square foot of earth, and to pro-
duce  only one grain of opium,  more than fifty  pounds
will be collected from one statute acre of land.   But he
asserts that one  poppy having twenty-eight heads, pro-
duced above thirty grains of opium.   The particular
species wiiich Mr.  Ball prefers as  most productive, is
the double  or semi-double, each  root of which produces
from  four to ten heads  or pods, containing large dark
coloured or variegated flowers.*  The seeds of the pop-
py in  their unripe state are very nourishing, are divested
of the narcotic property of the juice, and yield  on ex-
pression a mild sweet oil little inferior to that of almonds:
hence they are often employed as an article of diet, and
it is customary in the  east to carry a  plate of them to
the table after dinner with other fruit.
  The attempts to cultivate this valuable plant  in  the
United  States, have  been  abundantly successful, and
established the important facts,  that every species and
variety of the plant is equally capable of producing good
opium; and that the collection of it might not only be-
come  a useful, but also a lucrative employment.  Dr.
Shadrach Ricketson,  of Dutchess  county, NeAV York,
and Dr. Reynolds, of Montgomery county, Alaryland,
have  favoured the public Avith their mode of cultivation,
and the result of their experiments.
  The poppy seeds in this country, should be  soavii or
planted  about the middle  of May, or as early in that
month as the Avarmth of the  season will admit:  the soil
should be moist, good, and well manured.  The seeds
should be planted at about ten or twelve inches distance
in transverse rows, Avhich should also be about the same
distance from each other.  They may be  planted much
thicker than is intended to allow the plants to grow, one
plant  in every square foot  being as much  as will grow
advantageously.   The residue  should be  pulled out at
the first or second hoeing.   The hoe must be frequently
and carefully employed to keep  the plants from being
shaded by weeds; and Avhen grown about four inches
high,  if the  land be  dry and not fertile,  they  may  be
frequently Avatered and manured.  About the niildlc of
July,  the plants, in their floAvering state, arrive at ma-
turity, and  yield  the most  juice; when commences tho
tapping or harvest.

            * See Aunals of Medicine,  1796. 
APPENDIX.
6±9
   The tapping ought to be commenced directly after the
 flower leaves begin to wither or fall from the capsules.
 and during a sun-shining day.  If this be neglected many
 days, the stalk becomes dry, and no juice can be obtained.
 The Asiatic method of performing this operation, and
 which Mr. Ball adopted, is, to make several longitudinal
 incisions, without penetrating their cavities, first on one,
 and afterAvards  on the opposite side of the capsules,
 leaving the exuding juice  to dry till the succeeding day,
 Avhen it is to be scraped off  But it is well ascertained,
 that the more eligible method  is, first to cut  off Avith a
 sharp knife the stalk about half an inch below the cap-
 sule ;  then holding the capsule in one hand, take the
 milky juice that issues from it with a knife, and put it
 upon an earthen plate; by this time the top of the incised
 stalk will hold another large drop, whicii should be re-
 moved as before; this done, the stalk should be cut about
 an inch loAver, Avhen a  similar drop of juice will  issne :
 the cutting must be repeated as often as the milk rises
 upon the top.  This juice must be exposed to the sun in
 earthen  vessels,  frequently stirring  it,  when in  a  feAv
 hours the aqueous  part will evaporate, and the genuine
 opium be  formed,  much stronger and more  pure than
 any imported.
   Dr. Ricketson has found by experience, that although
 every  species of variety of the  plant affords the same
 opium, yet a single species, and of the variety of large
 red or  purple  flowers, is  deserving  the preference, as
 growing more luxuriantly than any other, and producing
 from tAvo to four stalks  or  heads from one seed.  The
 capsules or heads groAV particularly large, as do also the
 stalks; and it is  obvious, that in  these particulars, the
 superiority of this variety  of the  plant consists.  The
 quantity of opium that may be procured, says Dr. Rick-
 etson, depends very much upon the largeness of the plant,
 and the  care  used in collecting it.   From one poppy
 plant he produced seven grains of the inspissated juice.
   Two species  of the poppy plant  Avere exposed to the
 experimental observation of the compiler of this volume
 the last season: the single species  bearing a variegated
 reddish or purple flower, consisting of four leaves only,
and the double or many-leaved poppy producing smaller
capsules, and a floAver  of a pale reddish colour.   The
former of Aviiich proved to  be  incomparably the most
 succulent and productive.   It attains to  the  heighl  of
         82 
650
APPENDIX.
from four to five feet,  branching out  numerous side-
stalks ; and more than fifty hca:'s were counted upon one
plant proceeding from a single seed.   It  continues to
send forth capsules and floAvers in  succession from about
the middle of July to the middle of September.  Atten-
tion therefore must be paid to collecting  the juice during
several  weeks.  The method of cutting the stalk half
an inch beloAv the capsule, and repeating it as often as
the juice rises upon the  top, is decidedly the most eligi-
ble that can be adopted.*
  From twenty plants the spontaneous and promiscuous
growth  from seeds lodged in the garden during several
preceding years, one hundred and ten grains of pure and
strong opium were obtained.  By a  subsequent experi-
ment, I have ascertained that an average number of one
hundred plants will yield one ounce of pure opium.  To
this product hoAvever is to be added a quantity of extract
which may be procured by boiling the capsules and stalks
of the poppy in  water after  extracting the  milky juice,
which if  properly prepared will possess about half the
power of genuine opium.   The capsules recently cut. and
the stalks separated from the root, are to be boiled in a
large quantity of water about four  hours, ay hen the liquor
should be strained off, and afterwards reduced  by evapo-
ration over a moderate fire to the consistence of extract;
care should be taken at the  latter  part of the process to
stir it frequently to prevent its being  injured by burning.
The seeds contained in the capsules will  yield a quantity
of bland oil, Avhich being destitute of any narcotic pro-
perty, should be  skimmed off while  floating on the sur-
face of the liquor, lest it  be incorporated  with the extract
and thereby injure its strength.  It is to  be observed that
the trouble and  inconvenience in collecting the juice of
the poppy is by no means inconsiderable, but when it  is
considered that this operation, by far the greatest part of
the whole labor of the season, may be performed by women
and children, and that the crop would be ready for the
market and exchanged  for  cash  in  the short space of
four or five months, it will be conceded, that Avhen the
price of opium exceeds ten dollars per pound ; the culti-
vator of the poppy may anticipate a profit greatly ex-
ceeding that of  the ordinary crops of  Indian corn or
other grain.
  * Some of  the largest beads  should be reserved to  mature
seed for the  ensuing season.  We are assured  that Linnseirs
counted in one poppy-head thirty-two thousand  seeds. 
APPENDIX.
651
  It is a subject of  grateful reflection that in every
exigency Ave  may resort to that  all bountiful source of
national and individual Avealth,  our  native  soil,  Avhich
Avith the labour  of our hands, may administer to our
necessities, and supersede  the  importation of expensive
and frequently adulterated foreign productions.   To the
the cultivators of rice in our southern states enjoying a
climate and soil, supposed to be peculiarly adapted to the
growth of the poppy, it must  be a very interesting in-
quiry,  whether the culture of this plant might not be an
excellent substitute for that of rice.   A rich and moist
soil is  most congenial to the poppy, and even if the plan-
ter should not in the first instance realize an equivalent
remuneration, yet the draining off stagnant Avater from
noxious rice  swamps, will  annihilate one of the most
fertile  sources of pestilence and disease, and thereby es-
sentially meliorate their own local condition.  From ex-
periments on a small scale, the  probable issue of more
extensive attempts might  be predicted.   Every effort,
therefore, to  effect an object  so truly interesting and
important onght to be duly encouraged and reAvarded, 
TABLE OF SYNONYMES OF THE MEDICINES, SIMPLE AND COMPOUND,
           Edinburgh.

Acidum Acetosum
                   destillatum
                   forte
                   camphoratum
                   syrupus
Aceturrr aromaticum
Acidum benzoicuin
Acidum citricum
Acidum muriaticum

Acidum oxy-muriaticum
Acidum nitricum
        nitrosum
                dilutum
                     unguentum
Acidum succinicum
Acidum sulphuricura
                   dilutum
                   aromaticum
Acipenser huso, fyc.
Aconiturn Napellus
          succus spissatus
Acorus calamus
iEsculus Hippocastanum
Agrimonia Eupatoria
JEther nitrosus
/fMieris nitrosi, spiritus
Mther sulphuricus

                cum alcohole
                   aromaticus
Alcohol
Alcohol
       dilutum
        ammoniatum
                aromaticum
                foetidum

Allium cepa
Allium sativum

Allium par rum
Aloe socotorina
     hepatica
            Dublin.

Acetum vini
        distillatum
Acidum Aceticum
                 camphoratum


Acidum benzoicum
Acidum citricum crystallis concrc-
Acidum muriaticum         [turn
                  dilutum
Aqua oxy-muriatica

Acidum nitrosum
                dilutum
                ungueutum
Acidum succinicum
Acidum sulphuricum
       dilutum

Ichthyocolla
Aconiturn

Acorus
vEsculus Hippocastanum
Agrimonia
iEther nitrosus
Spiritus aethereus nitrosus
iEther sulphuricus

Liquor aethereus sulphuricus

Liquor aethereus oleosus

Alcohol
Spiritus vinosus rectificatus
Spiritus vinosus tenuior
Spiritus ammonias
                aromaticus
                fcetidus

Cepa
Allium
       syrupus

Aloe socotorina
     hepatica 
IN THE PHARMACOPCEIAS OF

             London.

 Acetum
 Acidum aceticum
Acidum benzoicum
Acidum citricum
Acidum muriaticum


Acidum nitricuro

Acidum nitricum dilutum
Acidum sulphuricum
Acidum sulphuricum dilutum


Aconiturn
Extractum aconiti
Calamus
 Spiritus aetheris nitrici
 iEther sulphuricus
 either rectificafus
 Spiritus aetheris sulphurici
 Oleum aetnereum
 Spiritus asrheris compositus
 Spiritus aetheris aromaticus
 Alcohol
 Spiritus rectificatus
 Spiritus tenuior
 Spiritus ammonias
                 aromaticus
                 fcetidus
                 succinatus

Allium

Porrum
Aloes spicatae extractum
Aloes vulgaris extractum
r, DUBLIN, AND EDINBURGH.

             Various.
Acetum radicale
Acetum prophylacticum
Flores benzoini, or Benzoes
Acidum limonum
Spiritus salis Glauberi seu fumans
Spiritus salis communis acidus


Spiritus nitri Glauberi seu fumans
Aqua fortis


Oleum  vitrioli
Spiritus vitrioli acidus
Elixir vitrioli aromaticum
Colla pisciura
Aconiturn Neomontanum

Acorus verus
Hippocastanum

Naphtha nitri
Spiritus nitri dulcis
Naptha vitrioli

Spiritus vitrioli dulcis
Oleum vini
Liquor anodynus Hoffmanni
Elixir vitrioli dulce
Spiritus vini rectificatissimus


Spiritus salis ammoniaci dulcis
Spiritus volatilis oleosus
Spiritus volatilis feetidus
Eau de luce
Aloe spicata, Dub.
Aloe sinuata, Dub. 
60*                TABLE  OF  SYNONYMES, ke.

          Edinburgh.                          Dublin.
Aloe pilulae
     et assae foetida? pilulae
     cum colocynthide pilulae
     et myrrhae pilulae
     tinctura
             aetherea
     et myrrhae tinctura
     vinum
Althaea officinalis
Aluminae sulphas
syrupus
decoction
exsiccatus
pulvis compositus
Aloe cum zingibere pilula;

Colocynthidis pilulae composite
Aloes cum myrrha pilulje
      cum canella pulvis
      cum guaiaco  pulvis
      tinctura

      tinctura composita
      vinum
Alumen, super-sulphas argillae  al.
  calisatai
              ustum
Amomum repens

          tinctura

          zingiber

          syrupus
Amomum zedoaria
Ammoniacum
Ammonia? aqua
          carbonas
Cardamomum minus
          carbonatis aqua

          acetitis aqua
          murias

          hydro-sulphuretum
Amygdalus communis; nucleus
                     oleum  ,,
tinctura
Zingiber
composita
tinctura
syrupus
 Zedoaria
 Amoniacum
        lac

        cum hydrargyro emplastrum
 Aqua ammonia? causticae
 Carbonas ammonias
 Aqua carbonatis ammonia1
 Liquor volatilis cornu cervi
 Aqua acetatis ammoniae
Sal ammoniacum ; Murias ammonia;
Aqua sulphureti ammoniae
Hydro.sulphuretum ammoniae
Amygdalae dulces
 Oleum amygdalarum
                     emulsio       Amygdalae lac
Amyris Gileadensis; resina liquida 
TABLE  OF SYNONYMES, &C.
655
           London.

Decoctum aloes compositum
E>.Tectum aloes
Pilulae aloes compositae


Pilulae aloes cum myrrha

Pulvis aloes compositus
Tinctura aloes

Tinctura aloes composita
Vinum aloes
Alihaea
Syrupus althaeae

Alumen,  supersulphas aluminae et
  potassae
Alumen exsiccatum

Liquor aluminte compositus

Cardamomum

Tinctura cardamomi
             composita
Zingiber
Tinctura  zingiberis
Syrupus zingiberis


Mistura ammoniaci
Emplastrum ammoniaci
           cum hydrargyro
Liquor ammoniae
Ammoniae carbonas
Liquor ammoniae carbonatis

Liquor ammoniae acetatis
Ammoniae murias
Amygdala amara, dulcis
Oleum amygdalae
Confectio amygdalae
Mistura amygdalae
Various.
Pilulae cocciae
PiluljeRufi
Hiera picra
Pilulae aromaticae
       ecophraticae
Essentia aloes
Elixir proprietatis vitriolicum
Elixir proprietatis
Tinctura saera
Bismalva.
Pulvis stypticus
Aqua ammiuosa Bateana
Coagulum aluminosum
Amomum cardamomum. Dub. Elet-
  tari cardamomum.   Lond.

Tinctura stomachica
Zingiber officinale.   Lond.
Heracleum gummiferum.   Lond.


Emp. ex ammoniaco cum mercurio
Spiritus salis ammoniaci cum cake
Sal volatilis salis ammoniaci
Spiritus salis ammoniaci
Spiritus cornu cervi
Spiritus Mindereri
Ammonia muriata
Emulsio  communis
Balsamum Gileadense 
656
TABLE  OF SYNONYMES,  &C.
           Edinburgh.

Amyris elemifera; resina

Anchusa tinctoria
Anethum fceniculum


Anethum graveolens

Angelica archangelica
            Dublin.

Elemi
      unguentum
Anchusa
Fceniculum dulce
           oleum essentiale
           aqua
Angustura
Anthemis  nobilis
          extractum
Augustura
         tinctura

Chamasmelum
extractum
          decoctum

 Anthemis pyrethrum
 Antimonii sulphuretum
 Antimonii sulphuretum praeparatum
                     praecipitatum

        oxidum cum sulph. vitrif.
              vitrificatumcumcera
              pernitrat. potassae
              cum phosphate calcis
          murias

          tartris
                vinum
Apium petroselinum
Aqua destillata
Arbutus uva ursi
Arctium lappa
Argentum
         nitras
Aristolochia serpentaria
Arnica montana
Aromaticum electuarium
Aromaticus pulvis
Arsenici oxidum
tinctura
            dococtum compositum
Enema catharticum
Pyrethrum
Sulphuretum antimonii
Sulphuretum antimonii praeparatum
Sulphur antimoniatum fuscum
Pulvis antimonialis

Oxydum antimonii nitro.muriati-
Tartarum antimoniatum      fcum
Aqua distiilata
Uva ursi
Bardana
Argentum
Nitras argenti
Serpentaria virginiana
           tinctura
Arnica
Electuarium aromaticum
Pulvis aromaticus
Arsenici oxydum album 
TABLE  OF SYNONYMES, &C.
657
           London.

Elemi
Unguentum elemi compositum

Fceniculum

Aqua foeniculi
Anethum
Aqua anethi

Gusparia
Infusum cuspariae
Anthemis
Extractum anthemidis
Oleum anthemidis
Infusum anthemidis
Decoctum malvae compositum

Pyrethrum
Antimonii sulphuretum

Antim. sulphuretum praecipitatum
Pulvis antimonialis

Antimonii oxydum
Antimonium tartarizatum
Liquor antimonii tartarizati

Aqua distillata
Argentum
Argenti nitras
Serpentaria
Tinctura serpentariae

Confectio  aromatica
Pulvis cinnamomi compositus
Arsenici oxydum
                praeparatum
        83
            Various.


Balsamus Arcaei
Aqua seminum anethi
Angelica sativa
Bonplandia.  Willd.  Cusparia fe.
  brifuga.  Lond.
Decoctum commune pro clystere


Stibium

Sulphur aurat. antim.   Kermes mi.
  nerale
Vitrum antimonii
Vitrum antimonii ceratum
Crocus  metallorum
Pulvis Jacobi
Butyrum ant.   Causticum ant.
Pulvis Algarothi
Tartarus emeticus
Vinum antimoniale
Lappa major

Causticum lunare


Doronicum Germauicum
Confectio cardiaca
Species aromaticae
Arsenicum album 
658
ABLE OF  SYNONYMES, CvC.
Edinburgh.
Artemisia abrotanum
Artemisia Absinthium

Artemisia maritima
Artemisia santonica
Arum maculatum
Asarum Europaeum
—-----pulvis compositus
Astragalus  tragacantha, gummi
                      mucilago

Atropa belladonna
                  succus spissatus
Avena sativa
Barytse carbonas
       murias
              solutio
       sulphas
Bitumen petroleum
Boletus igniarias
Bubon galbanum


  Emplastrum gummosum
Calx
Calcis aqua
           linimentum
            Dublin.

Arsenias kali

Abrotanum
Absinthium vulgare
           extractum
           maritimum
Santonicum
Arum
Asarum
       pulvis compositus
Tragacantha
           mucilago

Belladonna
Petroleum Barbadeuse

Galbanum
          tinctura

          emplastrum
Calx recens usta
Aqua calcis
Linimentum calcis
carbouas a creta alba  Creta, carbonas calcis
b marmos album
praeparatus

potio
trochisci
pulvis compositus
     muriatis solutio
Cancer pagurus
Canella alba
Capiscum annuum

Carbo ligni
Cardamine pratensis
Carum carui
      spiritus
praeparata
prxcipitata
mistura
Aqua muriatis calcis
Cancer
Canella  alba
Capsicum

Carbo ligni
Cardaminn
Caruon
       spiritus 
        CABLE OF  SYNONYMES, &c

London.                           Various.
659
Liquor arsenicalis

Absinthium




Asarum

Tragacantha

Pulvis tragacanthae compositus
Belladonna
Extractum belladonnae
Avena
Solutio mineralis Fowleri



Semen cinae, seu contra

Aron

Pulvis sternutatorius
Astragalus verus. Lond.


Solanum lethale


Barytes.  Terra ponderosa
Petroleum

Galbanum

Pilulx galbani compositas
Emplastrum Galbani compositum
Calx
Liquor calcis

Creta
Lapis calcareus
Creta praeparata

Mistura cretae

Pulvis cretae compositus
           cum opio
Terra pond, vitriol. Spathum pond.
Oleum petrae
Agaricus chirurgorum
Pilulae gummosa;
Emplastrum commune cum gummi
Calx viva
Aqua calcis simplex. Solutio calcis
Oleum lini cum cake.
Julepum e creta, Potio cretacea
Tabellae cardialgicae
Pulvis ebolo comp. Pulv. cretaceus
                   cum opio
Canella alba
Capsicum
Tinctura capsici
Carbo ligni
Cardamine
Carui
Spiritus carui
Costus corticosus
Carvi
Aqua carvi spirituosa 
660                TABLE OF  SYNONYMES, &e.

           Edinburgh.                         Dublin.

                                  Caruon oleum essentiale

Caryophyllus aromaticus           Caryophyllus aromatica
Cassia fistula electuarium senna tinctura composita electuarium	Cassia fistularis electuarium Senna " tinctura electuarium
extractum	
	syrupus infusum
Castor fiber; castoreum tinctura	Castoreum rossicum tinctura
composita	Castoreum canadense
	tinctura
Centaurea benedicta Cera alba	Carduus benedictus Cera alba
Linimentum simplex Unguentum simplex Cera flava	unguentum flava purificata unguentum
Cervus elaphus, cornu	Cornu cervinum
	Cornu cervini decoctum
	pulvis liquor volatilis
	oleum rectificatum
Chironia centaurium	Centaureum minus
Cinara scolymus
Cinchona caribaea
Cinchona officinalis
              a communis
              b flavus
              c ruber
              extractum
decoctum
infusum
tinctura
Cinchona; Cortex peruvianus
extractum
rubrae  extractum resino.
 sum
decoctum
infusum sine calore
tinctura 
       TABLE OF SYNONYMES, &C.                 661

London.                           Various.
Oleum carui
Aqua carui
Caryophylli
Caryophylli oleum
Infusum caryopbyllorum
Cassiae pulpa
Confectio cassiae
Senna
Tinctura sennae
Confectio sennae

Syrupus sennae
Infusum sennae
Pulvis sennae compositus
Castoreum
Tinctura castorei
Eugenia caryophyllata. Dub.Lond.
Diacassia
Elixir salutis
Electuarium lenitivum
Infusum senae commune
Cera alba
Cera flava

Ceratum
Emplastrum cerae
Cornua
Cornu ustum
Mistu»a cornu usti
Pulvis cornu usti cum opio
Cinchona
Cinchona lancifolia
         cordifolia
         oblongifolia
Extractum cinchonae
          cinchonae resinosum

Decoctum cinchonae
Infusum cinchona
Tinctura cinchonae
Apis mellifica. Dub.

Unguentum album



Emplastrum attrahens


Decoctum album

Spiritus cornu cervi
Oleum cornu cervi fcetidum
       e cornubus

Cinara hortensis
Decoctum corticis Peruviani

Tinctura corticis Peruviani 
662
TABLE OF SYNONYMES, ke.
          Edinburgh.


Citrus aurantium
                aqua distillafa

                conserva

                syrupus
Citrus medica, fructus
              aqua distillata
              syrupus
Coccus cacti
Cochlearia armoracia
Cochlearia officinalis
          succus compositus
Cocos butyracea, oleum fixum
Cokhicum auturanale
syrupus
Colomba
         tinctura
Oonium maculatum
                 succus spissatus
Convolvulus scammonia
            pulvis compositus

Convolvulus jalapa
Convolvuli jalapae extractum
            Dublin.

Cinchona tinctura composita
Aurantium Hispalense
Limon
conserva
tinctura
syrupus
      syrupus
Coccinella
Raphanus rusticanus
         spiritus compositus

Cochlearia


Cokhicum
         oxymel
Colombo

         tinctura
Cicuta
      succus spissatus
Scammonium

            electuarium
Jalapa
Jalapae extractum
                resinosum
       tinctura
           tinctura
           pulvis compositus
Copaifera officinalis, resina liquida   Balsamum copaibae
Coriandrum sativum
Crocus sativus

       tinctura
Croton eleutheria
Coriandrum
Crocus

       tinctura
Cascarilla
tinctura
extractum resinosum
Cucumis colocynthis
Colocynthis 
London.
TABLE OF  SYNONYMES, &C.

                            Varfous.
663
Tinctura cinchonae composita
Aurantium

Infusum aurantii compositum
Confectio aurantii
Tinctura aurantii
Syrupus aurautii
Limones

Syrupus limonis
Coccus
Armoracia
Spiritus armoracix compositus
Infusum armoracix compositum
Cokhicum
Elixir antihypochondriacum
Mala aurantia
Conserva flavedinis cort. aur.
Tinctura corticis aurantii
Syrupus e corticibus aurantiorum
Syrupus e succo citriorum


Aqua raphani composita


Succi ad scorbuticos
Oleum palmae
 Acetum colchici
 Calumba
 Infusum calumbae
 Tinctura calumbae
 Conium
 Extractum conii
 Scammoneae gummi resina
 Pulvis scammoneae comp.
 Confectio scammonii
 Jalapa
 Extractum jalapae

 Tinctura jalapae

 Copaiba
 Coriandrum
 Croci stigmata
 Syrupus croci

 Cascarilla

Tinctura cascarilla?

Infusum cascarillae
Colocynthidis pulpa
Extractum rolocvnthidis
Diagrydium
Pulvis comitis Warwiceosis
Electarium caryocostinum
Mechoacanna nigra
Extractum jalapii

Tinctura jalapii

Balsamum Brasiliense

Crocus Angiicus
Croton cascarilla. Dub. Lond. Clu.
  tia eleutheria. Linn. 
664s                 TABLE OF

         Edinburgh.


Cuminum cyminum

Cuprum
       subacetis
                unguentum
       ammoniaretum
                     pilulae

       sulphas
              solutio composita
Daphne mezereum
Daphnes mezerei decoctum
Datura stramonium
Daucus carota
Delphinium staphisagria
Diauthus caryophyllus
                    syrupus
Digitalis purpurea

                tinctura
                infusum
Dolichos pruriens
Dorstenia contrajerva

Eryngium maritimum
Euphorbii officinalis gummi resina
Ferrum
       limatura purificata
       carbonas praeparatus
               praecipitatus


       oxidum nigrum purificatum
       sulphas
             exsiccatus
       oxidum rubrum
                     emplastrum
       muriatis tinctura

       et ammoniae murias
SYNONYMES, &.C.

               Dublin.

   Colocynthis extractum compositum


   Cuprum
   iErugo, subacetas cupri
           praeparata
           oxymel
           unguentum
   Cuprum ammoniatum

                       aqua
   Sulphas cupri

   Mezereon

   Stramonium
   Daucus sylvestris
   Staphisagria
   Caryophyllum rubrum
                       syrupus
   Digitalis
            decoctum
            tinctura

   Dolichos
Eryngium

Ferrum

Kubigo ferri
Carbonas ferri
Oxydum ferri nigrum
Sulphas ferri
           exsiccatum
Oxydum ferri rubrum
Emplastrum thuris
Tinctura muriatis ferri
                cum oxydo rubro
Murias ammoniae et ferri

Tartarum ferri
Vinum ferri 
                    TABLE OF

           London.

Extractum colocynthidis comp.
Cuminum
Emplastrum cumini

iErugo

Linimentum aeruginis

Cuprum ammoniatum

Liquor cupri ammoniati
Cupri sulphas

Mezereum
Daucus
Staphisagria


Digitalis

Tinctura digitalis

Dolichos
Contrajerva
Pulvis contrajervae comp.

Euphorbium
Ferri carbonas
Mistura ferri composita
Pilulae ferri cum myrrha

Ferri sulphas
Tinctura ferri muriatis

Ferrum ammoniatum
Tinctura ferri ammoniati
Ferrum tartarizatum
Vinum ferri
            Si
SYNONYMES, ke.                6()o

                Various.

   Extractum catharticum.  Pil. rudii

   Emplastrum e cymino

   Viride aeris

   Mel vEgyptiacum

   Cuprum ammoniacum

   Aqua sapphirina
   Cuprum vitriol. Vitr.  cceruleum
   Aqua styptica
   Laureola; cocognidium


   Carota

   Garyophylla  rubra
Lapis contrayerva?


Chalybs
Ferrum alcoholisatum
Chalybis rubigo praeparata

Mistura myrrhae Griffiths

Squamae  ferri purificatae
Sal martis, vitr. viride. Sal chalybis
Vitriolum cakinatum
Colcothar vitrioli
Emplastrum roborans
Tinctura martis in spiritu salis
Tinctuara martis aurea.
Flores martiales
Tinctura florum martialum
Mars solubilis.  Tartarus martialis
Vinum chalybeatum.   Vin. martis 
666                TABLE

          Edinburgh.
Ferula assa fcetida

           tinctura

           pilulae  compositae
           emplastrum
Ficus carica
Fucus vesiculosus

Fraxinus ornus; Manna
Gambogia

Gentiana lutea
              extractum
              infusum
              tinctura composita
              vinum compositum
Geoffraea inermis
              decoctum
Geum urbanum
Glycyrrhiza glabra
                  extractions
Glycyrrhizae glabrae trochisci
                     cum opio
Gratiola officinalis
Guaiacum officinale
            tinctura *
           ammoniata
           decoctum compositum

Haematoxyium campechianum
                 extractum
Helleborus niger
               extractum
               tinctura
Helleborus fcetidus
Hirudo medicinalis
Hordeum distichon
              decoctum
SYNONYMES, cVc.

                Dublin.

    Acetas ferri
    Tinctura acetatis ferri
    Tinctura acetatis ferri cum alcohol
    Sulphuretum ferri

    Assa fcetida
        lac
        tinctura
    Enema foetid urn
    Pilulae myrrhae compositae

    Carica
    Quercus marina
                 pulvis
    Manna
    Gambogia

    Gentiana
            extractum
            infusum compositum
            tinctura composita

    Geoffrcea

    Geum urbanum
    Glycyrrhiza
               extractum
Gratiola
Guaiacum
         tinctura
                ammoniata
Aqua calcis compositum

Haematoxyium
              extractum
Helleborus niger; melampodium
                extractum
                tinctura
Helleboraster
Hirudo medicinalis
Hordeum distichum
         decoctum
                  compositum 
        TABLE OF

London.
Liquor ferri alkalini
Assaefcetidae gummi resina
Mistura assafcetidae
Tinctura assafcetidae
Carica
Fucus
Manna

Cambogia
Pilulae gambogiae comp.
Gentiana
Extractum gentianae
Infusum gentianae comp.
Tinctura gentianae comp.
Glycyrrhiza
Extractum glycyrrhizae
Guaiacum
Tinctura guaiaci
               ammoniata

Mistura guaiaci
Haematoxylon
Extractum haematoxyli
Helleborus*niger

Tinctura hellebori nigri
Helleborus fcetidus

Hordeum
Decoctum hordei
                compositum
Cerevisiae fermentum
SYNONYMES, &C.               667

               Various.

  Extractum martis
Tinctura fcetida

Pilulae gummosae
Emp. antihystericum


iEthiops vegetabilis
Manna calabrina
  Stalagmitis gambogioides.  L. D
  Gummi guttae
Gentiana rubra

Infusum amarum simplex
Tinctura amara,Elixir stomachicum
Vinum amarum
Geoffroya inermis. Dub.

Caryophyllata
Radix liquiritiae
Succus liquiritiae depuratus
Trochisci becchici nigri


Lignum sanctum
Elixir guaiacinum
Elixir guaiacinum volatile
Decoctum lignorum
Lac guaiaci
Lignum Campechense
Extractum ligni Campechensis
Melampodium
Extractum melampodii
Tinctura melampodii
Aqua hordeata
Decoctum pectorale 
668                TABLE OF

           Edinburgh.


 Humulus lupulus
Hydra rgyrus
            purificatus
            pilulae
Hydrargyri emplastrum
           unguentum
Hydrargyri acetis
           murias

           sub-murias

                     praecipitatus
           oxidum cinereum
                    unguentum

              rubrum per acidum
  nitricum
              rubri unguentum
           nitratis ung.  fortius
                  ung.  mitius
           sub-sulphjs  flavus
           sulphuretum nigrum
           sulphuretum rubrum
Hyosciamus njg;>r
           succus spissatus
           tinctura
Hvssopus  officinalis
Inula helenium
Ipecacuanha
Ipecacuanhae et opii pulvis
           vinum
Iris Florentina
Juniperus communis
Juniperi spiritus compositus
         oleum volatile
Juniperus lycia, resina
          sabina
SYNONYMES, &C.

                  Dublin.
Hydrargyrum
            purificatum
            pilulae

Hydrargyri unguentum
           mitius

Hydrargyrum cum magnesia
                 creta
Acetas hydrargyri
Murias hydrargyri corrosivum

Sub-murias hydrargyri sublimatum

             praecipitatum
             ammoniatum
             unguentum
Pulvis hydrargyri cinereus

Oxydum hydrargyri
                  nitricum

Sub-nitratis hydrargyri unguentum
Super-nitratis hydrargyri unguent.

Oxydum hydrargyri sulphuricum
Sulphuretum hydrargyri nigrum
            h)drargyri rubrum
Hyosciamus
           succus spissatus
           tinctura
Hyssopus
Enula  campana
Ipecacuanha         •  ,
Ipecacuanhae pulvis compositus
            vinum

Juniperus
Juniperi spiritus compositus
        oleum essentiale
Olibanum
Sabina 
                  TABLE OF

           London.

Cataplasma fermenti
Humnlus
Extractum humuli
Tinc'ura humuli
Hydrargyrus
            purificatus
Pilulae hydrargyri
Emplastrum hydrargyri
Unguentum hydrargyri fortius
           mitius
Linimentum hydrargyri

Hyd/argyrus cum creta

Hydrargyri oxymurias
Liquor hydrargyri oxymuriatis
Hydrargyri sub-murias
Pilulae hydrargyri sub-muriatis

Hydrargyrus praecipitatus albus

Hydrargyri oxydum cinereum

           oxydum rubrum
           nitrico-oxydum

Unguentum hydrargyri nitr. oxydi
                     nitratis
Hydrargyri sulphuretum rubrum
Hyosciamus
Extractum hyosciami
Tinctura hyosciami


Ipecacuanha
Pulvis ipecacuanhae comp.
Vinum ipecacuanhae

Juniperus
Spiritus juniperi compositus
Oleum juniperi
Olibanum
Sabina
ynonymes,  ke.               669

             Various.
Extractum lupuli

Argentum vivum ; Mercurius

Pilulae cceruleae
Emp. lithargyri cum hydrarg.
Unguentum cceruleum fortius
                     mitius
Mercurius alkalisatus

Mercurius corrosivus sublimatus
Lquor bellostii
Calomelas.   Panacea mere.
Pilulae plummeri
       praecipitatus dulcis
Mercurius cosmeticus
Unguent, e mercurio praecip.
Mercurius solubilis

Mercurius cakinatus
           praecipitatus ruber


Unguentum citrinum

Turpethum miner. Merc. emet. flav.
iEthiops mineralis ; Pulv. hypnot.
Cinnabaris factitia
Callicocca, or cephaelis ipecacuanha
Pulvis Doveri
Aqua juniperi composita

Thus 
 670                TABLE

           Edinburgh.

 Juniperus oleum volatile


 Kino
      tinctura

 Lactuca virosa
        succus spissatus
 Lavandula spica
           spiritus
                 compositus
           oleum volatile
 Laurus camphora; camphora
   Tinctura camphorae
   Emulsio camphorata
   Oleum camphoratum

 Laurus cassia
             aqua desrillata
 Laurus cinnamomum
                   aqua destillata

             spiritus
             tinctura
                     composita
 Laurus nobilis
        sassafras
                oleum volatile
 Leontodon taraxacum

 Lichen Islandicus

 Lichen rocella
 Linum usitatissimum
                   oleum

 Linum catharticum
 Lobelia syphilitica
 Ly thrum salicaria
 Magnesia
         carbonas
         sulphas
 Marva sibestris
Manganesium
Mel
ONYMES,  &.C.

            Dublin.

Sabina oleum essentiale
       extractum
       unguentum
Kino
     tinctura
 Lavandula
          spiritus
                 compositus
          oleum essentiale
 Camphora
 Spiritus camphoratus
 Mistura camphorata
 Oleum camphoratum

 Cassia lignea

 Cinnamomum
             aqua

             spiritus
             tinctura
                    composita

 Sassafras
         oleum essentiale
 Taraxacum
           extractum
 Lichen islandicus
                 decoctum
 Litmus
 Linum  '
       oleum

Linum catharticum

Lythrum salicaria
Magnesia usta
Magnesia
Sulphas magnesiae

Manganesium
Mel
    despumatum 
       TABLE  OF SYNONYMES, ke.

London.                           Various.
671
Ceratum sabinae
Kino
Tinctura kino
Pulvis kino comp.
Lavandula
Spiritus lavandulae
                 compositus
Oleum lavandulae
Camphora
Spiritus camphorae
Mistura camphorae
Linimentum camphorae
                    comp.
Cinnamomum
Aqua cinnamomi
     oleum
Spiritus cinnamomi
Tinctura cinnamomi
Laurus
Sassafras

Taraxacum
Extractum taraxaci
Lichen
Decoctum lichenis

Linum usitatissimum
Oleum lini
Infusum lini
Linum catharticum
composita
 C Eucalyptus resinifera, Ed.;
 £ Butea frondosa, Dub.

Lactuca sylvestris
Spiritus lavend. simp.

Oleum spicae

Spiritus vinosus camphoratu*
Julepum e camphora

Linimentum camphorae
Xylocassia. Can. Malab.

Cannella
Aqua cinnamomi simplex

Aqua cinnamomi spirituosa

Tinctura aromatica
Dens leonis

Muscus Islandicus

Lacmus tinctorius
Magnesia
Magnesiae carbonas
          sulphas
Malva
Mel
despumatura
Sal catharticum amarum

Magnesia vitriariorum 
672                 TABLE OF

           Edinburgh.


Marrubium rulgare
Melaleuca leucadendron,oleum
Melissa officinalis
Meloe vesicatorius
                tinctura
                pulveris unguent.
                infusi unguentum
                emplastrum
Meloes vesicatorii emplast. comp.

Mentha piperita
        aqua destillata
        spiritus
        oleum  volatile
Mentha pulegium
        aqua destillata


Mentha viridis
Menyanthes trifoliata
Mimosa catechu, extractum
         electuarium
         tinctura
         infusum
Mimosa nilotica, gummi
                mucilago
                emulsio
Momordica elaterium
                  succus spissatus
Morus nigra

Moschus moschiferus; Moschus


Myristica moschata; Nux moschata
                    spiritus
Myroxylon Peruiferum; Balsamum
Myrrha
        tinctura
Myrtus pimenta
       aqua destillata
YNONYMES, ke.

              Dublin.

 Oxymel
 Marrubium album
 Oleum cajeput

 Cantharis
           tinctura
           unguentum

 Cantharidis emplastrum

 Emplastrum calefaciens
 Mentha piperitis
        aqua

        oleum essentiale
 Pulegium
          aqua
          oleum essentiale

 Mentha sativa
        oleum essentiale
        aqua

        infusum compositum
 Trifolium paludosum
 Catechu
        electuarium compositum
        tinctura

 Gummi arabicum
        mucilago
 Emulsio arabica
 Cucumis  agrestis
 Elaterium
Moschus
        tinctura

Nux moschata
             spiritus
Balsamum Peruvianum
Myrrha
        tinctura
Pimento; Piper Jamaicense*
         aqua 
                   TABLE OF

            London.

Oxymel
Marrubium
Cajuputi oleum

Lytta
Tinctura lyttac
Ceratum lyttae

Emplastrum lyttae


Mentha piperita var.  a.
Aqua menthae  piperitae
Spiritus menthae piperitae
Oleum  menthae piperitae
Pulegium
Aqua pulegii
Oleum  pulegii
Spiritus pulegii
Mentha viridis
Oleum  menthae viridis
Aqua menthae viridis
Spiritus meuthae viridis

Menyanthes
Catechu extractum


Infusum catechu
Acaciae gummi
Mucilago acaciae

Elaterii poma
Extractum elaterii
Morus
Syrupus mori
Moschus

Mistura moschi
Myristicae nuclei
Spiritus myristicae
Balsamum Peruvianum
Myrrha
Tinctura myrrhae
Pimentae baccae
Aqua pimentae
         S.i
SYNONYMES, &C.                673

                Various.

    Oxymel simplex

    Melaleuca cajuputi.  Lond.

    Lytta vesicatoria.   Lond.

    Unguentum epispastkum fortius
    Unguentum epispasticum mitius
    Emplastrum vesicatorium
Aquamenth. pip. simplex
               spirituosa
Aqua menthae vulgaris simplex
                     spirituosa

Trifolium palustre
Acacia catechu. L. Terra Japonica
Confectio Japonica
Tinctura Japonica
Infusum Japonicum
Acacia vera.  L. Gummi Senegal
Julepum e moscho

Aqua nucisioschatae spirituosa
Balsamum Indicum nigrum
Piper Jaroaicense
Aqua pimentae spirituosa 
67*                TABLE OF SYNONYMES, ke.

           Edinburgh.                         Dublin.
Myrtua spiritus
       oleum volatile
Nicotiana tabacum
         vinum

Olea Europaea; oleum
  Oleum ammoniatum

  Oleum sulphuratum
Oniscus asellus
Opium
tinctura
ammoniata
Pimento spiritus
        oleum essentiale
Nicotiana
Oleum olivarum
Ammoniae linimentum
Millepedae
Opium
      extractum aquosum
      purificatum
      tinctura

      tinctura camphorata
      syrnpus
  Electuarium opiatum
  Pilulae opiatae
  Pulvis opiatus
Origanum majorana
Origanum vulgare

Ostrea edulis

Oxalis acetosella
Ovis aries; sevum

Papaver somniferum
        extractum
        syrupus

Papaver rhocas

Pastinaca opoponax; gummi resina
Phasianus gallus

Pimpinella anisum
                  oleum volatile

Pinus abies, resina aponte concreta
Pilulae e styrace

Majorana
Origanum
         oleum essentiale

Ostrearum testae praeparatas

Sevum ovillum

Papaver album

        syrupus

Papaver erraticum
                 syrupus
Ovorum testae praeparatx
Anisum
       oleum essentiale
       spiritus compositus
Pix Burgundica
Emplastrum aromaticum 
       TABLE OF  SYNONYMES, ke.

London.                           Various.
675
Spiritus pimentae
Oleum pimentae
Tabacum

Infusum tabaci
Olivae oleum
Linimentum ammoniae fortius
                 carbonatis
Oleum sulphuratum

Opium
Extractum opii

Tinctura opii

        camphorae composita

Emplastrum opii
Vinum opii
Confectio opii
Pilulae saponis cum opio
Linimentum volatile
Balsamum sulphuris crassum


Extract.thebaicum. Opium colatum

Tinctura thebaica.Laudan.liquidum
Elixir paregoricum. Ed.
       paregoricum Lond. Dub.
Laudanum liquidum Sydenhami
Philonium Londinense
Pilulae thebaicas
Origanum
Oleum origani
Ostrea
Testae praeparatae
Acetosella
Sevum
Sevum praeparatum
Papaveris capsulae
Extractum  papaveris
Syrupus papaveris
Decoctum papaveris
Rhoeados petala
Syrupus rhceados
Opoponax
Ovum

Anisum
Oleum anisi
Spiritus anisi
Pix arida
Picis aridae unguentum
Emplastrum picis compositum
Abietis resina
Lujula
Syrupus diacodion; Syr. e meconio
Unguentum basilicum nigrum
Emplastrum cephalicum
Thus 
676
TABLE OF SYNONYMES, k<t.
Edinburgh.
Dublin.
Pinus balsamea, resina liquida
      larix, resina liquida
      sylvestris, resina empyreum.
  Picis unguentum
Pini oleum volatile
           purissimum
Pini resina
  Emplastrum simplex
  Unguentum resinosum
  Emplastrum resinosum
Piper longum
Piper nigrum

Pistacia terebinthus
Pistacia lentiscus, resina
Plumbum
         oxidum album
                      unguentum

         oxidum semi-vitreum
                      emplastrum
Balsamum Canadense
Terebinthina Veneta
Pix liquida
           unguentum
Picis liquidae aqua
Terebinthina vulgaris

Oleum terebinthinae
                   reclificatum
Resina flava; resina alba

Unguentum resinae albae
Litharg. emp. cum resina
Piper longum
Piper nigrum
            unguentum
Cerussa; sub-acetas plumbi.
         sive sub-acetatis plumbi
  unguentum
Lythargyrum
Lithargyri emplastrum
Liquor sub-acetatis lithargyri
Lithargyri sub-acetatis liquor comp.
acetis	Acetas plumbi
acetetitis unguentum	Acetitis plumbi unguentum
oxidum rubrum	
Polyala senega	Seneka
decoctum	
Polygonum bistorta	Bistorta
Poly podium filix mas	Filix mas
Potassa	Kali causticum
cum cake	cum cake
aqua	aqua
carbonas	sub-carbonas
purissimus	e tartaro
impurus	Cineres clavellati; kali impuruw
	Aqua sub-carbonatis kali
buper-carbonatis aqua	
acetis	Kali acetas
sulphas	sulphas
 
TABLE  OF SYNONYMES, &G.
677
London.
Various.
Terebinthina canadensis

Pix liquida
Picis liquida; unguentum

Terebinthina vulgaris
Linimentum terebinthinae
Terebinthinae oleum
Oleum terebinthinae rectificatum
Resina flava
Emplastrum  cerae
Ceratum resinae
Emplastrum resinae
Piper longum
Piper nigrum

Terebinthina Chia
Mastiche

Plumbi carbonas
Plumbi oxydum semi.ritreum
Emplastrum plumbi
Liquor plumbi acetatis
              dilutus
Ceratum plumbi comp.

Plumbi super-acetas
Ceratum plumbi super-acetatis

Senega
Decoctum senegas
Bistorta
Filix
Potassa fusa
       cum cake
Liquor potassx
Potassae subcarbonas
                   ex tartaro
Potassa impura
Liquor potassae subcarbonatis
Potassae carbonas
Oleum tereb. aethereum
Resina alba, Edin.  Colophonium
Emp. cereum. Cerat. citrin.
Ungt. basilicum Havum
Emplastrum adhaesivum
Sub-carbonas plumbi.
Unguentum album

Plumbum ustum
Diachylon simplex
Extractum satufni
Saccharum saturni
Unguentum saturninum
Plumbum ustum rubrum
Aspidium filix mas.   Lond.
Alkali vegetabile fixum causticum
Causticum commune mitius
Lixivium saponarium causticum
Sal absinthii
Sal tartari
Lixiva, Alk. fix. ve
Lixivium tartari
acelas
sulphas
Sal diureticus
   deduobus. Arcanum duplkatum 
678                 TABLE OV

          Edinburgh.

Potassa sulphas cum sulphure

        sulphuretum

        tartris
        et sodae tartris

        super-tartris
                   impurus
       nitras
        trochici

Prunus domestica

Pterocarpus draco, resina
            santalinus
Punica granatum
Pyrus cydonia

Quassia excelsa
Quassia simaruba

Quercus cerris, cyniphis nidus


        robur
Rhamnus catharticus
                   syrupus
Rheum palmatum
                tinctura
       et aloes tinctura
       et gentianae tinctura
       infusum
       vinum
       pilulae  compositae

Rheum undulatum
Rhododendron chrysanthum
Rhus toxicodendron
Ricinus communis
SYNONYMES, &C.

               Dublin.
Kali sulphuretum
                aqua
     tartaras
Tartaras sodae et kali

Chrystalli tartari
Tartarum
Nitrum, nitras kali

Aqua alcalina oxymuriatica
Prunus  Gallica
Santalum rubrum
Granatum
Quassia
       tinctura

Simarouba

Gallae

       tinctura
Quercus

        extractum
Rhamnus catharticus

Rheum
       tinctura
Rheum undulatum
Ricinus
Rosa canina
           conserva 
       TABLE OF

London.
Potassae supersulphas
       sulphuretum

       tartras
Soda tartarizata

Potassae supertartras

       nitras
Pruna (drupa siccata)


Pterocarpi lignum
Granatum
Cydoniae semem
Decoctum cydoniae
Quassia

Infusum quassise
Simarouba
Infusum simaroubae
Gallae
Quercus
Decoctum quercus

Rhamnus
Syrupus rhamni
Rheum
Tinctura rhei
Infusum rhei
Extractum rhei
Tinctura rhei composita

Toxicodendron
Ricinus
O'eum liciui
Rosa i-ar-i'ia
Confectio rosae canine
SYNONYMES, ke.                  679

                 Various.

     Sal polychrestus glaseri

     Hepar sulphuris

     Tartarum solub.
     Sal rupellensis. Sal polych. seig-
        nette
     Tartarus purificatus
              crudus
     Nitrum prismaticum

     Aqua oxymuriatis potassae


     Sanguis draconis

     Balaustium
     Cotonea
     Mucilago cydoniorum
Cynipidum  nidi, Cynips  quercus
  folii

Quercus pedunculata.  Lond.


Spina cervina
Syrupus domesticus
Rhabarbarum
Tinctura rhabarbari spirituosa
Elixir sacrum
Tinctura rhcei amara

         rhabarbari vinosa
Pilulae stomachicae

Extractum rhei aquosum

Toxicodendron
Palma christi.   Cataputia major
Oleum dekerva.Ol.palmae liquidum
Cynosbatus
Conserva  fructus cynosbati 
680
TABLE  OF SYNONYMES, &C.
           Edinburgh.

Rosa centifolia
              aqua destillata
              syrujpus
     Gallica

            conserva
            infusum
            syrupus
Rosmarinus officinalis
                  spiritus
                  oleum volatile
Rubia tinctorum
Rumex aquaticus
       acetosa
Ruta graveolens
               extractum
Saccharum officinarum
  Syrupus simplex
Sagapenum
Salix alba
      fragilis
      caprea
Salvia officinalis
Sambucus nigra

              succus spissatus
Sapo albus Hispanus

     tinctura
     et opii tinctura
  Emplastrum saponaceum

Scilla maritima
              exsiccata
              acetum
              syrupus

  Pilulae scilliticae
Scrophularia Tiodosa
Sium nodijlorum
Sinapis alba

Sisymbrium nasturtium
Smilax sarsaparilla
             Dublin.

Rosa damascena
     aqua

Rosa rubra
     mel
     conserva
     infusum

Rosmarinus
           spiritus
           oleum essentiale
Rubia
Rumex aquaticus

Ruta
     extractum
     oleum essentiale

Saccharum
Syrupus simplex
Sagapenum
Salix
Salix fragilis

Salvia
Sambucus
         unguentum
         succus spissatus
Sapo durus Hispanicus

Saponis linimentum

        emplastrum

Scilla
Scillae pulvis
      acetum
      oxymel
      tinctura
      cum zingibere pilulae
Scrophularia
Sium
Sinapi
       cataplasma

Sarsaparilla 
                   TABLE

            London.

Rosa centifolia
A;; :•* rosae
S' • upus rosae
F  i Gallica
1W1 rosae
Cori'ectio rosae gallicae
Infusum rosae

Rcswarinus
Sp'irus roswsrini
Oleum rosmarini
Rubia

Acetosa
 Confectio rutae
 Saccharum
 Syrupus
 Sagapenum


 Salix caprea

 Sambucus
          unguentum

 Sapo durus
 Ceralum  saponis
 Linimentum saponis compositu

 Emplastrum saponis
 Sapo mollis
 Scilla

 Acetcm scillae
Oxymel scillae
Tinctura  scillae
Pilulae  scillae comp.


Sinapis
Cataplasma sinapis

Sarsap^riMa
            So'
SYNONYMES, &t.                (J§1

                Various.

    Rosa pallida

    Syrupus rosarum solutivus

    Mel rosaceum

    Tinctura rosarum
Britannica; Hydolapathum
Okum rutae aethereum
Electarium e baccis lauri

Syrupus communis
Serapinurn
Herba salviae minoris
Roob baccarum sambuci
Sapo ex olivae ofeo et soda confectui

Balsamum saponaceum
          anodyrum
Emplastrum e sapone
Sapo ex oleo et potassa confeclus
Squilla
Scilla praeparata
Acetum scillificum
Oxymel scilliticum
Essentia squillae
Sinapis nigra
Sinapismus
.Nasturtium  aquati^um 
682                TABLE

           Edinburgh.

Smilax sarsaparilla decoctum


Sodae carbonas impurus
     carbonas

     super carbonatis aqua
     phosphas
     sulphas
     murias

    . boras

Solanum dulcamara

Solidago virga aurea
Spartium scoparium

Spigelia Marilandica
Spermaceti

  Ceratum simplex
Spongia officinalis

Stannum

Styrax Benzoin; Balsamum
   /    tinctura composita
       officinalis; Balsamum

Succinum
         oleum
               purissimum
Sulphur
§u!phur sublimatum
                  lotum

        unguentum

Sus scrofa, adeps

Swietenia febrifuga
         raahagoni
Tamarind us fndica
           infusum, cum senna
Tanacetum vulgare
OF SYNONYMES, &C.

                   Dublin.

       Sarsaparilla decoctum
                            compositum

       Barilla, soda impura
       Sodae carbonas
                     siccatum

            phosphas
            sulphas
       Sal commune;  murias sodae
       Murias sodae siccatum
       Borajf, sub-boras sodae

       Dulcamara

       Virga aurea
       Genista
               extractum
       Spigelia
       Sperma ceti
       Spermutis ceti unguentum

       Spongia
               ustae pulvis
       Stannum
               pulvis
       Benzoe
              tinctura composita
       Styrax calamita
              purificata
       Succinum
                oleum
                      rectificatum

       Sulphur sublimatum
                          lotum

               unguentum

       Adeps  suillus
              praeparatus
       Swietenia febrifuga

       Tamarindus
       Infusum sennae cum taiiuiiudis
       Tanacetum 
                   TABLE  OF

           London.

Decoctum sarsaparillse
                     composite
Extractum sarsaparillae
Soda impura
Sodae subcarbonas
     subcarbonas exsiccata
     carbonas

     sulphas
     murias

     boras
Mel boracis
Dulcamara
Decoctum  dulcamarae

Spartium

Spigelia
Cetaceum
Unguentum cetacei

Spongia
       usta
Stannum

Benzoinum
Tinctura benzoini composita
Styracis balsamum

Succinum
Oleum succini

Sulphur
        sublimatum
        lotum
        praecipitatum
Sulphuris  unguentum
                    composit.
Adeps
      praeparata


Tamarind us
SYNONYMES, &C.               683

               Various.
Natron impurum
Sal sodae.  Akali minerale a'eratum



Sal catharticus Glauberi
Muria; sal commune

Sub-boras sodae.  Lond. Syn.

Solanum scandens





Physeter macrocephalus
Linimentum album
Ceratum  album
Assa dulcis
Balsamum traumaticum
Electrum, carabe
Unguentum antipsoricum 
684
TABLE  OF SYNONYMES, &C.
           Edinburgh.

Teucrium chamcedrys
T'ucrium marum
Toluifera balsamum ; Balsamum
         tinctura
         syrupus
Tormentilla erecta
Triticum hybernum
  Amylum
  Mucilago amyli
  Trochisci gumraosi

Tussilago farfara
Valeriana officinalis
Veratrum album
               tinctura
Veronica beccabunga
Vinum album Hispanum
Viola odorata
               syrupus
Vitis vinifera
Ulmus campestris

Wintera aromatica
Zincum
       oxidum
               unguentum
       oxidum impurum
       oxidum imp. praeparatum
                   unguentum
       carbonas impurus
                praeparatus
                ceratum
       sulpha?
              solutio
       acetitis solutio
              Dublin.

Chamaedrys
Marum syiiac!im
Balsamum Tolut<rum
           tinctura

Tormentilla

Amylum
Mucilago amyli


Tussilago
Valeriana
         tinctura
                ammoniata
         extractum
         infusum
Helleborus albus

                unguentum

Beccabunga

Viola
      syrupus
Uvae passae sole siccatae
Ulmus
       decoctum

Zincum
Oxydum zinci
             unguentum
Tutia

Unguentum tutiae
Calaminaris
Lapis calaminaris praeparatus
                unguentum
Sulphas zinci

Tinctura acetatis zinci
Note.—The articles in italics in the first column are the scientific 
        TABLE OF

London.
Balsamum Tolutanum

Syrupus Tolutanus
Tormentilla

Amylum
Mucilago amyli

Farina
Tussilago
Valeriana
Tinctura Valeriana
                  ammoniata
 Veratrum
 Df■ octum  veratri
 Veratri unguentum


 Vinum (sherry)
 Viola

 Uvae passae
 Ulmus
 Decoctum  ulmi

 Zincum
 Zinci oxidum
, Zinci unguentum
Calamina
         praeparata
Ceratum calaminae
Zinci susphas
lnonymes, ke.                685

               Various.



  Balsamum de Carthagena

  Syrupus balsamicus
  Tormentilla officinalis. Lond.



  Troschisci bechici albi




  Tinctura  Valerianae volat.
Viola martialis




Winteranus cortex

Flores zinci




Cadmia fossilis

Ceratum epuloticum
Sal viti 'oli; Chalcanthum album
Aqua vitrioiica
lames of articles not in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. 
4p 
TABLE,
SHEWING  THE PROPORTION  OF ANTIMONY, OPIUM, AND
  QUICKSILVER, CONTAINED IN SOME  COMPOUND ME-
  DICINES.


           TARTRITE OF ANTIMONY.

  Wine of tartrite  of antimony contains two grains of
tartrite of antimony in the ounce.
                      OPIUM.

  Opiate electuary contains in each drachm about a grain
and a half of opium.

  Electuary of catechu contains in each ounce about two
grains and  a half of opium; for  one  grain of opium is
contained in one hundred and ninety-three grains.

  Powder of ipecacuan and opium contains six grains of
opium in each drachm, or one grain  in ten.

  Opiate powder contains one grain  of opium in ten.

  Opiate pills contain six grains of opium in each drachm,
or five grains contain half a grain of opium.

  Tincture of opium is made with two scruples of opium
in each ounce of the  liquid, or with five grains in each
drachm.  But a drachm of the tincture appears, by eva-
poration, to contain about  three grains and a half of
opium.

  Ammoniated tincture of  opium is  made  with  about
eight grains of opium in each ounce  of the liquid, or with
about one grain in the drachm.
                    ■
  Tincture of soap with opium is made with about fifteen
grains of opium in each ounce of the liqr.io. 
688                 TABLE. &C.

  Troches of liquorice with  opium contain  about one
grain of opium in each drachm.

  Camphorated  tincture of opium contains nearly one
grain of opium in three drachms.
                  QUICKSILVER.

   Quicksilver pills contain fifteen grains of quicksilver in
each drachm. Each pill contains one grain of quicksilver.

   Quicksilver ointment  contains about twenty-five grains
of quicksilver in each drachm.

  Mild quicksilver ointment contains twelve grains  of
quicksilver in each drachm.

  Quicksilver plaster contains  about sixteen  grains  of
quicksilver in each drachm.

  Ointment  of nitrate of quicksilver contains  in  each
drachm four grains of quicksilver and eiglit  of nitrous
acid.

  Milder ointment of nitrate  of quicksilver contains  in
each scruple half a grain of quicksilver, and one grain of
niii ous acid.

  Oiu'menl  of the sub-muriate of quicksilver and  am-
monia,  contains in each drachm  about four and a  half
grains  of the oxide. 
A GLOSSARY
       BOTANICAL TERMS USED IN THIS  WORK.

  Aggregate.  When a number of little flowers or florets
are  so disposed as to form one  compound flower;  all
of them  either  enclosed within one common  calyx, or
situated upon one common receptacle.   Thus the flowers
of parsley and daisy are aggregate, having several small
flowers or florets combining to form one large flower.
  Aloe.  Wings.
  Alternate.  Branches or leaves, or flowers springing
out regularly one above another.
  Angular.   Stem  having edges or corners, opposed to
cylindrical.  A stem or stalk may have one, two, three,
four, or more angles or corners.  Angular capsule as in
flower de luce or flag.
  Annual.   Living only one year.
  Anther, or Anthcra.   A box at the upper extremity of
the filaments which contains the farina or fructifying dust.
  Apex.  The point, end, or termination of a leaf, &c.
  Articulated.   Jointed.
  Auriculated.   Ear shaped : also having an appendage.
  Axillary.   Growing out of the angles formed by the
branches and the stem, or between the leaf and the stem,
on the upper and inner side.
  Base.  That part of a leaf, ke. nearest  to the branch
or stem.
  Base of the  leaves or  branches.   Flowers  or fruit
stalks are often said to grow at the base of the leaves on
the branches; that is when they are placed at the bottom
of a leaf or branch, and on the inner side where it joins
to the stem.   The same as axillary.
  Biennial.  Continuing alive two years.
  Bifid.  Divided into two parts.
  Blossom.  One of the parts of a flower.  It may con-
sist of one or more petals ; and is formed by an expansion
of the inner bark of the plant.
  Bulbous, root as garlic and onion; it is either
     Solid as in the julip and turnip,
     Scaly as iu the  lily,
     Coated as in the onion.
         87 
690
GLOSSARY.
  Calyx, or empalement, is that outer part of a flower,
formed of one or more green or yellowish green leaves
sustaining the corolla at the bottom and enclosing it en-
tirely before it expands.
  Capsule.  A dry hollow vessel containing the seed or
fruit.
  Catkin, is a composition of flowers and chaff on a long
slender, thread-shaped, receptacle; the  figure  of the
whole resembling a cat's tail.
  Concave.   Hollowed  out like a bowl, as the petals of
the cherry or the hawthorn; and the broad leaved plan-
tain.
  Cone, or strobile.  A species of seed vessel formed by
a catkin with hardened scales;  containing a seed within
the base of each scale; as in the pine or fir.
  Convex.  Opposed to concave: rising like the surface
of a globe.
  Cordate.   Heart shaped.
  Corolla.   Blossoms, petals, or flower leaves, is that
beautiful part of a flower which first draws the attention:
as the flower itself.
  Cortex.  Back or covering.
  Corymbus, or corymb.  A broad spike, the flowers of
which it is composed not sitting but standing each on its
proper fruit stalk, each of which again spring out of one
common fruit stalk.
  Cup.   A species of calyx contiguous to the other parts
of the flower.   It either includes one  flower as in the
convolvulus and gillyflower; or several florets as in the
sun-fiower and  daisy.
  Cylindrical, or round like  a walking-stick.  The form
of the trunk of a tree.
  Decumbent.  Lying down  or declining.
  Drupa.  A pulpy seed vessel; stone fruit as the plum,
the cherry, and the peach.
  Egg-shaped,  signifies  a shape resembling  the solid
substance of an egg; or in  respect to leaves it implies
only the form of an egg, divided long wise.
  Fibrous.   Composed of small threads or fibres.
  Filament.  The thread shaped part of  a stamen, sup-
porting the anther.
  Flower.  A temporary part of a plant appropriated
to the production of seeds.   It is  composed  of seven
parts; the calyx; the blossom; the stamins; the pistils;
the seed vewl; the seeds and the receptacle. 
GLOSSARY.
691
  Florets.   Small flowers, of which a compound flower
is composed; thus the dandelion, daisy*, and sun-flower,
are compound flowers, formed by numerous florets,  or
simple flowers.
  Fruit stalk.  A part of the stem or branch,  bearing
flowers but not leaves.
  Fructification.  The flower and fruit of plants ; the
whole process of perfecting the fruit.
   Genus, (genera.)   The second subdivision of plants; it
comprehends an assemblage of species  under the same
class and order.
   Germen, or seed-bud. The lower part of a pistil, and is
destined to contain the embryo seed.
  Heart-shaped.  A term used to  express the form  of a
petal or leaf, which resemble a heart divided length wise.
  Herbareous (herbaceous) stem; one that is succulent
aud tender, in opposition to one that is woody; it perishes
annually down to  the root.
  Husk.   The  calyx and the blossoms of grasses are
called  husks.
  Indented.  The edges of an indented leaf are hollowed,
or deeply scolloped, the lobes standing asunder, as if part
of the  leaf had been cut out.  The leaf of the oak or the
turnip are familiar examples.
  Indigenous.  Native to a country.
  Inflated.  Distended, as  if inflated like a blown  up
bladder.
  Inversely-heart shaped.  Leaves, &c. are so  shaped,
when the point of the heart is next to the stem.
   Involucre, or fence ; the little  leaves which surround
the base of rays that form an umbel.  It is the calyx of
an umbel.
  Lateral. Growing from the sides of the stems or stalks.
   Ligneous.  Woody.
   IAnear.   Strap-shaped.
  Lobed.  Divided, or lip-shaped.
  Midrib. The principal nerve which runs from the base
towards the end of a leaf along its middle.
   Oblong. Considerably longer than broad, and narrowed,
though rounded at the ends; as the leaves of the daisy.
   Ovate, or oval.  Egg-shaped.
   Panicle.  A kind of loose bunch, in  which the flowers
grow irregularly, and rather scattered; as in oats, ke. 
692
GLOSSARY.
  Pedicle.  A short foot stalk, or partial fruit sl?.lk, being
that part of a compound  or branched fruit stalk, wiiich
is the immediate support of a single flower, or floret, or
spiket.
  Peduncle.  A stem or foot stalk supporting one or more
flowers.
  Pendulus.  Hanging down, as the bunches of the  red
currant, aid the cones of the Scotch fir.
  Perennial.  Continuing for several years; at least more
than two, and regerminating several years successively.
  Pcriantheum.   A kind of calyx or cup.
  Permanent cup; remaining till the fruit is ripe ; as in
currant and pink.
  Petals.   The leaves wliich constitute the blossoms or
flowers are so called to distinguish them from the other
leaves of the plant.
  Petiols.  Leaf stalk.
  Pistil, or pointal.  A part of a flower, composed of the
germen, the style and the summit.  In the centre of the
blossom of the white lily, the pistil stands surrounded by
six  stamens.   In this flower the germen, which is  the
lower part  of the pistil, is long, cylindrical, and  marked
with six furrows ; next above this part is the style, wliich
is long and  cylindrical; and at the top  ofthe style is the
summit, which is thick and triangular.
  Pb'iled.  Folded in plaits.
  Pod. A seed  vessel of two  valves, within whicii  the
seeds are fixed alternately to each seam.
  Pollen.  Farina, or dust; a fine  powder contained in
the anthers of flowers.  The fecundating  or fructifying
dust.
  Protuberances, in seed vessels;  occasioned by the swel-
ling of the  enclosed seeds.  They are  sufficiently evident
in the pods of mustard, and in some  sorts of beans.
  Racemas.  A  bunch, as of grapes or currants.
  Radicalis.  Issuing immediately from the root.
  Receptacle.  The  base or seat upon which the other
parts of a  flower are placed.   The inner part of  a cap-
sule to which the seeds are attached,  is also called a re-
ceptacle.
  Reflected.  Bent back, rather angularly, as the seg-
ments ofthe cup ofthe currant;  the petals ofthe flower
de luce ; the blossoms of the hyacinth and white lily.
  Seed vessel. (Periearpium.)  A  vessel to contain the
seed.  It is of several kinds; as a capsule, a pod, a legu- 
GLOSSARY.
69S
men, an air-bag, a drupa, including a nut or stone; a
pomum, a berry, and a cone.
  Segments.   The small part of a leaf cup or petal, in-
cluded between the incision.
  Sen'ated.  Notched like a  common saw.
  Sessile.  Setting upon the  stalk.
  Sinuate.  [See Indented.]
  Solitain).   Only one in a place; as but one flower on a
fruit stalk;  or only one fruit stalk, proceeding from the
same part of a plant.
  Spathe.  A spadia, sheath, or receptacle.
  Spear-shaped.  Applied to a leaf, signifies that it is
shaped like a spear or lance.
  Spherical.   Globular.
  Spike.  A head or ear, as in rye, barley, wheat, &c.
  Spindle-shaped.  A gradually tapering root, as carrot
and radish.
  Spina.  A thorn.
  Spinosus.   Thorny.
  Stalk.  That species of trunk which elevates and sup-
ports the flowers, but not the leaves of a plant.   It differs
from  the fruit stalk, for  that springs from the stem or
branches; but this rises immediately from the root.
  Stamen, or Chive.   Open the blossom of a tulip or a
lily, and you will see six long threads or filaments, placed
round the central pillar, with an  anther on  the top of
each.   One of these filaments, together with its anther,
is called a stamen.
   Stem.  The proper trunk of a  plant supporting the
leaves, branches, and flowers. It rises immediately from
the root.
   Stigma.  Summit or top ofthe pointal.
   Striated.  Channeled, furrowed.
   Strobile.   [See Cone.]
   Style, or shaft, is a part of a pistil standing upon the
germen, and supporting the summit.
   Ternatcs (leaves)  growing three together from the
 same point.
   Truncate.  Lopped or cut off.
   Tuberous roots.   Those  that are knobbed,  like the
potatoc, peony, &c.
   Tuft.  A composition of flowers, in wliich a number
 of fruit stalks, proceeding from one common centre, rise
 to the same  height: and these again shoot out  other lit- 
69*
GLOSSARY.
tie fruit  stalks, which do not proceed from one central
point.
  Umbel.  A composition of flowers, in which a number
of slender fruit stalks proceed from the same centre, and
rise  nearly to the same height, so as  to form a regular
surface at the top.   Hemlock, carrot,  and low parsnip
are examples. These are said to be umbelliferous plants.
  Valve.  The different pieces that compose  a capsule
are called valves.
  Villous.   Shaggy, rough, hairy.
  Variety, is applied to such individual plants as differ in
some circumstances from others of the same speeies, but
not differing so essentially, or so permanently, as to in-
duce us to reckon them as distinct  species.
  Whorls.  This term is  applied either to  branches,
leaves, or flowers, when they grow all round their re-
spective  stems, resembling in some measure the spokes
round the nave of a wheel. 
ENGLISH  INDEX.
 X he  following index is greatly amplified by the insertion of
the different trivial or common mames of each substance or com-
pound, the systematic names being contained in the Latin index.
By such arrangement  the reader may with facility detect the
article  searched for, under the term most familiar to-himself,
and having turned to the page, its synonymy will be presented
to his view.

                            A
Acetic acid
Acetous acid
            distilled
            strong
            with squills
Acetite of potass
          lead
         quicksilver
Acids
Aconite
Acrid principle    .
iEthiops, mineral
Affinity   .
Agrimony
Albumen
Alcohol
         diluted
Alcornoque
Alder black
Alkalis
Alkali volatile
Almond, sweet    .
         milk
Aloes
      hepatic
      socotorine  .
Alum
      burnt
     68
 .   125
    388
 .   389
    496
 .   398
    452
    436
42. 121
    130
 .    70
    451
     79
    133
 .    56
 71. 133
 .   134
    370
 .   310
 38 174
 41. 407
 .   139
    488
 .   136
    136
 .   136
    348
 .   420- 
€96
ENGLISH INDEX.
  Alum curd
  Amber
 Ammoniacum
               milk
 Ammonia
           prepared
           water of
 Ammoniated alcohol
                     fetid
              oil
              tinctures
             «tincture of opium
 Ammoniaret of copper
 Ammoniacal copper
 Analysis
 Angustura
 Animal analysis
 Anise
 Antacids
 Anthelmintics
 Anti-hysteric plaster
 Antimonial powder
           wine
 Antimony
           butter of
           crocus of
           glass of
                  cerated
           golden sulphur of
           panacea of
           prepared
           tartrite of
 Antispasmodics
 Apple peru
 Angelica          f
 Ardent spirit          .       .
 Argil
 Aroma
 Aromatics
 Aromatic acetous acid
         ammoniated alcohol
         electuary
         species
         sulphuric acid
                   ether with alcohol
         vinegar
Arrov root, Indian
Arsenic 
                  ENGLISH INDEX.

Arsenical solution  '  .
                 of Fowler
Artificial mineral waters
Ash-coloured powder of mercury
Assa fcetida
Asarabacca
Astringents
Attraction
Avens
Azot
697
 Balm  .
 Balsam     .         ,
       anodyne  .
       of benzoin
       canada
       copaiva
       fir
       Gilead
       Peruvian
       sulphur
       tolu
       traumatic
 Ballston mineral waters

 Barbadoes tar
 Barley
 Basilicon ointment
 Basket salt  .
 Bath, cold
      warm
 Barytes
Bayberry,
Bear's foot      ,
Bear's whortleberry
Beaver
Benne oil
Benjamin tree
Benzoin
Benzoic acid
Bismuth
Bistort, great
Bitter apple
      sweet
      infusion
      principle
      wine
Blessed thistle
         88
B
analysis of
   457
   457
   572
   448
   219
   153
   103
27. 79
   225
    29
    268
     62
    513
    346
    303
    198
    303
    140
    279
    469
    356
    500
    572
    568
    165
    231
    552
    278
    640
    643
     37
    278
    228
    147
    177
    339
    346
    346
67.389
    163
    309
    202
    341
    482
     80
    520
    178 
6.98
ENGLISH INDEX.
Blistering plaster	Wo
Blood root	331
Blue ointment	554
plaster	563
vitriol	349
Boracic acid	45
Borax . .	347
Brxwood	200
Buckthorn, purging	316
Burdock	148
Burgundy pitch	303
Butternut . >	245
Butterfly weed	154
C	
Cabbage bark tree	224
Cajeput tree	267
oil	267
Calamine, prepared . .	455
Calcination	87
Calico tree . .	247
Calomel	442. 446
Caloric	252
Camphor	59
Camphor, tree . .	252
Camphorated acetous acid	497
oil	470
Canella alba	167
Candleberry myrtle	278
Cantharis	269
Caraway . •	176
Carbon	31
oxide of	32
acid of .	32
Carbonate	171
of ammonia	407
barytes	. . 172
iron	432
precipitated .	432
lime	172
indurated	172
mixture of	489
prepared	414
soft	142
magnesia	416
potass	394. 395
pure	396
impure	173
soda	402
 
ENGLISH  INDEX.
69&
Carbonate, of soda, impure
             sine, impure
                        prepared
Carbonic acid gas
Carburetted hydrogen gas
Cardamom, lesser         .
Cardiac confection     .         ■
Carrot, wild
Cascarilla   .         .         •
Cassia pod
       tree           .         •
       bark     .         .
       tlower buds     ,
       water
Castor
Castor oil
Catechu
Catalogue of new articles  ,
Cataplasms .
Cataplasm of alum         ,
             mustard
Cathartics
Caustic ley           •         »
Caustic common, strong    ,
                mild         •
        lunar   .         »
Cedar, red           .         .
Centaury, smaller
Cerates
Cerate of acetated litharge, compound
          impure carbonate of zinc
          savin
          simple      .         *
Ceruse
Chalk
       prepared .         *
       mixture
       powder
Chalybeate wine
Chamomile
Charcoal of wood
 Cherry tree, laurel
            wild
 Cicuta
 Cinchona ofthe Carribean islands
          common
          officinal
          red
    175
    176
    455
    583
 44. 584
    139
    532
    208
    202
    176
176. 251
    251
    251
    472
    177
    323
    271
    374
    545
    546
    546
    108
    392
    393
    394
    429
    247
    180
    548
    550
    558
    559
    558
    292
    172
    414
    489
    528
    519
    142
     169
    312
    310
     195
     188
     180
     180
     180 
700
ENGLISH INDEX.
Cinchona, yellow
Cinnabar, factitious
Cinnamon tree
          water
Citric acid
Classification, table of
Clove tree
Coakum
Cochineal
Cockspur pepper
Coffee
Colocynth
Colomba
Coltsfoot
Columbo of Marietta
Combustion
Compounds of acids, alkalis, and earths
Concentration
Conserves
Conserve of oranges
           red rose buds
Contrayerva
Copaiva tree
Copper
       pills
       preparations of
Coral, red
Coriander
Corrosive sublimate
Cowhage
Cow parsnip, common
Crab, black clawed
Crab's eyes
Crane's bill
Craw fish
Cream of tartar
Crystalization
Crystals of tartar
Cuckow pint
Cunicum
Cure all
Currants
Damask rose water
Damson, mountain
Dandelion
Decoction
D 
ENGLISH  INDEX.
701
Decoctions
Decoction of barley
            cinchona
            guaiacum, compound
            marsh mallow
            mezereon
            sarsaparilla
            seneka
            the woods
Deadly night-shade
Decomposition
Deflagration
Deliquesce
Demulcents
Diacodium      .
Diaphoretics
Digestion
Dill
Diluents
Distillation
Distilled spirits
         waters
Diuretics
Diuretic salt
Dock curled
      narrow
      water
Dogwood, common
          swamp or blue berried
Doses of medicines
Dover's  powder
Dragon root
E
Earths
Earthy salts
Effloresce
Elder, common
Elecampane
Electricity
Electuaries
Electuary, aromatic
          of cassia
             catechu
          opiate
          of senna
Elixir of camphor
      guaiacum volatile 
702
ENGLISH INDEX.
Elixir of health
      paragoric
      proprietatis
      stomachic
      of vitriol
Elm American, (slippery)
Elutriation
Emetics
Emetic weed
       tartar
Emmenagogues
Emollients
Emulsions
Emulsion of almonds
            ammoniacum
            camphor
Epispastics
Epsom salt
Ergot
Errhines
Escharotics
Essential salts
Ether
Evaporation
Expectorants
Extraction
Extraction of pulps
Extractive matter
Extracts
Extract
       of black hellebore
          butter nut
          cinchona
          chamomile
          gentian
          jalap
          liquorice
          logwood
          rue
          senna
          white poppy
          lead, Goulard's
Fecula
Fennel sweet
Fern, male
Fetid tincture 
ENGLISH  INDEX.
m.
Fig tree
Fir Scotch
Fixed fossil alkaline salt, purified
     vegetable alkaline salt, purified
Flag, blue
Flax, common
Fluoric acid
Flower de luce
Flowers of benzoin
          sulphur
                 washed
          zinc       .
Foxglove, common
Fusion
G
Galbanum
Gallic acid
Gall nut             •
Galvanism       .
Gamboge            .
Garget
Garlic      .
Gases
Gentian     .         •
Ginger
Glauber's salt
Glauber's spirit of nitre
Gluten
Gold
Golden thread
Goulard's cerate
Goat's thorn
Granulation
Guaicum, officinal
Gum
Gum arabic
      tragacanth
      pills
      plaster
Hart
Hellebore, black
          fetid
          white
Hemlock
Henbane, black
H 
roi
ENGLISH INDEX.
Herb Ben net
Herb Christopher
Hiera picra
Hips
Honey
Hooded willow herb
Hop, common
Horehound,  white
            wild     .
Horse chesnut
Horse raddish
Hydrogen       .
         gas
Hydro-sulphuret of ammonia
Hyssop
 Indian physic
       poke
       tobacco
       turnip
 Indigo fera
 Indigo weed
 Infusions       .         ,
 Infusion
        of catechu
          cinchona
          common foxglove
          gentian, compound
          rhubarb
          roses
          tamarinds  and senna
Ipecacuan
Iron
    filings of, purified
    rust of
    scales of
            purified
Isinglass
Ivy
Jalap
Jamaica pepper
Japonic infusion
        tincture
Jerusalem oak
.lirason Meed 
ENGLISH  INDEX.
70S
Juices, expressed and inspissated
Juice inspissated of aconite or wolfsbane
                  black henbane
                  deadly nightshade
                  hemlock
                  thorn apple
Juniper
464
464
466
465
465
466
245
Kermes mineral
Kino
K
424
248
Lady's plume
Lambkill
Larch tree
Laurel, broad-leaved
        dwarf
Lavender
        thrift   .         .
Lead
     red
     white  .
Leech
Lemon tree
Lenitive electuary
Lettuce,  common garden
        wild
Levigation
Ley
Lime
     water    -   .         ,
Liniments
Liniment of quicksilver, compound
         saponaceous
         simple
        volatile     ,,
Liquid laudanum
Liquorice  .         ,         ,
Litharge
Lithontriptics
Liver of sulphur
Lixiviation
Lobelia         ,
Logwood tree
Aunar caustic
     287
     248
     303
     247
     248
     255
     345
     306
     292
     292
     230
     189
     533
     250
     250
      84
      87
 37. 166
     413
     548
     549
     513
     548
     469
     510
     225
     293
     122
     400
      87
258. 262
     227
     429
89 
70S
ENGLISH INDEX.
                         M
Mace
Maceration  .
Madder
Magnesia
         alba
         calcined
Mahogany
Malic acid  .
Mallow, common
Mandrake
Manna
Marble
March violet
Marsh mallow
       rosemary
Martial flowers
May apple
Measures and weights
Medical prescriptions
Medical electricity
Medicated vinegars
          wines
Mercury
Mercurial ointment
                  strong
                  miid
         pills
         plaster
Metallic salts
Metais
Mezereon     '  .
Mild epispastic ointment
      ointment  of quicksilver
Milder ointment of nitrate of quicksilver
Milkweed
Mineral waters
Minims
Mixture of iron compound (Griffith's]
Monkshood
Moss, Iceland
Motherwort
Mountain damson
Mouthroot
Mucilages  .
Mucilage
          of gum-arabic
            gum-tragacanth
37. 
ENGLISH INDEX.
707
Mucilage of starch	489
Muriatic acid	44, 387
Muriate ,	274
of ammonia . .	275
and iron . ,	434
antimony	425
barytes	411
quicksilver	438
soda . ,	276
M'lPk	273
Mustard, common .	340
white	340
cataplasm .	546
whey . ,	341
Myrrh %	280
N	
Narcotic principle . .	70
Narcotics . . .	97
Nettle, common .	359
Neutral salts . ,	46
Nightshade, American ,	300
deadly	157
woody	341
garden .	159
Nitrate of potass	284
silver	429
Nitre	284
Nitric acid	44, 384
Nitrous acid , . ,	44, 383
diluted	383
oxide gas	581
Nitrogen gas , . .	29
Nutmeg tree	278
0	
Oak .	314
Jerusalem	179
oriental . .	314
poison	321
Oats ....	162
Oils, expressed ,	58
volatile	58
Oil of almonds	468
amber	390
purified	479
benne seeds •	339
caraway ,	477
camphorated	470
 
708
ENGLISH INDEX.
Oil of linseed . .	468
with lime	469
mace ■•■	278
olive - . ,	286
savine . . .	476
turpentine	303
rectified	478
vitriol	127
volatile of anise seeds	477
cinnamon	251
cloves	216
fennel seeds .	478
juniper berries	476
lavender	477
lemon . •	189
mace	278
pennyroyal	478
peppermint	476
pimento • ■	478
pine, purified	478
rosemary	477
sassafras	254
spearmint ; . .	478
Oily grain . i	339
preparations . .	468
Ointments	548
Ointment of acetite of lead	550
basilicon	552
grey oxide of quicksilver	556
infusion of cantharides .	553
nitrate of quicksilver	557
milder	557
nitrous acid	554
oxide of zinc .	558
impure • .	558
powder of cantharides	553
quicksilver	553
milder	554
red oxide of quicksilver	556
resinous	552
of roses	551
rose water	551
simple	548
of spermaceti	549
sub-acetite of copper	557
sub-muriate of quicksilver and am	monia 556
sulphur	553
tat	552
 
ENGLISH INDEX.                709
Ointment of thorn apple	.		551
tutty	•	.	558
verdigris	.		557
white oxide of lead		.	550
yellow		»	557
Opium	.	.	293
cultivation of	•	m	647
Orange, Seville	,	,	189
peel water	.	.	472
Oxalic acid	,		67
Oxidation	,	,	28
Oxides	,	,	34
Oxide of antimony with	phosphate	of lime	424
	sulphur by	nitrate of	potass 421
arsenic		.	288
bismuth	.	,	163
iron, black	,		219
purified		,	431
red	?	.	434
lead, red	,	.	292
semi-vitrified		»	293
white	.	,	292
quicksilver, ash coloured		,	448
red by nitric acid .			449
zinc	,	.	f 454
impure	•	r	293
prepared		.	455
Oxygen	.	«	28
Oxygenation		.	28
Oxygen gas	,	.	580
Oyster	P	■	287
Palma christi ,			323
Palm oil ,	.	,	192
tree	,		192
Paragoric elixir		.	511
Pearl ashes	.		173
barley .	.	.	231
Pennyroyal			271
water	.	.	472
Pepper, black			305
Jamaica		.	281
long		v'	305
Peppermint	.		270
water	.		472
Peruvian bark	.	,.	180
Phosphate of lime, impure			416
soda	,		403
 
7lQ               ENGLISH INDEX.
Phosphoric acid	45
Phosphorus	33
Pills, aloetic	538
of acetite of lead and ipecacuan	539
aloes and assa fcetida	538
coloquintida	538
myrrh	539
ammoniaret of copper	540
assa fcetida, compound	539
opium . . .	541
plummer . .	543
quicksilver	540
rhubarb, compound	542
squill	542
stomachic	: 542
Pimento tree	281
water	472
Pink, Carolina	343
Pitch, Burgundy	303
Plantain	305
Piasters	548
Plaster, adhesive	562
of assa fcetida	662
common	561
gum ^	562
of quicksilver	563
red oxide of iron .	564
resinous	562
compound	560
saponaceous	563
of semi-vitrified oxide of lead	561
simple	559
of Spanish flies	560
compound	560
strengthening	564
Pleurisy root	154
Poison berry tree	267
Poison oak	321
vine	320
Poke root	360
weed	360
Ponderous spar	349
Poppy white	293
Potass .	39. 393
with lime	394
Potassa .	39
Potatoe fly .	262
wild	198
 
ENGLISH  INDEX.
711
Poultice, linseed
         carrot
         fermenting
Powders
Powder of aloes with canella
          asarabacca, compound
          carbonate of lime, compound
          cinnamon, compound
          ipecacuan and opium, (Dover's)
         jalap, compound
        opiate
        of scammony, compound
          super-sulphate of alumina and pot-
             ass, compound
        tragacanth, compound  .
Precipitation
Prickly ash
        yellow wood
        popny
Pcii'p of India or China
Proof spirit
Prunes, French   .
Prussic acid
Buccoon
Pulps, extraction of
Pulverization
Quassia
Quicksilver

Quicklime
purified
Q
R
Raisins
Rattlesnake root
Rectification
Red precipitated mercury
Refrigerants
Resin
     of pine
Rhododendron, yellow flowered
Rhubarb
Rochelle salt
Rock oil
Rose, damask
     dog
      red. 
712
ENGLISH INDEX.
Rosemary
Rubefacients
Rue
325
118
327
 Saccharine matter
 Sacred elixir,
       tincture
 Saffron, common
 Sage
 Sago
 Sal aeratus  .
     ammoniac
    polychrest
 Salop
 Salt of amber
        hartshorn
        steel
        tartar
 Salts,  neutral
 Salt petre
 Saponaceous plaster
 Sarsaparilla
 Sassafras
 Saturation
 Saturnine ointment
 Saunders red
 Savine
       cerate
 Scammony
 Sculkap, blue
 Scurvy grass, garden
 Sea salt
 Seneka
 Senna
       American
 Septfoil
 Seltzer water
 Setterwort
 Sheep
 Shrub  yellow root
 Sialagogues
 Sifting
Silex
Silkweed
Silver
Simples, collection and preservation of
^inapism 
ENGLISH INDEX.
713
Skoke	300
Skunk cabbage . .	150
Snake root, Virginian	149
weed . t	309
Soap, Spanish	333
castile .	333
Soda	40
water	573
Soluble tartar .	401
Solution ....	85
of acetite of zinc .	457
carbonate of ammonia	409
muriate of barytes	413
lime	415
potass	392
super-carbonate of iron	433
potass .	397
soda	402
sulphate of copper compound.	431
arsenic	457
Southern wood	150
Spanish flies . ,	269
Spearmint	270
water	472
Spermaceti	BOO
Spirit of ammonia	406
fetid . ,	474
caraway	473
cinnamon	473
juniper, compound	474
lavender	473
compound	507
mindererus	409
nitrous ether . .	462
nitre dulcified	464
nutmeg	473
peppermint	473
pimento . •	473
rosemary	473
sea salt	387
sp'&armint	473
vitriol, dulcified	461
wine	133
Sponge .	344
Spruce fir . •	303
Spurge laurel .	204
Spurred rye	337
Squill ....	335
dried	335
pills	542
90	
 
71*
ENGLISH INDEX.
Squill vinegar	496
Stag ;	179
Starch	357
Stibium ....	352
Stimulants	105
Strong epispastic ointment	553
Strong mercurial ointment .	554
Stronties ....	38
Styptic powder	431. 530
Sub-acetite of copper	347
Sub-borate of soda	347
Sublimation . .	89
Sub-muriate of quicksilver .	442
precipitated	446
and ammonia	447
Sub-Bulphate of quicksilver, yellow	450
Succinic acid,	390
Sugar ....	328
brown	328
cane . . .	328
double refined	328
candy . .	328
of lead	452
Sulphate of barytes	349
copper	349
iron	433
dried . .	434
magnesia	350
potass	399
with sulphur	400
soda	404
zinc	455
Sulphates	46
Sulphur ....	33
sublimed	351
washed	381
Sulphur ointment	553
Sulphurated hydrogen	33
oil	469
Sulphuric acid	43. 127
diluted	382
ether	459
with alcohol	461
Sulphurous acid	43
Sulphuret of antimony	352
precipitated '	423
prepared	421
potass	400
quicksilver, black	451
red	451
 
ENGLISH  INDEX,
715
Sumach, narrow-leaved
        Pennsylvanian
        swamp
        Virginain (stags horn)  .
        white
Super-sulphate of alumina and potass

Super-tartrite of potass
                      impure  .
Swallow-wort
Sweet flag
Sweet-smelling balsam tree
Swietenia
Synthesis
Syrups
Syrup of balsam of tolu  <-_ .
         buckthorn
         damask roses
         ginger
         lemons
         marsh mallow        «
         orange peel
         red roses
      simple
      of squills
         violets .
         whi^e poppies.

                         T
Tamarind tree (tamarinds)
Tannin
Tansy
Tar
    ointment    .         *
Tartar
Tartar emetic
Tartaric acid
Tartrite of antimony
           potass
                aud soda
Thebaic electuary
        pills
        tincture
Thorn apple
Thoroughwort
Tin
Tinctures  .
          made with etherial spirits
Tincture of aloes,  etherial
dried
320
320
321
320
321
348
420
354
354
154
131
279
355
 27
491
494
493
493
492
492
491
491
494
491
494
495
492
355
 64
356
304
552
354
426
 67
426
401
405
534
541
521
205
217
345
498
515
515 
•16
ENGLISH INDEX.
incture of aloes and myrrh	4&9
angustura	502
aromatic	S07
of assa fcetida	500
balsam of tolu	514
benzoin, compound	500
black hellebore .	506
henbane	506
camphor . w	501
cantharides	508
strong i	508
cardamom	499
cascarilla .	501
castor	502
compound	517
catechu	508
cinchona .	502
compound	503
cinnamon	507
compound	507
colomba	503
common foxglove	504
gentian, compound .	505
guaiacum	505
ammoniated (volatile)	517
hop .	515
jalap	504
kino .	506
lavender, compound	507
muriate of ammonia and iron	509
iron	509
musk	509
myrrh	510
opium	510
ammoniated	518
. camphorated	511
peruvian bark	502
Huxham's	503
rhubarb	512
bitter .	512
rhubarb, sweet	513
and aloes .	512
and gentian	512
sacred	519
of saffron	504
senna compound	502
soap	513
and opium	513
socotorine aloes .	498
squills .	514
 
ENGLISH INDEX.
747
Tincture thebaic	510. 521	
of Virginian	snake root	500
white hellebore		514
Tobacco		281
Tonics	...	101
Toothach tree	* . .	147
Tragacanth	. • .	157
Traumatic balsam	, ,	500
Trituration	• . .	84
Troches of carbonate	of lime	535
chalk	. . .	535
liquorice with opium		535
magnesia	• » •	536
Tulip bearing poplar		six. 257
Turmeric	.	204
Turner's cerate	. . .	558
Turpentine, common	. * *	304
oil of		303
Venice	.	303
Turpeth, mineral	.	450
Tutty .	•	293
prepared	.	455
•	y	
Valerian, wild	.	360
Varnish tree		321
Vegetable acids	. . .	65
mineral water		454
analysis	.	47
Verdigris	.	347
Vine	.	363
Vinegar	.	125
distilled	. . .	388
plant		320
Violet, March	. . ■	363
Vitrified oxide of antimony with sulphur,		422
	wax	423
Vitriolated tartar	.	399
Vitriol, blue		,349
green	.	433
white	.	455
Vitriolic elixir proprietatis		515
acid	•	127
diluted	.	382
ether	. «	459
Volatile liniment	.	469
oils		475
tinctures	W	517
Wake robbin	,» «* *.	152
 
718
ENGLISH INDEX.
Water	31. 143
of acetated litharge	453
acetite of ammonia	409
ammonia . . *	409
caustic	405
carbonic acid	391
avens	225
distilled	472
potass	392
styptic	431
dock	326
flag	244
Waters of Stafford spring	571
Wax, white	178
yellow	178
Weights and measures	91
Wheat	357
White walnut	245
precipitate of mercury .	447
ointment	650
Wild indigo	342
Willow, broad leaved	329
red . . .	200
white . . m .	329
Wine . " .	363
Amerkan	366
of gentian, compound	520
ipecacuan	520
iron . •	519
opium, compound	521
rhubarb	522
socotorine aloes	619
tartrite of antimony-	522
tobacco	521
Winter berry .	310
Witch hazel	227
Wolfsbane . ' .	130
Wood sorrel	288
Worm seed . . . .	150
Wormwood, common	150
Y	
Yellow ointment	557
root shrub . .	367
wood, prickly	368
& .	
2inc ....	369
oxide of	454
impure	293
prepared	455
 
LATIN INDEX.
Acetis hydrargyri		436
plumbi		452
potassae		398
Acetum aromaticum		496
scillae maritime		496
Acidum acetosum		125
camphoratum		497
distillatum		388
forte		389
benzoicum	67.	389
muriaticum	44.	387
nitricum	44.	384
nitrosum	44.	383
dilutum		383
succinicum		390
sulphuricum		127
aromaticum		516
dilutum		382
Acipenser sturio		128
Aconiturn napellus		130
Acorus calamus		131
Actea spicata r		131
iEsculus hippocastanum		132
iEther sulphuricus		459
Cum alcohole		461
aromaticus		516
Agrimonia eupatoria		133
Alcornoque		370
Alcohol . • •	71.	133
ammoniatum		406
aromaticum		517
fcetidum		474
dPutum		134
Allium sativum		135
Aloe perfoliata		136
hepatica		156
socotorina . . •		13S
 
10 LATIN INDEX.	
Althaea officinalis	13?
Ammoniacum	138
Ammoniaretum cupri	430
Amomum repens .	139
zingiber	138
Amygdalus communis	139
Amyris gileadensis	140
Anethum fceniculum	140
graveolens .	141
Angelica	141
Angustura	142
Anthemis nobilis	142
Aqua	143
acetitis ammonia?	409
acidi carbonki	391
ammoniae	405
citri aurantii .	472
carbonatis ammoniae	409
calcis . . .	413
super-carbonatis ferri	433
destillata .	472
fortis	384
tenuis .	383
lauri cinnamomi	472
lauri cassiae	473
lithargyri acetati	452
menthae piperitae	472
pulegii	472
viridis	472
myrti pimentae	472
potassae	392
rosae damascenae	472
super-carbonatis potassae	397
sodae	402
Aralia spinosa	147
Arbutus uva ursi	147
Arctium lappa	148
Argemone mexicana.	148
Argentum	149
vivum	332
Aristolochia serpentaria	149
Artemisia abrotanum	150
absinthium	150
santonica	150
Arum Amerkanum	150
maculatum .	152
triphyllum	153
^Asarum europaeum	153
Asclepias decumbenS	154
 
LATIN INDEX.
731
Asclepias syriaca
Astragalus tragacantha
Atropa belladonna
Avena sativa
Aurum
Balneum mariae
Bismuthum  .
Bitumen  petroleum
Bubon galbanum
B
156
157
157
162
159
 87
163
165
166
 Calx
 Cancer astacus
       pagurus
 Canella alba
 Cantharis
 Capsicum annuum
 Carbo ligni
 Carbonas
         ammoniae
         barytaes         .
         calcis
              praeparatus
         ferri
              praecipitatus
         magnesiae
         potassae,
                 impurus
                 purissimus
         sodae
              impurus
         zinci impurus
              praeparatus
 Carum carui
Cassia fistula
      marilandica
      senna
Castor fiber
Cataplasma aluminis
           sinapeos
           lini
           dauci
           fermenti
Centaurea benedicta
Cera alba        .        ;
     flava
 €»eratum simplex
        91 
723
LATIN INDEX'.
Ceratum carbonatis zinci impuri
         lithargyri acetati  compositum
         sabinae
Cervus elaphus
Chenopodium anthelminticum
Chironia centaurium
Cicuta
Cinchona caribaea
         officinalis
Citrus aurantium
      medica
Cocos butyracea
Coccus cacti
Cochlearia armoracia
           officinalis
Coffea
Colomba
Cordum maculatum
Conferva citri aurantii
         rosae gallicae
Convolvulus jalapa
            panduratus
            scammonia
Copaifera officinalis
Corallium rubrum
Coriandrum sativum
Cornus florida
       sericea
Crocus sativus
Croton elenlheria
Cucumis colocynthis
Cuprum
Curcuma longa

                         D
Daphne mezereum
Datura stramonium
       tatula
Daucus  carota
Decoctum althaeas officinalis
          cinchonae officinalis
          daphnes  mezerei
          guajaci compositum
          hordei distichi
          polygalae senegae
          smilacis  sarsaparilla;
Digitalis purpurea
Dolichos pruriens
Dorstenia contrajerva 
LATIN INDEX.
:72«
                          E
Electuarium aromaticum
            cassias fistulae
                  sennae
            catechu
            opiatum
Emplastrum assae foetidae
            gummosum
            meloes vesicatorii
                            compositum
            hydrargyri
            oxidi plumbi semivitrei
                 ferri rubri
            resinosum
                     compositum
            saponaceum
            simplex
Emulsio amygdali communis
         ammoniaci
         camphorata      .        .
Eugenia caryophyllata
Eupatorium perfoliatum    •
            pilosum
Extractum anthemidis nobilis
           cassias sennae
           cinchonae officinalis
           convolvuli jalapae
           gentianae luteae
           glycyrrhizae glabrae
           hasmatoxyli campechensis
           hellebori nigri
           jug!andis cinereae
           papaveris somniferi
           rutae graveolentis
Fecula
Ferrum
Ferri limatura purificata
      oxidum nigrum   .
                   purificatum
Ferula assa fcetida
Ficus carica
Frasera carolinensis
Fraxinus ornus
Gambogia
Gentiana lutea
G 
72*
LATIN INDEX.
Geoffraea inermis
Geranium maculatum
Geum urbanum
Glycyrrhiza glabra
Guajacum officinale

                         H
Hamamelis Virginiana
Haematoxyium campechianum
Helleborus fcetidus
           niger          .
Heracleum sphondylium
Hirudo medicinalis        ,
Hordeum  distichon
Hamulus  lupulas          .
Hydrargyrus
            purificatus
Hydro-sulphuretum ammoniae
Hyoscyamus niger
Hyssopus officinalis
Ichthyocolla
Infusum cinchonae officinalis
        digitalis purpureae
        gentianae compositum
        mimosas catechu
        rhei palmati
        rosae gallicae
        tamarindiet sennas
Inula helenium   .
Ipecacuanha
Iris pseudacorus
Juglans cinerea
Juniperus communis
          sabina
          Virginiana
Kalmia latifolia
       angustifolia
Kino
K
Lactuca sativa
        \ ;iosa
Lajirus camphora 
LATIN INDEX.	7S
Laurus cassia	251
cinnamomum	251
sassafras	254
Lavandula spica	255
Leonorus cardiaca	256
Leontodon taraxacum	255
Lichen islandicus	, 256
Linementum hydrargyri compositum	549
simplex	548
Linum usitatissimum	257
Liquor arseni calis	457
Liriodendron tulipifera .	xix. 257
Lobelia inflata	258
syphilitica	262
Lytta vittata	262
M	
Magnesia	; 37. 419
Malva sylvestris	264
Maranta arundinacea	264
Marrubium vulgare . ,	266
Mel	266
Melaleuca leucadendron	267
Melia azedarach	267
Melissa officinalis	268
Meloe niger ,	264
vesicatorius	269
Mentha piperita	270
pulegium	27t
viridis	270
Mimosa catechu	271
nilotica	272
Mistura carbonatis calcis	489
ferri compositae	435
Moschus moschiferus	273
Mucilago amyli " .	489
astragali tragacantha;	490
mimosas niloticas	490
Murias	274
ammoniae	275
et ferri	434
antimonii	425
barytae	411
hydrargyri	438
sodas	276
Myrica cerifera humulis	278
Myristica moschata	278
Myroxylon peruiferum	279
Myrrha	280
Myrtus pimenta	281
 
726                LATIN INDEX.
N
N'cotiana tabacum		,	281
Nigel la		.	283
Nitras argenti	.	.	429
potassae		■	284
0			
Olea Europaea	.	.	286
Oleum ammoniatum		.	469
amygdali communis	.	.	468
camphoratum		■.	470
earui	.	(	477
fceniculi dulcis		,	478
juniperi sabinas	,	,	476
lini usitatissimi		, ,	468
cum cake	.	.	469
succini et acidum succinicum		.	390
purissimum	.	.	479
sulphuratum		. ,	469
eugenias caryophyllatae	.		216
juniperi communis		, ,	476
lauri cinnamomi	,	,	251
lavandulae spicae		• .	477
menthas piperitae	.	.	476
pulegii		,	478
viridis	,	.	478
myristicae moschatae	~		278
myrti pimentae	.		478
pimpinellas anisi		.	477
pini purissirn\im		,	478
rorismarini officinalis		. .	477
Orchis mascula	,	m	287
Ost.ea edulis		•	^287
Ovis aries	,	,	287
Oxalis acetosella			288
Oxidum antimonii cum phospha	e calcis		424
sulphure per		nitratum	
		[potassae .	421
	vitri	ficatum	422
vitrificatum cum cera			423
arsenici	.	.	288
ferri nigrum purificatum		.	431
rubrum	.	.	434
hydrargyri cinereum		.	448
rubrum per	acidum nitricum		449
plumbi album		, ,	292
rubrum	,		292
semi-vitreum			293
zinci			454
 
LATIN INDEX.	1%\
Oxidum zinci iropurum	293
praeparatum	455
P	
Panacea antimonii	428
Papaver somniferum t	293
Phosphas calcis impurus	416
sodas . .	403
Physeter macrocephalus	300
Phytolacca decandra .	300
Pilulae acetitis plumbi et ipecacuanhae	539
aloes et assas fcetidas	538
colocynthidis	538
myrrhae	539
aloeticae	538
ammoniareti cupri	540
ferri cum myrrha	543
gambogia compositae	543
assae fcetidas compositae	539
hydrargyri	540
opiatae	641
plummeri	543
rhei compositae . .	542
scilliticae	542
Pimpinella anisum	302
Pinus abies	303
balsamea	303
larix	303
sylvestris	3@4
Piper longum	309
nigrum	305
Plantago	305
Plumbum	306
Podaigria tinctoria	342
Podophyllum peltatum	306
Polygala senega	307
Polygonum bistorta	309
Polypodium filix mas	309
Potassa	393
cum cake	394
Potassium	40
Prinos verticillatus	310
Prunus laurocerasus	312
domestica	311
Virginiana	310
Pterocarpus santolinus	313
Pulparum extractio	467
Pulvis aloes cum canella	531
asari compositus . ■•*•	528
 
728
XATIN INDEX.
Pulvis carbonatis calcis compositus        .
      astragali tragacanthae compositus
      cinnamomi compositus
      ipecacuanhae et opii .        .
      jalapas compositus        .
      opiatus
      scammonii compositus
      super-sulphatis aluminas et potassae
                               [compositus
      tragacanthae compositus
Quassia excelsa
       simaruba
Quercus cerris
        robur  .
Q
R
Resina pini
Rhamnus catharticus   .
Rheum palmatum
Rhododendron crysanthum
Rhus copallinum
     glabrum
     radicans
     toxicodendron  .
     typhinum  .
     vernix
Ribes  .
Ricinus communis
Rosa canina
     damascena
     gallica
Rosmarinus officinalis  .
Rubia tinctorum .
Rumex Acutus
       aquaticus
       crispus
Ruta Graveolens
Saccharum  officinarum
Salix alba
     latifolia
Sal catharticus amarus
Salvia officinalis  .
Sambucus nigra
Sanguinaria canadensis
Sapo 
LATIN  INDEX.
729
Scatellaria lateriflora
Scilla maritima
               exsiccata
Secale cornutum
Sesamum orientale
Sinapis alba
       nigra
Smilax sarsaparilla    .          A
Sodium          .
Solanum dulcamara
Solutio acetitis zinci
       muriatis barytas
                calcis
        sulphatis cupri composita
Sophora tinctoria
Spigelia marilandica
Spina cervina
Spiraea trifoliata       .       -   .
Spiritus aetheris nitrosi
        cari carui
        juniperi compositus
        lauri cinnamomi
        lavandulae spicae
        menthae piperitae
                viridis
        myristicae mogchatas     ,
        myrti pimentae
         rorismarini officinalis
Spongia officinalis
Stannum
Statke limonium
Sty rax benzoin
Sub-acetis cupri  .
Sub-boras sodae
Sub-murias hydrargyri
                       prascipitatus
                       et ammoniae
Sub-sulphas hydrargyri flavus
Succinum
Succus spissatus aconiti napelli   .
                atropas belladonna
                conii maculati   .
                daturae stramonii
                 hyoscyami nigri
Sulphas barytes  .
         cupri
         ferri
             exsiccatus
         maguesiae
        92 
730
LATIN INDEX.
Sulphas potassx	399
cam sulphure	400
sodas	404
zinci	455
Sulphur sublimatum . ■.	351
lotum .	381
Sulphuretum antimonii	352
praecipitatum	423
praeparatum	421
hydrargyri nigrum	451
rubrum	451
potassae .	400
Super-tartris potassae	354
impurus	351
Super-sulphas aluminae et potassae	348
exsiccatus 420	
Swietenia febrifuga	355
mahagony	355
Syrupus althaeae officinalis	491
amomi zingiberis	492
citri aurantii	; 492
citri medicas	492
papaveris somniferi	492
rhamni cathartici i	493
rosae damascenae .	493
gallicae	494
scillae maritimae	494
simplex	491
toluiferae balsami	494
violae odoratas	495
T	
Tamarindus indica	355
Tanacetum vulgare	.r 356
Tartris antimonii	. » . 426
potassae	401
et sodae	405
Tinctura aloes aetherea	515
socotorinas	498
et myrrhas	499
amomi repentis	499
angusturas	502
aristolochiae serpentariae	500
benzoin composita	500
camphorae	501
castorei	502
composita	517
ciuchonae officinalis	502
composita	503
 
LATIN INDEX.
731
Tinctura cinnamomi composita	507
colombas	503
convolvuli jalapae	304
croci sativi	50*
digitalis purpureae	504
eleutherise	501
ferulae assae fcetidas	500
gentianae composita	505
guajaci ammoniati .	517
officinalis	505
hellebori nigri	506
humuli .	515
hyoscyami nigri	506
kino	506
lauri cinnamomi	507
lavandulae composita	507
meloes vesicatorii	508
fortior	508
mimosae catechu	508
moschi	509
muriatis ferri	509
ammoniae et ferri .	509
myrrhae	510
opii	510
ammoniata ,?	518
camphorata	511
rhei dulcis	513
et aloes ,	512
et gentianae	512
palmati	512
saponis	513
et opii	513
scillae maritimae	514
sennae composita	502
toluiferae balsami	514
veratri albi	' . 514
Toluifera balsamum	356
Tormentilla erecta	357
Triticum aestivum	357
Trochisci carbonatis calcis	535
glycyrrhizas cum opio	535
magnesiae	536
Tussilago farfara	357
U	
Ulmus Americana	358
Unguentum acetitis plumbi	550
acidi nitrosi	554
aquas rosae	551
 
732
LATIN  INDEX.
Unguentum hydrargyri	.	554
mitius	.	554
infusi meloes vesicatorii		553
nitratis hydrargyr	i	557
	mitius	557
oxidi hydrargyri cinerei		556
rubri		556
plumbi albi		550
zinci		558
impuri	.	558
physeteris macro cephali sevi		549
picis	.	552
pulveris meloes vesicatorii		553
resinosum	.	552
rosarum	.	551
simplex	.	548
stramonii	. .	551
sub-acetitis cupri	.	557
sub.muriatis hydrargyri et ammoniae		556
sulphuris	.	553
Urtica dioica	•	359
V		
Valeriana officinalis	, ,	360
Veratrum album	i .	360
Vinum aloes socotorinas	,	519
ferri		519
gentianae compositum		520
ipecacuanhae	.	520
nicotiana' tabaci	.	521
opii compositum		521
rhei palmati	.	522
tartritis antimonii		522
Viola odorata		363
Vitis vinifera	•	363
X		
Xanthorhiza apiifolia	.	367
tinctoria	• .	367
Xanthoxylum clava herculis	,	368
fraxini-folium		369
Zincum
Z
369 
 
 
 
 

wz.